“Oh….” I glanced at Cam, who gave me a woebegone look. “Oh! You don’t have anyone to watch the kids.”
“Why can’t you do it, Cam?” Olivia asked, and I could imagine her frowning through the phone at him.
“Work, remember?”
“Oh, damn it. No. I didn’t. I really am not okay.” There was a terrible sound from her end, and any desire for my food disappeared.
“I’ll do it,” I said, straightening my shoulders.
Cam grinned, and Olivia let out a sad little cheer. I managed to flag down Harmony and ask for boxes, and she was even kind enough to put the rest of the tea into a paper to-go cup. I left enough money for the bill and a hefty tip, since we’d more or less taken up a table for nothing.
“Well, now we don’t know if we’re compatible or not,” I said with a sigh as we left. Cam slipped the bag the food containers were in over his arm and laughed as he wrapped his other one around me.
“What do you mean?”
“You wanted us to have conversations today. See if we really fit.” I glanced up at him, and my heart nearly stopped at the sweet smile he gave me.
“Okay, listen. One, I just told you, in the middle of date day, that I had to go to work, and you didn’t so much as bat an eye or hint at being pissed. Two, my ex just called, and you didn’t care.” He jostled me around.
“You said you’re only friends.”
He hummed. “We are, but a lot of guys can’t see that. Three, you volunteered to watch my spawn, who you don’t know well.”
“It needs to happen, right? Someone needs to do it?” Frowning, I glanced up at him.
He pulled me to a stop and leaned down to brush a soft kiss to my lips. “I’d say we’re going to be fine, if you want to try this for real. What do you think?”
“Like… date? Relationship?”
He nodded and gripped my waist with one hand. “As in not just fucking but maybe more. I’m a jealous asshole, even if you aren’t, and I will probably track you down and fuck you in places I shouldn’t, but I’d like a chance at times like this, too.” He nodded in the direction of the tearoom we’d just left. “It’s fun to do things with you.”
“I’d love that,” I murmured, my heart pounding every bit as hard as it had that first night he’d chased me.
He didn’t say anything back, simply kissed me again.
“Okay, let’s run, because I gotta book it.” He tugged my hand and we sprinted toward the truck.
Less than an hour later I had two sets of unimpressed eyes stuck on me as the kids sat sprawled on Cam’s couch kicking their legs back and forth. Today the girls were in a matching shorts and T-shirt combo, only while Addy had blue, Eloise was decked out in pink, with pink ribbons at the bottom of her blonde braid.
“We’re bored, Mr. Mark,” Eloise said. She blinked big eyes at me and I nearly crumbled to dust. I wanted nothing more than for her to not be bored, if only to get her to stop looking at me like the world was over.
“I’m very sorry,” I said in my soberest voice, and she giggled.
“Yep. Let’s go hunt for frogs!” Addy chimed in, hopping to her feet.
“Why are we always hunting things?” I asked, my cheeks heating as I thought of Cam, who shared that particular proclivity.
“ ’Cause it’s fun!”
“Sounds good,” I agreed faintly.
The girls ran to the back of Cam’s house, and I groaned as the door slammed behind them but went out into the yard, hot on their trail. The summer heat slapped my face. I hadn’t realized the frog hunt would mean a dash into the small pond. Addy came out covered in mud up to her knees but happily clutching a frog. She put it back by flinging it into the water, and I held out a hand.
“Gentle with the live animals!”
She nodded, then ducked down to capture some other hapless creature. Eloise seemed content to clap and shout numbers, which I realized were scores, every time Addy flung something into the water. She got a ten out of ten for tossing the turtle.
“That’s enough of that,” I demanded firmly. “I said we can’t hurt animals.”
