To Get Me To You: A Small Town Southern Romance (Wishful Romance Book 1) (21 page)

“You make this so goddamned
hard,
” she whispered, fisting both hands and pressing them to her eyes.

What?

Stunned, Cam could only watch as Norah shoved back from the counter, movements no longer controlled or precise. Her hands trembled as she grabbed up the paperwork. “What the hell am I supposed to do with this?” Her eyes glimmered with unshed tears, but there was also an underlying heat he didn’t understand

“Do with it?”

“Other men give flowers or jewelry. And you hand me absolution.
No one
else would think to chase this down. No one else would even know how.”

“What you said about your dad wanting evidence gave me the idea. It’s all a matter of public record. I just had one of their city councilmen copy it all for me.”

“Of course you did.” She threw her hands toward the ceiling in a gesture of…what? Exasperation? “I am trying so, so hard to do the right thing here. I can resist your charm. I can resist your dimples. I can resist the chemistry between us, though I’ve lost sleep over it. But this—” She shook the papers now crushed in her hand. “—how am I supposed to defend against this?”

Cam’s brain was starting to catch up to hers. Maybe. “I didn’t do it because I expected something from you. You made your position clear. I did it because I can’t stand to see you beating yourself up over something that I knew couldn’t be your fault. You have a right to know the truth.”

“I know. I know, and that makes it almost worse somehow. Because that’s who you are. This honorable, thoughtful, amazing man. Still taking care of me, even though I pushed you away.” She sounded furious about that as she whirled away to pace. “I thought it would be easier if I stayed away from you. As if that was going to stop everything in its tracks. But it hasn’t. God, it hasn’t.” One hand rubbed absently at her chest, as if to ease an ache. “I see you every day and I try to pretend that you fit the same niche as Mitch or Reed. But you don’t. And, damn it, my resolve is only so strong.”

Relief and hope struggled for dominance in his chest. “Well, thank God for that. I’ve been waiting for you to come to your senses for a month. I don’t understand why you thought we should fight this in the first place.”

“I told you—”

“Yes, you
told
me.
You
decided that breaking things off was the right thing. But the right thing for who, Norah?”

“You!”

“Why?”

“Because you deserve so much more than a relationship with an expiration date.”

“Why are you so certain there’s gonna be one?”

“Didn’t you listen to
anything
I said to you a month ago?”

“I listened to a whole lot of bullshit about how you were always going to leave. But you didn’t say whatever you were really thinking. Something flipped that switch for you. Was it Miranda? Did she warn you off? Say we were a bad idea?”

She shook her head. “She didn’t have to. I know we’re a bad idea.”

“Why? Make your case, Norah. Make me understand why you won’t give this a chance.”

He watched her try to pull together the professionalism she so often wore like armor, hated that she felt a need for it.

“I’m a bad bet. I can’t be what you need, what you really want.”

“What is it you think that is?”

“You’re meant for marriage and family. Children. A traditional life.”

The image of a little girl with his eyes and her dark curls, crowned with a big pink bow, came fast and clear in his mind.

“That’s not me, Cam.”

Her words of denial did nothing to stop the picture that had taken root and begun to bloom. He could see it so easily, almost as easily as he could see a truth about her that she didn’t even see herself. “I’ve never met anyone who wants marriage and family and roots more than you. You want all the things you didn’t have growing up or you wouldn’t find my crazy family so appealing.” Unable to stop himself, he reached out, slid a hand around her nape and tilted her face up toward his. “You
fit here
. Can’t you see that?”

“It’s an illusion. I’m career and ambition. Things I can’t pursue here, not really.”

“You’re more than that.”

“Am I? Or is it that you can’t believe I could be like Melody?”

Whatever argument he’d thought she’d pull out, it wasn’t that. “Leaving aside the fact that I’ve never actually told you about my ex and that my family is apparently a bunch of incurable gossips, that’s absolute bullshit.”

“Really? Bright. Top of my class. Ruthlessly ambitious. Always with an eye on bigger, better things. That all applies to me as much as it did to her.”

“On the surface, maybe it does. But it’s all in the execution, in what those traits drove her to do. Melody would never have put her career on hold to save this town. You’re
nothing
like her.”

The stubborn jut to Norah’s chin said she wasn’t buying it. How could he convince her that this comparison was complete lunacy?

“If you’d been with me when I dropped out of grad school because my mother had cancer, would you have gone off to Northwestern anyway?”

“Of course not. I’d have deferred enrollment and been right there with you, while I had my mother pulling every contact she had to get your mom in to see the best cancer specialists in the country, instead of just stopping with a few phone calls.”

Cam’s brain ground to a halt as her words sank in. He thought back to those panicked weeks after the diagnosis, the talk of waiting lists and more exams, and all the roadblocks that stood between them and the aggressive treatment his mother needed. And then they’d seemed to disappear. “That’s how she got into MD Anderson so fast, isn’t it? You made that call.”

Norah shrugged. “Sure. What’s the point in being related to one of the top surgeons in the country if you can’t actually use those connections when it matters? It was important to your family, and your family’s important to me. It was the right thing to do.”

His heart was thudding so fast and hard as the ramifications unfolded in his mind. That one small action on her part might’ve been the thing that kept his mother from dying. Cam framed her face with careful hands and lowered his forehead to hers. “Jesus. You did what you could to help, and you hadn’t even met me yet. That’s who you are. Melody walked away when I needed her most. You’re
nothing
like her.”

Norah lifted her hands, curled them around his forearms. “I’m enough like her to be bad for you.”

“While I appreciate the sentiment, that isn’t your call. It should be
my
choice. And I choose you.”

