Page 16 of Sophia & Cameron

“You know that if you give up now, you don’t have to worry about her breaking your heart.”

It was definitely too late for that. “You sure you don’t know why she doesn’t do second dates?”

Her brother tilted his head thoughtfully. “I don’t honestly know. Ten years ago, my brother was left at the altar by his fiancée. She cheated on him. I think that hit Sophia harder than she wanted to admit. But five years ago, that’s when she stopped entertaining second dates. She doesn’t talk about what happened. She just insisted that she wasn’t interested in settling down, and no one could convince her otherwise.”

Cameron’s stomach lurched. Five years ago was when they’d met. Could her reasons for avoiding commitment havesomething to do with their interaction? That didn’t make sense. He hadn’t done anything wrong.

He dragged his hand down his face. Now he definitely had to get to the bottom of what was going on. If he didn’t, it would eat at him until he was a shell of who he was.

Sophia’s brother chuckled again. “It’s too late, isn’t it?”

Cameron lifted his head and stared at him.

He jerked his chin toward his house. “You’ve already got a thing for her, huh?” There must have been a look of concern on his face because the man chuckled again. “Don’t worry. I won’t tell her. Won’t tell Mateo, either. Somehow, I don’t think he’d like that much. He’sreallyprotective.”

“And you’re not?”

Shrugging, he gave Cameron a smirk. “Let’s just say that I think Sophia would be a lot easier to deal with if she found someone. She can be a real pain in the you know what.”

Cameron smiled despite himself.

Shoving his hand outward, the guy’s grin widened. “I’m Roman.”

“Cameron.”

“I know,” he said simply. He turned to leave but then stopped and faced Cameron again. “If you know what’s good for you, you’d walk away.” He paused for a moment. “Then again, you might be just the thing to break her out of the prison she’s put herself in.”

Cameron watched him go, then shook his head with disbelief. That was weird.

7

Sophia

“I’ve got a babysitter, and that means that we’re going out.”

Sophia smiled as she glanced over at Emma—also known as Emily. The country music star had really slowed down since she’d had her first child. She still did a handful of shows across the country, but for the most part, she preferred to stay home with her family.

And who wouldn’t when she had managed to find the perfect guy? Caleb Keagan had swept her off her feet, and she had been willing to change her whole life just for him.

She still looked like a star even after becoming a mom.

“What do you say? Girls’ night?” she pleaded with Sophia, her bright blue eyes sparkling with excitement. “Caleb says we haven’t gone dancing in ages, and he wants to take us to Shane’s country club.”

Sophia chewed on her lower lip. It had been forever since she’d gone out with Emma. The handful of dates she’d gone onsince they’d met had also been few and far between. And since Cameron came crashing back into her life? She’d only gone on one date, officially. Unofficially? She’d gone out to the country club to escape from the suffocating knowledge that Cameron was living on her family’s property.

For some reason, she couldn’t bring herself to actually go on a date.

“A girls’ night sounds nice.” Maybe she’d be able to forget about the tall, handsome man who had managed to steal her heart five years ago. The man she’d never really gotten over.

“Perfect! We’ll pick you up. Seven sound good?”

Sophia nodded. She brought her drink to her lips and took a sip. It was a beautiful day, and it was a nice surprise when Emma dropped in to say hello. Caleb had wanted to speak to Mateo about something, so the two ladies had opted to get some lemonade and relax on the porch.

Emma let out a whistle. Her voice dropped to a whisper, and she nudged Sophia. “Are all of the guys your brother hired that good-looking? I mean, he’s nothing like Caleb, but geez. You should definitely ask him out.”

Sophia let her focus shift in the direction that Emma had motioned with her eyes, and her stomach dipped. Of course, she would say something like that about Cameron. Sophia scowled.

Emma laughed at her reaction. “He already get on your blacklist?”

---