Page 3 of Hiding Hollywood

She took three long, slow steps, her fingertips sliding from her thighs to rest on her hips. She was tall, but Cameron was taller. He tilted his head down, keeping his gaze locked with hers.

Did he ever smile? He and her brother, Trevor, had laughed and cut up every day in the pool that summer while she’d remained invisible. She wasn’t invisible now.

He’d turned into an uptight man. His strong, square chin clinched tighter as if refusing to acknowledge her flirty routine by sheer stubbornness.

She chewed on her bottom lip.

Cameron’s eyes tracked the movement. A rumble of unexpected nerves raced through her. Open attraction from men she could handle. But not from Cameron. Cameron was different.

She’d been the pesky, annoying little sister. He’d been the star football player from Georgia who’d invaded their house for some elite camp. Now, most men saw her as nothing but tall, blonde, and boobs. No brains. Good for their ego. Men wouldn’t assume that girls like her had brains. At least not the type of skills Addie possessed.

“Chief Deputy is a mouthful.” She tapped her nail on his badge. “Can I call you Deputy Cameron?”

“No.”

Slowly, she trailed her fingernail from the badge to the second button on his shirt. “What about D.D.?”

“No.”

Touching him seemed surreal as she drew her nail down to the next button. He didn’t move. Was he even breathing?

“D-squared?” Pretending to flirt her way for some coffee suddenly shifted from a fake act to reality. Her pulse scattered with the desire for him to see her like the sexy woman she presented to the world, for him to want her the same way she wanted him before. Redemption for being such an ugly duckling.

“No.”

She ran her eyes down his body before meeting his gaze again. “The Big D?”

With the use of his old football nickname, his lips stayed set in a stern line, but a flick of amusement in those green eyes gave her hope. “Not if you want me to answer to you.”

Was Cameron part of her brother’s grand plan?

“Well then, Cam,” she said, using the name she’d called him the one time she’d spoken to him and said goodbye. She slid her hands into her back pockets, leaning a little in his direction until their bodies almost touched. “Where are you taking me? Out for a nice dinner and drinks?”

His lips spread into a humorless smile. “You can call me Cameron, and we’re going to Georgia. I already loaded your belongings into my truck.”

“Do they typically transfer prisoners out of the state?” Not that she’d complain. The entertainment in this place made waiting in line at the DMV look like Disney World.

“No, they don’t.” He turned on his heel and walked right out the front of the station. “You’re being released into my custody until your court date in two weeks.”

Two weeks. She couldn’t even summons up something cute to say. Two weeks without her laptop. Or credit cards. By the time she got back to California, she would have been away from her computer for almost a month. Her employer wasn’t that patient. She had about two hundred dollars in cash shoved into her suitcase, but not enough to pay for a hotel for that long. Or buy a new laptop. And Trevor, in his big brother way, had already canceled her credit cards and had new ones sent to his house, promising that he’d work everything out.

She jogged after Cameron across the mostly empty parking lot, her black, high-heeled boots making it somewhat tricky as they crunched on the sandy gravel. An early January wind punctuated her freedom as it rushed over her face and whipped through her hair.

“Why are they releasing me to you? What about my boyfriend’s car? They’ve impounded it. Why will it take two weeks? I didn’t steal anything, you know. I have no idea what happened to my wallet. Why doesn’t anyone believe me?” She forced her lips together, locking in her next seven questions.

Rambling would give away how much sitting in jail had affected her. She didn’t care about the car or getting back to the perfume counter. She needed her laptop like she needed to breathe.

Cameron stopped. He set his hands on his hips, still facing away from her. It was hard not to take a second and enjoy the view.

What she’d thought was the same lean frame from high school turned out to be quite muscular. Not the big, bodybuilder type muscles like Brian but with defined muscles evident underneath Cameron’s shirt when he rolled his shoulders in annoyance.

She’d watched him the same way at football camp the night he knocked a kid out for what he’d said to Trevor. The guy was a few inches taller than Cameron, but her teenage crush had laid him out in one fast punch. That was the second time that summer that Cameron had looked directly at her before he’d turned and walked away. And now her fighter was a cop.

He spun around and took two steps. “Fine. One question at a time. What do you want to know?”

Oh, the good-looks gods had kissed him thoroughly at birth. She closed the distance with a subtle sway to her hips. Grabbing a man’s attention when walking into a room came easily. She’d practiced it enough.

Too bad it didn’t work…again.

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