From Best Friend to Bride (13 page)

“What are you doing?” he asked, cursing his raspy voice.

Reaching around to unfasten her bra, Megan let the straps slide down her arms. “I’m making a selfish decision. Right now, I want to go lay at the edge of the pond and get lost in a fantasy.” She met his gaze as she hooked her thumbs in her panties and pulled them down. “With you.”

He’d never been one to turn away from a challenge. No matter how many warnings blared through his head, there wasn’t a man alive who would turn Megan Richards away.

Even with the high, full trees, sunlight filtered through and seemed to land right on the perfect body she’d placed on display for him.

“What if someone sees us?” he asked.

Megan laughed. “Well, we’re pretty secluded and nobody is around. We’ll hear a car if it comes up the road. Plus I’m the only one naked, so I guess I’m the only one who should worry about being seen. Am I right?”

She quirked a brow and turned away, heading toward the deck. Cameron came to his feet and began to strip, all the while watching that soft sway of those rounded hips.

There would be no good outcome to this story. Not one. He figured he might as well enjoy every moment with her that he could, because once those warrants came through, Megan would not be throwing those sassy, sultry smiles his way any longer. She’d look at him with disdain, and the thought crushed him.

Right now, he wanted to feel her in his arms, wanted to show her he truly did love her...even if he could never say the words aloud and mean them the way she needed him to.

Chapter Sixteen

O
ut of all the spontaneous things she’d done in her life, not that there had been many, making love with Cameron out in the open without a care in the world had to top the list.

Come to think of it, making love with Cameron had topped any and all lists she’d ever made or ever would make.

As Megan pulled into her drive after dropping Cameron off, she realized they’d been out much later than she’d meant and she hadn’t left a porch light on. The street lamp was enough for her to see, but she still hated coming home to a dark, empty house.

She didn’t regret one moment of today, though. Spending the day with Cameron, not worrying about Evan or how this change in her and Cam’s dynamic would affect their friendship was quite refreshing.

Speaking of refreshing, her body still tingled as she recalled how Cameron had lifted her naked body against his and walked into the water. The water had been surprisingly warm. When Cameron had knelt down, with her wrapped all around him, and made love to her as the water lapped at their waistlines, she’d fallen completely in love with him. The moment had been perfect, the man even more perfect. And she knew she’d loved him all along, but that moment, that beautiful, special moment, had opened her eyes to what was truly happening between them.

Megan pulled into the garage, grabbed the basket from the trunk and headed to the back door. Holding up her keys toward the glow from streetlights, Megan squealed when a shadow of a man stood on her back steps.

“It’s just me.”

Heart pounding nearly through her chest, Megan gripped her keys and the basket. “Evan, you scared me to death. Why are you out here in the dark?”

“Can I stay here? At least for tonight?”

Megan stepped forward, still unable to see him very well. “Of course you can. You’re my brother.”

He shrugged. “I just...I didn’t know after the other night.”

“Let’s get inside and then we’ll talk.”

She opened the back door and ushered him in ahead of her. After flicking on the kitchen light and setting the basket on the dinette table, she turned to Evan.

“What happened?” she asked, examining his swollen eye and cut lip. This looked far worse than the injury from the other day. And this was the other eye because the other one still sported a fading purple bruise.

Evan sank into a wooden chair at the table. “Wrong place, wrong time. Story of my life.”

She wanted to tell him he’d written his own story and it was never too late to start a new chapter, but she figured all that psychoanalyzing would only irritate him even more. It would be the equivalent of teaching a drowning person to swim. Not the time.

So, for now, she’d tend to his wounds and listen. He was here because he felt safe, and she wasn’t about to run him off with all the questions swirling around in her mind or by scolding him like a warden.

“Let me get my first-aid kit.”

By the time she came back, Evan had flipped the lid off the basket and was making a sandwich.

“I can make you real food if you’re hungry.” She sat in the chair at the head of the table and checked the supplies in the kit. “I know I have some spaghetti and a quesadilla I could heat up.”

Evan shook his head. “This will be fine.”

After pulling out the things she needed to fix Evan up, she turned toward him. “I only have one question.”

His eyes came up to meet hers. Eyes so like hers, but they’d dimmed somewhere along the way. Perhaps the process had been slow, and that’s why she hadn’t noticed. Most likely the light started fading when he’d been kicked out of two schools in two years, before junior high. They’d had to move, but eventually Megan came back to her school in Stonerock because she’d missed Cameron and his brothers.

Evan’s eyes definitely lost some shine on the night their parents died. Since then he’d been at a rapid decline and spiraling into a territory she feared she’d never rescue him from.