A strange mix of pleasure and pain flickered across her face. Had anyone ever put her first? Not her parents. Certainly not her asshole ex.

“I’ll always choose you. Because you’re worth the risk.”

She was wavering, his name a plea on her lips.

“What are you so afraid of, Norah?”

“You,” she whispered. “You call me fearless, but I’m not. Not when it comes to this. I’m terrified of how you make me feel. Because you tempt me. You make me want things I’ve never wanted before, make me see how my mother got seduced into believing that marriage and family was what
she
wanted. I don’t want to be like her, don’t want to chase this beautiful thing and then wake up one day and realize I’m suffocating and have to get out. I have that potential in me, and I can’t—
won’t
risk hurting you like that. You’ve had enough important people walk away from you.”

“The fact that you’re even worried about this proves just how different from them you are. You’re not like Melody. You’re not like my father or your mother. You’re not doomed to making any of the same mistakes or choices.”

“But—”

“But nothing. Am I afraid there’s a chance this won’t pan out? Sure. That’s a possibility in any relationship. But you said yourself, courage isn’t the absence of fear. It’s the judgment that something else is more important. This is more important.
You’re
more important, and I choose to take the risk. Take it with me.”

Cam watched the last of her resolve crumble. And at long last, she melted into him, sliding her hands up his shoulders and lifting her mouth toward his.

For the first time tears tasted sweet.

Chapter 12

Norah was running late. Her meeting in Oxford had taken longer than expected, but the end results were well worth it. Come Saturday, they just might pull off her lunatic scheme.

The downside was she had to head straight to Grammy’s for family dinner, where Cam was supposed to have broken the news about their involvement. Terror at the family’s possible reactions dimmed the effervescent thrill of finally giving in and letting herself want, letting herself have. If this relationship blew up in their faces, they’d keep Cam. He was blood. But where would that leave her? Cut off from the family she was closer to than her own?

Maybe it would be fine, as he expected. He was so blithely unconcerned about what they thought. But just in case, she’d been mentally rehearsing her defense. Not that the Campbells would ever put her on the witness stand like her father, but a lifetime of training was hard to break.

“Now or never,” she muttered, stepping inside.

The babble of voices and laughter led her back to the living room. Norah didn’t let herself linger in the hall trying to gauge the mood. She could already hear some heated debate going on about the last Mississippi State basketball game. Whatever they thought about her and Cam, it wasn’t the current topic of conversation.

“Sorry I’m late.”

“Welcome back. How was Oxford?” Miranda had to raise her voice to be heard over her uncle.

“I don’t even want to talk about the traffic. They’ve completely changed how you go through part of campus. I wound up somewhere by the football stadium trying to get out. But I got Ajax for lunch, so win.”

“Squash dressing and jalapeno cornbread make up for a multitude of sins.”

Okay, so nobody was looking at her weird. That was positive.

Cam rose from where he’d been slouched in a chair beside the door. He cupped the back of her neck and brought her mouth to his. Her body gave one, quick jolt before she melted against him. Mindful of their audience, she didn’t give in to the urge to dive deeper, but her hands were fisted in his shirt as he eased back. He was grinning, and Norah found herself grinning foolishly in response.

“Hi,” he said.

“Hi back.”

“How did your mystery meeting go?”

“Really well, I…” Norah trailed off, realizing the room had fallen dead silent. She could feel the weight of eyes, sense the shock along her skin, though she didn’t look away from Cam. “You didn’t tell them.”

“I’ve always been a much bigger fan of showing than telling.” He was still grinning, entirely unrepentant.

Though exasperation warred with nerves, she kept her voice light. “Here’s a lesson from the professional: When your audience looks like you just dropped an atomic bomb, you need to work on your delivery.”

He dragged his gaze from her to take in the reactions she hadn’t gotten up the courage to face. The grin faded, chased away by confusion and the first sparks of anger. Norah felt his tension ratchet up to match hers.

As bad as she’d feared then.

With a bracing breath, Norah squared her shoulders and stepped back to face the music with all the gravity and enthusiasm of meeting a firing squad. When she would’ve stood alone, Cam laced his fingers through hers and stepped up beside her. A unified front. She squeezed his hand, grateful for the support.

Grammy’s eyebrows were lost somewhere under her fluffy silver bangs. Miranda remained completely unreadable. Everyone else’s eyes were round as dinner plates. Only Aunt Liz looked positively ecstatic, her lips curved, her hands clasped as if she’d clapped them in delight. Sandra apparently wasn’t here yet.

“Seriously?” Mitch gaped. “You and Cam?”

“Me and Cam.” Despite the awkward situation, saying it still gave her a little thrill.

“Did not call that one,” Reed said.

“Well they have been spending a lot of time together with the coalition,” Aunt Liz pointed out.

“Yeah but—” Anita trailed off. “Are you sure this is wise?”

“Wise?” Cam’s voice dropped to one step above a growl.

Before he popped off to tell his aunt exactly where she could shove her opinions on the wisdom of their relationship, Norah pivoted into him, laying a hand on his chest. “Don’t. They love you. They’ve got a right to their concerns.”

The temper in his eyes didn’t cool. “I’m not just gonna stand here and—”

“Campbell, stop.” She framed his face. “You’ve already slain my dragon. They’re not insulting me. They’re not attacking me. And I guarantee they don’t have a single objection I didn’t already throw at you. You won me over. Let me win them. I came prepared for this. You’re not used to being cross-examined and forced to defend your decisions. I am.”

“You don’t have to defend anything.” Miranda looked horrified at the very idea.