She nodded.

“So stop feeling bad. It’s all good. And now tonight you can put some earplugs in or put some music on or something and sleep like a baby. I’ve got this.”

“You don’t have to do this.”

“Does it make you like me a little more? Make you a little softer toward me? Make you a tiny bit closer to wanting to take your clothes off with me?” he asked lightly.

He could see her fighting her smile even from five steps away. “The first two things, yes.”

“Not the naked thing?” he asked, lifting a brow.

“Well, I already want to take my clothes off with you, so this doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with that.”

Okay, he had not been expecting that. But he liked it. A lot. He grinned. “Of course you would say that when there’s a sweet little lady wide awake and wanting to watch TV—”

Just then the clatter of a tea kettle hitting the floor broke the relative quiet of the house.

“And needing some assistance in the kitchen,” he finished with a little grimace.

Whitney laughed. “If you think I wasn’t completely aware of the situation when I made that confession, you’re crazy.”

“I’m not going to forget it,” he told her, his voice husky.

There was just a beat and then she said, “I know.”

She turned and headed back upstairs.

Cam appreciated that she was going to let him do this—stay up and take care of Didi. That was why he was here, of course. Well, one reason. But, while she’d resisted at first, once they got over all her arguments, she was now letting it go.

She was either totally trusting him—or she was really exhausted.

He couldn’t imagine staying up until 3 a.m. every day and then getting to the office by eight. It was possible that before the guys had taken over Hot Cakes that she’d come in later, but she was always there well before he strolled in at nine. She was trying to impress them. She didn’t know that early birds weren’t the guys’ style. Though Aiden had been showing up earlier at the office since he’d been with Zoe. Grant probably would be too now that he was living with Josie. The girls went into the bakery at 6 a.m.

Still, no one judged anyone else for what time they got to work. Well, not beyond the usual ribbing about what—or who—had kept the guy up late the night before and had him guzzling coffee the next morning.

Of course, that had all changed a lot too. Three of the guys were now in serious relationships and Cam did not want to hear about what Aiden and Zoe had been up to late at night.

He heard another clatter from the kitchen and he headed in that direction before the sounds changed from the sound a tea kettle against the ceramic tile to something more like a tea cup hitting the floor.

“Let me get that,” he said, taking the kettle from Didi where she was filling it with water. “I assume you like chocolate chip cookies?”

She gave him a wide-eyed look. “Who doesn’t like chocolate chip cookies?”

He nodded. “Weirdos.”

“Exactly. Never trust someone who doesn’t like cookies.”

“Sage advice.” He filled the kettle and set it on the stove.

He could have made her tea from the Keurig sitting on the counter about a foot away from the stove, but he figured Didi was a lot like Letty had been.

His grandmother always maintained that cutting corners was for things like shopping for pants and dusting bookshelves. She said when you found pants you liked, you bought two pairs in every color and were done with it for a good long while. She also kept her books at the front edge of the shelf so she only had to dust the tops of the books. As she said, no one ever looked behind the books.

But cutting corners was never for food preparation. That included tea.

He got Didi settled in front of the TV. He started Magnum, P.I. at season one, episode one. If she didn’t remember them anyway and he was going to be watching with her, he might as well see it from the beginning.

He could see her and the TV from the kitchen with the open-concept design of the less formal rooms at the back of the massive house. He put the cookies in the oven as the first episode rolled. Didi sat on one end of the sofa with a blanket covering her lap and her tea cup cradled between her hands. She looked completely content and Cam smiled. It was late at night, but otherwise there was nothing wrong with this. And Lord knew he’d spent plenty of nights up late reading briefs or writing proposals or exchanging snarky emails with the attorneys for other companies who put in similar long hours when needed.

“I’m so glad Whitney finally has someone to appreciate her,” Didi commented as he joined her on the couch. “Besides me, of course.”

“I absolutely do,” Cam said sincerely.

“Good. Fuck her father and brothers.”

Cam snorted. Didi’s words made him feel amused, for sure. But also… protective. No one was going to treat Whitney the way her father and brothers had any more. Yeah, fuck her dad and brothers.

He smiled at Didi and she returned the grin. Then she looked back at the TV. “Okay, shh… Tom Selleck is on.”

Yeah, he and Didi were going to be fine.

11

“What if we make them in the shape of alpacas?” Ollie asked.

Whitney looked at him. She still wasn’t entirely sure how to tell when Ollie was being serious. Though she was starting to learn that he was always about half serious. He threw ideas out and left it to his partners to decide which ones would stick and which ones were ridiculous. But he never said things he didn’t mean at least a little.

“You think we should make the new bars in the shape of alpacas?” Grant asked.

“Why not?” Ollie asked. But when he asked the question he sincerely wanted to know the reasons why that might be a bad idea. “Everyone loves alpacas.”

“I do not think that’s true,” Aiden said.

“Okay, most people like alpacas,” Ollie countered.

“The petting zoo was a huge success,” Piper said, handing Grant a folder.

She wasn’t officially part of the meeting but she never hesitated to give her input. And her input was always excellent. Whitney couldn’t figure out why the guys hadn’t made Piper a business partner yet. Of course, they needed her in the role she held, keeping track of everything and everyone. Maybe that was it. They certainly paid her well for it. Whitney had seen her employee file. She saw all the employee files. But over the past few months it had been clear that Piper earned every single penny.

“I don’t know if it was huge,” Ollie said with a little frown.

Aiden nodded. “Oh, it was.”

Piper gave Ollie a smug smile.

Now that Whitney knew the petting zoo had been Piper’s idea and had stemmed mostly from the fact that she thought Drew Ryan was cute—and she liked making Ollie jealous—Whitney rolled her eyes.

“These are the caramel crunch bars we’re talking about, right?” Dax asked.

Whitney was glad Dax still came in for the 9 a.m. meeting. He was fun to have around, had great ideas, and she’d noticed that when all five guys were together, they were much more creative and relaxed.

Of course, they were missing Cam today. Again. This was day three of Cam living with her and Didi. And missing the morning meeting at Hot Cakes. Because of her.