Page 44 of One and Only

“Greer’s wedding layout,” Poppy answered. “I told her we should invite Jax, but she said immediate family only.”

Cameron laughed. “Jax would rather pluck his eyeballs out than get dressed up for a wedding.” His face got serious, his eyes locked on mine. “Speaking of which, you got a minute? I was going to ask you about your schedule for the next couple of weeks in light of …” He motioned over the papers.

I followed him outside, stretching my arms over my head as the sun hit my face. “It’s nice out here.”

Cameron stared out at the front yard, then pulled the hat off his head. “Talk to me.”

“Well, I’ll need a couple of days off around the wedding, but we’re not taking a honeymoon or anything, so I don’t think you’ll even notice I’m gone.”

“Uh-huh. Just a couple of days off?”

“Yeah. The intern is good. And she knows the clients, so she can communicate with them if I’m unreachable, which is highly unlikely.” Under his intense eye contact, I shifted uncomfortably. “We’ll get married on Saturday, and I’ll be back to work on Monday.”

“A week from now,” he said. “Your wedding.”

“Yes.”

His eyes were unflinching, and I started getting the distinct feeling that Cameron wasn’t actually asking me about taking time off.

It was bound to happen.

And I’d known. I’d known there would be one person who tried to call BS.

Unfortunately for Cameron, someone calling me out on my really good, really well-thought-out plan was like waving a red flag in front of a really pissy bull.

“You got something to say, Cameron?” I asked. “Say it.”

“What the actualfuckis going on, Greer?” He set his hands on his hips. “Maybe they’re caught up in flowers and wedding shit and the fact that your fiancé has a chiseled jaw and big muscles, but I am with you everysingle day, and you never said a word.”

I swallowed hard because okay, that was a little bit more aggressive than I’d imagined.

Thank goodness I wasn’t intimidated by men who thought they could drop a simple f-bomb and make me back down. I’d worked on construction sites way too long to be swayed by that.

“You don’t give our family much credit,” I said. “They’re not simple, and they aren’t impressed by stupid things. They like Beckett. They met him. Saw us together. Which is more than I can say for you. You’re just stomping into the room and making really big accusations when you haven’t even given him a chance.”

Cameron’s eyebrows arched slowly. “I haven’t accused you of anything, so that’s an interesting turn of phrase.”

Fuck.

My hands went a little cold, and my heart somersaulted in my chest.

He jabbed a finger in the air. “That. I know that face.”

I turned away, blinking rapidly before he got the upper hand in the conversation. “Maybe it’s my I’m annoyed that my brother is yelling at me face.”

He huffed a laugh. “Please. When you get annoyed that I’m yelling, all you do is yell right back. Threaten to kick me in the nuts. Something like that.”

His face softened, and somehow that made things so much worse. My brother was big and strong and gruff, and he was one of my best friends. I spent more time with him than anyone else in my family. And together—with Adaline—we’d promised years ago to stay close to take care of this family that our parents had built.

I wished Beckett was with me. It seemed so much easier to face down the reality of what we were doing when it was the two of us.

But right now, I had my brother looking me in the eye demanding the truth.

No matter what plan we had, what justification we’d managed to come up with, I wasn’t sure I could lie when someone was bringing me their naked disbelief.

The longer I stayed quiet, staring out at the trees, the more I proved Cameron’s suspicions right.

He ran a hand through his golden-brown hair, then muttered a curse. “Greer,” he bit out. “You keep standing there, and I’m only going to assume the worst.”

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