Текст книги "Down London Road"

Автор книги: Samantha Young

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Текущая страница: 15 (всего у книги 23 страниц)

20

‘Hello, beautiful.’ A deep, familiar voice brought my head up from the letter I was shoving into an envelope.

Greeted by the sight of Malcolm standing in the doorway to Mr Meikle’s reception area, I smiled. My heart thudded a little faster as he smiled back affectionately, all class and polish in his designer suit. ‘Malcolm,’ I replied warmly.

His dark eyes glittered as he strolled casually into the room towards me. ‘It’s good to see you.’

I stayed frozen awkwardly in place for a moment as I decided what I should do, how I should greet him. Malcolm waited on the other side of my desk, his eyebrows raised in question.

After seeing his name on the appointment sheet today, I’d felt my stomach start to do flips. We’d been texting, but this would be the first time we’d seen each other in person since the break-up. Now that he was here in front of me, I didn’t know how to react.

Laughing a little at my own nervousness, I pushed back from the desk and rounded it, my arms open. He immediately drew me into a tight hug that I reciprocated, surprised by how glad I was to see him. I had to pull away, however, when his hands started sliding slowly down my back. My cheeks were flushed with guilt for letting Malcolm get close enough to touch me in any way that was remotely more than friendly.

It had been two weeks since the Saturday with Cam’s parents and Cam and I had been dating each other for just over six weeks. Six weeks didn’t sound like long, but it felt like forever. Long enough for me to know that this was the kind of flirtatious interaction with another guy that would piss my boyfriend off.

‘You look good.’ I gave him another quick smile to cover my abrupt departure from the hug.

‘You too. I take it you’re well?’

I nodded, and sat back in my chair, looking up at him with genuine interest. ‘And you?’

‘Yes. I’m good. You know me.’

‘And how’s your single mother of one?’

He laughed drily. ‘Ah, over. We didn’t quite fit.’

‘Oh, I’m sorry to hear that.’

‘And Cameron?’

My cheeks heated again and I had to force myself to meet his eyes. ‘He’s good.’

Malcolm frowned. ‘Still taking care of you?’

‘He is.’

‘Good.’ He blew air out between his lips, glancing around, I think attempting to appear casual. ‘I take it he’s met Cole and your mum?’

Crap. More guilt washed over me and I found myself choking on the answer. I suddenly felt panicked that if I told him the truth, that Cam knew more about my life than I had ever let Malcolm know, I would hurt this man even more than I already had.

My silence at his question seemed to provide my answer. His eyes dimmed as he watched me. ‘I’ll take that as a yes.’

‘Malcolm!’ Mr Meikle boomed as he threw his office door open. ‘Joanne didn’t tell me you’d arrived. Come in, come in.’

It was the first time I’d ever been grateful to my harsh employer. He’d saved me from having to answer to that wounded look on Malcolm’s face.

The entire time Malcolm was in Meikle’s office I watched the door like a hawk, chewing on my lip, my knee bouncing up and down with my anxiety as I waited for him to reappear. I spent twenty minutes building myself up to his reaction and in the end he walked out the door, threw me a casual smile, and told me he’d talk to me soon. Then he left.

I wilted against my chair, the tension draining from my body.

‘Johanna.’

I snapped around, surprised not only that Mr Meikle had got my name correct but also that he had uttered it in a tone that was scathing, even for him. He stood in his doorway, his eyes narrowed on me, his expression almost incredulous. ‘Sir?’

‘You broke up with Malcolm Hendry?’

My fingernails bit into the palm of my hands at the inappropriate question while my brain cursed Malcolm to hell. ‘Sir.’

‘You silly girl.’ He shook his head, almost as if he felt sorry for me. My heart began to thump in preparation for the insult I knew was coming, my blood already heating with anger. ‘A girl with your limited talents should think more carefully in future before throwing away the opportunity to attach yourself to an affluent man like Malcolm Hendry.’

His unkind attack slapped me back into the past.

