Page 7 of Two Is Better Than One

"I love you," I said to her. "I hope you know that. I don't take it for granted that you're here with me, traveling with me, helping me."

"Mine is an amazing life, Summer. I should be thanking you. In fact, thank you. I love you, too, and I'm happy we get to do this stuff together."

I almost regressed to my teenage self and got wide-eyed and asked her what she thought of Casey Morgan, the bodyguard, but I didn't mention it. I held my tongue.

I was happy I had done that because Casey was waiting in the living room when we went out there. I knew we had been in the bathroom for a while, but I was still a little surprised to see him changed and wearing nice clothes, sitting in my living room. He stood up when we came out. His hair was still damp and it was combed back neatly and laying on his shoulders to dry. I was unreasonably attracted to this man, but I acted like my attraction didn't exist at all. He would be out of my life soon enough.

"I thought I saw you at the pool," I said to him.

"You did. My friend works down the street, and she met me here to help me with some exercises for my arm."

"I thought it was something like that," I said. "Are you feeling better, your arm?"

"I am, actually. Caitlyn's really good."

"I have a friend named Caitlyn," I said. "She also lives here in Miami, but it's not the same woman you were just in the pool with. My friend is a singer. Caitlyn Beckett. She was one of the girls I went to meet at the restaurant yesterday."

"I remember seeing her," Casey said with a nod.

"Hey, do you know anyone who could maybe fill in for my sister at that art thing tomorrow?" I asked Casey, coming to stand in front of him.

Sometimes, when I let my guard down and felt comfortable around people, I let sentences come out of my mouth before I fully thought about them. I could tell by the way Casey was looking at me with a dumbfounded expression that this was one of those times.

"Tomorrow," I clarified. "My sister wants to go to an art gallery during the day, and you're going to be with me on set, so I was wondering if you knew anyone who could be her security guard for a few hours tomorrow."

"Oh, I do, actually. I'll have to find out exactly what time and ask him, but I do know somebody I can ask."

Chapter 4

AJ Cameron

AJ had been in Florida for seven or eight months. He was working the whole time, but it was like a vacation still. His job was doing physical work for a landscaping company. He worked early mornings loading and unloading heavy materials, working for someone his uncle knew.

AJ graduated from Notre Dame last spring, and he had a desk job in sales lined up when he got back home. For now, he was spending a year in Florida with his uncle and cousins. He was working thirty hours, in the mornings, but it was physical work and not mental. He looked at his time in Florida as a working vacation. He would be leaving in the summer to go back home to Chicago and start his full-time job. In the meantime, he was working and playing hard.

Physically, he was in amazing shape. In addition to lugging things all day, AJ also went to the gym with his cousins. They were competitive and they pushed each other, and after nearly a year in Florida, AJ was bigger than he had ever been. He labored tirelessly during the week and he partied tirelessly on the weekends.

AJ was saving no money whatsoever during his trip. But he was also spending none of the money he had before going there. Whatever he made during the week, he spent on the weekends. He didn't dip into his graduation money or any savings—he only spent what he made every week, working with the landscaping crew.

He bought his own food, but his cousin, Casey, had an apartment that was large enough for both of them, and he didn't charge AJ anything to stay there. He was out of town with work and was happy to have someone living there while he was gone.

Casey had been injured at work a few months ago, and AJ had offered to stay with his Uncle Max who had a bigger house and was also out of town a lot. Casey liked having AJ around, so AJ stayed there even though his cousin had been back in Miami full-time recently. AJ wasn't home a whole lot, anyway. He worked hard, and had a nice budget to go out on nights and weekends.

So far, his trip had been a blast. He knew he couldn’t maintain this forever, but he had no regrets about finishing out the year in this same manner. There was always a party in Miami, and he planned on attending quite a few more of them.

If AJ wasn't busy making new friends, he spent time with family. He and Casey often went to Max's house since he had a boat, a pool, and other things they liked to use, including a stocked pantry.

Caleb and Charlie, Casey's brothers, both lived in town as well. They both had nice houses with fun water toys, so AJ was never at a loss for something to do or someone to hang out with. At the moment, he was tired and getting off work for the day. He had been outside working since 7am, and it was now 2pm. He planned on going straight to Casey's and then deciding what to do that evening.

He had two missed calls from Casey. AJ called him back as he headed toward his truck.

"I called you twice," was how Casey answered the phone.

"I know. I just now saw it. I've been working."

"You don't glance at your phone?"

"Not really."

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