by Melody Anne
“Twice in one day. I’m a lucky man.”
Grace had to crane her head back to look up into Cam’s smiling face. Quickly, he lost the smile and concern took its place.
“What’s the matter?”
“Nothing. I need to get out of here,” she said, her stomach shaking with the control it was taking not to throw up.
“Something’s wrong,” he told her as he took her arm and began steering her down the hallway toward the exit of the building.
“I just watched a trauma patient come in. It shook me up,” Grace admitted as they reached the outside of the building.
“I’m sorry,” he said, but she could see he was just humoring her.
She was silent for a moment while she took some deep breaths. “What are you doing here?” she finally asked.
“I came in to talk to Spence and I saw you,” Cam replied.
“Well, then, I guess I have bad timing,” she told him.
“Or great timing,” he answered before he pulled her into his arms.
“Cam, stop,” she said, but she couldn’t seem to pull away.
“It looks like you really need this.” That was her only warning before he lowered his head and captured her mouth. Later, Grace would blame shock for needing five minutes before she managed to wobble away on shaky knees.
“So, not to be nosy or anything, but usually when you kiss a woman, she doesn’t go running.”
Cam turned around to see his brother standing in the doorway, a grin on his face. “She had someplace to be. What are you doing out here?” Cam murmured.
“I was looking for Grace. She was shaken up.”
“Well, luckily I was here to comfort her,” Cam replied.
“Must not have been too comforting by the way she ran away from you,” Spence said.
“There wasn’t an issue with the kiss. The issue was spending time with you.”
“All righty, then. If you say so.”
“Don’t you have lives to save? As a big, bad doctor, I would think you’d have far more important things to do than spy on your brother.”
“Nah, I have a competent staff. Besides, because I’m a married man with a single brother, I’d say your love life is more interesting than babysitting said competent staff who know how to do their jobs well. At least, that’s how I see it,” Spence told him. “What are you doing down here, anyway?”
“I wanted to see you, though I’m regretting that choice,” Cam said before sighing. “I’ve been trying to get Grace to talk to me about her case, and she manages to avoid it like it’s a freaking plague I’m trying to infect her with. I should just give up, but we both know I won’t do that. She thinks if she just runs far enough and fast enough from her problems, they’ll all go away. The law doesn’t work that way.”
“You don’t have to lecture me. You may be the lawyer in the family, but I’m the one with all the brains,” Spence said.
“Ha! I think you bribed your way through medical school.”
“Well . . . Okay, let’s be serious,” Spence said, all traces of amusement gone. “It’s time we talk about who has the better looks.”
It took a moment for Cam to realize his brother was still kidding around. “Seriously, how did you get through medical school?”
“My good looks, of course. It’s how I got the girl, too. Anytime you need any pointers, just come see your big brother.”
“You’re a pain in the ass, Spence. I should go see Jackson. At least he’ll say something worth hearing.”
“Ouch. You’re wounding my pride,” Spence replied.
“Yeah, if that were possible, I’d see monkeys taking over the hospital, too. And now you’ve kept me here BS-ing with you for so long that I’m sure Grace is miles away. I’d intended to chase her back down.”
“Since she’s gone, you can join me for some mouthwatering cafeteria food. I’m starving.”
“You look like you’re starving. Or not. Have you . . . put on a few pounds since getting married?” Cam mocked as the two began walking down the hallway.
“My wife keeps me well fed,” Spence said with a laugh. “Okay, maybe the cook keeps me fed. Neither Sage nor I have time to mess around in the kitchen. But I’m still hotter than ever.” With that, he lifted the top of his scrubs partway up and slapped his solid abs.
“Humble, too,” Cam said with a roll of the eyes.
“When you got it, you got it,” Spence said. “And boy, do I got it.”
“Your humility is one of my favorite things about you, big bro.” Just when he finished speaking, Sage ran up and squeezed between them as they walked down the hallway, linking each of her arms in one of theirs.
“Mmm, I don’t know why you didn’t run away with me, woman. You smell good enough to eat,” Cam said, and he leaned in and kissed her cheek.
“I smell like urine and blood, but you can try to charm me all you want,” she told him with a smile. “And I would have certainly chased after you, since you’re so much younger and more suave than your brother. Sadly, though, your heart is already taken,” she sighed.
“Ha! My heart will remain intact forever.”
“You can’t have something that you’ve already given away,” she told him with a sassy shake of her hips, then she pulled away from the men and snatched up a tray.
“Dang, woman, you in a hurry?” Cam asked while Sage loaded her tray up, leaving them in the dust.
Turning, she threw them a flirtatious smile. “Do you know how many of my lunches have been interrupted? I grab what I can and fill my pockets for later most of the time,” she said before reaching the register. Cam had only one item on his tray—a tempting chocolate muffin.
“She’s an intern still. She doesn’t want to miss a thing,” Spence said, moving much more slowly than his wife.
“She’s also married to the boss,” Cam pointed out.
“And she would never, ever use that advantage. I think being married to me makes her feel she has more to prove.”