‘Get out of my way!’ Dad bellowed, kicking out at me, catching my buttocks with his work boot as I passed. I stumbled, humiliation and pain making me whirl around and glare at him in defiance. His face darkened and he took a menacing step towards me. ‘Dinnae you look at me like that. Dinnae you! You’re nothing. Absolutely worthless.’

The memory, summoned by Mr Meikle’s condescension, pinned me in my seat. My skin grew hot with renewed humiliation. It’s hard to believe you’re anything but worthless when a parent spends most of your formative years telling you you’re useless. A big nothing. I knew I’d carried that with me. It didn’t take a genius to understand why I had such low self-esteem, or why I had very little belief in myself.

Or why I probably never would.

However, I’d grown so used to thinking that way about myself that when others thought it too it didn’t seem wrong. Although Joss had spent the last few months attempting to make me see that it was wrong, it had never fully got through to me.

Until Cameron.

He wanted me to demand more of myself. He got angry when I didn’t, and furious when other people belittled me. He told me in little ways almost every day that he thought I was special. He chipped away at my insecurities about my intelligence, my personality, and although they were still there, they had been suppressed by his support. Every day they were squashed deeper and deeper into the caverns of my worries.

Cam said I was more.

How dare anyone who didn’t know me at all try to tell me I was less.

I pushed back from my desk, my chair careening into the metal filing shelves behind me with the force of the action. ‘I quit.’

Mr Meikle blinked rapidly, the colour on his cheeks deepening to a rosy red. ‘Pardon?’

Glowering at him, I pulled my bag up off the floor and yanked my jacket off the coat stand near my desk. Standing in the doorway to his reception area, I kept my eyes on him in defiance as I put my jacket on. ‘I said, I quit. Find someone else to hiss at with your viperous tongue, you short old windbag.’

I spun around on trembling legs and left him spluttering in my wake as I hurried out the door, down the stairs, and out the main entrance. Adrenaline pumped through me as I marched down the street fuelled by ire and self-righteous indignation.

Cool air blew through my hair and across my cheeks until the fire began to wane and my trembling increased.

I’d just quit my job.

The job Cole and I needed.

The breath whooshed out of me and I stumbled against a wrought-iron fence, struggling to get air into my lungs. What were we going to do? We couldn’t survive on my wages from the bar, and jobs weren’t exactly easy to come by. I had some money put away, but that money was for Cole, not for me to burn through while I tried to find a new job.

‘Oh, fuck,’ I muttered, tears pricking the corners of my eyes as I pushed myself off the fence, looking back the way I’d come. I could feel the eyes of passers-by on my face, as they sensed my distress and probably wondered if I needed help. ‘I need to go back.’ I took two steps back towards the office, then stopped, clenching my fists at my sides.

I was halted by pride.

Me? Halted by pride?

I gave a huff of hysterical laughter and clutched my stomach, fighting the urge to be sick.

I couldn’t go back. Meikle wouldn’t even take me back after what I’d just said to him.

‘Oh, God.’ I pushed a shaking hand through my hair, gulping in as much air as I could.

And then it hit me.

This was Cam’s fault.

My attraction to him had caused me to dump a wealthy, kind, handsome man who I knew cared about me. And now I’d quit my job! And for what? Because Cameron was charming enough to make me feel special, to make me feel better about myself? What about something real? What about telling me he loved me, huh?

It had been only six weeks, but I knew I loved him. Shouldn’t he know he loved me? It wasn’t like he wasn’t capable of it. He’d fucking loved Blair!

More tears trembled on my eyelashes. I was mucking up my life because of him. Making impulsive, stupid decisions that were going to wreck any hope of a financially secure future for Cole.

Oh, God … Cole.

I’d let him get close to Cole too.

Who did that?

Who played Russian roulette not only with their own emotions but with their bloody kid’s?

I had to do something. Quickly. I needed space. Time to re-evaluate before it was too late.

I needed to see Cam.

Despite my alarming pace, the usually forty-minute distance that I covered in twenty-five minutes still seemed to take forever, and I had to stop myself from walking down to Joss’s flat on Dublin Street when I passed it. Perhaps talking this over with a friend would help, would clear up all my confusion, but I feared that Joss, who was Team Cameron, would only convince me I was being hysterical.

