Page 20 of My One and Only (Blackhawk Security #10)

T hey left shortly before noon to get lunch and stop at a drug store. They were the only ones in the elevator, and Jo hooked her pinky finger with Cam’s on the way to the first floor.

He glanced at her, his face softening in a smile, and lifted their joined hands. Pressed a kiss against her palm, then twined their fingers together.

Jo swallowed, unsure whether she should pull away. Cam didn’t really want to be seen holding hands with her at work, did he? So when the doors began sliding open on the first floor, she untangled their hands and put some space between them.

Good thing, because Don was standing in front of the door, along with two men who looked like carpenters. Their hands were nicked and scraped, and they all greeted Cam. Nodded at her. Jo’s skin crawled as she felt eyes on her back as she and Cam headed for her car. It wasn’t because of the strangers, though. It was all Don.

She really needed to get over her fifteen-year-old memories of Don. Yeah, he’d been a bully in high school. Yeah, she’d always moved away whenever he got too close. But he’d been the one who’d stayed with Cam and tried to help him after he’d been beaten, while she’d run away from the group of guys who’d tried to drag her into the woods.

Fifteen years ago, her instincts had screamed for her to run . And she had, as fast and as hard as she could. She’d hated leaving Cam, but Don was with him, and she’d known exactly what would happen to her if she’d stayed to help Cam.

“My car insurance called today,” Cam said as they walked toward Jo’s car. “They’ve got a loaner for me until my truck is repaired. I need to pick it up at a rental car office in Geneva.”

“We can pick it up, but you’re not driving it,” she told him, glancing at him out of the corner of her eye. “I’ve been trained in defensive driving and collision avoidance, so I’m doing the driving for as long as I’m here.”

He narrowed his eyes at her. “Good thing I have the concussion as my excuse. Guys see me being driven around by a woman? They’d yank my man card faster than I could blink.”

She stared at him, appalled. “You’re worried about your man card when an intruder broke into your house last night? With two guns and two knives? You should be worried about watching your back. Making sure no one slides a shiv between your ribs.”

“I thought that was your job,” he said, his smile dissolving.

She kicked herself for reminding him of his reality, but she wasn’t about to sugar-coat the threat to him. And to Fiona, as well. Especially after last night.

“It is my job, and I’m always watching. Always alert. Doesn’t mean you can stop paying attention,” Jo said, turning a corner and pulling into a chain drug store parking lot.

“I know, Jo,” he said, shoving his fingers through his hair. “I’m just…” He sighed. “Worried about Fiona. About my employees.” He drew a deep breath. “About myself.”’

She settled her hand on top of his, and he turned his hand so they were palm to palm. Fingers entwined. “It’s good that you’re worried,” she said after a long moment. “Because then you’ll pay attention to everything. Watch everyone. Two sets of eyes are better than one.”

He brought her hand to his mouth. Pressed a kiss against her skin as he inhaled her sweet, spicy scent. “I know that,” he said. “And maybe I’m overthinking this. But I don’t want to walk into any of the unfinished houses right now. Don’t want to meet any of my workmen at job sites. And those are things I have to do. That’s my business. My job .”

“I get it, Cam,” she said, shifting so she could see his face. “I really do. Having a bodyguard is… limiting. A burden. You have to think before you make any move. It’s exhausting, and you’re still getting over that concussion.”

She ran her hand down his arm, felt his muscles quiver beneath his jacket. “And the concussion is the best excuse ever to explain why I’m driving you. Lingering effects of the accident. No driving. Doctor’s orders.”

“Yeah, I suppose that will work.” His smile was pained as he glanced at her. “No one’s gonna call my doctor and ask if those were his orders.”

In her tiny car, she was right on top of Cam. She could reach out and run her fingers over his face. His lips. That soft, tender skin beneath his ear that she’d kissed last night.

“Yeah,” she said softly. “No one’s going to question your doctor’s orders.” She swallowed. Just the thought of that accident still terrified her. Everything they’d shared last night wouldn’t have happened if Cam had been more seriously injured.

