Page 33 of Best Laid Plans
Mentioning that she was gross and sweaty should have been her first priority. But the words wouldn’t come. She didn’t want to disrupt this moment, how good it felt to have Cam’s incredible hands on her again. Hands that he used to create, like she’d seen him do all weekend. Precise. Focused. Adept. She had no doubt they’d create all kinds of feelings in her, too, if he’d just give into them.
“So tell me Cam… how’s the company?” She pushed out between erratic breaths, her chest rising and falling.
He dipped down lower. “Perilous.” His lips were less than an inch away from hers, and Elle could already feel how they’d slot together so perfectly. “Like every day I’m walking through a minefield blindfolded.”
“Except that you’re the one who put the mines there,” Elle reasoned, surprised she could form a coherent thought. “And it’s up to you to decide how dangerous they are.”
“Oh, I know how dangerous you are,” Cam said, his fingers stopping as he splayed his hand out across her sternum. “And it’s not because of all the reasons that this is a bad idea.”
“No?” Elle wondered how much more she could take. She was so close to grabbing his hips and pulling him against her, just to feel the solid weight of him. To feel the bulge of his cock, which she’d fantasized about all week. How good it would feel inside of her. How much she could take into her mouth. She was ready to drop to her knees right here.
He leaned closer, his lips against her ear, like he was confessing. “I’m afraid if we start, I won’t be able to stop.”
The heat rolled through her. Insistent. Consuming. Like there was nothing else that existed beyond their bodies. The air between them was so heavy that she thought she was drowning in it.
And then Cam leaned back and stood up straight, Elle chasing the feeling she’d just lost, only to realize that he was turning away from her. “Cam, what the–”
She couldn’t see the person Cam was standing in front of now that he’d turned, her view obscured by his solid, infuriating body and the door of the van.
“Sandy, right? What can I help you with?” He asked, his voice hoarse. He cleared his throat and wrapped his hand around the back of his neck, giving Elle a perfect view of his bicep.
She was going to murder him. Even if it felt like a cardinal sin to take a body that perfect out of this world. But it was the only way to solve the mounting problem of Cam Devers in her life, and she could probably manage to strangle him with her bare hands given all the energy coursing through her with nowhere to go.
Sandy’s voice floated over to Elle, still dazed from the last few minutes. “I’m so glad that I caught up with you. I walked by your booth a few minutes ago, but it was already shut down.”
“We sold out, against our best efforts.” She could see Cam’s ears lifting upward, like he was smiling.
Wasn’t this just perfect? She could sit in the back of the van, frustrated beyond belief, while Cam schmoozed with another fan. With his stupid boyish grin and his stupid perfect body and his stupid self-deprecating humility that made him all the more attractive. He’d been as much of a draw as the food this weekend. Which hadn’t been a problem until this exact moment, when she was going out of her mind with how close she’d been to getting some sort of relief.
Well, nobody put baby in a corner.
“Van’s packed.” The excuse rolled fluidly, and loudly, off her tongue as she scooted off the ledge. She shut the van door and stepped into the blazing sun, side-by-side with Cam.
She was glad she’d made an excuse for what could have been a fairly compromising position when she got a good look at Sandy. She knew her. Someone she’d run into over the years, with her dad, though she probably wouldn’t have remembered her name had Cam not said it first.
“Your dad told me you’d be helping this weekend,” Sandy said exuberantly. “I didn’t realize you were back there.”
Elle hooked her thumb in Cam’s direction, her own body pint-sized in comparison. “Easier for me than him.” But she refused to meet his stare, wanting to blame him for this most recent interruption. Whether it was actually his fault or not was irrelevant.
Sandy laughed and looked between them, though she didn’t seem at all suspicious. And why should she? Nothing had happened. Again. It took a lot for Elle to resist sighing loudly. Petulantly, even.
But Mr. Morality was probably thrilled with the sequence of events that had just played out. He could pretend like he’d have taken things further, when in reality, something else, if not this, would have stopped him.
Like clockwork, Cam directed the conversation back to Sandy. “You’d wanted to catch me about something?”
Sandy shook her head, like she was remembering something. “Yes. One of our sponsors is the Rock Harbor Country Club. I think it’s their attempt at making sure the little people know they haven’t been forgotten about.” When Sandy saw Elle’s raised eyebrows, she waved her hand like it was waving her words off. “Anyway. They’re having a big event next weekend at the club, a charity fundraiser. All-day event with a golf tournament and then dinner in the evening.”
Elle was well aware of the Rock Harbor Country Club. Even though her ex-boyfriend and his family were lifelong members, she’d been there exactly once. For this event, in fact.
“I’m still a little lost here…” Cam’s confusion was surprisingly charming, and she internally batted away the flurry of butterflies in her stomach.
“I know it’s short notice, but the head of the club’s event planning committee made it absolutely certain that you needed to be asked.”
“Asked what?” Cam clarified, his voice teetering into annoyance. Which Elle also found hot.
God, she was so fucked. She needed to get out of here.
“They want you to be the featured chef for the event. Put the menu together and oversee the kitchen for the night. Do a couple of photo ops. Do you play golf?” Sandy asked, sizing him up, like she was trying to picture him with a club in his hand.
