The Right Wish Read online

  Silence greeted my heartfelt apology, and I turned to look at Brad. His expression was compassionate, his gaze on me unwavering.

  “I was never emotionally invested with Bree. I held back. Sure, I wanted us to work, or at least I did in the beginning. But I think, deep down, I always knew I couldn’t trust her. Trust is an important thing in a relationship, something you and I both value. I feel honored that you trusted me enough right now to share something so personal from your past with me.”

  “I just blabbed ick all over you and your beautiful sleek sports sedan.”

  “You confided to a friend. One who appreciates your candor, empathy, and the apology.”

  My eyes burned. “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome.” His lips curved. “Now, are you gonna open up the throttle and give this fun-mobile some gas?”

  “Fun-mobile.” I snorted out a laugh. “Did you really just call it that?”

  “I did. I was a nerd before I became business-manager cool. What would you call it?”

  “Fast,” I said with a big grin. “I’d call it fast.”

  Chapter 19

  * * *

  Bradley

  “Your idea of fun practically killed me. Us,” I told Cam, shaking my head at her as I grabbed her duffel from the trunk.

  “But what a way to go.”

  Beside me on the driveway, her eyes sparkled nearly as brightly as they had when she’d been driving. I was so glad she’d taken me up on it, even though she truly did scare me. It was worth it, though, to see her looking like this, so pretty with her cheeks flushed and the breeze tossing around her hair.

  Even though she’d driven the Z fast, she’d done so competently. A ghost of continued satisfaction continued to tug at the sexy corners of her lips, and I suddenly wished I was in a position to buy her a sports sedan rather than just let her drive mine.

  “No offing oneself by excessive speed,” I said sternly.

  Her eyes focusing, she lifted her chin. “I did the speed limit.”

  “Barely.”

  “Barely counts as within the rules.” She put her hands on her hips, and the cotton of her tee stretched tighter across her tits.

  My gaze dipped to them, my pulse pounding hard, and my mouth went dry. I remembered quite well what she’d been wearing in that motel room, scraps of lace that hinted at her brilliant curves, and complicated lacing between her breasts that was an obvious enticement to unwrap her.

  “Is this your house?” she asked, glancing away from me, probably because I’d gaped too long at her. “All three floors?”

  “Uh-huh. The ground one’s just the garage.”

  “Oh. Just.” She rolled her eyes.

  “C’mon inside.” I closed the trunk and reached for her.

  She took a step back to avoid my hand, almost tripping over a terracotta pot my service had filled with pansies.

  I frowned. She’d pulled away from me twice since the others departed.

  I dropped my hand to my side and moved past her. “Follow me. I’ll just let us in and give you the grand tour.”

  “Okay,” she said, and I heard her flip-flops snapping on the pavement behind me.

  I opened the door and stretched out my arm. “Ladies first. Stairs inside go up to the main living area,” I said over the beeping of the alarm. “Let me turn this off, and I’ll join you.”

  “Sure.” She moved away, and I watched her. Those jeans, her sexy heart-shaped ass, no way was I going to miss the opportunity.

  When she disappeared, I punched in the code, slid the strap of her duffel higher on my shoulder, and climbed the stairs. She was standing at the glass pocket doors, her gaze glued to the view. I’d imagined her in my house many times, the reality affecting me more strongly than I currently wanted to analyze.

  “I’m farther back from the ocean than Rush is.” My voice was gruff.

  “Your view’s better,” she whispered as if awed. “Higher up. More expansive.”

  “You don’t have to whisper. It’s just me and you here. No one to disturb.”

  And, man, did I like the idea of that. The intimacy of her and me, and no one else.

  My fantasies with Cam extended beyond having her in my bed. Sure, her beauty had enthralled me from the moment I first laid eyes on her, but it was her kindness that had turned the fantasy into an almost obsession. In a city where nearly everyone I knew had a self-serving motivation, her selflessness stood out.

