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“How about I ask your grandmother to help with the baby?”
Emily shook her head. “She’s got my brothers and sister to take care of. And they’re all going out to the farm next week.”
Cameron had heard the same story all afternoon. The teenager had been given an opportunity to complete a makeup exam that would go toward her final grade. But she’d talked of giving in to the pressure and Cameron knew he needed to do something to stop her from throwing away her chance at an education. He just didn’t know what. Emily was the oldest sister of Dylan. Twelve-year-old Dylan was one of his charges in the Big Brother program sponsored by his station. When Cameron inherited Dylan from the retiring sergeant at the station, he also inherited the teenage mother, her ailing grandmother and two other half siblings. Officially Dylan was his Big Brother charge, but the rest of them were in such dire circumstances, Cameron feared they’d all slip through the cracks and end up separated and in social services. They were a loving family, but down on their luck and needing help.
When Pat Jennings got custody of her grandchildren from her drug-addicted and incarcerated daughter, the town rallied together and raised funds enough for a deposit on a small farm out west. With the house a few months away from being ready for the families’ final move, Cameron knew this was Emily’s last chance to finish high school. If only she could get past her resistance to study so she could complete the makeup examination. Emily was intelligent, but lacked confidence. She’d missed classes and failed to finish set assignments throughout the year as she juggled single parenthood. It was a heavy load for a girl not yet eighteen.
“You have to find the time to study,” he said quietly.
“It’s not only the time,” she complained bitterly. “The work is just too…well, it’s too hard. And I’m not smart enough.”
She was. But she clearly didn’t believe it.
“I think the best thing at the moment is for you to—”
“Hey, Sarge!” called Dylan as he popped his head around the door. “There’s a lady here to see you.”
A lady? he looked toward Emily. “Keep studying. I’ll be back in a minute and we’ll continue this discussion.”
“But I—”
“Hit the books,” he said and smiled, then turned on his heel.
The second floor of the surf club had recently undergone a complete renovation following a fire four months earlier. Now it was used for Tai Chi classes, the Big Brother program and a couple of other local community events. Today it was a place for Emily to study without interruption while he spent time with Dylan.
Cameron headed down the stairs and came to an abrupt halt when he reached the bottom tread.
Grace.
A jolt hit him behind the ribs. He looked at Dylan, who was hanging off to her left and grinning. “Go and get the fishing gear ready,” he instructed and tossed him the keys to his car.
Dylan caught the keys and took off quickly. When he was out of sight Cameron turned his attention to Grace. “Hi.”
“Hello.”
“You came.”
She shrugged a little. “I was walking…I simply happened to…Well, I was nearby and thought I’d come in.”
The sensation in his chest amplified. “I’m glad you did.” Cameron held out his hand. “Come on up.”
She looked at his hand and hesitated. He waited. Grace never acted on impulse. Her actions were always measured. Always in control. She looked immaculate, as usual. Her dark hair was pulled back tightly and caught in a band at her nape. The only anomaly in her seriously fashionable look was the well-worn hot pink visor on her head. She finally took his hand and he instinctively curled his fingers around hers. She didn’t resist and followed him up the stairway.
When they reached the landing she withdrew her hand and crossed her arms. “So, what did you want to show me?”
Cameron smiled. “Nothing sinister.”
“Not that I’m likely to believe you,” she said, raising her perfectly sculpted brows.
He cracked another smile. “Come on, there’s someone I’d like you to meet.”
Cameron opened the door to one of the two upstairs rooms and beckoned her inside. She tagged after him and he closed the door. Emily looked up from her spot at the desk positioned by the long row of windows. He ushered Grace across the room.
“Emily, this is Grace Preston, a friend of mine.”
“Girlfriend?” the teen asked and stood.
“Friend,” Grace corrected as she shook Emily’s hand. “And I think I just met your brother?”
“Yeah, Dylan,” Emily said and laughed. “We look alike.”
The toddler in the corner tapped loudly on the plastic drum he was playing with.
“And that’s Riley,” Cameron explained. “Emily’s son.”
Grace nodded, frowning a little. He could see her looking at Emily with interest before she glanced at the books on the table. “But it looks as though I’m interrupting you.”
