Novel Square
17
Ugh.
I shouldn’t care.
But I did.
The whole thought of it made me feel sick to my stomach.
I needed to get my mind and my focus off Camden.
I looked back at Hannah and said, “You’re acting like he’s forty and still a virgin. Which will be my story, by the way, not his.”
“We both know that’s not even close to being true. You’re going to lose your virginity; it’s only a matter of time.”
“Except I can’t seem to find a nice enough guy to woo it from me.”
She laughed so hard that she snorted. “That’s because you don’t like nice guys. You’re into bad boys who can’t be tamed or transformed.” She set both hands on my shoulders. “You’re the angel in our friendship and the type of girl who wouldn’t even kill a mosquito if it landed on you. When it comes to dudes, you’re the same way. They sting you, and you let them. It’s like they smell you out, and you’re too sweet to swat them away.” She smiled. “You need to be attracted to guys like yourself. Who will welcome you with open arms and woo the hell out of you.”
“Says the girl who’s dating the ultimate asshole.”
She pulled her hands back and surrounded her wine. “Hey, I can handle an asshole. I can be one myself-let’s not forget that.”
“Then, why can’t I?”
“Oh, my Oaklyn, because you don’t have an asshole-ish bone in your body. You’re, like, this innocent, sweet, gentle unicorn who deserves to be treated like a princess.”
“Nonsense.” I waved my hand across the air. “You tamed Declan, so anything is possible.”
She sighed. “I don’t think I tamed him. I think I molded him. Huge difference.”
“And how did you do that?”
Her eyes narrowed as she stared at me. “I made him want me so badly that he couldn’t breathe, and then I made him realize his life wouldn’t be the same unless I was in it permanently.” She paused, still gazing at me. “You’ll know exactly what I mean once you’re there.”
Before I could reply, there was movement at the table, and as I glanced away from Hannah, I saw Camden taking a seat beside me.
Within a few seconds, his scent wafted toward me, and I briefly closed my eyes as I took in that amber and woodsy and citrus smell.
An aroma that brought back memories of the night I’d stripped for him.
I’d touched myself for him.
There was a heat building between my legs, and I glanced down, as though I could see it.
As I looked back up, I felt Camden’s eyes on me, and a smoldering expression crossed his face, like he knew exactly what I was thinking.
“Decided to finally join us, Mr. Grumpy?”
“Grumpy?” He huffed, his stare shifting to his sister. “I needed another drink. Don’t make this into something it’s not.”
“Then, thanks for the refill … dick.”
He chuckled at his sister, a sound so sinister and sexy. “The waiter will be by; don’t you worry.”
“You could have at least grabbed me something,” I said softly. Because of the way I was positioned at the round table, Hannah couldn’t see my wink.
But Camden did.
Without pause, he said, “How would I know what you like to drink?”
He’d known the other night at his place, pouring me a glass of wine almost immediately without any prompting.
But he still had a point.
If nothing was going on between us, it was a detail he wouldn’t bother noticing.
I had to be careful when constructing my response. “Wine would be a solid guess, given that’s what your sister drinks and we’re basically the same person.”
He called the server over and ordered wine for the both of us. “Is everyone happy now?”
“That’s a start,” Hannah replied.
“What were you guys talking about when I came back to the table?” he asked. “I heard something about taming?”
“Oh, Oaklyn asked how I tamed Declan. I told her I didn’t; I just molded him.” She smiled again. “And now, he’s Mr. Perfect.”
Camden shook his head. “I’m not even going to comment.”
“How about you do something better? You give my girl, Oaklyn, some advice on how she can tame the man of her dreams. And just to give you some backstory, she likes bad boys. I told her she needs to stop looking for assholes and start focusing on good guys. Since I know she won’t, maybe it’ll help if she gets some advice from someone like you.”
His brows rose. “Someone like me?”
“Yeah, you know, you’re, like, the ringleader of the whole bad-boy club.”
I wanted to crawl under the table and die.
This wasn’t a conversation I wanted to have with him or in front of him.
Camden rested his arms on the tabletop, briefly grazing mine in the process, and linked his hands together.
That small touch, just the tiniest brush of skin against skin, and I was already feeling a blaze within my stomach.
“You’re fucking kidding me, right?” he asked.
“On which part?” Hannah inquired. “The advice part? No. The kind of guys Oaklyn likes? No on that too.”
“Jesus.” He took a drink, his gaze slowly shifting to me. “Stay away from them. That’s the best advice I can give you.”
But his eyes told me differently.
In fact, the story unfolding in his stare was enticing.
Addictive even.Content property of NôvelDra/ma.Org.
Enough so that I took my phone out, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible as I pulled up Camden’s last text and began to type.
ME
I just want to make sure I understand things correctly. Is a bad boy the best kind of guy to teach me how to be a good lover? Or should I find myself someone who’s a little more giving?
CAMDEN
Texting in front of my sister. You’ve got balls.
ME
Avoiding the question. You’ve got balls.
I slipped my phone back into my pocket just as the server brought us our wine. Hannah polished off the rest of her glass before she handed him the empty.
“He’s not the best advice giver, I see,” I said to my bestie, ignoring that Camden was still on his phone, appearing to be typing.
She clinked her glass against mine. “But you’ve got me, and that’s what I’m good at.” She eyed up her brother. “Ohhh, Camden, something just came to me. I think I have a wicked idea.” She waited for Camden to look up before she continued, “Why don’t we set Oaklyn up with Macon?”