From Best Friend to Bride

by Jules Bennett

  Nora stepped forward, patted his arm and offered a smile that was a bit on the patronizing side. Did nobody have faith in him?

  “Just tell us when you’re free,” she told him.

  Running his crazy schedule through his mind, Cameron knew there wouldn’t be a great night, but he could surely spare a few hours. “I could do it Sunday evening.”

  “I work until four, but we could go after that,” Drake chimed in.

  “Great.” Nora beamed. She leaned down, kissed Cameron on the cheek and patted his shoulder. “I’ll go tell Marly.”

  She raced back into the house and Cameron leaned his head back against the cushion on the settee. Both brothers stared down at him.

  “What?”

  “You’re not getting off the hook about this woman that has you tied in knots just because you’re babysitting,” Eli insisted. “We’ll get the truth out of you one way or another.”

  Cameron didn’t even know what there was to tell. Megan had kissed him, he’d kissed her and since then they hadn’t spoken. What a mess, and most of it was his fault. If he hadn’t insisted on challenging her, if he’d let her lie her way out of the first kiss, they would’ve moved on and ignored that pivotal turn they’d taken.

  No way would he reveal Megan’s name to his brothers. She was like a sister to them, and he wasn’t sure they’d be on board with how Cameron had treated her.

  But damn it, she’d tied him up in knots the second she’d slid her body against his.

  “Come on—you can’t sit there brooding and not fill us in.” Drake leaned an elbow against the railing. “It has to be someone you know since you work every waking second. You don’t have time to meet women unless it’s someone you’re arresting. Please, tell me you don’t have some prisoner-guard romance going because if you do we’re staging an intervention.”

  “Do you ever shut up?” Cameron asked, without heat. “Can’t a guy keep some things to himself?”

  “No,” Eli and Drake replied in unison.

  Raking a hand down his face, Cameron came to his feet. He couldn’t stay any longer. If he did, they’d figure out who had him in knots and he couldn’t afford to let that out right now, not when he was so confused. And he had no clue what was going through Megan’s head, either.

  “Now he’s leaving.” Eli laughed. “This must be bad if you’re running from your own brothers.”

  “It’s a small town,” Drake added with a smile that stated he’d get to the bottom of it. “Secrets don’t stay hidden long. The truth will come out eventually.”

  Cameron glared at his brothers before heading into the house to say goodbye to his sisters-in-law and his nieces.

  The truth coming out was precisely what he couldn’t have happen. But he knew he wasn’t telling anybody about the incident and he doubted Megan would tell anyone, so that left the secret bottled up good and tight.

  The question now was: When would it explode?

  * * *

  Megan hadn’t even made it home from work when her cell rang. She’d just pulled onto her road when she answered without looking.

  “Hello.”

  “I’m sorry to bother you.”

  Instantly Megan recognized the voice of one of her clients...a girl who’d just been in earlier that afternoon and the same one who’d called in the middle of the night days ago. Farrah wasn’t the most stable person, and Megan made a point to really work with her. Megan cared for all her clients’ well-being, but Farrah was extremely unstable and truly had no one else to turn to.

  “Don’t apologize,” Megan insisted as she neared her driveway. “I’m here for you anytime.”

  “Earlier you told me that moving forward was the only way to start over.”

  Megan eased her car into the detached garage. “That’s right.”

  Farrah sniffed. “I’m going to look for a job tomorrow. It’s time I move out and try to make my life my own.”

  Megan had been waiting for Farrah to see that she needed to stand on her own two feet, to get away from the controlling man who held so much power over her. Megan had tried to stress how control can often quickly turn to abuse.

  “I just wanted to thank you for today, and maybe... Could I put you down as a reference?”

  Megan smiled as she killed the engine. “That would be fine. I’m really proud of you, Farrah.”

  Farrah thanked her, then ended the call. By the time Megan gathered her things and headed across the stone walkway to her back door, her phone was ringing again. She glanced at the screen and saw Evan’s number. She hated how her first instinct was to groan. How was it she could counsel total strangers, yet her own flesh and blood refused to take her advice or even consider for a moment that she wasn’t trying to control him?

