One Knight Stand, page 9
“He was what?”
Dropping my head, I traced the veins in the counter as I answered, “He wasn’t what I expected, Brina. He was funny and sweet and thoughtful.”
“Uh-oh.”
My head snapped up at that, and I found her watching me with concern. “Why uh-oh?”
“You like him exactly how I think.”
“Brina, honey. It’s not like that. He’s just a good guy.”
“Yeah,” she snapped. “And so was our sperm donor. You think Mom would’ve hooked up with him if he hadn’t been all those things? Funny and sweet and thoughtful?”
My heart sank. “What are you saying?”
“I’m just tellin’ you to watch yourself. Men like that are typically all the same. You don’t see who they really are until you’re too tied up in them to get out.”
“Look,” I rushed out, knowing the rest of her brood would be heading back inside at any moment, “I’ve got this under control, okay? Just don’t tell Bryan about it being fake. The fewer people who know the truth, the better.”
“I won’t tell. I promise.”
The sliding door to the backyard opened and Annabeth and Liam came rushing in with Bryan following behind, a platter of perfectly grilled hot dogs in his hands. His eyes went to Sabrina and automatically lit like they always did. “The man’s work is done. Fetch me a beer, wench.”
“I’ll show you wench when you’re sleepin’ on the couch tonight,” she returned, but her voice held not an ounce of malice as he closed the distance, set the platter down, and leaned in to plant a kiss on his wife’s lips.
“Daddy sleeps on the couch all the time,” Annabeth declared with a ton of little girl authority. “He says it’s his special sleepin’ place.”
Bryan looked at me with a crooked grin and an eye roll as Sabrina glared down at her daughter. “Annie, what did Mommy say about tellin’ private things?”
“Not to, ’cause it’ll make you look like a witch when really it’s all Daddy’s fault.”
I tried to hide my laughter, which resulted in a loud snort before I burst into a fit of giggles.
From the corner of my eye, I saw Bryan drop his head to hide his grin, but Sabrina turned her murder eyes to me and missed it all.
The doorbell rang, and the potential Brina Blowup was postponed when her head shot in it’s direction and her eyes went big.
“You expectin’ someone else?” Bryan asked with curiosity.
“Uh….”
“I’ll get it!” Annabeth yelled as she ran to the door.
“Annie, no! What have we said about opening doors to strangers?” Sabrina called as we all rushed after her, but it was too late. She already had the door open and was staring up at Camden.
His gaze lifted from my niece, and the polite smile turned wicked the moment it landed on me. “Hey, baby.”
Then he crossed the threshold, wrapped me in his arms, and planted a not-so-kid-appropriate kiss in front of my entire family.
Chapter 13
Camden
The move was instinctive. Camden didn’t even think before stepping through her doorway, yanking her against him, and doing exactly what he’d wanted to do for the past day and a half.
She just looked too damn cute not to touch. All that long hair was pulled back in a ponytail, her jeans hugged her ass and legs like a dream, and the Seahawks jersey she was wearing made her tits look fan-fucking-tastic. With her bare feet and adorably flustered expression, he could easily forgive her for being a Hawks fan.
“Eww!” The little girl who’d answered the door yelled. “Mommy! Auntie Sutton’s kissin’ a stranger!”
With that mood killer, Camden’s head came up, ending the kiss way before he was ready. He smiled down at the girl as she demanded to know, “Are you Auntie’s boyfriend?”
“I am,” he returned on a chuckle.
“Does that mean you kiss all the time?”
Not nearly as much as he wanted to, but he managed to keep that to himself and answered, “Sometimes, sweetheart.”
“Gross!” the girl declared vehemently. “I’m never gettin’ a boyfriend if I gotta kiss him!”
“Damn right you aren’t,” a man cut in. “Who the hell is this?”
The sound of that masculine voice coming from inside Sutton’s house had him seeing green in an instant. “I’m her boyfriend,” he growled. “Who the hell are you?”
“Damn! Hell! Damn! Hell! Hellhellhellhellhell!”
