Mistletoe Between Friends (7 page)

“I'll always be here for you, Lil. Always.” He kissed her forehead again, and together they joined their families to get the Greenes' house ready for the holidays.

* * *

Standing back, everyone admired their handiwork. “Great job,” Angela said as she stood beside her husband and beamed at the way the house had been transformed. “I love the way we all come together to get this done. Every year it just comes out better and better.” They all nodded in agreement. “But…” she said with a big smile, “there is one final touch and I saved it until the end.”

Cam did not have a good feeling about this. There was never anything left until the end. His mother ran holiday decorating like a five-star general, and there was never any room for surprises. When she reached behind her and pulled out a box, he had a feeling that he and Lily were about to be forced into the spotlight.

“Mistletoe,” she said as she pulled a sprig out of the square, gold box. “I know it usually gets hung during all of the hoopla, but after Cam and Lily's story of how magical their mistletoe time was in New York, I wanted them to hang it and to see them kiss under it.”

His mother was going to be the death of him. Before he could say or do anything, Lily spoke up. “Angela, you know Cam isn't big on PDA. Don't embarrass him, or I'll never get him to do anything spontaneous again.” She said it lightly, like his reaction wasn't a big deal, but Lily knew that if their families forced the issue, Cam would back out of the fake relationship out of sheer embarrassment.

Then, much to her surprise, Cam stepped forward, took the mistletoe from his mother, and then winked at Lily. “C'mon,” he said, moving across the room to take her by the hand. “You know the drill. The mistletoe goes right in this doorway.” The archway was ten feet tall, and normally one of the men stood on a ladder to hang it. Lily let out a screech when Cam lifted her up and balanced her on his shoulder before handing her what she needed to hang it.

“Cam, let me down.” She giggled as the whole family formed a crowd behind them.

“Nuh-uh. Not until you hang the mistletoe,” he said teasingly, loving the happiness he heard in her voice again.

“I can't believe you are making me do this,” she said, but reached up and put the decoration in its proper place. “There. All done.”

Cam maneuvered her so she was facing him as he slowly slid her body down the front of his. He was torturing himself and figured in for a penny, in for a pound. “You know what they're waiting for,” he whispered with a wicked grin.

Without a word, Lily looped her arms around his neck and pulled him in for the kiss she had been missing all day. This was no kiss between friends; it had the intimacy of lovers, and soon there were hoots and hollers behind them and a whistle or two. She smiled against Cam's lips as she reluctantly pulled away. She hugged him as they faced their audience. “I guess he's getting over his aversion to PDA,” she said with a laugh, and everyone joined in.

The remainder of the night was uneventful and when it was time to say good night with the promise to do it all again on Sunday, Cam walked Lily out to her car. “Do you think they'll think it's weird we didn't drive here together?” he asked, searching for something to say to take his mind off the kiss they'd shared.

Lily shook her head. “We're dating, Cam. That doesn't mean we're joined at the hip. They know we still have our own lives.”

“I guess.” When they reached Lily's car, he wasn't sure what he was supposed to do. She turned to face him and then looked behind him and chuckled. “What? What's so funny?”

“I don't mean to put any pressure on you, but clearly we're still this evening's entertainment.”

“What do you mean?” He started to turn around but Lily stopped him. “What? What's going on?”

She giggled. “They're trying very hard to be discreet, but I can see them all peeping through the curtains to watch us say good night.”

“Why? What's the big deal about us walking out to our cars?”

Men were so clueless, Lily thought to herself and sighed. “They aren't used to you being so…affectionate. They're hoping to catch you kissing me again.”

“Seriously?” The urge to look over his shoulder was strong but he held back, not wanting anyone to think he was doing this for show. Well, that was exactly why they were doing it, but there was no reason to give their families something to doubt already. Cam had seriously hoped to not have to be this…physical…again with Lily, especially not for an audience of their family, but he had a feeling this was only the beginning.

With his mind made up, he decided he might as well give the people what they wanted. Lily was digging in her purse for her car keys when he stepped in, cupped her face in his hands, bent his head, and kissed as if his life depended on it.

And on some levels, it did.

* * *

Lily couldn't sleep. She had been home for hours, and yet her mind wouldn't shut down enough for her to relax. The events of the evening kept playing through her mind. The looks on everyone's faces when they announced their relationship, the way that their moms were so excited, and then the announcement of the trip to the mountains for Christmas and New Year's.

And the kissing.

Oh, the kissing.

She sighed and reached for her tablet and kicked up a game of solitaire. The fake dating had seemed like such harmless fun in the beginning, but now? Now it was torturing her. She thought back to that innocent first conversation and the fun it seemed it would be to touch Cam and flirt. The fake dating had seemed like a good idea. Not so much now. No, now she wanted it to be real. The flirting and kissing for the crowd just made her feel empty, because at the end of the night, she was here alone.

