The Duet(81)

When I pulled away to look up at him, he didn’t seem to know the answer to that question any more than I did.

“I had my assistant call Summer,” he said.

Yeah, that wasn’t the answer to my question. What in the world was he doing at Cammie’s graduation?

He took my confused smile as a cue to continue to explain his presence. “I wanted to check out the new crop of up-and-coming architects,” he shrugged, slipping his hands into his suit pockets. Riiiight because that made so much sense.

Regardless of his true intentions, I was happy to see my old friend. He looked devastatingly handsome, a fact which I knew Summer and Patricia were equally as happy about. If nothing else, we’d have some eye candy for the next few hours of the ceremony.

Grayson took over the champagne duties, popping the cork like a seasoned pro and then pouring us each a small glass.

“How was Montana?” he asked as we moved to stand near the glass window so that we could look down at the graduates. I had no clue where Cammie was; she’d refused my advice to bedazzle a penis on top of her cap so that I could spot her easily. Clearly, she should have listened to me.

“Montana was…”

The correct adjective seemed to elude me. Good, bad, sexy, terrible. None of them fit.

“…pretty much what you’d expect it to be,” I answered, giving him a small smile.

He nodded as if understanding, but he didn’t attempt to garner any more details. Grayson was good about that. He was a surface type of guy, even with old friends, but that’s how he preferred it, so I never tried to dig deeper. Sometimes you just have to give people their space.

The one subject I wasn’t willing to budge on though, was Cammie. I hadn’t brought her up to him in a few weeks and I didn’t know if they’d ended up contacting one other. The fact that he was at her graduation spoke volumes. I just needed to figure out if he was there for her. I smiled at the thought.

“Cheers,” I said, tipping my champagne glass toward him just as the door to the suite opened again. Wow, this was shaping up to be quite a party. Next thing I knew, Hank would be doing a strip tease for us all.

Except when I turned toward the door, it wasn’t another friend joining us.

Or at least I’d told Cammie he wasn’t a friend.

Jason walked into the suite like a man on a mission, sucking out any spare oxygen from the space so that I was left holding my breath. He shoved his hand through his hair as he scanned the five of us. When his eyes locked on me, he took a deep breath and let his hands fall to his sides.

“Hi,” he said, stepping inside the suite so that Hank could close the door behind him.

I was completely frozen in shock. My cousin, Patricia, was humming with nervous energy and either there was a mouse in the suite or she was making some kind of squeaking noise with her mouth.

“Holy shit. You’re Jason Monroe. My friends are not going to believe this,” she said, pulling out her phone. Jason blinked at her for a second and then turned back to me, clearly unfazed by her excitement. He wasn’t nearly as impeccably dressed as Grayson. Wearing dark jeans and a leather jacket, he didn’t even look like he was attending a graduation, yet there he was.

“You made it,” Summer said with a smile.

“Yes. Thanks for the info,” Jason said, dipping his head in gratitude.

Dammit, Summer.

“Jeez who else did you contact about Cammie’s graduation? Is the President about to walk through the door with Michelle on his arm?”

Summer laughed. “No, but the Pope sends his regards,” she said, sipping her champagne and turning back toward the window like she wasn’t to blame for the fact that Jason was now standing in the suite with us.

Grayson, the ever gracious business man, stepped forward to introduce himself to Jason, and when their hands touched I thought my brain would short circuit from the sheer amount of hotness in that one handshake. I’m surprised their hands didn’t fuse together.

After everyone knew everyone, and my cousin had taken half a dozen pictures with Jason, he turned to me with soft features.

“Could I talk to you outside for a second?” he asked, pointing to the door.

I stared at the suite door, trying to gather my wits. If I followed him outside, no one would be there to prevent me from jumping his bones. But if I followed him outside, I could jump his bones in private.

Confident in my decision, I headed to the door, conscious of everyone’s eyes on us as we left the suite.

“So, you’re at my sister’s graduation,” I said, crossing my arms and leaning back against the wall once we were alone in the hallway. He looked both ways and then tugged me further away from the suite, presumably so our conversation couldn’t be overheard.