Storm Warning (4 page)

“I’m not worried one bit,” Cami answered. “Besides that, he’s out in some little Podunk town for the summer with his grandparents. Doubt anyone there is worth a second look.”

“You’re probably right,” Raquel conceded. “If he was back home that might be a different story.”

“
Might
be,” Cami replied. Raquel could think whatever she wanted. “I’m not going to worry about Hayden this summer. This summer is about me and the hot guy walking across the beach right now. I’ve got to go, Raquel. Talk later!” With that, Cami hung up the phone, letting Raquel think she had more important things to worry about. Which she did. Tan lines.

She walked over to the small pool house, where the fresh towels were kept, and pulled her bikini top from around her neck. She had never been modest
—
she wasn’t raised to be
—
but she knew that Sophie was out running errands and the solitude of her private backyard retreat allowed her to walk out into the sunlight without worrying that anyone would see.

With her shoulders back and her face turned up toward the warmth of the summer sun, her mind conjured images of the beach she was supposed to be on. Daydreaming, she made her way, towel in hand, toward the lounge chair that was calling her name.

When her nearly naked body collided into something solid, she was pulled back to reality. He stood nearly a foot taller than her and the look of surprise in his sky blue eyes matched that of Cami’s.

“Who are you?” she demanded, propping her free hand up on her hip. The fact that she was topless barely even crossed her mind. She was more concerned with the stranger standing in front of her wielding a pair of hedge clippers.

Her eyes wandered from his hands up his strong forearms to the rippled muscles of his stomach peeking out from under the T-shirt he’d cut the sleeves off of.

“What are you doing back here? How’d you get in?” She threw the questions at him while snapping her fingers in front of his face in an attempt to pull his eyes from her body.

Once he finally closed his mouth, he shook his head, wiping off the awestruck look she was used to seeing on boys’ faces when she talked to them. She glared at him while he cleared his throat.

Cami was the first to admit that she loved the attention members of the opposite sex gave her. In some way, it made up for the lack of it she received at home. She didn’t mind the fact that he was staring at her, so it nearly blew her mind when he pulled the earbuds blasting music from his ears, placed the clippers on the ground, and turned his head.

“Easy, girl,” he said, holding his hand up to block her in his peripheral. “I’m supposed to be here. Don’t be such a drama queen.”

“Is that a fact?” she demanded, somewhat insulted that he was actually avoiding looking at her. She knew she looked good, despite the comment her mother had made about her weight earlier. And who the hell was he? Telling her calm down. He obviously didn’t know who she was. People didn’t talk to her like that.

“Yes. It is a fact,” he told her as he reached out to grab the towel from her hand. His eyes found hers as he took a step toward her and her breathing stopped. She looked up into his gleaming eyes. A small voice in her mind cautioned her to be careful.

She had no idea who he was or what he wanted from her, but some instinct she didn’t know she had told her that she was safe. She could feel the warmth radiating off his body against her skin as he wrapped the towel around her back. He pulled it closed, covering her chest. She contemplated reaching out and touching him, but his nearness had her frozen in place.

“I’m Kyle Mason.” He stepped back after she took the towel with her own hands. “With Mason Landscaping. We’re scheduled to do lawn maintenance here on Sundays. I have a passcode for the gate.” He moved his hand up and took the bill of the ball cap he was wearing in his hand. As he moved it back enough to scratch the top of his head, Cami could see his blond hair shimmer in the sunlight. “I can come back another day if you want.”

”Don’t worry about it,” she snapped, shaking off his suggestion, not wanting to admit that it was nice to see someone other than Sophie for a change. Didn’t hurt matters that he was hot. “I’m just going to grab my top and then you can get to work.”

She made her way over to the pool house and grabbed the pink bikini top she had left on the floor. A thought dawned on her as she made her way back into the sunlight and stood where Kyle could see her.

Perhaps my summer fling is still a possibility.

She already knew by the way his jaw dropped when he laid eyes on her that he found her attractive. And he had muscles in every place she was interested in. Sure, he was the hired help, but if she wasn’t leaving the house this summer, she didn’t have many other options.

He would suffice in a pinch, and she was already feeling a little lonely. She dropped her towel, giving him one more look before she propositioned him. Much like before, as the towel left her body, he turned to face the other direction.

She felt a frown cross her face and her mother’s words rang in her ears. “Frowning gives you more wrinkles than no expression at all.” She removed it from her lips and secured her top.

“You can look now,” she called out. “I’m covered.” His reaction confused her. Most guys would jump at the chance to see what she had under her top, but this guy either was gay or had something wrong with him.

He turned back around slowly. Cautiously. Cami was determined to figure out what his deal was. Wasn’t like she had anything else to do. She’d ditched her boyfriend, and her pride refused to let her tell her friends she was stuck at home for the summer.

She walked toward Kyle, exaggerating the sultry swing of her hips. “Why’d you look away?” She playfully twisted a lock of her chocolate-colored hair. “Didn’t like what you saw?”

“No,” he snickered, biting back a smile. “I mean, yeah,” he backtracked when he saw the surprised look on her face. “I did, but the thing is, I’m sure your boyfriend wouldn’t appreciate you flashing yourself to some stranger.”

“I don’t have a boyfriend,” she informed him.

