The Mighty Quinns: Cameron

“You want another piece of pie?”

Sofie blinked, then glanced up from her empty plate. “What?”

“Pie,” Cam said. “The way you were looking, I was thinking you might just eat the plate.” He turned and searched for Millie. “Can we get another slice of the banana-cream pie?”

“No,” she said, shaking her head. “I’m fine.”

“I’m not,” he said. “I’ll have a piece of that banana-cream pie, please.”

He sent her a smile, and Sofie felt a shiver skitter through her. Was she just imagining it, or was there an attraction between them? Sofie felt it, but was it mutual, or was it merely wishful thinking on her part?

Just because they’d indulged in a little casual flirting over lunch didn’t mean that he was ready to pull her into his arms and ravish her. Cameron seemed like the kind of guy who kept a pretty tight leash on his desires.

Besides, if she decided against hiring him, he’d probably be on a bus out of Vulture Creek before she could find something else to like about him, rolling down the road like a tumbleweed in a dust storm.

Millie wandered over with the coffeepot and another slice of pie. She filled their cups, then slipped the check onto the counter beside Cameron. He pulled out his wallet and handed her a credit card, then turned back to Sofie. She reached into her back pocket for money, but Cameron brushed her hand aside. “It’s on me,” he said.

“That’s not necessary. I can—”

“No, I want to.” He paused. “I was thinking maybe you might be able to help me find a place to stay here in town. Maybe show me around?”

She wanted to say yes, to imagine that this day might go on a little longer. But she did have work to do. “Sure,” she said. “I have some time.” Work could wait a few hours.

As he finished up his dessert, Millie returned, a scowl on her face. She handed Cameron his credit card. “It wouldn’t go through,” she said. “There was a flag on the account for me to call, and they said to take away the card.”

“What?” Cameron grabbed the card and stared at it. “But it’s my—” He cursed softly, then chuckled. “Oh. Okay, I get it.”

Sofie quickly stood. “What’s going on?”

“My grandfather is making sure that I stay in Vulture Creek,” he said, waving the card. He pulled out his wallet and riffled through the bills. “I have six dollars left. How the hell can I—”

“You need a job, son,” Millie said.

“Yeah. And the sooner the better. All right, first things first. I need to pay for lunch.”

“I’ve got some dishes piled up,” Millie said. “And those windows out front need washing. That should about cover it.”

“I can do that,” Cameron agreed. “I’ll start with the dishes. And maybe, if you’ve got something else I can do, I can build up a credit.”

Sofie stood, then reached into the back pocket of her jeans and pulled out the wad of cash. A guy willing to wash dishes in a diner to pay his bill couldn’t be all bad, could he? She peeled off enough to cover the lunch and a tip for Millie. “That should take care of it,” she said. “You can pay me back later,” she said to Cameron. “Come on.”

Turning on her heel, she headed to the door. Everything inside her told her that this guy wasn’t what he said he was. But at the same time, he seemed nice enough. She’d just maintain her distance until she was sure. She glanced over her shoulder to find him standing there. “You’re hired.”

He picked up his bag and ran after her, pushing the door open for her. “Thanks,” he said. “Hey, you can take the lunch out of my first day’s pay.” He paused. “You are going to pay me, aren’t you?”

“Yes.”

“And I’m going to need a place to stay.”

“We’ll figure that out later,” she said.

“I’d kind of like to get it figured out now,” he said. “I’ve only got six dollars to my name.”

“Sheriff Wendall lets people sleep in the jail when it’s not occupied. But I think I can find you a place to bed down.”

“Great,” he said. He held out the six dollars and she waved him off.

“But before you start work for me, I have to do a background check,” she said, putting her straw hat back on her head. She stood in front of him, her hands hitched on her waist, observing him shrewdly. “Is there anything in your past that you’d like to confess to right now? Because, I guarantee, by the end of the day, I’ll know everything about you.”

“A background check? What do you want to know?”

Sofie stared at him for a long moment. In truth, she wanted to know what it felt like to kiss him. She wanted to know whether he tasted half as good as he looked. She wanted to know what his naked body looked like beneath those fancy clothes and what it would take for her to get him out of his clothes and into her bed. And she—

“I don’t have any secrets,” he said.

She blinked, startled out of her daydream. Sofie cleared her throat. “How old are you? Where were you born? What do your parents do?”

“I’ll be thirty in two months, I was born in Seattle, and my parents died when I was a kid. At least I think they’re dead.”

Sofie saw the look that crossed his face, a mix of resignation and pain. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bring up—”

“That’s all right,” he said, shrugging. “I don’t mind talking about it.”

“You said you thought they were dead. Don’t you know for sure?” She sucked in a sharp breath. Though her first instinct was to interrogate, she realized that there was a polite limit to her questions. “Sorry. You don’t have to answer that.”

“They disappeared while ferrying a yacht across the Pacific. We don’t know if they were lost in a storm and sank or drowned or what happened. One day they were there, and the next day, they’d disappeared. What about your folks? Are they alive?”

Sofie regretted questioning him in such a businesslike manner, but she wasn’t about to drive out into the desert with a guy she couldn’t trust. “My father is a cop. And my mother is an artist. They live in Albuquerque, where my mother has a gallery.”

“And how old are you?”

“I’m asking the questions,” she said.

“You’re quite good at this,” he said. “You’re making me kind of nervous.”

“I’ve had training. Do you have a photo ID with you?”

Cameron pulled out his wallet and handed her his Washington state driver’s license. Sofie groaned inwardly. He even managed to look gorgeous on his license photo. This man was just too good to be true.

“Anything else you’d like to know?”

She shook her head. “I guess that will do for now.” She gave him back his license.

“Good.”

Sofie pointed to a battered Jeep sitting a short walk down the main street. When they reached it, Cameron tossed his bag in the backseat and hopped it. The Jeep had no doors, so he fastened his seat belt and braced his feet against the floor.

Sofie slid into the driver’s side and grabbed a pair of sunglasses off the dash. “We’re going to need to get you a proper hat,” she said.