“What made you think that it was okay to hire someone for my company?” He had no idea what her qualifications for a good employee were, nor did he know that she didn’t want to hire anyone new. She was doing fine until she’d hurt her ankle.
“You needed someone else. You and Paulie weren’t cutting it anymore. You need someone for at least the rest of tourist season. You’re burnt out, or you wouldn’t have slept half the day away on the couch.”
She jabbed a finger into his bicep. “I slept half the day away because you gave me multiple orgasms and drained my energy. It had nothing to do with being burnt out.”
“I’m sure that didn’t help,” he said, a stupid smirk on his face. “But you’ve been running haggard for too long, and it’s a pace you can’t keep up forever.”
“Now I’m haggard?”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“Fine, so maybe I’ve been neglecting sleep and could use a little time off, but the Local Bean is my shop. How would you like it if I went to your restaurant and hired someone to work there without you ever meeting them or reading their resume?”
He was quiet for a moment as he pulled over to the side of the road. Good, if he wanted to argue, she was ready.
“I see your point.”
Taken aback, she stared at him. “I’m sorry, I didn’t hear that. Can you say it again?”
“You’re right. I overstepped. But in my defense, I was just trying to take away some of the burden you’re dealing with because of me.”
How could she fault him for that? He felt guilty and was doing everything in his power to fix what he broke. “I know, and I do appreciate it, even if I have a funny way of showing it, but I wish you would have talked to me first.”
“I knew you would have said no.”
“Then you should have let me say no. I don’t know what’s going on between us, but if this is going to work, we need to be a team. I can’t worry that if I tell you no, that you’re just going to go and do it anyway.”
Enzo cupped her cheek, and despite the frustration coursing through her, she nuzzled into the warmth of his palm.
“I want it to work,” he said, his thumb brushing the apple of her cheek.
“Me too.” She wanted it to work so badly. Her whole life she’d avoided serious relationships, choosing physical attraction over any emotional attraction. Now that she opened herself up to both with Enzo, she didn’t want to lose it. She didn’t want to lose him.
It had been a long road for them to finally break down the walls that kept them apart, but now that they had, and she could see clearly to the other side, she no longer could deny it.
She was in love with Enzo Moretti.
Chapter 21
The air was warm, but not too hot, and Cami propelled herself forward on the crutches. She felt pretty silly using them for a twisted ankle, but if it was enough to get her out of the house and on the go, she didn’t care. They could be covered in glitter with strobe lights, and she would still use them.
Enzo walked beside her as she made her way toward her shop. Only feet away, she stopped. “You know what?”
Enzo turned his blue-eyed gaze on her. “What’s that?”
“I don’t want to go in.”
“Is the bruising going to your head?” he asked, and she couldn’t help but laugh.
“It’s very possible,” she said. “But it’s been so long since I’ve taken a vacation, and if I walk through those doors, I’m going to go into boss mode, and I’m kind of enjoying the time away. The building is still standing, customers are going in and out. I trust that everything is under control.”
“I’m proud of you,” Enzo said.
A smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. “I’m proud of me, too.”
“So if we’re not going to inspect your shop, what do you want to do?”
Cami inhaled the sea salt air and sighed. “I would love to go walk on the beach, but.” She glanced at her ankle. “That would probably be a terrible idea.”
“Give me your crutches.” Enzo held his hand out.
“Why?”
“Just trust me.”
She thought about it for a second then handed him the crutches. He walked in front of her and bent down. “Get on.”
She admired his back muscles straining against his shirt for a moment before hopping on. Enzo stood with little effort, and his hands tucked under her thighs. He carried her down the boardwalk, and she clung to him.
They passed by Vinny’s Lobster Shack. All the tables were filled with people, and Mr. Moretti was chatting with the customers. He glanced up, spotting them and shock warped into excited approval. He nodded at them, and Cami felt like she’d just given a blessing.
Enzo looked over his shoulder at her. “I guess the cat’s out of the bag.”
“I never knew the cat was in the bag,” she said.
“Then I think we need to make it official.”
“And how do you plan on us doing that?”
His hands slid to her waist, and he shifted her until she was eye to eye with him, legs still wrapped around his midsection. “Like this,” he said and captured her lips. A few teenagers let out a whistle while an older couple grumbled about society going to hell in a handbasket which caused both of them to laugh.
“I think that about did it,” she said.
“Want to get on my back again?”
She rested her head on his shoulder. “No, I like it here just fine.”
Enzo helped her onto the beach that was mostly empty by now. Seagulls flew overhead, looking for food left behind, and Cami nuzzled into Enzo’s warmth as a cool ocean breeze blew by.
He walked a far distance from the stairs, and Cami should have told him to stop five minutes ago, but she wanted to be with him alone which was ridiculous, since all she cared about earlier was getting out of isolation.
The sun was sinking farther into the horizon, oranges and pinks streaking the blue sky. Enzo came to a stop and sat down on the sand, cradling Cami in his arms.
