The Duet(62)

Derek glanced toward me. “The little sister! I didn’t realize you’d be visiting.” The touch of mischief in his eyes was impossible to miss.

Footsteps behind him drew my attention to the stable door right as Jason stepped inside. I didn’t want him to, but still, he stole all of my attention. His hair was pushed back out of his eyes probably from the sweat that had also gathered across his neck and chest. His flannel shirtsleeves were rolled up to his elbows and the top few snap-buttons were undone. He had on a pair of dark brown leather work-boots and some faded Levi’s. Holy shit. Mr. Brooding Musician looked edible.

Just like everyone else, Jason’s gaze flashed back and forth between the pair of us before finally pausing on me. A slow smile unfolded as he stepped toward me, but he paused a few feet away. I didn’t expect him to wrap me up in a hug or a kiss. He never touched me when other people were around. Another unspoken rule. But it still hurt to realize that we looked like two passing strangers. I had to pretend that I didn’t want to tackle him, that I didn’t know what he looked like beneath that flannel shirt.

“You look just like you do on TV,” Cammie said, beaming at Jason. She wasn’t one to get star struck usually. We’d been around enough celebrities in LA for her to get used to them, but apparently Jason Monroe was a different story. Her cheeks were flushed and she was beaming from ear to ear. She looked absolutely gorgeous and for the first time in my life, I wanted to push my sister into the pile of horse poop sitting inside Dotty’s stall. Wow. Territorial much?

Jason stepped forward to shake Cammie’s hand, and I stared at their hands touching, wondering what the hell was wrong with me.

“We’ll be out here the rest of the afternoon, but maybe we can all do something fun after dinner,” Derek said, beaming at Cammie.

“Yeah, sure, sounds great,” I said, moving toward the door. I hated the dark, twisted feeling settling into the pit of my stomach. I hated caring that Jason might think my little sister was hot. I hated wondering what the hell was going on between us. And I hated not being able to look him in the eye as I passed by him for fear that he’d see all my emotions written across my face.

It was probably time to tell Cammie the whole truth.





Chapter Twenty





“Tell me something I didn’t know, slut monkey.”

My mouth dropped open. “Are you serious?”

Cammie rolled her eyes and sat up on my bed across from me.

“I’m your sister and your best friend. Well, pretty much your only friend, let’s face it. Of course I knew there was something going on between you and Jason. There’s no way you’d be able to resist while living with that man.”

My mouth dropped open even wider and I wondered if my jaw was about to become unhinged.

“The problem is, I can’t figure out exactly what is going on,” she said, narrowing her eyes on me.

“Just sex,” I answered quickly, clarifying that fact for her and for myself.

Cammie pursed her lips and rolled her eyes. “Okay, great. So you won’t mind if I try and hook up with him next, since it’s just a sex thing?”

“That’s not even funny, Cammie,” I said with a sharp tone.

“My point exactly,” she said.

I pushed off the bed and straightened my blouse, suddenly pissed off at the world as a whole. “I’m going down to help LuAnne with dinner,” I said, leaving my bedroom and closing the door behind me with a sharp slam. My heart was beating a mile a minute, so I pressed my back against the doorframe and rested there for a moment, collecting my feelings and shoving them back down where they belonged.

Jason had made it perfectly clear that things were complicated for him and that he wasn’t interested in anything beyond sex. Which meant, if I wanted things with Jason to continue, I had to follow his rules. But in that moment I realized that my body and my head were no longer on the same page. I wasn’t sure how much longer I could keep playing this game, pretending that I wouldn’t end up as the sole casualty when everything was said and done.

A moment later, the front door opened and closed. I jumped off the wall and pushed my hair behind my ears, trying to get ahold of myself in case Jason was about to walk up the stairs. I held my breath, waiting for footsteps, but then I heard Cammie moving around in my room, and I knew I had to move. If she came out to see me standing there, she’d know something was wrong.

LuAnne put me to work in the kitchen right away and I enjoyed every second of it. The busy work made time pass quickly and it kept me focused on chopping vegetables. Once I was done with my first task, LuAnne put me on chocolate cream pie duty and I, of course, obliged. I’d never made one before, but she gave me a recipe that was easy to follow. I was gathering ingredients from the pantry and refrigerator when I felt Cammie’s arms wrap around my stomach.