Cam caught the faint tightening around her mouth before she flashed another smile. If he hadn’t seen the real thing when she’d fawned on Hush, he wouldn’t have known the difference.
Something tender there.
“Lesson learned.”
Mitch made a show of cracking his knuckles. “The offer to kick his ass still stands.”
“You’re sweet. Now go use your powers to woo some other unsuspecting female. I am wise to your ways.”
“You wound me, madam.”
“Pretty sure that ego of yours will survive.” But Norah grinned as she said it.
Mitch grabbed her hand, lifted it to his lips. “Glad you made it down, finally.”
She shook her head as he walked away. “Shameless.”
Cam got to his feet. “He likes you.”
“He likes everyone.” Amusement still colored her tone. “I enjoy his company, enjoy flirting with him because he’s exceptionally good at it, but it’s never been a date.”
Not for Mitch’s lack of trying, Cam knew. His cousin was an incorrigible flirt who loved and appreciated women of all varieties. “Well now you’re even more intriguing. Few women say no to Mitch.”
Norah smiled. “Then he needs some practice. Besides, I don’t have the energy to keep up with him.”
“Really? According to family stories, you’re the poster child for extrovert.”
“I like people, and I’m good with them, which comes in handy in my line of work. But I spend so much time ‘on’ for my job, I need to be able to turn it off and decompress the rest of the time. Mitch never turns off. The one time he visited for longer than two days, I wanted to sleep for a week.”
Cam took a closer look, noting the subtle strain and the tension in her posture now that she wasn’t distracted by petting Hush. “You needed to recharge when you came here.”
She looked up at him, lifting a brow.
“One introvert recognizes the signs of another. You weren’t expecting a big party.”
“No, but I dropped in completely unannounced, and it’s hard to consider a night of good company a hardship.” Her hand dropped back to Hush, scratching absently behind her ears.
The feeling of unexpected kinship surprised him. “I’ll drink to that.”
“That might be a little difficult, as neither of us presently has a drink.”
“An oversight easily rectified. What can I get you?”
“I’d love a cider. Thanks.” At the sight of something across the room, she loosed a quiet sigh and braced herself.
Tucker was headed their way. “Listen, why don’t you take Hush out back, get some air and a few minutes of quiet. I’ll run interference and meet you out there.”
Gratitude flashed in her eyes. “That’s the best offer I’ve had all night.”
“Go make your escape.” Time for an interception.
~*~
Norah stepped into the relative quiet of the night, Hush close on her heels. There were too many people in the house, too many familiar faces she’d met over the years, and they all had expectations about who she was, how she should behave. The last thing she wanted to do was talk about her exploits and successes, or entertain them with tales of the fast-paced, jet-setter life they imagined she led. She felt like a fraud. Keeping up the mask, subtly steering the conversation away from herself was taking all her energy. At least midnight wasn’t that far off. Surely the party wouldn’t last too much past that.
Hush peeled away to make a sniffing exploration of the fence perimeter. Norah walked out into the yard and looked up at the stars. Millions of tiny pinpricks winking against a sea of velvety black. She thought she could pick out the Big Dipper and maybe Orion’s Belt. I should’ve paid more attention when I took all those out-of-towners to the planetarium.
Cam stepped up beside her. “Bet you don’t get skies like these in Chicago.”