The Dysfunctional Test (7 page)

“Yes. Thank you.”
Now get out before a fantasy pops in my head
.
Again.

Troy stared at the pool table as if thinking the same thing she was. He blinked and looked back at her. “Why don’t you take my room? I’ll sleep in here.”

“No, no. I’m fine.” Sort of.

“You sure? I have Transformer sheets.”

Swallowing, she looked him in the eye, wanting to know what he was really thinking. “Why are you doing this?”

A look of irritation crossed his face. “Doing what?”

Being nice. Making me want to know what’s under the boy-child clothes.

She crossed her arms to block out the chill. “Agreeing to date me.”

He stared at the pool table again. “I don’t know, but I said I would.” He looked back at her, his gaze roaming her face and dropping to her mouth where it hovered for several seconds. “I’d do just about anything for you. You know that. And you know why.”

Her mouth popped open. No, she didn’t know.

He looked away and rubbed the back of his neck. “’Night, Cam.”

“Troy.” She struggled to stand. “Thank you.”

He turned from the doorway. “No need to thank me.”

Chapter Four

Life Lessons According to Camryn:

Running late counts as exercise.

The rush through General Mitchell Airport was something right out of the
Home Alone
manual. Yjaka Harold insisted on holding the tickets, Nana bitched about having to use a wheelchair, Kuma Viola was applying lipstick while attempting to go through security, and Emily made a guard spit his coffee out when she said he had a big stick.

The Covics never went anywhere without leaving a lasting impression.

Troy closed his eyes and lay his head back just as the fasten seatbelt light chimed off. Thirty thousand feet in an enclosed plane for three hours with the family. Good times. He grabbed a magazine and flipped through it.

Fisher walked past them to take Emily to the bathroom. He nodded at Camryn, avoided looking at Troy, and moved on.

“I don’t understand why he’s so mad,” Cam said.

“You and I both know Fisher’s temper.”

“But why be mad at you? He should be angry with me. I’m his sister.”

“He thinks I’m going to hurt you. My dating history doesn’t bode well for changing his mind.”

Deep down, Troy figured he and Cam were crossing a proverbial line in Fisher’s opinion. A line they shouldn’t cross and had. Or he thought they had. He wanted so badly to tell his best friend this was a lie. Knowing that would make Fisher feel better. But part of him liked this lie too. The part of him that still needed to prove he was worthy of something.

“Fisher must know that I’d be more likely to hurt you. I mean, I’m the reserved one here. I’d never let a man hurt me.”

She had let a man hurt her. She may not realize it, nor acknowledge it, but this Maxwell jerk
had
hurt her. And Troy wasn’t just any man. If this went wrong, everything would change, and he’d be the one left out in the cold.

He set his magazine down and looked at her. “You have feelings, Cam. I don’t know why you find it necessary to hide them.” She turned her head to stare out the window. “Go ahead, turn away. But I know you better than that. For the record, I’d never hurt you. Even if this were real.”

She looked back at him, worry lines wrinkling her forehead. After assessing him, she shook her head. “This is pointless. No one’s going to get hurt, because this
isn’t
real. Fisher will get over it.”

For once, she was more optimistic than he. “In a very dark way, this whole thing is funny. Fisher and I made a promise long ago to never fight over a woman.”

One corner of her mouth quirked as her brows rose. “Not quite what you two had in mind.”

Understatement.

Emily climbed over him to get to Camryn. Troy was the fun uncle, Heather the aunt who spoiled, but Cam was the little girl’s favorite. Probably because she talked to her like an adult.

“You’re wearing paint, Auntie Cam.”

“Makeup. I usually wear makeup.”

Emily gave Cam a calculated look while Troy smiled.

“Not this much makeup. Is it because the Hortons are better than us?”

The Hortons being Justin’s family, Troy waited to see how Cam responded.

“They’re not better than us, honey. Just different. So we have to be on our best behavior.”

Emily leaned against her chest and sighed. “I know. Daddy told me already.”

Troy wondered if Fisher had told the rest of the family to be on their best behavior.

“What’s Colorado like?” Emily asked.

“Well, it was the thirty-eighth colony added to the States, the state bird is the lark, and the tree is the blue spruce.”

Troy laughed. “She didn’t ask for a history lesson.”

Both Emily and Cam frowned at him, so he shut up.

Emily turned to face Cam. “Daddy said there’s mountains.”

“The Rocky Mountains. The city we’re going to, Boulder, is just east of the mountains. You’ll be able to see them. You should ask Uncle Justin about Colorado. He’s from there.”

Without further delay, Emily hopped down and walked to the back of the plane by Heather and Justin. Troy glanced around. Most of the family was seated in the back. They could talk without being overheard.

“So, tell me about this Max guy.”

“Maxwell. He hates being called Max. What do you want to know?”

A lot of things he couldn’t ask. “What did he get you for your birthday last month? You didn’t come home. It must’ve been good.”

Her glance darted to the window again. “We went out to dinner the next day.”

“The next day?”

She turned her head back, but wouldn’t look him in the eye. “We were in the middle of a big campaign. We worked late that night, so we went out to dinner the next day.”

Code: he forgot. “Did you love him?”

She sighed. “I guess. Doesn’t matter now, does it?”

“Love always matters,” he said. And Cam deserved someone who didn’t forget her birthday. Deserved more than the card he sent her, even if it did sing.

“What about you? What was your last girlfriend like?”

“Felicia. She was a closet opera fan. Never would’ve worked out.”

Cam smiled, and his stomach did some kind of tilt he blamed on turbulence. “Uh huh. And what was the problem with the one before her?”

He’d only dated Felicia for a couple weeks. Same with the one before her, and the one before that. They all had something wrong with them. Or maybe it was him. Either way, they weren’t important enough to discuss. “What did you love about Maxwell?”

