Mr. Accidental Rival_Jet City Matchmaker Series_Cam

by Gina Robinson

  I was already running our next date over in my mind. Toria didn’t know it, but I’d booked a full-day adventure beginning here at the spy school. A master spy experience, customized to my exacting standards after reading Toria’s dating profile and catering it to her likes.

  As the stones and masseuse worked their magic, the tension eased out of my muscles. I was still uptight about getting that damned office space. The property manager was dragging his feet, claiming he owed some loyalty to the tenant. She was a good lady and a good tenant. No problems with her.

  He’d gotten a look at what I wanted to do with the property—bring in underprivileged kids, boys mostly, which in the manager’s mind meant delinquent, and let them tinker with electronics—and had second thoughts. Suddenly Miss Current Tenant’s playful, perfumed niceness was as appealing as more cash in his pocket. What the hell had she bribed him with? And what could I use against her? Lazer had taught me to think ruthlessly from every angle.

  My masseuse leaned down and whispered, “You’re tensing up. Just relax and let me do the work. Think happy thoughts.”

  Happy thoughts. Sure. Right.

  “Inhale,” she whispered. “Hold it. Let out a long breath.”

  I knew the relaxation techniques. I had to clear my mind. I glanced at Toria. Looking at her was not helping me think clearly. I was like a puppy dog lapping for her attention. Part of me wanted her to open her eyes and talk to me, show me some of that playful spirit I loved in her.

  I sighed, closed my eyes, and cleared my mind.

  Toria moaned softly with pleasure on the table next to me.

  My eyes flew open. What guy’s wouldn’t when a woman makes a sound like that?

  She was close enough that all I had to do was stretch out my arm to touch her, and damn, I wanted to. I balled my fist.

  Her face was the picture of relaxed pleasure. She let out another happy sigh of enjoyment. My toes curled.

  “Relax, Cam,” the masseuse said. “We’ll get to your feet and hands soon.”

  Caught.

  Toria sighed again.

  This had to stop. It was one thing to enjoy a massage, another to torment me like this. At this rate, I wasn’t going to be able to wait until Saturday to see her. And Saturday was only date number four. Ashley and her rules.

  I couldn’t block Toria’s soft sighs out of my mind. They were sexy as hell.

  The masseuse put a hot stone on a particularly knotted spot on my back. It had given me trouble since Saturday. Startled, I let out a grunt. Another smooth movement. That woman was good with a stone. I let out another involuntary groan of release and pleasure.

  Toria’s eyes flew open. She looked at me wide-eyed.

  I sighed happily. Touché. I knew exactly what I’d done. Two could play this game. I had her in the palm of my hand.

  Kiki raised an eyebrow at me. Had I never groaned for her massages?

  I held a finger to my lips. Kiki winked at me. I had an ally.

  10

  Toria

  All right. So maybe I started it. But I hadn’t moaned on purpose…

  The way Cam looked with his eyes closed. That grunt of ecstasy. It was indecent. It was unfair. It was sexy and it was cheating. What were the customers in the next room thinking? Massages had a bad enough rep. I half expected the vice squad to show up. How was I supposed to wait until Saturday to see Cam again when he was giving me ideas like this?

  When my massage was over, Kiki managed to get me up and in my robe without giving Cam a peep show. And I managed to walk back into the changing room on my rubber legs.

  I met him in the spa reception area after getting dressed. My legs felt like jelly, but by sheer will, they held my weight. I felt like a newborn colt standing on wobbly legs. I wasn’t helped any by the way my body reacted to Cam. His smile had a devastating effect on my equilibrium. I’d never had balance problems before, but now all I wanted to do was throw everything off balance. Chuck everything and spend every minute with him.

  Once again, I had to run. Once again, I dawdled, spending every second I could with him.

  We took the elevator together to the lobby. He walked me to the street.

  I thanked him for the massage. “That was…fabulous.” Somehow I kept a straight face. It felt a little like thanking him for sex.

  “My pleasure.” He grinned knowingly at me.

  I got the feeling his words were carefully chosen.

  He pulled me into a goodbye kiss. It should have been a peck. But we both lingered longer than we should have in a public kiss.

  “I can’t wait until Saturday,” he said.

