Taken by Storm

* * *

CAM HAD TO ADMIT she was right. “Only because Gus tells that story a lot. He thinks it’s funny.” Cam’s jaw tightened as he remembered Gus had claimed that he’d had no idea how the beer ended up outside the cooler. And now here was Zoey, close to two years later, offering to reimburse him the moment she’d learned of her mistake. It was refreshing when people accepted responsibility for their mistakes. It spoke to a depth of character Cam found very appealing.

He gazed at her determined face. Honestly, when he’d realized she was behind the Great Exploding Beer affair, he’d written her off as a pretty but thoughtless party girl. Cam met a lot of that type at the brewery, and they weren’t worth the bother.

But glad as he was to know he’d been wrong about her, Zoey had become dangerously attractive.

The original idea had been to enjoy flirting with her while they were stuck in the airport and then they’d both walk away afterward. The danger was that he wasn’t sure he’d want to walk away. He didn’t want to walk away now.

“But you don’t think it’s funny. You’re still mad.”

Cam realized he’d been frowning. “Not at you.” He smiled. “You apologized, so we’re good.” He suspected they could be great, though, and he wanted to find out.

The timing? Horrible.

The logistics? Impossible.

The chances of a successful relationship? Not high. Especially when she should be looking at him with relief and gratitude.

Except she was not looking at him with relief and gratitude. More like anger and something else. He couldn’t figure out what. Maybe it was just anger.

Why was she angry?

He’d expected her to say something like, “That’s really nice of you. At least let me buy you coffee.” Or dinner because what else was there to do while they waited?

Instead, she said, “We are not good. If we were good, I’d be seeing your dimples right now. But you’re dimpleless.”

He blinked. “Dimpleless?”

“Yeah. As soon as you realized I was the one who broke your beer, you turned colder than that blizzard outside.” She gestured toward the doors and her hair whipped around, almost close enough to brush his arm. His skin tingled anyway.

He couldn’t exactly tell her he was “dimpleless” because he’d felt a real connection with her and then was hugely disappointed when he’d thought she wasn’t worthy. But now he’d decided she was more than worthy and was mentally complaining to himself about the timing. No, he couldn’t say those things unless he wanted to sound like an arrogant jerk. A little arrogance never hurt anybody, but he wasn’t a jerk. “I’m over it. You apologized. I accepted.” He smiled until he felt his dimples. “See?”

“I see fake dimples.”

Cam’s smile became genuine. “Why are you mad?”

“Because you won’t admit you’re mad!”

“Because I’m not.”

Her cheeks were flushed, but her eyes were a cool green that called him into their depths. Cam was so ready to answer that call. If she weren’t glaring at him, he would.

The seconds ticked by without the heat fading from her cheeks. “How much?” she asked.

“How much what?”

Her arms stole around her middle and she hugged herself. “How much was the beer worth?”

“I have no idea,” he said with exasperation. “But it doesn’t matter. Breakage, bad batches, faulty bottling—it’s all part of the cost of doing business.”

And yet she was still glaring at him. “I don’t believe you. You are exactly the type of man who would know the loss to the penny. Not only that, I’ll bet you broke the damage down by actual cost and retail value.”

“I wouldn’t be much of a business man if I hadn’t. But it’s been so long, I honestly don’t remember.” A movement behind her caught his eyes. Casper had raised his head. The dog probably sensed the tension between them.

Zoey saw Cam glance behind her and followed his gaze. “Hey, Casper.”

The dog thumped his bunched tail and laid his head down again. Zoey moved closer to Cam, close enough that he smelled the sweet, lemony scent of her skin. Like lemonade. “I want the retail value.” She nodded toward his jacket pocket. “If you really can’t remember, call and have somebody look it up. Right now.”

Oh, for— “No.”

She seemed momentarily startled before resolve settled on her features again. “I’m still going to send you money, so you may as well give me a figure.”

This was about more than some exploding beer, Cam finally understood. People always do that when I mess up, he remembered her saying. “Why is it so important that you pay me back?”

She exhaled and looked away. “People get weird when I don’t. They say it’s okay, but the way they act around me is never the same.” She met his eyes. “So I always cover the financial loss and hope for an opportunity to make up for any other wrongs.”

Forget the money. Cam was more interested in the “other wrongs.” “Are you saying you’re accident prone?”

She shook her head. “I make mistakes.”

“We all make mistakes.”

“Yeah, well I make a lot of them. Big ones. And I’m getting tired of it, I can tell you.”

Cam started to laugh but wisely reconsidered. “Don’t you learn from your mistakes?”

“Of course. Don’t hide motorcycles in beer coolers. Lesson learned.”

Now Cam did laugh. “It probably seemed like a good idea at the time.”

She rolled her eyes. “That’s going on my tombstone.” She traced imaginary words in the air. “Zoey Archer. It seemed like a good idea at the time.”

He laughed again as he mentally filed away her last name. Zoey briefly smiled before saying, “So give me your contact info—or I’ll just send payment to the brewery.”

Cam heard a history of soured friendships and broken relationships in her voice. He was a complete stranger and she could easily avoid seeing him ever again, but she was insisting on reimbursing him anyway. He admired her for it, but he wasn’t going to take her money. They needed to get past this.

She’d been waiting for his response and now gave a little shrug before turning toward the snoozing Casper. “The brewery it is.”

“Wait.” If she walked away now, they’d never be more than two strangers who met at an airport.

Zoey hesitated before looking up at him.

As he met her eyes, Cam tried to come up with a way to convince her to spend time with him. “Rather than paying me back with money, you could help me instead.”

Her eyes narrowed. “With what?”

“I’ve got a box of samples that I’d rather have with me instead of trusting they won’t get frozen in the warehouse.” Cam was thinking on the fly. “It’s heavy, we’re going to be here for hours, and I don’t want to drag it around with me. Not only that, the MacNeil brewery logo is printed all over the box and this is an airport full of bored, stressed people.”