Cam was late to the party and well aware he was gonna hear about it. He’d considered not coming at all, but he wouldn’t put it past his cousins to come haul him bodily out of his house, and he preferred to show up under his own steam. Hush leapt down from the truck and Cam shut the door, trudging up the car-lined street toward Miranda’s place. His dog ran ahead, darting from bush to tree to car tire to sniff. He was probably gonna hear about having brought her, too, but she’d been stuck in the house all day while he helped his mom prepare for her party, and Cam figured it was a good escape mechanism. Win-win.
He didn’t bother knocking, just opened the front door and stepped inside. Music pumped through the lower floor, underscored by the din of conversation. People spilled into the rooms on either side of the entryway, surrounding the buffet in the dining room, trailing into the kitchen. Libation. That’s what he needed before facing the firing squad.
“This is taking fashionably late to a new extreme, don’t you think?” Tyler Edison looked amused from her post just inside the dining room.
“Yeah, well, my date took forever to get ready. All that primping.”
“If I’d known fur was an option, I’d have brought her a playmate. Speaking of, you might want to nab her before she bowls over the impromptu guest of honor.”
Cam spun just as Hush bolted into the den, making a beeline for a brunette in a little black dress. He leapt forward, but before he could get out a command, the woman was turning and crouching in her high, high heels, arms open to receive a hundred pounds of enthusiastic canine. They collided with joyful sounds on both sides. Hush trembled with excitement, tail wagging ninety to nothing, imperiling the knees of everyone around them as the woman rubbed her down. “Aren’t you just the sweetest thing? Who’s a good girl? Who’s a cute puppy?” She threw back her head in a laugh as his dog began bathing her face in kisses, her dark hair cascading in waves down her shoulders, her mouth curved in a smile that sucker punched Cam straight in the gut. His brain stuttered to a halt.
Wow.
“I don’t think anybody would call her a puppy.” Miranda turned a disapproving glare in his direction. “Cam, why in God’s name did you bring your dog?”
“She’s not two yet. Still a puppy.” He crossed to them and grabbed Hush by the collar. “And still learning her manners, I’m afraid. Sit, Hush.”
After a moment of indecision, Hush plopped her butt to the floor, tail still thumping a steady tattoo.
The woman looked up at him, peat-dark eyes ripe with amusement. “Aren’t you confusing her with multiple commands?”
She looked vaguely familiar, though Cam knew he’d never met her. No way would he have forgotten that smile. “No. Her name is Hush. It started out Sadie, but she talked so often the first few months and got told to hush, that’s what she started coming to, so it stuck.” He offered his hand and pulled her to her feet, sorry when her slim fingers released his.
“Oh Norah, your dress!”
That explained the familiarity. He’d seen pictures of Miranda’s old college roommate. Cam looked down, noted the white dog hair clinging to the fabric and winced. “Sorry. I’ve got a lint roller in my truck. I can go get it, if you like.”
“Oh smooth, Crawford,” Piper crooned with a laugh. “Great first impression.”
Norah waved a dismissive hand. “It’s just fur. A perfectly reasonable price to pay for puppy kisses from this sweet baby.” She scratched Hush under the chin, sent her back leg kicking. “You’re just a big teddy bear, aren’t you, girl?”
Delighted, Hush began to speak in her half howl, half singing voice as she slumped in a happy, boneless heap against Norah’s legs.
Norah braced herself for the extra weight and laughed again. “I stand corrected. A Wookie in a dog suit.”
“Half Alaskan malamute, half Great Pyrenees.”
“And all fur.” Miranda scowled. “Cam, she’s shedding on everything.”
“She’s not hurting a thing. Are you, baby?” As if to illustrate the point, Norah slipped out of her shoes and dropped back to the floor, neatly tucking her legs so Hush could sprawl across her lap.
Miranda threw up her hands. “Fine. You two dog people have fun. I’m going to see if I need to put out more sausage balls.”
“I’ll come with.” Piper followed her toward the dining room.
“Cam, if she gets into my buffet, it’s your head.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He saluted his cousin and watched her stalk toward the refreshments, where Liam was chatting with Tucker. Time to test his good fortune. “Is this floor taken?”