  “Whispering seems to be the thing to do when looking at that.” Her gaze returned to the expanse of blue through the glass.

  Mine remained on her.

  “Would you like me to open the doors?” I asked.

  Her face brightened. “Yes, please.”

  “Absolutely. They latch in the middle here.” I gestured for her to watch as I unlocked them. “They’re pocket doors that slide into the wall. Go on out, and I’ll join you in a moment.” I slid one side into the wall and then the other, watching her cross the deck and stop at the wood rail, leaning into it like I had the night before with Sierra.

  “Wow,” she said, glancing at me as I joined her. “This is incredible.” She turned her pretty face into the breeze and tipped her chin up to the sun. The sunlight glistened on her hair, like stars in a velvety black sky, and made her eyes look like crushed platinum and peridots.

  Before I could stop myself, I breathed out, “Priceless.”

  “Huh?” She turned to me, her eyes narrowed.

  “Well, not priceless. Pricey, I mean.”

  “I’ll bet.” She shook her head, and her long hair swayed between her delicate shoulder blades. “I can’t imagine what a place like this must cost.”

  “Less than it might have. The owner moved out of state, and the caretaker in charge didn’t do a good job. It was neglected, abused in the rental market, and in terrible condition when it went up for sale.”

  “A fixer-upper?”

  “A bargain-priced one.” I nodded. “It took a year to set it right.”

  “A bargain and a good investment.” Her brows drawing together, she turned back to the view, leaving me to stare at her profile. “You had to have some imagination to see the potential, and certainly a lot of patience to supervise a big project all the way through to completion.”

  “Imagination is a stretch. Anyone who looks at it,” I said, staring intently at her, “can see how incredible you are, I mean it is. Was. The potential of the house, I mean.”

  “You’re being uncharacteristically modest.” She turned to look at me, and her lips curved. “But I can see where the further away you get from all the hard work and investment of time, the easier it might be to forget how difficult it was to get to where you were to this.”

  “Can you?” My eyes narrowed, and hers widened.

  “I’m confused. Are we still talking about your home or something else?”

  I opened my mouth to answer, then shut it. It’s too soon for a declaration. You only just got her here.

  Jewel had been right to question my motives, but they went deeper than she suspected, even deeper than I’d been willing to acknowledge to myself. Until now.

  But what to reveal to Cam? Gut our newly acknowledged friendship down to the studs and start over from scratch, like I had with the remodel? Confess how only Bree had stood in the way of me saying yes to Cam’s heartfelt proposal, way back when I’d first met her in that motel room? Or should I set the past aside and build from here?

  “My home, of course.” I felt like a subtle remaking of the dynamics between us was called for. Turning back to the house, I stretched out my arm. “Would you like to see the rest of the place?”

  She nodded. “I’d love to.”

  Leading her inside and then turning in a circle in the open space, I gestured widely. “The living room. Dining nook. Kitchen.”

  “Very nice. I saw all of that as soon as I arrived at this level. The beige and white furnishings are beach casual. The marble countertops with the darker hand
-scraped hardwoods are understatedly elegant. And . . .” She stopped short, pressing her lips together.

  “And what?” I asked, my eyes narrowing.

  “Surprising, I guess.”

  “You imagined something more formal.”

  “For you?” She nodded. “Oh yeah.”

  “I guess I can see where you might.”

  “I’ve only seen the one side of you until recently.” She tilted her head. “But that’s not the whole picture, is it?”

  I stilled as she studied me.

  “You take your business very seriously. Thus, the suits and all. The bossy demeanor. But you’re laid back and openly affectionate with Sierra and Dylan. The two sides, formal and informal, I can see blended inside your place. But it must be difficult balancing both at work. Like with Rush, having a client who’s also your best friend.”

  “It is difficult,” I said, my eyes widening at her insight. No one else had ever noticed, let alone acknowledged it. After just a handful of moments with my sister and nephew, plus another few inside my home, Camaro really got me, a lot better than most.

