Hunks, Hammers, and Happily Ever Afters (74 page)

“I know they look ridiculous, right? As long as it’s a strolling pace I can walk in them.”

He let her go ahead of him into the elevator and had to agree that the view from behind was appreciated. Strolling it was, he’d just make sure to minimize their time on cobblestone. Having her break an ankle wasn’t happening on their first date.

“So Italian in Winter Park.”

“Why there?”

“Because I need to see you in the rose garden at night.”

“You’ve turned into quite the sweet talker.”

“Nah. I’m just me.” She hit him in the shoulder and Cam smiled. He wanted her relaxed and happy. He had to push himself to remember that this was supposed to be light and fun. Not a search for a wife.

The drive to the restaurant had been executed in a comfortable silence. Cam couldn’t help but compare the constant prattle of his last date to Mica’s quiet enjoyment of driving through the night.

“I love the way the city looks at night,” she said as she stared out the window.

“Why?”

Mica turned to face him a dreamy smile on her face. “I love how the lights light up the buildings. The way they show their characteristics. It’s like characters in a play suddenly they’re highlighted and you see them in a different light.”

“How so?”

“It’s like this, some buildings are barely worth noticing in the day. Or at least that how we think of them as we rush around doing what we can. We barely look at them. But at night. At night they come to life.”

“How do they come to life?”

“The lights. They’re like a woman’s evening gown. I’m not explaining it right.”

“No. I think I get it. In the day they’ve got there uniform on and at night they get to dress up. Show off a little.”

“Exactly.”

They’d had to cross the street to get to the park and back again but it was worth it to stroll with her past the fountains. Everything was fine until he ordered the wine for her.

One minute they were enjoying a nice appetizer. She’d been perusing the wine list and he’d, well he’d figured he’d show off just a little. Judging from the company she kept she came from an upper middle class family at least that’s what he observed about her parents.

Then she’d confirmed his suspicions.

“My dad’s a partner at a law firm. My mom. Well, my mom likes to say she has a hobby but the truth is she sells antiques.” Mica sipped her water. Looked at him and given him a rueful smile. “I can’t speak ill of her though.”

“Why’s that?”

“My degree is in art history and I used to work in an art gallery before I went to New York. So you see I have no room to speak.”

Mica smiled at him across the table and he felt the urge to impress her. He may not have a college degree but he was educated and he knew a thing or two about wine. So he did what any other red blooded male did when he felt the need to impress the woman he wanted. He ordered for her.

The moment he’d done it Mica had shut down on him. There was only one way for him to describe her behavior. Glacially polite. Gone was the teasing smile. She’d pulled back from him.

The drive back was nothing like the drive to the restaurant. The conversation was interesting  Mica was pleasant and polite but the spark that had been there before he’d ordered the wine wasn’t.

Cam waited until they were in the relative safety of the elevator to speak. “Okay, tell me what I did wrong.”

“What?” Mica looked at him for the first time they’d entered the elevator.

“What did I do wrong?”

“You ordered the wine”

Cam grabbed hold of his temper and forged ahead. This was important. He wasn’t going to question why. He’d seen something in her tonight and he wasn’t willing to let go just yet. “What about that set you off?”

Mica shook her head at him. “Set me off? ‘It didn’t set me off.”

“It made you upset. Why?”

“My father orders my mother’s wine.” She watched her rub her ring finger with her thumb again. “My ex fiancé. Jonathan. He would order my wine for me.” She shook her head her curls bouncing around her face. The elevator stopped and they both stepped forward and stopped. The doors weren’t opening.

Mica looked at him. Panic clear in her eyes as the alarm began to sound.

“Don’t worry.” Cam reached open and pulled open the emergency panel. “The alarm will get their attention and there is a security camera in here so they’ll be able to see us.”

He could tell she was on the verge of hyperventilating. “So you don’t like anyone ordering your wine.”

“Why are we talking about this right now? It doesn’t matter. Why haven’t they called us?”

