“Please, don’t say that.”
“What ‘bedroom department’?”
“I don’t even want to think about you in the same sentence as bedrooms.”
“I do sleep, you know,” Camilla teased.
“If only that was where it ended,” I lamented.
She was getting to be a better shot. The paperclip bounced right off the middle of my forehead, after being launched, square and true, from a rubber band. Time was my sister would barely graze me. Leading to an unfortunate incident when Chris just so happened to be passing behind me. Fortunately, he was quite an understanding sort.
“I deserve that,” I acknowledged.
“Damn right, you did. Anyway, I’ve invited Sarah over for dinner if you would like to join us.”
“Like a double date?” I asked, my expression very much like I was being force-fed sushi. Something I had actually had the misfortune of experiencing.
“Your words, not mine,” Camilla pointed out.
I really wasn’t sure. It seemed a bit domestic for me. I was more of a brooding loner type. It was how I was most comfortable. Though I did like being around Sarah and Aden, who was technically my brother according to the law. I also really wouldn’t mind seeing Sarah again. Even if going to a dinner party did seem like a couple thing, and we weren’t even really dating. A fact which did little to dissuade me. Never one to let something like facts or logic to get in the way of what I wanted. Much to the dismay of the string of therapists, I had fixed over the years.
Chapter Seven
Sarah
My car’s engine clanked to a halt. The place was charming. This Aden guy must have done really well for himself at the company. I didn’t know how much a top-flight digital artist got paid, but it must have been a lot going by the digs alone. Not to mention the car.
Recovering from the sound of the door, which sounded a lot like the gates of Hell shrieking open, I swung my legs out of the low driver’s side onto the sidewalk, careful to keep my knees together. I figured a dinner party was a dress occasion, so I dug out the little black Donna Karen number my mom had gotten me for graduation. I really didn’t have the right shoes to wear with it anymore. Not since the unpleasantness in my family, so I decided to accentuate the opposite and wear it with a pair of black Chuck Taylor One Stars.
“Nice,” Camilla said when she opened the door.
“Me or the wine?” I teased, having brought a bottle of aged Yellow Tale I had stolen from my dad in better times.
“Both,” she said with a wink.
The boys were playing games. It wasn’t a surprise, really. I knew lots of guys in their 30s who liked to play video-gams. From what I understood, the majority of serious gamers were in their early 30s. In other words, people with jobs who were able to afford hundreds for a new console and fifty to sixty bucks a pop for new games.
What was more of a surprise was who was on the other end of the couch, playing with him. Although, that shouldn’t have been a surprise either. By all accounts, Aden and Cooper had been best friends before they came brothers-in-law with Aden marrying Camilla. It was kind of cool, actually. Particularly considering they had all basically grown up together.
“Honey,” Camilla said sweetly, “could you join me in the kitchen for a minute?”
“Sure,” Aden said, standing up to his massive height.
I hadn’t really seen many guys as large as him in terms of raw power. The kind of size that would make most people at least take a step back. Particularly if they didn’t see him coming. Yet he was also really casual and friendly. It was difficult for me to imagine him hurting anyone. Let alone having been in the army. Camilla didn’t hold much back when she got going. Particularly after a few wine coolers.
“Hello again,” Cooper said.
“Hi,” I said.
I wondered if the whole thing had been a setup. If maybe Camilla had invited me to dinner so I could see Cooper again. If she had, I wasn’t sure if I found it sweet or off-putting. Though I decided to reserve judgment until I had a bit more information.
Free of the wine, Sarah taking it with her into the kitchen, I went and sat next to Cooper on the couch. There were few other options in the living room. Sitting in the chair on the other side of the room seemed really cold. Particularly after the connection we had shared. It could have been a one-night stand, but it had still been amazing. Though I also wasn’t sure that it was a one-night stand. Or, at least not sure that I wanted it to be.
Giving a moment’s thought to sitting on the opposite end of the couch, I went with my heart and sat right next to Cooper. The contrarian in me was screaming that this was precisely what I was expected to do, but I also didn’t care. It was what I wanted to do. I wanted to be near him. I wanted Cooper to put his arm around me and hold me and kiss me and do all the couple things I had been so conflicted about on the way over.