Page 15 of Already At Risk
I shrugged off the question. “I was just going to walk. I live over on Liberty, so not far.”
“Then I’ll walk with you.”
“I’m more than capable of walking myself home.”
I’d been living as an independent, single woman for longerthan he likely realized. Longer than my divorce had been finalized. I was comfortable navigating the world alone.
“I know you are,” he allowed. “But you disappeared on me that night. And I’ve been spending the last six months wondering if you made it home okay, Natalie. Please don’t make me go through that again.”
His husky words made my breath hitch, requiring a second to recover. Or several seconds, longer than it usually took me to formulate responses.
“Well, it won’t be six months until we see each other again,” I pointed out. “You’ll only have to wonder until Monday morning. That’s when our next meeting is, right?”
Cameron just stared at me, his jaw hard. “I can walk you home, or I can call one of your brothers to do it. It’s up to you.”
“When I told Blake I was meeting someone from a dating app, he made me share my location with him. He’s probably sitting at home, wondering what I’m doing standing outside the restaurant.”
Cameron shucked his hands in his pockets with a nod. “See, I knew we’d get along.”
I rolled my eyes and started walking in the direction of home. Without missing a beat, Cameron picked up his stride beside me.
“So you didn’t like him?” he asked.
“Who?”
“Your date.”
“Who says I didn’t like him?”
I had no idea why I was trying to lie through my teeth.
“You said yourself that the date wasn’t a success. But even if you hadn’t, I know how you look when you like a guy, and that wasn’t it.”
My steps faltered, something that seemed like it was becoming a regular occurrence around this man. His lips twisted at my reaction, like he was enjoying it far too much, and then when I opened my mouth to try to protest—a silly idea, really—he cut me off.
“Don’t lie about it, Sunny.”
“I wasn’t going to lie,” I lied.
He lifted a brow.
“Maybe Ishouldcall Blake,” I muttered, even though I knew I wouldn’t.
I’d been trying not to bother my brothers as much as possible this week. Blake was in newly wedded bliss, having just returned from his honeymoon, and Noah was in new dad trenches, and I knew that what Cameron had told me the other day was right. I shouldn’t rely on them so much.
Cameron put his hands up in mock surrender. “I’m sorry. I’ll stop.”
I shook my head because I wasn’t entirely sure Iwantedhim to stop. It certainly would be agood ideaif he stopped, but…
“Is Chloe with Blake?” Cameron asked, veering the conversation in a different direction, like he promised.
I shook my head. “She’s at a friend’s house, working on a project for school. I was going to pick her up on my way home. They live just a block over from us.”
He nodded. “Okay, lead the way.”
I did, deciding not to argue with him about it. The tone he’d used was firm, but gentle, letting me take the first steps, and telling me he’d follow. Cameron somehow knew how to say things that didn’t bring out the fight or flight in me; he didn’t talk like Korey had, whose commands were snappy and harsh and made me feel trapped in a corner,unableto flee.
If I’d been with Korey that night at the bar, he wouldn’t haveletme leave. He would have held on tight, the same way he’d tried to do with our marriage. And the same way he was now trying to do with Chloe.
