CHAPTER TWELVE
While Natalie washed her face and pulled herself together, Cameron sent Maddie out to pick up lunch. Asher had offered—twice—but Cameron wasn’t ready to let him go yet.
Just Asher being there was more than he’d expected but watching the way he had comforted Natalie and made her laugh, Cameron might have fallen just a little bit in love. The only way the guy could have been more potent would be if he had been holding a baby while rescuing a kitten.
“What the hell is going on with this table?” Asher asked as they all gathered around said table in the breakroom.
Cameron liked the table. It looked sort of like the offspring of a patchwork quilt and a jigsaw puzzle. Each colorful puzzle peace even had funny little sayings on it like, You Are What You Eat: Cheap, Fast, and Easy.
“It’s unique,” Natalie answered as she reached for the Chinese take-out box Maddie passed her. “It makes me happy.”
Asher shook his head. “I think I’m going to have a seizure. ”
“That’s probably the MSG.” Maddie lifted her box of beef and broccoli in a mock toast before popping a piece of broccoli into her mouth. “Mmm, you can practically taste the hypertension.”
“Has anyone ever told you that you’re crazy?”
Maddie rolled her eyes toward the ceiling and tapped her chin with her index finger. “My parents, my brother, a couple of teachers, basically every ex-boyfriend, and the guy who sold me my new mattress.”
At the mention of ex-boyfriends, Natalie stabbed her chopsticks into her rice and flopped back in her chair. She didn’t start crying again, but her bottom lip wobbled in a way that had Cameron wanting to hunt down Aiden and rip off his dick.
“Nat, what happened today?”
“I got dumped.” She wiped roughly at her eyes as she sniffled. “It was humiliating.”
“He broke up with you in public?” Props to Asher for showing the appropriate amount of outrage. “What a twatwaffle.”
“He is, isn’t he?” Natalie smiled, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes. “He called this morning and asked me to meet him at the café around the corner for brunch. He’s not really the most spontaneous kind of guy, so I thought it was really sweet.”
Oh, yeah, Cameron was definitely going to make the asshole hurt. “Did he say why he wanted to end things? ”
She bit down on her bottom lip and nodded, her eyes shining with a fresh wave of tears. “He said that at this point in his life, he really felt like he needed to be sleeping with someone hotter.”
Asher dropped his gaze to the table and winced.
It could have been in sympathy, but the expression looked more like guilt to Cameron.
He wondered how many of Asher’s previous conquests had heard something similar.
It took very little effort to spew out belligerent insults, but it was wholly different to see the pain caused by insensitive words.
“Well, fuck him,” Maddie offered conversationally. “He was definitely the one dating up in that relationship. I hope his hot new piece of ass gives him chlamydia.”
“Maddie!” Natalie’s slapped a hand over her mouth to muffle her giggles. “Oh, my god, I can’t believe you said that.”
“He’s an idiot.” Asher spoke quietly and more subdued than Cameron had ever heard him. “Anyone can see how beautiful you are.”
Damn, Cameron wanted to just drag him across the table and kiss him senseless. He really could be quite sweet when he wasn’t trying so hard to pretend he didn’t care.
“He’s right.” Taking his sister’s hand, Cameron brought it to his lips. “You are beautiful, and Aiden is going to regret letting you get away. ”
“He didn’t break up with you,” Maddie added. “He set you free to find someone who will love you so hard you won’t even remember Aiden’s name.”
Cameron blinked. Asher’s mouth fell open. Natalie tilted her head to the side with a little frown.
“That was surprisingly deep,” Asher said after a few seconds, “and remarkable in its lack of biting sarcasm.”
“Take it back.”
“Why?”
In answer, she threw a steamed dumpling at his face.
It hit him right between the eyes, bounced onto the table, then rolled to the edge where it fell to the floor. No one moved. No one spoke. The silence stretched on, the tension heavy.
Then, Asher lost it.
Falling back in his seat, he laughed until his face turned red and tears spilled from the corners of his eyes. Natalie watched him, transfixed, little snorts escaping through her nose. Even Maddie cracked a smile.
Cameron couldn’t take it anymore. Rising halfway out of his chair, he reached across the table, grabbed the front of Asher’s shirt, and jerked him up from his seat.
Their mouths collided, hard and urgent, effectively turning his laughter in a strangled moan that sent fire coursing through Cameron’s veins.
Asher opened for him immediately, welcoming anything Cameron would give him.
Not willing to disappoint, he probed deep, tangling his tongue with Asher’s, losing himself in the kiss.
It wasn’t until Maddie cleared her throat that he reluctantly ended the kiss and released his white-knuckled grip on Asher’s shirt.
Before he could pull away, though, Asher grabbed the back of his neck and yanked him into another blistering tangle of mouths and tongues that ended with a sharp bite to his bottom lip.
Cameron’s eyes rolled back in his head as the sting sent shivers racing down his spine.
Fuck, the guy always had to have the last word, but this time, he wouldn’t complain.
“Jesus,” Natalie muttered, fanning her face with a paper napkin. “I have definitely been doing that wrong.”
“Nah, not wrong.” Eyes half-lidded, lips pink and swollen, Asher dropped into his chair with a cocky smirk. “Just with the wrong person. I could show you, but I have this new boyfriend. Super hot, but kind of possessive.”
Cameron opened his mouth to deny it, but instead, he blurted, “Keep your mouth to yourself.”
Asher stared at Cameron’s lips and arched one eyebrow. “Really?”
He shook his head, even as heat singed his cheeks. “You know what I mean.”
Asher shifted his gaze to Natalie, his arrogant grin back in full force. “See? Possessive.” His attention returned to Cameron, and his smile softened. “But you know what? So am I. ”
“Don’t play well with others?” Maddie teased.