  “You do it well. I mean, it’s obvious you care about Rush and are committed to his career.”

  “Thank you.”

  Cam smiled, and again something struck me. She’d smiled a lot this morning. More than in all the time since I’d known her.

  Here was the right place for us to start.

  Chapter 20

  * * *

  Camaro

  “Your kitchen looks like it’s never been used.” I looked at Brad with surprise.

  “I use it.” His eyes sparkled like the distant blue of the ocean in the bright sunlight.

  “For what? Chilling bottles of water?” I glanced around the wide-open space. The stainless-steel built-in fridge and the microwave had a couple of faint fingerprints. “Heating up restaurant takeout?”

  “Basically.” His lips curved, their color like exotic spice-dusted forbidden fruit. He was forbidden. All of him. I’d never been more tempted by a man.

  “Well, if you don’t mind, I’d really enjoy cooking in here.”

  “I don’t mind at all. I’ve tasted your cooking. Use the kitchen whenever you feel like it.” He sighed. “But with my hours—”

  “You might be mostly heating up what I make in the microwave anyway?”

  “Yeah.”

  “That sucks.”

  “I try to time my meetings where I can just eat my meals out.” He shrugged, and I almost lost my train of thought watching his muscles flex.

  Damn, he looked good in a suit. In his kitchen. In his car. Here, there, everywhere.

  “Restaurant meals aren’t very relaxing.” I shook my head. Seeing his place, it was obvious he enjoyed being home. No one put that much effort into something they didn’t want to spend a lot of time in.

  “No. Especially when conducting business.”

  “You do a lot of dinner meetings?” I asked.

  “Some. But mostly I eat out on my way to or from them or other work-related functions.”

  “If you let me know your schedule and prefer to eat your meals here, I could time my cooking to coincide with it.”

  “I’d like that.” His eyes flared. “Very much.”

  “Then that’s what I’ll do. I’ll start today. After you show me where I should put my things.”

  “Upstairs. In the guest bedroom at the end of the hall.”

  “Is there more than one bedroom?”

  “There are three rooms upstairs. I’ll show you.”

  “That’s not necessary.” I held out my hand for my bag. “I can find my way.” I wasn’t really comfortable about being shown his bedroom. Just the peek at the main living area had my mind in a whirl.

  Brad’s expression fell. “I offered the grand tour.”

  I dropped my hand. He was proud of his home and wanted to show it to me, and my refusal had hurt his feelings. I’d watched him a lot and picked up on some of the nuances at Rush’s. But somehow, Brad was easier to read in his home, surrounded by his own things.

  I gave him a smile. “Of course. I’d love to see the rest.”

  “Great.” The creases around his eyes smoothing, he gestured to the staircase opposite the fridge. “After you, my lady.”

  “Okay.” I slipped past him.

  His bright lemon-woodsy scent spinning around me, I wondered again about his cologne. He had a lemon tree on his deck and a sculpted rosemary plant, plus planters in his driveway. He liked plants. And the ones I’d seen could be components to his scent, but there was more. Clues to his personality were here, lots of intriguing clues that I hadn’t been privy to before.

  “Turn left at the top,” he said from behind me.

  “Okay. I turned, took a couple of steps forward, and stopped outside the threshold to the room I knew was his without being told. His scent was strong. The bed—a California king, for sure—dominated the room, like he had dominated my thoughts since I met him.

  He stepped past me. “C’mon. I want to show you the view from the deck.”

  My eyes widened. “Your master bedroom has its own deck?”

  “Yeah. One of the things I added in the remodel.” He shrugged, looking sheepish. “All the upstairs rooms have decks. Yours too.”

  “Wow.”

  “But the master’s is the biggest.”

  “I’ll bet it is.” When he grinned, I shook my finger at him. “Don’t do the double-entendre.”

