Page 44 of Sophia & Cameron

“And I want to go,” he practically growled. Then he glanced around the table. “Sorry, guys, but we have something planned I forgot about.”

“Cameron—” she started indignantly, but he waved at Patrick to get him to slide out of the booth so he could give Sophia a gentle push to follow.

By the time they had the waitress put their food in to-go cartons and he was guiding her out of the diner, Sophia was livid.

She spun to face him when they reached the side of his truck. “What was that for?”

He gritted his teeth.

“Cameron.” She folded her arms and stared daggers at him. “Please tell me that this wasn’t about your jealousy issues.”

His eyes flicked to meet hers, and his anger wavered.

“Itwas, wasn’t it?” Her hands fell to her sides, and she gaped at him. “You can’tdostuff like that. Those guys are my friends. They probably think you’re a total jerk now.”

He frowned and glanced back at the diner. Hewasa jerk. The smallest sliver of remorse pained his midsection. “Sorry,” he muttered.

“I mean it. You can’t let your jealousy get the better of you. I have a lot of friends. I might not be super close to them, but I know a lot of people in town and… surprise, surprise, a lot of them are guys.”

He let out a growl under his breath.

She whacked at him. “That. There it is again.”

Cameron’s brows lifted, and he stared at her with surprise. “What?”

“You made that sound when we were sitting in the booth. It was loud enough that everyone stopped and stared at you. I swear Trent thought you might shift into some kind of werewolf or something.”

A smile tugged at his lips.

She whacked at him again. “It’s not funny!”

In a flash of movement, he caught her hand and placed a kiss to the inside of her wrist. She heaved a sigh, and goosebumps trailed up her arms. “I need you to know that I’m not going anywhere. You can’t keep living your life expecting that I’m going to just go traipsing off with the next guy who gives me a smile.”

He shut his eyes and pulled her in closer. “Iknow,” he groaned. “It’s just…hard.”

“Hey,” she whispered, causing him to open his eyes. “I’m not going anywhere. Okay?”

“Okay,” he said, though even as he said it, he knew she couldn’t guarantee it. Sophia was a free spirit. One day she might realize just what she’d be stuck with if she stayed with him. And when that day came, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to survive it.

19

Sophia

Even though Cameron never asked her to, Sophia made a decision not to speak to the guys she was friends with whenever he was around—which was almost all the time lately. Her reasons were two-fold.

Sophia didn’t want to trigger Cameron when he didn’t have any reason to doubt her. It only made him feel worse about himself. The second reason was that she didn’t want whoever it was to be in the line of fire if Cameron ended up doing something he regretted.

The fact of the matter was that he didn’t completely trust her. How could he? Their relationship was built on their mutually flirtatious natures. In the beginning, he’d witnessed just how easy it was for her to draw in any guy she was interested in.

On top of her needing to find a way to show him she was here for the long haul, he was dealing with his own unresolved issues with his brother. She didn’t know Cameron’s brother, but she got the distinct feeling that it would be good for them both tohash out what had happened. It didn’t matter that Cameron had said they worked through their stuff. Clearly, he was still rattled enough that seeing any guy talk to Sophia triggered those latent fears.

She heaved a sigh as she settled back on the couch in her living room. Cameron had to go to an auction in the next town over. He’d gone with Mateo, and the two of them had invited her to tag along, but she couldn’t manage it.

Trying to maintain the peace with Cameron had gotten exhausting. They had been dating for a couple of months now, and she still didn’t feel he was any closer to being healed. Maybe he needed to see someone. There could be more to his issues than just the betrayal his brother had caused him.

“Everything okay?” Roman wandered into the living room with a cup of coffee in his hand. It was lunchtime.

She eyed the mug, her lip curling with a smidge of judgment. “How many cups of coffee have you had so far today?”

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