  With a sigh, she answered as she shoved her key in her new doorknob. “Hi, Evan.”

  “Can I stay with you for a few nights?”

  Stunned, Megan froze with her hand on the knob. She wasn’t shocked at his abrupt question without so much as a greeting, but at the request. It was unusual for him not to ask for money first.

  “Are you all right?”

  “Yeah, yeah. I just...I need a place to crash. You going to help me or not?”

  Closing her eyes, Megan leaned her head against the glass on the door. Even though his tone was put out and angry, he was at least coming to her for support.

  “I’ll always help you, Evan. But are you asking because you’re ready to make changes in your life or because you’re hiding?”

  “Forget it,” he grunted. “You’re always judging me.”

  “No, Evan. I’m not judging—I’m worried.”

  Silence filled the line. Megan straightened and strained to hear.

  “Evan?”

  “If I wanted to change, could you help me?”

  Now his voice came out in a near whisper, reminding her of the young boy he’d once been. At one time he’d looked up to her. When did all of that change?

  “I’d do anything for you,” she assured him. “Do you need help? I can come get you right now.”

  Again silence filled the line. She waited, not wanting to push further. This was the first time he actually sounded as if he may want to let her in. Megan prayed he would take the olive branch she’d been holding out for so long.

  Commotion from the other end of the line, muffled voices and Evan’s swearing told her the conversation was dead.

  “I’ll, uh, I’ll call you later,” he whispered as if he didn’t want to be heard.

  Gripping her phone, Megan pushed her way into the house. She didn’t know why she’d let herself get her hopes up for those few seconds. She didn’t know why she was constantly beating herself up over a man who might just continue to use her for the rest of their lives. But he was her brother and she would never give up. She may be frustrated and oftentimes deflated, but she wasn’t a quitter and she would make damn sure he wasn’t, either.

  He’d called; that was a major step.

  After hanging her purse on the peg by the back door, Megan slid her keys and phone inside. Her stomach growled, reminding her that she’d skipped lunch again in order to squeeze in one more client. Her supervisor kept telling her she needed to take breaks, but how could Megan justify them when someone’s life could very well be in her hands? What if it was the patient who was contemplating suicide or leaving a spouse and they needed to talk right then? Megan couldn’t turn them away.

  Her eyes landed on the letter she’d tacked to the side of her refrigerator. The letter outlining every detail for the new position she’d been offered in Memphis. The job was almost too good to be true, but it meant leaving Cameron, leaving the chance for something she’d wanted her whole life.

  The directors had certainly pulled out all the stops to get her to take the position. The opportunity to help launch a free clinic in an area of town where people had been forgotten, left to their own devices. Megan wasn’t married, didn’t have kids and had been recommended for this job b
y her boss. How could she say no?

  Two very valid reasons kept her from jumping at this chance of a lifetime: Evan and Cameron. Both men were fixtures in her life, and both men needed her whether either of them admitted it or not.

  She hadn’t spoken to Cameron in a few days, and emptiness had long since settled into that pit in her stomach, joining the fear and worry there. This was precisely why she hadn’t made a move before, why she’d kept her feelings to herself. If a few kisses had already wedged an awkward wall between them, what would’ve happened had she told him she wanted to try a real relationship with him?

  Megan glanced at the letter again and sighed. Maybe she should go. Maybe she needed to get away from the man who was a constant in her life but would never fill the slot she needed him to. And perhaps her new start would be the perfect opportunity for Evan to make a clean break, as well.

  Chapter Eight

  “I need you.” Cameron surveyed the chaos around him and cringed. “How soon can you be at my house?”

  Shrill cries pierced his eardrums for at least the fifteenth time in as many minutes. Every single parent in the world officially had his respect and deserved some type of recognized award for their patience.

  “Where are you?” Megan asked. “What’s all that noise?”

