Down London Road (28 page)

Combating it with my own flirting might have worked,
but every time I attempted to flirt with a customer, I could feel Cam’s eyes burning into my skin, and it put me off my game.

My growing irritation finally came to a head when there was a lull at the bar. I threw a dishcloth at Cam. ‘Our tips jar is suffering because of you, buddy.’

Cam had caught the cloth before it hit him and was now laughing as he wiped up some spillage on the bar top. ‘What did I do?’

‘I can feel you watching me. I can’t flirt with you watching me.’

His deep chuckle tickled all my good-for-nothing places and I hated that I found the cheeky grin he gave Joss so bloody hot. ‘Was I doing anything?’

Joss shrugged. ‘I have no clue what you were doing, but keep it up. The fake giggle’ – she gestured lazily at me – ‘has disappeared, so I’m happy.’

Another tag team? I crossed my arms over my chest, hoping my body language was a warning to back off. ‘The fake giggle is not that bad.’

My friend grunted in disagreement. ‘It sounds like Miss Piggy has a machine gun stuck in her throat.’

Roaring with laughter, Cam didn’t even feel the heat of my glower. But watching him laugh as Joss’s apt description took hold of me, I had to stifle my own amusement. I couldn’t encourage them or I’d have Cole and Cam against me at home and Joss and Cam against me at work.

Harrumphing at them both, I turned to greet our next customer. He was male. Tall. Pretty cute. As I poured him a draught, I asked him about his night, laughing and flirting with him for a good five minutes before his friends called
him back to their table. I will note that I did all this minus the fake giggle.

Since Cam had already provided evidence that he was a fairly possessive guy, my intention was to piss him off and put him in his place.

I spun on my heel, expecting to face his annoyance. Instead he was leaning back against the bar, smirking at me. ‘Nice try.’

Damn. I was dating Mr Unpredictable. The bloody idiot did not respond to any situation the way I expected him to. How on earth was I meant to navigate these waters if I didn’t know the depth of them?

Bugger.

This really was going to be a relationship unlike any of my others.

The next words out of Cam’s mouth just reinforced that realization.

‘Let’s go to my mum and dad’s for a weekend.’

I blinked rapidly, taken aback by the suggestion, ignoring Joss, who was hovering on the edges of our conversation, pretending to fix the napkin holder.

‘What?’

‘Three weeks from Saturday, it’ll be my Saturday off work. We’ll go then. Stay the night. You, me and Cole.’

‘Dude, he wants you to meet the parents,’ Joss said under her breath. ‘Think carefully before you give him an answer. The parents. Already.’ She shuddered at the thought.

‘Jo?’

I glanced back at an expectant Cam. ‘I can’t leave Mum.’

‘I can check in on her,’ Joss offered loudly.

My mouth fell open as I stared at her in total bafflement. I whispered to her, ‘I thought you just said to think carefully about meeting his parents.’

‘I did. You didn’t say you didn’t want to. You offered up an impediment and I offered up a solution.’ When she turned away I caught the start of a sly grin on her face.

‘You’re twisted,’ I hissed.

Cam flicked the towel at me, bringing my attention back to him. ‘Well?’

I smiled tremulously. ‘Sure. Why not?’

Fuck.

For weeks after discovering Mum had hit Cole, I couldn’t go near her, could barely talk to her, and I swam in a muddy pond of bitter resentment and guilt. However, spending my nights with Cam when I could, whether that time involved the best sex of my life, or quiet time reading a book while he and Cole worked on their graphic novel together, changed me. It chipped away at my bitterness.

The weight I’d always carried on my shoulders hadn’t disappeared completely, but it was lessened. When I walked down the street my steps felt lighter, my breathing easier. I no longer felt old and tired.

I felt young. Excited. Charmed. Almost … content.

I’d also decided to try to relax more about our financial situation. As difficult as that was, I did give in to the expense of sending Cole to judo lessons with Cam. It meant the boys were out on a Saturday morning, one of the few times Cam and I could actually spend time together, but I didn’t care. It sounded so cheesy, but seeing Cole come through that door, smiling at Cam, being happy and having a guy to talk to … it gave me a kind of peace I never thought I’d have.

Cameron MacCabe. You charmer, you. You’re changing my life.

