“Hey, beautiful,” Cam said as he stepped inside after we kissed on the front steps.
“Hi.” I smiled back at him and suddenly felt seventeen again. I don’t know what it was about him, but Cam made me feel as if I had never been loved before and this was my first time.
He set the bags down on the floor and looked around to see if Piper was within eyesight. When he saw that she wasn’t, he wrapped his arms around my waist and pushed me against the back of the front door. I giggled as he pressed his lips to my neck and buried his face behind my ear. Tingles filled my body as he kissed me and held me in place with his hands. My arms were pressed between us so I couldn’t do anything but let him have me.
“I missed you today,” he murmured, pressing more kisses into the side of my neck.
“I missed you too,” I replied, turning my head to meet his.
He paused for a moment and gave me a cocky smirk. His eyes flashed from my eyes to my lips before he kissed me hard.
Finally releasing me, I was able to rope my arms around his neck and pull him close as he leaned into the kiss, pushing his tongue into my mouth. The taste of him made me feel like I was floating.
“Oh my god,get a room!” Piper shouted as she exited her room and saw us at the door.
We both laughed and moved away from each other. Cam picked the bags up off the floor and followed Piper and me into the kitchen.
“So, what are we eating tonight?” Piper asked, sitting at one of the barstools as Cam and I unloaded the groceries.
“I would like to point out that you guys invitedmehere for dinner, yet I was the one who had to go grocery shopping,” Cam joked, pulling out a jar of pasta sauce from one of the bags and setting it on the counter.
“Actually, it was Piper’s idea to have you over for dinner. All I did was send a text.” I looked at him with a half-smirk.
“Oh, so what you’re saying is youdon’twant me here then? Should I just leave the food and go?” Cam set the groceries down on the counter and started to walk back toward the front door.
“No! Don’t go!” I started after him nearly begging. “If you leave, who will cook us dinner?”
He gave me an incredulous look when I grabbed his arm and pulled him to face me. When I started to laugh, he turned around quickly and started to tickle me. I tried to run, but he held me tight and was bear-hugging me before I could escape. He continued to tickle me and I squirmed under his grasp, laughing uncontrollably.
“Say it, Jones, say you want me to stay!” he growled as he continued to make me laugh deep in my belly.
“Stay! I want you to stay!” I could hardly get the words out because I was laughing so hard. “Please, Cam, I want you to stay! Stop tickling me, I’m about to pee myself and if I do, you’ll be the one who has to mop the floors!”
He stopped, thankfully, and all three of us were laughing. Once he released me, I punched him playfully in his arm as we walked back toward the kitchen. He looked at me again, and I saw a look of admiration and affection in his eyes.
“You two are cute, but you’re also making me sick. Someone better feed me before I barf all over the floor because of how much you disgust me.”
I rolled my eyes at Piper’s joke and continued to help Cam unpack the groceries. As we did, I thought about how nice it felt to do this with him. Unpack groceries. It’s such a mundane thing, but with Cam, it felt special.
Everything with Cam felt special. It felt comfortable.
It felt like home.
Two hourslater and several glasses of wine down, Piper, Cam, and I cleaned up the kitchen and were sitting on the couch discussing the conference.
I loved how many questions Cam asked about it. He wanted to know everything about She Who Thrives and it made my heart swell seeing how much he was interested. I especially loved how much he supported Piper working for me. He talked to her like she was working any other kind of job, which I knew was important to her.
Piper didn’t talk about it much, but I knew she felt a little weird about coming to work for me. She had big plans to become a lawyer, but when life didn’t work out according to her plan, she came to work for me. I didn’t think of her as any less for not making it as a lawyer, but I knew she did. It made me happy to see Cam be just as supportive of her as he was of me.
Just after eleven, Piper got up from her spot on one of the couches and announced she was going to bed, leaving just Cam and I in the living room. He was sitting across from me on the oversized couch that took up most of the room. His arm slung over the back of it and his hand propped up his head. He was looking at me with a small smile on his face, not saying anything.
“What?” I asked him as I pulled my feet under my butt.
“Am I not allowed to just look at you?”
“No, you are. I just wonder what you’re thinking about when you do.”
“I’m thinking about how beautiful you are.”