Builders,” she said, putting it together. He looked over. “I saw the name on the side of the truck.”
“That’s my company.”
She wanted to ask more questions, but they’d reached 14 Bay View Road. Cam threw the truck into Park and slid out of his door. But Elle didn’t move. Instead, she let her homesick eyes drink in the sight of the one level house she’d lived in for most of her life. It looked exactly the same, even though she could tell it wasn’t. Her dad had put a fresh coat of paint on. There were new shutters and the landscaping was different.
But it was home and therefore would always be exactly what she needed to see.
“Traditionally, you leave the car when you reach your destination.”
She glanced up at Cam standing in her window, watching her. Rolling her eyes, she offered him a small smile. “Good thing you’re here to help me with these super hard ways of the world.”
His mouth twitched before he opened her door and reached across her to unbuckle her seat belt. Elle caught a whiff of a very masculine scent. Something musky, but clean. Like a really fresh soap laced with wood.
“When did you get rid of the beard?” she couldn’t help asking.
Confusion passed his face. Then he ran a hand over some appealing-looking stubble. “Years ago. Had to back when I worked for my father.”
Now that she was allowing herself a really good look, Elle acknowledged that Cam and Jasper barely resembled each other. Jasper was all light hair and crystal-blue eyes, tall but lanky, while Cam was dark and large. Both brothers were attractive—beyond attractive, really—but in very different ways.
“Do you even have a key to get in?” Cam’s question burst her bubble and she finally exited the truck.
“No worries.” After she walked to the small front porch, she bent over and smiled as her fingers touched the key in its usual place under the decorative ceramic frog that held watch at the front door.
Cam dragged her bags into the house and stepped back onto the porch. She turned to thank him for the ride, but before she could get the words out, he put his hand on the top of the door frame. Even though she could—and should—take a step backward into the open living room, she didn’t move. His eyes raked over her entire body until she squirmed.
“I’m glad you’re back, Elle.” Then he abruptly turned and walked back to his waiting truck.
With that, she nodded, wondering why she suddenly felt light-headed.
* * *
Cam considered himself to be a rational, sane man, but something happened to him when he saw Ellie Owens again. And that reaction defied reasoning.
“Damn,” he said aloud as he drove away from her house and made his way back down Bay View Road. When he reached the fork, he started veering toward town before he remembered that he’d left his favorite cordless drill at his parents’ house the night before.
Yanking the steering wheel to the left just in time, he made his way toward the east side of the bay. He’d been called by his mother to fix a shelf. Funny how when he’d arrived, tools in tow, there was nothing to fix. Instead—surprise, surprise—an attractive woman had been seated in one of the living rooms. His mother’s interior designer this time.
Cam loved his mom, but her attempts at fixing him up had been increasing at a fast pace over the last two years—ever since he’d turned thirty. Even if he’d been onboard with her efforts, she clearly didn’t know his tastes. Cam preferred a certain kind of woman. When his thoughts turned back to Elle, he swerved again before righting the truck.
Little Ellie Owens, who used to keep her head in a book, or in a sketch pad, while wearing jeans with patches over the knees. She’d never stepped a toe out of line until that idiotic video surfaced. Cam remembered how embarrassed Jasper had been seeing her announce her undying love for him. In Cam’s opinion, it never seemed like much of a burden to have a woman show you some love. Especially a woman as grounded as Elle. Of course, Jasper had been in a pretty serious relationship back then.
Regardless, somewhere along the line, she’d grown up into a gorgeous, stunning woman. Gone was the plain-Jane scholar. In her place was an accomplished, interesting person.
Cam turned into the gates of the mansion at 1954 Bay View Road and offered a wave to Stan, the head gardener. Then he parked his truck, and ran in the back door to retrieve his drill. He was about to climb back into the truck when he noticed that not only were his parents’ cars in the driveway, but so was his brother’s. Cam climbed the steps to the front porch and pushed his way inside the large and impressive house he’d been lucky enough to grow up in.
He heard the shouting before he even entered the solarium.
“It’s not that big of a deal.”
“You think you can come in here and start making changes like you own the place?” his father asked.
“I kind of do own the place.”
“Not yet,” his mother’s voice rang out. “Not while your father and I are still in charge.”
Cam didn’t have to be in the room to know that Jasper would be rolling his eyes the same way he was doing himself at the usual argument. His parents and brother butted heads on a daily basis.
“If you’d only let me implement a few small changes. Tweaks,” he added quickly. “We need a better social media plan. Our communications department is currently living in the stone age figuring out how to make fire.”
“It’s like you don’t even want to be part of this company, the way you keep trying to change everything.” Cam could hear the frustration in his father’s voice.
His own stomach clenched at the comment.
“Of course I want to be part of the company. Why else would I be here?” Jasper replied. “I’m simply trying to bring us into this century.”
Feeling a thickness in his throat, Cam decided to save his baby brother. Giving a quick cough to announce his presence, he stepped into the room.
“There’s my handsome son.” Lilah Dumont rose and patted him on the cheek before pulling him into a hug.
“Hey,” Jasper called out. “I thought I was your handsome son.”
She turned back to him. “Oh, you are. But only when you aren’t irritating me with new proposals involving hashtags.”
Cam hoped that Jasper saw the look of adoring, unaffected love their mother shot in his direction. But by the way Jasper had turned toward the window, he suspected not.
“Hey, Pops,” Cam said to his dad.
“Why aren’t you at work?” his dad asked as a reply and a welcome.
“Why aren’t any of you?” he countered.
“We are working.” His mother poured a glass of lemonade and handed it to him. “We’re discussing your brother’s latest idea.” She used air quotes and Cam was fairly certain he could hear Jasper grind his teeth.