“Have a seat.”
He took up a position at the other end of his dog. “She’s pissed at me.”
“She’ll get over it. We’ll have to clean up the house again after the party anyway.”
“I suspect I may have just drafted myself for that job.”
“Well, you got points with me for bringing your dog to a people party.”
“Despite the mess to your dress?”
“Dresses can be cleaned. I don’t get to spend nearly enough time with dogs.” When Hush shifted in her lap, pawing her hand closer to the broad expanse of chest, Norah obliged, wringing a contented sigh from his pooch.
“Don’t have one yourself?”
“I live in an apartment and work long hours. It wouldn’t be fair to have a dog under those circumstances. I could have a cat but…why?”
“True enough. Did you have dogs growing up?”
“The only place we lived that would’ve been good for a dog was Hattiesburg, and we left there when I was eleven and my folks divorced. After that it was a string of big cities. Houston, Cincinnati, Philadelphia. A year in Boston before I left for school. My mom is a gifted pediatric surgeon, who’s always worked insane hours. My dad is a civil rights attorney who does the same, so a dog wasn’t really an option in either household.”
“That’s just tragic.”
“Little bit. But hard to argue when they’re both out there fighting for the greater good.”
There was something in her tone that made him wonder what else they’d done or, more likely, hadn’t done that she brushed off as being okay because they were doing good elsewhere.
“You never got one yourself?”
“I thought about it in college, but I knew I’d likely wind up back in the city for grad school. I promised myself if I ended up somewhere suitable after, then I’d get one. But I wound up staying in Chicago and—surprise, surprise—working as much as either of my parents.” She shrugged and focused hard on sussing out the rest of Hush’s favorite spots. “Sometimes I’ll stop by the dog park down from my apartment and just sit a while and watch them play. It’s relaxing.” A faint wash of color stained her cheeks as she glanced up at him, before turning back to the dog.
Christ, she was breaking his heart. Cam couldn’t imagine life without a dog. “Well, considering my dog appears to be completely besotted with you, seems like this trip should be a good opportunity for you to get your fill.”
“You don’t mind loaning her out?”
“She might come with her owner, when he can get free.”
Norah angled her head to study him, the lift of her brows indicating she’d caught his subtle flirtation. “How is it we’ve never met before this? In all the years I’ve known Miranda, all the times I’ve come home with her, I’ve met your entire family, including your mom. But never you.”
Cam leaned back against the wall, trailing his hand over Hush’s flank as he considered the question. “Well, when y’all were in school at Ole Miss, I was over at Auburn. It’s a much longer drive, so I didn’t come home as often.” A fact he now had cause to regret.
“You never visited Miranda in Chicago, while she was doing residency.”
“Hate the city.” He didn’t bother repressing the automatic shudder. “And you haven’t been back down here since she moved home. I’d have heard about it if you had. I’ve heard a great deal about you over the years. According to family reputation, you’re damn near perfect.”
Something flickered across her face at that, but her features smoothed quickly out into a self-deprecating smile. “Certifiable, type A overachiever, absolutely. But not perfect.”
“Lies!”
They both looked up as Mitch ambled over.
“Don’t listen to her, Cam. She’s just being modest.” He shifted his attention to Norah. “You’ve been hiding.”
“Not hiding. You’ve been circulating. I’m pretty sure I saw you making eyes at the woman who runs the hardware store.”
“Tyler? Nah. We’re just friends. Besides, you know I only have eyes for urbane brunettes.” Mitch held out both hands. “Come here and give me a hug.”
Norah dislodged the dog and let Mitch draw her to her feet, where he promptly bent her back into a dip. “Hello gorgeous. I hear that a breakup pie was purchased last night and that you are, at long last, on the market again. Finally coming back to Mississippi to date me properly?”
Cam felt an immediate and irrational desire to call dibs.
When Mitch made to kiss her, Norah stopped his mouth with a finger. “Just because you’re free with your kisses did not make it a date.”
“It was totally a date.” Mitch flashed an unrepentant grin.
“Liar, liar, pants on fire, Mitch Campbell.”
