Semi-Sweet On You (Hot Cakes #4) - Erin Nicholas Page 0,37
think I need to explain to her that she could have just asked to talk if she wanted to. I’m sick of this feud, Whit. I think everyone is. Zoe and Aiden have started the healing process and I can do my part.”
The wrinkle between her eyebrows got deeper. “Because you think Appleby needs it to be over?”
“Because I need you to be over it,” he told her honestly.
She looked surprised. “You do?”
“You’re going to be a lot more amenable to the idea of us dating if you know that our families don’t hate each other and that we don’t have to sneak around this time and that the town isn’t whispering about us.”
Her eyes were wide. “I told you I’m not going to date you.”
“You did. And I’m working on convincing you otherwise. One way to do that is to remove as many barriers as possible. Like the fifty-two year feud between our families.”
“That’s not why I said no,” she told him.
He didn’t even think twice about lifting a hand to Whitney’s face. He smoothed the pad of his thumb over the crease above her nose. “Then you have nothing to worry about with me taking your grandma out for dessert.”
Whitney’s breath caught as he touched her, and she stared at him even after he slid his hand down her cheek and then dropped it.
“The business is more important to me than a relationship,” she said. It was clear she was warning him. “If I have to choose, I choose Hot Cakes. Why would you set yourself up to be hurt again by that?”
He gave her a slow smile. “Because you don’t have to choose.”
She swallowed hard. But it was clear from the look in her eyes that she didn’t believe that.
Well, he’d have to deal with that later. Because he had another woman waiting in the car for a date with him at the moment.
“I’ll have her home by curfew,” he said, stepping back and grinning. He pulled the keys from his pocket and started to turn away.
He was startled to feel Whitney’s hand on his arm. “Cam.”
He looked back. “Yeah?”
“She’s…” Whitney pressed her lips together and glanced at her grandmother through the windshield. She smiled affectionately, then looked up at him. “Her memory is not great. And she sometimes loses track of what’s going on. She might get a little lost while you talk.”
He nodded. “Okay.”
She wet her lips. “Really?”
“It’s going to be fine. We’ll talk for a little bit, we’ll have some pie, and I’ll bring her home.”
“Okay.” She still looked unsure. “Call me if you need anything. If anything gets… weird.”
He smiled. “There are things I need from you, Whit, and I’m going to take you up on that offer to call you. But it won’t be about your grandma.”
She looked startled, and with that promise hanging between them, he took the chance to get in the car and start the engine. He was not going to let Whitney believe anything was settled between them, and the more she had to think and wonder about the things he said, the better. He wanted to be on her mind.
Cam looked over at Didi rather than watching Whitney watch them with that slightly dazed, slightly worried look on her face.
“So you need some pie, huh?” he asked.
Didi gave him a big smile. “Thank you for loving my granddaughter.”
Okay, so speaking of startled…
Cam tipped his head. “You think I love her?”
“You’ve always loved her,” Didi said with a nod, looking at Whitney through the windshield. “Even when that made things really hard on you.”
Cam thought about what Whitney had said about Didi getting lost on details. “You knew about us being together?”
They’d done their damnedest to keep their relationship from their families. He knew that Zoe had known about them. She’d caught them up in Cam’s bedroom once and another time in the basement. But Zoe had kept the secret. So had Aiden. But Cam wasn’t sure who had known about them on Whitney’s side. He’d always figured no one. She’d had a couple of girlfriends in high school, but he knew they hadn’t been people she trusted implicitly. He’d always thought it was really sad she didn’t have people she knew had her back no matter what.
He knew for a fact that her dad and brother hadn’t known about them because they’d never confronted him. And they would have.