Undone by Her Tender Touch. Maya Banks
I’m not letting Ashley down tonight and neither are you. So get your ass in gear.”
She stomped past him and hurried down the stairs, not waiting to see Cam’s reaction to her dictate.
When she got back into the kitchen, she quickly lined up the trays, set wine and champagne glasses out and then grumbled under her breath about having to help ferry food and drinks to Ashley’s guests.
She’d asked for three servers. She’d gotten some college kid in need of beer money. Just great.
A moment later, college kid presented himself, and to Pippa’s surprise, he’d cleaned up well. The pants and shirt were a bit too large for his lanky frame, but he looked neat and presentable. His hair had been combed back until he looked almost polished.
She gestured him over, shoved a tray of lobster tarts into his hands and then pushed him out of the door toward the living room, where Ashley and Devon were entertaining their guests.
Then she returned to the island and began pouring wine into half the glasses. She filled the rest with champagne.
“Would you like some help?”
She whirled around, still holding the bottle, and darn near tossed the contents onto the floor.
“Help?”
Cam nodded slowly. “Assistance? You look as though you could use it. How on earth did you think you’d manage this on your own? Ashley was nuts for allowing you to cater the event.”
Pippa was horrified by the offer and then, as she processed the rest of the statement, she was just irritated as hell.
“I’d hate for you to sully those pretty hands,” she snapped. “And for your information, I’ve got this under control. The help didn’t show. Not my fault. The food is impeccable if I do say so myself. I just need a way to deliver it into the hands of the precious guests.”
“I believe I just offered my assistance and you insulted me,” Cam said dryly.
Her eyebrows drew together. Oh, why did the man have to be so damn delicious looking? Why couldn’t he be a toad? Or be bald? Although on the right guy, bald was totally hot. Why could she never perform the simplest functions around him?
“You’re Ashley’s guest,” Pippa said firmly. “Not to mention this isn’t your thing. You’re used to being served, not serving others.”
“How do you know what my thing is?” he asked as he reached for one of the trays.
She had absolutely nothing to say to that and watched in bewilderment as he hefted the tray up and walked out of the kitchen.
She sagged against the sink, her pulse racing hard enough to make her dizzy.
Cameron Hollingsworth was gorgeous, unpolished in a totally sexy way, arrogant and so wrong for her in so many ways, but there was something about the man that just did it for her.
She’d seen him often enough ever since Ashley had become involved with Devon Carter. Cameron and Devon were close friends and business partners in a consortium of luxury hotels and resorts. As Ashley’s best friend, Pippa had been to many of the same social events as Cameron. He’d been paired with her at Ashley’s wedding, and that had been ten sorts of hell, being close enough to smell him, and him so perfectly indifferent to her.
She sighed. That could be what irritated her the most. He was a luscious specimen of a male and he couldn’t be any less interested in her.
Maybe she just wasn’t his type. The problem was, she didn’t know what his type was. She never saw him with other women. He was either intensely private or he didn’t have much of a social life.
She was itching to shake his world up just a little.
Realizing she was spending far too much time mooning over Cam, she grabbed another tray, took a deep breath to compose herself and then headed toward the living room.
Pippa smiled brightly, hoping her lipstick at least was still visible. The rest of her makeup had probably melted off by now. She made her way through the room, relieved to see that many of the guests now held wineglasses. Cameron had indeed delivered the goods.
“Pip, what are you doing?” Ashley hissed.
Pippa jerked around to see her friend staring aghast at her.
“Hey, Ash, how is everything going? All your guests arrived?”
“Stop acting like the hired help,” Ashley said with a frown. “Why are you and Cam walking around serving drinks and hors d’oeuvres? And who’s the kid wearing Devon’s clothes!”
“Don’t get worked up, Ash. It’s not good for the baby,” Pippa said cautiously.
Ashley folded her arms over the noticeable baby bump—really, it was so adorable—and pinned Pippa with her most ferocious stare. Not that anything Ashley ever did could exactly be called ferocious. Could puppies or kittens be ferocious? “Pip, I asked you to do this because I wanted to help. Maybe get the word out about you, but I didn’t want you working yourself silly at my housewarming party. I need my best friend beside me, not serving me!”
Pippa sighed and handed Ashley one of the yummy snacks off her tray. “Look, the help didn’t show. All you got is me, the kid wearing your husband’s clothes and Mr. Mouthwateringly Gorgeous over there.”
Ashley’s eyes widened. “Cam? You’re talking about Cam?”
Pippa gave her an exasperated look. “I’m damn sure not talking about the infant wearing Dev’s clothes!”
“Whoa,” Ashley breathed. “I had no idea. I mean, yeah, Cam is hot in a broody kind of way, but I had no idea that was your thing.”
Pippa couldn’t even look over at him without getting a betraying flutter in her belly. “I’d like to lick those brooding lips,” she muttered.
Ashley giggled and then clapped a hand over her mouth. Her eyes sparkled merrily.
“Stop staring at him!” Pippa hissed. “You may as well be holding a sign up announcing we’re talking about him.”
Ashley turned her back to Cam, a grin still flirting with her mouth. “So how’d you get him to help out? Did you bat those gorgeous green eyes?”
“I don’t even know,” Pippa said in bewilderment. “He offered. I was kind of rude to him.”
Ashley snickered. “You? Rude?”
Pippa glowered at her. “Shut it.”
Ashley put her hand on Pippa’s arm and rose up on tiptoe to look over her shoulder. “I think I’m being summoned. Seriously, though, Pip. I’m not worried about the food so much that I want my best friend to be the serving wench for the evening. Go put the tray up and join us for a drink.”
Pippa switched the platter from one hand to the other as she surveyed the room. There were too many important potential clients to just shrug off such an opportunity. Ashley had given her the chance and she wasn’t going to squander it.
“I’ll check with you later, Ash. I have mingling to do. Your guests look hungry.”
Before Ashley could respond, Pippa was off, wading into the crowd, a bright smile on her face.
“Are you out of your mind?”
Cameron turned to see Devon staring at him as if he was nuts. Cameron set the empty tray onto the sideboard and grinned at the look of absolute what-the-hell? on his friend’s face.
“Wouldn’t be the first time I’ve been asked that.”
“You’re playing waiter tonight?”
Cameron shrugged. “Pippa needed help. She looked like she was close to melting down. I figured that wouldn’t make Ash very happy.”
Devon frowned as he studied