Drew hesitated, glaring back and forth between them, but Cam had enduredenough.
“Move along, Drew. For God’s sake, formysake,for the sake of our friendship… hell, for the sake of karma and peace on earth andwhatever the fuck you want, please, justgo.”
Drew ground his teeth together. “We will be discussing thistomorrow.”
Cam rolled his eyes and made a mental note to shut his ringer off. Tomorrow was Saturday, anyway. They watched as Drew stalked off towards the exit, and then Cam turned to faceCort.
Cort’s gaze was still on Drew, and Cam was once again reminded of a predator. But unlike the way he looked at Cam, Cort’s eyes now were cold and calculating. A predatoron the huntwith no trace of playfulness in his gaze.Cort glanced down at Cam and smiled. “Do you knowCPR?”
“Pardon?”
“CPR. Mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Could you save my life if I suddenly droppeddead?”
Cam shook his head. “Uh. Sort of? I was a lifeguard back in college. Is that, uh, likely tohappen?”
Cort grinned and looked over towards the elevators again. “Only if looks cankill.”
Cam groaned at the joke, but the happy bubble which seemed to surround him, surroundthem,was safely back inplace.
“Wanna tell me who that jerk was?” Cort asked easily, relaxing deeper into his stool as the elevator dinged. “The introduction only went one-way.”
Cam got the idea that if he saidno, if he said he didn’t want to talk about it at all, maybe Cort wouldn’t press him for answers. But he also didn’t want to start anything with Cort tonight -oh, please God, let them be starting something tonight!- without explaining exactly who Drew was and wasnot.
“Sorry. That was Drew McMann. Ex-boyfriend. And current head of the legal department at Seaver Tech. He’s also my older brother’s best friend, and was mine too, for a while. His dad is my godfather. My mom was his sister’sgodmother.”
Cort winced. “Ouch.”
The guy didn’t know the half of it. Hardly anybody knewanythingbeyond the stupid tabloid stories, because Cam sure as hell didn’t talk about it, not to the media and not even to his friends. But for the first time maybeever, Cam kindadidwant to talk about it. Maybe it was the whole strangers-on-a-bus thing, the freedom that comes from not knowing anything about a person, not even their last name. Or maybe it was the way Cort looked at him, like Cam’s name didn’t impress him at all. He wanted Cort - hell, he’d been half-hard for the guy since the moment he’d spied him across the room earlier. But he found he wanted Cort to know about him, too. He liked that Cortlistened.
Cam drank the last few drops in his glass and met Cort’s eyes. “Another?”
Cort blinked for a second and hesitated. “Think it’s a goodidea?”
Cam shrugged. “Define good.” Cort raised an eyebrow, but Cam propped his elbow on the bar, and set his chin in his palm, returning his skeptical look with a smile. “Seriously! I mean, if you mean good as in wise, then maybe it’s not a good idea. But if you mean good as in what would be most fun, then it definitelyisa good idea. And if you mean what’s the easiest andrightestthing…”
“The rightest thing?” Cort snickered, leaning into Cam’sspace.
“It’s a word,Kendrick,” Cam said primly. “Therightestthing, like what your instincts tell you is the right thing to do. And that would definitely be to have another drink. With me. Now. Don’t youthink?”
Cam held his breath, watching Cort’s reaction. Then Cort nodded slowly, and that funny euphoria hit Camagain.
He gestured to the woman behind the bar, who hurried over to refill theirglasses.
Cam took a slow sip of the liquid, figuring out where to begin. Sharing had never come easily to him, partly because of who his family was and partly because of his own nature. It didn’t help that he could still hear Drew’s voice shouting warnings in his head.What if he’s a tabloid reporter looking to sell your story? What if he’s a business competitor looking to steal company information? Don’t share too much, or you’ll lookweak.
He looked at Cort, at the way the man’s broad shoulders were aligned perpendicular to his own, so fucking warm and solid; at the tiny white scar on the upper corner of his lip; at the scruff on his jaw; at the intensely curious look in his eyes, like Cam was a puzzle he was piecing together and he wanted to get it right. What had started as simple physical attraction to this man had morphed into something more. He felt strong and totally in charge, even though Cort was so much bigger and more assertive than him. He loved the way Cort laughed at his jokes, like his laugh was rusty and he was surprised to hear the sound coming from his own chest. It all combined to make his attraction ratchet higher andhigher.
So, without formulating an agenda or carefully determining how much he wanted to say, Cam started tospeak.
“You probably know my parents were killed in a plane crash a year or soago.”
Cort nodded once. He didn’t interrupt to offer platitudes, which made Cam like him all the more, but his green eyes took on a vulnerable cast for a second which made Cam wonder whether he’d lost someone he loved,too.
Cam cleared his throat. “Drew’s sister Amy, who was also my brother’s fiancée, was killed too.” Cort’s head went back in surprise and Cam nodded. “Yeah, most people didn’t know they were engaged. It was a new thing. Happened only a couple of days before the, ah, crash. All of us - me, my parents, and Sebastian, plus Amy, Drew, andtheirparents, the McManns - were supposed to go and celebrate with Emmett Shaw’sfamily.”
“Wait, wait. The Mr. Shaw you were talking about before, the one who was best friends with your dad, isEmmett Shaw? The senator?” Cortinterrupted.
Cam nodded. “Yep. Yeah, he was in business with my dad a while back. They founded Seaver Tech together, along with Jonathan McMann, Drew’s dad. Dad had bought Uncle Shaw out of the business a while before the crash - I’m guessing maybe so he could use the money to move out of state and fund his whole political thing? But they stayed really closefriends.”
