CHAPTER TWENTY
After dropping Asher off at the Chamber of Commerce so he could meet Linda Picklesimer and go over his duties as a judge, Cameron headed back to his place with Nico to work on design ideas for their pumpkin.
Now that Asher would be judging the competition, he wanted to do something extra impressive.
“Calm down.” Bent over a piece of paper at the table in Cameron’s breakfast nook, Nico didn’t even glance up from his sketch. “We always win.”
“I know, but I don’t want to just win. I want to wow.”
Nico did look at him then, but only to roll his eyes. “We always wow.”
The guy just didn’t get it. “Fine,” he relented. “What haven’t we done before?”
With sixteen wins under their belt since high school, they’d pretty much run the gamut of everything from creepy to funny. The year they’d turned their entire pumpkin into a zombie head with a detached eyeball had been a personal favorite.
Slipping his pencil behind his ear, Nico leaned back in the chair and crossed his arms over his chest. “You know Asher probably isn’t going to vote for us, right? He wouldn’t want to show favoritism. ”
Cameron thought that over for a minute, then shook his head. “He’ll vote for the best. It doesn’t matter if it’s us or not.”
Nico looked skeptical, but he didn’t comment. “Okay, whatever. So, I guess first we need to decide if we want to go scary or funny this year.”
“Scary,” Cameron said without hesitation. “We did funny last year.”
Most of the pumpkin had been carved to resemble a realistic sonogram of a baby in utero, complete with umbilical cord.
It had been Cameron’s idea to have the top of the baby’s “head” protrude from the bottom of the pumpkin as if the image had been captured at the beginning of delivery.
Nico had been the one to make it all come together, though.
“That wasn’t funny. It was just weird.”
Maybe the carving itself hadn’t been humorous but seeing everyone’s reaction to it had cracked him the hell up. Still, they’d brought home the win, and that was all that really mattered.
“Okay,” Nico continued, “what’s the scariest thing you’ve seen lately?”
Cameron actually flinched. “My mother digging in her purse for condoms.”
His friend just chuckled. “Priceless.”
Before he could respond caustically, his cell phone vibrated on the kitchen counter. Once he saw the name on his screen, he couldn’t have stopped the smile on his face if he tried.
Asher: Save me.
Cameron: It’s only been twenty minutes.
Asher: These people are crazy. They asked me to do a book signing next month at the library.
Cameron chuckled, ignoring the curious looks Nico shot his way.
Cameron: That’s great. What’s the problem?
Asher: You’re not here.
The man fought dirty, but with his heart about to leap out of his chest, Cameron really couldn’t care.
Cameron: Be there in ten minutes.
He started to reach for his keys, but the next text came almost immediately.
Asher: No
Asher: It’s okay. I just miss you .
God, he could be sweet when he wanted to be. Cameron had the insane urge to hug his phone to his chest, and had there not been a witness, he just might have done it.
Cameron: I miss you, too.
Asher: They want me to help set up at the school. What time will you be there?
Cameron checked the clock in the top corner of his screen, surprised to find he and Nico only had an hour and half to come up with a winning idea.
Cameron: 11:30ish
Asher: I’ll meet you there. Do you know what you’re going to do yet?
Cameron: Not yet, but we’re working on it.
Asher: Okay, gotta go. See you soon.
Grinning, Cameron set his phone down on the kitchen counter and wandered back over to the breakfast nook.
“Everything okay?” Nico asked, and for once, he sounded sincere .
“Yeah, everything is fine. They want Asher to help set up in the school gym, so he’s going to meet us there.” He rubbed his fingertips across his brow, then carded his fingers through his hair. “Where were we?”
“Scary shit,” Nico prompted.
“Right.” Linking his hands together behind his back, he began to pace. Pacing always helped him think.
The haunted house had been frightening, but nothing stood out that would work on a pumpkin.
He didn’t watch much television, and the only movies he’d seen in weeks, he’d watched with Asher.
Most had been comedies, though he had snuck a romance in there.
After that first time, he refused to let Asher choose what they watched.
Cameron paused, the proverbial light bulb going off in his head.
Dropping into the chair beside Nico, he shoved the stack of blank paper on the table toward him. “I have an idea. You’re going to love it.”
~
Knowing Linda Picklesimer for approximately two hours made Asher absolutely sure of three things. She was beautiful, assertive, and she really wanted to get into his pants.