  “Neither can I—”

  “Then let’s don’t. Squeeze me in. I’m at your beck and call. Coffee? Lunch? You have to eat, right?”

  I bit my lip. Coffee, lunch, whatever would be date four. Our commitment level was growing quickly. “After the punishment we went through because of our…large appetites, I’m still not sure eating together is a good idea.”

  “Ah, but the pleasure afterward.” He gave me an exaggerated lecherous grin.

  I laughed.

  “All right,” he said. “Point taken. Coffee? A drink? Liquid is good for a person.” His expression was sweetly begging. How could I resist it?

  “I wish…my schedule’s crazy…maybe Thursday before I leave for Portland?” I would practically have to double-book to fit Cam in.

  I had promised Adam’s teenage half-brother Miles I’d stop by and see him before I left for Portland. I kept in touch, but it had been a while. I was like a big sister to Miles. He’d taken Adam’s accident harder than anyone, with the possible exception of me.

  “I’ll take it.”

  “I’ll have to text you at the last minute. I have meetings…” This addiction to Cam was crazy, almost unsettling in its intensity. “If they run late…”

  “Understood.” He squeezed my hand. “Pencil me in.”

  *

  Ashley

  I met Cam for a quick bite of lunch at Pike Place on Wednesday. It was a nice day, so we stood in line at a walk-up window, grabbed some street food, and walked to the park. Neither of us had much time to spare. I only had an hour between client meetings to do this date postmortem. Fortunately, Cam was an old hand at them.

  “You’re brilliant, Ashley. I like Toria, a lot. Too much, maybe. She’s perfect.”

  I let him gush on about her, smiling to myself. It wasn’t like Cam to effuse, which was what made it so adorable. My happy matchmaking heart raced. “I never pass up a compliment. I’m glad to hear I may just have done it this time.”

  We found a bench near the water among the seagulls and settled in. Those pesky gulls were beggars.

  Cam did his best to scare them away, but any attempt was in vain. I tossed them a piece of bread, hoping to peel them off us.

  “Not only are you brilliant, but you may be right about her. Toria is very likely the one.”

  I couldn’t help gaping at Cam with my food halfway to my mouth. “I’m right? Toria is likely Miss Right?” I looked around dramatically. “How can this be? I don’t see any flying pigs?”

  He laughed and nodded enthusiastically, his eyes dancing mischievously. “Yep. Stranger things have happened, I guess. The dates are going great.” Cam casually took a bite of sandwich.

  “Dates?” I turned to stare at him. He was being too chill. It put me on my guard. “You’ve had more than one?”

  The way he grinned and tossed the gulls a bite made me highly suspicious.

  “How many more?” I said.

  He shrugged. “A few.”

  “Cam?”

  “Two.”

  “And?” I said. This was like pulling teeth. Suddenly he was Mr. Clammed Up. “Any more on the horizon?”

  “A quick one tomorrow, if she can squeeze me in and her meetings end on time. And the all-important big date on Saturday,” he said. “I’m taking her to a daylong adventure at the spy school.”

  “Five dates in a week
?”

  “Eight days.”

  “Cam—”

  He looked innocently at me.

  “Aren’t you rushing things a little?”

  He gave me the old side-eye. “When it’s right, it’s right.”

  “When you’re horny, you’re horny.” I raised an eyebrow and stared at him through narrowed eyes.

  He put a hand to his chest. “You think this is all about sex? I’m wounded.”

  “Cam? All kidding aside—”

  “Who’s kidding? I like this woman,” he said. “I may even love this woman. She’s all I can think about. Every damn minute of the day and night, even when I’m dreaming.” He blew out a breath, pulled his phone from his pocket, and shook it at me. “We’re texting constantly. She’s like a drug I need another hit of. And, no, I haven’t slept with her. Yet.”

  Cam was clearly smitten. Suddenly, he wasn’t the old, sensible Cam. He was some new animal I wasn’t sure how to handle.

  “Toria’s my soul mate,” he said before I could reply. “You should pat yourself on the back for a job done damn well.”

  It was hard to refute that. Even so, I had to say what was on my mind. “What burns too brightly too quickly can burn out just as fast.”

