Finally Found (18 page)

Haley sighed. “I suppose.” She looked at Sam. “So, have you already planned this shindig or do I get any say in it?” Yet as she spoke, she was positively glowing.

Looking relieved, Sam asked, “So…New Year’s Eve?”

“Well, you made the guys in the art department go to far too much trouble for me to say ‘no’ now, right?” She smiled warmly. “Yeah. New Year’s Eve. We’re already living together. Why not?” She laughed.

“Well, I propose a toast!” Adam said loudly over the sound of all the cheering.

“Please, you just want an excuse to drink,” Sam said with a smirk.

“I already have an excuse to drink. I’m spending the holiday with you, the bane of my existence. Forget the champagne; I’m going for the liquor cabinet.” He started to stand when Sam finally raised his glass.

The tree lighting was scheduled for 7pm. After dinner had finally ended and dessert was served, Abby started fussing. “Oh, it’s time for her nap,” Ellen remarked as she prepared to head to the guest bedroom.

“A nap sounds like heaven right now. I’ve got to go sleep through all this digesting my body is doing. I’m exhausted,” Adam agreed.

Soon, everyone but Cammie was in bed taking a much needed nap. Of course she was running on pure adrenaline at the moment. It was her first Thanksgiving with Adam and his family. She told herself that this only mattered because they had so many connections. It had nothing to do with impressing Adam or anyone else for that matter. This was purely about winning over some potential clients. That’s why she dug deep and started making sugar cookies. Only, just like she accomplished everything else in her life, she went above and beyond. By the time Adam came out stretching and looking for some leftovers before they headed out to the tree lighting, he found Cammie hard at work in the kitchen.

“Don’t you ever sleep?” He asked as he peered over her shoulder to see what she was making. She had created a make shift icing bag from a large storage bag.

There were heart shaped cookies with Sam and Haley’s monogram in them. There were square cookies decorated to look like Tiffany & Co. boxes. There were tiered wedding cake cookies and ring shaped cookies.

“How did you do all this?” He studied her work, completely incredulous. Then before she could object, he walked around the island to where she stood and wrapped her in his arms. “Sam and Haley are going to die.” Then he walked over to the fridge, opened it, and realized how much work she had put into making this an amazing holiday. He watched her, working once more as though his hug hadn’t affected her at all. She was focused, but not at all worn out.

Standing upright to survey her work, she smiled at her accomplishments. “I hope they love it. I really do.” She turned and smiled at him.

“You know what?” The idea suddenly occurred to him. He was kicking himself. He should have thought of this earlier. He should have already talked to Sam and Haley. Of course, now that they had tried her food he stood a better chance of winning that argument. “You should cater Sam and Haley’s wedding. Really. And if word gets out at the cocktail party that you are…holy hell. You will have more business than you know what to do with.”

She looked at him skeptically. “You think so? I mean…I’m pretty much an unproven stud. Why would they want me when they could have someone tried and true?”

“They may surprise you. You’ll see.” He smiled at her, and wrapped an arm around her shoulder while he glanced about the room.

She laughed. “What are you looking for?”

“Didn’t you promise me hot chocolate and S’mores for the Christmas Tree lighting?” He frowned at her.

“That’s hours from now. Don’t worry.” She walked out of the kitchen.

“Hey, where are you going?” He asked.

“I’m just going to lie down for an hour. Do me a favor and wake me up an hour before you want to leave.” Having said that, she walked from the room and headed to bed.

Cammie was asleep when Sam and Haley emerged from their room looking not so rested. Anyone else would have let it go, chalked it up to being happily and newly engaged, oh but for Adam, it was a chance to pick at his brother. “So, you two…looking like you’ve been going at it for a while. Oh, judging by Haley’s glow, you made her happy at least once.”

Haley turned pink and chuckled. “Adam, stop it. You know Sam hates it when you do this.”

“Haley, come on
. You know that’s mostly why I do it!” He teased.

“What can I do to get you stop, Adam? Let’s cut to the chase. You are always especially annoying when you want something. So, what is it this time? Car keys, wallet and phone? Consider it done. They are yours once more. Want Kiki fired and moved out of your place? I took care of that before we left the city. What more could you possible want?” He frowned at his brother.

