Jennica and Cameron decked themselves out in full winter gear before braving the cold. He reached for her hand, claiming it would help them keep warmer, but he was pretty sure she caught on.
"You know, there's nobody out here. You don't have to pretend anymore."
"Who says I'm pretending?"
She stopped dead in her tracks and slowly looked up at him. "I had my suspicions you had ulterior motives for helping me. Why didn't you say something earlier?"
He shrugged. "I didn't want to freak you out since we haven't known each other long. Truth is I've never met anyone like you."
"What do you mean?"
He kicked at a bit of hardened snow on the side of the street. "I felt comfortable around you right away, like I'd already known you for a long time. That had never happened to me before."
Cameron had been with Melody for almost two and a half years and was considering proposing when she ran off to Florida and even she had never made him feel this way.
Jennica was bright, beautiful, had interesting things to say, and was easy to be around. He couldn't ask for anything more in a companion and he wasn't getting any younger. He could actually see himself marrying her and he had only known her for slightly under a month, which was completely nuts.
"I felt that too," she confessed. "But…isn't this going a little fast?"
"Who says relationships have to have a specific timeline? I like you, you like me. Isn't that good enough?"
"I never said I liked you!"
He grinned at her. Not in so many words but it was completely obvious. "No, but you do, don't you?"
"…yes." She bit her lip, hesitant. "You don't mind my inconsistent job? Or my family? You've met them now; you know my mom is crazy."
"Everyone's mom is a little crazy. And you're passionate—it's one of the things I like about you. You wouldn't be the same if you had a regular job. If you wanted, you could focus solely on auditioning for things you actually care about and I would handle your bills for you."
It would be a simple thing to do. Even simpler would be if she just moved in with him but he didn't want to push her too far just yet.
Her jaw dropped. "Why would you do that? You hardly know me."
"I know enough to realize that letting you get away would be the stupidest thing I could ever do. We would be able to spend more time together if you didn't have to worry about odd jobs."
Jennica shook her head. "That can be shelved for later. Why do you like me?"
Cameron reached his hand out and put it under her chin, tilting it upward so she would look at him. Those dazzling emerald eyes had clear questions in them.
"You're creative, talented, fun to talk to, and we have a lot in common. Spending time with you is my favorite part of the day. It doesn't hurt that you're drop dead gorgeous, either."
Her face broke into a wide smile. "Drop dead gorgeous, huh?"
He nodded as his heart threatened to beat right out of his chest.
"Alright. I'll be your girlfriend. I'm pretty sure Valentina predicted this would happen on this trip anyway," she said with a small laugh.
He picked her up and spun her around before setting her down and holding her close to his chest. "You won't regret it, I promise. You already said you thought I'd make a good boyfriend—I'll prove it to you."
Cameron leaned down and kissed her forehead, surprising her enough that she leaned her head back to gaze up at him. She was extra cute in her beanie with the giant pompom on top.
Jennica was irresistible. She stood on tiptoe and hooked her arms around his neck. "Cameron."
"Yeah?"
"You're supposed to kiss me now."
Oh. OH! He tightened his hold around her back as his lips met hers. He had kissed before but it never felt anything like this.
Melody who? The only woman in the world was Jennica Stevens, whose lips still tasted like whipped cream.
His phone was buzzing in his pocket but he ignored it, trying to focus on the beautiful experience of kissing his girlfriend. The buzzing wouldn't stop. It was breaking his concentration.
Finally, he apologized profusely before picking it up and answering "what?!" rather viciously as she giggled. She had felt the phone buzzing too.
"Am I interrupting something?" Aaron asked icily.
All the warmth he had experienced from Jennica's kiss had vanished instantly. "I was going to reply to you, I was just busy," he said lamely.
"Busy how?"
Jennica grabbed his hand so she could yell into the phone. "Hi Aaron!" She then proceeded to giggle even harder.
Cameron was tempted to laugh too. When it came to messing with people, she was on par with Aiden.
"I see."
Those two words could freeze an entire ocean. Even Jennica felt it and stopped laughing. "Oh crap," she whispered. "He's scary."
He wrapped his arm tighter around her in response. "Look, I'll tell you everything at work on Monday, okay? This is better said in person anyway. Aiden actually knows more than I do."
'Sorry Aiden!' he thought. He had to throw his friend under the bus to save himself.
Aaron wasn't cursing out loud but Cameron knew him well enough to know that an ice volcano was about to explode. Aiden was a dead man.
His boss hung up the phone and he hastily sent Aiden a message. 'Code red: Hurricane Aaron is headed your way' He responded simply by cursing.
"What was that about?" Jennica asked curiously.
"I may have to attend Aiden's funeral next week."
"Why?!"
"…it was his idea to keep this a secret from the boss," Cameron said grimly. "He knew about it first."
"About what exactly?"
"The guy Aaron's possible future girlfriend is close to. That's all I can say; it's his business."
Jennica mumbled a prayer under her breath for her neighbor and Cameron would have laughed if he didn't know how screwed they both were on Monday. He should have known Aaron would find out about the guy eventually.