  He shook his head. “I had no idea you were such a cynic.” He tapped his chest. “I know what’s in here. I know what I feel. And what I feel is new and deep.”

  “All right.” Clearly, there was no talking sense and reason to him in this state. “Just promise me you’ll slow things down at least a little. Give yourself some time to really get to know each other before you make any serious commitments—”

  He laughed and tossed the gulls his last bite of lunch. “You think I’m going to leap into something?”

  I shrugged. “How would I know?”

  He turned and looked at me. “I didn’t expect this of you. Look. I’ve seen quick romances. Guys, buddies of mine, meet some woman where they’re stationed, start dating, marry within weeks before they deploy. Every one I’ve seen has lasted. Some right up until the end.”

  I inhaled deeply and put my hand on Cam’s arm. “I’ve seen those too, Cam. Don’t think I haven’t. I was a military wife, remember? Your evidence is purely anecdotal. Act in haste, repent at leisure. I’ve seen enough of those relationships, too.”

  “Don’t worry about me,” he said. “I have you, your matchmaking expertise and screening, and your gut feel about this to guide me. And I’m old enough to know my own mind.”

  “Yeah, thanks. Throw this on me.” I shook my head, smiling, but wary. “Lazer tells me you asked him to help Toria? He’s impressed with her.”

  Cam’s grin returned. “Of course he is.”

  “She’s having some trouble with her lease? Some douchebag is trying to steal her space out from under her?” I said. “Do I have that right?”

  “Yeah.” He nodded. “Pretty common situation right now. Let me at this guy. I’ll take care of him for her.”

  I laughed. That was more like the Cam I knew.

  He became suddenly serious and looked me in the eye. “I had a good talk with Lazer.”

  “Yeah?” My heart raced. I knew what he was implying.

  “He doesn’t want any impediments. Any doubts going before setting a date to marry you.”

  “Doubts?” I was stunned and felt immediately guilty. There had been half a second there after Knox came back. But it had passed quickly. “He thinks I have doubts?”

  “You didn’t hear anything from me,” Cam said. “A word to the wise—get Knox matched ASAP.”

  *

  Toria

  Thursday

  I took Miles for lunch at his favorite burger place. Don’t call me cheap. I’d given him his choice of anywhere he wanted to go, and this was what he wanted. Although it was only a half-day of school for him, we were both short on time and it was convenient and fast. I took an Uber and met him there.

  He was sitting at a booth, waiting for me when I arrived. He waved at me as I walked in with my overnight bag slung over my shoulder.

  My heart momentarily stopped. Miles and Adam had different mothers, but they both looked like their dad. Miles had been a boy when Adam was wounded in action. But now he was becoming a man and looked more and more like Adam had when we first met and fell in love. I regained a heartbeat, smiled, and waved back, racing to his table past a screaming toddler trying to escape his mother.

  Miles stood and—stiff and embarrassed, but obviously pleased to see me—let me pull him into an exuberant hug. Tolerating PDA was his way of showing affection.

  “What’s this?” I teased, rubbing his moustache. It was rather lush for a seventeen-year-old. Just like Adam, he was destined to have a thick beard.

  “Like it?” Miles’ chest puffed, reminding me so much of the old cockiness of his brother.

  I held a laugh in. “It’s awesome. Very hot. I bet the girls can’t resist you.”

  Miles was like a toddler—he looked older and more mature, almost startlingly different, every time I saw him.

  I bought him a bag of cheeseburgers, a mint milkshake, and an extra-large order of fries. We settled in at a booth so I could pick at my salad while he devoured the burgers and sucked down his milkshake. That was his usual pattern. He’d be hungry half an hour after we left, but that wasn’t my problem, fortunately.

  “Catch me up,” I said, readjusting my overnight bag next to me on the bench seat. Having the bag was a pain, but I was counting on running late and having to rush to an Uber to coffee with Cam and then immediately to the airport from there. “Tell me everything that’s going on with you.”

  “Everything?” He shook his head and rolled his eyes. “That’s a tall order.”

  “Tall order? That must mean you’re leading a busy life?”

  He shrugged. “I just joined a mentoring program for geeks like me.”

  I raised an eyebrow and smiled. “What kind of program? Tell me all about it.”

