Page 41 of Brides and Brothers
“I heard that.” Easton sauntered into the entryway.
Camille tucked her hands behind her back, but that position made her feel even more guilty. She dropped her hands to her side. “Oh, I was thinking about how great my ice cream turned out. Don’t you think?”
“Sure,” Easton said sarcastically. “Just great.”
Camille glanced past Easton to the office door that separated her from Aiden. She wanted to go in there and gloat, but this might be the perfect time to drill for first impressions. “So I saw you talking to Emma for quite a while. She’s nice.”
Easton shoved his hands into his pockets. “Yeah. Nice.”
“And?” She wasn’t exactly fishing for a two-word description.
Easton was suddenly tight-lipped. With a shrug, he turned and walked back into the kitchen.
Camille folded her arms across her chest. Well, she would talk to one of the other brothers. She found Daegan at the fridge, filling a cup of water from the spout on the door. “Daegan? Hey, sorry to invade the house with all those women. They can talk a lot.”
Daegan put his cup to his mouth and mumbled something incoherent. He kept his cup to his face while he walked in the direction of his room.
It was after eleven at night, which wasn’t terribly late on a weekend for her new family. Surely someone had enjoyed their evening enough to want to talk about it. Camille gazed into the family room and saw Benson and Flynn sitting on separate couches. Flynn wasn’t approachable, but Benson didn’t intimidate her.
She casually walked over to them and slid into an armchair. They were watching ESPN football replays. Not her thing, but she wasn’t here to talk football.
“Hey, Benson. Thanks so much for telling Daisha all about potatoes. That was really nice of you.”
Benson didn’t even lift his eyes away from the screen, but he nodded. They all nodded. Was that all they were capable of? Didn’t her efforts to feed them so well mean anything to them?
She glanced at Flynn. If she hadn’t known of his dislike of her marriage to Aiden, this wouldn’t be so difficult. She could talk to anyone, except people who didn’t like her.Courage, Camille, courage!
“Flynn? What did you think of Sage?”
Surprisingly, Flynn actually made eye contact with her. There might’ve even been a smile, though she couldn’t be certain.
“Sage is awesome. She’s coming to my gig tomorrow night, and we’re going to meet up afterward. But she’s only going out with me because of my red hair. Chicks dig it.”
“Your hair?” She burst out laughing.
Flynn ran his hands through it and tossed his head from side to side so it fluffed up in several odd angles. “See what I mean?”
Camille bit her lip to keep from laughing again. “I was going to recommend my haircutting skills, but I wouldn’t want to ruin your connection to the ladies.”
“Seriously? You think I should go shorter?” Flynn’s question was so sincere it caught her off guard. Was he actually asking her opinion?
She didn’t want to hurt his feelings, so she thought about her response for a moment. “What about a touch on the sides so you can see sideburns—and your eyes, for that matter. Though, what I think would really attract girls is if you trimmed the beard.” There, she’d said it. She had been thinking it since she had met the guy.
Flynn was bewildered.
Benson, of course, hadn’t moved his eyes from the TV from the moment she’d entered the room. He did chip in a comment though. “He’s not going to shave every day. That’s work.”
“Yes,” Camille added. “An extra five minutes a day.”
Flynn rubbed his hand across his furry face. “You know Sage. What kind of guy does she go for?”
“Oh, definitely a guy whose mouth she can see.” Camille wasn’t certain if that was a lie or not. She had heard about Sage’s latest conquest in the guy department but had never seen him. It didn’t matter. Suddenly, more than anything else, Camille was dying to see what was under that beard. She threw out the clincher: “Hard to kiss a girl if you have to stop and move hair out of the way first. Want to shave it right now?”
Flynn chuckled. “Nah. These decisions take time. Well, I’m going to turn in. Night.”
After he left the room, Camille found herself in awe of their conversation. Tough Flynn sounded a bit insecure. He had askedherfor advice.
Benson turned and gave her an incredulous look, but she ignored it.
The night hadn’t been a complete loss. At least Flynn and she were conversing now. Maybe he didn’t hate her anymore. Or maybe he never had. Either way, things were rolling in the right direction.
