Kiss This (34 page)

She bit her lip and shook her head. “Nah,
just…pacing myself.”

“Holy shit,” he exhaled again. “I thought I
hit the jackpot with that little arch thingy you do when you ride
me.”

“Ah,” she smiled. “That’s a crowd
pleaser.”

He laughed because he knew she was joking,
but he
was
curious about something. “Were you, um…?” He
cleared his throat and shook his head. “Never mind, I won’t
ask.”

“Was I that adventurous with Zach? Not
really. I mean we got, you know, better at it each time, but he was
my first, I was his first… We just learned together.”

“And after that?”

She gave him a funny look. “What do you mean
‘after that’? I told you I’ve never been with anyone but Zach.”

He propped himself up on an elbow. “Not even
Brandon?”

She looked him in the eye and answered,
“I’ve never had sex with Brandon. He’s been like a best friend to
me because of Zach.”

Teague rubbed his forehead. “So…you’ve never
slept with him?”

“No.”

“Fooled around?”

She bit her lip and took a breath in. “Well,
I’ve tried. I mean
we’ve
tried. It just…didn’t work.”

“What do you mean you ‘tried’?”

She sighed. “This is embarrassing,
Teague.”

“You don’t need to be embarrassed to tell me
anything.”

A few seconds of silence passed and then she
looked at him again. “I’m sorry. I just don’t know what I’m
supposed to talk to you about and what I shouldn’t.”

“Why are there things you shouldn’t talk to
me about?”

She wasn’t sure she liked the suspicious
look on his face, but she slowly shrugged. “I just mean things you
don’t want to hear.”

“I always want to hear anything you say,
Camryn. I love hearing your voice, and anything you want to tell
me… Can I guess what you were about to say? You tried fooling
around with Brandon to see if you could move on?”

She didn’t answer right away as she built up
the courage to expound. “Yeah, pretty much. And Zach had written a
letter to Brandon—before he left overseas. It basically said… Well,
it said if anything ever happened to him, he wanted Brandon to look
after me. He thought we’d be good for each other and said that he
really couldn’t stand the thought of me being with anyone else.
Brandon never told me—he was too embarrassed—but it came out one
night and… Well, we just kind of made an agreement. I wasn’t ready
to date anyone new. To be honest, it scared me to death. I couldn’t
even stomach the idea of being with anyone but Zach. And because of
his last video to me, I wouldn’t let anyone kiss me unless… Well,
Brandon became a way for me to cope. He understood my fears because
Zach was his little brother.”

Teague was silent as he let everything sink
in. “So you’ve never kissed him, either?”

She slowly shook her head. “Teague, you’re
the only guy I’ve kissed since Zach.
You
are why I was ready
to move on.”

She pulled herself closer to him again,
almost propped on his chest as his arm snaked around her waist. She
kissed from the corner of his mouth to along his jaw, and stopped
at his ear.

“You are the
only
man that has ever
given me reason to,” she whispered.

Chapter Thirty

“…And then the bastard goes back into the
water to find another one,” Jay finished the story as everyone
laughed. He was the center of attention while an entire room full
of people listened to stories about his surfing experiences with
Teague. “The fucker almost drowns from an eighteen-foot wave and
goes back to do it again.”

“Hey, you bet me money, champ,” Teague said.
“I was a broke ass teenager that needed any dollar he could
get.”

“You were a stupid ass teenager and not much
has changed,” Jay shot back.

“So how do you compare South Africa surfing
to Aussie waves,” Kenton asked.

“Oh, you can’t,” Teague shook his head. “At
least
I
don’t. I just take it all in, wherever I’m at, and
appreciate what’s there.”

“Like anything dangerous,” Jay
interjected.

Teague laughed with him, but Camryn wasn’t
exactly enjoying some of the things she was hearing. Especially
when—more than once—Teague’s “nine lives” had been mentioned.

“So in
Deceptive Wishes
, you did all
the stunt work for your brother?” a guy named Tyson asked.

Camryn had been cuddled up to Teague on the
couch and his arm was around her, so she easily felt him tense.

“Uh, yeah, I did,” he answered casually.

