Semi-Sweet On You (Hot Cakes #4) - Erin Nicholas Page 0,63

he’d clarified who Conner was so she wouldn’t ask. She knew she should not be, or act, interested in Cam and details like who he was sending plants to, but dammit, she was.

“Tried to,” Grant said with a nod. “Cam won. Of course. But yeah, he and Conner were absolutely not friends.”

“See?” Piper said to Ollie. “That was sweet. They were on opposite sides in business and Cam kicked his ass, but he still sent his condolences over a personal issue.”

Ollie narrowed his eyes. “Fine. Two more.”

“The donations he makes to Appleby.”

“You mean the donations he makes that get his name in big block letters on the side of things?” Aiden asked with a smile.

Okay, Whitney knew about those. He’d donated money to build the youth sports complex, and that did, indeed, have his name—his last name anyway—on the side of it. He’d also donated to various projects around town when the community needed something but had trouble coming up with the funds.

“Those,” Piper said. “But also the scholarships, the medical bills, the service dog training.”

Whitney glanced around the table and saw that Cam’s friends looked as surprised as she felt.

“The what?” Aiden finally asked.

Piper nodded. “He has a foundation where people can apply for funds for all kinds of things. Help paying medical bills or help buying a handicapped accessible van or anything like that.” She looked smug. “He never makes a big deal about that.”

Clearly. Whitney had never heard about any of that.

“He knows that the people needing the funds don’t want to make their needs public and he’s fine just helping out behind the scenes. Believe it or not,” she added with a little smile.

“Huh,” Ollie finally said.

“Sweet, right?” Piper asked. Her eyes met Whitney’s.

Dammit, that was sweet.

“Fine,” Ollie conceded. “One more.”

“You think he gets stupid drunk after seeing Whitney every time he comes home because he’s emotionless and cold-hearted?” Piper asked.

Whitney felt her chest tighten.

“Only a guy who’s sweet, down deep anyway, would still have get-drunk feelings for a girl ten years later,” Piper said.

Now Whitney’s throat tightened too.

She didn’t get drunk after she’d seen him, but she knew exactly how he felt.

“Fine,” Ollie said. “I guess maybe he has a sweet side.” He rolled his eyes.

Piper laughed. “He does. But he’ll be good with Didi. He won’t baby her and he won’t let her get away with anything that’s not safe.”

Ollie laughed. “Yeah, Cam is not the type to baby someone.”

Piper nodded. “He’ll make her behave.”

“How will she take that?” Dax asked Whitney.

“Well.” Whitney shrugged. “My grandpa was pretty domineering.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. But…” Whitney started actually thinking about the question. “Grandma kind of did whatever the hell she wanted anyway, honestly.”

“That sounds like Letty,” Aiden said with a small smile.

Whitney returned the smile. Aiden hadn’t been Letty’s grandson by blood, but he’d still been her grandson in the ways that counted. His mom and Cam’s had been best friends and the boys had grown up together. After Aiden’s mom had passed away when he was fourteen, he’d more or less moved in with the McCafferys. He’d spent as much time at the bakery and with Letty as Cam had, truly.

Whitney nodded. “Her motto was always it’s easier to get forgiven than get permission. She embezzled money from the company forever.”

All the eyebrows in the room went up. “What?” Grant asked. “How? It was her company.”

“Okay, it wasn’t really embezzlement,” Whitney said. “But she took money from the company that my grandfather and father never knew about. My grandfather took the business over early on, figuring he was better at the ‘money stuff’ than she was. He let her be in charge of the recipes and overseeing the bakers and production lines for the most part, but he was in charge of all the money and marketing. But she had employee loyalty and the company accountant paid money into a private account that was Didi’s alone, that my grandfather never knew about.”

They all laughed and shook their heads.

Ollie finally said, “Cam might have his hands full.”

Whitney nodded. “Seriously.”

“That’s awesome,” Dax said with a huge grin.

“Is it?” she asked. She wasn’t so sure. Not if she wanted him to stick around.

Then again, if she wanted him to leave her alone, this was maybe the perfect solution.

It did not feel like a good solution. Because she didn’t want him to leave her alone.

“Yeah, it’s awesome,” Ollie agreed. “Cam is pretty used to getting his way with beautiful women. I think having a couple he has to work a little harder