“See, point proven.Thank you.We should all go one day.Soon.And now you know my silly secret.”The dance in the brunette’s eyes glittered when they moved to Cam again.Playful, excited, yet deep and mysterious.“It’s fun to be in the know… isn’t it?Mr.Collier?”
Cam didn’t miss the woman’s odd regard either.“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“I’m not looking,” the brunette said.
“You’re looking.”
She grinned.“You’re nice to look at, Camden Collier.Nobody ever tell you that, Cutie?”
“Z doesn’t send you enough dick pics.”
“No, probably not.Least his sees the light of day.”
“Oh, yeah?Most guys prefer theirs somewhere deep and dark.”
Most guys.
“Though none of those guys are present,” the woman said, arching a brow.“Tell me when I should stop worrying about you.”
“Stop worrying about me,” Cam said.
The stairs blocked her view of the front door, but a clatter heralded something happening there.
The brunette reversed a step and leaned backward.“You boys need some help?”
And then it happened.The culprits brought a thud of horror that might have stopped her heart.A flash of light.In slow motion, it happened so fast, one guy, two guys, a third, a light, and—shit, camera.
Leaping from the pool table, urgency fueled her haste.Guarding her face from the light that followed, her hand wasn’t enough to conceal her.She tucked her head into her neck, but in her dress, what could she—the brunette altered her course, but those guys, the tech the—shit, and a boom.Why was there a camera crew in—
“…it’s all a whirl.”
The exit was blocked by people, two women, with others behind them.She stopped, as did they.If they would just move—
“Elle,” Cam said, approaching from behind with the camera crew and brunette on his heels.Her quick glance was too much.Her other hand came up as a second shield.“Don’t leave, baby.We’ll figure this out and—
“You’re familiar,” said one of the women in the doorway while removing her silk scarf.“Why do I know you?”
The scrutiny grew and the beat of eyes on her prickled her skin.She was trapped.Snared in the cluster of people.This was bad.So bad.
The woman with the scarf lady looked closer.“You think you know everyone, Mimi.”
“I’m old, I’m not blind.Where’s my boy?”
“The sad thing about that is she’s not even talking about her own grandson,” the brunette said.
“Ah!My girl, you beat us here,” Mimi declared, bursting right past her.“Move!Move!Move!”
The tension released in a flash when another guy came up the stairs.Slow, lithe, a gait like that came with an ease that charmed the very molecules around him.At the top of the stairs, he put an arm around the other woman and gave her a long perusal from head to toe and back again.
“You win this one, Mimi,” the guy said.“Ariella Tipton, right?”
Reality crashed as every emotion rushed her.What the hell?How had he recognized her so fast?And in front of a camera crew.Had saying her real name been absolutely necessary?
Shit.
TWELVE
“YES!”MIMI EXCLAIMED.
