“Oh, heavens no.” Wiping her eyes, she laughed. “The C4 is just window dressing.”
“Damn straight, woman,” Camden said, shoulders shaking until he couldn’t hold back his laughter anymore. He squeezed her tight and kissed the top of her head. “Now, funny girl, there are roughly fifty-eight more positions I’d like us to try.”
Her eyebrows raised. “How many do you think we can get through tonight?”
He gave her a wicked grin. “What do you mean? I wasonlytalking about tonight.”
* * *
The next morning, Camden sat at his kitchen island—at Elena’s insistence—while she made pancakes. And bacon. And sausage. And eggs. And toast. And fresh-squeezed orange juice.
As she flipped a pancake, she said, “You were right last night, the kitcheniswhere you keep your food.”
“And I see your objective is to cook every last scrap of it.”
She glanced over her shoulder and grinned. “Something like that, considering everyone’s coming over.”
“Don’t remind me.” Camden rolled his shoulders, trying to ease the tension in them. Lachlan had called at oh-dark-thirty saying that Gina had some interesting news about the fertility clinic data. He wanted everyone at Watchdog ASAP. But Elena wouldn’t hear of it and told Camden to tell Lach that breakfast was at Camden’s and she was cooking. His boss had eaten her cookies and was no fool, so now the team was headed their way.
“What?” Elena put a fist on her hip. “You love your job.”
“I do. But, it means I don’t get to see you wearing my shirt for as long as I want to.” And damn, did she wear it well. As a matter of fact, he wanted to run his hands over her while she was wearing it, so he stood up and crossed to the stove.
“This old thing?” She grinned and spun. “I’ve had it for ages. No, wait, I’m planning to keep it for ages.”
“You are?” Camden wrapped his arms around her from behind and nuzzled into her neck.
“Mmm. I am. And its owner, too.”
“You’d better, because he’s planning on keeping you. Even if he never gets to wear this shirt again.” He patted her bottom. “They should be here any minute. I’ll finish up here while you go get dressed.” He smacked his lips together and frowned as if he’d just tasted something bad. “Man, I did not like saying those last words.”
Elena laughed, turned, and stood up on tiptoe to kiss Camden. “Better?”
“Mmm. Much.”
As he plated up the last of the food, he thought about how much he loved to hear her laugh, and how he loved being the guy who made that happen.
* * *
Lachlan arrived first, just as Elena came back out of the bedroom. Gina showed up a couple minutes later with Fleur, who made a beeline for Toby and the backyard. Gina was followed by Jake, then Nash. Costello, as usual, was running behind.
“Sorry,” he said as he grabbed a plate and joined everyone else around the island. “Not a morning person.”
“Wet dreams just too good to get out of bed?” Nash asked.
Costello’s eyes went wide.
“Dude! Seriously?” Camden said. “You mind? My woman’s right here.”
“Also a woman,” Gina said as she lifted her finger in the air. “Either way, not interested in hearing about Costello’s nocturnal emiss—”
“Damn, you’re worse than the rest.” Costello cut her off while red crept up his throat, as if Nash’s comment hit a little too close to home. From everything Camden had seen, the man hated to look anything less than distinguished. Mr. Proper. Which was why he was so much fun to tease.
Gina winked at Elena as she popped a bite of pancake in her mouth. To her credit, Elena didn’t laugh out loud, but Camden could feel her shaking with suppressed laughter.
“So, what sort of news do you have for us, Gina?” Camden asked.
The kitchen went dead-still. Jake appeared the most uncomfortable. Gina looked at Elena, then back at Camden.
