She stared at him, and then slowly stepped into him so that their bodies brushed together. Offering him comfort, he realized, going still at the shock of human contact. He’d been burying emotions for so long, he’d almost forgotten how to access them. Or how much he loved the feel of a woman. Almost. He closed his arms around her, remembering he hadn’t put his shirt back on only when her chilled hands clutched his bare back. Allowing himself this, the contact he’d mostly shut himself off from, he let himself get lost in it.

When her phone buzzed between them, she pulled away and tugged the thing from her pocket, breaking eye contact to read her text. “Your dad says that according to the police radio, there’s been a mudslide that wiped out access to our street, and that the creek is now a raging river of mud. He doesn’t think you should try to get back until daylight.”

That had better be true and not some misguided sense of matchmaking.

Clearly on the same page, Piper looked at him. “If he’s playing Cupid, I’ll kick his diabetic ass.”

“I’ll help.”

“Good. So we’re in agreement.”

Cam knew he could get back to his dad’s with no problem. He could get just about anywhere under any conditions. It was what he did. But, even though Piper was clearly capable of handling herself, he hesitated to leave her alone.

She led them back to the living room and pulled up the top of the coffee table, revealing a compartment that held blankets and pillows. She threw one of each at him and gestured to the couch.

He’d slept on far worse.

“Meow.”

They both turned to look at Sweet Cheeks.

“The couch is his tonight,” Piper told the cat. “You’re with me.”

Ten minutes later, Cam was lying on the couch, his feet hanging off one end, staring up at the ceiling wondering how one simple hug had felt like so much more. In the matter of a single evening, Piper had turned him around and upside down, taking him completely off mission. At the thought of that mission and what had precipitated it, he braced for the now-familiar pain. It hit on cue, slicing through his chest, making the cat’s scratches feel like a caress.