Her cell phone rang, and a glance at the clock showed it was after one in the morning. She reached over, saw Cam's face on the screen, and smiled sadly. “H'lo,” she answered, trying to sound sleepy so that he wouldn't know thoughts of him were keeping her awake.

“Hey,” he said softly. “Did I wake you?”

“Not really.” It wasn't a total lie.

“Are you winning?”

“What?”

“At solitaire? Are you winning?”

She couldn't help but laugh and look around her room. “How do you do that? Seriously, do you have a camera hidden in here somewhere?”

“I just know you, Lil. So…are you?”

“No,” she said and relaxed back against the pillows. She loved lying in bed and listening to the sound of Cam's voice. “Actually, I just turned it on. What are you doing still awake?”

“I can't sleep.”

His honest confession spurred her own. “Me either.” They were both silent for a long time. Lily turned off the game and simply lay in the dark waiting for him to speak. Finally, she broke the silence. “Cam?”

“Hmm?”

“Was it weird for you tonight?”

“What? With the family?”

“Yes.”

“I don't know. Was it weird for you?”

“A little,” she admitted shyly. “I guess I wasn't expecting such a big reaction from everyone. They're all so excited and already beginning to make plans, and now I feel kind of bad lying to them.”

“I know what you mean. I wasn't expecting all of that either.” He sighed wearily. “So what do we do?”

The easiest thing to do would be to just end it and force herself to go back to playing the part of his buddy. Although it would be awkward with their families, she'd survive. Hell, most of the time she spent with her family was awkward, so why should this be any different? She was just about to suggest that to Cam when he spoke again.

“I think it will get easier as the weeks go on. Soon the newness will wear off. They'll get distracted by the actual holidays, and we'll be able to push them off a little. Honestly, they can't keep up this level of enthusiasm forever. Once the parties get going there will be so many other people around who are bound to have bigger and more exciting news than you and me.”

Lily considered his words. “I guess you're right. How much worse can it be?”

Famous last words.

Lily was sitting next to Cam as they drove up to Blowing Rock for the first day of their vacation. The last month had been near exhausting, and her nerves were on edge now every time she and Cam were near one another. After they had decided to continue with their farce of a relationship, things had indeed gotten worse.

It started with the decorating party at her parents' house. Just like at the Cavanaughs, a little ceremony was made of the two of them hanging the mistletoe and kissing. They got a round of applause after that one.

Then there was the Christmas cookie baking party. How that ended up the way it did, Lily still didn't know. Normally just the women did it, but somehow all of the men decided to join in. Her mother had made a game out of all of the couples decorating batches of cookies and—surprise, surprise—had found a way to incorporate mistletoe into the project. Every time a cookie was done being decorated, Lily and Cam had to kiss.

Her lips had practically been numb by the end of the night, and who knew Cam had such a talent for cookie decorating?

The open house wasn't any better because everyone who came in was greeted first with a cheery “Happy Holidays!” and then a
Reader's Digest
version of Cam and Lily's newfound romance. And, as predicted, they were positioned under the mistletoe.

She left that party with a migraine.

And so it went with the neighborhood get-together and then each father's company Christmas party. No one seemed to remember the reason for the season, focusing solely on the fact that Cameron Greene and Lily Cavanaugh were finally an item.

In the midst of the family party schedule, both Cam and Lily had social engagements of their own to contend with. Seemingly keeping with tradition, Cam had taken Lily to his company Christmas party—she had met some of his colleagues in New York—and Lily had done the same with her small work party. At least those two events didn't hold the same kind of pressure as the family ones.

Even though Lily knew she wouldn't be home for Christmas, she had wanted a tree and so Cam had gone with her to pick one out. On a rare night off from celebrating—and she used that term loosely—they had shared a pizza and decorated her little tree. She asked Cam if he was going to decorate this year, and he declined. The sensible part of him didn't see the need since he wasn't going to be there on the actual day, and thanks to their loaded social calendar, he wasn't home much at other times to enjoy it.

He had a point, but Lily couldn't imagine coming home during December and not seeing a tree in her living room. It just wasn't right, and it wouldn't seem like Christmas. That was silly, since everywhere they went, everyone was celebrating the holiday. But tucked into her own place at night, Lily found a little peace sitting in front of her own tree and dreaming about a time when she'd get to start traditions of her own that weren't dictated by somebody else's schedule.

