Page 71 of So in Love
Cam eyed the sofa.“Hey, you cleaned it off.Can’t imagine why.”He elbowed Luke, who coughed.
Jamie threw a paper clip at Cam.“Really?”
Cam easily dodged the flying office supply.“Can we sit, or do we need to sanitize it first?”
“For fuck’s sake,” Jamie muttered.“Why are you both here?”
Luke pushed Cam toward the couch, sending him sprawling onto the cushions.“What jackass here is trying to get around to is Crystal.We saw that she was here for a while.With the door shut.”Luke sat on the arm of the sofa and looked up at the ceiling.“And I may have heard some…noises.I swear I wasn’t trying to.”He gave Jamie an apologetic look.
“It’s nice to know at least one of my brothers isn’t a dick.”Jamie glared at Cam briefly.
Luke picked up the solitary throw pillow and smacked Cam in the head.
“Hey!”Cam slid to the far end of the couch.“Sorry.”He turned his attention to Jamie.“I didn’t mean to be a dick.What can I say, you both bring out the worst in me.”He grinned, and they all laughed, breaking any remaining tension.
Well, most of it.Jamie suspected what was coming next and wasn’t sure he wanted to have this conversation.
“Does this mean you guys are heating up?”Cam asked, propping his legs on the table after moving one of Jamie’s piles.
“It’s not a secret that we’re…” What were they exactly?“Together.Ish.”
Luke crossed his arms in front of his chest.“Ish?”
“It’s complicated.Actually, it’s not.It’s the opposite of that.We have an undefined relationship.We have fun together, and we’re not looking for anything serious.”Although, he had to accept things had moved past “casual.”He cared about her and was pretty sure she felt the same.He missed her when they weren’t together—he hadn’t been kidding earlier when he said he’d missed her since seeing her that morning.She was heading back to LA tomorrow for a couple of weeks, and he was dreading the time apart.
“That’s how Brooke and I started out,” Cam said.“Sort of.Ah hell, it’s all complicated, isn’t it?”He looked from Jamie to Luke.
Luke let out a laugh.“Totally.Mom keeps asking when Kelsey and I are setting a wedding date.Never mind that it isn’t any of her business, but I just don’t know right now.Kelsey has a lot of trust issues—and understandably so.”Her ex had been physically abusive and was now dead after serving time in prison.Her and Luke’s relationship was probably the definition of complicated.
And yet they were happy.And secure.“I don’t think you guys need a wedding date to prove your love or your commitment.From where I’m sitting, you look pretty solid,” Jamie said.
Luke’s mouth spread into a smile.“Thanks.Yeah, we are.Besides, it’s enough with two weddings this summer between this joker.”He jabbed his thumb toward Cam.“And Kelsey’s grandma.”
Cam shook his head, looking suddenly defeated.“You aren’t kidding.Try planning a wedding to a woman with two sisters and avery availablemother.”
Luke didn’t look remotely sympathetic.“Do you really mind?They’re a great family.”
Cam snorted, his mouth cracking a smile.“No.Theyarepretty great.Unlike Kelsey’s family—her grandma notwithstanding, of course.”
Luke rolled his eyes.“No kidding, Kelsey’s folks are a piece of work.I’m glad they live in another state.”
Jamie wondered what Crystal’s family was like.She’d mentioned them, of course, but he also knew she spent as little time in Blueville as possible.Was that because of her family?Families made him nervous after what had happened with Sadie.Sir Geoffrey had been pretty brutal letting Jamie know exactly what he thought of him—which wasn’t much.
Because of that experience, he’d kept every woman since then at bay.Until Crystal.He hadn’t meant to let her get close, but here she was.And she was already better than Sadie.She was far more supportive when it came to his quirks.Sadie never would’ve brought him an organizer or cleaned his kitchen.She would’ve lectured him about the importance of being tidy and dragged him out to spend a bunch of money he didn’t have on a fancy dinner so they wouldn’t have to eat in his messy flat.
Bollocks, why had he put up with that shit?
“Earth to Jamie,” Cam said.
Jamie blinked.“What?”
“We were talking about when Mom might be in the right headspace to turn over the family history to Kelsey.”
Jamie huffed out a breath.“Your guess is as good as mine.”
“I talked to her this morning,” Luke said.“She said she’s waiting for you to do some research.What’s the holdup?”
“I have a friend who can help me but she’s been on vacation.She might be back now, but she has to play catch-up before she has time for me.”
