Page 21 of Best Laid Plans (Rock Harbor #1)

CHAPTER ELEVEN

ELLE

E lle looked at the tetris-like configuration stacked throughout the entirety of the van’s interior. They’d managed to fit all of their supplies in the back, only possible because they were leaving with not even a condiment packet to their names.

She wiped the sweat off her brow. “I cannot believe we sold out of everything by Sunday afternoon.”

Cam closed one of the van doors and stretched.

Elle tried not to look at the muscled plane of his stomach.

“I hope it translates into some momentum for the restaurant. It seems like people liked the food. I vetted all the recipes with your dad last week, so I’m hoping he incorporates some of them into the menu. ”

He pulled off his hat and ran his hands through his short hair.

It had already been disheveled, and if that had been his attempt to fix it, he’d seriously overestimated his ability.

He looked so much like the younger version of himself, with that guarded smile he’d always worn when he was at her family’s apartment.

Happy, but like he thought that life was always one second away from falling down around him.

Now that Elle knew more about Cam’s childhood, she understood that smile a lot better.

“Now that your mission is accomplished, are you heading back to Boston?” Elle asked, not sure what she hoped the answer would be.

Space away from Cam would be the only solace her body could hope to find, but she’d miss the crackle between them, even though it seemed to come with a healthy dose of brooding on Cam’s side.

And more than a little sexual frustration on hers.

Elle sat on the small patch of floor in the van’s trunk, her legs dangling over the side.

She took a long sip of one of the few bottles of water they had left, draining at least half of it.

Droplets trickled down her chin, but she didn’t care.

She’d just survived three days in a furnace with a man who was driving her to the brink of insanity.

An indulgent guzzle of hydration was the minimum that her body deserved.

She caught Cam looking at her lips, his stare tracking down to the trail that had dripped onto her collarbone.

“Seems like you can’t wait to get rid of me,” he finally answered. His voice was low, but his eyes were a dark shade of green, like a dense forest that was so easy for Elle to get lost in.

He wanted Elle. That much had become clear.

But he still seemed like he had no intention to do anything about it.

The man had the self-control of a monk. And it would be really annoying if there also wasn’t some part of Elle that respected it.

A small part. Like, an atom compared to the universe.

That part appreciated that Cam was sticking to his guns.

The rest of her body was constantly abuzz with awareness whenever Cam was close.

In how he looked at her. The way he really did seem fixated on her lips, and all it did was make Elle desperately want to know how Cam would kiss her.

Soft and slow? Ravenous and consuming? Teasing, given that he must know how much she wanted it, too ?

She sighed before polishing off the water. “Depends on the day of the week.”

He walked over to the passenger’s side of the van and grabbed something from the seat.

When he appeared again, there was another Pierce’s Lobster Co.

t-shirt in his hand. He threw it to Elle, who managed to catch it, and then immediately stripped off the shirt he was wearing. “And what day is today?”

The audacity of this man. She threw the clean shirt at him, refusing to take the bait. “One that ends in ‘y.’ As in, why are you like this?”

Cam laughed and quickly–blessedly–put the t-shirt on. “I’m in a good mood.”

“Glad to be free of our fiery cage?” she guessed.

“Kitchens are always hot, though that did put me to the test. But no.” He put his hand over his eyes and looked up at the sky, smiling. “It’s a gorgeous day. We were the most popular food vendor. There’s still a few hours left to catch the festival.” He looked back at her, then. “And the company…”

She folded her arms across her chest, waiting for his next words. God only knew what they’d be.

Cam walked closer. When he was standing in front of her, he put one of his forearms against the interior of the van’s open door, right next to her head. She was bracketed in, his body and his scent enveloping her.

Just another inch and they’d touch. She’d feel the press of him, that she’d been thinking about all week. Since she’d gotten the first bit of knowing what it would feel like to be with Cam. It felt like all she’d been doing was chasing that feeling.

His thumb ghosted across her chest, where the water she’d spilled on herself must have dried by now.

He trailed a line of fire along her collarbone.

The touch sparked through her, and she lit up from the inside out.

The insistent thrumming in her clit was already back.