And maybe I was.

In fact, somewhere inside, I was pretty sure I was, but right now the anger and panic were overruling logic.

Logic that Joss probably would have used to talk me round. But Joss was hiding out from Ellie at the moment because Els had gone overboard with plans for the engagement party that was to take place in two weeks. With her brain ready to explode from Ellie in celebration mode, Joss had told me the other night at work that she had taken to not answering her door during the day. Five weeks of planning for a party? If I were Joss I’d be in hiding too.

With no one to talk me down and my emotions rocketing all over the place, I stormed into my building and stomped up the stairs, breathless by the time I reached Cam’s flat. I may have pounded on his door harder than was necessary.

‘Jesus Chr–’ Cam cut his words short at the sight of me as he opened the door to find me there, dishevelled and out of breath. ‘Jo? What are you – why aren’t you at work?’

My eyes skimmed over him. He was kind of dressed up for Cam. The Diesel T-shirt he wore looked new and was a little more tight-fitting than his usual tees, sculpting the lean lines of muscle in his strong body. And were those new jeans? My eyes dropped to the black Levi’s and I was almost relieved to see he was wearing his scuffed black engineer boots. Why was he semi-dressed up?

He looked hot.

It was such a turn-on when he gazed at me with those warm blue eyes, even when they were all worried and concerned as they were now. ‘Jo?’ He stepped out of his flat, reaching for me.

I wanted to lean into him, to let him hold me against him, to breathe him in, to feel his lips on my skin. I wanted that forever.

No, dammit! I drew back, taking him by surprise. I needed space. Every time I was near him, he just befuddled my brain.

He frowned, dropping his arm. ‘What’s wrong?’

I suddenly had an overwhelming desire to start crying. I held it at bay and looked anywhere but at him. ‘I quit my job.’

Silence fell between us for a moment and then he replied, ‘That’s good.’

My glare skewered him to the wall behind him. ‘No. It’s not good. It’s not bloody good, Cam.’

‘Okay, baby, calm down. Obviously something has happened.’ He sighed heavily and ran a hand through his hair. ‘And I’m about to make it either better or worse. I need to tell you something.’

Shaking my head, I took a step up the stairs that would lead me to my flat. ‘I don’t want to know. Cam’ – I took a deep breath, reaching far inside me for the strength to say it – ‘I need space to think.’

He looked stunned, almost like I’d hit him. ‘Space?’

I nodded, chewing my lip to hell.

And then Cam’s eyes darkened, his whole expression growing taut with coming anger. I began to gnaw my lip as he took a menacing step towards me. ‘Space from me?’

I nodded.

‘Fuck that shit,’ he growled, his hands reaching for me before drawing back with restraint. ‘What the hell happened today?’

‘You did,’ I replied as calmly as I could.

His eyes only blazed bluer. Apparently my being calm only exacerbated his anger. ‘Me?’

‘I keep making these rash decisions and being completely selfish and that’s not fair to Cole.’

Cam screwed up his face. ‘Rash decisions? Am I a fucking rash decision? Is that what you’re saying?’

‘No!’ I cried, aghast at the hurt in his eyes. ‘No. I don’t know.’ I threw up my hands, so confused I just wanted the floor to open up and swallow me whole. ‘Are you? Are we? I mean what are we doing here? I keep expecting –’

‘Expecting what?’

‘You to just wake up one day, realize you’re bored out of your skull, and end it.’

A very tense silence fell between us again, and I watched with growing nervousness as Cam struggled to control his frustration. Finally he met my gaze and asked quietly, ‘Have I ever given you that impression? That I’m just messing around? I took you to meet my parents, for Christ’s sake, not to mention what I’ve just done today. That bullshit is in your head and I didn’t put it there, so what is going on?’

I threw up my hands again, tears glistening in my eyes. ‘I don’t know. I quit my job and being angry at me only took me so far, so I had to be angry at you! And I’m on my period, so I might be a little emotional.’ I sucked back tears.

