“Okay, honey. I think that’s chopped well enough.”

Sabrina took the knife from my hand that I’d been using to macerate the celery into oblivion.

Slapping my hand on the counter, I let out a breath and grabbed my glass of wine, chugging it before going in for a refill. As they were wont to do, the conversation with my mother this morning had ruined my entire day. The dark cloud hovering over me infected absolutely everything.

Logically, I knew she wasn’t to blame for the run in my stockings or the ink stain on my new blouse, but she’d thrown me so off-kilter that I’d banged my leg against the desk, ruining my thigh-highs, and anxiously chewed my pen until it busted and dripped all over my top. So technically it was all her fault!

“I’ve been here for fifteen minutes and you’ve nearly put the butcher knife through a marble countertop. You wanna tell me what’s got you twisted up into knots?” she asked, taking a sip of her own wine. “Is it about Friday night? I haven’t looked to see what the press is saying.”

“They’re not saying much, really. Tate and the rest of Camden’s team leaked some bullshit about me falling and twisting my ankle. So far they’re buying it, thank god.”

Grabbing another knife out of the butcher block, I started on the carrots.

“So what’s this mood all about?”

Sabrina could be like a vicious Rottweiler with a bone when she wanted to, so avoiding her question was pointless. I inhaled deeply through my nose before confessing, “Mom called me this morning.”

She choked and banged on her chest as her eyes bugged out. “Shit.”

“Yeah,” I deadpanned.

“How’d that go?” she asked with a wince.

Shooting her a withering look, I scooped the carrots and celery off the cutting board and dumped them unceremoniously in the casserole dish with the pork loin and other vegetables and spices I was making for dinner with Camden later. “How do you think it went? She’s Sylvia Briar. It was a disaster.”

My vision grew cloudy as I recounted everything that had been said during our miserable conversation. And the more I talked, the madder Sabrina got.

“God! That woman!” she seethed, clutching the stem of her wineglass in a tight fist. “She won’t be happy until the rest of the world is as sour and pissed off is she is. If Bryan had any idea what she said, he’d lose his goddamn mind.”

“Yeah, well I think it’s safe to assume she’s gonna freeze me out until I’m eventually so racked with guilt that I cave and call to apologize.”

“So, her usual MO.”

Pulling the oven open, I slid the pork loin inside and kicked it closed. “Exactly.”

I returned to my wine and picked it up, taking a hearty gulp as she asked, “So what did Camden say about it?”

“What do you mean?”

One of her brows arched up as she eyed me in that disapproving big sister way. “I mean, what did he say when you called him and told him about our bitch of a mom?” The wine started tasting acrid in my mouth. She already knew the truth without me having to say it, and she didn’t like it one damn bit. “You didn’t tell him, did you?”

“What good would it have done?” I asked, throwing my hands up in the air. “He’s under enough stress as it is with this whole media thing. The last thing he needs is for me to dump my own shit with my mother on his shoulders. It’s not his problem.”

“It is when you two are dating,” she replied.

“We’re fake dating, Brina,” I returned on a glare. “This isn’t real. You know that. Why would I pull him into our family drama when the end is just around the corner?”

Sabrina gave me a look I couldn’t quite decipher as she said cryptically, “I wouldn’t be so sure about that.”

“What’s that supposed to mean” I felt hope bubbling in my chest, and no matter how hard I tried to tamp it down, it wouldn’t be ignored. I was a mess, and things were only going to get worse if I didn’t get a hold of my emotions. I had to start being reasonable. A month ago, I could barely stand the sight of Camden. Now I was constantly thinking about how empty my life would be once he wasn’t in it anymore, and the gnawing ache in the pit of my stomach was going to give me an ulcer if I wasn’t careful.

“You didn’t see his face that night at the club, honey. The way he looked… that didn’t say fake. It said he needed to get his ass to you and protect you from anything and everything that could cause you harm.”

