Page 32 of The Bachelor

“Oh, my Oaklyn, because you don’t have an asshole-ish bone in your body. You’re, like, this innocent, sweet, gentle unicorn who deserves to be treated like a princess.”

“Nonsense.” I waved my hand across the air. “You tamed Declan, so anything is possible.”

She sighed. “I don’t think I tamed him. I think I molded him. Huge difference.”

“And how did you do that?”

Her eyes narrowed as she stared at me. “I made him want me so badly that he couldn’t breathe, and then I made him realize his life wouldn’t be the same unless I was in it permanently.” She paused, still gazing at me. “You’ll know exactly what I mean once you’re there.”

Before I could reply, there was movement at the table, and as I glanced away from Hannah, I saw Camden taking a seat beside me.

Within a few seconds, his scent wafted toward me, and I briefly closed my eyes as I took in that amber and woodsy and citrus smell.

An aroma that brought back memories of the night I’d stripped for him.

I’d touched myself for him.

There was a heat building between my legs, and I glanced down, as though I could see it.

As I looked back up, I felt Camden’s eyes on me, and a smoldering expression crossed his face, like he knew exactly what I was thinking.

“Decided to finally join us, Mr. Grumpy?”

“Grumpy?” He huffed, his stare shifting to his sister. “I needed another drink. Don’t make this into something it’s not.”

“Then, thanks for the refill … dick.”

He chuckled at his sister, a sound so sinister and sexy. “The waiter will be by; don’t you worry.”

“You could have at least grabbed me something,” I said softly. Because of the way I was positioned at the round table, Hannah couldn’t see my wink.

But Camden did.

Without pause, he said, “How would I know what you like to drink?”

He’d known the other night at his place, pouring me a glass of wine almost immediately without any prompting.

But he still had a point.

If nothing was going on between us, it was a detail he wouldn’t bother noticing.

I had to be careful when constructing my response. “Wine would be a solid guess, given that’s what your sister drinks and we’re basically the same person.”

He called the server over and ordered wine for the both of us. “Is everyone happy now?”

“That’s a start,” Hannah replied.

“What were you guys talking about when I came back to the table?” he asked. “I heard something about taming?”

“Oh, Oaklyn asked how I tamed Declan. I told her I didn’t; I just molded him.” She smiled again. “And now, he’s Mr. Perfect.”

Camden shook his head. “I’m not even going to comment.”

“How about you do something better? You give my girl, Oaklyn, some advice on how she can tame the man of her dreams. And just to give you some backstory, she likes bad boys. I told her she needs to stop looking for assholes and start focusing on good guys. Since I know she won’t, maybe it’ll help if she gets some advice from someone like you.”

His brows rose. “Someone like me?”

“Yeah, you know, you’re, like, the ringleader of the whole bad-boy club.”

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