By the time he’d texted Cameron, she’d already asked him out for coffee twice and dinner once. Asher had declined as politely as possible, but she hadn’t let a little thing like lack of returned interest deter her.
On some level, he felt sorry for her. Her husband had passed away the previous year after nineteen years of marriage, and she’d been alone ever since.
Not that she didn’t have prospects in town, but she’d known those men her entire life, and each one of her would-be suitors came with more baggage than an airport.
Her words, not his, and he’d learned all this within the first twenty minutes of meeting her.
Setting up the tables in the gymnasium of the local high school hadn’t been as terrible as he’d anticipated.
At the very least, it had given him an excuse to keep away from the woman.
Still, that didn’t stop her from batting her lashes at him from across the room.
Once the other members of the panel began arriving, she’d ceased being overtly flirtatious, but she hadn’t been subtle, either.
Not even Cameron’s entrance had dissuaded her. It sure as shit distracted Asher, though.
Another round of storms had moved in while he’d been arranging tables and spreading tablecloths.
Since they were predicted to move on well before the fireworks show that night, he hadn’t spared more than a passing thought to the rain that beat against the windows and pounded the roof of the auditorium.
Not until Cameron walked through the double doors at the back of the room, looking for all the world like he’d just strolled out of Asher’s wettest dreams. His normally tidy hair stuck out all over his head in damp, messy spikes, water dripping from the tips to roll down his flushed face.
He’d never seen Cameron wear those particular pair of jeans before, but he hoped to see them a whole lot more.
The wet denim molded to his ass and thighs, and the fabric had more holes in it than a sieve.
His white V-neck had a small logo of a coffee cup on the right shoulder with the words Coffee Saves Lives printed over it.
Drenched from the rain, the thin cotton clung to every muscle, every valley, every curve.
When Cameron spotted him, his whole damn face lit up in a heart-stopping smile that made Asher’s knees weak. The guy was fucking sin on two legs, and he didn’t even know it.
“Hey,” he said once he’d reached the table where Asher waited. “Still need me to save you?”
The teasing gleam in his eyes was the icing on the cake, the little nudge that finally pushed Asher over the edge.
Uncaring who saw them, he fisted the front of Cameron’s shirt and jerked him forward until their hips met.
His other hand went to Cameron’s hair, threading through the wet locks to pull his head back.
“You are goddamn trouble,” he grumbled before sealing their mouths together in a fierce, demanding kiss.
Cameron opened for him on a moan, his lips parting to accept Asher’s thrusting tongue. He tasted like coffee and chocolate, and Asher sucked at his mouth greedily, wishing to hell they were somewhere more private.
Something dropped to the floor beside them with a heavy thud, and across the room, a man cleared his throat. Reluctantly, Asher broke the kiss, but kept his hand fisted in Cameron’s shirt to hold him close as he fought to catch his breath.
“Hi,” he whispered finally. “Come here often?”
Cameron chuckled, though his eyes still looked a little dazed. “I should probably change before we start setting up.” He kicked a tattered gray backpack near his foot. “I’ll be right back.”
“I could come with you,” Asher offered. Picturing Cameron damp and naked was doing nothing to soften his erection, so he might as well make the most of it. “You might need some help.”
Laughing again, Cameron pressed a hand to the middle of Asher’s chest. “As much as I’d love that, if you come with me, we’ll never make it back for the contest.”
“I’m not seeing a downside to this.”
“Down boy,” Nico said, joining them by the table. “After we win, he’s all yours. Until then, keep it in your pants.”
“Speaking of pants.” Ignoring Nico, Asher spoke to Cameron. “I’m pretty sure Linda Picklesimer wants to fuck me. ”
He expected a blush. Instead, Cameron sighed. “I’m sorry. I should have warned you.”
“Is she like that with everyone?” Maybe he’d overreacted, and it really had been just a bit of harmless flirting.
“No, but you’re new and shiny. I’ll tell her to back off.”
Okay, yeah, not going to happen. He’d joked about Cameron saving him, but he could deal with his own shit. “Let’s save the jealous boyfriend act for another day.”
“I’m not jealous.”
“Are you sure about that?”
Cameron nodded firmly. “I’m not jealous.”
Chuckling at his petulant tone, Asher kissed him one last time before releasing him. “Go, before I change my mind and drag you out of here.”
“You two are disgusting.” Nico’s words didn’t match the smile on his face.
“Jealous,” Asher muttered.
Both men glared at him, speaking the same words at the same time. “I’m not jealous.”
~