Camilla grinned. “Yeah, that’s what I call them. My little nickname because they’re all so big…and bearish.”
Ben didn’t need the reminder. “Gotcha.”
She must’ve picked up on his tone because she shrugged and smiled apologetically. “Anyway, Brandon came along and we never worked together, so…” She seemed reluctant to talk about her last boyfriend, Brandon, so Ben let it go. He wondered if there was a deeper reason why she’d kept her walls so high. “I need peace in my work relationships, and that’s unlikely if my heart is involved. When I started working for you and Ethan, your employer-employee relations policy was nearly as strict as mine, so I stuck to my guns.”
Quinten took a sip of his juice after finishing the last bite of his sandwich. “Is that the reason why practically the first words out of your mouth when you met me were, ‘I don’t date coworkers, ever. Work is work, and pleasure is pleasure. The two don’t mix, not for me’? You could tell I was interested in you?”
Camilla hesitated but then said, “I’m not being egotistical in what I’m about to say. Remember where I’m coming from as a former dancer. I know that look. I could see what might happen, and I wanted to nip it in the bud. I wanted us to be able to enjoy working together.”
Quinten sighed and lightly stroked the top of her hand where it lay on the counter. Ben watched as she looked down at Quinten’s hand on hers and a tremor ran through her fingers. “I’ve enjoyed working with you. How I felt never changed.” He drew slightly closer and tilted his head, looking at her, warmth in his eyes. “I respected your boundaries, but it didn’t change the way you make me feel.”
Ben hid a smile when Camilla mirrored his movement and leaned toward him unconsciously, compassion written on her face. “I thought I was doing the best thing for all of us.”
Ben was done wasting time. “About that little rule of yours, sugar.”
She broke the long gaze she shared with Quinten and turned her attention to him. “Yes?”
“I respect your self-discipline about work. But I’m curious about the ‘pleasure’ part of that little rule.” His tone felt a little more forceful than he intended, but he wanted an answer.
She sat upright, and her eyes never left his face, and Ben had the oddest sensation of being drawn to her, like a magnet. Hunger shone in her eyes, not for food, but for something more. The intuitive force inside him somehow knew that. She was waiting. “If you keep pleasure separate from work, then when was the last time you went out on a date or had sex?”
Her cheeks colored at his word choice, and he watched as her breathing sped up. “That’s none of your…” He gritted his teeth because he knew the answer, and a flash of near panic flickered in her eyes. “Not since I came home from Europe, alone.”
Ben nodded at his correct assumption. He’d known something was up back when she’d first come to work for them. There had been a hollowness in her eyes that he’d seen in unguarded moments. He’d never said anything because she was entitled to privacy. She’d never spoken of it, throwing herself wholeheartedly into her new job. “So work is work. You work, and work, and work. When you told us about Brandon, you said you were happy for him.”
“I was. I am.” Her voice broke on the last word.
The pain on Camilla’s face forced him into action, and he skirted the marble countertop to stand in front of her.
“Have you heard from him since?”
Her response was a shake of her head. She made a valiant attempt at shoring up her defenses as she said, “It’s in the past. It doesn’t matter if he’d tried to contact me. It doesn’t change anything.” Her vulnerability brought out his protective instincts as he stroked her shoulders.
“Tell us what happened. Did he cheat?”
“No. I don’t—no. He didn’t cheat.” She tried to draw back from him but he moved a little further into her space. She looked torn between wanting to run out the door or collapse against him. Her chin quivered and she put a shaky hand to her mouth.
“Tell me.”
The flash of pain in her eyes was heartbreaking. “I thought I was safe with him. We were there for each other—at least I thought we were. It was unintentional, but he left me, just like—”
Quinten stroked her thigh. “Like who?”
“Nothing. Brandon didn’t mean to hurt me.”
It sent a wave of helpless fury through Ben to think of her alone and so far away from home. He felt like a first-class jerk for pushing her, but his instincts were telling him to push as she tried to evade. “Like who?”