Now, as they drove to meet their families, she wasn't sure what to expect. There had been an awkward conversation with their parents one night when they approached the topic of the rental. “When we rented this place, well, we had no idea the two of you were dating. So, there are six bedrooms and we are a party of twelve, but…” Jack Cavanaugh looked to his wife to continue.

“We just figured, Cam, that you'd sleep on one of the sleeper sofas,” Angela finished.

“That's fine,” Cam said, wondering what the big deal was.

Angela blushed a little. “What we're saying is that we're not going to be…prudes about this. You and Lily can share her room. We don't mind, and we completely understand you'll want some…private time to be alone.”

Cam and Lily had looked at one another and did their best to not look horrified. Lily didn't think they'd pulled that off. “Um…do we really need to talk about…this?” she had asked, feeling uncomfortable and queasy at the same time.

“We're just letting you know we respect your relationship,” Mary Cavanaugh had added. “We're just so thrilled that the two of you are together. We know ten days is a long time, and we want the two of you to be comfortable enough to want to stay, rather than find some excuse to leave and head home so that you can have some privacy.”

It was quite possibly the most awkward conversation of Lily's life—and that included the infamous birds-and-the-bees talk she had gotten when she was twelve. “Well…um…thank you,” Lily had said on both her and Cam's behalf. “We appreciate the fact you're all being so…cool…with all of this. We certainly don't want anyone being uncomfortable.”
Especially us.
“We were going to be completely fine, no matter what the sleeping arrangements were. Normally in these big houses you end up with some twin beds or bunk beds, so really, you don't need to make any special arrangements on our account.”

“Nonsense,” Jack added. “We were all young once too.” He winked at them before standing and getting himself a drink, and Lily thought she was never going to want to have sex again after this conversation.

Brought back to the present, Lily noticed their exit on the freeway and listened to the GPS instructions. “I don't know if I mentioned this, but I don't have to go into work until after New Year's,” Cam said blandly, clearly not excited by the prospect at all.

“Oh,” she said just as dejectedly. “That's good.”

Before she knew what was happening, Cam pulled into the first parking lot they came to and turned the car off. “Okay, spill. What's going on?”

Lily looked at him with pure confusion. “Spill what?”

“Clearly you're not happy, and if I can tell, then they're all going to be able to. So what's going on? Let's clear the air before we get to the house and have to get into happy-fun mode.”

“That!” she cried, pointing a finger at him. “That is the problem. I'm sick and tired of happy-fun mode! It's exhausting! I can't walk around like I'm freaking ecstatic over everything when I'm not!” She banged her head back against the seat and sighed with frustration. “This wasn't supposed to be this much work!”

Cam mirrored her position. “I know, I know,” he said wearily. “Who knew we would be the biggest news of the season? Why isn't anyone getting married or divorced or having an affair?” That was the normal gossip around the holidays, and it really stunk that there was none this year to take the spotlight off of them.

Lily turned her head and looked at him sadly. “Ten days. We have ten solid days to be the picture of a happy and in-love couple, and you know what? I don't know if I can do it.” Tears sprang to her eyes, and this time she did her best to wipe them away.

Reaching over, Cam did his best to pull her into his embrace with a console between them. “I'm sorry. This is all my fault.”

Lily pulled back and looked at him with surprise. “Your fault? How is this your fault? If anything, our crazy parents are to blame! If they had just left us alone, we wouldn't have had to concoct this stupid act that has everyone we know throwing mistletoe at us at every turn!” She growled with frustration. “Or, even if we did have to go with this farce, if they had just reacted like normal people and not carried on like ‘Oh, thank goodness our two misfit children finally found people to love them' and turned it into a spectator sport, it wouldn't be so bad. But it's exhausting. And that whole private-time conversation? What was that?”

“Oh, I know. I had nightmares for a week after that. I feel like every time we leave a room while we're there, they're all going to be smirking.”

“Exactly,” she said. “So what do we do?”

“Well, I don't see we have a choice.” Cam thought for a minute, and then a wicked glint in his eyes told Lily he had come up with the perfect solution. “What if we turned the tables on them and used all of their enthusiasm against them?”

“Cam, you're starting to scare me. You used to be so mild mannered, but lately you've been walking a little too close to the dark side.”

“No, this will be perfect. Our original plan was to break up after New Year's, right?” Lily nodded. “Well, our reason for the breakup is going to be because of all of the pressure
they
put on us. We couldn't handle it. We had no privacy. They pushed too much…blah, blah, blah. You see where I'm going with this?”

Lily gave him an equally wicked smile. “I do, and you know what? I like it. I like it a lot.”

“We're going to have to fight a bit in front of them. You know I hate that because in all of our lives, we've never had a fight.”

“I know,” she said thoughtfully. “What's wrong with us?”

