Close to You (Fusion #2) - Kristen Proby Page 0,14
toss them in Landon’s brand-new garbage can, and all the while I can feel his hot gaze on me. Landon’s looked at me in a lot of ways over the years. He’s laughed with me, been proud of me, irritated by me, and even mad at me.
But he’s never looked at me like he’d like to strip me naked to see if I’m lying about the no-underwear thing.
With a look like that, if I did wear them, they’d be soaked by now.
“Landon!” Mia exclaims in exasperation.
“Thanks for coming,” Landon says, shaking himself out of his daze. “It was sweet of all of you.”
“You never know when one of us is going to move and need the favor returned,” Mia says with a shrug.
“I’ll hire movers,” Addie assures him, and pats his arm.
“I’m not moving,” I add, and push my feet into my heels. “I’m gonna be in that house until it’s time to go to the home.”
“It’s a good house,” Mia says. “I like it.”
“Me too,” Landon says, and brushes his hand down the back of my hair. “Thank you, Camille.”
“You’re welcome.”
“Mia and I were here too,” Addie reminds him with a sweet smile. “Just in case you forgot.”
“Thank you too, smartass,” Landon says, ruffling Addie’s hair the way he knows she hates it.
He follows us out of the house and stands on the porch as we all climb into Mia’s car and pull away.
“So, what’s up?” Addie asks from the passenger seat. She turns around to smile at me.
“Well, we just helped Landon unpack, and now I’m going home.”
“No, jerk, with you and Landon,” she clarifies.
“We’ve been friends for a long time. Do you have amnesia?”
Addie rolls her eyes and looks over at Mia. “Help me out here.”
Mia looks at me in the rearview mirror. “You’re being obtuse.”
“There’s nothing to say.”
“Didn’t look like nothing to me,” Mia says, and turns down my street. “Especially when I caught you two all cozied up in the closet.”
“They were cozy in the closet?” Addie asks, her voice shrill.
“We’re friends,” I insist. “I almost tripped on the box and he caught me. That’s all.”
“He kept watching you all day,” Addie says. “And not in the friends way, if you know what I mean.”
“Then ask him what’s up,” I reply. “Also, I need to talk to you about Steven.”
“Trying to change the subject,” Mia mutters as she pulls into my driveway.
“That’s just a side benefit,” I reply. “I want to hire Steven to bus tables. He could use part-time work.”
My siblings are both significantly older than me, and have children that are closer in age to me than they are. I was an afterthought for my parents. Despite my not having a close relationship with my brother and sister, Steven and I are super close. He’s more like a brother to me than anything, and I feel an obligation to look after him, especially since his parents moved to Seattle last year.
“No problem,” Addie says. “Can he start this week?”
“He can start whenever you tell him to. I’ll text you his number. It’ll seem more official if you’re the one to call him. Use your scary-boss voice,” I reply as I climb out of the car and wave on my way through the front door.
“Meow.”
“You know, you could give me three minutes to take my shoes and jacket off before you start demanding food,” I inform Scoot, who simply watches me shrewdly. “Not gonna wind between my legs, huh? You only do that to humans who don’t feed you?”
Scoot blinks, not finding me humorous at all, and follows me into the kitchen just as my phone rings.
“How was it?” I ask immediately.
“Well,” Brian replies with a sigh, and I know immediately that it didn’t go well. “I left before dessert.”
“Why?” I frown and shake cat food into Scoot’s bowl, then grab a bottle of water from the fridge and lean against the counter, listening.
“Because when you texted me during the date, she wasn’t impressed that I’m still friends with my ex-wife.”
“This is why you need me to find you someone new!” I insist, and slap the counter. “Anyone I set you up with won’t care that we’re still friends.”
“Cami, you really need to stop trying to set me up,” he says with a laugh. “I don’t need the help.”
“Whatever. The bimbo you dated two weeks ago tried to date-rape you and the chick from last night was a jealous bitch.”
“Both of those points are exaggerations,” he says, his voice dry.