I rested my hand on the parcel I’d just finished wrapping, smiling stupidly as I remembered last night. Well, technically this morning. Both Cam and I had returned
from work, feeling more buzzed than tired, and he’d finally taken me against his desk like he’d been promising. It had been slow, sensual, teasing, bloody fantastic sex. I swear I was getting through my days on a rush of endorphins. I think that’s what made it easier to say goodbye to some very pretty things. I stroked the brown paper of the package. Inside was my favourite Donna Karan dress – one that Malcolm had bought me. It had sold well on eBay and it was time to send it to its new home.

Blowing air out between my lips in boredom, I eyed my eBay pile. I’d sold a few things but I still had to take photographs of a couple of items and post them on the site. The profits were paying for Cole’s judo lessons, so it needed to be done. I had to crack on. Next up, a pair of Jimmy Choos. Staring at them, I realized I was going to need one of the boys to help me with this. The gorgeous six-inch heels were made up of a lot of spaghetti ties. Off the feet, they didn’t look like much. On the feet, they looked sexy as all hell. I’d have to be wearing them in the photographs, which meant I’d need someone to take photographs for me.

Bundling them into my arms, I left Cole’s room and stopped outside Mum’s door. Loud snoring from within assured me everything was normal with her, and I headed out of the flat and downstairs to Cam’s. Cam and Cole had texted me after their judo class to let me know they were going to Cam’s to work on the graphic novel.

From the sounds of machine-gun fire coming from Cam’s flat I realized I’d been bullshitted. They were playing
Call of Duty
.

I walked in without knocking and slipped quietly into
the sitting room. Cam, Cole and Nate were sitting on the couch, Nate and Cole holding the controllers. Peetie was in the armchair directly facing me. I’d met Nate and Peetie a couple of times since Cam had moved in, but I still hadn’t really spent that much time with them, mostly because when they were over they played video games, only really interacting with me when I took the time to feed them snacks.

Peetie saw me and waved, drawing Cam’s attention. He turned and flashed me a welcoming smile that hit me in the gut, waking up all those annoying little butterflies fluttering around in there. ‘Hi, baby.’

I raised an eyebrow at his flatscreen. ‘This is working on a graphic novel?’

‘Nate and Peetie came over with us after class.’ As if that explained everything.

‘Hi, Jo!’ Nate called over the sounds of gunfire, his eyes flicking to me briefly. ‘Did you bring sandwiches by any chance?’

That was me. Sandwich lady. ‘No.’ I held my shoes up to an inquisitive Cam. ‘I need you to take a picture of me wearing these.’

Cameron eyed them and then raised his eyebrows. ‘Whoa.’ He held up his hands, gesturing to his friends. ‘Not in front of the boys.’

I narrowed my eyes on him. ‘Not
that
kind of picture, you sex-craved pervert.’

‘Eh, before anyone says anything else,’ Cole interjected loudly, ‘remember her wee brother is in the room.’

Cam grinned and stood up. ‘Is this for eBay?’

Handing him my camera, I nodded, and then began taking off my shoes and strapping on the Jimmy Choos. Once they were on, I lifted my leg to eye them, turning my ankle to the side, feeling their loss already.

‘Baby, if you love them that much, keep them.’

I pouted. ‘I can’t. They cost a ridiculous amount of money. It would be stupid to keep them.’

‘Fuck, man,’ Nate breathed, his attention suddenly on the shoes and my legs. ‘Don’t let her sell those.’ His heated eyes devoured me. ‘Those are shit hot.’

‘I will seriously hit you,’ Cam warned him darkly.

Nate shrugged, threw me a cheeky grin, and turned back to the television screen. ‘Not my fault your girlfriend is so bloody fuckable.’

Cole slammed his shoulder into Nate before Cam could retaliate. ‘Dude, that’s my sister.’

‘And, dude, watch your language.’ I tried not to blush. Ignoring Nate’s unrepentant smile, I turned my feet so Cam could get a good shot of the shoes. My eyes fell on Peetie, who was texting someone. From what Cam had told me, I figured it was probably his fiancée, Lyn. Peetie was wrapped around her little finger, apparently. He seemed like a nice guy. A balance to Nate’s unpredictable, blunt, Jack-the-lad persona. Nate was gorgeous – not rugged sexy like Cam, or rough-around-the-edges hot like Braden. He was movie-star stunning, with his thick black hair and even blacker eyes, and he knew it.

