“You live…in a barn.” Norah made the statement slowly, as if that might make it a dream.
“Above one, actually.” Cam climbed out of the truck and reached for the bags in the backseat.
“Um…why?”
“It happens the house that was here burned to the ground a few years back. The owners didn't have the means or desire to rebuild. So I bought it and all the land that went with it. The barn loft was easy enough to convert into an apartment. Mitch and a few other friends helped me do it the summer I bought the place. I keep meaning to start on a house, but it...just hasn't been a priority. Come on in and let’s see how far I’ve offended your city girl sensibilities.”
Norah climbed out of his truck and stalked around the front. “Just because I’ve lived in cities more than half my life doesn’t change the fact that I’m Mississippi born and bred.”
He chuckled at the irritated twitch to her hips and led her up the stairs to the converted loft. Hush met them at the door, wagging in ecstasy at her visitor. While she and Norah greeted each other as if it’d been years rather than a few hours since they’d played together, Cam brushed past them and deposited the bags on the coffee table.
“Can I get you anything? There’s a pitcher of tea in the fridge. Or beer if you want.”
Norah extricated herself from the dog and finally stepped inside, her heels clicking across the hardwood floors he’d sanded and stained himself. “Coffee, if you’ve got it.”
“Comin’ right up.”
Hush bounced across the room and laid claim to her end of the sofa. As he set up the coffee to brew, Cam watched Norah taking in his space and wondered what she saw. Would she notice the reclaimed wood they’d fashioned into window seats and cabinetry along the length of both long walls? Or the solid butcher block counters polished to a gleam? Would she appreciate the small touches of the antique and the rustic? Or would she only see the lack of sleek and modern?
Norah turned a slow circle. "It's...wonderful. Cozy.”
Something in him eased at that. She really wasn’t the city girl he teased her of being. Not completely. “It’s unique anyway. I like my privacy.”
By the time French roast dripped through the filter, Norah had commandeered the coffee table. Her assortment of new notepads was laid out by size, and she was in the process of organizing the pens by color.
“You had multiple colored highlighters and sticky notes when you studied in college, didn’t you?”
“Of course I did. There were flashcards, too. I made everybody play Trivial Pursuit to study.”
Amused and happy to have her in his space, alone, he flopped down beside her on the sofa and tugged her into his lap. He cut off her squeal of surprise with a kiss.
“Mmm, I’ve been waiting for that for days.” Nibbling his way down her throat, he said, “Been waiting to get you here all to myself for longer.”
“Stop.” Norah’s voice was
a trifle breathless as she slapped a hand to his chest and shoved back. “We need to talk.”
“Talk.” The universal warning signal for relationships everywhere. Where was she going with this?
“I—oh for heaven’s sake, I can’t do this in your lap.” She extricated herself and took a breath. “Look, what we’re trying to do here is huge. It’s going to take a lot of work, and I need to be at the top of my game. I can’t do that if you’re scrambling my brains every other minute with your mouth.”
Cam fought the grin for all of two seconds.
“Don’t look so pleased with yourself, Campbell.” Her narrow-eyed glare was entirely ruined by the twitch of her own lips
“Hard not to be when you’re exactly where I want you. Almost.” He managed not to glance at the door to the bedroom as he curled his hand around hers and stroked a thumb over her wrist. Her pulse jumped and that pleased him as well.
“This—you and me—it’s complicated.”
“Doesn’t have to be.” He didn’t want it to be. He wanted things to be simple.
“It’s complicated.” Those expressive eyes were full of so much doubt and uncertainty. “I don’t know what the hell I’m doing with my life.”
“So? You don’t have to have a plan for everything all the time.”
“I do. Do you know the last time I didn’t know exactly where my life was going and how I was going to get there? Fifth grade, when my parents divorced and had to sort out custody, which was really trying to work out whose career trying to save the world was inconvenienced the least by having to deal with me. I don’t just bounce along without a plan. Ever. Because I have to know I have somewhere to land.”
Cam bled for her. He knew what it was to be abandoned by a parent because of career. But at least he’d had his mom. He’d always been able to count on her. On the rest of his family. He wanted to tug Norah back into his arms, but he didn’t think she’d let him. Not just now.