Needless to say, whether it was good for me or not, I really liked hearing that. But I desperately needed to set my sister and myself straight. “Camden’s a good guy. We’ve become… friends. He’d do that for anyone he cares about. It’s just who he is.”

“You’re wrong, honey. He wasn’t protecting a friend. Swear to god, the man I saw that night would have gladly burned the world down if that’s what it took to get to you.”

Well crap.

Placing my palms on the counter, I dropped my head and let out a ragged sigh. “God, Brina. I’m so screwed.”

I knew my sister was racked with concern without even having to look at her. It dripped from her words as she asked, “Why? What happened, babe?”

Lifting my gaze to her, I steeled my spine for whatever reaction was about to come and admitted, “We had sex.”

It took a second for the words to sink in, but once they did, her eyes bugged out of her skull. “Holy shit.”

“Yeah.”

“Holy shit!”

“Pretty much.”

“Holy shit!”

“Okay,” I snapped. “Can you please think of something else to say? I’m spiraling out here, and you repeating the same two words over and over isn’t helping.”

“I just… that is… I can’t…,” she stammered uncontrollably before finally setting on “How was it?”

“It was….” My eyelids dropped to half-mast as I thought back to the night before. “Indescribable,” I finished in a breathy voice.

“Well try,” she demanded. “Try really freakin’ hard, ’cause I’m not gonna lie. I watched that video after you told me about it, and dayum!”

“Gross, Brina! I’m not talking about sex with my sister!”

She let out a little giggle and reached for the bottle on the counter to top our wineglasses off. “So when did this happen?”

“Last night,” I answered as my cheeks began to stain red.

“And who initiated?”

“I did,” I admitted sheepishly.

“Little sis! Go on with your kinky self!”

“Gah! Shut up,” I shot back in embarrassment. “I don’t even know why I said anything to you.”

“Oh please! If you can’t talk about your sex life with your big sister, who can you talk to? It’s like a rite of passage or something.”

Rolling my eyes at her dramatics, I headed to the fridge and began pulling out everything I needed to prepare a salad. “I wouldn’t call one time a sex life, Brina. It’s not like it’s gonna happen again.”

“What are you talking about?”

She sounded almost as disappointed as I felt. Banging the head of lettuce on the counter harder than necessary, I ripped the core out aggressively and started shredding the leaves. “We talked about it before, you know… starting anything. It was just a one-night stand.”

“You’re kidding me, right?”

At the sudden hardness of her tone, my head shot up and my quizzical eyes met hers. “What’s the matter?”

“So you two actually discussed it and decided it was only gonna be one time.”

“Well… yeah. I mean, it wasn’t like a full-on conversation. But when I made the proposition, I mentioned it being just the once.”

“And he agreed to that?”

I thought back on everything that led to us hooking up. It was kind of a blur, since I’d been a frayed bundle of nerves the whole time, but I was able to piece the conversation together—at least somewhat. “He didn’t really say anything in response to that. He just kind of, uh, got all growly and ordered me to take my clothes off.”

For some reason that made Sabrina’s mouth stretch into a massive Cheshire cat grin. “Oh, honey, that so wasn’t just one time.”

“Of course it was,” I insisted.

Before I could argue more, my cell rang, thankfully breaking into a conversation that was getting away from me. Wiping my hands on a dishtowel, I snatched it off the island and looked at the screen. My stomach erupted into a riot of giddy butterflies at the sight of Camden’s name.

Get your shit together, Sut, I chided silently before swiping my thumb to answer. “Hey, you almost here? I’m making my world-famous pork loin for dinner. You’re gonna love it.”

“Christ, cutie. I’m so sorry. I’m not gonna be able to make it tonight.”

“Oh… uh, okay.” I tried not to let my disappointment ring through the line, but I knew I failed miserably.

“I meant to call you earlier, but this day was crazy as hell. I have to fly to LA to meet with my agent and a producer friend of mine. I’m actually on the way to the airport now.”

“Is, uh… is everything okay?”

