The Real Me (How to Tame a Heartbreaker Book 4) (5 page)

"Did you just
snap
at me, sir?"

"I'm sorry for that," he said. He had the decency to look abashed. "It's just that I wasn't quite done talking to you."

She laughed and turned to take off toward the other customer.

"Just hand me that little
notebook we were talking about," he said before she could go anywhere.

She reluctantly reached into her apron and pulled out a tiny little spiral bound notepad
, placing it on the bar in front of him before taking off.

Cam looked over at Hannah and Jason with a self-satisfied expression
as if he had won the bet.

"You said you'd leave here with a date. That was the bet."

"She wants my number," Cam said, holding up the notepad.

"That doesn't count," Jason said. "She probably takes ten numbers a night. It means nothing."

"She doesn't take ten numbers a night," Cam said, annoyed. "You heard her say she doesn't date customers."

"You hardly got a date, dog. The notebook means nothing. You owe me a grand."

"The night's not over yet."

"Close enough."

"Are you giving her your real number?" Hannah asked.

Cam glanced at her with a question in his expression. "Why wouldn’t I?"

"I don't know, maybe because you're
lying to her about who you are
?"

He thought about that for a second.
"My voicemail doesn't say my name," he said, shrugging.

Hannah could see
why Cam would want to remain anonymous, but she couldn't help but be concerned that things were getting started with a lie. She thought about offering her opinion, but decided against it. Cam was a big boy who knew the risk involved.

Chapter 5

Cam left without a date that night. Jason didn't mention the bet, but Cam made a mental note to have Neil write him a check. He really wanted to stay around until Jax left, but he knew she wouldn't react well to being pushed. All he could do was hope he'd done enough and wait for her to take the notebook out of her apron and dial the dadgum phone number he wrote down.

About halfway through the next week, Cam started to feel a little doubtful that she'd call. He was extremely busy, but somehow made time to think about Jax. He was relatively sure he could recall exactly what she looked like, but wished he had the foresight to snap a photo of her when he'd seen her
last weekend.

Honestly, he didn't even think about taking a picture of her because he was almost certain she would call.
The fact that she hadn't drove him crazy. Rejection was definitely harder now that he'd gotten so used to avoiding it. The thought of seeing her again made him think crazy thoughts. He actually considered trying to get in touch with her during the week, but knew he'd have to come out and say who he was to make that happen. He decided to play it cool and wait for the next weekend when he knew she'd be working again.

By the time Friday night rolled around, Cam was officially confused by the rejection. He told
himself not to worry about it. But it wasn't just that he was spoiled and used to never being denied anything; it was because he wanted Jax so badly. He wanted her badly enough that he made a deal with himself. If she didn't go for his alias this weekend, he'd come out and tell her who he was. She'd certainly give Cam Bishop a chance.

Macy knocked on
his door at 6PM that Friday night, carrying her bag of tricks. She went right to work applying the beard and superfluous hairs. It was a process he was getting used to. The most comfortable place for them to work was with him lying on the couch while she sat and set up her things on the coffee table.

"Are you going somewhere special?" she asked.

"Naa," he said, trying not to move. He didn't share too many details even though he liked Macy and knew she was a real professional when it came to his personal privacy.

She
pulled back and took a good look at him to inspect the progress—something she did several times during the whole process. He was used to her checking it out, but what came out of her mouth when she looked at it gave him a start.

"I think we should try it a little darker.
"

Cam sat bolt upright, causing her to regard him with wide eyes. He hadn't thought about telling her to make it
exactly
the same. He just assumed she would. He used his hand to push the beard hairs upward, straining as he tried to look down at it.

He couldn't tell.

Was it darker?

"Christ Macy, I should have told you to make it exactly the same as last week. I can't believe I didn't tell you that. Did you make it darker?
Is it the same?" 

S
he smiled. "It's the same as it was last week. I'd have to make another piece to change it up. I just thought it'd be fun to play around with different looks sometime."