“Getting tired?” she asked.
“Not at all, but I didn’t want to miss the sunset.”
“I can’t even tell you the last time I watched the sunset.”
“Why not? You close down early enough to catch it.”
“I always have something planned after work, and I never take the time to appreciate the sky.”
“Today’s a good time to start.”
She looked up and kissed him, loving the feel of his lips on hers, the warmth of his arms wrapped around her. She never expected this for herself, but it wasn’t bad, and it was something she certainly could get used to.
“Let’s play a game.” While she loved watching the sunset, sitting around made her antsy.
“What did you have in mind?”
“Twenty questions.”
He laughed. “Any rules?”
“Nope, we each get twenty questions, and you just have to be honest with your answers.”
“Okay. I’ll go first. Why coffee?”
“Why not?”
“You could have opened any type of restaurant or store front and you chose coffee. I thought there might be a reason.”
She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. It was something she never admitted to anyone because she thought it was pretty silly herself. “The truth?”
“Always.”
“When my cousins moved in, getting attention from my parents was hard, and I missed it. I learned that every morning between five and five thirty, my dad would get up for the day and make a cup of coffee, sit down at the table, and do nothing else but drink his coffee. I started waking up early so I could join him. I never drank the coffee, I was too young, but I cherish that half hour at the kitchen table we had every day before the rest of the house woke up. My dad would always look so tired at first, but with each sip, he woke up a little more. I give that to people now, and it’s by far the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done.”
Enzo didn�
��t say anything, and heat crept into her cheeks. “I said it was silly.”
“Not at all. It makes perfect sense. Was it hard growing up with your cousins?”
Cami smiled. There were many layers to the answer, but she would try. “Yes and no. Yes, because I love them and they’re more like my siblings than cousins, but it was also hard. They had gone through so much at such a young age, and my parents focused a lot of their attention onto my cousins, leaving Bastien and I to fight for what was left.”
Enzo’s lips parted, and she knew he was gearing up to ask another question. Cami held her finger up. “You’ve already asked me two questions. It’s my turn.”
“Let’s have it then.”
“What’s your favorite color?”
“That’s all you have? Blue, I guess.”
“I actually knew that.”
“Did you?”
She nodded. “It’s a good color for you too.”
“I’ll remember that the next time I go clothes shopping. Now next question.”
“Oh no. You asked two questions, and I only asked one. It’s still my turn.”
She had told him something she had never told anyone, and now she wanted to know a deep dark secret of his. “Tell me something you’ve never told anyone.”
Enzo looked out at the ocean and was quiet for a long moment. “I’m the reason my father’s in jail.”
Shock straightened Cami’s spine. She looked at Enzo, waiting for him to yell psyche or tell her it was a misunderstanding, but his stoic features stayed solid as rock. “Your father is in jail because he got caught dealing drugs.”
“How do you think he got caught?” Enzo asked.
Cami’s eyes widened.
“I accidentally walked in on one of his ‘business meetings’.” He air quoted. “The guy pulled a gun on me, and my dad quickly averted the situation and yelled at me to get out of there. I stumbled out, dazed and confused, but once the fog in my brain cleared all I could think was what if that was Tony or Ella who had walked in? At that point I was an adult, but they were still kids, you know?
I confronted him that night. He told me things were tight, and it was the only way he could pay the bills. I refused to accept that, so I started working more hours at the restaurant, bartending at night, and lifeguarding in the morning. I gave my dad almost everything I made and asked him to promise that he would stop. He agreed, and I foolishly believed him.
“For a month, I thought everything was going great until I came home one day and got the mail. It was nothing but bills and final notices from the electric company, the water company, and the cable company. I was pissed, and I had to stop lying to myself and realize that my father just said what he thought I wanted to hear. He never stopped dealing, and when I caught another deal go down in the house where my brother and sister lived, I couldn’t sit back anymore. I had to do something. I had to protect my family.”
“That’s why you never go with Ella to see him.”
“I have nothing to say to that man. I tried to help him out. I was twenty-three, and instead of going out with my friends and living life, I was busting my ass for him, and he didn’t even care. Maybe what I did was out of revenge.”
“No.” Cami stopped him before he could let the words out into the universe. Enzo had no right to blame himself for his father’s bad choices. Enzo did more than enough to try and help his dad out. Enzo wasn’t the bad guy here; he was the unsung hero. “You did what you had to do.”
“I could’ve tried to talk to him again.”
“It would’ve been a waste of breath, and deep down, you know that.”
“Would it have, though? And maybe he would’ve kept dealing, but he wouldn’t have got caught. Ella and Tony wouldn’t have lost their father. They had already lost their mother.”
“So did you, and your father never should have put you in that position. He wasn’t a good influence, Enzo. You were more of a father to them than he ever was.” Enzo pressed his lips together and shook his head as if he didn’t believe her. She grabbed his face and turned him to look at her. “Who taught Ella how to drive?”