Mitch laid a hand over his heart. “Darlin’, you can light my pants on fire any time.”
She slapped him hard on the ass. “That’s as far as you’re getting with me.”
“More’s the pity. Who was the idiot? That shark in Armani I met that time?”
A woman like her had been with a man like that?
“Pierce. Yes, that would be the idiot in question.”
“Never did like him.”
“You only met him once.”
“He was too slick. And he had this look like he was calculating how he could use everything you said to his advantage.”
“Well that’s an astute observation. He did—does—exactly that. I never thought anything about it because that’s something we both do for a living.”
“With you it’s personal, though. You’re good because you can read people, figure out what they want, what they need, what they’ll respond to. Because you legitimately give a damn about them getting the best outcome. Pierce seemed a lot more self-serving.”
Because he was watching her, Cam saw the flash of surprise and relief before Norah leaned over and wrapped her arms around Mitch in a tight hug. “Thank you. I really needed to hear that.”
Mitch ran a hand over her hair. “Hey, I’ve got your back. Do I need to make a trip up to kick his ass?”
She favored him with an indulgent smile. “As gratifying as that might be, having you brought up on assault charges in my honor isn’t quite the resolution I had in mind.”
“I guess that’d be kinda weird since y’all work together.”
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.”
Norah accepted the bottle he held out. “No, definitely not. I’m surprised nobody’s spilled out. It’s a gorgeous night.”
“It’s below freezing.”
“Pssh. There’s six inches of fresh snow on the ground and sub-zero wind chills in Chicago right now. This is balmy.”
“Balmy or not, you’re going to freeze in that dress.”
As if to illustrate his point, a frigid wind stirred the trees, painting gooseflesh along her exposed skin. The warmth of Cam’s coat settled around her shoulders, draping almost all the way to her hemline. It smelled of him, of green, growing things that reminded her of the long, lazy summer days of childhood. Appealing. Like the man himself and his ridiculously charming dog.
“Thanks, but won’t you get cold now?” She looked over in time to see the flash of his smile and wished her eyes had adjusted enough to catch the wink of dimples she’d seen inside. She had a serious weakness for dimples.
“First, I have sleeves. Second, manly men don’t get cold.” He took a long pull on his beer. “But I can go back in if you’d rather be alone.”
She studied his shadowed face. “You’d really be okay with that, wouldn’t you? With rescuing me and being sent back inside.”
“You needed a chance to breathe. I don’t expect some kind of reward for recognizing that.”
How incredibly refreshing. “That kind of intuition is rare and highly under-appreciated. You’re the only person in there who recognized that I was about ready to crawl to crawl out of my skin.”
“I get the need for quiet. I don’t much like people horning in on mine, but that’s the nature of the holidays, especially in my family.”
“Well you have my thanks. And my company if you want it.”
“In that case, c’mon.” Cam grabbed her free hand and led her around the side of the house. A porch swing dangled from the limb of a massive oak tree. “We’ll be more out of the wind here.”
He sat, tugging her down beside him. One arm draped along the back of the swing. The move was such a classic, Norah’s lips twitched into a smile. But he didn’t shift to curve his arm around her shoulders or pull her closer. Instead, he leaned his head back and looked back up at the night sky. In the summer, when the tree leafed out, this would be a quiet, shady spot. For now, there was still a good view of the stars through the bare branches. The music inside was a low murmur through the glass.
Norah took the opportunity to study him from the corner of her eye. He was leaner than Mitch, though just as tall, with the blond hair characteristic of most of the Campbell clan. His was a good face, she decided. Not classically handsome like Pierce, but caught somewhere between boyish and rugged. It was a real face, and just now it was relaxed in lines of utter contentment.
“I envy you.” She didn’t realize she’d said it aloud until he looked over at her.
“Why?”
Your family. Your comfort in your life. Your direction. But she could say none of those things. “Your ability to relax. I’m terrible at it.”
“You’re still on city speed. I expect it takes practice. Lean on back.”
She tried to force herself to relax, but was too aware of the weight of his arm on the swing behind her and the heat of his leg pressed companionably against hers on the tiny seat. If she really relaxed, she’d be snuggling into him.