All eyes went to the little brown-haired boy who didn’t look any older than four or five as he screamed the curses at the top of his lungs, jumping up and down with every syllable.
“For the love of God, could you please watch your language?” a woman who looked eerily similar to Sutton asked with a roll of her eyes. She grabbed Sut by the shoulders and jerked her out of the way. “Hi. I’m Sabrina, Sutton’s older, prettier sister. These two ragamuffins are my kids, Annabeth and Liam, and the man glaring daggers at you right now is the love of my life, Bryan.”
Knowing the man was no longer a threat, Camden’s icy demeanor began to melt. He shook the woman’s hand before turning to her husband and extending him the same courtesy. “Camden Knight. Nice to meet you.”
The aforementioned Bryan scowled at the hand like it could grow fangs and bite him at any second, then lifted his eyes to Sutton and gritted, “Boyfriend?”
“Easy, Mr. Protective,” Sutton deadpanned, then turned back to Cam. “I’m sorry. This really isn’t how I planned for the introductions to go, but with my family, it was to be expected.”
“Since when do you have a boyfriend?” Bryan continued, crossing his arms over his chest and taking a stance he obviously hoped was threatening.
The dude was no slouch, that was for sure. Camden may have only had a couple inches and a few extra pounds of muscle on the guy, but he’d grown up in south Boston with two older brothers and a big sister with a penchant for dating assholes. He’d had no choice but to learn to fight. It was either that or get his ass kicked on a regular basis. So he wasn’t too worried about being able to take him. His only concern was that Sutton might not like it too much when he beat the shit out of her brother-in-law who she’d spoken so highly of.
“Since a couple weeks ago,” Cam replied, hooking a possessive arm over her shoulders and pulling her back against him.
“Oh for Christ’s sake. Will you two knock it the he—ck off? Any second now, one of you is gonna pee a circle around her,” Sabrina interrupted, smacking her husband in the arm. “Can we drop the macho crap for now? The game’s about to start. You can resume the chest thumping at halftime.”
Bryan looked from his wife back to Camden, then down to the Patriot’s jersey he was wearing. “This is a Hawks family. Don’t know how well it’ll work with a Pats fan sharing the same couch. Thing might burst into flames as soon as he sits down on it.”
A wicked grin tugged at Camden’s mouth as he looked to Sutton’s brother-in-law. “You mad ’cause my team’s gonna wipe the floor with yours?”
Bryan let out an annoyed snort. “Brady’s a cheat.”
“You know, I lost count. How many Super Bowls have the Seahawks won?”
Tension crackled from Sutton and her sister as Camden and Bryan entered into a stare-off, but instead of getting pissed, Bryan slowly smiled and said, “You don’t take any shit. I can respect that.”
“Shit! Shit!” Liam shouted.
“That’s it,” Sabrina snapped. “Can we move this freak show inside and concentrate on football before my son starts sounding like a character from a Tarantino movie?”
Camden chuckled at Sutton’s sister. If you’d have asked him a month ago, he would have claimed the two were night and day. But now that he’d gotten through Sutton’s hard exterior to the sweet inside, he knew the two of them were exactly alike personality-wise. Both were funny, loud, and sarcastic—in a good way.
Bending down just outside the door, he grabbed the case of beer and grocery bag he’d propped on the stoop right before kissing her. He found he was actually looking forward to spending some time getting to know her family.
“Ooh, he even brought beer,” Sabrina cooed. “Nice. Very gentlemanly.”
A warmth bloomed in his chest at the big sister stamp of approval. “Well, I did horn in on today. Figured it was only fair to bring extra. I got some juice boxes for the kids too.”
Sabrina’s head jerked around to give her sister a look Camden couldn’t quite decipher, but before he could question it, Bryan took the case of beer, clapped him on the shoulder, and said, “Come on, man. I’ll show you where all the food is. Once the game starts, it’s every person for themselves.”