"It would if I wasn't—" Cam hesitated
, thinking about the fact that he'd already seen Jax with it twice and she hadn't noticed any discrepancies the last time. "I wanted it to look like it did last week, that's all."

She giggled again as she pushed him bac
k onto the couch. "I think it's exactly like it was last week," she said. "But if you need it to look a hundred percent identical, we should probably take a picture so I have a reference."

"Oh shit, I didn't think about that," Cam said stroking his new beard with a worried expression.
"Does it look the same?"

Macy studied it, trying to recall what she'd done with the hairline last week. She thought it must be pretty similar, because it looked really natural, which is what she went for every time. "Just let me
finish," she said reassuringly. "I'm pretty sure it'll look the same."

Cam leaned back stiffly as if he was still worried about how convincing it would be.

"I'll snap a picture when we're done so we'll have it for next time," she said.

He sighed and
picked up his phone to search through his photos just in case, but only found the one from a month before when he had on a mustache.

"I
thought I might have one, but I don't," he said, tossing his phone back on the table.

"I think it'll be the same," Macy
repeated. She once again pushed him by the shoulder, forcing him to relax onto the couch. "I guess you're going under cover," she said. She didn't want to come out and ask what or whom he needed to look
exactly the same
for.

"I'm just going to the same bar as last time."

"Who are you taking this time?"

"Nobody."

"Going at it alone?"

"Of course." Cam was trying to hold still, so he spoke like a ventriloquist. He was pretty good at it. It was something he and his brothers used to do all the time—mostly in church or someplace like that where you had to be quiet.

"Is there a reason why you're going to the same bar?" she asked. It was better than,
is there a girl you're going to see
, which is really what she wanted to know. She suspected there was—especially now that he got all jumpy at the thought of her screwing it up.

"Not really," he lied.

She worked in comfortable silence for fifteen minutes more before pulling back to inspect the results again. She reached out to poke and tweak a little bit before deciding to hand him the mirror.

Cam took it anxiously and held it up to see for himself. His shoulders slumped in relief the instant he looked at his reflection. "Shit, it looks the same to me," he said, stroking it as he turned from side to side, checking it out.

Macy started packing her things. "I knew I'd instinctually do it really similar. There's only so much you can do with the lace pieces."

"Yeah, if I can't see the difference, I'm sure nobody else can either." He handed the mirror back to Macy, who was otherwise all packed up.

"Have fun tonight," she said.

"I will," Cam said, giving her a sly smile.

"What's her name?" Macy asked. She didn't expect an answer. She only asked jokingly because of how excited he looked.

Cam almost lied, but, at the last second, decided not to. "Jax," he said.

"That's a cool name," Macy said, without skipping a beat. "You look good," she added. "Good luck with Jax." She held out her hand to give him a high-five and he stuck his in the air to return it.

"Thanks," he said. "I'll need it."

She just smirked at him like he must surely be joking since Cam Bishop shouldn't need luck getting any girl he wanted. She smiled and turned to leave as Cam took off for the bathroom to check out his new facial hair.

He got to the bar early so he could try to get a few minutes alone with her. He knew it was risky, but there was a chance his plan would work, and a chance was all he needed. He arrived at Bing
's before 9PM and instead of going inside, he went directly to the back door of the bar where he knew he'd find the designated employee smoking section. There were three people standing out there. One appeared to be part of the kitchen staff, one was a female cocktail waitress, and the last was a guy he recognized as one of Jax's fellow bartenders.

He drew
curious glances as he approached. "I'm trying to talk to the bartender named Jax," he said, cutting to the chase. "She said I could ask one of you guys to get her and she'd meet me out here," he lied.

The male bartender cocked his head and gave Cam a look of disbelief.
"Jax said that?" he asked.

"Yeah," Cam said confidently.

The bartender was just curious enough to investigate. He put out his cigarette even though it was not even half-done. He gently removed the cherry instead of snubbing it out so that he could finish it when he came back out. "Who should I say is asking for her?" he asked.

