“So, Cam. You were saying earlier about a
career choice? What have you been doing?” Madison asked while Jake
was putting Kayla to bed.
“I’ve been singing in pubs with my band.
Well, it’s more like a trio.” He drained the last of his coffee and
set the mug on the table.
“
Wow. I remember you being in
choir but didn’t
realize
you liked to sing that much. Would I have heard of
you?”
He grinned at her. “I thought you didn’t
remember me that well from school.” As he watched her cheeks go
red, he gave her a reprieve. “And no, you probably wouldn’t have
heard of us. We just played in pubs across the country. Often they
were Irish pubs, as we sing quite a few Celtic songs.”
“Oh, I’d love to hear you some day.”
“Yeah, well, I have to figure out what’s
going on with Dad’s business. Not sure when I’ll be singing next.”
He suddenly felt weary. Even though he and his dad had been having
trouble lately, he had still loved him a lot. He wasn’t ready for
Dad to be gone, and he sure as heck wasn’t ready to run a company.
Was he?
“
I’ve got to get going. I get up
pretty early in the morning so...” Madison smiled at him. “You know
what? I just
realized
I probably wouldn’t even be able to make it to one of your
gigs. I’m probably in bed before you even start playing. How sad is
that?” She stood up.
Cam stood as well and grabbed his keys off
the table. “I’ll walk you out to your car. I’ve got to get going
too.”
Jake came into the kitchen to say goodbye.
Cam shook his hand and then followed Madison out to her car.
The silver Kia Sportage suited
her. The wind picked up and blew her red hair across her face, so
he reached out and gently pulled it back. It was like touching
silk. That surprised him for some reason. Not that he’d though much
about it, but if he had to guess, he would have thought red hair
would be drier. Yeah, like
he'd
ever thought about what different
colour
hair feels like. He
must
have
been more tired than he thought
.
“Cam, you okay?” She tugged her hair out of
his hand. Her blue eyes appeared to be twinkling up at him.
“Yeah, sorry.
Hey...listen...” He shoved his hands in his pockets—they seemed to
be moving of their own accord—to keep from reaching out to touch
her skin this time. “Did you want to get coffee, or something,
tomorrow?”
***
He had asked her for a date. Well, not a
date really, just coffee. Or something.
She was still thinking about it as she
frosted her third batch of cupcakes for the shop. She'd already
finished her special orders. She had groaned when her alarm went
off at three thirty this morning—it awoke her from a wonderful
dream she was having about Cam. Normally she was eager to start the
day. Once it sank in that the sooner she worked through the day the
sooner she would see Cam, she was back to her usual perky morning
attitude. Even the fact that it was Valentine’s Day couldn’t spoil
her mood. When "Endless Love" came on the radio, she didn’t change
the station, she sang along.
“My first love...ugh. I hate this song, I
can’t do it.” She finally changed the station, just as one of her
employees, Marcy, came in the back door of the Cupcake Castle.
“Hey, boss. Were you listening to love
songs?” Marcy laughed.
“Of course not. Me?” Marcy had worked at the
Castle since the beginning and was a long-time friend. She knew
that privately Madison liked to sing anything. But love songs had
been on her do-not-sing, do-not-listen to list since a bad breakup
a couple of years ago.
“Sounded like it. Must have been hearing
things.”
“Yep.” Madison quickly started singing what
was on the new station she’d switched to. “Since you been gone...”
She laughed as she tried to sing along to the popular Kelly
Clarkson song. “See, not even close to a love song. Here’s a clean
apron.” She threw one of their custom-designed aprons with the
Cupcake Castle logo on it over to Marcy and watched her wrap the
ties around her twice before tying it.
“
Man, I wish I could do that.
Maybe I should stop enjoying my work so much.” Madison looked down
at her softly rounded physique. She was very much an hourglass
shape, so she was in proportion, just that the proportions were
slightly larger than average. At least she was
tall
.
“Right, Maddy. You are gorgeous. I don’t
know why you beat yourself up so much.” Marcy carried a bunch of
finished cupcakes over to the display case and began to load them
in. “If I could have your height and hair—man, I’d have it
made.”
