“Are you getting ready to move into a new place together?” the guy taking the picture with us asked. “Is that why you’re shopping?”
“I’m helping Xander get a few things he’s missing at his place,” Cami replied.
“We just started dating,” I added. “Give me some time to convince her to move in with me.”
Several minutes later, we were back to shopping.
“I don’t need cutting boards to make waffles,” I insisted when we got to that section.
“True, but we already agreed that waffles would be your gateway recipe.”
Her response made me laugh. “So, you think I’ll start with waffles, and before long I’ll be making eggs benedict?”
“It’s possible,” she replied.
“I don’t need a cutting board for eggs benedict,” I argued.
“What about vegetables?” she asked.
“I get the ones that are already cut up,” I told her.
“Not all vegetables come that way,” she pointed out.
I shrugged. “The important ones do, but I’ll trust you on the cutting board.”
“Are you okay with me grabbing this much stuff?”
I almost laughed in response. “You’re just now asking me that question? The cart’s almost full.”
“Sorry.” She sounded more amused than apologetic. “I got a little carried away.”
I gestured to the cart. “All of this stuff is why people think we’re moving in together. We should probably check out now, unless you think I need anything else.” I’d been patient, but it was time for our talk.
“After this, we can pick up groceries,” she said with a bright smile.
“Let’s drop everything off at my place first,” I suggested.
“It’s getting late,” she argued. “There should be room for the groceries as long as we don’t buy too much.”
“Fine,” I reluctantly agreed. It seemed I’d have to wait a little longer to get Cami alone.
Chapter 22
Cami
I needed to talk to Xander about the kiss and what we should do next, but I wasn’t sure where to start or even what to say. Bentley’s suggestion kept playing in my mind. I liked the idea, but I was concerned about how it would affect my friendship with Xander. I parked in the driveway and walked up to Xander’s front door.
He’d parked in the garage and met me at the front door with a smile. “Come on in. I brought in the groceries. The rest of the stuff can wait until later.”
“We’ll need some of that to make waffles,” I pointed out.
“Don’t worry about it. I ordered pizza on the way over,” he replied. “It’s late, and I figured we need to talk.”
“I suppose we do.”
“Let’s go sit in the living room,” Xander gestured for me to follow him. To those who didn’t know him, they might think he was totally at ease, but he seemed nervous to me. Normally, he'd have already made some flirty comment or gesture. When we were both seated, him on the loveseat and me on the sofa, he spoke again. “I kissed you, and I’m not going to apologize for it. Right after it happened, I thought I should because I’d gone past the boundaries we agreed upon, but screw it. We both wanted that kiss, and it was great. Why regret something we both enjoyed so much?”
“You’re right.”
He looked taken aback by my response. “That was much easier than I expected. I thought you’d argue with me or try to play it off as no big deal. I even thought you might call it another practice kiss.”
“That wouldn’t be fair to you,” I replied. “Yes, we crossed boundaries, and I made no effort to stop you. Our last kiss wasn’t a practice kiss. If I'm honest, even the first one was more than a practice kiss.”
Xander nodded. “It was definitely more than a practice kiss. I should probably say this now so it doesn’t continue to be the elephant in the room. As you already know, I like you, and I’d love to be more than your friend. Just because I’m hoping for more, doesn’t mean I don’t know where we stand.”
“There’s a difference between knowing where we stand and accepting where we stand,” I pointed out.
“There is,” was his simple reply. It worried me that he didn’t say he accepted that we were just friends, but it didn’t surprise me. “So, what now? I’m still fine with continuing to pretend to be your boyfriend.”
“Are you really?” I carefully watched his reaction to my question. “Are you sure you’re okay with this not being real? I’m not in the right place to date anyone. You know what’s going on and why I’m not dating.”
“You don’t need to explain yourself, babe,” he assured me. “I understand why you don’t want to date, and I respect that. All I need to know is what you want to do regarding us pretending to be a couple.”
“I’d like to keep doing that,” I replied. “As long as it’s not going to hurt you. I don’t want to hurt you, Xander. You are a great guy and a good friend—one I don’t want to lose.”
“You aren’t going to lose me,” he assured me.
“But you’ve already admitted to wanting more than I can give,” I argued. “This could end with you getting hurt. It could end with you being disappointed.”
“I could end up kissing you again.”
My eyes widened and drifted to his mouth before I caught myself and met his gaze again. I didn’t miss the amusement dancing in his eyes. He knew what I was thinking. When he started to rise, I held up a hand and shook my head. “No kissing. We need to talk, not kiss.”
He chuckled and continued to move toward me. “I promise I’m not about to kiss you, unless you ask me to kiss you. Then I’ll have no choice.”
“Xander,” I warned.
Ignoring my warning, he sat beside me and slipped an arm around my shoulders. “Stop worrying so much. If you want me to continue pretending to be your boyfriend, I will. If not, we can stop tonight. You’ve already promised to teach me how to make waffles. Even if you back out of this fake boyfriend deal, you can’t back out of the waffle deal. I get my waffles, no matter what you decide.”
