by J. Kenner
Once Taylor and Megan were gone, Mina dove into getting the house ready and the food delivered. The food was the easiest, since all she had to do was call the store and ask her father’s assistant to send a runner over with everything on the list. For that matter, the house was easy, too. Her father had a housekeeper who came every other day whether the house needed it or not. She’d cleaned and dusted just yesterday, which meant that all Mina had to do was put away the groceries when they arrived, pretty up the party trays, bring up a few bottles of wine from the cellar, and hang the Congratulations banner over the big bay window.
And, of course, she had to make the cake. Duncan Hines yellow cake mix with chocolate Betty Crocker frosting. Simple—although considering her lack of skill at frosting, it would still be messy—but it was both of their favorites, and no way was she throwing her brother any type of party without making him a cake.
“Smell’s amazing,” Darryl said, coming into the kitchen and dropping his keys into the bowl on the breakfast table.
“Only the best for my big brother.” She’d just finished frosting the cake, and she passed him the canister. “In case you didn’t get enough food at your brunch.”
“More than enough,” he said. “But there’s always room for frosting.” He demonstrated by using his finger to scoop up a glob. “So my surprise is at six?”
“I’m not even calling it a surprise party anymore. Now it’s an ingrate party.”
He waved a chocolate-covered finger at her. “Not ungrateful. Just not surprised.”
“Yes, six.” She’d deliberately made the party early so that folks realized that it was an understated gathering. They could come by, hang out, and still keep all their Saturday night plans. Plus, even though Mina hadn’t invited many folks from The Fix since that was her world and not Darryl’s, there were a few crossovers. And since it was a Saturday night, Mina hadn’t wanted to pull them away from the busiest hours.
She and Darryl had gone to high school with Tiffany Russell, one of the waitresses, so she was a given. And Jenna and Reece were coming, too. Over Christmas break, Darryl and Reece had spent a full evening talking about restoring old cars—a hobby that Darryl loved but never had time for. It wasn’t a huge connection, but the guys had hit it off, and Mina liked both Reece and Jenna.
And, of course, Cam.
But she didn’t linger on the thought of him, because the second he’d sidled into her psyche, she’d felt that warm twitchiness, that soft craving.
Cam was a problem she wouldn’t be able to solve until she put on her big girl panties and had a talk with him. In the meantime, he lingered in her thoughts for the rest of the day, rising to the surface at inopportune times, like when she was showering, the sudden memory of him so intense that her skin prickled and she felt herself go soft with desire.
She’d barely pulled herself together when the party started—and then there he was again, walking in the door with Tiffany on his arm. Cam looked so casually sexy in jeans and a Henley that Mina had to fight the urge to touch him. And Tiffany looked far too cute in a pink sundress and flats, her wavy hair clipped up so that tendrils framed her round face. Bitch, Mina thought, but immediately felt guilty. Until that moment, she’d always liked Tiffany.
When Mina realized she’d been standing silently in front of them, she forced a wide, hostess smile. “Sorry, I’m still running over my party list in my head. It’s so great to see you.” She pulled Tiffany into a hug. “Thanks for coming. And you, too, of course,” she added to Cam. “But he was a given,” she added to Tiffany. “Years of being attached to Darryl’s hip.”
“I remember,” Tiffany said. “Well, not during school—you went somewhere south, right?” she asked Cam, who nodded. “But whenever I saw you guys during the summer at the mall or Barton Springs you were always together.”
“We’ve been tight for years,” Cam said, then held his arms out to Mina. “What? I’m practically a member of the family. I don’t get a hug, too?”
She rolled her eyes. “Of course you do,” she said, then slid into his embrace. She’d expected it to be a quick, perfunctory hug. It wasn’t. He pulled her close, so that their bodies were pressed tight together. One of his hands rested on her back, the other lightly squeezed her ass. And when she started to pull away, his voice purred low and commanding against her ear. “You were right,” he said, and she knew that he felt her shiver.
Then he pulled back, offered Tiffany his arm, and led her into the party, leaving Mina standing stupidly in the doorway wondering what the hell he’d meant by that.
“She keeps watching you,” Tiffany said. “What did you say to her?”
Cam and Tiffany were tucked into a corner of the living room. Tiffany was leaning against the edge of a bookcase, and he was standing in front of her, close enough that it looked intimate. “I only told her she was right.”
“About what?” Tiffany asked.
“That’s what she’s going to be wondering.” He reached forward and untangled a strand of hair from her hoop earring. Innocent enough, but it would undoubtedly look intimate to anyone paying attention.
And, yes, he knew he was being an ass, but he didn’t care. He had a point to make, and setting the stage with Tiffany was the fastest way he could think of to do it.
“I can’t believe you talked me into this,” she said.
“Into what? All you’re doing is coming with me to my best friend’s welcome back party. We came together. That’s it.”
She smirked. “Fine, don’t tell me. It’s not like I told you about my crush on Eric. Which, by the way, I totally expect you to keep secret.”
“Don’t you trust me?” They’d started working at The Fix the same week, and then learned that they shared three classes. There’d never been any sexual attraction between them, but Cam and Tiff had become fast friends.