“Holy shit, I heard they barely cheated with
any of those stunts!” Tyson laughed. “Is that true? The scene on
the bridge?”

Teague actually smiled at that. “We only had
to shoot that scene twice, it went so perfectly.”

“And the second time was just because they
couldn’t fucking believe it was perfect the
first
time,” Jay
said. “God, I was there, too,” he shook his head. “That’s the only
time I ever man-crushed on you, bro. I swear to God, the only
time.”

The whole room laughed, even Camryn.
Whatever the hell they were talking about, she was glad she hadn’t
been there that day. Just the brief amount of work she’d witnessed
over a week ago was stressful enough.

Shortly after she and Melanie discovered
Teague’s career, Melanie had brought home a pile of movies for them
to watch. They were all movies that Teague had worked in, and even
though Camryn rolled her eyes at how giddy her sister was to watch
them all (especially because Max was in half of them) she was
actually glad for her sister’s curiosity. Camryn was interested in
watching them, too. And what was strange, she’d seen four of those
movies before and never even thought twice about stunt people.
Melanie had deliberately paused on the credits, just to spot
Teague’s name right there in the very first slot, and a sense of
pride had washed over Camryn. “Paid Playtime” was Teague’s phrase,
but Camryn was in love with an adrenaline junkie.

“Cam? Don’t you think?” his baritone voice
nudged her.

“Um, what’s that?” she blinked.

He kissed the side of her head and murmured,
“I was saying how incredible you look naked and that we should go
back to my room.”

She backhanded him in the chest, heat
filling her cheeks. “You did not,” she partially laughed, glancing
around to see if anyone heard him. It looked liked everyone was in
different conversations, and she sighed her relief.

“You’re so cute when you blush,” he said,
cupping a hand against her face to kiss her.

No one else in the room was fazed by their
kissing, but a familiar voice said, “Good God, it’s an orgy!”

Every set of eyes turned to see Max and his
bodyguard enter the house. Max was particularly staring at Teague
and Camryn on the couch, and a huge grin filled his face.

“She might want to keep that tongue, little
brother,” he winked.

Camryn scowled at him. They hadn’t even been
using tongues in that kiss. But she was more worried about Teague
and the fact that his hand was on her thigh, unaware of how hard he
was squeezing it. She watched Max fit right in with a few of the
people there, particularly because they’d flocked right to him with
greetings and bro hugs. Camryn thought this to be weird since
neither Teague nor Jay cared for the guy. Why was he showing up at
what was supposed to be an impromptu early birthday party for
Jay?

“What’s going on?” she whispered to
Teague.

He finally relaxed the grip on her thigh and
settled back against the couch, pulling her close again. “No one
here but Jay and Kellie knows Max and I don’t get along. It’s part
of the façade for the public, of course. I sure as hell didn’t
invite him tonight.”

Next, Camryn heard Melanie’s giddy laugh and
she almost groaned. Mel had been in the other room with Kellie and
a few other guests and she’d forgotten all about her. She got up
from the couch with Teague right on her heels and he almost crashed
into her when she stopped abruptly. Melanie was leaning against the
wall, Max had a hand on it next to her, and both had flirtatious
smiles on their faces.

***

Teague stepped around Camryn and grabbed
Max’s arm. “Excuse us, Melanie,” he said, feeling anything but
polite. He pulled his brother with him, who only laughed a knowing
agreement. The bodyguard tried to intercede or come with them,
Teague wasn’t sure which, but Max told him to give them
privacy.

“Chill,” Max said as they stepped onto the
back deck. “I was just introducing myself.”

“You were just introducing your dick, now
shut the fuck up.”

“Oh give me a break, Teague.”

“No, you give me a break!” he growled. “Why
are you here? I told you you weren’t welcome in my home, around my
friends, and especially around my girlfriend.”

“I didn’t come near your girlfriend,” he
smirked.

“No, you just went straight for her
sister.”

Max raised his eyebrows with an arrogant
smile. “Ah, is that what the connection was all about? She just had
a pretty smile, and that ‘Oh my God I know who you are!’ look to
her.”

“Ah, yes. Your ticket to an easy time.”

“Not at all. I was just appeasing a
fan.”