I laughed because that was so Xander.
Chapter 23
Xander
Cami was laughing, which was a good start. I was about to say more when she shocked the hell out of me with her next words.
“Bentley thinks we should try a friends-with-benefits relationship to work through the attraction between us.”
I opened my mouth to speak, but no words came out. What was I supposed to say? On the one hand, I wanted more than friends-with-benefits. On the other hand, it was a start, and I liked any arrangement that allowed me to get naked with Cami.
“I’ve shocked you into silence,” Cami said with a nervous laugh. “I never thought that would happen.”
Reluctantly, I removed my arm from her shoulders, not because I wanted to so much as because it seemed like the right thing to do under the circumstances.
“I didn’t expect you to say that,” I admitted. “So, you talked to Bentley about the kiss?”
“She’s my best friend,” was her response. “I’m sure you talked to at least one member of the band.”
“I didn’t,” I replied. “Of course, I don’t mind that you talked to Bentley. I wanted to talk to my friends about the kiss, but I was worried it would make you uncomfortable.”
“Why do you have to be such a nice guy?”
A sharp bark of laughter escaped my lips. “Do you want me to be an asshole?”
“It would make this a lot easier,” she replied. “It would be easier to decide what I want to do.”
“Would it now?” I asked with a grin.
“Yes. If you were a jerk, I could sleep with you and get this whole thing out of my system. Instead, I have to worry about hurting you and damaging our friendship.”
“Listen, babe, I know you’re worried about hurting me, but you don’t need to be,” I assured her. “I like you, but it’s not as if I’m in love with you. My heart won’t get b
roken if we don’t end up together. I think you’re hot as hell, and I’m dying to strip you naked and do some things that would get me slapped for mentioning them.”
“What kind of things?” she asked in a breathy voice.
I practically groaned. Her question had my dick stirring in my pants. “Are you telling me you want to explore this friends-with-benefits option?”
“No,” she replied quickly before letting out a sigh and admitting, “Yes, I want to explore that option, but I’m not sure it’s a good idea.”
“Maybe we should talk about this after you’ve had more time to think,” I suggested. “We can keep up our fake relationship, and you can let me know when you want to find out what I’ll do once I strip you naked.”
It was Cami’s turn to groan. “That’s not playing fair.”
I smirked. “I don’t have any intention of playing fair. You should know that up front. I plan to play dirty, very dirty.”
Cami’s tongue darted out to wet her lower lip. “You seem to be playing dirty now.”
“I’m done playing dirty for now,” I assured her. “Your friendship means a lot to me, so I’m not going to make things awkward by pressuring you to make any decisions. Do you want to watch a movie? The pizza should be here any minute.”
“I should probably head home,” she replied. “I’m not saying that because of our conversation. I’m exhausted. It’s been a rough couple of days. I also need to go out to check on a hospitalized patient tomorrow morning before my appointments.”
“No pizza?” I asked.
“It’s tempting, but since we’re skipping tonight’s cooking lesson, I think I’ll just go home and eat my leftover Thai food,” she replied.
“All right,” I agreed. “What’s your schedule like for the next few days?”
“I’ll be busy all day tomorrow,” she replied. “My schedule is spread out, so I’ll be in the office from eleven until nearly nine. I’ll look at my schedule, and we can figure out times we’re both free. How does that sound?”
“Sounds good,” I told her. “I’ll text you my schedule tomorrow morning. I have practice, one day of recording, and an interview this week.”
She nodded, and I walked her to the door. After I closed the door, I grinned. It had definitely been an interesting evening.
Chapter 24
Cami
I woke up with tangled sheets and my hand pressed between my legs—again.
“What is wrong with me?” I muttered as I forced my hand away. Masturbating to thoughts of Xander wasn’t an option; that’s what I kept telling myself. I still hadn’t decided what I was going to do about Xander.
Throwing off the blankets, I headed to the bathroom to shower. My body was throbbing with need, and it wasn’t letting up. Finally, after washing my hair, I gave in and slipped my fingers between my legs. I want to say I exercised enough self-control to avoid thinking about Xander while I touched myself. I’d already told myself to stop fantasizing about him, so I want to lie, but I won’t. I was picturing Xander’s tongue everywhere my fingers touched, and it wasn’t long until I cried out with my release.
“What am I doing?” I muttered as I finished my shower.
Once I made it back to my bedroom, I saw my phone flashing. I had three messages and five missed calls.
Mitch: Why aren’t you answering your phone? We need to talk.
Mitch: Call me back.
Mitch: It’s urgent. Call me.
With a sigh, I stared at my phone. The last time we’d broken up, Mitch had called me to say hi every once in a while, but it had been nothing like this. When my phone rang, I was tempted to send the call to voicemail and block his number. Instead, I decided to have one last conversation with Mitch. If he still didn’t take the hint, then I’d block his number.
“Hello,” I answered, trying not to sound exasperated.
“Why didn’t you answer my calls before?” he demanded. “I have a meeting this morning, and I don’t have time to play games.”