“No, you’re saving me,” Emily replied with a wry grin. “Sergeant Jakowski is a slave driver.”
Grace laughed and the sound hit Cameron directly behind the ribs. Damn. He wished everything about her didn’t affect him like he was a pining schoolboy. “Emily needs to study for a makeup exam in two weeks. This is a quiet place for her to hit the books while Dylan and I go fishing.”
“Then I am interrupting you,” Grace replied. “I should go.”
“No,” Cameron said, too quickly. “Stay for a while.” He saw her surprised look and fought the color creeping up his neck. But she was here. And he wanted her to stay. “You’re handy with the books, right?” he asked and smiled as he pulled out a chair.
Handy with the books was an understatement. Grace was the smartest person he’d ever known. As a child she’d always been top of her class, even before she’d gone to that fancy school. Then she’d headed off to New York to study finance and business. After that he’d heard she’d been headhunted by some of the top brokerage firms in the city.
Grace nodded, clearly still hesitant. “I’m not sure I can—”
“That would be great,” Emily said with more enthusiasm than he’d heard from her all afternoon. “I need all the help I can get.”
Cameron tapped the back of the chair and spoke. “I’ll be back in a little while.”
Once Cameron left, Grace sat down. Emily stared at her and grinned.
“So, are you and the Sarge—”
“No,” Grace replied quickly and pushed back the heat in her cheeks. “We’re just friends,” she said, even if it wasn’t exactly true. “We’ve known one another since we were kids.”
And he was the first man I kissed.
Even though she’d developed a silly crush on him when she was twelve, Grace knew she was a “late bloomer” when it had come to boys and sex. While her classmates were pining over pop icons and movie stars, she had her head firmly placed in textbooks or a Jane Austen novel. Being a year younger hadn’t helped. She was teased for her bookish ways, her flat chest and seeming lack of interest in any of the boys from the nearby all-male college. By the time her chest arrived she’d already earned the reputation as being stuck-up and closed off from the other girls in her class. And after a while she learned to embrace the isolation from her peers. Making friends lost any appeal and she didn’t waste time thinking about boys or romance.
Until the night of her sixteenth birthday.
“That explains why you don’t look like his usual type,” Emily said and jerked her back to the present. “I mean, they are Gucci jeans you’re wearing, right?”
Grace shifted in her seat and took off her visor. She didn’t like the idea of Cameron having a type. “You know fashion?”
Emily nodded. “I love fashion. Not that I can afford anything better than chain-store clothes these days. Riley keeps growing out of his gear quicker than I can buy them. But I would love to have my own store one day. And maybe study design.”
Grace pressed her hair back and looked at the textbook on the table. “That’s a great ambition. Now, about this makeup exam?”
Emily rolled her eyes. “I’ve missed a lot of school this year. Nan was helping out with Riley until my half brother and sister came to live with us.” The teenager pushed the book toward Grace. “My mother is a screwup. She’s in jail. Her husband died last year. No one knows what happened to my dad.”
Grace hid her surprise. Teenagers with serious family issues weren’t something she had experience dealing with. Unlike Cameron, who she knew spent a lot of time with needy kids like Dylan and Emily. “I’m sorry.”
Emily shrugged. “It happens. We’re lucky we’ve got Nan. But she’s getting old, you know, and can’t do things like she used to. Besides, I have to think about Riley.”
Grace glanced at the toddler, still happily playing in the corner. Adolescence, high school exams and a baby? It seemed like a heavy load. “Which is why Cameron wants you to finish high school?”
“Yeah—so I can get a good job or go to college. He’s cool, you know…he just nags me a bit sometimes.”
Grace smiled. “Well, nagging can be helpful.”
Emily laughed. “That’s what my nan says. And I guess I know that.”
“But?”
The teen shrugged again. “The studying is hard. And I get so tired of being treated differently at school because I’ve got Riley.”
Grace felt the frustration and pain in the girl’s voice. She knew firsthand how it felt to be different and then ostracized. “So, how about you show me what you need to study and maybe I can help.”
“Are you a teacher?”
