Chapter 12

CHAPTER TWELVE

Cam paused in the doorway of the living room, his assessing gaze sweeping over Kinley where she sat curled up in the corner of the couch flipping through the channels like she owned the place.

His worry had only grown over the course of the day. What if Dare was right? The tests had come back clear, but head wounds were a tricky thing. What if she was more injured than she was letting on?

She gestured with the remote. "If they really wanted these shows to be realistic, they'd have someone like me out there scraping paint off the siding and patching eight thousand holes in the drywall."

His brow furrowed at her words. "I thought you hired someone."

Kinley bit her lip and shifted uncomfortably. "What happened?"

With a sigh, she rolled her head his way. "I did hire someone…"

His gut clenched with foreboding. "But?"

"He skipped out on me," she finally admitted.

Cam shook his head. Why the hell couldn't people ever stay true to their word? "So can't you hire someone else?"

"Not exactly." The way she hesitated put him on edge. "I kind of don't have the money right now."

Before she even said the words, he knew what was coming. "He asked for an advance and I figured it was only fair, so…" She lifted one shoulder. "He estimated all the work to be about five grand. I gave him half for materials and everything, then never heard from him again."

Fury rolled over him, and he bit back the urge to curse. "Who is this guy, anyway?"

She dropped her head back. "His name is Hayes."

His gaze narrowed. "Is that his first name or last?"

Another sigh filtered from her lips. "I don't know."

Goddamn it. The man had swindled her out of thousands of dollars, and she didn't even know the man's real name. Getting her money back would be damn near impossible, but if Cam knew his name, he could pay the guy a visit, drop a word or two in his ear.

He thought he could take advantage of her after everything she'd been through already? Hell, no. Not on his watch.

"Where did you find him?"

She rolled her eyes. "You know the bulletin board at the coffee shop where local businesses pin their cards and advertise stuff? I saw his paper and called the number. He seemed nice enough at first, but…"

She trailed off, and Cam turned toward her. "You still have the ad?"

She shook her head. "I didn't take the ad, just his number. But it's in my phone."

"Let me see."

She swiped it off the coffee table, scrolled through her contacts, then passed it his way. Cam shared the contact info with himself, then handed the phone back to her. Tomorrow he would do a little research, see if he could track him down.

Kinley glanced his way, brows furrowed. "What are you thinking?"

"I'll run the number, see if I can find him."

"You don't have to?—"

"Don't worry." He shook his head. "I just want to see if I can find out who it is."

"All right," she said dubiously, "but he's probably long gone by now."

Cam tipped his head her way. "Why don't you talk to a realtor?"

After what happened to Ainsley, he'd have put the damn thing on the market the next day. She wanted out of that place, and he would do anything he could to help her. Kinley had been killing herself trying to renovate the place so she could turn a decent profit.

"I don't know." Her lips turned down in a frown. "There's still so much I want to do. And if I sell it half-finished, the way it is now, I won't get nearly as much."

After the incident with Joel, Cam and Dare had tried to clean up the blood left behind. It had taken hours to scrub it out of the grout in the kitchen, but the carpet in the living room was a lost cause. No matter how many times they went over it, the stain refused to come up. In the end, they'd pulled up the carpet, deciding it was better to get rid of it entirely.

"If you're just flipping it anyway, put something inexpensive in there. Then just get out."

She dropped her head back. "Where would I go?"

"Right here."

Her eyes went wide as she swiveled to look at him. "What?"

"Move in here." He lifted a shoulder. "You're here all the time anyway."

Her mouth opened and closed several times before she finally forced out a coherent thought. "What about… you know?" Her cheeks flared bright red.

"Dates?" He lifted a brow her way.

"Yeah, I mean…" She licked her lips and dropped her gaze to the floor. "Wouldn't it be awkward?"

Unless it was the woman beside him, he didn't plan on bringing anyone to his home. "I'm not seeing anyone. Are you?"

"Not at the moment…"

He studied her. He'd met Kinley several years ago when Brookhaven Elementary had invited Cam to speak at career day. The beautiful teacher had immediately caught his interest. Of course, she'd been seeing someone at the time, so he kept his distance. But they'd run into one another several times over the next few weeks, and they'd become fast friends.

They discovered they had the same dark sense of humor, similar tastes in movies and music. Now, they spent most of their time together. Though he'd dated other women over the past couple of years, no one had come close to making him feel the way Kinley did. One of these days he was going to grow a pair and tell her exactly how he felt. But first he needed to find a way to push her out of the comfort zone they'd established years ago.

"Just think about it. I think we'd be good roommates."

Her nose scrunched up, and a tiny smile curled her mouth. "You say that now."

He shook his head. "I won't change my mind. But it's not my decision to make. You're always welcome here, you know that."

He'd given her enough to think about for one night. He just hoped he could convince her to take the plunge. It was time to move on and put the past behind her.