“Are you ready to get out?” she asked.

Evan reached across the space between them and gripped her hand. “Yes.”

Relief flooded through her. “Are you on something now?”

She didn’t need to go into details; he knew exactly what she was asking.

“No. I don’t use. I only supply.”

As if that made his position any better? Megan sandwiched his hand in her grip so he’d understand how much she wanted him here, how much she loved him and would support him on all levels.

“We’ll get through this, Evan,” she promised. “But first we need to go to the police.”

“No.” He jerked back, shaking his head. “I can’t do that. You don’t know what those guys are capable of.”

Megan repressed a shudder as the memory of being held at gunpoint flashed through her mind. “I’ve got a pretty good idea,” she told him. Easing forward, she pleaded, “Cameron can help, but you have to tell him everything.”

Evan closed his eyes and sighed. “I can’t right now.”

Megan started to say something, but Evan opened his eyes and offered a weak smile. “Just let me get some rest tonight. Okay? Can we discuss this tomorrow?”

He was exhausted and broken. Megan’s heart ached for him. But he was making progress, and she wasn’t about to upset him further and risk driving him away.

The job opportunity in Memphis was weighing heavily on her mind, especially after being with Cameron again. He’d seemed stunned and speechless about her offer, but she desperately needed to know how he felt about her moving, how that would impact anything they had. At some point he was going to have to be honest with her about what he wanted.

Megan dabbed at the cut on Evan’s swollen eye with a cotton ball. After applying some antibiotic ointment, she placed a small butterfly bandage on the wound and turned her attention toward his mouth.

“If we could move away, would you go?” she asked.

“Where would we go?”

Shrugging, Megan didn’t want to give too much away about the job offer. “I’ve thought about Memphis, but I wouldn’t do anything without discussing it with you.”

“I like it here.”

Megan nodded. “If you want to escape the mess you’re in, you need to get away, and not just in theory.”

A frustrated sigh escaped him. “I don’t want to fight. I just want to rest.”

“Fine.” She wasn’t going to get anywhere right now. She had to be patient. “You’re more than welcome to stay. Will they come here looking for you?”

“I don’t think so.”

Megan finished up and started putting supplies away. “If they come, I am calling Cameron. No arguments. Got it?”

Evan straightened in his seat. “Meg—”

She held up her hand. “No. Arguments.” This was her turf, and no way in hell was it going to be penetrated by guys who were only out to cause harm.

“Fine.”

He scooted away from the table, rising to his feet as he grabbed his side.

“What’s wrong?” She started to reach for him, but he stepped back. “Are you hurt there, too?”

“It’s nothing but some bruised ribs. I’m gonna go crash.”

With that, Evan turned and headed toward the spare bedroom. Megan stared at the empty doorway, wondering how the conversation would go in the morning. Would Evan still be ready to talk about a new life or would his current fear disappear?

For now, he was safe and she wouldn’t go to Cameron unless someone from Evan’s circle showed up. She would do anything to keep her brother safe, and now that he was in her home, nobody would get through. She kept a gun for security in her closet. She’d never had to use it before, but she wouldn’t hesitate to defend her family. No matter what.

* * *

Megan was thankful today was Sunday and she could relax. She tended to work a few hours on Saturday, so Sunday was her only full day off.

Halloween was tomorrow night. She enjoyed seeing the kids in her neighborhood all dressed up in adorable costumes. She couldn’t wait until the day she got to parade her own little gremlin or witch around.

Megan had finished making breakfast an hour ago, and when Evan continued to sleep, she covered his plate and set it in the microwave. She wanted him to have a nice home-cooked meal because she doubted anyone else truly cared for him.

Her phone vibrated on the kitchen table. Glancing at the screen, she read Cameron’s message.

Still coming to the cookout at my parents’?

Megan hesitated. She’d forgotten all about the cookout and bonfire, complete with s’mores, at Mac and Bev’s. But she couldn’t leave her brother behind to go to the St. Johns’ house, and she couldn’t very well take him.

Until she knew how the day unfolded, she wasn’t going to respond.

By the time Evan woke, Megan had already cleaned the entire kitchen and dusted her living room. Wearing only his jeans, Evan shuffled in and sank onto the couch. His dark hair stood on end, the bruises over his face and along his right side more prominent this morning. He hadn’t let her look last night and she wasn’t going to coddle him today. He was a grown man, and he was here for security, not lecturing.

“Morning,” he mumbled, raking a hand over his face, the stubble along his jaw and chin bristling beneath his palm. “Thought you’d be at work.”