Cam watched as Mica turned and put her back to the wall. Her breath came in a short gasp and she closed her eyes. “Mica, listen to me.” He reached out and switched off the alarm, it hurt his ears and he was willing to bet hers. “They’ll call, but in the meantime I need you to talk to me and I want to know why it upsets you.”

Mica let her head fall back against the wall of the elevator and slid down to the floor. Cam followed her by squatting. Her breath was coming in gasps and a sheen of cold sweat covered her forehead.

“Mica.” She opened her eyes. “Talk to me.”

“About what?”

“Panic attack?”

“I hate small spaces.”

Claustrophobia could manifest in different ways and right now all he knew was that he had to keep her distracted.

“It upsets me because it means you feel you know better than me about my own life.” She opened her eyes and looked directly into his. “It’s like when you said Karen would be happier. Jonathan said that to me.” She let her head drop back again. Her words were slurred. Cam reached out and her skin was clammy.

“When, when did he say that to you?”

“When he broke off our engagement. After he made me pack up my life and before he threw money at me so I would go home.”

“And he ordered your drinks for you?”

“Yes, and my clothes.” She gestured to her outfit. “This would have been too daring for him.”

Cam was beginning to suspect he wouldn’t have like Jonathan whatever his last name was. “He sounds like a controlling bastard.”

“Well. So do you when you order my drink.”

“I won’t do that again.”

“Who says there’s going to be a next time?”

“I do.” He messed up. Cam had gone into the date thinking that it would be fun and it had been at first and when he was younger he would have dropped Mica off and written the date off as a lost cause. Now he wasn’t sure that he wanted to give up on whatever it was just yet.

“I’m hoping there’ll be a next time.”

Her eyes popped open. “I don’t want to be controlled. I don’t want you ordering anything for me unless I ask. And, I don’t want to be told how to feel about a situation. My feelings are valid.”

Cam sat back on his haunches. There on the floor of the elevator he decided that he liked what he heard. This was no assertion that Mica wanted to be put on a pedestal or some silly test of his affections. This was a real request from a woman who had back bone.

“Why didn’t you say so in the restaurant?”

“I didn’t want to make a scene.”

“Would you have screamed at me?” He asked recalling Karen’s raised voice and theatrics.

“That is not my MO.” Mica’s breathing had evened out. Her eyes had lost that glazed look.

The phone rang. The elevator began to move and the doors opened when it stopped a short time later. Cam was going to have to take a look at the elevator but first he was going to make sure Mica was safely in her apartment and things were okay between them.

Mica let him walk her to the door. Her hands shook as she tried to unlock it.

“Do you mind if I do it?”

She gave him a watery smile. “Thanks for asking I was going to ask.”

He took the keys, his fingers brushing her delicate ones and lust flooded his body. It was all he could do not to pick her up and have his way with her on the couch. Especially when she blushed and looked down only to look at him through her lashes. 

Mica dropped her purse on the tiny island and immediately lost a few inches when she kicked off her shoes. Cam felt as if he was drawn along in her wake, and when she sat on the couch, he crouched in front of her.

“I’ve got to go see about the elevator.”

“What happened?”

“I’ll find out.” Cam took her hands in his. “I want another date and yes I’m taking advantage of you when you’re likely to say yes.”

Mica chuckled as he’d hoped. “Yes. I think tonight needs a mulligan. I’ll speak up if you do something I don’t like.”

Cam smiled in relief and leaned in for a kiss that she met halfway. Another win for him. His hands closed on her hips as he drew her closer. Mica took him by surprise when she was the one to take control of the kiss. Her hands slipped along his shoulders making him wish for bare skin. One curved around his neck she pulled him closer to deepened the kiss. Her soft tongue against his. Her soft body melded to his. Her scent filled his head as her body filled his hands. Full of Mica. 

He was breathing hard as was she when she pulled away. Mica licked her lips and he had to remind himself that he was taking this slow. Mica was turning out to be someone he wanted to see more of in more ways than one and if it wasn’t for the vibrating phone in his pocket he would have probably pushed her too fast.