“Cut the bullshit, Max. Why are you
here?”

“Because you won’t talk to me.”

“So you come to my house and think I want to
see
you?”

“Come on, Teague. I heard Jay was back and I
brought him a birthday present. I didn’t know you’d have a house
full of people. But since you did, I just thought I’d see who was
here.”

Teague didn’t like the smile on his face. It
was devious and intended to make him wonder.

“Just give me a minute, okay?” Max said.
“There’s something I need to talk to you about.”

“Talking to you is the last thing on my
list, but if it gets you the hell away from me, fine. The clock is
ticking.”

“Good,” Max nodded. “Okay, so, I took your
advice.”

“Oh? You mean you’re gonna stop with the
lies?”

Max lightly laughed. “God, Teague. I’m
trying, here.”

“You’re trying? You’re
trying
?! How
about you just do the right thing for once, Max! Jesus! What is
more important than just being a decent person?”

“Hey! You want someone to change a million
things, you can’t pick and choose where he starts!”

Teague took a deep breath and automatically
patted his own pockets. Fuck, what he wouldn’t do for a smoke right
now.

“Still hooked on that nasty habit?” Max
smirked.

“Better than being hooked on other bad
habits, like man-whoring, lying, and being a fake ass piece of shit
for the public.”

“Okay,” Max held up his hands. “I won’t
throw stones. But how about you? Camryn know about Kate?”

Teague shoved both hands into his brother’s
chest. “You stay out of my life, Max!”

“Back off, Teague! You and your fucking
temper! You haven’t learned a damn thing, have you?”

Teague got in his face, and in a low voice
said, “What I’ve learned is that people can’t be trusted, and you
can’t seem to get that through your fucking head. Leave me the hell
alone, Max.”

“What about Indonesia, Teague,” Max sighed,
taking a step back. “Let’s put the personal shit behind us and just
focus on business. Just do the movie with me. And you’ll love it, I
swear. You read the script, right?”

Teague wouldn’t answer.

“Come on, I know you did. Just reading about
those scenes gets your blood pumping. And it’s Indonesia. You
always want to try waves you’ve never been on before; I know
exactly where you’ll go on your time off. At least admit you read
it.”

“Yeah, I glanced through it,” Teague finally
responded. “The answer is still the same.
Hell no
.”

He turned for the house and disappeared
through the back door.

***

Camryn noticed the second that Teague
entered the house and her heart sank. He looked mad enough to break
something but tried taking a couple of deep breaths before he had
to face anyone. He came straight to her where she was still in the
same spot, talking to Jay.

“Sorry I had to leave you,” he smiled,
resuming his position next to her.

“Um, where’s your brother, Teague? You
didn’t already get rid of the body yet, did you? ‘Cause I might’ve
been able to give you some pointers.”

He chuckled and seemed to relax a little.
But they both watched Max re-enter the house, and it only took two
seconds before he was in a conversation with a handful of
people.

“Everything okay?” Camryn asked softly,
taking Teague’s hand.

He lifted her fingers to his mouth and
kissed them. “Yeah, it’s fine. Hell will freeze over before me and
my brother are friends. It’s just a fact of life. Nothing I can
change.”

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, leaning her head
against his shoulder. She felt grateful that she had a sister she
was close to. Melanie was hard to handle sometimes, but easy to
love. “Hey, how ‘bout that motorcycle ride you promised me?” she
asked, looking up at him.

Teague’s face lit up, but then it fell just
as quickly. “Uh, maybe tomorrow evening. I’d better wait until Max
leaves first.”

“Did you tell him to?”

“No, not exactly. If I make a big scene
about it, it’ll be in the tabloids. Not worth it.”

Camryn glanced around at everyone in the
house. “I thought these people were friends of yours?”

“They are,” he shrugged. “But it doesn’t
take much for something to get blown out of proportion. You
wouldn’t believe how stories get started sometimes. I mean I’m not
saying anyone here would do anything malicious intentionally, but
things can snowball pretty easily. Being around Max is like… Well
it’s sticky. Even though I don’t approve of my brother’s lifestyle
or a lot of his choices, I still have to keep it in the family, you
know? There are practically written rules when it comes to shit
like that.”