“Not that it did her any good. She still chooses to ride her bike everywhere.”
“Regardless, you taught her. Who bought Tony his first paint set? Who bailed Marco out of jail?”
“I only did what any brother would do for their siblings.”
“Maybe, but those are three lousy examples for all that you have done for them. Whether you want to believe it or not, you were a better father to them, and because of you, they all survived to adulthood. Ella is going off to California with a man she’s madly in love with and starting her own interior design business. Marco is getting married, and his furniture business is growing by the day. Tony is…well Tony is doing whatever Tony does in his studio. A studio you helped build.”
“I helped him become a recluse.”
“He’s not a recluse. He’s an artist.”
“Maybe if I actually saw some of his work, I’d believe it, but he keeps it under lock and key.”
“Give him time. I’m sure once he emerges, you’ll be in awe of his masterpiece.”
“I guess only time will tell.” He cleared his throat and he shifted. “I think it’s my turn for a question now,” Enzo said and Cami glanced at him. His eyes turned that sexy cobalt that made her thighs quiver. “Have you ever had sex on the beach?”
“Once, and it was terrible. But I’m willing to give it another shot.”
“Good, because I haven’t and it’s on my bucket list.”
“You have a bucket list?” Cami asked, surprised by this revelation.
Enzo’s finger rested beneath her chin and urged her up. “Only since you,” he said, his voice gruff with desire. “And they’re all the places I want you naked.”
“An entire list, huh?”
He responded with a chaste kiss to her lips.
“Like where else?” she asked.
His tongue teased the corner of her mouth. “Under the stars in my backyard.” He kissed her cheek. “My bedroom. My kitchen table.” He sucked on her lip, and she moaned at the intense craving that devoured her. “On the hood of your car. On the washing machine.” He dragged his lips down her neck, licking a path along her collarbone. “On the pier.” A need so desperate clawed its way to the surface, and when Enzo brought his mouth back to hers, she kissed him with a ferocity that she didn’t even know she contained.
His hands thrust into her hair, her body ripe and ready. She didn’t care that they were on a public beach and that the sun hadn’t fully set yet. The world around them didn’t exist; in this moment it was only the two of them.
Enzo kissed her back, matching her fervor. His hand slipped inside her pants, and she cried out when his thumb brushed against her swollen bud. Her body bucked back, head lolling to the side while Enzo took that as his opportunity to kiss the length of her neck. Her body gave itself over to pleasure, absorbing every ounce of it, focusing on the now and helping Enzo earn a check on his bucket list.
Chapter 22
The smell of coffee was a welcoming scent that greeted Cami like an old friend when she walked into her shop. She was amazed to see it hadn’t fallen apart while she was gone, though if she were honest with herself, she was also a little disappointed. She wanted to believe that the Local Bean’s success had everything to do with her. It was a little disheartening to see everything just as it was the day she had hurt herself.
Nothing was askew, not even the mugs that indecisive tourists picked up and put back down crooked at least a dozen times a day. Paulie and Ella really stepped up, and she owed them, especially Ella who didn’t have time to be running Cami’s store when she had Enzo’s place to finish before she moved her life across the country.
Her ankle still ached, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as it had been. The constant sitting around that was driving her insane seemed to have helped a ton. Even the essential oils Enzo had bought her helped, too. Warmth sprea
d through her just thinking about him.
She managed to sneak out this morning without him waking, though she expected he’d be walking through that door any minute. He would just have to wait. She had a shop to open for the day.
She went about her normal tasks, enjoying it far more than she should have. Who knew she’d miss filling the napkin holders?
Everything went as smoothly as possible, and even her ankle only throbbed slightly. The door opened, and she excitedly glanced up, but when it wasn’t Enzo, her excitement dwindled. Still she was happy to see Paulie.
“Hey boss, you’re back.” His crooked smile spread wide.
“I am.” She put the rest of the napkins in the holder and stepped out from behind the counter. “And I just wanted to say thank you so much for stepping up and taking care of this place for me. I will pay you overtime, and you’re getting a raise.”
“That’s not necessary,” Paulie said. “I just wanted to help.”
“You’re a good kid, but you’re still getting that raise.”
“In that case, I’m not going to argue.”
“Smart guy. Now tell me what I’ve missed.”
“My friend works here now. Enzo hired her.”
“I can’t wait to meet her.”
“She’ll be here at ten. She was a barista at a local chain coffee shop while she was away at college, so she has experience. She’s taking a semester off, and if you are interested, she’d like to work more than just the next month.”
A week ago, Cami would’ve said absolutely not, but getting help in the off season sounded nice. Being able to take a break without having to worry about the place falling apart would help alleviate some of her stress.
“I think that would be great. I’ll talk to her when she comes in.”
“Awesome.” Paulie headed into the back, and Cami turned the closed sign to open. From there it was an endless flow of people coming in and out the doors. Everyone was happy to see that she was back but also happy that she had taken time off to heal.
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