Madison rolled her eyes. “Made for what? You
already have a hot hunk of a man who adores you.”
“Yeah, Chad’s okay. But I’m tired of being
referred to as tiny. Oh, isn’t she tiny.”
“
Well, at least you’re not the
'big' girl.” Madison hated that expression. She tried to be careful
about using it around Kayla, who was also tall for her age.
Tall, not
big.
Just
then the bells over the door chimed, announcing the arrival of
their first customers.
***
Cam was feeling harassed and annoyed when he
arrived at the Cupcake Castle. He had spent the day going over his
dad’s business and learning more than he ever wanted to know about
promotional items. He knew that his dad had done very well in this
line of work and that businesses would pay good money to have their
logos put on any number of items, from pens to clothing. It just
seemed boring to him. For him there was nothing better than a busy
pub full of people listening to his music. That was exciting and
vibrant. Daytime working hours were solid and dull.
Now there’s something that’s
not dull.
He
spied Madison working behind the counter. He wasn’t sure how the
anonymous little sister of one of his best friends had grown up to
be such a hot redhead. Underneath the glare of the fluorescent
lights her hair shimmered like liquid fire, with all sorts of gold
and red interspersed together. And she had curves that were just a
bit dangerous, especially with that apron wrapped around the arc of
her waist and dipping down one side of her chest where it pulled as
she leaned over.
He noticed she had a smudge of something on
her cheek. When he got a little closer, he could see it was
chocolate icing. He leaned across the counter, wiped his finger
across the smudge and brought it to his lips. “Very tasty. Is
everything here that good?”
Madison’s hands flew to her face as she
tried to wipe it clean. “Yes, as a matter of fact it is.”
“Great. I’ll have two of your best cupcakes,
and the owner, to go.” He leaned against the display case. “I think
she’s the tastiest item here anyway.”
“You didn’t just say that?” Laughing, she
handed him the cupcakes.
“
Yeah, it’s corny, but it still
fits.” He ate the first cupcake in two bites. Who knew cupcakes
could be so tasty? And here he thought they were just little cakes
with icing
.
The
cupcake had a rich, cream-cheese and chocolate chip filling,
surrounded by chocolate cake and some kind of chocolate icing. “And
I think I’ll need a dozen more of these. They are
amazing!”
“Sorry, no can do. I just gave you the last
two. Those are our biggest seller. I’m almost ready, just let me go
to the back and tell Marcy I’m leaving.”
While he watched her go, he
decided that coming home to Maple Meadows might not be as boring as
he had originally thought. Then his cell phone rang; he answered.
“Oh, crap. I’ll be right there.” He didn’t even think. He ran out
the door.
***
Sitting at home, pushing her cold dinner
around her plate, Madison thought about this afternoon at the
store.
“
Okay, Cam, I’m ready to go.”
She’d looked around and saw only customers. “Cam?” Maybe he had
gone to the men’s room. She had waited a while longer before
deciding he must have left.
Nice. Well, that goes to show you that even nice
guys can be jerks. Or maybe all men are jerks.
That had been around one o’clock, and she
still hadn’t heard from him. After that, she had picked Kayla up
from preschool, dropped her off at Jake’s, and come home
herself.
Valentine’s Day had always been
a hard day for her, but after her breakup with her long-time
boyfriend, it had become worse. They had broken up on Valentine’s
Day. She tried to convince herself it was just a commercial holiday
and that it didn’t mean anything to relationships.
But it still
sucked.
Giving up on her dinner, she
decided to see what was on TV. She was flipping the channels when
the doorbell rang. She opened it to see Cam holding a guitar and a
huge
bouquet
of flowers.
He handed her the flowers, picked up the
guitar and started strumming. “I’m sorry, so sorry....”
Madison rolled her eyes. “You can stop
singing. I’m not interested. Oh, here take your flowers too.” She
shoved the flowers back at him and tried to close the door.
He put up his hand. “Dad’s business had a
fire. I had to leave. I’m sorry. I didn’t have time to wait around
to tell you.”