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CHAPTER SIX

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A
few days later Mica found herself on a lunch date with Cam and it went much better. So much so when he pulled her closer in the elevator and kissed her, she didn’t resist. Mica had been longing to taste Cam again and he’d teased her all lunch long. Now, in the relative privacy of the elevator, she was up on her tiptoes as he bent his head to hers and his big body was pressed up against hers.

The doors opened and Mica dropped back to her feet. “You are a really good distraction.”

“I aim to please.”

Mica burst out laughing. He’d made her laugh so much during lunch her sides hurt. He’d glossed over why he’d made the decision to choose her wine for her, but listening to him talk about his life clued her in.  Here she was a graduate of a small liberal arts college with a degree in art history from an upper middle class family and he was elevator repair technician.

The only people in the world it would matter to were her parents. Mica pulled Cam down the hallway and skidded to a halt when she spotted her mother outside her door.

“Mica?” Cam had spotted her as well.

Mica swallowed and walked forward. Her mother’s eagle eyes had already spotted her hand in Cam’s. She wasn’t going to make him feel inferior. Mica took a deep breath and stepped forward Cam’s hand in hers.

“Mother.”

Cherise Saint Aubin nee Lawson stood with what looked like a polite smile on her face. Only those who knew her well and the highly sensitive would be aware of the absolute disapproval in that smile.

“Mica, darling. I came to see how you were doing.”

“Mother, Let me introduce Cam Munroe.”

Cam stepped up to her side and stretched out a hand. Mica held her breath because for a tenth of her second she could tell that her mother considered being impolite. No one would ever live up to Jonathan in her mother’s eyes and Cam was the interloper. Mica breathed again when her mother shook Cam’s hand.

Cam cleared his throat. She could feel his gaze like physical touch. “I have to get back to work.”

Mica turned back to Cam. Silently pleading him to understand that she wasn’t of the same mind as her mother.

“I’ll call you later.” He smiled down at her and leaned down to kiss her cheek before addressing her mother. “It was nice to meet you.”

Mica watched his broad back disappear down the hallway. She desperately wanted to go with him rather than face the woman who watched her in silent judgment. Mica turned around and opened her door before addressing the woman who’d given birth to her.

“Would you like to come in?” She said even though she would rather have gone with Cam, but if they were going to talk they might as well do it in the privacy of her home.

Mica didn’t actually want her mother in her space. Any conversation they had might be achingly polite but would be hard.

Her mother entered her apartment behind her and Mica immediately felt the weight of her disapproval.

“At least it’s nicely appointed. Though some of these things aren’t to my taste.”

That was her mother queen of the backhanded compliment. If Mica wasn’t careful she would go down the rabbit hole of being offended and come out the other side wrapped up in whatever bow her mother had chosen long before the conversation even started.

“Thank you mother.” The trick was to not react to her mother and to focus on her goal which was not being talked into moving back home.

“When you left for New York I thought you were all settled.” Her mother moved further into the room

Mica slipped by her into the kitchen and took her time putting together a tray as her mother chose a chair to sit in. True to form, she took the armchair. No matter what her mother said she wasn’t here to be close to Mica. She was here to get her way.

“So did I.”

The silence stretched out as Mica poured her mother a glass of sweet tea from the tray she’d placed on the coffee table. Old habits died hard. She might not have wanted her in her space for very long, but Mica knew how to treat guests. Which would be the accusation hurled at her head if she hadn’t grabbed the tea and a plate of cookies.

“Aren’t you going to explain why you’re back in Orlando?”

“I thought I was clear when I said my engagement was over.”

Her mother reached forward and picked up her glass, eyeing Mica over the top as she sipped. Mica kept her mouth shut. Once, when she was younger, in fact not that long ago, she would have babbled to fill the void. She would have divulged everything without thought to how doing so would have affected her until afterwards.

“I’m still not sure why you allowed it to end.”

And there it was. The blame.

“He ended it. I came home.”

“No, you didn’t come home. You moved here.” Cherise looked around again. Her curls tamed into a chignon, diamonds glinted at her ears. Red lips pursed in frustration. “Why didn’t you come home?”