  I didn’t object to him calling himself a geek. Miles was a handsome kid, but he didn’t have Adam’s former charm and charisma. He was shy and intellectual, awkward socially around classmates and people he didn’t know well. He struggled in school, mostly because of boredom and being teased by his peers. He’d been made fun of a lot.

  It was like my question blew a hole in a dam of conversation he’d been holding back. He started talking and talking, glowing and gesturing excitedly, telling me all about this fabulous mentoring program for nerds. How the guy in charge was a veteran who understood what Miles was going through, both with Adam and life. How he had so many opportunities now. The guy, who the kids called CTO, short for chief technology officer, was trying to get them individual industry mentors, scholarships, and internships with the hot tech companies in the area.

  I listened, letting him talk without many interruptions. I was happier than I could say to see him so excited. “This CTO guy sounds cool,” I said when Miles was finished.

  Miles nodded. “He is. He’s a nerd too. He gets it. He understands where we’re coming from.”

  I was impressed. A guy who cared about kids like that was a rare gem. “Maybe I’ll be able to meet him sometime? When you have a completed project to show off to me?”

  Miles nodded. “Maybe. Yeah. I hope so.” He paused. “CTO reminds me a lot of Adam.” He looked down. “The old Adam. In all the good ways.”

  I nodded and swallowed a sudden lump in my throat. “That’s good.” My turn to pause. “Have you seen Adam lately?”

  Miles shrugged. It was a habit with him. “Just my usual visits.” He glanced up at me. “It’s getting harder to see him. He doesn’t remember…” His Adam’s apple bobbed. “I used to wish. I used to think… Now that I’m older, I realize he’s not going to get better. The old Adam isn’t ever coming back.”

  “No,” I said, and swallowed hard again, too. “Eat. Your burgers are getting cold.” I pointed to his bag. “I can’t remember the last time I had to encourag
e you to chow down.”

  “All right. I’ll eat and we can return to normal—you can talk my ear off.”

  “Talk your ear off?” I pretended to be insulted and laughed.

  “That’s what I said.” He was almost too casual as he unwrapped a cheeseburger, faking nonchalance. “You can tell me all about the new guy you’ve met.” He took a big bite that was nearly half the burger.

  “New guy?” I was stunned. I laughed nervously. How obvious was I if Miles could pick up on that?

  “Don’t mess with me,” Miles said. “You can tell me straight out. If he’s a good guy, I’m happy for you.”

  “It doesn’t bother you?” I hesitated. “Me moving on?”

  He shook his head. “Nope. Not as long as you and I can still be friends. It’s inevitable, isn’t it? Life goes on.”

  I felt a twinge of guilt. “Absolutely. But how did you know?”

  “Lucky guess. You’re happy. Way happier than I’ve seen you since, you know.” He tossed the wrapper aside and pulled another cheeseburger from the bag. “You have that same dopey expression girls at school get when they crush on a guy.”

  “Dopey? Who are you calling dopey?”

  “It’s a nice look,” he said.

  “It doesn’t bother you that I’m dating someone else?” I said.

  He shook his head. “It’s about time, if you ask me. Like I said, I’ve finally come to terms. CTO helped me see—Adam is who he is now. That’s the new reality. I was even thinking you and CTO should meet. He’s single, too. But now you found someone on your own. That’s great.”

  “I had some help from a matchmaker,” I said.

  “Whatever.” He winked. “I want you to be happy, Toria. The old Adam would want you to be happy. So spill it. Who is this guy?”

  “Sure you want to know? I can run on about him.”

  He shrugged again and hefted his bag of food. “Sure. I got time and half a dozen more cheeseburgers to polish off. You know I’m going to have to meet him at some point. To give him my seal of approval. Or scare him off if he’s a douche. Adam would want me to protect you.”

  11

  Toria

  I hadn’t counted on Miles being so chatty. Or time flying by so quickly. I was relieved Miles was finally happy and doing so well. That through this new mentorship thing he’d connected with a bunch of kids like him and now had a group of friends. That he was actually enjoying school for the first time since kindergarten. It was a joy and a pleasure to see Miles so animated. I got caught up in it. I was his surrogate big sis, after all. If life had turned out as I’d planned, I’d be his big sis-in-law.