It was the kind of kiss that felt like a relationship.
But even as his heart twisted with joy, Cam knew better than to get his hopes up.
Chapter Ten
Cam woke before five a.m. to the sound of his phone ringing, the shrill sound rocketing him to consciousness. He snatched the phone, afraid it was Mina, then sagged in relief when he saw Kiki's number.
"Time goes the other way," he said.
"Shit! I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking. Are you awake?"
"Well, I am now," he grumbled. "Are you still in London?" His sister was the lead singer and songwriter with Pink Chameleon, a band that had recently made a comeback, and was now touring the United States and Europe to great reviews and sell-out crowds.
"Yup. Celia and I are walking through the park outside Buckingham Palace."
"Tell Noah he needs to do a better job monitoring your phone use," he said, the comment making her laugh. Her husband of almost two years now, Noah was the President of the Austin division of Stark Applied Technology. With Kiki on tour, though, he was doing a lot of work from the road.
"He's in New York with Damien," she said, referring to the head of the company, Damien Stark, a man Cam had only met a couple of times, but found to be ridiculously down to earth considering he could probably buy the entire solar system and then some. "I'm not going to see him until we meet up in Austin."
"Well, then tell him to make you a cheat sheet, because every time he's away, you call me in the middle of the--wait. Did you say Austin?"
"Yup. We've squeezed in performances in Dallas and San Antonio at the beginning of the second leg of the US tour. And I insisted that we have at least one night at home. This on the road thing is crazy pants."
"That's fabulous." Technically his half-sister by a different father, Kiki was ten years older than him. She'd been as much a mom as a sister, and he'd been thrilled when she moved to Austin--and missed her terribly now that she was on the road. "When will you be here?"
"Dallas is Tuesday. San Antonio is Thursday. I intend to sleep in my very own bed on Wednesday night."
"Wednesday?" he repeated. "That's not even a week away."
"I know. Plan on dinner."
"Hell, yeah, I will. I--oh. Shit."
"You have plans." He heard the disappointment in her voice.
"Kind of. You remember I told you about the calendar guy contest at The Fix?"
"Comic relief," she said, and he could practically hear her rolling her eyes. "I can't believe you did that."
"I can't believe I told you," he said dryly. "At any rate, the contest is every other week, which puts Mr. March on this coming Wednesday."
"And you're entering again?"
"Hell, no," he said quickly. "Well, technically, I'm already entered since all the guys can roll over to the next contest if they don't win. But no. That's not my plan. But Mina's working the show, and since I'm an assistant manager now, I figure I should be there even if it's not my shift."
"That's right. I already said congratulations when you texted me, but congrats again."
"Thanks again."
"And what about Mina?"
He'd confessed the crush to Kiki before she'd gone on tour, figuring that she might have some brilliant, life-changing advice.
She hadn't, but just sharing his feelings with his sister had been a relief.
"Things are good," he told her now, then gave her the PG-rated rundown of his recent time with Mina. "Actually, I was going to text you when I got up and ask you--"
He'd intended to ask about using their downtown condo for a date