A second heartbeat, as blood rushed through her ears with a steady thump , thump , thump .

Mentioning that she was gross and sweaty should have been her first priority.

But the words wouldn’t come. She didn’t want to disrupt this moment, how good it felt to have Cam’s incredible hands on her again.

Hands that he used to create, like she’d seen him do all weekend.

Precise. Focused. Adept. She had no doubt they’d create all kinds of feelings in her, too, if he’d just give into them.

“So tell me Cam… how’s the company?” She pushed out between erratic breaths, her chest rising and falling.

He dipped down lower. “Perilous.” His lips were less than an inch away from hers, and Elle could already feel how they’d slot together so perfectly. “Like every day I’m walking through a minefield blindfolded.”

“Except that you’re the one who put the mines there,” Elle reasoned, surprised she could form a coherent thought. “And it’s up to you to decide how dangerous they are.”

“Oh, I know how dangerous you are,” Cam said, his fingers stopping as he splayed his hand out across her sternum. “And it’s not because of all the reasons that this is a bad idea.”

“No?” Elle wondered how much more she could take.

She was so close to grabbing his hips and pulling him against her, just to feel the solid weight of him.

To feel the bulge of his cock, which she’d fantasized about all week.

How good it would feel inside of her. How much she could take into her mouth.

She was ready to drop to her knees right here.

He leaned closer, his lips against her ear, like he was confessing. “I’m afraid if we start, I won’t be able to stop.”

The heat rolled through her. Insistent. Consuming. Like there was nothing else that existed beyond their bodies. The air between them was so heavy that she thought she was drowning in it.

And then Cam leaned back and stood up straight, Elle chasing the feeling she’d just lost, only to realize that he was turning away from her. “Cam, what the– ”

She couldn’t see the person Cam was standing in front of now that he’d turned, her view obscured by his solid, infuriating body and the door of the van.

“Sandy, right? What can I help you with?” He asked, his voice hoarse. He cleared his throat and wrapped his hand around the back of his neck, giving Elle a perfect view of his bicep.

She was going to murder him. Even if it felt like a cardinal sin to take a body that perfect out of this world.

But it was the only way to solve the mounting problem of Cam Devers in her life, and she could probably manage to strangle him with her bare hands given all the energy coursing through her with nowhere to go.

Sandy’s voice floated over to Elle, still dazed from the last few minutes. “I’m so glad that I caught up with you. I walked by your booth a few minutes ago, but it was already shut down.”

“We sold out, against our best efforts.” She could see Cam’s ears lifting upward, like he was smiling.

Wasn’t this just perfect? She could sit in the back of the van, frustrated beyond belief, while Cam schmoozed with another fan.

With his stupid boyish grin and his stupid perfect body and his stupid self-deprecating humility that made him all the more attractive.

He’d been as much of a draw as the food this weekend.

Which hadn’t been a problem until this exact moment, when she was going out of her mind with how close she’d been to getting some sort of relief.

Well, nobody put baby in a corner.

“Van’s packed.” The excuse rolled fluidly, and loudly, off her tongue as she scooted off the ledge. She shut the van door and stepped into the blazing sun, side-by-side with Cam.

She was glad she’d made an excuse for what could have been a fairly compromising position when she got a good look at Sandy. She knew her. Someone she’d run into over the years, with her dad, though she probably wouldn’t have remembered her name had Cam not said it first .

“Your dad told me you’d be helping this weekend,” Sandy said exuberantly. “I didn’t realize you were back there.”

Elle hooked her thumb in Cam’s direction, her own body pint-sized in comparison. “Easier for me than him.” But she refused to meet his stare, wanting to blame him for this most recent interruption. Whether it was actually his fault or not was irrelevant.

Sandy laughed and looked between them, though she didn’t seem at all suspicious. And why should she? Nothing had happened. Again. It took a lot for Elle to resist sighing loudly. Petulantly, even.

But Mr. Morality was probably thrilled with the sequence of events that had just played out. He could pretend like he’d have taken things further, when in reality, something else, if not this, would have stopped him.

Like clockwork, Cam directed the conversation back to Sandy. “You’d wanted to catch me about something?”