“Finance broker.”
Emily frowned. “Which means?”
“Which means I’m good with numbers,” Grace replied with a wry smile.
She spent the next hour working with Emily. By the time Cameron and Dylan returned, the books were packed away and Riley was asleep in his mother’s arms. Emily had asked Grace to hold the little boy, but she’d resisted. Babies weren’t her thing. Making money and math and meetings and work lunches were what she was good at.
Not babies.
Grace didn’t have a ticking biological clock. She didn’t have some deep-rooted and instinctive yearning to reproduce. She had her career. And it had always been enough.
Being back in Crystal Point wasn’t going to change that. Being around Cameron wasn’t going to change that either.
“I’ll just drop them home,” Cameron said as they watched Emily collect her knapsack and haul Riley higher in her arms.
“I should get back to the B and B and—”
“I’ll be ten minutes, tops,” he said. “Wait here.”
Before she had a chance to object, Emily and Dylan waved goodbye and they all disappeared through the doorway. Grace lingered by the desk for a few minutes and got herself all worked up about his high-handed demands. She was just about to head home in protest when her cell rang. It was her boss, Jennifer Mullin-Shaw.
“So, are you relaxing?” Jennifer asked.
Grace was pleased the other woman couldn’t see her frown. “Of course.”
“And taking the therapist’s advice?”
“All of it,” Grace assured her. “I’m even watching old movies on cable to relax.”
Jennifer laughed and they chatted for a few minutes about mundane things such as the weather and then she gave a brief rundown of her sister’s wedding. Minus the part about making out with Cameron on the beach in the moonlight.
“So, you’re not dwelling on what happened?”
Grace gripped the phone harder and told a tiny lie. “I haven’t thought about the accident at all. I’m feeling…better.”
“That’s good. I’m pleased you’re taking it easy. Give me a call when you’re ready to come back to work.”
I’m ready now.
But she didn’t say it. Instead she ended the call and slipped the cell in her jeans pocket. Her plan to return to the B and B was forgotten when she turned on her heels and discovered Cameron standing in the doorway, arms crossed over his chest, one shoulder propped against the doorjamb.
He looked her over in that slow, infuriating way she was accustomed to. “So, how did it go with Emily?”
She nodded and placed the visor back on her head. “Good. She’s a smart girl.”
“Yes, she is. Did she tell you about her home life?”
“A little. She told me about her mother and how her two half siblings now live with them and her grandmother.”
“Pat took the kids in when her daughter got locked up. Drugs,” he explained. “It’s been tough for the family. Emily and Dylan’s father disappeared years ago and they’ve lived with their grandmother most of their lives. The father of the two younger kids was killed a few months back. But now they have a chance to start fresh with a new home out near Burdon Creek.” He told her how the town had rallied to help the family purchase the small farm.
Grace thought about what he was doing for Emily’s family. She tried to think of one selfless thing she done the past year and came up with nothing.
No wonder he thinks I’m shallow. Not that I care one hoot what Cameron Jakowski thinks of me.
“It’s good of you to look out for them,” she said in a vague way she suspected sounded like some weak attempt to make conversation.
“Someone has to.”
Knight in shining armor. Hero cop. All-around good guy.
Not the guy for me.
Where did that come from? Grace crossed her arms and stared out of the window. Those mindless minutes on the beach the night before, that’s where.
She pulled on her good sense, determined to not think about his arms, his kisses, or anything else to do with the one person who’d managed to get under her skin and make her feel like she was the most self-absorbed woman on the planet. She’d never really cared what Erik thought of her. Or Dennis. Perhaps because she’d always held herself apart and avoided getting too close. But Cameron…he was different. He saw her. Every flaw.
“So, you said you had something to show me?” she asked.
“I did?”
“Mmm-hmm,” she replied and tried to dismiss the silly way her pulse raced. But he was hard to ignore in low-rise jeans and a pale blue T-shirt that showed the broadness of his chest and shoulders. And suddenly the air in the room grew hotter, thicker, like a tempting force had swept between them. She’d felt it before and always managed to ignore it. But today she couldn’t. He had good looks and charm in bucket loads.