“Well, in that case.” He stepped toward her with a new air of confidence. Now that he knew she was available, the trepidation in his eyes had vanished. “Not that I mind looking at you, but I prefer having to actually win the prize. If it’s just handed to me, it kinda takes the fun out of it.”

The devilish little grin he gave her told Cami two things. One, he was even better looking than she’d originally thought. And two, he was different from any guy she had ever talked to.

Not only was he an actual gentleman, he was willing to put some effort into getting to know her. It was a first for her. Her relationship with Hayden had always been a given. There wasn’t any actual wooing or first date. They were just together. The other guys, the ones she casually hooked up with, wanted one thing and one thing only, just like she did. But this guy, this Kyle Mason, was different. And Cami liked it.

“Good to know.” She felt her cheeks heating as he stared at her. For once, she felt like someone was staring at her for all the right reasons. She extended her hand to him and felt a tingle of warmth shoot up her arm as he raised his to meet hers. “I’m Cameron.”

“Nice to meet you, Cameron.”

W
HEN
he caught his reflection in the rearview mirror, he tried to wipe off the stupid smile he was sure he’d been wearing since he left the Nickelsons’ house to make the twenty-minute drive back to Hope’s Grove. He ran his hand over his face and chuckled to himself as he thought about the girl who had just rocked everything he thought he knew right off its foundation.

To start with, she’d been nearly naked standing in front of him and he was sure there was drool dripping off his chin by the time he realized he’d been staring at her bare chest like an idiot.
Damn, she was beautiful.

From her deep brown-nearly-black hair to her sun-kissed skin, right down to the tips of her little pink toes. Wasn’t every day a girl like that stepped out into the sunlight and took his breath away. Nope. He’d seen his fair share of naked girls, but Cameron Nickelson was different. The fact that she was a knockout was only half of it. She had more confidence in her little finger than all the girls he knew put together. And he liked it. A lot.

When he’d finished up pruning the hedge that ran across the back of the Nickelsons’ property, he turned around and caught her staring at him.

There she was, laid out across a lounge chair in a swimsuit that did a piss-poor job of covering up her body. Not that he needed it to. He’d already seen how amazing she looked without it.

She’d turned her head when he caught her ogling him and dove back into the magazine she was holding in front of her. He had to remind himself that he was Kyle Mason—football golden boy and small-town superstar—as he walked over to her and sat down on the edge of her chair. He was the kind of guy who usually got what he wanted. Decent grades, football scholarships, and pretty girls.

“What are you doing?” she asked, shifting her legs to the side of her lounge chair and giving him room to sit down. She might have been trying to play it off as if she wasn’t interested, but the simple act of allowing him to sit down was all the go-ahead Kyle needed.

“Just coming over to tell you goodbye,” he told her, giving her his best boy-next-door smile.

“You needed to sit down to do that?” She crossed her arms over her chest and smirked in what looked to him like a failed attempt at fighting back a smile.

“I did this time,” he answered. “Guess you make my knees weak.”

She giggled and it was just about the cutest thing he’d ever heard.

“So, will I be seeing you next week?”

“I got no place else to be,” she replied, sitting up and leaning a little closer to him. He’d have bet money that if he’d leaned in and planted a kiss on her lips she wouldn’t have protested. She was nothing if not forward. As much as he wanted to do just that, he placed his hand on top of hers instead and smiled.

“I guess I’ll be seeing you then.” That should have been the point where he said goodbye and left, but something about sitting there, touching her, and staring into her big brown eyes seemed so right that it took a second for his body to get the memo from his brain. “It was sure nice to meet you, Cameron,” he said when his feet finally decided to work and he stood up.

“It’s Cami,” she called out as he was walking away.

“Cami.” He turned and smiled, letting her name roll off his lips. “See ya next week.”

“Yeah you will,” she answered, biting her bottom lip and causing him to forget what he was doing.

He bumped into one of the potted plants that surrounded the gate. Thanking God for his quick hands, he managed to steady it before it crashed to the ground. When he looked up and saw her laughing at his clumsiness, he was sure glad for it too. He didn’t want to have to spend the next week repotting some stupid plant. Not when he had a Cami to talk to. Nope. This girl was his audible. The one who was about to change the play. Or maybe even the whole damn game.

“I
was starting to wonder if you were going to make it home,” Kyle’s mom said when he finally floated through the door. “Thought maybe you decided to stay up at college instead of coming home and spending time with your dear old mother.”

“Well, hello to you too, Mama.” Kyle snickered as he pressed a kiss on her cheek. “Camp’s going great, in case you were wondering. And yes, I checked up on the Nickelsons this afternoon.” He knew the routine when he finished a day of work. Millie would have inevitably asked her son about his first week at football camp and if he’d managed to work in the job she’d asked him about last week. Mason Landscaping didn’t normally do jobs on Sundays, but with Kyle being gone most of the week, they had to rearrange the schedule to keep the money coming in.

“Well you answered all my questions.” She laughed and brushed the top of the fresh rolls she’d just pulled out of the oven with melted butter.

Kyle hopped up on the counter and snagged a hot roll, taking a bite and earning a stern look from his mother.

“Dammit,” he mumbled with a mouthful of steamy goodness. “That’s hot.”

“Serves you right.” His mother smirked. “You should have waited for dinner like everyone else. Speaking of everyone else, why don’t you go down to the canyon and get your sister. I need to talk to her about the Rogers’s account. Tell Coop he’s welcome, too.”