He let Bryan lead the way, but before he passed, his body stopped of its own accord, and he leaned in for one last press of his lips against Sutton’s. She was just too goddamn tempting to ignore.
* * *
Sutton
“Oh come on!” Sabrina yelled, shooting up from her place on the couch beside Bryan. “That was holding! The ref’s blind!”
“What are you talkin’ about?” Camden cried. “That was a great call!”
Sabrina glared at him before turning that look on me. “I don’t approve. Kick him out.”
I couldn’t stop from giggling. We were in the middle of the fourth quarter, and the two of them had been going at it like this for the past few hours. It was hilarious to watch.
Surprising as it was, the day had actually gone pretty well. The food was almost gone, with Camden oohing and awing like he’d been eating a five-star meal as opposed to simple finger foods. The kids, eventually tiring of football like they always did, had moved to the kitchen table to color and play with the Lego’s I kept for them, making it easier for the adults to let the cuss words slip without fear of being overheard—something Camden and Bryan had done with abandon. Added bonus, the kids had only gotten into three fights, which was more than I could have hoped for, considering Annabeth could be a bit of a smart aleck and Liam had a destructive streak—when he wasn’t cursing up a storm, that was.
Cam had given just as good as he’d gotten with my crazy sister and her insanely protective husband.
There was just one teeny little problem.
With all the commotion and chaos that came with my family, I hadn’t gotten the chance to fill him in on the fact that Sabrina knew all about our hoax, and he’d been even more touchy-feely than usual. And instead of forcing a time to drop that bomb, I’d let my guard down and been sucked into the act.
It just felt too nice. Having someone to yell at the TV with, to sink into and snuggle against as we watched the game, someone who willingly got up when he saw I was running low to get me another beer. All of it was just too damn nice.
Currently, I was sitting with my legs curled beneath my bottom, my back resting against Camden’s side and his arm wrapped around me. His fingertips were rubbing soft, soothing circles against the strip of skin at my hip exposed between the waist of my jeans and the hem of my jersey. I needed to snap the hell out of it, and fast, before I fell too far down the rabbit hole to pull myself out.
Sitting up, I put my feet on the floor and tried to stand, but his arm grew tight before I could make my escape.
“Where you goin’, baby?”
Looking back with a smile that felt as fake as it probably looked, I responded, “Just have to go to the bathroom real quick. I’ll be right back.”
Heading down the hall, I stopped at the guest bathroom and closed myself in before propping my hands on the vanity and dropping my head. I worked on my deep breathing and tried to get a hold of myself. When that didn’t work, I turned on the cold water and held my wrists beneath the tap. Finally, after about two minutes, I managed to slow my racing heart and was actually able to pull in a full breath.
Before people started getting suspicious of why I was taking so long, I threw the door open and stepped out, letting loose a squeak when I nearly collided with my sister in the hallway.
“Jeez, what the hell, crazy? You’re lurking?”
“Something’s up with you,” she replied, her eyes getting all squinty and inquisitive. “You never walk away from a game no matter how bad you have to pee. And you just missed a killer interception.”
“Damn, I did?” I asked, my bottom lip sticking out in a pout.
“Yeah. We ran it forty yards for a touchdown. And you missed it to pee. So what’s going on?”
I chewed my bottom lip, preparing to answer when Bryan’s voice sounded at the end of the hall. “What’s taking so long? You guys just missed me winning thirty bucks off Camden. We win this game, I’m gonna rake it in.”
“It was one goddamn touchdown,” Camden grunted, joining the rest of us in the hall.
“And ten for the field goal,” Bryan said with a triumphant grin.
“Wait.” Sabrina held a hand up and gave her head a shake. “You’re betting our money?”
“Well….” Bryan hemmed and hawed for a second at the anger on my sister’s face. “And five for every interception. But if it counts for anything, we’re leading.”
“It doesn’t count,” she snapped. “We’ve got two kids to put through college.”