His lips twitched now, the anger easing from his expression.

‘It’s not funny!’ I stomped my foot like a petulant child.

With a grunt, Cam answered by hauling me off the stairs and into his arms. I automatically wrapped my arms around him and buried my burning face in his neck.

‘No more talk about needing space?’ he asked hoarsely, his warm breath on my ear.

I nodded in agreement and his arms tightened.

‘Why did you quit?’

I pulled back and he eased me to my feet, although he didn’t let go of me. Now that I was this close to him I didn’t want to let go either.

Jesus, I was such a mess.

‘He found out I dumped Malcolm and he said some horrible things to me.’

Cam’s face clouded over. ‘What horrible things?’

I shrugged. ‘Basically he said I was stupid for dumping a rich man when that was about as good as my life would get.’

‘I’m going to kill him. First, you’re going to report him for misconduct, and then I’m going to kill him.’

‘I don’t want anything else to do with him.’

‘Jo, he crossed a line.’

‘Yeah, he did. But I don’t have the luxury of time to go through the rigmarole of seeing him brought to some kind of meagre justice. I have to find a job.’

‘Braden.’

‘Nope.’ I pinched my lips together.

Cam shook his head. ‘You are so bloody stubborn.’ And then he kissed my pinched mouth open, his lips light at first and then pressing harder, drawing me deeper into his demand for more.

When he finally let me up for breath, his expression was almost pained. ‘Don’t do that to me again, okay?’

Feeling ashamed of my behaviour, and vowing to be absolutely sure about a decision before throwing something as important as a break-up Cam’s way, I pressed another kiss to his lips, my hands cupping his bristly cheeks tenderly, hoping he understood more in that kiss than I was willing to say. ‘I’m sorry,’ I whispered.

‘You’re forgiven.’ He squeezed my waist.

Smoothing my hands down his new T-shirt, I puckered my brows in thought. ‘Why are you dressed up? And what did you mean “not to mention what I’ve just done today”?’

‘Ah.’ Cam pushed me back a little. ‘There’s someone here to see you.’

21

You would think that after witnessing my crazy emotional drama Cam would have been considerate enough to prepare me for who was in his flat waiting for me.

But no.

He wanted it to be a surprise.

Feeling a little nervous about whatever unknown thing awaited me, I followed him into his sitting room.

My eyes immediately were drawn to a young woman rising from Cam’s couch. Shorter than me but taller than Joss, she stood there, all curves and ass and amazing hair. For some reason, my immediate thought was that this was Blair. I stared into exceptionally light hazel eyes, so light they were almost gold, and felt my throat close up. Some might say the woman was slightly overweight, but all I processed was the big boobs and curvy ass, which looked good on her. Her jet-black hair cascaded down her back in an amazing riot of soft waves. Thinking this woman was Blair, and hating her on sight, I didn’t realize for a while that the rest of her features were kind of plain. Her hair, eyes and figure gave the impression of extraordinary.

Then she smiled.

She had a knee-knockingly great smile. ‘Jo?’

And an American accent.

Uh … what?

‘Johanna?’

The gruff voice drew my gaze to the left, and my eyes widened at the sight of the large man standing next to Cam’s fireplace. The weight of his light hazel eyes on me made me stagger back in shock. I’d been so consumed with jealousy, thinking the woman was Blair, that it hadn’t even registered how familiar those exotic eyes were.

‘Uncle Mick?’ I breathed in shock, my eyes running the length of him.

He looked older now, grey peppering his dark hair and beard, but it was him. A tower of a man, standing at six and a half feet tall with huge shoulders, he still looked as fit and healthy as he had eleven years ago. Everyone had always said Uncle Mick was built like a brick shithouse. He still was.

What was he doing here?

‘Jo.’ He shook his head, giving me a grin that made me feel homesick. ‘I always knew you’d be a knockout, lass, but just look at you.’ His accent threw me for a moment, the sharp, abrupt inflection of Scots softened slightly in certain words by an American drawl. His accent was Joss’s in reverse.

