Page 38 of Sophia & Cameron

Understanding flooded her being. “I didn’t say I didn’twantto.”

His mouth snapped shut, and the look of confusion was enough to make her laugh.

“Wow, I must have done a number on you.” She moved toward him, and to her relief he didn’t back away. She draped her arms around his neck. “I would love nothing more than to go dancing with you. My favorite place to be is in your arms, Cameron. Don’t ever forget that.”

His hands found her waist, and he pulled her closer. A deep red color crawled up his neck and settled in his ears as he gave her a sheepish smile. “I’m sorry,” he said with a grimace. “I don’t know what got into me.”

She placed a hand to his cheek. “It’s fine. I’d practically agreed to do something with you this morning and I was just about to come find you to tell you I’m needed here.”

His brows pulled together. “Here?”

Sophia nodded. “There’s been a wolf attack in our herd. Mateo has to deal with that and do some other stuff, so he can’t watch his son while his wife is out. He wanted me to keep an eye on my nephew.”

She didn’t think it was possible, but Cameron’s face turned a deeper shade of red. He dragged a hand down his face. “I’m such a jerk.”

Laughter spilled from her lips. “You just overreacted a little. It’s okay. Rain check?”

He nodded. “Rain check.”

16

Cameron

Cameron stood outside Sophia’s house later that night with a grocery bag full of everything he could think of to make tonight special. He wanted to make things right between them. His blunder still hung in the air, and he didn’t want Sophia to think that this was who he was. He could be jealous, sure. And sometimes he jumped the gun. But he refused to lose her because of his flaws. There were good sides to him, too.

He knocked, and when the door opened, he was surprised to see Roman behind it. Roman frowned, his eyes taking Cameron in from head to toe. “You probably shouldn’t be here.”

Cameron rolled his eyes. “Just let me in. I know Mateo isn’t here. Sophia is babysitting, and I want to help.”

Roman arched a single brow and folded his arms. “You want to babysit?”

“Just let him in,” Sophia’s voice called, and Cameron grinned.

Roman sighed. “All right. Fine. But if you hurt?—”

Cameron brushed past him. “If I hurt her, then I’m dead meat. I get it.”

The door shut behind Cameron. He found Sophia seated on the floor with a small boy in the front room. They were playing with some toy horses, and the television was on in the background.

Sophia cocked her head to the side, with that knowing smile gracing her lips and making him feel invincible while at the same time completely disarmed.

The bag in his hands suddenly felt like it weighed a ton, and he offered her a sheepish grin. “I thought you could use some backup.”

She snickered. “Paxton is an angel. No backup needed.”

He lifted the bag with a shrug. “I don’t suppose the angel would be interested in a movie and some junk food?”

Paxton’s eyes lit up like a Christmas tree. He glanced from Sophia back to Cameron before launching himself from the floor and rushing toward the bag of goodies. “What did you bring? Is there popcorn?”

“I wouldn’t be very cool if I didn’t have popcorn, would I?” Cameron smirked. His eyes shifted toward Sophia, and he found her watching him intently. Her eyes were guarded, so there wasn’t much he could do to discern how she felt about him crashing her babysitting gig.

Then she smiled, and the world turned right-side-up.

He grinned back and moved farther into the room where he could put the bag down.

They pulled out six varieties of candy, popcorn, jerky, and a recent release of an animated film. Paxton insisted they needed to build a fort to watch the movie from and darted off to gather blankets while calling out to Cameron and Sophia to pull the cushions from the couch.

Sophia chuckled as she pulled the first one free and placed it on the floor. She cut him a glance out of the corner of her eye. “You’re pretty good with kids.”

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