6. Cameron
CAMERON
Iwas such an idiot. It had taken me all of three minutes and some whispered platitudes to fall for Nico’s charms yet again. This was exactly why I’d been avoiding him for a decade. He’d meant so much to me, and I was just a fun hookup to him. Someone to mess around with when he rolled through town.
So, I’d always made sure I was somewhere else.
Yesterday, I’d been blindsided, and Nico had seduced me embarrassingly fast.
It had been too long since I hooked up with anyone.
That must have been the reason for the horndog-induced amnesia I entered, letting him jerk me off dry in the middle of my shop.
Today, I had the shades up and the lights on because no way would I risk getting close to Nico when anyone could walk by and see.
I resolved to keep my hands—and his—to ourselves. Nothing would come of it except Heartbreak: The Sequel.
We all knew sequels were worse than the original.
It had to be the misplaced childhood nostalgia that kept pulling me toward him. We had been friends once upon a time, and I thought I might have loved him, given the chance.
Aside from what he posted on his social media accounts, I didn’t know present-day Nico at all. He was hot, of course, unfairly so. But that had never turned me into a simpering mess before.
I scowled at the empty wall.
“You look awful,” Nico chirped as he pushed through the front door. “Did you sleep at all last night?”
“Thanks for the compliment,” I said, grumbling under my breath.
Nico held up two coffee cups from The Brew House. He wore an oversized T-shirt from Sleigh Queen that said Ho, Ho, Homo, short black athletic shorts, and paint-covered Converse.
I narrowed my eyes at him as he pushed one of the cups into my chest.
“I brought you coffee, now stop being so grumpy.”
I couldn’t help closing my eyes with a hum as I took the first sip of peppermint mocha. Whipped cream coated my upper lip, and I traced my tongue along it. When Nico coughed, I opened my eyes to find him red-faced and looking toward the far wall.
“This is the one you want painted, right?” He gestured to it with his coffee cup.
“Yeah,” I said, walking over to that side of the store. “We’ll have to move some of these tables out of the way, and I’ll work out a schedule for the days we’re open so that the paint smell doesn’t bother the customers. Keep receipts for whatever you buy, and I’ll reimburse you.”
Nico brushed me off. “That’s not necessary.”
“This is a professional trade. Keep the receipts.”
“Will it also be a professional trade when you go out with me on Friday?” Nico moved closer, threading a finger through my belt loop.
I rested my hand on his hip. “I didn’t realize you were asking me on a date yesterday.”
“Well, more of a fake date. My ex owns the gallery, and he’s being insufferable about this pretty art student he’s dating who can barely buy his own beer and…”
“I don’t see how I’m going to be useful in making anyone jealous,” I said. “I’m the opposite of a baby-faced twenty-year-old.”
“Oh, I know.”
Nico’s eyes darted to my lips, and I barely contained a shiver.
But then, I remembered that he was trying to talk me into this fake date to make some fancy ex-boyfriend jealous in a city I’d never belong in. I clenched my jaw and dropped my hand, already missing his heat on my skin.
“I haven’t agreed to anything yet.” I gripped my coffee with both hands so they wouldn’t betray me.
“You don’t think we might need a little practice to make our act seem realistic?” Nico raised a playful eyebrow. “We haven’t exactly spent a lot of time together recently.”
My attention was drawn toward the window, where Guadalupe Soto shuffled past, probably on her way to get brunch with the quilting circle, aka gossip ground zero at Candy Cane Café.
“Nico, seriously. I don’t know what your game is.
” I stepped backward, my frustration rising.
“I might agree to play pretend while in Boston because I want this mural badly. But let’s remember that we’re on my turf right now, and Sleighbell Springs is a small town.
If we go galivanting around like we’re a couple for the sake of ‘practice’ and then you leave next week, never to be seen again, I’m the one who’s going to have to deal with the rumors. ”
I hated the way my voice cracked, betraying me. “I’m the one who’s going to be left behind. And I’m not fucking doing that again.”
“I wish things had worked out differently back then,” Nico murmured. “But Mark wants us to get along, and I want that too. I’d love it if we could maybe get to know each other as adults with fully functional frontal lobes. Let me do this mural for you. Let me try to make things right.”
Ten years ago, I would have accepted that bullshit non-apology and pretended it was fine just so he would look at me like he used to, like he still did. But not anymore.
“I don’t know if I can do this.”
Nico ran his stupid, beautiful hand through his stupid, beautiful hair, and he let out a frustrated sigh.
“Look, I know the fake date thing might be a lot, especially since we haven’t seen each other for years.
How about I just do the mural for you, no strings attached.
I bet I’ll be able to convince you to be my fake boyfriend by Friday. ”
The blank wall stared back at me, taunting me.
If I didn’t hire Nico, I’d have to deal with the embarrassment of everyone in town knowing I failed after promoting this party, and the new mural, for months.
If I hired him, we’d be spending a lot of time together, which was emotionally risky—mostly because I knew his charms would work their magic on me, even though it would be fake.
There was no way Nico’s attempts at winning me over wouldn’t get the attention of the gossip circles anyway.
But a quiet, deep part of my heart wanted him to work for it. I wanted to be won back.
I grabbed the folder Nico had left on the counter yesterday and flipped through the sketches.
“This one is my favorite,” I said, handing him a design with swirling sherbet-colored clouds and a creamsicle forest.
Nico took the folder, and his hand brushed mine. “Is that a yes?”
“It’s a yes.” I took off my baseball hat and flipped it the other direction. “Kind of impossible to say no to a deal like that.”
Nico whooped and jumped in celebration. His sparkling eyes drew me in like a magnet.
Damnit, I wanted to cliff jump right into them.
He was looking at me with open hunger, like he’d fall to his knees right here if I asked him.
His lips were curved into a devastating smile that said he already knew he’d won.
But Nico was only here for a few days, and I couldn’t let myself forget. I wouldn’t.
“What’s keeping me from getting this mural finished for free and sending you back to Boston empty-handed?” I teased to break the tension.
I couldn’t believe he’d do all of this for free, even to make up for a wound he clearly didn’t remember inflicting.
He stared right into my eyes and leveled me completely.
“I’m going to woo the hell out of you, Cameron Frost. There is no way you’re not coming to Boston with me at the end of this week.”