“Yeah. It’s actually pretty fuckin’ great. Ryan’s producing a new film and wants me to work on the whole soundtrack. This could potentially lead to a big franchise, so getting in on this would be huge for my career.”

“Well that’s great!” I cried, genuinely meaning it.

“It all happened last minute. I should’ve called sooner. I’m so damn sorry.”

Infusing my voice with false cheer, I pasted on a fake smile and replied, “No, it’s fine. Totally fine. I get it. I mean, work’s work, right? How long are you gonna be gone?”

“Just a couple days. I’ll be back in plenty of time for dinner with Mrs. Whittaker on Wednesday, promise.”

It stung that he was going out of town, and even more that he hadn’t thought to let me know sooner when he knew we had dinner plans, but the fact that he remembered dinner with my neighbor when it had completely slipped my mind went a long way in helping to soothe the burn. “Sounds good. I’ll see you then.”

I started pulling the phone from my ear, ready to end the call, when Camden’s voice stopped me.

“Sut, you okay?”

He saw through my bullshit act just as easily as Sabrina who was currently staring at me with her head cocked in worry.

“Yeah,” I lied, only more believably this time. “It was just a tough day. I’m exhausted.”

His voice went soft and quiet, and my heart squeezed at the sound of it. “I’m sorry, baby. I wish I was there to make it better.”

“Thank you,” I whispered in return. “That means a lot. But like I said, I’m fine. Tomorrow’s a new day.”

“That it is. You call me tomorrow if it’s not lookin’ any better than today, yeah?”

He was polite about it, but I could tell he was pushing to end the call. Not wanting to come off needy or pathetic, I replied, “I will. Travel safe, and I’ll see you in a few days.”

“A few days, cutie. I’ll talk to you later.”

“Later, Cam.”

Sabrina pounced the second I hung up and dropped the phone back to the counter.

“What was that all about?”

“Nothing,” I replied, going to the pantry to pull out the cling wrap and cover my newly made salad. “Camden isn’t gonna make it. He’s flying to LA for work. He has a friend who wants him to do the soundtrack for a movie.”

“Well that’s good, right? I mean, wasn’t he worried the stories online would ruin his career? This proves what you guys are doing is working.”

“Yeah,” I murmured. “It’s a great thing. I’m really happy for him.”

“Don’t do that,” she snapped, jerking my attention back her way.

“Do what?”

Crossing her arms over her chest, she shot me a reprimanding scowl. “You’re getting in your own head and twisting this up. And worse, you’re letting Mom get in your head. Stop overthinking everything, Sut. Let yourself be happy for once in your life. Christ, babe, you deserve it!”

“I’m not twisting anything up,” I replied defensively. “I said I’m fine, and I’m happy for him.”

Instead of taking my words at face value, Sabrina knew I was full of it and kept pushing. “You know everything Mom said was bullshit, right? You’re enough for him. Hell, you’re more than enough. Not all guys are cheating assholes. Some of them actually get how lucky they are to be with a woman. Despite what she says, I married one of them.”

“I know, honey,” I said softly in the face of my sister’s ire. “Bryan’s incredible. You don’t have to tell me that.”

“You’re good enough, Sutton. You’ve always been good enough, you just refused to see it. She’s wrong about Cam, and she’s wrong about you. Please don’t let her ruin this for you. Be happy, babe.”

My sister’s concern managed to break through the cloud that had been following me around all damn day. She was always the strong one, the smartass cracking jokes and making things light and easy. Seeing her so worried over me that she was close to tears was a sobering experience.

“Okay,” I whispered, leaning across the island to place my hand on hers. “Okay, I’ll try. I promise.”

Sabrina straightened her shoulders on a deep breath before pursing her lips and blowing it out. “Good. Now open another bottle of wine. We’ve tapped this, and I feel like drinking my dinner tonight.”

Just like that, my smartass sis was back. And I went about doing as ordered with a giggle, feeling a bit lighter now that the damn cloud had disappeared.