Page 60 of Stray for You

Julian bustles about the kitchen. He lifts a lid off a big pot on the stove and peers through a cloud of steam into the boiling water below. Replacing the lid, he flicks on the oven light and crouches down to check in there as well. The smell of chicken and something savory and rich overwhelms my nose from this close, but that isn’t the only reason I swoon when Julian pops back up to his feet and notices me at last.

He freezes. I freeze. The whole world seems to rush past us while we stand trapped in our own private moment of startled confusion. We’re like stones in the middle of a raging river, letting the water gush past while we hold still.

“What are you doing here?” I finally say. “How did you even get here? How do you know where my mother lives? How… How did any of this happen?”

A smile warms his face. It isn’t his usual teasing smile,however. This is soft and cautious, almost nervous, if I believed Julian was capable of nerves. He’s always been aggressively confident in everything he does, especially when it comes to people.

“Okay, slow down,” he says. “First of all, your mom gave me the address. She picked me up so I could start dinner while you were at work.”

His answer only leaves me more confused.

“My mother drove you here? Why were you talking to my mother? There are several pieces missing here, Julian. You need to start explaining.”

He shifts from foot to foot, starting and stopping several times before he finally manages words. Seriously, what is this? Julian isn’t nervous and anxious. That’s my job.

“Okay, Cam, listen,” he says at last. “Things got kind of weird last night. Then you had work today, and I couldn’t do anything but sit around and wonder where it all went wrong. So I asked my mom for your mom’s number and…”

“Youwhat?”

He flinches at the heat in my voice.

“I was desperate!” he blurts.

“Desperate? Desperate for what?”

“For you, idiot,” he says. “I was desperate not to mess this up with you. Because I love you. …Oh, shit.”

He clamps his teeth together instantly, but no amount of grinding will cage the words that slipped out of him. They hang between us, as thick as that silence that enveloped us last night.

He loves me? Helovesme? Julian Brooks cannotloveme. Julian Brooks is a nuisance who nearly became my step-brother until he went and ruined it for our moms. He’s a mistake I should be fixing, a temptation I should be resisting. I haven’t, and now he’s in my mother’s house saying helovesme.

As I stand there stunned, Julian steps closer and scoops myhands up in his.

“Cam, I love you,” he repeats. “I have for a long damn time.”

“You were such an asshole.”

“I was a kid,” he says. “A kid desperate for your attention. If the only way I could get it was by annoying you, that seemed better than nothing. Then you moved out here and I thought I’d lost you forever. I never dreamed of getting a second chance, but I got so much more than that. It’s only been a few days, but I’m addicted to this, Cam. I’m not ready to let it go. I’m not ready for it to be a fling we forget about. And I kind of think you aren’t either.”

He peers into my eyes, his a glassy, almost iridescent blue as he searches for something in my gaze. He looks like he could blow away on the breeze, as fragile as dandelion fluff.

“Julian, you shouldn’t even be here,” I say. “This is crazy.”

“Yeah, it is. It’s completely crazy. It’s crazy. I don’t care, though. I’m insane about you, and I’m not going to keep pretending otherwise.”

I watch the rise and fall of his chest, the uncertain flicker of his lips, the curl of his eyebrows. My throat is dry, my hands sweaty in his. This whole thing is completely unhinged. He’s suggesting we be together, and not for a weekend or a week. Like, really be together. Just last night I explained to him why that can’t be, but it doesn’t seem to matter to him.

I startle when hands land on my shoulders.

“Mom,” I gasp.

“Cameron, don’t be cruel,” she says. “Tell him you like him.”

“Mom, I…” My heart drops as I crane to look at her beside me. “But he hurt you. You caught him trying to kiss me, and it ruined your whole relationship. You were happy, and we took it away from you.”

She’s shaking her head before I even finish. “Cameron, even if that was true, it was ages ago. Stacy and I are friends.” Hervoice softens. She squeezes my shoulders. “And I don’t think our relationship is what this is really about, sweetie.”

Instantly, emotion corks my throat.

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