“Don’t you trust me?” she countered.
“Fine. We slept together.”
Tiffany stared at him like he was an idiot. “Well, duh. Nobody goes through these kinds of machinations if sex isn’t at stake.”
He couldn’t help it, he burst out laughing. “Let’s mingle, and I’ll give you the full scoop.”
They walked, and he did, making sure to talk when they wouldn’t be overheard. The bottom line was that Mina’s speech in bed had been one serious kick in the heart, not to mention parts further south. He understood not wanting to tell Darryl—hell, he’d spent years not making a move on Mina because of her brother—but her talk about it inevitably ending had twisted him up way more than it probably should. So much so that he’d gone home, stood in the shower until the water ran cold, and replayed the conversation over and over and over, trying to figure out what about it had made him feel like such a damn loser.
It wasn’t the way she’d reacted to him, that was for sure. She’d said she wanted him, and everything they’d done together had been evidence that she’d meant it.
She’d also dismissed the very idea of Zach, which had definitely made him happy.
She’d even suggested that they’d have a reasonably long run. After all, it was only early June, and she’d mentioned Christmas.
That, however, was the problem.
“A timeline,” Tiffany said, and he shrugged. “She saw the end before you two had even begun.”
“You sound like a psychology major,” he said, which made her laugh because, of course, she was.
They were by the table with all the alcohol, and he poured her a glass of wine as his eyes searched the living room and the connecting patio. The doors were open, and guests were mingling inside and by the pool. He saw Darryl talking to Nolan and waved, but his gaze didn’t linger until he finally found Mina. She was standing by the pool chatting with Easton, a local lawyer who was a regular at The Fix and, Cam knew, did work for her father’s company.
As if she’d felt his gaze on her, she looked up, her eyes finding him immediately. He saw a flash of heat in her eyes, then her brow furrow as if
in question.
He looked away, his heart pounding, and offered the wine to Tiffany.
“She says she doesn’t do commitment, and I can live with that.”
“You can?”
“In a way.” He’d thought about it a lot. He wanted to try and start something with her; he knew that. He wanted to go slow and see what grew. To twine their lives together even more than they already were and see if they ended up being a fit.
They already had so much in common. Both focused on their educations and careers. Both with successful siblings. Both trying to prove that they could make it on their own. Him, despite growing up with no money and no parents. Her, despite a physical frailty and a father and brother who couldn’t seem to believe that she’d left those weaknesses behind.
He saw all that with the same clarity that he saw a story from the past play out in his mind as he pored over ancient documents. But those same documents also told him that sometimes the end was inevitable. The pieces on the chess board set in a way that no other outcome was fathomable.
And with Mina, she always set the board up for failure.
“But that’s not anything you can change,” Tiffany said after he’d laid it all out for her.
“No, but Mina can.” He nodded across the room to where Jenna stood, her back to Reece’s chest, their arms entwined. Gently, Reece tilted his head and pressed a kiss to Jenna’s hair. “They were friends,” he said. “Now look at them.”
“Jenna’s pregnant, you know,” Tiffany said.
He’d suspected as much; she’d stopped drinking alcohol during her off hours. “Did she tell you?”
“She glows. Plus the water.”
“They fit. And you can damn well believe neither one of them went in thinking that it would be over by Christmas. Because they both wanted the other one too bad.”
Tiffany turned away from Jenna and Reece to look up at him, her eyes wide. “You devil,” she said. “You’re making her jealous.”
“Nah,” he said. “I just want her to notice. I just want her to want. Not the fling. Me. At the very least, that might get us past Christmas and all the way to Valentine’s Day.”
He thought the comment would make her laugh, but instead, she just looked thoughtful. Then she stepped closer, until she was mere inches from him. She set her wine aside, then took his and put it down, too. “Don’t even look her way,” she whispered. “But I think now would be a very good time for us to go.”
Chapter Eight
“Are you looking for my Daddy?”
Mina turned away from Brent’s living room window to find Faith’s big blue eyes staring back at her. “Oh, no honey. Your daddy’s working all day. I was looking for a friend.”
“Aunt Jenna and Uncle Reece?” the five year old asked, bouncing in her footie pajamas.
“No, sweetie. I think they’re at work with your daddy. I was looking out for my friend Cameron. You know Cam, right? He works with your dad? And he’d said he was going to help me sit with you.”
Faith clapped her hands. “He plays fort with me.”
Despite her melancholy, Mina couldn’t suppress her smile. She had vivid memories of Cam engineering all sorts of forts in the vacant lot down the street from where he’d lived with his grandmother and sister, Kiki. He’d spend hours poring over books filled with pictures of medieval castles and forts, and then he’d try to recreate them out of abandoned building material, discarded furniture, and soggy cardboard boxes.
Once the forts were up, he and Darryl would round up the neighborhood kids, and Cam would assign all their parts. Never did the two opposing sides just attack; no, for Cam, their neighborhood battles rose to the level of historical re-enactment.
She bit back a smile, remembering what a nerd he’d been. Still was, she supposed. But a damn sexy one.