Cam could tell he didn't believe she'd come out. Cam barely believed it himself. He did hold onto a shred of hope, though, or he wouldn't have done it in the first place.

"Cole."

The cocktail waitress smiled at Cam when the bartender walked inside. "Where'd you meet Jax?" she asked, taking a big drag of her cigarette and exhaling into the night sky. There was a light above the nearby door, and flies and moths buzzed around it.

"Here," Cam said.

The cocktail
waitress gave him an apologetic glance as if his chances had just gone down to none at all.
Jesus, was she that notorious for being impossible to score with?
They sat there in silence for a couple of minutes before the door swung open. Jax had her dark hair in a ponytail that swung behind her as she bounded out into the little concrete slab by the back door.

She looked at Cam curiously. "What are you doing out here?" she asked.

He smiled at her and she smiled back even though she was still blatantly confused. "I'm trying to run into
you somewhere besides in there." He motioned to the back door of Bing's. "And I had no idea where to make that happen besides right out here."

The cocktail waitress
sighed like it was the most romantic thing she'd ever heard, but Jax just narrowed her eyes at him. She stalled for a second, evaluating her own feelings. This guy
tempted
her and that was something she wasn't accustomed to.

Jax never had trouble with temptation.

Straight as an arrow.

So why couldn't she make herself look away from this guy? It had to be the beard. It had the same effect as a Zorro mask—just enough of the face was concealed to provide an element of mystery. She could see by the
part that was exposed that he was a handsome guy, so she assumed whatever was under the beard was handsome too.

"Has anyone ever told you that you look like Cam Bishop?" Lindsay, the cocktail waitress asked.

Cam looked at the girl who spoke, but Jax didn't take her eyes off of him. She tried to remember what Cam Bishop looked like, but couldn't call anything to mind.

"I've been told that before," Cam said coolly
, dismissing her. His heart was pounding, and he hoped he came across cooler than he felt. Lindsay smiled and looked through her lashes at him, clearly wanting to be considered if Jax passed on his offer. Cam gave her a quick smile but turned to look at Jax.

"I'm trying to take you somewhere," Cam said, knowing they didn't have much time.

She gave him a look of regret, which made him cringe.

"You mean like a date?"

He shrugged. "If you want to call it that."

"I told you I don't
date guys I meet at work."

"That's why we'
re out here."

She glanced around. "This is still my work."

She found herself wanting to say yes to him. She smiled at the giddy feeling she experienced in the pit of her stomach when she thought about giving in. Cam didn't know what she was smiling at, but took it as a good sign.

"Sunday," he said, smiling back at her.

"What happens Sunday?"

"We'll go do something."

"I'll be at church Sunday."

Cam almost made a face that
showed how surprised he was, but managed to stop it before it crossed his face.

"I'm driving to Clarksville, the town where I grew up
, to go to church and see my daddy preach. He's the pastor of a little Baptist church up there and I go up twice a month or so to see my family and have Sunday lunch." She gave him a look of challenge, clearly expecting him to turn tail and run.

"I'll go watc
h your daddy preach if you want," he said.

She let out a laugh as if it were the most ludicrous thing she'd ever heard
, but stopped laughing when she realized he wasn't joking.

"You're relentless," she said.

"I think he's sweet," Lindsay said.

Cam looked over at the waitress. "Thank you. What's your name?"

"Lindsay."

"See?" he said, looking at Jax. "Lindsay thinks I'm sweet. I think it must be a sign."

"I'll be back in town late Sunday afternoon," Jax said cautiously. "Maybe we could have coffee or something at around five."

"Five on Sunday," Cam said. "It's a date."

"It's
not
a date."

"It sort of is."

"It's coffee."

"Fine. I'll call it coffee. But deep down
, we both know it's a date."

"
We're calling it coffee."

"Fine," he said.

"Where's this coffee date taking place?"

"I like Common Grounds," she said.