heart. He might… I don’t know… want to mess with me a little. Make me fall for him and then be the one to walk away?” Whitney suggested.
Piper didn’t respond right away. She was clearly considering all of that. Finally, she nodded. “I see what you mean.”
Whitney felt her heart fall. She didn’t want it to be true. She could admit that to herself, anyway. She wanted him to really want her.
What she would do with that was another question, but she wanted to have that problem.
“But I know Cam too,” Piper said. “And I guess, maybe I’ve known him better over these past few years, right?”
Whitney nodded. That had to be true. Piper saw him every day. And she saw him with the guys. The five guys—Aiden, Dax, Grant, Ollie, and Cam—were so natural together. It was clear that they could fully be themselves when they were a group and they appreciated and loved each other and wanted the others to be who they were. It was so fun to watch them.
And it made her want the same thing. She wanted a group that she could belong to like that. But you couldn’t make things like that happen. They just did. Fate. Kismet. Karma. Magic. Whatever it was, it wasn’t something you could make happen.
“So I can tell you, for sure, that when he comes back to Chicago after being here visiting, and running into you, he’s a mess,” Piper said.
Whitney felt a little bad about it, but she perked up at that. Her heart thumped a little harder. “Really?”
“He gets super drunk the night after he sees you and then he’s a hungover mess the next day at the office,” Piper said with a nod. “I’ve gotten really good with the hangover cures.”
Whitney hadn’t known that. She knew she was always shook up after seeing him, but he’d always acted cool when they’d run into each other. He even seemed angry at times. Like seeing her was a huge, annoying inconvenience.
“So,” Piper said. “I don’t think that he’s wanting revenge. I think he’s still got feelings and now that he’s here, he’s probably thinking that he wants to see where things stand.”
That had been, essentially, what he’d said. But wow, hearing someone else say it made it feel really real.
“The question now is, what do you want?” Piper asked.
To not mess up this chance to make Hot Cakes great and to be a part of that. To earn the respect and trust of the men who had come in and saved the company, and her family’s reputation. To have a job because she was good at it and not just because her grandmother told her grandfather and father that they had to make a place for her in the company.
And Cam.
But she couldn’t have it all.
Thankfully, before she had to answer, Dax took the stage. He had been one of the partners in Hot Cakes, but then he’d met Jane. She had refused to date one of her bosses. She didn’t like how that looked. Whitney should talk to Jane. Jane would surely see her side with this whole Cam thing.
But Dax being, well, Dax and the master of the grand gesture, had simply sold his shares so Jane would say yes to a date. She had said yes. And they were now madly in love and planning to get married next summer.
Would Cam be willing to give Hot Cakes up to be with her? Maybe. Cam was known for bucking convention. But she didn’t want that either.
She was a businesswoman, whether her family saw it or not, and she understood the importance of having talent. Cam was not only a great attorney, but he cared about Hot Cakes more than any other attorney they’d ever be able to hire. He would protect the company from any threat because he was protecting Aiden, Grant, and Ollie too.
“Welcome everyone!” Dax said into the microphone with one of his incredibly charming grins. “We are so excited to have the town of Appleby, Hot Cakes’ home, as a part of this process,” Dax said.
Dax might not have a financial interest in Hot Cakes, but he had an emotional interest in it. Because of Jane and because of the four men who were like brothers to him. It made sense that he would use the term we. He’d weighed in with advice and ideas throughout the rebuilding of Hot Cakes.
“Come on,” Whitney said to Piper. “Let’s go convince Henry and his friends