  Cameron raked a hand over his hair and realized he needed to get a cut. He’d add that to the many things he’d slacked on lately. Right now, though, he was groveling to his best friend to come save him even though he’d been a jerk and hadn’t spoken to her since.

  His house was a complete war zone thanks to a spunky six-year-old and an infant.

  Willow was dancing her stuffed horse in front of Amber’s reddened, angry, tear-soaked face in an attempt to calm the baby, but Cameron figured that was only making it worse. Not to mention the fact that Willow had a slight goose egg on her head after tripping over the baby and falling into the corner of the coffee table.

  Why had he insisted on watching the kids at his house? A house that was as far from baby proof as possible. He was a bachelor. Unfortunately, his bachelor pad had now tragically converted into a failing day-care center.

  “Please,” he begged. He never begged. “I’m home, and you can’t get here fast enough. I’m...babysitting.”

  Okay, so he muttered that last word because he knew Megan well enough to know she’d burst out laughing and he wasn’t in the mood.

  “I’m sorry. Did you say babysitting?”

  Cameron bent over and pulled Amber into his arms. “Front door’s unlocked,” he said right before disconnecting the call and sliding his cell back into his pocket. He had no time for mockery; this was crisis mode. Code red.

  Megan would most likely dash down here within minutes, if nothing else to see firsthand how out of his comfort zone he was. The humiliation he was about to suffer would be long lasting, but at this point he didn’t care. He needed reinforcements in the worst possible way.

  This was not how he’d intended to apologize to Megan or how he’d planned on contacting her for the first time since he’d all but consumed her in his bathroom. Cameron hadn’t mapped out a plan, exactly, but he knew he needed to be the one to take the next step. But the step he wanted to take and the step he needed to take were on opposite ends of the spectrum.

  Cameron patted Amber on her back and tried to console her. How could someone so tiny be so filled with rage? Fatherhood was not his area of expertise. He wished there was some how-to manual he could read. Did Eli have this much trouble with his little girl? Cameron had never seen this side of his infant niece.

  “Maybe you should sing her a song,” Willow said, smiling up at him with a grin that lacked the front two teeth. “Do you know any songs?”

  AC/DC’s “Back in Black” sprang to mind, but he didn’t figure an infant would find that particular tune as appealing as a nearly forty-year-old man did.

  “I bet you know some,” he countered. “What songs have you learned in school so far?”

  Brows drawn, Willow looked lost in thought. Apparently, something brilliant came to her because she jumped up and down, her lopsided ponytails bouncing off her shoulders.

  “‘Wheels on the Bus’! That’s my favorite.”

  After taking a seat on the sofa, Cameron adjusted Amber on his lap so the infant could see Willow and hopefully hear the song.

  What else could he do? He’d fed her. Then she’d played on the floor with her toys, and now she was angrier than any woman he’d ever encountered on either side of the law.

  Willow started singing, extremely off-key and loud, but hey, the extra noise caught Amber’s attention and for a blessed moment she stopped screaming.

  Then she started again, burying her face against his chest. Unfazed, Willow continued to sing.

  The front door flew open, and Megan stepped in, instantly surveying the room. A smirk threatened to take over, but Cameron narrowed his gaze across the room, silently daring her to laugh.

  He’d never been so happy to see another person in his entire life.

  Willow stopped singing the second the door closed. “Hey, Megan. I didn’t know you were coming over.”

  Megan smiled and crossed the room. “I didn’t, either, but here I am.”

  Cameron tried to focus on the reason he’d called her here, but his eyes drank in the sight of Megan wearing a pair of body-hugging jeans and a plain white T-shirt with her signature off-duty cowgirl boots. With her hair pulled back in a ponytail, she looked about twenty years old.

  Megan reached for Amber and held the infant against her body. Without giving Cameron another glance, she turned and started walking around the room, patting Amber’s back and singing softly.

  Well, what did he expect? He’d called her to help with the situation he obviously had lost control over, not to take up where they’d left off the other night.

