Semi-Sweet On You (Hot Cakes #4) - Erin Nicholas Page 0,95

nurturing, happy thing people did.

Until Cam.

Cam had been raised with a mother who clearly loved to cook and have her family and their friends around in big groups, feeding and taking care of them.

It made Whitney wonder about Letty. Had she been like that too? She’d certainly been a baker. And she’d apparently staunchly stood by the idea that fresh-baked, homemade baked goods were superior to mass-produced snack cakes.

And that made Whitney wonder if Didi had missed that part of Letty too. Cam had told her that Didi said she missed Letty’s baked goods. But Whitney wondered if Letty had had that nurturing spirit too and if Didi missed that as well. Or more. She was certainly soaking that up from Cam. And his family.

Which gave her an idea.

A crazy, maybe-I-shouldn’t-do-this idea.

But as she pushed away from her desk, she felt a little flip in her stomach that told her she was going to do it.

And she couldn’t wait to see how Cam reacted.

17

Wanting to tell his parents and friends and little brother that they needed to get the hell out of the house so he could put Whitney Lancaster up on his mother’s kitchen counter and do very, very dirty things to her where he’d just helped make a chicken and ham casserole was probably not appropriate.

That was still his reaction when his mother came back into the kitchen with Whitney in tow.

Maggie had gone to answer the doorbell because Steve had been taking corn on the cob out of the pot on the stove, Grant, Aiden and Dax were setting the table, Zoe, Jane and Josie were out on the back patio, and Henry and Didi were in the middle of a quest in Warriors of Easton and couldn’t stop according to Henry’s shout from the family room.

No one came to the front door anyway, so they’d all assumed it wasn’t anyone all that important.

They’d been wrong.

Cam was literally standing in the middle of the kitchen, holding a hot casserole dish, his mouth hanging open, staring at Whitney.

She looked shy and unsure and completely gorgeous.

Her hair was down, falling in loose waves around her shoulders. She wasn’t wearing any of her usual “office” makeup. No eye shadow or lipstick. She also, thank you Lord, was not wearing one of her office skirts. She wore a pink sundress and cock-hardening scuffed brown boots. She looked every bit the girl next door in a small Iowa town and he wanted her with every fiber of his being.

“I knew better than to bring food, and especially dessert,” she said with a little smile. “So I brought liquor.” She held up a bottle of lemon vodka in one hand and a bottle of red wine in the other.

Maggie laughed and took both bottles. “Brilliant girl,” she praised. Then she nudged Whitney toward Cam. “We’re so happy you’re here.”

Someone—he wasn’t sure who—took the casserole dish from Cam, then slipped the oven mitts off his hands, and nudged him toward Whitney.

They met partway across the kitchen.

“Is this okay?” she asked him softly.

Right. He still hadn’t said a fucking word. Like how happy he was to see her. Here. At his parents’ house. On a weeknight. For one of their big group dinners.

“This is…” He couldn’t properly express himself here in the middle of the kitchen with people around. “Come on.” He took her hand and tugged her toward the hallway and into the bathroom just past the stairs that led up to the bedrooms.

He pushed her into the tiny room in front of him then stepped in behind her and kicked the door shut.

They wouldn’t be able to hide out in here long. And they weren’t alone. At least not enough to do all the things he wanted to do to her. But he needed a few minutes without eyes on them.

“Cam, is every—”

She didn’t finish that thought because his mouth was on hers a moment later. He slid his fingers into her hair, holding her head still, and stepped her back until she was against the wall by the sink. Then he kissed her. Hard, deep. With tongue and moans and his fingers curling into her scalp and her hands gripping his shirt at his waist.

She arched into him. She moaned too. She opened her mouth and let his tongue stroke deep.

He heard footsteps in the hallway outside of the door and knew their time was running short, but he couldn’t let her go just yet. He dropped his hand to her hip