Page 14 of Warrior's Cross

“Because I trust you,” Julian answered bluntly. “And I couldn’t do it myself.”

“How can you trust me?” Cameron asked in surprise. “You don’t even know me.”

“I consider myself a decent judge of character,” Julian answered as he lowered his head, watching where his footsteps fell.

Would this man never stop surprising him? Cameron mused over a reply. “Thank you,” he murmured.

“That’s an odd thing to thank someone for,” Julian observed.

Cameron stuck his hands in his pockets and shrugged. “You complimented me, didn’t you?”

Julian finally turned his head to look at Cameron. “I suppose I did.”

Cameron gave another shrug. “Then it’s not odd at all.”

“What do you think of me?” Julian asked him, changing the direction of their conversation without warning.

Blake had asked him the same thing. It was a question Cameron still had no idea how to answer. Julian seemed to do that to him a lot: ask something, say something, whatever something knocked Cameron off balance. He thought back over the months of seeing Julian in the restaurant, wondering if he’d ever truly drawn any conclusions.

“I think you’re mysterious,” he admitted haltingly.

Julian started in obvious surprise. “Really?” he asked, the first word he’d spoken that didn’t seem measured.

“Yeah,” Cameron said with a shrug as they paused on the street corner. “Ten minutes total of near-silent interaction a week doesn’t offer a lot of information,” he pointed out. “So. Mysterious.”

Julian turned to face him as the snow began to fall harder. “Is that all you think of me then?”

The tone of Julian’s voice made Cameron shift to look at him. The other man had several inches on him, and Cameron remembered the shift and pull of muscles under expensive shirts and jackets, the black of his eyes as they focused on nothing but him. “No,” he murmured distractedly. “I think...”

Julian raised an eyebrow as Cameron trailed off. “I ask because I think of you,” he told Cameron quietly. “Quite a lot.”

A look of complete shock covered Cameron’s face, and he blinked stupidly as they stood on the street corner. He’dneverexpected to hear that. Hadn’t even dreamed it. “You think ofme?” he asked with a near squeak. “Why?”

Julian merely tilted his head and smiled as he watched Cameron.

Cameron stuttered a few incoherent words and then swallowed. “I did think about you,” he admitted after regaining some of his composure. “Especially after the first time you missed dinner. I mean, that first time you talked to me and then didn’t come back the next week.”

“You’re talking about the night I was hurt,” Julian supplied with an easy smile as they crossed the street and got to walking again.

“Oh. Well, I hope it wasn’t bad,” Cameron said awkwardly, remembering the sling Julian had worn.

“It’s always bad,” Julian said as he looked away, peering up into the falling snow.

Cameron’s brow furrowed. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to pry. It’s just that I wondered where you were that week when you didn’t come to the restaurant.” He paused. “It’s not my business though.”

Julian lowered his head, staring at the sidewalk for a moment before he looked back up at Cameron. “Do you really want to know?” he asked dubiously, coming to a halt on the snow-covered walkway.

Cameron stopped too. He knew to say yes would be admitting more than he wanted. But he was here, wasn’t he? He’d already forfeited any pride in the matter. “Yes?” he ventured, expecting to be rebuffed.

Julian stared at him for a long moment, his eyes raking over Cameron’s features and obviously contemplating him. “Would you believe me if I told you I was shot?” he finally asked with a mischievous glint in his black eyes.

Cameron stared at him. “Shot? Like,shot? By a gun?”

Julian tilted his head and nodded. “It’s hard to be shot with a knife.”

“So you’d been shot the week before, but you still came to dinner at Tuesdays?” Cameron looked doubtful.

“Two weeks before, actually,” Julian corrected. “I missed a week.”

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