Megan leaned a hip against the back of her oversize chair and crossed her arms. “I don’t work on Sunday.”

“It’s Sunday? I’ve lost track of the days.” He eyed her, drawing his dark brows in. “You have plans?”

“Not really,” she replied with a shrug. “You have anything you want to do?”

Evan scratched his bare chest. “I need to get my stuff sometime.”

“Where is it?”

“All over. My clothes are at Spider’s place. He’s cool, though, so I can go there alone. I have a few things at this girl Mary’s house, but she’s probably sold it all by now.”

As Megan listened to her brother go through his list of minute belongings scattered all around, another layer of how different their lives were slid into place. He had no stability, while she thrived on a solid foundation. He had no real friends, and she’d had Cameron and his family since grade school. Evan worried about day-to-day life, whereas Megan worried about advancing in her already successful career.

Where had she gone wrong? At some point along the way she’d missed something.

“If you have plans, go on and do them,” Evan told her. “I’m going to go get my clothes and just chill here. I don’t expect you to put your life on hold for me.”

“I’m not putting my life on hold,” she corrected him, easing around the chair. Taking a seat on the edge, she angled her body to face him fully. “Do you have a plan beyond today?”

“Not really.” Wincing and grabbing his side, he started to sit up. “I know you like details and schedules, but that’s not me, Meg. I’m not sure about moving, but I wouldn’t mind staying here for a while if you don’t mind.”

Reaching out to pat his leg, she offered a smile. “You’re always welcome here, Evan. I just can’t have the group you hang around with. I’ve worked hard to get where I am and I’ll do anything to help you. Consider this your home, but if anyone jeopardizes my little world, I won’t back down. I’m not afraid of them.”

Covering her hand with his, Evan’s eyes held hers. “You should be afraid. They’re ruthless, Megan. They don’t care who they hurt, so long as they have money and drugs. Maybe I should stay somewhere else.”

“No,” she answered without thinking. “I worry when I don’t see you or hear from you. You’re staying here, where I can help you.”

The muscle moved in his jaw, and his eyes darted down, then back up. “I don’t even know if getting out is possible.”

“We’ll make it possible,” she promised.

The back door opened at the same time Cameron’s voice called out for her. “Megan?”

“Living room.”

Evan’s face went from worry for her to instant stone. “You didn’t respond earlier so—”

Cameron’s words died as he stepped around the corner and froze in the entryway. “Evan.”

The tension between these two was so thick it was like a concrete block had been dropped into the room. Still, she loved them both, and if they loved her, they’d just have to grow up.

“Evan needed a place to crash,” she explained.

Cameron didn’t take his eyes off Evan. “Looks like he was already in a crash.”

“Something like that,” Evan muttered.

They’d never made it a secret they weren’t buddies, but still, couldn’t they at least try to be civil while she was around?

Megan twisted in her seat, letting go of Evan’s hand. “What’s up?”

Cameron stared at Evan another few seconds before turning his attention to Megan. “I didn’t hear from you earlier, so I thought I’d see if you were coming tonight.”

“Actually, I probably won’t.”

“Megan, go,” Evan told her. “Don’t stay here because of me.”

She glanced back to her brother, knowing he expected her to just leave him in pain. He’d just have to get used to the fact that not everyone abandoned him. Damn it, she wanted him to see that she was here no matter what and his needs came before her own.

“I really don’t want to leave you alone.”

“Because you don’t trust me?” he asked, masking his hurt with a rough tone.

“No,” she told him, purposely softening her voice. “Because I worry about you, especially after last night.”

“You can come, too.”

Both Evan and Megan turned to Cameron as his invitation settled in the air between them.

“You’re inviting me to your family dinner?” Evan asked.

With a shrug, Cameron leaned a shoulder against the door frame. “Sure. It’s no big deal, and you have to eat, too.”

Megan held her breath, her eyes darting between the two men. She was beyond shocked that Cameron had invited Evan. That was the type of noble man he was. Cameron was reaching out all because he cared for her and—dare she hope—loved her.

“I don’t think your family would want me there,” Evan said as he came to his feet.

“They won’t mind. Come with Megan if you want or don’t come. No big deal. Just extending the offer.”

Megan caught Cameron’s gaze and mouthed “thank you” when Evan wasn’t looking. Cameron’s eyes held hers, a small smirk formed on his lips and Megan knew he was only doing this for her.

If she hadn’t already loved him, this would’ve sealed the deal. He was trying. Did that mean he wanted to try more with her, as well?