She sighed and swung the door open. “I guess
now I have to say I’m sorry. But have you ever heard of a
telephone? That was hours ago.”
“
It’s okay. We saved most of
building. The fire was mainly contained to one room, although there
is smoke damage throughout the factory. I had to deal with the fire
department, insurance, and who knows what else is left to do—I
finally just left. I thought coming here would be better than
phoning.”
She reached for the flowers. “I’ll take
these back. Thanks.” She turned and walked into the house leaving
the door open for him to come in. She might as well show him a bit
of feisty. She didn't want him to think she was too forgiving, even
if it was for a good reason.
“Happy Valentine’s Day, Madison.”
She backed away from where she
was arranging the flowers in a vase to find him standing closely
behind her. She moved to face him.
God, he’s gorgeous.
She had trouble breathing. “So,
the fire is out?”
“I think there’s still some burning.” He was
looking at her intently, and she wasn’t sure if they were talking
about the fire at his dad’s anymore.
“That’s not good.” Yes. Definitely having
trouble breathing. He had inched even closer to her.
“It’s good. Some fires are very good.” As
his head lowered to hers, she tilted hers up slightly and met his
kiss head on. She felt his arms go around her, and then his hands
were on her butt, urging her closer to him. Her hands went up into
the thick of his hair to pull his mouth even harder to hers.
I think I’m going to die.
Kissing Cam is way better than dreaming about kissing Cam.
They kissed
passionately for a few minutes before she decided she needed to
gain a modicum of control.
She slid around him, grabbed a bottle of
wine and two glasses. “Do you want to go sit in the living room?
Have some wine?” Before he could reply, she practically leapt in to
the other room and sat on the couch. She needed to get some air and
to think rationally. It really wasn’t like her to let things get
out of control. Control was her middle name.
Cam followed, grabbing his guitar from where
he had leaned it against the wall, and sat down beside her. “I
brought this 'cause you said you’d like to hear me play sometime. I
thought I could do a private gig.”
Was he talking? She wasn’t sure
she heard anything after he sat down next to her. The smell of his
cologne. The memory of his arms around her, the feel of his chest
against hers. And those lips…
Oh, those lips rock
. With unsteady hands, she poured the red
wine into the glasses and picked hers up.
“Private gig? Sounds naughty.” She took a
fairly large, and definitely unladylike, sip of her wine.
“Play your cards right...” He wiggled his
eyebrows at her, looking a bit lecherous.
“
Well, it’s almost my bedtime so
you’d better deal, cowboy?”
Holy crap, where am I coming up with this stuff?
It’s been a long time, and he’s hot. Who cares, girl? Go for
it.
He laughed. “You sure grew up, Madison
Hughes.”
Then he started to strum the guitar and
sing.
She sat back and listened as he sang a
variety of songs. His deep, melodic voice lulled her. She watched
his fingers on the guitar and wondered how they would feel in her
hair, on her skin. The groan actually escaped her lips before she
could hold it back this time.
He stopped playing. “Don’t like that
song?”
She just shook her head. She was
slightly light-headed and she
realized
she’d probably had a few too many glasses of wine.
Throwing caution to the wind, she leaned over and kissed him. She
had known this man for a long time, yet not really known him. It
was time to change that. As he put his guitar down and pulled her
closer, she glanced at the clock. Ten o’clock. Past her bedtime.
Tonight she didn’t care if she slept at all.
Happy Valentine’s Day to
me.
***
“Hey, babe.” Cam called in through the
doorway.
“Back here.” Madison was in her room,
changing after work. She was going to help Cam go through some of
his promotional ideas. He’d been home for a couple of weeks and
they’d spent a lot of time together. She had even bought some
marketing items for Cupcake Castle through his company. He had
admitted to her that he was starting to like the work and was
finding there were ways to be creative with it. It wasn’t quite how
he felt when he sang, but soon he was going to start a regular
weekend gig at one of the local pubs. He had decided to stick
around for a while. She had been thrilled to hear that.