Close to You

Not that I’m going to tell Riley that.

“I was tired.”

“I heard you went house shopping with Landon. How was that?”

“Fine,” I reply, trying to keep my voice neutral. “He found a house.”

“And how are you?”

I cringe. It’s actually mortifying that the other girls know all about my crush on Landon. I mean, it’s my fault. I’m the one who couldn’t keep her damn mouth shut. But it’s still humiliating.

“I’m fine, Ri. We’re adults now.”

“Just checking.” I hear her sigh. “Need anything?”

“Nah. I was just calling to see how you are. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

“Sounds good. Night.”

I hang up and sigh. We’re adults now. Get a grip, Cami.

“HOW IN THE hell did you get all of this crap in that tiny apartment in Italy?” Mia asks her brother two weeks later, her arms folded over her full breasts, scowling.

“You do have a lot of crap for a bachelor,” Addie says in agreement as she unloads a box of books onto a bookshelf.

After being held up with the mover, Landon’s things were finally delivered a couple of days ago. He’d bought furniture, which was also delivered and set up, and now Addie, Mia, and I are here to help him unload boxes and get settled.

I’m practicing the whole get-a-grip thing. So far, so good.

“Where do you want this?” I ask, my nose wrinkling as I pull the ugliest owl clock I’ve ever seen out of a box. “In the garbage?”

“No, it was a gift,” Landon says, and rescues the clock from my hands. “I’ll hang it in the kitchen.”

“I’m going to have to disagree with that,” I reply, shaking my head. “That thing will kill anyone’s appetite.”

“She runs a restaurant,” Addie says with a smirk. “Trust her on that.”

“Hide it in the spare bedroom you’ll never use,” Mia suggests, earning a high five from me.

“There’s no need to insult my shit,” Landon says.

“There is when it’s ugly,” I reply with a shrug, and open another box. This one is full of clothes. “Do these go in your bedroom?”

He peeks over. “Yep.”

“Okay.” I lift the box and stomp back to Landon’s bedroom, kind of relieved to be out of the sea of boxes. Most of the clothes are still on hangers, so they’re easy to put away. What I didn’t factor in was that they all smell just like Landon.

Lord help me.

“You okay?” the man himself asks as he walks into his bedroom.

“Fine. Why?”

“I thought I heard you whimper.”

And here I thought I was just doing that in my own head.

“I was clearing my throat.” I’ve only seen him a couple of times in the past few weeks, and every time has been at the restaurant. We’ve been professional and nice, but kept a safe distance.

Until today.

“You’ve always been a bad liar, Camille,” he says, and sets another boxful of clothes next to the mostly empty one at my feet. “I appreciate you coming to help.”

“No biggie.”

“It’s a biggie to me.”

I move to hang a shirt and stumble on the empty box, but before I can reach out to catch myself, I’m suddenly surrounded by two very muscular, very warm arms.

“Easy,” he says softly in my ear, sending goose bumps up and down my body.

“I’m fine.”

But he doesn’t let go, just like he didn’t let me go a few weeks ago when I almost fell and he caught me at the restaurant. Instead, he takes a deep breath and kisses my temple.

“Whoa. Sorry to interrupt,” Mia says, making me jump and try to pull out of his grasp, but he holds on tight. “The pizza guy is here.”

“On my way,” Landon says, dismissing Mia, then turns to me. “You okay?”

“I’m fine.” His blue eyes hold mine as he brushes a piece of my hair behind my ear, then finally nods and follows Mia out of the room.

I take a long, deep breath before hanging the rest of the clothes, holding my breath so I don’t inhale Landon’s sexy, manly scent, damn him, and then return to the main living area, which now smells like pizza, which is much better than cardboard.

Also, there’s safety in numbers in here.

“I’m hungry,” I announce, and help myself to a slice of Hawaiian. “Hot!” I hide my mouth behind my hand as I breathe around the scalding-hot pizza in my mouth, and then Landon takes my wrist in his hand and pulls my pizza to his mouth, taking almost half the slice in one bite. He’s touching me again. And I can smell him, and see his square jaw flex as he chews.

Where’s that grip when I need it?

“Just right.” He winks and walks into the kitchen, humming as he puts glasses in a cupboard.

It’s a good thing my mouth is full right now because otherwise I’d be stammering. But the weird thing about all of this is, although he still makes my pulse speed up, my reaction to his nearness is . . . different.

I enjoy him, that’s for sure, and he’s as much a hottie at thirty-something as he was at twenty. But I realize that he no longer makes me nervous.

I guess we’re all adults after all.

And the best part is, he’s relaxed too. The sadness hasn’t left his blue eyes altogether, but he seems much happier than when he first arrived in town.

“Your hair is pretty like that,” Landon says quietly from across the kitchen island. I glance up to see him watching me.