Only Her Best Friend - Cami Checketts Page 0,15

know if he were teasing. Twelve years and fame like Cruz had earned could easily change the man she’d thought he was before.

“See you tonight, Mer,” he called through the door.

Meredith deadbolted the door and ran for her bedroom.

Chapter Four

Cruz had one of the worst days he’d had in recent memory. His crew had taken Josh’s firing in stride, but the lone camera man, Scott, had to make Cruz do some shots many times to get different angles. He was working on a surf demonstration video that was supposed to go through everything from learning how to get up on a surfboard to doing the latest surfing tricks like three-sixties, flips, and jumping the wave while performing a one-eighty and changing the lead foot.

Everything he was doing should’ve been easy for him and come off without a hitch, but he had Meredith on the brain. He was worried about whoever was stalking her, worried what Josh had told her, and worried about her response to him. He realized it wasn’t fair of him to show up back in town and think she’d love him like he loved her, but he’d been stupidly hopeful.

He’d talked to Sheriff Greenwood and, sadly, had to rule out Josh being the creeper that was lurking outside Meredith’s bedroom window at night. Josh hadn’t even known her up until yesterday. That stunk because he wanted to pin something on Josh, but more importantly, it left the suspect list wide open. It could be anyone in the valley or a tourist who stayed regularly at the resort or one of the rental cabins. The men who’d abducted Cat, Iris, and Meredith were in prison or dead. Devon had checked to make sure they hadn’t been paroled or escaped, but they probably had contacts on the outside and maybe were after revenge.

Finally, they wrapped up the filming for the day. The producer wanted the video done in several different locations. It was a good thing it didn’t need to be completed today with how off he was feeling. He bade goodbye to his crew, thanked them all, and told them he’d see them in a couple of weeks. Would he? If the perp wasn’t caught, he’d told Meredith he’d stay. He would stay for her, but it wouldn’t be easy. He’d have to rearrange his schedule and disappoint a lot of kids and teenagers if he didn’t show up at the Flathead Lake Wakeboard Academy in two weeks, but Meredith needed to know how important she was to him.

How important is she? a little voice begged to know. She was very important, but if she didn’t feel the same, he couldn’t force her to.

He went home to shower and explain his plan to Cat and his dad. When he came out of the shower, he could smell fish frying and hear Cat, Stetson, and his dad’s voices in the living area. Hurrying down the stairs, he entered the kitchen and gave Cat a hug.

“Wowzers.” She whistled. “Somebody smells better than trout fried in a pound of butter. Where are you going all spiffy-like?”

He couldn’t hide his smile. “I’m having dinner at Meredith’s.”

“Yes!” Cat did a victory dance, but then her eyes narrowed. “Why didn’t she tell me about it?”

Stetson chuckled. “Maybe she didn’t want to get your hopes up.”

His dad flipped the fish and shut off the gas. “Get Cat’s hopes up? Cruz, you like Mer?”

“Welcome to our universe, Pops,” Cat teased. “He’s always loved Mer, and I’ve always tried to push them together.”

“Really? You never dated her.”

Cruz felt his neck heat up. This was going to be awkward. “I’ve always liked Mer, but I knew she was out of my league, so I didn’t pursue her.”

“Ah!” Cat protested. “Nobody is out of my bro’s league.” She gave him a significant look. If anybody understood how it felt to be torn down by their mother, it was Cat. Yet she had the confidence of Serena Williams. She grimaced. “But you are kind of known as a player online, and Mer is as beautiful, innocent, and perfect as anybody I know. Every time I try to get her to go for you she says you’re ‘just friends.’”

Cruz was the one grimacing now. “I’ve got a lot of hills to climb with her. You know I’m not a player, right, sis?”

“In my heart I know it, but have you googled yourself lately?”

Cruz blew out a breath. “Only every couple of hours,” he tried to tease.

“Oh, you!” Cat laughed. “I know