“There’s nothing you have to do, nothing demanding your attention. No reason why you can’t stop a while.”
Norah couldn’t stop the bitter laugh. “You have no idea how true that is.”
“Sounds like there’s a story there.”
“Not a good one.”
“That why you can’t relax?”
“Yeah.”
Cam toed the swing into motion and momentum did what she couldn’t, tipping her back into the crook of his arm. She was so damned tired, and it felt so nice to lean against him, she let herself have the illusory comfort of contact. Simple and undemanding. God, when was the last time anyone just let her be?
“I’m a good listener.” The quiet statement got to her.
“I haven’t even told Miranda why I’m really here.” She didn’t mean to say it. But the dark and the closeness seemed to invite confidences as much as he did.
“Not just a visit, then.”
“I’m running away.” Oh, it galled her to admit it.
Cam stopped their rocking, tension snapping into his body. When he spoke, his voice was carefully controlled. “Did the ex hurt you?”
“No. No, not the way you mean. I’m not coming from an abusive relationship or something. Despite its longevity, I’m not entirely sure it even merits the term relationship.”
He relaxed again and Norah felt the stroke of his hand down the length of her hair, the touch of hands that knew how to handle delicate things. Not that she’d ever thought of herself as delicate. She remembered that he ran a nursery and spent his days with plants. That explained the scents on his coat.
Cam said nothing as her brain continued to spin, just kept stroking her hair. Why should that small thing be so soothing? She found the words spilling out in a whisper. “I got fired.”
He didn’t flinch, didn’t pause, just shifted his hand beneath her hair to rub at the tension in her nape. “Why?”
“I found out my firm had engaged in ethics violations. Had involved me in ethics violations by withholding certain information.”
“Your firm or your ex?”
Oh, he was astute. “Both. I confronted them about it and said I wouldn’t be party to any more of that sort of practice. Evidently, I overestimated my importance to the firm.”
“Is there some professional organization you can report them to? Some group that can sanction them or yank their license or whatever?”
“We don’t have any kind of body like that. The American Marketing Association and the Public Relations Society of America have codes of ethics, but membership isn’t mandatory. There’s not really anybody who can do a damned thing. There’s no ethics police.”
“Well that sucks. Either way it sounds like you’re better off out of there. They weren’t your caliber of people.”
“Knowing I have the moral high ground is cold comfort when it comes to trying to get another job without references. I’ve been with this firm since graduate school.”
“References or not, I’m sure your work speaks for itself. Not to mention your academic credentials. Twice valedictorian, top of your class at Northwestern. Taylor medalist at Ole Miss.”
Norah sat up to look at him. “How do you know all that?”
“Miranda talks a lot. She’s really proud of you. Come back here.” Cam pulled her back where she’d been tucked up against him. “Is that why you haven’t told her? Are you worried she’ll think of you differently?”
“No. I know she loves me no matter what, which is why I came. But I know her. She’ll try to steamroll me to make a big change, and right now I just…I guess I’m still trying to wrap my head around it.”
“I’m hearing a lot more upset about the job than the guy.”
He was fishing and Norah knew it. She found she didn’t actually mind. “The job mattered. Pierce didn’t. Or rather, he was an extension of the job. Work has always defined my life, defined me. I don’t know who I am without it.”
“You’re more than your job, Norah. From my point of view, you’re a woman who takes her commitments and responsibilities very seriously. Clearly your parents did a great job instilling in you a hard work ethic, but they missed out on some of the essentials.”
Norah bristled and started to sit up, but he held her in place.
“Don’t get your dander up. I’m not insulting your folks. But they clearly didn’t teach you that the other side of hard work is play. That sometimes you just need to be still. That it’s okay to just be. They didn’t teach you the value of sitting on a swing in the dark or dancing under the stars. All that’s important too.”
She tried to imagine her parents doing any of those things and couldn’t see it. Her father was always working on some brief and, when she wasn’t at the hospital, her mother was always keeping up-to-date with the medical literature, even over Saturday morning coffee. And Norah had followed right along in their footsteps within the confines of her own field. She understood work. Work had always been a constant. It made sense in a world that otherwise often didn’t seem to follow any rules.
