Page 53 of The Saint

“I’m never bored,” Camden explained, raising a shoulder. “The pay and benefits are hard to compete with. It works for me. What about you? You like what you do?”

“No,” she admitted. Thinking it, much less saying it aloud, was a shock. But it was the truth. How hadn’t she noticed that before?

Eyebrows up, Camden glanced her way. “Really?”

She shrugged as though she were indifferent, but really, the revelation still reverberated. “I’m good at it.” She could hear the hesitancy in her own voice, as if she were listening to someone else. “Strong repeat business.”

“Having your own company, building something out of nothing, that’s impressive.”

“Maybe…”Compared to what?He probably saved people’s lives.Compared to him? Not impressive.But it did show that she could bust her ass until she got what she wanted. That was how she intended to find Hailey: nonstop, dogged work. Amelia watched the cars pass as they slowed for an exit ramp. “Hailey had an entire adventurous life, and I didn’t realize it.”

“You knew the important parts of her.”

“She loved family and teaching. She loved talking about art.” Amelia chewed on her bottom lip. “But there was more than I realized, I guess. She really loved life.”

“What do you love?”

“I guess just my sister.” Amelia wasn’t passionate about anything the way Hailey was. She didn’t know why she hadn’t noticed that before. She thought about work a lot. It wasn’t her world, but it definitely fulfilled a need. “You know what I like about my job?”

“What?”

“I like being in charge and having a surefire way to provide for myself. I started my company when Hailey was getting her master’s and doctorate. We flipped roles for a while. It was like I became the big sister. My company offset a lot of costs. Our apartment. Groceries. I’d felt so out of control when our parents died, and when I finally had that taste of control…” The right words wouldn’t come. “I could breathe better.”

But life was out of control again, and she suddenly remembered asking Camden to just tell her what to do. The idea that he could take over was nearly an aphrodisiac. A blushrose to her cheeks and down her spine. Never in a million years would that have come out of her mouth. But sharing life’s responsibilities would be so liberating, even for a moment.

Amelia watched him drive for longer than she should have. After his dark-brown hair dried, it had a mussed, haphazard style that she wanted to touch. It looked soft compared to his harder features. A five-o’clock shadow darkened his chiseled jaw. He was the poster boy for tall, dark, and handsome, and the more she tried to ignore it, the harder it became.

“What?” he asked.

Nothing I would admit to.She quickly stopped staring. “I think I’m hungry.”

He laughed. “Well, let me know when you’re sure.”

She snickered. One second, Camden was smoldering simply by existing. The next, he made goofy jokes. She liked him more and more. His laughter rumbled quietly in his chest and made the corners of his eyes crinkle. Why was she noticing this when she needed to focus on Hailey? “Maybe I just need a nap first.”

“You can do both.”

That could be true about many things. Amelia chewed on her bottom lip.

They found another tiny parking spot near the safe house. He was able to magically finesse the oversized vehicle into it. The rain had died off again. Grateful for the reprieve, Amelia buttoned her coat and fell into step with Camden. The wind had picked up like it had the night before. She shivered. Wind chimes dinged, and artisan wind spinners danced in yards.

“This neighborhood is adorable.” She would love to live somewhere that had so much more personality than her condo complex.

Amelia didn’t even want to go back home. Everything she’d found comfortable—the easiness of condo living, the repetitiveness of her day job—had become tedious.

A restlessness overtook her body. Her legs wanted to hurry inside. Her chest ached with a drumbeat that picked up in tempo as they closed in on the safe house. She swallowed away a wave of anxiety. Camden had taken her back there, but he could just as easily have driven her back to her condo.

The idea made her dizzy. She didn’t want to go there. “Cam—”

He had inserted the key into his front door and looked over his shoulder.

Panic—dread?—pounded in her ears. Her lungs felt cold, empty, as if she might not be able to catch her breath if she wasn’t careful. “I can’t go back to my place tonight.”

“Then don’t.” Camden turned back to the door and twisted the key like the conversation had been decided.

She couldn’t walk and process the simple solution at the same time.

“Amelia?” He crooked two fingers and pulled her inside as though she were tied to an invisible string.

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