Eyes still locked on Cameron, Asher shook his head. “I don’t share.”
Cameron shifted in his chair as his cock grew achingly hard. Fuck, that’s sexy.
Six more days. Just six fucking days.
~
Pulling into the parking garage under Cameron’s office building, Asher shifted into park, but left the motor idling and the air conditioner blasting.
Technically, the first official day of autumn had come and gone nearly a month ago, but as usual in Texas, summer wasn’t ready to relinquish her hold over the state.
Instead of exiting the car, Cameron took Asher’s hand and gave it a tender squeeze. “Thank you for everything, Asher.”
He shrugged. “It was nothing.”
“Don’t do that. Don’t minimize it. You were a goddamn rock star, and I’m glad you were there.”
Dropping his head back against the seat, Asher closed his eyes and sighed. “I like your sister, and she deserves better than that ignorant fuckhead she was dating.”
“I agree.”
“How long were they together?”
“Eight months. ”
Asher squeezed his eyes tighter for a second, then opened them. “Christ. I don’t even know this guy, and I kind of hate him.”
“Don’t worry. You’d still hate him if you knew him.”
Chuckling, Asher flipped his hand over and laced his fingers with Cameron’s. He needed to say something, and he just hoped it wouldn’t come back to bite him in the ass. Ever since Natalie had told them about how she’d been dumped, a pressure had settled on Asher’s chest that just wouldn’t leave.
“I’ve had a lot of anonymous sex.” He stopped and bit down on the tip of his tongue. They had never discussed his scandalous sex life before meeting Cameron, and he hadn’t meant to drop it in his lap like that.
“I know.” Ducking his head, Cameron peeked up at him through his long lashes. “I’m not an idiot, Ash. I saw the way the guys at the club look at you. And…” He paused and glanced down at their joined hands. “Well, I saw the blog.”
Not what he wanted to hear, but at least he didn’t have to worry that Cameron would run screaming in the opposite direction. He didn’t know all the details, but he knew enough. Plus, he’d read that fucking blog, and he was still there.
Asher took it as a good sign.
Choosing to ignore the gossip blog for now, he plowed ahead with the original topic. “I was always up front about it being just sex, but sometimes, wires got crossed. Some guys wanted it to be more. Some thought they could change my mind.”
Cameron squeezed his hand again. “I feel like you’re going somewhere with this, but I don’t understand. What do those guys have to do with anything?”
“Nothing really.” The confession was proving to be a lot harder to get out than he’d anticipated. “It’s not so much about them as it is about how I treated them.” He licked his lips to wet them. “I was arrogant, cruel in my rejection. They didn’t deserve that.”
“No, they didn’t.” Cameron shifted around in his seat until his back pressed against the door. “What Aiden said to Natalie? You’ve used a line like that before, haven’t you?”
Asher wanted to deny it with every fiber of his being, but he wouldn’t lie. “I have. Not those exact words, but close enough to count.”
Cameron nodded. “I thought so. Back at the shop, when she was telling us what he said, I saw how quiet you got. I figured that was why.” Lifting their joined hands, he brushed a kiss over Asher’s knuckles. “It’s a lot different seeing the other side of the conversation, isn’t it?”
Different wasn’t the right word. Heartbreaking, devastating, humbling, shaming—all much better descriptions .
Oh, he’d thought he was clever. Every snarky rejection and witty punchline had been delivered with skilled precision for maximum impact, but he’d never stuck around long enough to see what happened next.
“I was a fucking tool.”
“Probably,” Cameron agreed, but he was smiling this big, cheesy grin.
Bearing his soul was working out pretty well so far, so he decided to drop another little truth bomb. “I like me better when I’m with you.”
He expected Cameron to laugh or roll his eyes, but instead, his grin vanished, and he made a strangled sound in the back of his throat. Pushing away from the door, he lurched over the console, tangled his free hand in Asher’s hair, and planted a scorching kiss on his mouth.
“The things you say,” he breathed before diving back in, thrusting his tongue between Asher’s lips.
Cameron didn’t just kiss him, he fucking branded him, and Asher loved every second of it. Unfortunately, he’d been too hard for too long—namely since the minute he’d walked into Cameron’s office earlier—and his self-control stretched only so far.
Groaning with frustration, he pressed a hand to Cameron’s chest and leaned away. “You’re killing me, Cam.” Asher brushed chaste kisses over his lips, his nose, both cheeks. “Go. You need to go right now. ”
Thank Christ, Cameron didn’t argue. “Yeah, okay, you’re right.” He stole another kiss then shoved himself away, fumbling with the door handle. “I’ll call you tonight.”
“Be prepared,” Asher teased. “I’m going to quiz you on those chapters in your desk.”
“There’s going to be a test?”
“Absolutely.”
“Great,” Cameron grumbled, climbing out of the car. “No pressure or anything.”
He closed the door and started to walk away, but Asher wasn’t finished teasing. Rolling down the passenger window, he called Cameron’s name.
“What?”
He sounded terse, which Asher found adorable. “I’ll be particularly interested to see what you think about chapter four.”
“Why? What happens in chapter four?”
Asher really wished he could be in the room to watch Cameron while he read it. The guy was going to lose his ever-loving mind. “Call me,” he yelled as he shifted into reverse and eased his foot off the brake. “I’ll be waiting.”
“Asher! What the hell? Tell me what happens!”
Laughing to himself, he rolled up the passenger window, backed out of the parking space, and pulled away. The sight of Cameron in his rearview mirror—hands on his hips, feet planted, chin tipped stubbornly into the air—made him laugh harder.
He couldn’t wait to get home and start writing another chapter, one just for Cameron Stone.