Still dumbstruck, I could only say his name again. ‘Uncle Mick?’ I glanced back at Cam, my mouth open in wonder, my heart in my throat. ‘What is going on?’

Cam stepped forward and took my hand in reassurance. ‘You told me Mick’s surname, that he’d moved to Arizona, and you showed me old photographs. Mick has a Facebook account, and I tracked him down on there.’

Facebook? I looked back at Mick incredulously, still not believing he was here. Everything that had been good about my life as a child was standing in front of me and I didn’t know whether I wanted to run facefirst into his chest or turn on my heel and flee.

‘Cam and I got to talking and he told me how difficult things have been for you, darling. I’m so sorry.’ Mick’s voice was low, as though he were talking to a frightened animal. ‘I’m so sorry I wasn’t here.’

I gulped and for the hundredth time that day tried desperately not to cry. ‘Why are you here?’

‘We came back a few years ago to Paisley for a short visit, but no one knew where you’d gone. I saw your dad.’

I winced at the thought of my father. ‘He’s still there, then?’

Mick nodded, taking a step towards me. ‘I’m glad Fiona got you away from him. I’m glad he has no clue where you went and is too stupid to find you.’

I felt my nose sting with the tears I could no longer hold back. ‘So you came all the way here to see me?’

He grinned. ‘You’re worth the plane ticket, baby girl.’

Baby girl. He’d always called me that and I’d loved it. It was why I called Cole ‘baby boy’. The sob rose out of my mouth before I could stop it, and seemingly done with being patient, Uncle Mick made a rough noise and crossed the room to pull me into a bear hug. I hugged him back, breathing him in. Mick had never been one for aftershave. He’d always smelled of soap and earth. The ache in my chest intensified as I reverted to a ten-year-old in his arms.

We stood together for a good while, until my crying finally trailed off, and then Mick eased me back, his light eyes – eyes I’d loved more than any other eyes in the world until Cole came along – were bright on me. ‘I’ve missed you.’

I laughed in an attempt to curb another crying jag. ‘Missed you, too.’

Clearing his throat and shifting uncomfortably under the weight of emotion between us, Mick turned to look back at the young woman. Although he introduced her, I no longer needed to be told who she was. Her eyes gave her away. ‘Jo, this is Olivia, my daughter.’

Olivia’s eyes were shining with tears as she took a step towards me. ‘It’s nice to meet you, Jo. Dad has been talking about you for years, so I almost feel like I know you. God, was that as cliché as it sounded?’

I smiled weakly, not quite sure how I felt about her. Watching the way Uncle Mick gazed adoringly at his daughter, I was happy for him. Happy he’d found his own family. But the thirteen-year-old girl inside me resented Olivia – resented her for being what had taken Mick away in the first place.

I tried to quash that feeling, knowing it was useless and childish and petty, but it was there no matter how much I didn’t want it to be.

‘After coming to Paisley and not finding you, we tried Facebook too, but you don’t have an account. We thought we’d found Cole, but we couldn’t be sure, and Dad was worried that you didn’t want to hear from him anyway.’

I looked up at Mick, my hand curling on his arm. ‘I’m sorry for losing touch. It was childish.’

‘Baby girl, you were just a child.’

‘Cam was pretty sure you’d want to see Dad.’ Olivia smiled gratefully behind me and I turned to face Cameron.

‘I can’t believe you did this,’ I whispered softly, knowing and not caring at the moment that everything I felt for him was shimmering in my eyes.

Cam’s knuckles brushed along my jaw affectionately. ‘Happy?’

I nodded, choking on the lump in my throat. I was happy. Just having Mick in the room … I felt safe.

We settled around Cam’s coffee table while he made us refreshments. I sat between Mick and Olivia, surprised by Olivia’s friendliness and enthusiasm. I’d have thought she’d be mad at me for having had her dad for the first thirteen years of our lives, but she seemed anything but mad. She seemed glad for her dad that they had found me.

‘How long are you staying?’ I asked Mick as he relaxed against the cushions, his long arm draping across the back of the sofa behind me.