Her smile fell, and he regretted asking. “We both loved our work.” She shrugged. “He was stable. Reliable.”

She sounded like she was car shopping, but he knew better than to say so. “Well, at least I’ll show you some fun before you dump me for another boring guy.” Those huge hazel eyes narrowed, so he grinned. “Even a fake boyfriend can be fun.”

Emily barreled over his lap again and onto Cam’s. “Uncle Justin says you’re the smarty pants. I’m supposed to get a tutu from you.”

Troy laughed until his side hurt and half the plane was staring at him. “I think you mean
tutorial
. And Auntie Camryn is the right person for that.”

“Justin Horton, you didn’t tell us you lived in a hotel!” Nana exclaimed.

Camryn rolled her eyes. Only Nana could make that sound like an insult. They exited the car the Hortons sent for them. Scratch that, the
limo
they sent.

Justin rubbed the back of his neck and turned six shades of red. “Um, well…it’s not
that
big.”

It
was
that big. Camryn looked at the sprawling gray brick fortress in front of them. It took five minutes to get from the road to the front door, and past a ten-foot wrought iron security fence. Easily three floors high, the house had to be ten thousand square feet. The garage was bigger than her parents’ house. The yard could’ve held a wedding three times the size of Justin and Heather’s. And the Kentucky Derby. Around the side, she could just make out the edge of an in-ground pool.

Now she knew why Heather was so nervous.

A woman exited the front door and walked right to Justin. “It’s so good to have you home!” she said. Justin looked just like her, with light brown hair and a thin, angular face. She wore a mint green suit that cost more than a month of Camryn’s salary. “Oh, Heather. So good to see you again.”

Heather introduced the rest of the family, who blessedly said nothing. Camryn hoped their shock lasted the whole week.

Bernice Horton squatted in front of her niece. “You must be Emily. I had the staff buy you a bunch of movies for while you’re here, in case it rains.”

Emily smiled. “With cockporn? Auntie Cam makes the best cockporn!”

Anna picked up Emily and set her on her hip as she giggled nervously. “She means popcorn. Popcorn. Camryn makes her popcorn, and…um.”

The horrified look left Bernice’s face as she patted her chest. “Of course. With popcorn, dear.” She turned to Justin. “Your dad is in the study. Why don’t you drag him out and give the family a tour of the house?”

A couple of staff came out to collect their luggage as the family walked inside.

Camryn and Troy stayed back, letting the others go ahead first. Troy leaned over to whisper in her ear, “At least I’m sharing a room with the woman who makes the best cockporn. Honestly, the things you don’t tell me.”

She tried not to smile. “Shut up, Troy.”

Justin’s father seemed as nice as his mother. Once he saw them come inside, he rose from a desk and shook everyone’s hand. As tall, if not taller than Justin, he had a wiry frame and a pear-shaped face hidden behind large black frames.

The house was amazing. Mahogany floors, ten-foot windows, open architecture. Complete with a library and media room, which Emily drooled over, it was something out of a Hollywood set. The entire east side had a beautiful view of the Flatirons and foothills at the base of the mountains. The north side had an in-ground Olympic-sized pool with a colorful perennial garden to accent.

The house had six bedrooms. Yjaka Harold, Kuma Viola, Uncle Mitch and Tetaka Myrtle were sharing a room on the second floor. Mom, Dad and Nana were across the hall. Fisher, Anna and Emily were on the third floor, along with Justin and Heather, and Troy and herself. Each bedroom had its own bath.

Left to their own devices until lunch, they opted to unpack and settle in. Troy flopped on the king-sized bed in their room. “I thought the family was very well behaved.”

“Yes, aside from Nana complaining about getting lost.”

The room was nicer than some of the four-star hotels she’d stayed in. The wallpaper was light blue with darker navy stripes. A border print of bluebells matched the bedspread covering the four-poster bed Troy lay on. On the same wall as the bathroom, a bureau held a forty-inch flat screen and DVD player. A set of glass French doors led to a balcony over-looking the mountain view.

She opened the closet to hang her clothes before they wrinkled. “I would kill for this closet at home.”

“A woman and her wardrobe. No closet is big enough.”

“My apartment is the size of this closet.” She turned and stared at him, a thought looming. “We’re going to have to share the bed.”

Troy looked around the room. “The bed is big enough. No big deal. I hear you don’t snore, so we should be fine.” His smile was at full amp.

There may be a certain comfort level with Troy, but she thought she drew the line at sharing a bed, king-sized or not. Unless one of them took the floor, they were stuck. She couldn’t ask him to do that, and she’d never walk upright if she slept on these hardwood floors. And what was with everyone’s obsession on snoring?

“Relax, Cam. I won’t touch you.”

No doubt there. She couldn’t handle him even if he did lose his mind and try. Last night at his house she’d nearly come undone at his touch. Troy didn’t even mean anything by it. He was just trying to help pull out the bed. But it still had her skin heated.

She needed her mind off that. “What are you going to do while we have our final dress fitting this afternoon?”

“I plan on beating the crap out of Justin and Fisher at Grand Theft Auto. Should be fun in that media room.”

Video games. Men.

He got up and walked to the French doors. “They’re setting up lunch outside. Ready to head down?”

“Aren’t you going to hang up your clothes?”

One eyebrow popped up in confusion. “Why?”

She sighed. It was a darn good thing they weren’t really a couple.

They made their way downstairs and out a set of patio doors to where they thought the family was sitting, only to find themselves the length of the house away. “Wow, this house
is
big,” she said.

She started to walk toward the tables when Troy grabbed her arm. She looked at him, confused. His blond hair was several shades lighter in the hot, dry sun, his brown eyes showing little golden flecks she never noticed before. She watched as his Adam’s apple bobbed.