Page 39 of Flirt
Her arms came around him, holding him tightly, and she sighed as she rested her head against his chest. “This helps.”
“Hey,” Cameron protested. “I see how it is. Forget all about your loyal, amazing brother the minute some famous pretty boy shows up.”
Asher winked when Natalie looked up at him with a sheepish grin. “You heard that, right? He thinks I’m pretty.”
Natalie giggled again, and Cameron huffed as he wrapped his arms around his sister, sandwiching her between them.
“It’s going to be okay,” he whispered against her temple. “I love you, Nat.”
“Love you, too, jackass.”
Asher expected to feel like an intruder, but with brother and sister clinging to him, holding him within their circle of love, he knew without question he was right where he belonged.
CHAPTER TWELVE
While Natalie washed herface and pulled herself together, Cameron sent Maddie out to pick up lunch. Asher had offered—twice—but Cameron wasn’t ready to let him go yet.
Just Asher being there was more than he’d expected but watching the way he had comforted Natalie and made her laugh, Cameron might have fallen just a little bit in love. The only way the guy could have been more potent would be if he had been holding a baby while rescuing a kitten.
“What the hell is going on with this table?” Asher asked as they all gathered around said table in the breakroom.
Cameron liked the table. It looked sort of like the offspring of a patchwork quilt and a jigsaw puzzle. Each colorful puzzle peace even had funny little sayings on it like,You Are What You Eat: Cheap, Fast, and Easy.
“It’s unique,” Natalie answered as she reached for the Chinese take-out box Maddie passed her. “It makes me happy.”
Asher shook his head. “I think I’m going to have a seizure.”
“That’s probably the MSG.” Maddie lifted her box of beef and broccoli in a mock toast before popping a piece of broccoli into her mouth. “Mmm, you can practically taste the hypertension.”
“Has anyone ever told you that you’re crazy?”
Maddie rolled her eyes toward the ceiling and tapped her chin with her index finger. “My parents, my brother, a couple of teachers, basically every ex-boyfriend, and the guy who sold me my new mattress.”
At the mention of ex-boyfriends, Natalie stabbed her chopsticks into her rice and flopped back in her chair. She didn’t start crying again, but her bottom lip wobbled in a way that had Cameron wanting to hunt down Aiden and rip off his dick.
“Nat, what happened today?”
“I got dumped.” She wiped roughly at her eyes as she sniffled. “It was humiliating.”
“He broke up with you in public?” Props to Asher for showing the appropriate amount of outrage. “What a twatwaffle.”
“He is, isn’t he?” Natalie smiled, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes. “He called this morning and asked me to meet him at the café around the corner for brunch. He’s not really the most spontaneous kind of guy, so I thought it was really sweet.”
Oh, yeah, Cameron was definitely going to make the asshole hurt. “Did he say why he wanted to end things?”
She bit down on her bottom lip and nodded, her eyes shining with a fresh wave of tears. “He said that at this point in his life, he really felt like he needed to be sleeping with someone hotter.”
Asher dropped his gaze to the table and winced. It could have been in sympathy, but the expression looked more like guilt to Cameron. He wondered how many of Asher’s previous conquests had heard something similar. It took very little effort to spew out belligerent insults, but it was wholly different to see the pain caused by insensitive words.
“Well, fuck him,” Maddie offered conversationally. “He was definitely the one dating up in that relationship. I hope his hot new piece of ass gives him chlamydia.”
“Maddie!” Natalie’s slapped a hand over her mouth to muffle her giggles. “Oh, my god, I can’t believe you said that.”
“He’s an idiot.” Asher spoke quietly and more subdued than Cameron had ever heard him. “Anyone can see how beautiful you are.”
Damn, Cameron wanted to just drag him across the table and kiss him senseless. He really could be quite sweet when he wasn’t trying so hard to pretend he didn’t care.
“He’s right.” Taking his sister’s hand, Cameron brought it to his lips. “You are beautiful, and Aiden is going to regret letting you get away.”