“If you are going to talk to me this way, I’m hanging up,” I warned.
“Sorry,” he immediately replied. “I’m just frustrated. One of my coworkers saw the news about you and that Xander guy. Tell me it’s not true.”
“It’s true. After you and I broke up, Xander asked me out.”
“Were you cheating on me with him?” he demanded.
“No,” I assured him. “Mitch, you and I weren’t back together very long, and it was a mistake. I don’t want to become the perfect corporate wife, and I’m never going to use my relationship with one of my patients to benefit you.”
“Do you have any idea what this is doing to me?” Mitch asked. “Don’t you care how this affects me and my career?”
I had no idea how my relationship with Xander could affect his career, but I also didn’t care enough to ask. “I need to go.”
Mitch was quiet for so long that I began to wonder if he’d hung up before he spoke again. “This won’t last. You’re not some rocker groupie slut.”
“Even if it doesn’t last, you and I are over. Now, I really do need to go. I have to be at work soon.”
“You’re lying,” he accused. “I already know it’s your late night at the office.”
“And there are times when I also have early appointments, not that it’s any of your business. Please, don’t call me again.”
I ended the call without waiting for a response. When my phone immediately started ringing again, I sent the call to voicemail and added Mitch’s number to my auto-reject list. I’d tried reasoning with him. It seemed like the only solution left to me. With any luck, between not being able to talk to me and seeing me dating Xander, he’d take the hint and leave me alone.
Chapter 25
Xander
It was basically my day off. There was no practice or recording on the schedule, and I’d handled the interview questions I’d received the day before.
My phone buzzed, and I grinned when I saw it was my mom calling.
“Hi, Mom.”
“You have a girlfriend?”
I suddenly felt like the asshole of the year. It hadn’t even occurred to me to fill my mom in on what was going on. “I should have called you.”
“Yes,” she agreed. “You should have called me. Tell me all about her. I hear she’s a child psychologist. I’ll bet she’s wonderful.”
“She is, but we’re not really dating.”
After telling my mom the abbreviated version of what was going on with Cami, I waited for her response. I’d left out a lot, like the kisses and the possibility of a friends-with-benefits arrangement. I didn’t need to tell my mom everything. It was bad enough she heard stories about me with groupies.
“You really like her.” I heard the smile in her voice.
“Yeah, I do.” Why lie to my mom? “She’s not interested in dating at the moment, so don’t get any big ideas. I’m not saying we won’t end up together, but she wants time to work through some stuff.”
“I guess it’s too soon after her last break-up,” she remarked thoughtfully.
“It’s more than that, but I don’t want to go into any more details,” I told her. “Cami might not like me talking about what’s going on.”
“She has to give you a chance. You’re such a sweet young man.”
I let out a bark of laughter because only my mom would say something like that. I wasn’t a dick. Even the groupies I hooked up with were treated well by me. I’d never hit a woman, other than fun spankings. Still, with my lack of internal filter and tendency to say inappropriate things, I was sure most wouldn’t describe me as sweet.
“You know you’re a great guy,” she insisted. “When are you coming back down this way? I miss you.”
“I miss you, too,” I told her. “I have an interview on a talk show that films in LA next month. I’ll be down there for a couple of days.”
“Send me your schedule so I don’t plan anything,” she told me.
�
�I’ll double check the dates and email you,” I assured her.
For the next thirty minutes, my mom updated me on everything new in her life and grilled me more on Cami. Despite me telling her Cami wasn’t ready to date, my mom was already talking about having Cami go with me when I went to LA.
“She has patients, so she can’t just take off and go to LA.” It didn’t make sense to point out again that Cami wasn’t dating me. In my mom’s eyes, it was only a matter of time.
“I guess I can see her when I come up there to visit you.” She didn’t give me a chance to reply. “Oh! I didn’t realize it was getting so late. I have a pottery class. I love you, Xan.”
“I love you, too.”
After I got off the phone, I just shook my head and grinned. I was surprised by my mom’s reaction since, typically, only my sister pushed me to settle down. Cami was lucky my mom didn’t have her number, or she’d be getting calls to talk about all my wonderful virtues.
Chapter 26
Cami
What a day!
I’d arrived at work to find a huge bouquet of red roses from Mitch, once again proving he didn’t know anything about me. I’d never cared for roses. I couldn’t stand the way they smelled. My mom had always worn some perfume that reminded me of roses, and it was hard to think about anything other than my parents arguing when I smelled them now. Mitch, of course, had no way of knowing that since we’d never talked about my childhood. Mostly, we’d just talked about his career goals.
The note with the flowers said he wasn’t giving up on us and that I could call him any time. He was beginning to scare me. As a psychologist, I’d seen this kind of obsessive behavior before, and it never ended well. I also knew how hard it was to get the police involved when no threats had been made. Mitch simply made me uneasy. In the end, I’d talked to the head of security for the building and asked them to keep an eye out for Mitch. They couldn’t ban him until he became a problem, but they could warn me if they saw him enter the building.
Rocking Perfection Page 7
