Semi-Sweet On You (Hot Cakes #4) - Erin Nicholas Page 0,48
realize I was in a position to let you stay… or not,” she said.
“I’m not staying if you’re completely against it,” he said, brushing his thumb over her cheek.
“What if I’m a little bit against it?” she asked.
He gave her a half smile. “That I can work with.”
They just stood staring at each other for several heartbeats. His touch felt hot against her cheek, but she also wanted more. More of her body getting hot from him touching.
“We need to figure this out. You have to realize that,” he finally said. “I don’t know if this is all just left over from ten years ago or if it’s real now.”
She knew exactly what he was talking about. The chemistry. The wanting to be closer. The wondering about his life and what he was like now.
She did want to know.
She was just scared.
Because she was pretty sure that she would like all of it. A lot.
“Okay,” she finally said softly.
She did want her grandma to be safe and happy and she wanted to let Didi make as many decisions for herself as possible as long as she could. If Didi wanted Cam around, then Whitney shouldn’t be against it.
She’d be at work all day anyway. She’d be here, with Cam, only a few hours a day. And Didi would be there with them. How intimate could it be?
And maybe if he was here all the time, in her space, in her way, she’d realize that she was over him. That she didn’t want him around all the time. That they didn’t match up anymore. That they’d outgrown each other.
Yeah.
Maybe.
“You know those suggestions I’m going to be making and you’re going to have the chance to say no to?” he asked huskily.
She nodded.
“Here’s one.”
He leaned in, close enough that she could feel his breath on her lips when he said, “Let me kiss you.”
Oh damn. She wanted that. She wanted it so much. She was weak. Some of it was that she simply didn’t feel wanted very much. Not just in the man-woman-naked-bodies way but just in general. That sounded pathetic, she knew, but it wasn’t so much that it made her sad, it was just what she was used to. She wasn’t sad about not being wanted. It was more that she was surprised to be wanted.
No one sought her out for her opinions, no one gave her big, important tasks. People always took her no answers seriously. If she was invited to a function and she declined, that was it. No one pressed. If someone asked her out and she said no, the guy always let it go. She knew it came from being a Lancaster. The Lancasters had power in Appleby and she knew that people were, in general, intimidated by them. Her grandfather and father had put a lot of effort into making sure that people believed the Lancasters were better than everyone else.
So to have Cam pressing to be with her, to get closer, was new. And felt good.
Plus, it was Cam.
She’d never stopped wanting him.
“I—” she started.
“The tea is getting cold!” Didi bellowed from the kitchen.
Whitney and Cam stilled. Then she felt him sigh. But he didn’t pull back. “You going to let me do this or not?”
He was already practically kissing her. When his lips moved as he spoke, they brushed hers ever so lightly. His body heat surrounded her. She swore she could feel his heartbeat pounding. Or maybe that was hers.
She found it funny that they were standing so close, almost kissing, talking about kissing, but not really doing anything. It still felt incredibly intimate. They were very much in each other’s personal space. They both clearly wanted this. She certainly wasn’t pushing him away or stepping back. But the only actual connection was his hand on her face. And their mingling breaths.
Clearly he was going to insist that she make this decision. He wasn’t going to just sweep her up and kiss the hell out of her before she could protest and then let the chemistry take over.
That also seemed intimate. Him coming as close as he could but then wanting actual acquiescence from her. Verbal acknowledgment that she was agreeing.
“Whit,” he said, his voice low and rough. “Push me back or pull me closer.”
She slid her hands up to his chest, not sure until the last moment if she was going to fist his shirt and pull him in or push him away.
Cam, however, didn’t look surprised when she pushed.