  Still, the fact she didn’t say a word to him made him wonder if he’d hurt her more than he realized. He was botching up their relationship in every way, and he didn’t blame her for being upset or angry.

  Almost instantly the crying ceased. “Seriously? You hold her and she stops?”

  Megan laughed, easing back to look Amber in the face. “I don’t think it was me at all,” she corrected him. “I think her stomach was upset. I just felt rumbling on my hand.”

  Cameron glanced to Megan’s hand resting on Amber’s bottom. Realization hit him hard. “Oh, no.”

  Willow giggled. “She feels better now.”

  Megan lifted Amber around to face Cameron. “She doesn’t smell better,” Megan said, scrunching up her nose.

  Oh, please, please, please. There were few things that truly left him crippled, but the top of that list was changing a diaper...a dirty, smelly diaper.

  Slowly rising to his feet, Cameron locked eyes with Megan. “I’ll give you a hundred bucks to change that diaper.”

  Megan quirked a brow, her eyes glazed over with something much more devious than humor. “Keep your hundred bucks. I’ll decide payment later.”

  Oh, mercy. Was she flirting with him? No, she was upset...wasn’t she? Chalk this up to reason number 947 as to why he didn’t do relationships. He’d never understand women. Ever.

  “Where’s the diapers and wipes?” she asked.

  “Oh, I know,” Willow raised her hand as if she were in school. “Follow me.”

  Megan trailed after Drake’s stepdaughter and went down the hall to his bedroom. His bedroom.

  “Don’t change that diaper on my bed,” he yelled. Laughter answered him, and he knew he was in for it. This was all part of his punishment.

  The reeking smell in his bedroom was the least of his worries, because in just over an hour his brothers would be back to retrieve their kids—leaving him and Megan alone once again.

  * * *

  She should’ve left when everyone else did, but she’d put her pride and her emotions aside because she and Cameron needed to talk. He also needed help picking up his living room. Bet
ween the fort with couch cushions and blankets and the towels Willow had used as capes, making sure Cameron and Megan were superheroes, too, the place was anything but organized. The furniture had been pushed aside to allow room for “flying,” and Megan hadn’t even walked into the kitchen yet. She’d started making marshmallow treats with Willow just before she left and the mess was epic. She had to get in there before Cameron, with all his straight, orderly ways, had a heart attack.

  Another thing she and Cameron saw eye to eye on. They both had a knack for cleanliness and keeping everything in its place...except for these emotions. They were all over, and nothing was orderly about them.

  Best to start in the kitchen. Not only could she get that back in order, she could think of how best to approach being back in his house and all alone together...Especially after that giant gauntlet she’d thrown down when he’d offered her a hundred bucks.

  What had she been thinking? The flirty comment had literally slid out of her mouth. Clearly she needed a filter.

  She’d been so amused by him babysitting, at the chaos his normally perfectly polished house was in. Then she’d seen him holding Amber and something very female, very biological-clock-ticking, snapped in her. She’d always known Cameron was a strong man who could handle anything. Yet the sight of those big tanned hands cradling an infant, of Cameron trying to console her with fear and vulnerability in his eyes, had sent her attraction to a whole new level. As if she needed yet another reason to be drawn to every facet of her best friend.

  Surveying the cereal on the floor, Megan tiptoed carefully through to the other side of the kitchen to get the broom from the utility closet. In the midst of sweeping, a tingle slid up her spine and she knew she wasn’t alone.

  “Sorry.” She went back to her chore, keeping her back to him. “Willow wanted to do everything on her own, so I let her. She’s too cute to deny. I’ll get this cleaned up and be gone.”

  When a warm, firm hand gripped her arm, Megan froze. Her heart kicked up, and she hated how she’d become this weak woman around her best friend. A part of her regretted sneaking into his bed. She’d cursed herself over and over for dreaming of him. The timing of the all-too-real dream at the same time he’d tried to wake her had thrown her control completely out the window.