Reaching out, he traced his fingers on the side of her soft cheek. Cam loved just touching her and soon there would be no reason to because they'd go back to being just friends. Well, if he was honest, he'd acknowledge they didn't have an audience now and there wasn't a reason to touch her, but he couldn't seem to help himself. “There's nothing wrong with us,” he said softly. “There was just never a reason to fight.”

Lily sighed and rested her cheek in his palm and simply enjoyed the feel of the skin-on-skin contact. “I don't know if I'll be able to do it, Cam,” she said honestly. “I'll want to argue with them, not with you.”

Cam leaned forward and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead. “Don't worry. We'll work something out.”

* * *

The house was magnificent. There was no other way to describe it. As they drove onto the property, Lily marveled at the scenery. “Dad said the property was big, but it just seems to go on and on and on,” she said.

“I think it's over one hundred acres,” Cam commented, equally in awe of their surroundings. “There's supposed to be a private lake where we can go fishing, but it's catch and release because it's stocked by the North Carolina Wildlife Resources people.” Lily nodded, and Cam remembered that fishing was not something she was interested in.

When the house finally came in to view, Lily gasped. “Oh my goodness! Look at that, Cam. I can't believe that we're staying here for Christmas!” It was designed to look like a log cabin, but to Lily it was like a luxury log cabin on steroids. There were tons of windows and decking that wrapped around the exterior, and no matter where you stood outside, you had a magnificent view. Even if she hadn't gotten the week off work, she would have called in sick because the house was too amazing to leave. And she hadn't even seen the inside yet!

Both sets of parents were waiting on the front porch when Cam and Lily pulled up. With a quick look around, Lily guessed they were the first of the siblings to arrive. “Oh,” she sighed in awe as they got out of the car. “I'm just blown away.”

When she turned and smiled at him, Cam knew exactly what she meant. While yes, the house and property were amazing, her and her smile and her enthusiasm were what never ceased to blow him away.

“We can get the luggage later,” Lily said as she walked over and grabbed his hand. “Let's go pick out our room!” She fairly dragged him up the front steps, and they stopped to hug their parents. “This place is amazing,” she gushed to them. “It's so much bigger than I imagined.” Bouncing on her toes, her hand still firmly gripping Cam's, she asked, “Can we go in? Can we go in?”

Opening the front door of the house, Lily stopped and gaped. Their families had always been well-off, but nothing that she had ever seen compared to the natural beauty of this home. Log walls and stone fireplaces, exposed beams, and twenty-foot ceilings in spots… It was breathtaking.

“There are three master suites, and since you were the first ones to arrive, you are more than welcome to the third one,” Angela said.

Cam and Lily both looked at one another and grinned. As the youngest in each of their families, they always seemed to get the last pick of everything, so with one mind, they turned to their parents and said, “Done!”

Mary Cavanaugh was the one to take them through the house, and by the time they got to their room, they had seen all six bedrooms, four stone fireplaces, a kitchen that was a chef's dream with granite countertops and stainless-steel commercial-grade appliances, and views that were awe-inspiring.

The main living area boasted floor-to-ceiling windows with vistas of three mountain ranges and had one of the biggest flat-screen televisions Lily had ever seen. On the lower level there was a family media room and a game room that rivaled an arcade. Outside there was a large private Jacuzzi spa, a fire pit overlooking the mountain sunsets, a badminton court, and a backyard big enough to host any sport they might want to play.

By the time they were alone in their suite, Lily felt like she had walked a mile. Cam shut the door and smiled at the fact that all of their luggage was already there. He mentally reminded himself to thank whichever father had done it because he was exhausted from the drive and then the tour. Both he and Lily collapsed on the bed side by side.

Lily giggled and Cam turned to look at her. “What's so funny?”

“You know our sisters are going to be majorly upset that we snagged the last master suite, right?” Cam couldn't help but nod and laugh. “And I mean, they totally should be, because look at this place! King-size bed, private bathroom with a Jacuzzi tub, and what is that? Like a fifty-inch TV mounted on the wall. Never mind going home. I may not leave this room all week.”

Cam found he was completely on board with that idea, especially if it meant they could spend some of their time here like they had in New York. And then he got worried. He knew their parents had implied it and everyone had joked about it, but the reality was that for ten days he and Lily were sharing this room, and it was positioned far enough away from everyone to afford them more privacy than they would probably need.

The problem was that he wanted to take advantage of that privacy and forget his rules and reasons for making those rules, and have what they'd had on their last trip. He would never, ever suggest that to Lily because he knew she was struggling with keeping up appearances, but he couldn't help but wonder what was going to happen when just the two of them were under the blankets later that night.