“Well, since you brought it up…hire Cammie to cater your wedding.” He leaned on the island and grabbed one of the cookies. He maintained eye contact as he took a bite of the cookie. “Damn. This tastes even better than it looks. And they look amazing.” He took another big bite. “You should try these. That would help you make your decision.” He chewed before talking with his mouth full once more. “Or have you already chosen a caterer, too. Doesn’t Haley get any say in this wedding?”

His brother bristled. “Of course she does. I just don’t know if we should leave such an important day up to someone with so little experience.”

Haley looked up at him. “Sam, you gave me a chance. I didn’t have any experience and you put me in charge of an entire ad campaign all by myself. You weren’t even around to help me.”

“I knew you could do it. I had faith in you. I always believed in you.” He frowned down at her while stroking her curls.

“As strongly as Adam has argued this, I am guessing he believes in Cammie.” She stepped closer to Sam, wrapped her arms around his waist and dropped her head on his chest. “It’s just a wedding. What could possibly go so horribly wrong?”

“Seriously?” He scowled at her. “Let me tell you what I’ve seen, having been to my share of society weddings. She could make too little food, the food could be inedible, the cake could be dry, or not make it in traveling. She could prepare something badly and all our guests could get food poisoning…” he prepared to go on, but Adam interrupted.

“When did you ever get food poisoning at a wedding? That’s ridiculous. You have to be making that up.” He crossed his arms over his chest.

“Nope. The VanGuard-Wagner wedding almost three years ago.” He reached over and grabbed a cookie.

“Well, that wedding never should have happened. The very relationship was an unmitigated disaster. The food poisoning was just the cherry on top.” He laughed. “They met at a funeral. Who finds love in a funeral home?”

“Sam,” Haley interrupted. “We could at least interview her. We could give her a chance to prove herself. She has done an amazing job with Thanksgiving and tomorrow she’s in charge of the cocktail party.” She smiled at him and hugged him. “Just give her a chance.”

Shaking his head, Sam smiled down at her. “I hope I don’t come to regret this.” He looked over at Adam. “Let’s see how tomorrow goes. I won’t rule it out.”

When he went in to wake her up half an hour later, he was still smiling. Cammie was asleep on the bottom bunk, and it was all he could do to resist joining her. Though he had purposely never spent the night with a woman, he would make an exception for her.
He knelt beside the bed and studied her. Her hair was drawn back in a pony tail. Reaching over, he wrapped the mass of blond waves in his hand and felt it. He gave a gentle tug. She moved her head slightly, barely stirred. Finally he leaned over and whispered in her ear, “Sam is going to interview you. You are going to end up catering the wedding.”

Her amazing eyelashes fluttered as she struggled to wake up. Rubbing a finger along her lip, he smiled as her tongue darted out to taste him. “Wake up, doll.” He murmured. “Wake up and get ready for the tree lighting.”

“I’m catering the wedding?” She asked in a sleepy voice. Then she rolled towards him and her eyes flew open. A second later she shot up to a sitting position. “You spoke to your brother without me? Why couldn’t you let me do that? Now it looks like I’m too shy to speak for myself. Thanks for that.”

Sighing Adam looked her over. “I should have known that I could never do anything to please you. My apologies.” Frowning, he stood and left the room.

Cammie sat there a moment. Why did she always do that? He was being perfectly nice. He had never been
anything but nice to her. Okay, maybe he had been a little flirty, but certainly not disrespectful, and the bustier was bound to give him the wrong idea.

She stood up and stretched. She was just about over her anger when she noticed a piece of paper sticking partway out of the top drawer. She vaguely remembered seeing him shove it in there earlier. Oh, the inner conflict. On the one hand, if he wanted her to look at it, he would have shown it to her. On the other hand, if he hadn’t wanted her to see it, he should have hidden it better. She pulled open the drawer to peek.

It was a list of names. Girl names. He was writing down all the women he had slept with. Her initial reaction was pure fury at the arrogance of that man to keep a running list of conquests. Then, she realized that the paper looked really fresh, not ten years old as it should have been. She calmed down, slightly. Then she looked once more…and realized that she wasn’t on it. She studied it even more closely. Neither was her sister.

Well, at least he didn’t look at her as a conquest, just lumping her in with everyone else. On the other hand…he had slept with so many women that he had to make a list to keep track and her sister was apparently completely forgettable. She heard footsteps in the hall. He was coming back. She shut the door and tried to look like she hadn’t been caught snooping.