And thinking about last night brought back a flood of memories permanently burned into her brain. And her skin. Even fifty years from now, she’d remember the way he’d touched her. The way he’d responded when she’d touched him. The way the bristles of his beard had scraped over her skin.

She shivered, remembering everything they’d done together on the couch in Cam’s living room. The slide of his skin over hers. His mouth, giving her so much pleasure. The way he’d tasted, of sex and need and want . And the need to do it all again. As soon as possible.

His eyes caressed her face, as if he was thinking the same thing. And the brush of his fingertips made her shiver. Made her yearn for him.

He reached out a hand and twined his fingers with hers. She brought their joined hands to her mouth and pressed a kiss to his wrist.

He held her gaze, and she tightened her fingers around his. She’d been so careful in his office this morning. Didn’t want anyone to catch her mooning over Cam. Or worse, kissing him. So she’d stayed at her desk, pretended to be busy, but the whole time, she could think of nothing but him.

“You okay with going in together?” he asked, interrupting her thoughts.

She blinked once. Focused on Cam. “Sure. Why not? We’re both adults. And no way am I leaving you in the car alone. Or letting you walk into the store by yourself.”

“Yeah. Bodyguarding.” The sadness faded from his eyes, replaced with anticipation. Hope. “But more important, we need to pick out those condoms together,” he said, and she loved the way his eyes lit up. She wanted him to focus on the good things they’d share, instead of the worry and fear of his situation.

His eyes twinkling, he said, “We may have differences about what we’re looking for. We might have to discuss that.”

“In the condom aisle of the drug store?” She stared at him, aware that he was yanking her chain but still horrified. “Hell, no, Pierce. If we have a difference of opinion, we’ll buy a box of each.”

“A great idea,” he said, beaming. “Far as I’m concerned, no such thing as too many condoms.”

She nudged his side with her elbow. “You’re right. If we have any left over, you can give them to Fiona when she starts dating.”

Cam’s mouth dropped open as he stared at her. “I cannot believe you went there.”

“Why not? Aren’t you going to have that talk with Fiona when she’s old enough to need it?”

“I’m… she’s…” He sputtered for a few moments, then he looked at her. Shook his head when he saw her laughing. “You’re an evil woman, Jo Hatch. Why did I never know this about you?”

“Because we were both too reluctant to rock the boat back in high school. To change the dynamic between us,” she said, her smile falling away. “I think neither of us wanted to ruin our friendship if the other wasn’t interested. I know I was worried about that.”

She twined her fingers with his. “Besides, there won’t be any condoms left over,” she said. “We might even have to buy another box before I leave.”

“I’m counting on that,” Cam said, moving a tiny bit closer to her.

“If we’d already had condoms, we could have gone straight to your place for lunch and tested them out,” Jo said.

“God.” Cam banged his head on the headrest. “Now I’m gonna have that picture in my head all afternoon. Good thing I don’t have to walk anywhere. But we’re gonna have to sit in the car for a few minutes before we go into that store. Because if we don’t everyone’ll know exactly what we’re looking for.”

Beside him, Jo giggled. The sound surprised her, because she was definitely not a giggling kind of woman. But maybe she could be with Cam.

Still smiling, she touched Cam’s cheek. He brought out a side of her she’d buried along with her husband, and she was so grateful for that.

She turned to him and took his hand. “You ever think what might have been different if one of us had had the guts to ask out the other back in high school?”

“Yeah, I have,” he said. “That’s what I was doing when I asked you to that party. I had plans for that evening.”

“Yeah?” She shifted in her seat and ran her finger down his cheek. “Tell me what those plans were. Did you have condoms?”

“God, no. I was a virgin, and I’m guessing you were, too. But we might have fooled around a little.”

She leaned over and brushed her lips over Cam’s face. He sucked in a breath, and she was a little breathless herself. “I think I would have liked fooling around with you in the woods, Cam.”

“Yeah, I would have liked that, too,” he murmured. He leaned toward her and kissed her, and she wanted to grab him and hold him against her. Go back to his place and make up for all they’d missed out on in the last fifteen years.

Instead, she sighed. Took his hand. “Can’t change the past,” she said. She thought about Mike, lying helpless in his hospital bed, then shook her head to get rid of the memories. “All we can do is control what happens in the present.”

