Page 42 of Celebrity

I lifted my head and glared down at him. “You’re one to talk.”

A knock on the door saved me from a grumpy response.

“Dev, if you’re done waking Sam up, Dad has requested your presence for a family discussion. I suggest you and Sam hurry. Something is up and one of you is the cause of it.”

I glanced at Dev, who shrugged his shoulders and slipped off the bed, pulling me with him.

“Let’s get this over with.”

* * *

Devand I arrived at Jacinta’s private library ten minutes after she left us. It was one of my favorite rooms in the house. Floor-to-ceiling shelves of books and nooks and crannies filled with comfy couches made the perfect place to relax and lose oneself in the pages of a novel.

As we entered the room, I felt a distinct edge of tension.

Dev’s brother Tyler, who I hadn’t seen since February, paced with a worried expression on his face, Jacinta and Carol nursed cocktails without looking in our direction, and the senator was on the phone, red-faced and reaming the person on the other line.

“Samina dear.” Carol jumped up and wrapped me in a tight hug. “I’m so glad everything is out in the open now. From the time you roomed with Jaci, you were always part of this family, but now it’s official and permanent.”

I squeezed her back and let her warmth soak in. There was nothing like a hug from a mother who cared about you.

“I see how it is. We both come in at the same time, and all you see is Sami. I thought I was your favorite child.” Dev pouted with his bottom lip sticking out.

Jacinta snorted from her place on the sofa

“Your place in the favorite hierarchy is questionable at best, Devin James Camden. It’s going to take me some time to get over how you hid Samina from us. And we haven’t had our conversation yet. You’ve spent most of yesterday and this morning doing God knows what and then the moment you arrived here you were locked up with your father.”

Carol released me, guiding me to a spot between Jacinta and her on the sofa. I lifted a brow in Dev’s direction, who pretended he didn’t notice my unsaid question about his suspicious whereabouts.

I nodded toward Tyler, Jacinta’s twin. “Good to see you, Ty. How’s Charlotte?”

I had given Tyler a rescued shepherd-husky mutt when his fiancée broke up with him and took the dog they shared.

Of all the Camden siblings, he was the funniest as well as the most sensitive. He hid his true emotions behind a wall of humor and impeccable Southern charm. The only people who saw the genuine Tyler underneath was his family.

“Good, as always. I left my girl at home. She misses you.”

“Then you better bring her to the house next time you visit.”

“Nothing like a puppy to heal a broken heart,” Jacinta said as she handed me a drink.

I brought the drink to my nose, and one whiff of it made my stomach turn.

I handed it back to her.

“Did you leave any alcohol in the bottle?” I asked. “If I drink that, I’m going to be useless, and something tells me I’m going to need all my wits for the discussion ahead.”

A minute later, Dev’s father ended his call.

“Samina, it’s good to see you.” With a forced smile, he came over to shake my hand.

“Senator.”

“Call him Richard, if not Dad.” Carol patted my leg and fixed the senator with an annoyed stare.

“There’s something we need to discuss.” He ignored his wife’s words. No doubt Dev got his tactics from his father. “I heard what Decker did to you.”

I turned to Devin, who leaned against the doors leading to the patio.

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