His eyes drifted to Olivia as he replied, ‘We don’t know yet.’

When Cam rejoined us the questions just started pouring out of my mouth.

I was saddened by some of the answers and my resentment towards Olivia began to diminish. I wasn’t the only one who hadn’t had it easy.

Mick had moved to Phoenix to get to know his daughter, and there his affair with her mother, Yvonne, rekindled. Mick worked for a few contractors over there, he and Yvonne got married, and they were a happy family. Until Yvonne was diagnosed with stage IV breast cancer. She passed away three years ago, leaving Olivia and Mick all alone in the world. Yvonne’s mother and sister lived in New Mexico, but they weren’t that close to them.

‘We thought of Cameron’s e-mails as a sign,’ Olivia told me quietly. ‘Perhaps we just need a break from Arizona …’ She shrugged. ‘It just seemed like the right thing to do to come here and see you and take a breath.’

I frowned. ‘But what about your lives there? Uncle Mick’s business? Your job?’

‘Things haven’t been the same for us in Phoenix for a long time,’ Mick replied softly. ‘We both thought a break might do us good.’ I gathered from the sadness buried in the back of his eyes, he meant things hadn’t been the same for them since Yvonne’s death. Mick smiled softly down at me. ‘Do you fancy coming on a wee walk with me, Jo? We’ll talk.’

It was the most bizarre day. I walked by Mick’s mammoth side and for the first time in my adult life I felt physically small. He kept close to me, but I could see his eyes drinking everything in as we strolled all the way to Leith Walk and continued on to Princes Street. Uncle Mick stared at the Balmoral Hotel across the road from us as we passed it.

‘I missed this place. Edinburgh wasn’t even my city and I missed it. I missed everything here.’

‘I can’t imagine anywhere more different from Scotland than Arizona.’

‘Yeah. Ain’t that the truth.’

‘You were happy, though?’

I felt his eyes return to my face as we dodged the busy foot traffic. As soon as we were side by side again he began to speak. ‘When I had Yvonne and Olivia, aye, I was happy. But there wasn’t a day that I didn’t think about you, Cole and Fiona. I have two regrets in life, Jo. One is missing out on the first thirteen years of Olivia’s life, and the second is not being there for you when you needed me. Especially now that I know what you’ve been going through.’

‘Did Cam tell you everything, then?’

‘He told me about Fiona. How hard you’ve had to work. He told me you’ve raised Cole and that he’s a good kid. Things have been tough, but I’m glad you’ve found someone who cares about you, baby girl.’

Remembering my earlier freak-out at Cam, I felt another rainfall of guilt begin to drop on my head. I had to make it up to him.

‘I would like to see Fiona.’

‘I don’t know if that’s a good idea.’

‘I need to see for myself. She was never the easiest person, but she was my friend.’

I sighed, wondering what kind of drama Mick’s appearance would kick off in my tiny flat. However, the man had flown thousands of miles to see us. I couldn’t say no. ‘All right.’

‘And I’d like to meet Cole.’

‘Okay.’

‘I don’t how long we’re going to be here, but I’d like to spend as much time as possible with you.’

I threw him a wry but worried grin. ‘That shouldn’t be a problem, since I quit my job today.’

Curled up in Cam’s lap on his couch, I stared at his television in silence.

Uncle Mick and Olivia had left as soon as we returned to Cam’s, and not long after that Cole had arrived home and I’d had to explain everything to him.

Cam had insisted we have dinner with him and when I’d got up to leave so Cole could shower and do his homework, Cam had insisted even harder that we stay. Since I still wasn’t happy leaving Cole alone in the flat with Mum for any length of time, I’d agreed to stay as long as Cole took his shower at Cam’s.

‘You’ve hardly said a word.’ Cam suddenly spoke up, his fingers trailing a lazy caress down my arm. ‘Earlier you said you were happy I contacted them. Are you still happy?’

‘Aye,’ I assured him. ‘I feel a kind of peace knowing that he’s okay. And Olivia seems nice.’ I twisted my neck to look into his eyes. ‘Thank you.’

