Whitney wasn’t sure if she should laugh, or hide under the table, or head straight home.

The guys all laughed as Aiden closed his laptop.

“I so fucking love that he’s being kept on his toes all day and that it’s a seventy-something-year-old woman doing it,” Dax said, shaking his head.

“Cam and Didi Lancaster,” Aiden said. “I did not see that one coming.” His gaze landed on Whitney. “This is… an interesting development.”

“Talk about grand gestures,” Dax agreed.

Whitney suddenly found herself ready to tell everyone what was going on. That was weird. She recognized it was very unlike her—or anyone in her family—to tell personal details, especially to work acquaintances. But she still heard herself saying, “My grandmother is in the early stages of Alzheimer’s. She needs someone with her for all but very short periods. She didn’t like the woman I hired, so during their dessert date she talked Cam into being her companion until she moves into Sunny Orchard.”

They all took a moment to process that.

Aiden was the first to speak. “I’m sorry, Whit.”

“Thanks. It’s been hard,” she admitted. “But I know it’s going to get worse. I’m grateful she’s excited about Sunny Orchard,” she said to Dax. “That will be better for her. But we’re just in this in-between stage right now since my family went to Dallas.” She frowned. It wasn’t as if her family had been a ton of help when they’d been here, honestly. A lot of it had still fallen to Whitney and she and Didi had both preferred it that way. But Whitney had been left out of so much at Hot Cakes that she never felt that she was missing anything at the office by not being there.

“You’re okay with Cam being there?” Aiden asked.

She glanced up, refocusing on the men around the table. She wasn’t missing out now. In fact, they were all looking to her to lead them through this next stage.

She should have kept her mouth shut about a new product until Didi was settled at Sunny Orchard. She’d just gotten caught up in excitement and things had snowballed with the brainstorming with Ollie and… she hadn’t expected them to listen to her, honestly. She’d tossed it out there the way she had a dozen other ideas over the years with her family, but she was so used to those ideas barely making a blip on anyone’s radar that she hadn’t been prepared for anyone to actually say, “Let’s do it!”

“What do you mean?” she asked Aiden. Now that she was really looking at him, she saw there was something in his expression that looked almost like concern.

“Cam can be damned pushy and stubborn as fuck,” Aiden said bluntly, sitting forward.

Whitney straightened.

“If you don’t want him there, we’ll get him out,” Aiden told her. He looked at Grant.

Grant nodded. “Just say the word. We can deal with him.”

Whitney’s eyes widened. She felt a strange surge of an emotion that was hard to name. They were… protecting her? Coming to her defense? Willing to “deal with” one of their best friends for her? That felt good in a weird way. She really didn’t have people taking care of her. Other than Didi. And even then there had been a lot of “pick your battles” advice from her grandmother. The idea that these guys would be on her side rather than Cam’s was surprising and really nice.

But there were no sides here. That was the truth. She just did not want these men to get into a conflict with Cam. There was no need. She wasn’t upset with Cam. Now.

“No. It’s… okay.”

Aiden shook his head. “I’m not sure it is.”

Whitney felt her head shaking as well. “No. Honestly it is.”

Even before the kiss, it had gotten okay. But since the kiss… well, she wanted him to stick around. It hadn’t even been a kiss. She wanted a kiss now. Which was really stupid and a pretty great way to ensure that she made a really big mistake—an even bigger mistake than kissing him in the first place. But she was sure of one thing…she didn’t want him to leave.

“When he first told me about helping with Didi, I thought he was crazy, I’ll admit. But you should hear him explain it.” She gave them a grin.

Aiden didn’t smile back. “Cam can convince most people of most things. It makes him an amazing attorney.”

She lifted a brow. “You think he somehow tricked me into this?”

“When Cam wants something, he gets it,” Dax said. He said it in a very matter-of-fact way.

“So he wants to help my grandmother out,” Whitney said.

Dax gave her a look. “I don’t think that’s all he wants.”

“Oh, Cam will be great with Didi.” Piper swept back into the room. She proceeded to set cold bottles of water in front of each of them.

None of them had asked for water, but three of the four men reached for the bottles right away. Whitney smiled, amazed by the dynamic. Either Piper could sense when the guys were thirsty even from fifty feet away, or the guys just assumed they were thirsty if Piper was giving them water.

“You think so?” Ollie asked. “Cam doesn’t seem like the… nurturing type.”

Piper shrugged. “Exactly.”

“What do you mean?” Ollie asked.

“I’m guessing a woman who started her own company and helped grow it into a multimillion dollar company isn’t the type to want nurturing,” Piper said. “If she’s in the early stages, then she’s probably aware of the fact that she’s forgetting things or that usual tasks are more difficult now. The last thing she’ll want is to be taken care of. She’ll understand that she needs to be safe and she needs some help. So why not choose a hot guy who’s funny and who can be sweet, but who won’t coddle her, to spend time with if she has the chance?”

“Cam can be sweet?” Ollie asked. “I haven’t really noticed that.”

“He can be very sweet,” Piper confirmed.

“Give me three examples.”

“He sent a plant to Conner Daniels when his father passed away.”

Ollie looked surprised. “He did? Or you did?”

“He did. He asked me for a florist but he even made the call.”

“Isn’t Conner the lawyer who sued us over the use of the name Vandragon Dungeons?” Dax asked.

Whitney could have kissed Dax. On the cheek of course. But she was so glad he’d clarified who Conner was so she wouldn’t ask. She knew she should not be, or act, interested in Cam and details like who he was sending plants to, but dammit, she was.

“Tried to,” Grant said with a nod. “Cam won. Of course. But yeah, he and Conner were absolutely not friends.”

“See?” Piper said to Ollie. “That was sweet. They were on opposite sides in business and Cam kicked his ass, but he still sent his condolences over a personal issue.”

Ollie narrowed his eyes. “Fine. Two more.”

“The donations he makes to Appleby.”

“You mean the donations he makes that get his name in big block letters on the side of things?” Aiden asked with a smile.

Okay, Whitney knew about those. He’d donated money to build the youth sports complex, and that did, indeed, have his name—his last name anyway—on the side of it. He’d also donated to various projects around town when the community needed something but had trouble coming up with the funds.