Page 10 of Best Laid Plans (Rock Harbor #1)

“Ugh, I’m so incredibly sorry.” She released his shirt and used her now free hand to wipe at her tear-streaked face. She tried to take a step back, but strong, steady arms continued to hold her close.

And if she was being honest, she liked it. A lot. Feeling so protected and safe, like it was okay to fall apart and there’d be someone there to catch her.

Not someone. Cam . And that wasn’t a possibility that she should let herself consider, regardless of the major life events happening around them.

She reached one of her hands up and patted Cam’s chest, feeling the solid muscle that she’d seen first-hand earlier today. “I’m really okay.” Her voice wavered a little, but she took another steadying breath.

Her mortification about breaking down in front of Cam aside, she really was okay.

Or at least, she would be. Her dad would have his surgery, and he’d come through it fine, the way he did with everything in life. They’d figure out a plan for the restaurant, even if it seemed insurmountable right now.

His arms relaxed around her, and for a second, it seemed like he didn’t want to let her go.

But he did, and when he let his arms drop to his side, the moment was broken, even if Elle still felt the remnants of his touch across her exposed skin.

He put his hands in his pocket and suddenly looked much more like the Cam she remembered from their youth, his eyes downcast and not meeting her stare.

She didn’t know what made her do it, but she grabbed his free hand, much bigger than her own, and squeezed it, forcing him to look at her. “Thank you. Really. And I promise, for as long as we’re both staying here, I will try to be on my best behavior.”

“Try?” He repeated, the edges of his lips tipping upward into a smile, and Elle noticed for the first time flecks of gold in his impossibly green eyes.

Startled by the realization, she dropped his hand, missing the warmth immediately. Which she promptly ignored and shrugged her shoulders. “I’m a work in progress.”

They stood across from one another, neither moving, and Elle wondered if Cam felt the same electricity crackling between them.

The long days of summer had just barely turned to darkness, but Elle was exhausted. And on top of that, she needed at least an hour–maybe two–of laying in her bed, staring at the ceiling and decompressing after everything that had happened today.

She tilted her head toward her bedroom door. “I’m going to head to my room. Are you good with everything? I know that today must have sucked for you, too.” She could chastise herself for her selfishness later. Privately.

It was common knowledge how much Cam loved her parents. He’d practically grown up in the Pierce Lobster Co. kitchen, and finding out about her dad couldn’t have been easy for him, either.

But he’d taken it on the chin, and more than that, he’d shown up–for Elle. It was so at odds with the box she’d placed adult Cam in that she was still trying to merge the two versions of him.

Cam nodded and shot her a disarming smile that made Elle’s stomach flutter, but she pushed the feeling down. “It’s going to be okay. And I feel like my roomie and I have officially reached a delicate detente, which I am not taking for granted.”

“Due to both sides agreeing that they could have handled things better,” Elle added, moving toward her door as Cam moved to his. “With one side bravely taking the first step toward the other as a sign of good faith.”

The laugh that Cam let out was something magical, and it pinged through Elle like a pinball, hitting against all the hard edges that she’d become and chipping away at them. She hadn’t felt soft in so long–maybe years. Definitely years if it was a man who she was putting her trust in.

Her recent breakdown(s) aside, Elle wasn’t an especially emotional person.

And she was usually far more in control of her emotions.

She’d played college tennis on a full scholarship.

She was a woman in a cut-throat industry where her time was managed down to the minute.

She’d graduated from Harvard with an MBA in the top five-percent of her class.

She didn’t do breakdowns , except, apparently, when it was Cam Devers who was there to pick up the pieces.

She reached her door, the guest room situated at the back of the apartment, and leaned against the frame.

She didn’t want the moment to end, she realized, warring with her body to find some excuse to keep talking to him.

In his arms, a few moments ago, was the best she’d felt in a long time.

“I’m going to let you have that one so that we’re even. ”

His eyes glinted with mischief, and the knowing churned through her of just how much fun–and trouble–Cam Devers could be if he wanted.

But instead of taking the bait, like she’d desperately wanted him to, he ran a hand over the sides of his shorn head, which she’d noticed that he loved to do.

His smile shifted into a much softer one that made her insides go a little mushy.

“You’re Wyatt’s little sister. And I love your parents.

I’m not going to hang you out to dry here, Elle. ”

And just like that, the kindling that she’d thought was starting to catch was doused with a bucket of ice water, the reality of his words settling over her.

Cam saw her as his best friend’s little sister.

Hell, he may not even like her very much as a person, but he was too nice to just stand around while she had a breakdown in the living room.

If he’d meant to reassure her, he had. She was very clear, in this moment, as to how he saw their relationship.

“Night, Cam,” she said at the same time as she walked through the doorway, shutting the door quickly behind her.