“The competitive world of medicine,” Cam said, sighing, feigning the deepest compassion.
“Oh, like it was any different for you in law school,” Spence said as they paid for their lunches and went to join Sage.
“Fine. We’re both competitive.”
“We’re going to have a small party tomorrow night. Bring the corn and some whiskey,” Spence told him, changing the subject.
“Is Grace invited?” Cam asked before taking a bite of his sandwich.
“Yep.”
“I’m in.”
He stayed for another half hour before Spence was called to the ER. Cam had only one day to think of another approach for dealing with Grace. He wanted to help her with the case—and get the girl.
“I don’t care about your salad. Yes, you’re a genius at making things that don’t actually need to be cooked. I want to hear about the kiss that left you weak in the knees,” Sage said into the phone.
“How in the world do you know about that?” Grace gasped as she looked around for hidden cameras in her apartment. She wouldn’t be surprised to find them there, what with everything else that had been happening lately.
“I know things, especially things that happen in my hospital,” Sage told her. “And don’t think I wasn’t fooled by the fact that you weren’t answering your phone last night.”
“He kissed me . . . again . . . and then I ran like a chicken from a fox.”
“Uh-uh, little girl. I want details. You’ve been so closed up when it comes to Cam, and that’s breaking every code in the best friends’ rule book. I want details—now!”
“What do you want to hear? That his warm lips on mine left me tingling, or that I berated myself all the way home for my self-betrayal? Or how about the fact that I slept horribly last night because that one little kiss raised my body temperature to about a hundred and ten degrees, and I tossed and turned all night?”
“Why don’t you just admit that you aren’t over this man? That you’ll never
be over him? Then you can quit suffering and enjoy him to the fullest, or at least he can fill certain parts of your body to the fullest . . .” Sage chuckled.
“You find yourself so amusing, Sage. Look, you know what it was like for me after we broke up. And you know the type of relationships I was in after him. Cam has grown so much more . . . controlling, so demanding. He’s not the sweet teenage boy I fell in love with once upon a time,” Grace said.
“Of course he’s not a silly teenage boy. He’s a man who knows how to please a woman, and his sights are all set on you.”
“I don’t want his sights set on me. I want him to leave me alone.”
“You might be able to lie to a lot of people, Grace, but I’m not one of them—poor saps who think you’re a woman of the world, tough and independent. Yes, you are amazing, and strong, but you love him, have always loved him, and all you’re doing is prolonging the inevitable by fighting against him and yourself.”
“Why, again, are we best friends?” Grace asked with a furrowed brow.
“Because I will always tell you how it is, whether it’s what you want to hear or not,” Sage replied.
“Ugh. That’s not your greatest quality. Your job is to drown yourself in misery with me anytime I need a friend to bash men; it’s not to tell me I’m in love with the one man I shouldn’t be in love with. There are things I can’t tell you—that I won’t tell you—right now about Cam. I don’t want you to hate him. I just . . . I just don’t think I can do this again. Wanting him and knowing he’s not right for me are two different matters.”
“Number one, I wouldn’t be your true friend if I said only what you wanted to hear. Only those who want to please you tell you a bunch of crap. A true friend tells you what you need to hear. And number two, you know this will kill me not knowing what you can’t tell me, but because I do love you, I will be patient and wait it out.”
“I do love you, even if you are a royal pain in the ass. Hey, remember what Shakespeare said? ‘The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.’ You know, we could just shoot all the men in the world and live together happily ever after.”
“Trust me, I’ve thought about that,” Sage said, “but I just can’t give up the sex. Now that I’ve discovered it, it’s too damn hot to ever let go of.”
“Fine, you hussy, be that way. But that’s not what I called you about.”
“So speak to me. You know I’ll be honest, Grace.”
“It’s strange, really. I think I’m getting Alzheimer’s or something.” Grace looked around her apartment, trying to see whether anything seemed out of place. Was she just paranoid, or did she have something to be afraid of?
“Um, Grace. You’re only twenty-eight. I don’t think you’re ready for the nursing home quite yet.”
“I don’t know. It’s just little stuff, but it’s making me feel like I’m going out of my mind.”
“Okay, start from the beginning and tell me what’s happening,” Sage said, but something in the background started beeping. “Crap! Hold on.”
Grace listened in, hearing a lot of frantic movement, and the beeping sound grew more intense, making her pull the phone away from her ear. All of which was followed by a few colorfully unladylike words from her best friend.
A couple of minutes later, Sage came back on the line, and the beeping grew softer. “Sorry about that. I was boiling eggs and I let the damn water evaporate again. The eggs started burning and then exploded onto the hood vent, and the smoke detector went off. I don’t know why I attempt to cook. Mrs. Brinkman is going to have my hide when she gets back from her days off.”
“You have got to be the only person I know who gets so distracted boiling water that you nearly burn the house down.”
“Listen, missy. I clearly remember being your roommate for a while. I know you aren’t any better in the kitchen than I am,” Sage reminded her. “Now tell me what’s been happening.”