He shrugged and looked back at the telly. ‘I just want to make you happy.’

My stomach rolled out another somersault. ‘You do.’

‘Really? The earlier drama was definitely just an emotional … female … thing … ?’

I wanted to laugh, but in the end the crap I’d pulled out in the hall wasn’t funny. ‘I’m sorry for doing that. It wasn’t nice. I was pissed off at Meikle and at myself and I twisted it all in my head so I could blame someone else. Someone more accessible to my rage.’

Cam grunted. ‘So naturally that someone is me?’

I stroked his chest affectionately. ‘Sorry.’

He looked down at me carefully. ‘Would this be a bad time to tell you I got a job?’

Taken aback, I pushed up off of him. ‘In graphic design?’

‘Yeah.’

Delight for him surged through me and I found myself grinning like an idiot. ‘Where?’

‘Here. I got my old job back. Their restructuring hasn’t gone over well and they realized they’d left themselves a man short. They can’t handle the workload without another designer. My boss put in a good word for me.’ He shrugged. ‘It’s a gamble to go back with them, but it pays well and I’d be doing what I love to do.’

I leaned into him, placing a soft kiss on his mouth. ‘Cam, I’m so pleased for you. When do you go back?’

‘Monday.’ His arm tightened around me. ‘Su’s unhappy with me for not giving two weeks’ notice, but I can’t risk losing this offer.’

‘Su will manage. I’ll probably take on more shifts.’ My mouth turned down at the thought of working more backshifts.

‘You know, if you took Braden up on his offer this wouldn’t even be a problem.’

‘I said no. I’ll find something. Don’t worry.’

He shifted under me, tensing. ‘You’re so bloody stubborn. You’re always all concerned about Cole and providing for him and making sure he’s going to be okay. I bet half of what happened out in the hall this afternoon was because of him and you feeling like you’d let him down. If you’re so concerned about him, then take a bloody job when it’s offered to you.’

I pulled out of his embrace, my cheeks burning at being spoken down to like that. I stretched out on the other side of the couch and reached over for the television remote, bumping up the volume of the sci-fi programme we were watching. Not only was I annoyed by his tone, but I was annoyed that he was absolutely right.

His weary sigh filled the living room.

‘Fine,’ I grumbled. ‘I’ll call Braden tomorrow.’

Silence greeted me, so I shot him a quick look before focusing back on the television. The overbearing bastard was trying not to smile. ‘Good. I’m glad to hear it.’

‘Are you deliberately trying to be a smug bugger?’

He snorted. ‘How did I go from being the guy who brought your family back together to being a smug bugger? How did we go from cuddling to you sitting as far from me as possible?’ He grabbed my calf. ‘Come back.’

I kicked out at him. ‘Stop it.’

‘Fine, I’ll come to you.’

I squealed as he launched himself over me, pinning me to the sofa. ‘Get off!’ I laughed as he buried his nose in my neck, his fingers tickling my waist.

‘Will you be nice?’ he muttered against my skin.

I pouted. ‘I’m always nice.’

Cam lifted his head and kissed the pout right off my mouth and what had started as playful quickly gained heat. I held him to me, his chest pressing against my sensitive breasts as he deepened our kiss.

When his hips began to thrust gently against me, his hard-on nudging between my legs, I tore my mouth away from his, feeling as if my whole body was going to burst into flames. ‘Don’t,’ I breathed, gripping his hips to still his erotic motion. ‘We can’t do anything and I’m horny as hell. Don’t torture me.’

‘Yeah?’ Cam’s grin was wicked as his hand coasted up my waist to cup my breast. He squeezed it, setting off a weird mixture of painful tenderness and a bolt of lust to my sex.

‘My eyes!’ Cole yelled.

Cam and I jerked apart, and I twisted my head to see my brother standing in the doorway in his pyjamas, his hair falling in wet locks across his forehead. His forearm covered his eyes. ‘I’m fucking blind,’ he growled and turned around, bumping into the wall before remembering to drop his arm. After that he stomped out of the flat, the door slamming in his wake.