His brow furrowed.
“What?” She mirrored his frown.
“I don’t know.” He lifted one shoulder. “I just always thought of you as this slick New Yorker who preferred sales at Saks and cocktails at the Waldorf over family get-togethers.”
“Ha!” She laughed. “First of all, you’re stereotyping. Second of all, you’re using thewrongstereotype. You’re thinking of a Manhattanite. I grew up on Staten Island, which is about as provincial and suburban as it gets in that part of the country. And third of all, I’m Italian. Family is everything.”
As soon as the last sentence left her lips, she grimaced.
Familyusedto be everything. And then she’d learned her father was a bona fide mobster. A cog in the massive, violent machinery that was the infamous Gambino crime family.
It’d been a devastating blow, to say the least. And yet, what’d ultimately caused their estrangement had been her sister’s death. The bomb that’d taken out Carlotta’s plane had been meant for Cami’s father—violence begets violence, after all; andthe lifewas nothing if not violent. But an illness at the last minute had grounded her dad, and so he’d given Carlotta his seat. Which meant the person who’d ultimately paid the price for Big Tony D’ Angelo’s wicked ways had been Cami’s kid sister. The one human being on the entire planet she had loved more than life itself.
She still kept in touch with her mother. Sort of. Her weekly phone calls home were done more out of a sense of duty than any sense of familial affection.
She couldn’t bring herself to forgive her mother for hiding the truth from her all those years. And she couldn’t fathom why her mother continued to stay married to her father given his life choices had landed him in prison and had gotten his youngest daughter killed.
Which meant, for better or worse, Cami was alone in the world. And even though she was on every dating app out there, she didn’t see that changing anytime soon.
A nameless dread gripped her then. Or maybe itwasn’tnameless. Maybe it had a name and that name was Childless, Husbandless, Lifelong Loner. Because at thirty-three, it felt like time was running out to make her dream of a big family a reality.
“I swear, woman.” Doc pulled her from her depressing thoughts. “Just when I think I’ve gotten to know you, you go and surprise me.”
She made a face. “I am a human onion. So many layers.”
“Nah. Layers would imply you’re hiding parts of yourself under other parts of yourself. But you’re the most forthrightperson I know.”
She frowned. “Why do I get the feeling youthink that’s a bad thing?”
He rolled his eyes. “Probably because you take offense to just about everything I say.”
As if to prove his point, she felt her feathers ruffle. “Could that be because you’re usuallytryingto offend me? Have you noticed your level of sarcasm goes up in direct proportion to the amount of time you’re forced to be in my presence?”
She fully expected him to rise to the bait and for them to devolve into their usual round of arguments. She was a little surprised when all he did was nudge her with his elbow. “Don’t act like you don’t like it.”
She made a valiant effort to hang on to her pique. But it leaked out of her like she was a sieve. “Fine,” she conceded. “I’ll admit it ifyouadmit it.”
“Oh, I admit it,” he came back instantly. “You’re bossy and obnoxious and youalwaysthink you’re right. But I like arguing with you more than I like laughing with other people. So…” He sighed heavily. “There’s that.”
She wasn’t simply surprised by his admission; she was downright gobsmacked. Which was why her mouth slung open.
When he glanced at her open lips, she thought he’d say something crude. This was usually the point where he would. But instead he lifted his gaze to her eyes. “Anyway, back to my original line of thought. You’re no onion with layers. You’re a finely cut crystal with facets. Every time I turn you in a new direction, I see the light bouncing off a fresh and captivating side of you.”
“Why are you being so nice to me?” She turned her head and narrowed her eyes. “Why aren’t you inundating me with sardonic observations about my shady profession or alluding to something overtly sexual in a bid to make me blush?”
He grinned that lopsided grin. “Oh, I still haveplentyof lawyer jokes in store for you. Don’t you worry about that.”
She flattened her face Kermit the Frog style.
“As for the sexual innuendos,” he went on, “it was all fun and games when I thought I was butting my head up against a brick wall. When I thought you were determined to keep me in the friend-slash-employer-slash-employee zone. But now that I know you’d be willing to”—again, his Adam’s apple bobbed in his throat—“explorethis thing between us at some point, it’s not so much fun anymore.”
“Why not?”
“Because now I know the thing I’ve been fantasizing about for months is there for the taking. And I’m tempted.” His expression looked almost pained. “God, woman, how you tempt me.”
Had the hurricane sucked all the air from the room? She was suddenly having a hard time catching her breath.
“Why do you say that like it’s a bad thing?” she managed.
