But she didn't linger on the thought of him, because the second he'd sidled into her psyche, she'd felt that warm twitchiness, that soft craving.
Cam was a problem she wouldn't be able to solve until she put on her big girl panties and had a talk with him. In the meantime, he lingered in her thoughts for the rest of the day, rising to the surface at inopportune times, like when she was showering, the sudden memory of him so intense that her skin prickled
and she felt herself go soft with desire.
She'd barely pulled herself together when the party started--and then there he was again, walking in the door with Tiffany on his arm. Cam looked so casually sexy in jeans and a Henley that Mina had to fight the urge to touch him. And Tiffany looked far too cute in a pink sundress and flats, her wavy hair clipped up so that tendrils framed her round face. Bitch, Mina thought, but immediately felt guilty. Until that moment, she'd always liked Tiffany.
When Mina realized she'd been standing silently in front of them, she forced a wide, hostess smile. "Sorry, I'm still running over my party list in my head. It's so great to see you." She pulled Tiffany into a hug. "Thanks for coming. And you, too, of course," she added to Cam. "But he was a given," she added to Tiffany. "Years of being attached to Darryl's hip."
"I remember," Tiffany said. "Well, not during school--you went somewhere south, right?" she asked Cam, who nodded. "But whenever I saw you guys during the summer at the mall or Barton Springs you were always together."
"We've been tight for years," Cam said, then held his arms out to Mina. "What? I'm practically a member of the family. I don't get a hug, too?"
She rolled her eyes. "Of course you do," she said, then slid into his embrace. She'd expected it to be a quick, perfunctory hug. It wasn't. He pulled her close, so that their bodies were pressed tight together. One of his hands rested on her back, the other lightly squeezed her ass. And when she started to pull away, his voice purred low and commanding against her ear. "You were right," he said, and she knew that he felt her shiver.
Then he pulled back, offered Tiffany his arm, and led her into the party, leaving Mina standing stupidly in the doorway wondering what the hell he'd meant by that.
* * *
"She keeps watching you," Tiffany said. "What did you say to her?"
Cam and Tiffany were tucked into a corner of the living room. Tiffany was leaning against the edge of a bookcase, and he was standing in front of her, close enough that it looked intimate. "I only told her she was right."
"About what?" Tiffany asked.
"That's what she's going to be wondering." He reached forward and untangled a strand of hair from her hoop earring. Innocent enough, but it would undoubtedly look intimate to anyone paying attention.
And, yes, he knew he was being an ass, but he didn't care. He had a point to make, and setting the stage with Tiffany was the fastest way he could think of to do it.
"I can't believe you talked me into this," she said.
"Into what? All you're doing is coming with me to my best friend's welcome back party. We came together. That's it."
She smirked. "Fine, don't tell me. It's not like I told you about my crush on Eric. Which, by the way, I totally expect you to keep secret."
"Don't you trust me?" They'd started working at The Fix the same week, and then learned that they shared three classes. There'd never been any sexual attraction between them, but Cam and Tiff had become fast friends.
"Don't you trust me?" she countered.
"Fine. We slept together."
Tiffany stared at him like he was an idiot. "Well, duh. Nobody goes through these kinds of machinations if sex isn't at stake."
He couldn't help it, he burst out laughing. "Let's mingle, and I'll give you the full scoop."
They walked, and he did, making sure to talk when they wouldn't be overheard. The bottom line was that Mina's speech in bed had been one serious kick in the heart, not to mention parts further south. He understood not wanting to tell Darryl--hell, he'd spent years not making a move on Mina because of her brother--but her talk about it inevitably ending had twisted him up way more than it probably should. So much so that he'd gone home, stood in the shower until the water ran cold, and replayed the conversation over and over and over, trying to figure out what about it had made him feel like such a damn loser.
It wasn't the way she'd reacted to him, that was for sure. She'd said she wanted him, and everything they'd done together had been evidence that she'd meant it.
She'd also dismissed the very idea of Zach, which had definitely made him happy.
She'd even suggested that they'd have a reasonably long run. After all, it was only early June, and she'd mentioned Christmas.
That, however, was the problem.
"A timeline," Tiffany said, and he shrugged. "She saw the end before you two had even begun."
"You sound like a psychology major," he said, which made her laugh because, of course, she was.