My gaze moved to Cole, who was starting to look more and more like our father every day. My dad may have been a brute and an asshole, but he’d been a good-looking one.
Once Cole realized he was a good-looking kid, it would depend on the influences in his life as to how he would react to it and to girls.

I did not want him to become a Nate.

‘I hope you three aren’t corrupting my brother.’

Nate huffed. ‘You kidding? If anyone’s doing the corrupting, it’s him.’

Cole grinned at that and I felt a weird mixture of happiness and worry. Over the last few weeks I’d noticed a difference in him. He still grunted and shrugged a lot and was definitely destined to be broody, but he’d actually begun to converse with people other than Cam and me, and I took that as a good sign. Hanging around Nate, however, might turn him cocky. Or, hey, hanging around Cam might turn him cocky.

‘Done.’ Cam handed me my camera with a quick peck to the lips.

‘Thank you.’ I had just bent to unhook the strap at my ankle, when Cam’s mouth brushed my ear.

‘Be here tonight, waiting for me in nothing but those shoes.’

My skin flushed hot at the thought and I quickly glanced over at Cole and the boys to make sure they hadn’t heard. They were completely oblivious. My eyes met Cam’s dark gaze and I nodded in agreement.

A phone buzzed and we reluctantly broke eye contact.

Cole held up his phone. ‘Me. I’ve got to go. Guys are waiting for me at the cinema.’

‘We’re not finished,’ Nate complained.

Peetie chuckled. ‘Nate, mate, when you try to convince
a teenager to spend time with you playing video games, it’s time to re-evaluate your life.’

We laughed, earning us the middle finger from Nate.

‘I’ll be home in a few hours,’ Cole informed me with a small smile before he left the flat. That smile warmed me up better than a mug of hot chocolate.

‘Actually, you guys should go too.’ Cam moved towards them, making a shooing gesture.

Peetie stood up with a knowing grin. ‘Sure, no problem. Lyn wants me to meet her on Princes Street anyway.’

Grumbling, Nate switched off the console and telly. ‘You’re both whipped.’

‘Did you see the shoes?’ Cam asked smugly, making me blush. If I didn’t know he had plans to screw me imminently, I did now. And so did his friends.

Nate did some more grumbling, making me blush harder with a ‘Lucky bastard’.

‘See you soon, Jo.’ Peetie nodded at me as he passed us.

Punching Cam on the arm, Nate advised, ‘Watch those heels on your back. Those fuckers can hurt.’

I groaned in mortification as Cam laughed.

‘Wear protection.’ Nate winked at me. ‘And have fun, kiddies.’

As soon as the door shut behind them I glowered at Cam. ‘We’re not having sex.’

His mouth fell open. ‘Why not? I threw them out. We have a couple of hours of uninterrupted sex time.’

‘Yeah, but now they know that’s what we’re doing.’

‘And what difference does that make?’

‘I don’t know. But it makes some kind of difference.’

Cam cocked his head to the side. ‘Female logic. It needs its own decipher code.’

‘We should invite Peetie and Lyn out for dinner with us.’

‘Okay, maybe it’s just Jo logic.’ Cam chuckled at me jumping topics on him.

I shrugged, heading towards the fireplace to pick up a photo frame Cam had on the mantel. It held a photo of him, Nate and Peetie dressed up as superheroes for Halloween. Cam was Batman.
Of course he was
. ‘I just thought it would be nice to get to know your friends better. They are like your brothers.’

‘Okay, that sounds good. I’ll talk to him about it.’

‘I’d say we should invite Nate, but bringing a girl to dinner with his friends might be the kind of signal he wants to avoid sending out to one of his … companions.’

Cam grunted. ‘And you’d be right.’

Studying the photo of Nate dressed as Iron Man, I frowned. He really was incredibly good-looking. And there was something about him. Behind all the bluster there was something else. It was in his eyes. They were kind. ‘Is he completely against all relationships? It’s a shame if so.’ I turned to smile softly at Cam. ‘He really does seem like a nice guy.’