The Real

“Are you two close?”

“He’s a good brother as far as brothers go. A little overprotective. I’m sure at one point he’ll try to threaten you. We still fight like we did when we were kids, and he still embarrasses the hell out of me.”

“In that case, I can’t wait to meet him.”

We shared a smile, and that was becoming routine for us.

“I’ll spare you that for now, while I still like you.”

I studied his face. “You’ve got a little green around your mouth.”

I wiped it away as he stared up at me. “When I met you, your face was a little lighter shade than this.”

“You noticed that?” Damned nightly facial mask. “Well, it was slob day.”

“Slob day?”

“Yeah, no makeup, no dieting. Just roll out of bed and brush your teeth kind of day.”

“Where do I sign up?”

“You could never be a slob, Cameron. You’re too pretty.”

“Yeah, but does this blazer make me look fat?”

“Har har,” I said as he stood with me still in his hold.

“Dance with me, witchy woman,” he said as he led me to the floor.

We barely fit in the small space. Cameron subtly moved his hips and I followed along.

After a few minutes of silence, he pulled me close and whispered in my ear. “You might not be the jealous type, but I hate the fucking thought of anyone else touching you.”

A few hours later, my body was buzzing along with the music. Despite Cameron’s protest, I drank two pints of the Kitchen Sink and was feeling no pain. I kept my wits about me as the party cranked up, and so did the heat from the number of bodies in the pub. Cameron stayed glued to my side, ever attentive, making sure I was happy and comfortable. He even waited outside the bathroom for me like a true gentleman.

By the end of the night, Max and I were chummy, and Cameron and I were worked up for each other from hours of grinding our bodies on the dance floor. I wasn’t much of a dancer, but I could fake my way through it. The man loved to dance. Not only that, he had rhythm—a hell of a lot of it. He wasn’t a show-off, but he was good at it.

I caught a few more women eyeing him, which made my chest swell with pride, but he kept his eyes trained on my hideous nose. After working up a sweat, I was finally able to get the latex off and it sat at one of the empty pint glasses at our table.

The bar was sweltering when I exited the bathroom after thoroughly washing my face. My hair was slightly tangled, and I’d done my best to comb through it with my hands. I looked a wreck, but my date didn’t seem to give a damn as he greeted me.

“There’s my girl,” he whispered, cupping my chin before he placed a kiss on my nose. “You ready to go?”

“Sure.”

“Hungry?”

“Starving, actually.”

“Let’s go.” Cameron led us through the bar as we searched for Max to say goodbye. He was in a deep conversation with a little devil and gave us a half wave.

“I guess we’ll meet her some other time,” Cameron said with a look over his shoulder.

“You think he’s okay?” I asked, looking Rachel over before he pulled me out the door. She was beautiful, and from what I could tell, she appeared upset. Max looked like he was on the verge of tears.

“That didn’t look good. I hope everything’s okay.”

“I’ll check on him later.” And I knew he would. Cameron was the type.