Page 62 of Hiding Hollywood

“Take Nash and his cute accent and leave us alone.” Cameron laughed as she rolled her eyes. He’d wanted Addie to meet his friends, and now, he’d take the time alone with her. He didn’t mind having her curled up next to him. So far, she hadn’t asked him to dance. Good thing since he’d rather hold her close like this instead of trying to concentrate on not stepping on her feet. He sighed, content for the first time in a while.

Nearly two weeks ago, he thought he’d end up throttling her before their time together ended. Now, he couldn’t stop touching her. Wanted to feel more.

Wanted to give her more.

But falling head first into their relationship meant taking a risk he wasn’t sure he could survive. Because there wouldn’t be another woman like Addie in his life.

She tilted back, smiling in a way that he knew, no matter what she asked, he’d say yes.

“Do you want to dance?”

Except that. “No.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Your mom said you would dance.” She scooted around the booth and stood up, sweeping her arm in a big gesture toward the dance floor. “C’mon. I want to see your dance moves.”

“I have no moves.”

She slapped both hands on the back of the booth, trapping him in. “You, most definitely have moves. I’ve seen them.”

Something in the air made him forget his boundaries for one brief second. He leaned up, kissing her in a way he’d never kissed another woman in public before, his teeth skimming her bottom lip for a brief second. Her eyes held a playful, shocked look as he pulled away. “You haven’t seen all my moves.”

She stood, running a hand through her hair, blowing a breath out through pursed lips. “I plan on tempting you enough that you show me every move in your playbook, but for now, dance with me.” She took a step back, as though to go to the dance floor without him. The song switched to the deep voice of George Strait, and it almost pushed him to join her.

Before he could muster up another excuse, a man dressed like a gussied-up cowboy, almost six-feet-five inches, he guessed, strode right up and asked Addie to dance.

Granted, Cameron hadn’t moved a muscle, but all the good vibes he’d been riding on were sucked out of the room when Addie hesitated, looked to him for a solid three seconds, before saying yes.

And she followed him to the dance floor.

“Dammit.” Cameron rose, chugged his mostly full bottle of beer in one long pull, and mentally prepared himself for the next step. On the dance floor.

The cowboy held her too close as they shuffled around the room.

He made her laugh one too many times.

His hand slid down her back too low for Cameron’s taste.

Cameron’s claim on Addie was about as secure as a string of the Christmas lights twinkling above them, but she was his for the night. For the week until she left.

He rolled his shoulders. As an adult, he jumped at the chance to tell the high school guys that violence isn’t the answer.

Yeah. He hadn’t believed that crap at seventeen and part of him still didn’t buy it. He had the scars on his knuckles and lousy reputation to prove it. To his credit, he’d not punched a man in almost three years.

It was a simple overreaction. It shouldn’t resort to violence to cut in on his date.

But with a past like his, checkered with fights, he didn’t fully trust himself not to throw the first punch. Especially if the man foolish enough to lay his hands on his date didn’t back his ass up.

He tapped the cowboy on the shoulder as they passed.

The cowboy straightened from where he’d been telling Addie something, rising to his full height. It didn’t intimidate Cameron. He’d taken on men his size before.

They always overestimated themselves. Size didn’t win a fight.

“What?” Cowboy asked as he pushed the brim of his fake hat up. His deep voice even sounded phony.

Addie’s eyes widened. She’d likely never seen this sort of man versus man threatening attitude before.

“I think there’s been a mix-up,” Cameron began, shoving his hand in his back pocket to look unassuming and pulling out his real Southern drawl. “You seem to be dancing with my date.”

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