Page 14 of Best Laid Plans (Rock Harbor #1)

The wheels started turning in her brain.

Wyatt also didn’t know what Cam was doing here, or he would have told her that Cam was coming.

Light assault and battery wasn’t something her brother would have let knowingly happen on his watch.

And Wyatt definitely wouldn’t have encouraged Cam to show up at his apartment when Elle was a half-step away from being fully feral.

So that left her with… running from something.

Elle wrinkled her nose. Which was so not what she was going through. She’d been cast out of her old life, in every conceivable way.

“If you wash that plate any harder, I think we’re going to be able to see through it soon.” Her dad’s voice jarred her, and the scrubbing brush dropped in the sink, soapy water splashing back onto her.

“Just trying to do a good job,” Elle lied.

She blew a strand of hair out of her face and stepped away from the sink.

“So, what’s Cam’s big plan for the festival?

” She couldn’t hope that he was just a body behind a stand because that wouldn’t help her parents as much as it could.

But she also didn’t know if she could stomach His Royal Highness swooping in and saving the day… again.

She could still remember how Cam’s arms had felt encircling her smaller frame, when she’d felt the world disappearing around her. When he’d been the one holding her together, solid and patient and god… he’d smelled so fucking good.

Thank god her dad’s words broke her out of her unwanted reverie. “I’m not sure. He’s been in the kitchen yesterday and today working on a few dishes.” Pride oozed from her dad’s voice. She knew it well because that’s how he used to sound talking about her.

Something shifted inside of her then, pieces of resolve slotting into place. Cam Devers wasn’t the only person that could help this family. And he definitely wasn’t the only person who could make things happen.

And as those two thoughts collided, Elle realized something. It was idiotically obvious, but it hit her like a ton of bricks. She gave her dad a quick kiss on the cheek and was out of the house seconds later.

If she wanted her old life back–and if she wanted to be the person that her parents leaned on in the meantime–then she was the only one who was going to make it happen.

Cam was exactly where her father had told Elle that he’d be–in the kitchen of the restaurant. She should have realized it sooner, the answer now apparent as to where Cam would hide in plain sight, especially if he wanted to avoid Elle. Or to cook, but both things could absolutely be true.

She’d worked at the restaurant briefly during high school, when Cam had already been gone, but the kitchen had never been her domain.

For her father’s love of cooking, it wasn’t something that had rubbed off on her.

Which meant that if she was ever considering a place to find solace, this wouldn’t be it.

The lights were off in the dining area, but she easily spotted him through the opening between the counter and the kitchen, where food was set when an order was up.

He wasn’t exactly easy to hide, over six-feet-tall and with shoulders broad enough to obscure whatever was in front of him on the burner.

His back was to her, head tilted down with focus.

Pots and pans were set atop various burners, the prep station covered with dozens of different accoutrements.

It’s like he’d trucked the whole damn ocean in here, she noted when she slipped through the double doors and into the kitchen itself.

On the enormous prep table that ran through the middle of the room, she could see lobster, clams, seared scallops, shrimp, crab, and a type of fish that she couldn’t identify on sight.

At first glance, it looked like a giant mess to her, but she could tell that it made sense to Cam, the way different herbs and vegetables were corralled next to one another, smaller dishes circled around the seafood.

She realized, then, that it was a visual representation of the ingredients included in whatever dish he wanted to make with each type of seafood, the vision taking shape in front of her.

Quietly, she walked over to the prep table to inspect the items more closely. “Guess you’re too good for a lobster roll,” she commented, and she watched as Cam’s back straightened but he didn’t immediately turn around.

His black t-shirt was drawn tight across his shoulders.

Elle knew those shoulders, had held onto them to find purchase like a sailor in a storm.

She also knew that where the shirt was taut in the middle, she could press her fingers into the soft fabric at least a few inches, and her hands would have pressed against the long cords of muscle that ran down his back .

“I was working on a few options for the chowder fest.” His voice was low and slow and he spoke like he had all the time in the world.

Heat flared through her body, but she tamped it down. Because even if Cam Devers was hot enough to want to throw her dignity away, he was also becoming a pain in her ass, the other night notwithstanding.

It had been easier to ignore the effect that he had on her when he’d been facing away from her–which she realized too late as she heard the click of a burner being turned off.

He turned around, then, a pan in his hand.

His forearms flexed with the weight of it, and the traitorous vision of those arms pinning her against, well…

anything… hit her so fast that she took a step back.

She’d never considered herself the especially submissive type, but the idea of Cam holding her down with those arms, bracketing her body under his, made her fucking ache with the idea of it.

And then, he looked at her with those impossibly green eyes, clearly confused about why she was here.

She gritted her teeth and pressed her thighs together, letting his confusion douse the flames licking through her.

This could not keep happening. She refused to let her desire be a slave to a man who barely knew she existed. And clearly didn’t spend as much time thinking about her as she did about him.

But she’d come here with a plan, and damned if she was going to be derailed. Whatever he was cooking smelled incredible, and she inhaled reflexively as he walked over to the prep station and stood across from her.

She cleared her throat and stood up straighter. “Right, the chowder fest. Were you planning to mention that to me at any point, given that we’re sharing an apartment?”

This was good , she told herself. Focus on how annoyed you are with him. You don’t picture annoying people pushing you down and fucking you within an inch of your life.

Cam furrowed his brows and focused on drizzling what smelled like a lemon sauce over the perfectly seared scallops on one of the plates.

“It wasn’t a secret or anything. I didn’t think cooking was really your thing.

” He glanced up at her as he started putting the dish together.

He moved with so much purpose and ease, like this is what he was born to do.

His hands were dexterous as he plucked herbs from the various plates, and she couldn’t help wondering if he gave that attention and focus to all areas of his life.

No . Elle was not doing this. She let the seed of frustration take root in her chest, blossoming until it pushed out how physically attuned she was to him so close to her.

She pressed her hands down on the cold metal to get her bearings back. “I just think it’s interesting, given that you held me while I sobbed the other night,” she said, acknowledging the elephant in the room, “knowing how upset I was about what was going on with my parents.”

Those big hands stilled, and now it was Cam’s turn to clear his throat. “I didn’t know this was supposed to be a group project. I’m sorry.” Only, he didn’t sound sorry, as he picked up the pan and walked it over to one of the industrial sinks.

Elle was hot on his heels as he was dropping it into the tub of soapy water. “This whole lone wolf thing you have going on is pretty tiring. I’m just trying to help my parents.” Mr. Perfect could deal with a dose of reality, as far as she was concerned.

When he turned, which happened faster than Elle was prepared for, she found herself looking at his solid chest. “And you wanting to blame me because your family didn’t tell you what was going on is pretty tiring, too.”

She let out an indignant huff. “My problems with you have nothing to do with my family.”

“And what problems would those be?” Cam asked, his voice dripping with a challenge that was pulling Elle in like quicksand.

She took a step backwards, toward the prep table. “Your whole…” She waved her arm, gesturing back and forth in his direction. “Hero thing.”

One of Cam’s eyebrows shot upward, a smirk playing across his face.

He took a small step forward, cocking his head to the side.

He was amused by this. Asshole. “Hero thing? I didn’t realize helping people that have been good to me made me a hero but thanks for letting me know.

Don’t worry, I put my pants on one leg at a time, just like everyone else. Gotta keep it humble.”

She didn’t even try to stop the derisive snort she let out.

“So humble. Ultimate Chef winner. Big shot Boston chef. Savior of struggling restaurants. What are you even doing here? I figured you’d be on some media circuit to milk your celebrity status for all its worth,” she challenged.

Lining up his accomplishments magnified her own personal failures, as of late.