  “It isn’t an entendre. It’s legendary.”

  I rolled my eyes and flattened my lips to keep from smiling. Huge. I felt like smiling, truly felt like it, even with Jewel gone.

  Brad made me feel happy. Teasing me. Treating me like I had value. Coming to my rescue. Helping me. Being my friend.

  The problem was that friends wasn’t all I wanted to be. And all these little niceties and glimpses into his personality made me want what I couldn’t have even more.

  “I think I’ll pass on the tour of your personal space.” I took a couple of steps backward. “Is this one mine?” I asked, pointing toward the next room over from his.

  “Whoa.” He moved quickly, slipping in front of the closed door I’d been reaching for. “Wrong room. Yours is the one at the end of the hall.”

  He hooked his thumb and I glanced that way, seeing the open door with lots of early morning light spilling from it.

  “Got it.” I nodded, then pointed over his shoulder. “What’s inside this room?”

  “Mostly work stuff.” His expression shuttered, closing off like the door.

  “Okay.” My brows lifted. “Does this door need to stay closed?”

  He nodded.

  “So, just to clarify, you don’t want me to go inside there, not even to clean?”

  He raked a hand through his hair. “I would prefer that you didn’t.”

  There were boundaries. Of course there were. “I respect that. If you’ll give me my bag, I’ll get out of your hair. Let you do your thing, and I’ll do mine.”

  The sooner we established a routine, the better for both of us. That closed door was an invisible line between us, like there was between his work and his home life.

  “I don’t want to get in your way while I’m here. Are the cleaning supplies down in the garage?” If they were in the off-limits room, I’d need him to get them out for me.

  “You’re a guest here, Cam. A friend. I don’t expect you to scrub my floors and clean my toilets.”

  “I need to feel useful, Brad. I’m sure you can understand that. A friend doesn’t take advantage.”

  We were friends, I was glad for that, but I was also sad.

  Because I knew our friendship only went so far.

  Chapter 21

  * * *

  Bradley

  In order not to seem like a stalker, I went downstairs, even though I didn’t want to. I’d much rather be upstairs where Cam was. Listening to her pace the floor above me made me antsy. I got a water from the frid
ge, guzzled it dry, then crushed the empty plastic bottle in my fist.

  She wasn’t a servant. She was a welcome guest. I wanted to convince her to accept that staying with me didn’t come with any strings, but I couldn’t argue her into believing it. She was too stubborn. I would have to be patient and wait for opportunities to show her.

  As I went to the couch and sat down, my phone vibrated in my pants pocket with a few texts. I pulled it out to read them and respond.

  CORALEE: Are you coming to my show tonight?

  BRADLEY: Absolutely. Do you have everything you need?

  CORALEE: Yes. Only can you get me a different mother?

  BRADLEY: Hmm.

  I went for noncommittal, although I totally empathized with her. Next was a text from my sister.

  SIERRA: How are things going with Camaro?

  BRADLEY: How are things with the band?

  SIERRA: The band’s great, except for one person. Just how critical is a bassist to a band? And don’t use redirecting questions with me. I bet you were bossy, and Camaro retreated.

  BRADLEY: Yes.

  I sighed.

  SIERRA: Try asking for what you want instead of demanding it.

  That was a radical enough idea that it just might work.

  BRADLEY: Okay.

  That taken care of, I slid my phone into my pocket and headed for the stairs. Taking them two at a time, I arrived at the top and headed straight for her room. Her door was closed.

  Frowning, I knocked. “It’s me. I need to talk to you. I mean, can I talk to you?”

  “Sure,” she said, opening the door a crack.

  Déjà vu slammed into me. Hard.

  I had to shake my head to clear it of the image of her opening the motel door to me wearing only lingerie. Cam was so incredibly sexy, yet she also had those amazing eyes. They broadcast her vulnerability, a siren’s call to a guy like me who wanted to be the one to right her wrongs and save the day.