Bryan scoffed and lifted his chin. “Please, we’ll be lucky if Liam doesn’t end up in juvie before his eighteenth birthday. I’m not stressin’ college—ow! It was a joke!” he finished when she started smacking the crap out of him.
“Don’t joke like that!” she cried. “There’s still a chance for him. I’m not ready to write him off just yet. We’ll get him past this biting stage if it kills me.”
I couldn’t hold my snort in. I was pretty sure the biting stage was here to stay.
“Besides,” Brina continued, “Cam’s got music star money. We’ve only got construction company owner money.”
“Wait.” This time it was Bryan’s hands that came up. “Music star money?”
Uh-oh.
The confusion puckering Bryan’s face morphed into surprise, then something totally different. “Ah, fuck. He’s a goddamn celebrity?”
“Goddamn fuck!” We all turned to find that Liam had worked his way over from the table and was standing just feet away.
Sabrina lifted her head to the ceiling and declared, “I give up.”
“I’m not followin’. Is that a problem or something?”
“Does Sylvia know?” Bryan asked, ignoring Camden’s question and the fact that his son was skipping around the living room singing his favorite cuss word at the top of his lungs.
Camden leaned in to whisper in my ear. “Who’s Sylvia?”
I hadn’t realized just how close he’d moved to me until right then. When I turned to look up at him, my breasts brushed against his ribs, causing my nipples to pucker and my whole body to tremble with delight. “Uh… Sylvia’s our mom.”
“She’s gonna lose her fu—dging mind,” Bryan declared.
“I get the feelin’ I’m missing something here. Why would your mom lose her mind? Don’t most moms dream their daughters end up with rich, successful guys?”
“Pfft,” Bryan snorted. “Sylvia Briar definitely isn’t like most moms.”
This whole conversation was getting away from me, and I needed to rein it in quick. Giving my sister wide eyes, she easily read my thoughts and shut it down for me.
“Come on. Let’s finish the game and pray we don’t lose all our savings thanks to your stupidity.”
My sister and brother-in-law rounded the corner back into the living room, but before I could follow, Camden grabbed my arm and stopped me.
“There something I should know, cutie?”
“It’s a long story,” I replied.
He studied me closely, his deep blue eyes rimmed with concern. “I won’t push if you don’t want to talk about it. Just know I’m here if you want to.”
Unable to help myself, I lifted on my tiptoes and pressed my lips to his. “Thank you, but it’s good. Everything’s fine.”
“You sure?”
“Absolutely. Now let’s get back in there. I want to watch Bryan win more of your money.”
Camden’s mouth hooked up in a gorgeous smirk that made a flood of arousal drench my panties. “Hate to break it to you, but that play was a fluke, cutie. Your brother’s wallet is gonna be significantly lighter by the end of tonight.”
I returned his grin and leaned closer. “I wouldn’t count on that, handsome.”
Chapter 14
Camden
With the exception of that strange conversation in the hallway he couldn’t quite understand, the night couldn’t have gone better.
He’d won the kids over with the juice and snack cakes he brought, and they were only a little bit scary. Bryan had invited him out for a beer later in the week, and he seemed to have won the big sister over.
He didn’t know what the deal with Sutton’s mother was, but he was sure he could win her over eventually.
Not that it matters, he reminded himself, something he’d had to do a lot lately. He kept getting caught up in this bullshit fake relationship, and no matter how hard he tried, he kept slipping out of reality and making future plans; then, when he remembered this had an expiration date, shit turned dark. He needed the media to move on to something else so he could put an end to this shit show and get on with his life.
“I’ll text you later this week,” Bryan said, giving him a clap on the back.
“Sounds good,” Cam replied.
Bryan ushered the kids through the front door to the car, both of them worn out from their sugar crash. Sabrina lagged behind once they were gone and offered him a kind smile before leaning in for a hug.
“It was great meeting you, Sabrina.”
“You too,” she offered. But then the kindness melted away and she grew intensely serious. “If you don’t mean it, you need to quit playing her.”
His head jerked back in shock at the pain in her tone and her cryptic words. “What?”