With a heavy heart, she reached down for Faith’s hand. “I don’t think he’s coming,” she said. “Come on. Let’s get you changed. And then maybe we can go do something. What do you think? Want to go on an adventure?”
“Puppies?” Faith asked, jumping up and down. And since Brent had forewarned her that one of Faith’s favorite places was the nearby Brentwood Neighborhood Park because so many of the locals brought their dogs out to play, Mina nodded in agreement.
“We’ll get changed and go see if there are any puppies, and then maybe we can get some lunch, okay?” It was already after ten, but Faith had been watching cartoons in her PJs when Mina arrived. Now, the little girl rushed off to find some clothes, and Mina lingered more slowly behind, feeling lonely and melancholy.
She’d known she’d screwed up with Cam the second she’d seen his face in bed yesterday morning. That stupid, foolish moment when she’d pretty much told him that it would be over by Christmas.
All she’d wanted was to be clear. She liked him—and God knew she’d liked sleeping with him—but she wasn’t ready to get serious. Not with him. Not with anyone.
But that didn’t mean they couldn’t have fun.
Except apparently it did, because it hadn’t taken him any time at all to switch his attention away from her and over to Tiffany.
And to think she actually liked Tiffany.
Or she had once upon a time. Now she was thinking that Tiff fell into the category of raging bitch.
Which wasn’t fair, she knew, but at the moment Mina didn’t care.
But, honestly, he couldn’t wait a few days to date someone else? Especially when he’d offered to help her babysit, and now not only was he blowing her off, but he was probably off blowing another woman?
Her chest tightened with the thought, and she grabbed her phone, then started to pull up his contact information, because right then the only thing she really wanted to do was give him a piece of her mind.
She hit the button, the call connected, rang once, and then her sanity returned. What the hell was she doing?
She scrambled to end the call, but before she could manage, she heard his voice.
“Mina?”
“You’re a jerk.”
“Nah, I’m a great guy. Everybody says so.”
“I don’t. You’re supposed to be helping me babysit. You went on and on about how I didn’t know what I was doing, and you have tons of experience, and I’d be an idiot to try to watch over Faith without you around.”
There was a beat, and then he said, “Well, that’s pretty much how I remember our conversation.”
“You stood me up,” she said. “And you brought Tiffany to Darryl’s party.” Damn. That just slipped out.
“I did. But you invited her.”
“Obviously poor judgment on my part.”
“Why? I thought you guys were friends.”
“Friends don’t swoop in on guys that their friends are sleeping with.” She said the last in a whisper as she walked down the hall to check on Faith, who was sitting on her bed playing with her stuffed animals.
“You mean me?” he asked as Mina backed out, not wanting to disturb the little girl.
“No, I mean Santa Claus. Of course I mean you.”
“And, ah, how was Tiffany supposed to know that we’d slept together? I thought it was a secret. When you said we couldn’t tell Darryl, that pretty much meant we couldn’t tell anyone, right? Certainly not someone like Tiffany who’s his friend.”
She returned to the living room, then paced from the front door to the kitchen. “You know what, you’re right. Tiffany’s fine. She’s a goddess. A model of purity and sweetness. She’s practically Emily Post. You’re the asshole.”
“I’m pretty sure that’s where we started this conversation. Only then I was a jerk. What have I done in the last two minutes to make my stature drop to asshole?”
“You know what—forget it. I can handle a five-year-old. And as for you and Tiffany, you just have a grand old time, okay?”
“Mina.”
“I’ll see you at The Fix, I’m sure.”
“Mina.”
“I need to go check on
Faith.”
“Mina.”
“What?”
“Open the front door.”
She froze, the door just inches away. “What did you say?”
This time when he answered, his voice was gentle. “Open the front door.”
She did, and when she saw him leaning against the porch railing, such a wave of relief washed over her that she had to hold onto the doorframe to steady herself. “You came to babysit.”
He took a step toward her. “I came for you.”
“Oh.”
“You want to go inside? Or should I kiss you here on the front porch where anyone can see?”
Her stomach dropped, but the sensation wasn’t unpleasant at all. “Inside,” she managed, her voice sounding raspy.
“Good choice,” he said, then steered her into the house just enough so that the door closed. Then he cupped her chin, tilted her head up, and kissed her so gently she almost feared that she’d cry.
“Cam, I—”
“We have company,” he said, nodding to the little girl who now stood in the middle of the living area, her thumb in her mouth and her eyes wide. “Hey, kiddo,” he added, then squatted down and held out his arms.
She raced into them, and he stood up quickly, holding her like a rag doll as she kicked and squealed. It was obviously a game they’d played before, and Mina moved to sit on the edge of the couch as she watched their easy playfulness.
“So what are you doing today?” He aimed the question at Faith, but he was looking at Mina.
“Puppies!” Faith said.
“We were going to the park,” Mina explained. “After that, we were thinking lunch.”
“Sounds like a good plan.” He stood, then held out a hand for each of them. “Shall we?”
Brent had insisted she drive his car if she took Faith out, so she’d traded with him rather than have him use a ride share service to get downtown. Now, they buckled Faith into the pink car seat in the back of Brent’s Volvo, then drove the short distance to the park.