The doorbell rang, and my heart leaped, just like it had the last three times Cam had picked me up for a date. The last three and a half weeks, he’d taken me to dinner down in Buena Vista and a traveling art show in Salida and held my hand as we hiked the trail that led up to the falls, where I lay with my head in his lap as he read to me.

The snowpack had melted pretty much everywhere but the shaded patches, and I couldn’t help but sigh like a lovesick teenage girl when I thought about Cam’s defenses melting right along with the snow.

“Got it!” Rose called out, already at the door.

“Hi there, Rose. How’s it going?”

Cam’s voice slid over me like sun-warmed silk, and I walked out of the kitchen to find him crouched down just inside the living room, talking to my niece.

“Hi.” Awesome. My voice was all breathy and awkward.

“Hey, Pika,” he replied with a wink.

Hate to break it to Mrs. Barstrom, my freshman biology teacher, but she was wrong. That wink right there was how babies were made.

“So it made me think of you!” Rose finished saying as I shook my head free of the Cam-induced fog. She handed him a black T-shirt with a toothy grin.

“Oh yeah? You really bought it for me?” he asked, holding the T-shirt out in front of him to inspect it. “Wow, that’s amazing! Thanks, Rose!”

“You like it?” she asked, hopping on her toes.

“Love it!” He turned it around to show me.

I bit my lip to keep from laughing at the glittery unicorn that adorned the front of the shirt.

“I saw it when I was shopping with Mom, and she said I could get it for you,” Rose finished with a nod.

“Well, that was really nice of your mom.” Cam stood to his full height and unzipped his black jacket. “You know, I can’t remember the last time a girl gave me a present.”

That gave me pause. He’d been pretty open about his past over the last few weeks. Of course there had been women, just like I’d dated a handful of guys. And I knew he kept his relationships brief, but none of them had given him a gift?

He dropped his jacket on my couch, and I picked it up, holding it to my chest as he pulled the T-shirt over his long-sleeve Henley and straightened it out.

“What do you think?” he asked Rose, spreading his arms wide.

I buried my nose in his coat to keep my laugh under wraps. It smelled just like him, all mint and pine.

He wasn’t fooled, cocking an eyebrow at me as I tried to stop my shoulders from shaking.

“It’s perfect,” Rose declared.