Chapter 15

- CAMDEN -

It’s just past 23 hundred hours, and I’m thumping the top of Annie’s car as I send her away, my routine, just as I have for any other night she’s babysat.

Pretending nothing happened between us last night.

I’m not very good at it, I decide.

My brain feels like it’s caught in a loop, constantly reliving that moment when I could feel her in my arms, feel her lips against mine, and know with certainty that I’d soon have her.

And then it was as if someone had flicked on a switch in her brain and everything fell apart.

Fear isn’t something a guy likes to see in a woman’s face when he’s holding her. Well, unless a guy’s thoroughly fucked up. But that was what I saw flash in Annie’s face—barely for an instant. Yet it was there, just the same.

Was it fear of losing her job babysitting Stella?

Fear of breaking that rule she’s made about dating her boss?

Fear of getting so close to me that she might be tempted to tell me why she dyes her hair and bought fake glasses?

My mind spins, as I watch her drive away from me. I’d hoped to have time to talk to her a little more tonight. But my brother walked in just after I arrived home from the Dancing Coconut. And there’s no having a decent conversation with her while he’s there. He’s still silently gloating about me having to sleep in my own bed last night.

Silently… until I walk in the door.

“You’re pathetic,” I hear from Fen when I step back into our condo. Having just come home from work, he’s still got his stupid polo shirt on, the one with the giant embroidered helicopter logo emblazoned across his left pec. He looks like a fucking billboard, yet he calls me pathetic?

“Thanks, man. I really appreciate the confidence boost.”

“I’m serious. Dodger and I are seriously thinking one of us should make a play for her. She’s gotta get it somewhere. Might as well be one of us.”

He’s an easy target as I thrust him against the wall using my forearm, making a thud that might just be loud enough to wake Stella in the next room. With that reminder, I set him free immediately even though I’d love to wipe the floor with that damn smile he’s wearing right now.

I lift a single finger to his face. “Don’t you dare touch her.”

I’m careful to keep the profanity lodged inside my throat. Funny how having a kid in the house makes me think twice about… everything, actually.

“What’s with you, Cam? A girl like that—you should have had her in your bed three weeks ago when you first met her. I mean, you usually work pretty fast.”

“Annie isn’t cool with dating me while I’m paying her to take care of Stella.”

“Okay, so I get that. So move on. You look like a lovesick puppy, pouting around the house all the time. I mean when was the last time you got any? Probably three fucking weeks, right?” He mouths the profane part of his statement, as he glances toward Stella’s room.

My eyes turn to slits. “I’ve got Dodger telling me not to date her, and you’re telling me to date her?”

“Nah, Dodger agrees with me now. Just doesn’t want you to blow it with her and we’re out a babysitter. Don’t get me wrong. I like having Stella around. Seriously, every time I take her for shave ice, I practically have to beat the women off me. She’s a total babe magnet—have you noticed that?—”

He doesn’t give me time to answer.

“—but I’d still like to have a life. And I’m not playing babysitter while you’re at the bar.” He folds his arms in front of his chest. “It’s almost painful watching you two, you know.”

“How’s that?”

“I’ve never seen two people in such a desperate need for a fuck.” Again, he mouths the inappropriate word. As annoyed as I am right now, I have to marvel at my brother’s ability to adapt. I never would have foreseen this. Especially from Fen.

“Dodger and I keep saying we should just lock you two in your bedroom and take Stella out for the day. Just so you can get it over with and move on.”

I don’t like the words move on. Because I haven’t been waiting this long to be with her to be satisfied with a one-nighter. But I do like the idea of my brothers taking Stella out for the day.

And if they locked me in a room with Annie, I wouldn’t complain either.

My shoulders droop. “Look, we—I—things were progressing, but all of a sudden—I don’t know. She’s hiding something, I think.”

“Well, no kidding. Half the people on this island are,” he chuckles.

I start to retreat to my room. There’s really no talking to Fen about anything.

“Probably for the best not to push it, Cam,” he calls out after me. “The last thing you need is having your name linked up to some MeToo hashtag.”

It makes me stop short of the staircase. “What do you mean?”

 “I mean, you are her employer. You don’t want her feeling like she’s got to put out just to keep the money coming in.”

I send him a glare. “Lancaster’s her employer, dammit.” That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

When I retreat to my room, my phone vibrates in my pocket. I pull it out, expecting it to be Annie’s usual text, telling me she’s home safe in Kona. My eyebrows rise when I see it’s from Lancaster.

“U there?”

He’s in the middle of a desert right now, thousands of miles away. Still, it’s not that unusual to hear from him, often asking for more photos of Stella on her latest island adventures and trying to schedule a little time on Skype with her.

“Yep. How’s it going?” I tap in.

“R U still using that babysitter? The one in the photo u sent me a couple weeks ago?”

 My head tilts. “Annie. Yeah. Y?”

There’s a long pause in between our texts, enough time for me to do something—brush my teeth or strip off my shirt. Crawl into bed. Something. Yet all I can do is sit frozen on the edge of the bed because I know something’s up. When Lancaster texts, it usually starts with the words “How’s Stella?” Not “R U still using that babysitter?”

His reply finally comes in. “Tell me she doesn’t look just like this chick.”

What chick? I wonder it only a moment until a link comes through from CNN’s website. I click on it.

And I see Annie.