Page 26 of Engaging with Her Enemy

Which meant she needed to date someone local or accept the potential of being alone.

9

“Why is it that Drew Canton took Becky out on a date last night?” Cameron flipped on the lights to the weight room at the high school while Hudson propped the door open.

Date? With Drew?

“Who is Drew?” Hudson racked his brain, trying to put a face with the name. Did he know anyone named Drew from high school? Becky hadn’t mentioned it. And a date.

Cameron tossed his towel over a workout bench. “Fireman. Moved here last year, so you probably don't know him.” He grimaced. “A pretty boy that likes to do that hair-flip thing like a teenage boy singer.” He imitated the hair flip, even with his lack of hair, but Hudson didn't laugh.

The guy at the fire? It had to be him based on the way he'd watched Becky.

And he had adate.

That damn word. It implied everything that a standard American date entailed. Nice dinner. Dark movie theater. He grabbed the jump rope. Goodnight kiss.

“I guess you didn't hear about the date,” Cameron said.

Hudson kept his head down. A damn date.

“Are you going to jump rope?”

“Yes.”

“Can you do that?”

Hudson spared his prosthetic half a glance. “I won't break any records, but yes, I can.”

Cameron sat down and began stretching his arms. “So, about Drew—”

“Do you ever stop being nosy?”

“Nope.” Cameron loaded up a rack with weight. “It's worse now that I'm married. Addie and my mom get together and bug me for information. Their focus right now is on you and Becky. I hold them off as much as I can, but it gets hard.” His eyebrows pulled down tight. “Especially since they both feed me. I feel a certain obligation to ask their questions since my survival depends on it.” His smile turned a little wicked. “Plus, Addie finds ways to make me talk.”

“You can tell them that I did not know about Drew, and yes, it does piss me off.” It was no less than what he'd like to tell Becky. Hudson began jumping, letting the persistent slap of the rope on the concrete floor zone him out.

Cameron grunted with his last few reps of bench press. The clang of metal rang out as he set the bar back down. “Why haven't you made a move?” Hudson turned to tell him to stay out of it, but Cameron held up his hands. “Strictly my own question. It seems like Becky likes you. I can tell you like her. Why don't you ask her out? And not to Rhonda's.”

“I don't want to ruin the friendship.”

“That's a dumb reason. It's already ruined because you're half in love with her.”

He opened his mouth to deny it, but Cameron continued.

“You'll never be happy with friendship. It will always take a certain amount of restraint on your end.” With a quick shrug, he slid underneath the bar again and pushed it up and off the rack. “I'd think after all you've been through war, you'd be more of a seize the day kind of guy.”

Hudson jumped rope quicker, his frustration driving him beyond the pain. It’d be easier to leave, ignore his feelings and the friendships he'd rekindled, and go back to his regular life. But that included the daily thoughts of Becky. Now that he'd held her, held the woman, it wouldn't be so easy to walk away this time.

“You know, I tried to ignore my feelings for Addie when she first came. I took her into custody after she was arrested in Florida.”

Hudson stopped abruptly. “Arrested. Don't take this the wrong way, but your fiancé doesn't seem like she's capable of doing anything that would get her arrested.”

Cameron smirked. “You have no idea the things she's done.” He waved his hand and reached for his towel. “That's beside the point. She was all types of off-limits. Not to mention, she lived in California. I'd given up my job to move out there to be with her. But she decided to stay here.”

“I don't think Becky and I are at any point to discuss moving.” Not that he hadn't considered it. He had no ties to Atlanta. But that wasn't the issue. If moving back to Statem meant having a chance at a real relationship with Becky, he'd do it in a heartbeat.

“I'm just saying that I resisted it a hundred different ways. Made every excuse in the book for reasons we wouldn't work out.”

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