This was important to her for her too.

“Fine,” he finally conceded. “No more compliments on your work until you prove yourself.”

She nodded. “Thank you.”

“But I can still say that you look hot as hell wrapped in a sheet with your hair up like that?”

Heat flickered in her eyes. The only sign that he wasn’t way off base here.

Still, she shook her head. “No, you can’t say that.”

“Because it makes you uncomfortable?” he asked.

She hesitated, then said, “Because it makes me think about how hot you would look wrapped in only a sheet.”

That hit him with heat but also satisfaction. She wasn’t uncomfortable with their chemistry. She was distracted. That was okay.

“I would look really good wrapped in only a sheet. Down low. Around my waist.”

She pulled in a long breath. “Stop it.”

He grinned. “Okay.”

Her gaze tracked over his torso, then she sighed. “Asshole thing to do before I go back upstairs.”

She could take that thought with her when she went back upstairs to bed. He wasn’t apologetic about the idea of keeping her awake for a bit.

“Not sorry.”

“I know.”

Then she narrowed her eyes again. Though this time it seemed she was just thinking about something. “So I can do whatever I want? Say whatever I want? No consequences? No issues?”

He hesitated for some reason, but then nodded, mostly curious. He wanted her to be totally honest with him. He wanted her to feel free to feel and think anything and to tell him. “Yep.”

“Okay.” She stepped close, took the front of his shirt in her fist, rose on tiptoe and kissed him.

It was the first time their lips had been against the others in a decade. Far, far too long. Which had to be why it took him a good three seconds to respond. Just as he was lifting his hand to cup the back of her head and deepen the contact, she pulled back, smiled up at him, and then turned and left the kitchen.

He stood staring at the doorway for a good minute, his hand suspended in the air.

She’d tasted like toothpaste. She’d smelled like soap. Not a specific aroma, just soap. Clean and fresh and sweet.

But mostly she’d felt like… home.

He had never forgotten what it felt like to hold her, to kiss her, to make her laugh, to taste her—all over—and it all slammed into him in those moments after she left him in the kitchen.

It was like when memories came flooding back when he heard a song from the past or tasted one of his mom’s recipes he hadn’t had in a long time or when he saw one of the photos that hung on the wall on the way up the stairs to his childhood bedroom.

It was as real as if it had just happened and yet seemed a little like a dream.

Holy hell.

He wanted more of that. A lot more.

Yeah, moving in with Whitney and her grandmother on a whim had to be the best idea he’d ever had.

Grinning and feeling pretty fucking good about everything, he wrapped and stored the cookie dough in the fridge for baking tomorrow and cleaned up.

A few minutes later, he clicked the light off and started down the hall to the staircase.

He heard footsteps coming down as he got to the foyer. His heart kicked against his ribs. Had Whitney changed her mind about leaving him with just one kiss?

“Whit?” he asked softly.

“No,” came the answering not-quite-a-whisper.

He smiled into the darkness. “Hey, Didi.”

“Hi, honey.”

“You okay?”

“Sure.”

He heard a step creak as she came down further.

“What are you doing?”

“My show is on.”

It was eleven at night. He doubted her show, whatever it was, was on. But Whitney had mentioned that Didi was up at odd hours.

“Which show?”

“Magnum, P.I.”

Cam grinned. Okay, so maybe there were reruns on. “The old one or the new?”

“There’s a new one?” she asked.

“Yeah. They remade it.”

Didi stopped on the third step up and he could now see her with the light spilling in through the tall windows on either side of the front door from the lamps on the porch.

“Why in the world would they remake it? Tom Selleck can’t be replaced.”

He had kind of figured she’d feel that way. His mother did. “The new guy is pretty handsome,” Cam told her. “According to my sources.”

“Hmph,” Didi said. “I’m not interested.”

“You don’t even want to check it out? Dark hair. Lots of muscles. Really nice cars.”

She hesitated. “Well…”

He grinned. “It won’t hurt to watch an episode or two.”

“I suppose.”

“And I assume you like Tom Selleck’s new show then? Blue Bloods?” he asked.

“Tom Selleck has a new show?”

“He does. Pretty popular.”

“Can you find that one too?”

“I absolutely can.” If Whitney didn’t already have all the streaming services needed, Cam could fix that in about two minutes.

“I knew having you move in was the right thing to do,” Didi said. She came the rest of the way down the steps.

“Oh… now?” he asked. “How about we watch tomorrow?”

“Don’t be silly,” she said, moving past him to head down the hall to the family room. “We’re both awake, we might as well do it now.”

Cam heard another creak on the steps and he glanced up. Now that his eyes had adjusted to the dark, he could see more clearly. Though obviously it was Whitney. There was no one else in the house.

“She wants to watch Magnum, P.I.?” Whitney asked.

“Yeah. Is that the usual routine?”

“Yeah. She’s seen all the episodes a dozen times but…” She sighed. “She doesn’t remember them so they’re all new to her.”

He smiled slightly. “That’s kind of great. I’d love to see some of my favorite shows and movies for the first time again.”

“Yeah, well, I’ve also seen them all a dozen times now. It’s not so great.”

He gave a small laugh. “Then it really is great that I’m here. I’ve never seen a single episode of Magnum, P.I. Old or new.”

“She’ll be up until three a.m., Cam.” Whitney sounded exhausted just thinking about it.

“But then she sleeps in late tomorrow right?” he asked.

“She’ll sleep past ten. Probably. Though…”

He could see that she was chewing on her bottom lip. “What?”

“This will sound bad.”

“Come on, Whit. Tell me.”

“Okay, I put a bell on her doorknob when she goes to bed so I can hear her when she gets up.”

“Seems like a good idea. Why do you think that sounds bad?”

“It’s something people do for little kids. I feel bad that sometimes I use techniques like that.”

Cam moved to stand directly at the bottom of the steps. Whitney was five steps up but this way he could see her fully. And she could see him. “You’re doing it to keep her safe,” he said. “You’re not harming her in any way. And it probably helps you sleep more soundly because you’re not worrying about what she’s getting up to.”