“So this morning I ran out to check the mailbox, because it’s been about a week, and I could have sworn I passed the newspaper sitting in front of my door, and then when I went back up the stairs and came inside, that paper was sitting on the kitchen table, and it was open. I know I must have done it, but I just can’t remember doing it,” Grace said, sighing.
“All right, maybe you are losing it.” Sage laughed, making Grace feel better.
To tell the truth, it had really creeped her out, but she wasn’t exactly a morning person, and she could have easily taken the paper in and flung it on the table hard enough that it opened and then forgotten that she’d done it.
“I just have to remember not to even open my front door until I’ve had at least two full cups of coffee,” Grace replied.
“I agree. Sadly enough, I think I drink at least fifteen cups when I’m working, especially an overnight shift.”
“Well, your days as an intern are just about up, aren’t they?” Grace asked.
“Yes, thank goodness. I only have six months to go, and then we’re going to party like it’s, well, like it’s the end of my schooling forever.”
“Good. Now I need to get off the phone so I can finish making this salad—one of the few items I can make—and then get over to your house on time,” Grace told her.
They ended the call and Grace crumbled up her crispy noodles, adding them to the salad just as her doorbell rang. Was it Girl Scout cookie time? She pulled the door open to find Cam on the other side. The instant ache in her core wasn’t the most positive of signs. Damn this man and the way he made her feel.
“Evening,” he said, a big smile on his face.
“What are you doing here, Cam?”
“I thought I’d be kind and offer you a ride out to Spence’s house.”
“I have a car, thank you,” she said, and tried to shut the door.
“Now, don’t be rude. You know you’re going to want to have a few drinks, and you don’t want to drink and drive, do you?” he asked, holding out his arm to prevent her from slamming the door shut.
“I’m not a moron, Cam. I don’t do that. It’s called restraint,” she countered before she realized what he’d said. “Wait a minute. How do you know I’m going out there?”
“I was invited, too,” he informed her, and that damnable smile returned—if anything, it was even brighter.
“Ugh! This had so better not be matchmaking,” she warned. “Just because we’ve shared a few kisses in the last year—” she started to say, when he broke in.
“Don’t forget about our incredible sex the night of Spence and Sage’s wedding.”
“I did forget, thank you,” she said. By the twinkle in his eyes, she had no doubt that he knew she was lying. Of course she hadn’t forgotten. How could she when he was the only man who had managed to make her feel as if she were floating while he traced his fingers across her eager flesh? His kisses since then kept reminding her of how much pleasure he was capable of bringing her.
It was best for everyone concerned—okay, it was best for just her alone if she stayed as far away from Camden Whitman as possible. Her body called her a liar. Her mind told her she was smart to avoid him. And her heart? She wasn’t even going to listen to the beating of her heart. It had never steered her in the right direction.
“You can say whatever you want, but your eyes tell me the truth,” he said, stepping closer.
“Knock it off, Cam.” Her voice was weak as she held up a hand. She knew he could easily overpower her, because they both knew she wanted him.
“I’m just trying to give you a ride, Grace.”
“The ride is what I’m afraid of,” she said dryly.
Cam laughed and moved in closer, cornering her against the table and lifting a hand to trail it through her loose tendrils of hair. “The ride is the best part,” he whispered.
She pulsed deep inside as her womanhood clamored for what his eyes were promising.
“Cam . . . don’t . . .” She was seconds away from falling into his arms.
; “Okay, I’m sorry.” He backed off, disappointing her and yet making her appreciate him at the same time.
Yep. She was certainly crazy. That was the only explanation for the things she was forgetting doing, and her wild emotions she couldn’t get a grasp on.
“How many people are going to be at your brother’s tonight? He made it sound like it was just a small family dinner. I should have been suspicious,” she said, trying to get back on track.
“I think only a few people are coming over.”
“How many is ‘a few’?” she asked.
“Okay, fine. You know my brother. Probably fifty or so,” he answered, finally giving her some much-needed space and walking over to her freshly made salad. He grabbed a fork and dipped in for a bite.
“That’s rude, Cam,” she snapped, snatching the fork from him before he could double-dip. “Anyway, I don’t think I have nearly enough salad, so back off.” As her temper rose, so did her attitude. “And who invited you inside, anyway? What makes you think you can barge into my house and make yourself so at home? I’m tired of you using your charm and getting your way every time I blink.”
“I’m worried about you,” he told her, his voice suddenly hushed.
The actual concern she saw entering his eyes made her tense. “Why are you worried about me?”
“When I stayed over the other night, when you had that cold, I heard something. When I went outside, there was a screwdriver below your window,” he said.
Grace knew Cam well enough to know when he was being serious and when he was kidding. She didn’t like the true worry she saw on his face.
“And why didn’t you tell me about this sooner?”
“Because I didn’t want you to be afraid. So I’ve been keeping an eye on you, on the place, and maybe a few friends are doing the same when I’m unable to.”
By the look in his eyes, it was more than obvious that he was waiting for her to lay into him. The problem was that she didn’t feel like doing that. She felt . . . dammit . . . she felt a smidgen of fear. What in the world was going on?