“Did I piss you off?”
“No, I was just trying to remember the last time I truly just chilled. Went to a movie without trying to analyze the advertising campaign or to a party without automatically building mental dossiers on all the attendees. And I…can’t.”
“Seems like maybe you need a remedial course in just plain living.”
Christ, that was sad. “Are you volunteering as teacher?”
“Why not? I’m here, you’re here, and they’re playing one of my favorites.” Cam brought the swing to a stop and rose, setting both their drinks at the base of the tree. He held out a hand. “Dance with me.”
Norah laid her hand in his, letting the coat fall to the swing as she stood and stepped into him. She didn’t notice the cold, not when the warmth of his hand curved at her waist and he began circling her to the quiet rhythm. She angled her head, straining to identify the music because it seemed safer to focus on that than on how it felt to be pressed almost against him. “Moon River. Old school.”
“Other kids got Goodnight Moon. I got this.”
The idea of it delighted her. “Please tell me you had one of those Fisher Price record players in your room.”
“For a little while, but it didn’t survive my cousins very long. No, I had this little tape deck thing. Mom filled up both sides of a tape with the song, and every night she’d put me to bed and press play. I’d fall asleep serenaded by Sinatra.”
“That sounds lovely.” Smiling, she tipped her head back to look at the sky again. “This is lovely.”
“So are you.”
Her eyes had adjusted enough to see his face in the faint cast of light from the house, and what she saw there made her pulse leap. Foolish, she thought. Theirs was a temporary intimacy, a product of shared secrets and darkness. But for all that it was fleeting, it was so incredibly temping to give into the desire to touch and be touched. To feel, for a little while, as if she wasn’t alone.
One corner of Cam’s mouth lifted, drawing her gaze. God, he had beautiful lips. As the instrumental solo began, he slid one hand around her back, shifting from a dance to an embrace. Her hand flexed on his shoulder, with nerves or to get a better grip on him, she didn’t know. But he didn’t kiss her, instead nudging her head to his shoulder and resting a cheek on her hair. After a brief flare of disappointment, she relaxed against him and lost herself to the music and the solid, steady feel of him against her. By the time the song ended, Norah found herself soothed, as much by the man as the dance.
Reluctant to step away, she lifted her head. “I feel better. Thanks for listening. And for the dance.”
“Anytime.” Cam brushed the hair back from her face with another of those feather-soft touches.
Inside, somebody shouted. The music cut off and the countdown began.
Cam didn’t drop his hand. With each second that ticked by, Norah’s heart kicked harder.
“…six…five…”
He stroked his thumb along the curve of her cheek, and she couldn’t stop herself from leaning into the touch.
“…three…two…one!”
“Happy New Year,” she whispered.
He bent his head so she felt the warmth of his breath. “Happy New Year.”
They held, trembling, at that delicious edge of temptation as noisemakers and whoops sounded from inside. She didn’t know who moved first, only that his hand tangled in her hair and the mouth pressed to hers was no gossamer brush of lips. Heat sparked between them, rushing along her skin, heady and welcome.
God, yes.
She rose up, twining her arms around his neck to draw him closer and held on for the ride. He changed the angle, drew them both deeper into the kiss. The taste of him punched into her and lit up nerve endings she hadn’t known existed. It was so wholly unexpected and glorious to be lost in a tangle of sensations and needs.
“Hush! Get out of my flower bed!”
Norah broke off, reflexively turning her head toward Miranda’s shout. Cam made a growl of protest.
“Um…” It was all she could manage with her brain cells obliterated. She was deliciously dizzy, still gripping his shoulders for balance.
He pressed his brow to hers, his breath gratifyingly unsteady. “How long are you staying?”
“Longer now, I think.”
“Good.” Reluctance in every gesture, he eased back and released her. “I’ve gotta go rescue my dog.”
Still swaying, Norah watched him walk back around the side of the house to accept Miranda’s wrath. She lifted a hand to her still tingling lips and let out a trembling exhale.
Oh boy.