“On that philosophical note, let’s go into the store, get what we need and get out,” he said. As she scanned the parking lot, he began to open his door. But before he could slide out of the car, Jo grabbed his other arm. “Shut the door,” she said, her voice too quiet. “Quietly.”

He eased the door closed, then watched Jo slide down the seat until her head was barely visible. He did the same.

“What’s going on?” he asked.

“Don just walked into that diner on the other side of the pharmacy,” she said, her gaze searching the parking lot. She grabbed his hand and squeezed it. “There’s Billy Simms. And he looks like he’s going into the diner, as well.”

“No reason Don can’t have lunch with a guy who works for him,” Cam said.

“You’re right. But I saw Simms give the building inspector a bribe. And it’s the morning after your break-in. Awfully coincidental.”

Cam took a deep breath. Then another. “I think he meets with the people who work for him pretty regularly.”

“That would be good management,” she agreed. “I’m just curious about the timing of his meeting with Simms.”

“You always this suspicious?” he asked, frowning.

She glanced over at him. “Duh. It’s my job to be suspicious.” She opened her door and slid out. “Let’s go get those condoms before either Don or Simms comes out of the diner.”

Cam opened his door at the same time and was standing beside the car when she reached him. Drawing a deep breath, she scanned the parking area. Didn’t see anything alarming.

“You’re supposed to let me open the door for you after I check to make sure it’s safe to do that,” she murmured. “That’s bodyguarding 101.”

“Forgot for a moment that you were my bodyguard,” he said. “I’m too comfortable with you. Too lost in memories of how it was back in high school.”

“Yeah, I know,” she said, reaching for his hand. She twined their fingers, squeezed once, then let him go. Glanced at the diner. No signs of Don or Simms. “But our mission now is to get in and get out before anyone we know wants to stop and chat for a while.” She laughed. “That would be damn uncomfortable if one of us was holding a box of condoms.”

“I haven’t heard you laugh like that since high school,” he said. “Makes me want to go back in time. Ask you out properly. If we’d been a couple before that party in the woods, it might have changed everything about the arc of our lives.”

She stopped and turned to look at him. “Maybe,” she said. “But maybe not. Maybe we would have broken up in some ugly way, like kids often do. Maybe we still would have lost touch, but when I showed up in Ogden a few days ago, everything would have come roaring back. We wouldn’t have still been friends. Wouldn’t have been so happy to see each other again.”

She sighed and dropped his hand as they walked toward the store. Maybe what happened, for both of us, was the way it was supposed to be. Just like meeting again now was the way it was supposed to be.”

“Wow,” he said. “Deep.”

Jo shrugged one shoulder. “When we have that talk about our exes, I’ll tell you about Mike and what happened to him. What happened to us . I don’t want to think that was meant to happen, but it did. And the bottom line, Cam? We can’t change the past. So don’t dwell on the ‘might have beens’. Focus on right now.” She touched his hand. “That’s what I’m going to do.”

Cam drew in a breath as he opened the door for her. “Maybe you’re right. No sense regretting the past. All we can do is keep going forward.” He glanced at her. Smiled. “And be happy for this chance at a do-over.”

Jo nodded as they walked into the store. Headed for the ‘family planning’ aisle. But was this really a do-over? Or was it a moment out of time? Two old friends reconnecting. She hadn’t moved back to Ogden. Couldn’t. Her job was wherever Mel sent her. Sure, she could take her ten days leave wherever she wanted. But that’s all it would be -- ten days at a time, separated by chunks of working at some faraway location.

Blackhawk Security already had two agents in Chicago. She was pretty sure they didn’t need a third. And Cam’s business was here. It couldn’t be relocated.

As they chose a box of condoms and paid for it, Jo knew that she had one choice -- enjoy the time she and Cam had together. Because they’d eventually figure out who was responsible for the sub-par construction in Cam’s houses and the bribes to the city inspectors. When they did, those people would be rounded up, and she and Cam would say goodbye.

She only knew one thing for certain -- it would be a hell of a lot harder to leave Ogden this time than it had been fifteen years ago.