Page 147 of Not That Into You

Cameron’s brows wing up as his eyes meet mine over her head. I try to hold back a grin and fail.

When I showed up at his office earlier, I was nervous and unsure of my welcome. It was an immense relief to see him and feel his arms around me again.

Cameron releases Hayley, his eyes still trained on me. “Hey, Hayles. Do you mind if I talk to this one alone for a bit?”

She grins. “No, go right ahead.” She looks around. “I’ll just be in my room.”

I open my mouth to tell her to stay while we go to my room, but she jogs down the hall, and I hear the telltale click of her bedroom door closing. It’s probably for the best. Cameron and I have a lot to talk about it, which will be easier if there isn’t a bed nearby.

He comes toward me and wraps me in a hug as I sigh into him.

He kisses the top of my head. “Hey.”

“Hey.” I rest my cheek against his chest and briefly close my eyes, my body relaxing into him.

After a moment, we pull apart and sit down at the kitchen table, facing each other.

Cameron grins. “So.”

“So.”

He clasps my hand on top of the table. “It’s good to see you.”

I smile. “It’s good to see you, too.”

“How have you been?”

“Good. Busy.” I sit up straight. “Speaking of busy, it sounds as if you’ve been really busy. You said you quit your job?”

He takes a deep breath. “Yes.” He frowns. “It was time.”

“I don’t understand. I thought you wanted to be CMO?”

“I did,” he says with a sigh before giving me a rueful look. “But then I realized you were right.”

I furrow my brow. “What do you mean?”

“I realized I have been trying to prove myself to my father.” Cameron huffs out a breath. “Even as I did the opposite of what he wanted, even when I intentionally pissed him off.” He shakes his head. “Anyway. I’m never going to be good enough.”

I clasp his hand. “I’m sorry.”

He looks sad but resolute. There are lines framing his mouth that I haven’t noticed before.

I brush my thumb back and forth over the top of his hand. “I’m guessing the board didn’t offer you the CMO position?”

“I dropped out of consideration.”

“What?”

He shakes his head. “It was an impossible situation. If I didn’t get the job, it’d be just another example of my inability to live up to the Stanhope name. But if I did get the job, I’d have to work closely with my father. I’d have to get his and Archie’s approval for any new marketing initiatives, and it would be a constant battle.

“I wanted to become CMO because I had a lot of ideas for The Stanhope Group the previous CMO blocked. It finally dawned on me that even if I became CMO, my father and Archie would continue to block me.” He shakes his head. “It was a lose-lose situation.”

I’m relieved he finally realized he wouldn’t be happy as the CMO, but I can’t imagine how painful that realization must have been. “I’m sorry, Cameron.”

“Yeah. Of course, dropping out of consideration gave my father exactly what he wanted, but at least I did it for my own reasons. At least I had control over the decision.”

“Did you even interview?”

---