The Thing About Trouble (Crystal Lake 1)

He raised his own and winked. “You are full of shit.”

11

Cam was in a cranky mood.

If he were being honest with himself, he’d admit to the fact he’d been cranky since about nine o’clock the previous evening, when he spotted Blue and a man at The Brig. Which made no sense considering he was there on a date, and Blue had every right to be there with whoever the hell it was she’d been with. They had no claims on each other. He was still pretty sure she didn’t like him all that much. At least, not in that way.

And yet there’d been a moment when he’d felt something, and he’d been pretty damn sure she’d felt it too. But when he’d shown up for work the Monday after dinner at his place, she’d given no indication they were anything other than employer and employee. They settled into a comfortable sort of work relationship, and he realized he’d misread things. He’d been okay with that because he and Blue would never work.

Until last night.

Until he saw her laughing with the guy. Hugging the guy. Talking so close, they had to be more than friends.

He’d gotten through dinner and had gone back to Pia’s house with the sole intention of using sex to obliterate everything from his mind. A new waitress at the Coach House, she’d sparked his interest with her big laugh when he’d stopped in for take out a few nights back. The old Cam would have had no problem with it getting right to the sex thing. He’d have given Pia what she wanted, a couple of times at least, maybe spent the night, and then headed home with a smile on his face.

But that hadn’t happened. He swore and rubbed the back of his neck, frustrated, pissed off, and feeling like an idiot because of it. Cam hadn’t closed the deal. Even worse—he hadn’t wanted to close the deal. He couldn’t remember, ever, not being interested in sex. Especially when the woman was cute, funny, had a great smile, and wanted to close the deal.

What. The. Hell.

Cam scowled and tugged his ball cap down. He’d actually used the kid as a reason to leave—which was a lame-ass move—but at the time, it was all he could come up with. He knew he didn’t want to have sex with Pia and had no intention of putting that on her. At the moment, the only woman he wanted to have sex with didn’t give two craps about him.

“Can I get my face painted?” Tawny danced around in front of him, and he couldn’t help but smile. She had a way of making things better. Funny how a five-year-old could do that. She twirled once more, and he made a note to inquire about dance lessons or something. She seemed like a natural.

They were at the park near the boardwalk with his brother Nash, Honey, and the baby. Sunday of the Labor Day long weekend was always busy. There was lots of stuff for kids to do, music, games, and pony rides. There was also Art in the Park, with a lot of vendors set up, as well as several businesses in town selling their wares. It was like a fall fair, and he’d been coming here since he was a kid.

“Pretty please?” Tawny asked again.

“I’ll take her,” Honey said with a smile and a wink. “You guys take Gabe, and we’ll find you in a bit.” She grabbed Tawny’s hand. “We’ll have some girl time.”

Gabe was asleep in his stroller, so Cam was thinking he got the easy end of the stick. They’d taken exactly two steps when Nash looked at him.

“You gonna tell me what the hell is wrong with you?”

Cam kept his eyes straight ahead and grimaced. His brother had internal radar that the military would kill for.

“I don’t want to get into it.”

“This about Tawny?”

He glanced at his brother. “No, why?”

“Honey told me you had a meeting with Child Welfare.”

“I did. Meeting was good.”

“Then it’s gotta be a woman.”

There was no sense in denying anything, so Cam remained silent.

“Who is she?”

“No one you know.”

“Someone from town?”

“No one you know.”

They headed toward the boardwalk, and just as they got there, Nash stopped so fast, Cam nearly knocked him over. “Bluebell Barnes.” His brother grinned.