Semi-Sweet On You (Hot Cakes #4) - Erin Nicholas Page 0,89
just looked at him for several ticks from the clock on her desk. Cam let her look. He hadn’t planned on saying any of this. He hadn’t put most of this to words even in his own head before this. But it was all true. He’d spent the past ten years fighting and being hardheaded and driven. Now he felt… content. With her. Not because Whitney was content. She clearly wasn’t. She had a lot of unfinished business here. But because he now knew that what he needed to do was be here so she could finish that business.
That didn’t seem as strange as it maybe should.
“How you feel about me and my ideas here matter more than anyone else’s,” she finally said.
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“Why?” He sincerely wanted to know. He wasn’t the CEO or CFO of the company and he was already a huge fan of hers. “You’ve already won me over,” he told her with a smile.
“I think because…” Her brow furrowed. “Well…” She was clearly thinking it through.
Cam grinned. “That’s what I thought.”
“No. Honestly.” She pressed her lips together, then said, “Okay, it’s sad, but, there’s not a lot of difference between my personal life and my work life. Hot Cakes has always been a family business, so it’s always been a part of my home life too. But it’s also because I’m a workaholic and don’t have a lot of friends. I simply can’t separate Hot Cakes into any kind of compartment. It’s a part of everything.”
She drew a breath. “But with you, I suppose I want you to feel like all the extra time you’re putting in helping with Didi and everything is worth it. That believing in me is worth it. That makes this personal in a way it’s never been before.”
She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth as she waited for him to respond. He couldn’t for a second as his heart actually kicked painfully against his ribs.
Finally he moved his hands to hold her face. “Well, then, it’s very important for you to hear me say that it’s all fucking amazing,” he said gruffly.
Her smile was bright even as her eyes were shiny with tears again. “Yeah?”
“Very much so. It’s very worth it to me to see you happy and proud of yourself and feeling fulfilled.”
She looked legitimately touched by that. “Thank you, Cam.”
“You’re welcome.”
She gave a soft laugh. “I can’t believe this.”
“What?”
“This. Us. The fact that you’re helping me do more at Hot Cakes, of all places, and you’re involved with my family and…” She shook her head. “Just all of it.”
“We couldn’t have been here ten years ago,” he said. “I realize that. I had to grow up to get past the company and your family and the details to see the big picture of you and me. You were right.”
She smiled sadly. “I had no idea that we’d end up here, Cam. I’m glad we did, but I had no way of knowing that it would work out. It wasn’t about you and me. Me breaking things off was just about you.”
“You sent me away for me.”
Whitney nodded. “You couldn’t have stayed here. That was a ridiculous idea.”
“You did it because you wanted me to be happy.”
She pressed her lips together and nodded.
“Because you loved me.”
She swallowed hard. But nodded again.
“I totally get that now.” His voice was thick and he hoped she could see what all he meant by that.
Suddenly she leaned in, putting her lips against his and wrapping her arms around his neck.
His hands went to her waist, squeezing and bringing her up against him more fully. Nothing had ever felt as right as this woman did in his arms. Resisting her was getting more and more difficult every day and when she touched him… he was a goner.
Whitney opened her mouth with a little sigh and Cam immediately swept his tongue against hers. His hands moved down to cup her ass and press her against his growing erection.
She gripped the front of his shirt, arching closer, making a frustrated sound at the back of her throat when it wasn’t close enough. She turned, tugging him with her, until the backs of her thighs were against her desk. Then she pulled her mouth from his.
But only long enough to give him a sexy, mischievous smile, and to slide her skirt up her thighs.
His heart thundered and his cock hardened as she wiggled the navy blue skirt up high enough that he could see her panties.