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Their food has been delivered by the time they make it back to the table. Carrie and Chloe wait until they’re seated before digging in, which Cameron knows is only because Jules is around.
He lets his sisters take over the conversation as they eat. He doesn’t want to give them any more ammunition for their two-woman mission to tear down his supposed emotional intimacy wall.
For all her embarrassment at the start, Jules handles lunch with his sisters with ease. She asks all the right questions, makes them laugh, gushes over the food with Carrie and talks about costume design with Chloe. She fits into his family like marshmallows in hot chocolate.
Cameron has a less pleasant lunch. Oh there are some great moments, like whenever Jules absentmindedly touches his arm or his shoulder when she speaks to him, or hearing her get nerdy explaining her job and the various IT systems she helped streamline. Cameron keeps catching himself staring softly at her, feeling light as a feather. That’s the bad part, because any time he makes eye-contact with Chloe or Carrie they give him a look and he has to work hard to get his expression back under control.
The way Jules makes him feel is hard to fight against though. She’s so open; everything on the surface. Her joy and passion and intelligence and friendliness. No hidden agenda like with Braden.
Thinking of his ex sours his mood, but it’s the reminder he needs to reign in any wayward feelings.
Jules leaves eventually, claiming she needs to work on her presentation before she gets distracted by the conference officially starting. Cameron half-stands up when she pushes back from the table, then awkwardly reclaims his seat. He’s hoping his sisters missed the action but knows by the way one of them kicks his shin he’s shit out of luck.
He settles for not watching Jules as she walks out. Imagining the sway of her hips is a poor substitute for the real thing.
‘Oh. My. Gosh,’ Chloe says. ‘This was totally worth skipping class today. You like her.’
‘No, I don’t,’ Cameron says automatically, used to it now from all the times he’s tried to convince his own internal voice of that exact thought.
‘Uh-uh-uh,’ Chloe wags her finger. ‘You already fessed up that you did, but I thought it was more like, chill. But this is serious liking. Your eyes were all over her.’
‘I was looking at you guys, too.’ Cameron defends himself.
‘Sure, Cam,’ Carrie says, ‘but you weren’t looking at us like we were the pot of gold beneath a rainbow.’
‘So what? Was I meant to not look at her when she was talking? That’s rude.’ It comes out defensive and has Carrie and Chloe sharing a look that makes Cameron sit up straight. ‘Stop that,’ he tells them.
They turn to him in unison, Chloe with big innocent eyes and Carrie like she’s keeping a secret.
‘No. Whatever you’re about to say or suggest or tell me. The answer is no.’
‘We think you should go for it with Jules,’ Chloe says. ‘Ask her out.’
Cameron tilts his head back to stare at the ceiling. ‘No.’
‘Come on. Why not?’ Chloe asks with the whine of a hopeful romantic. Or a woman who watches too many reality dating shows.
‘You know why. I can’t go through another Braden.’
‘Okay,’ Carrie says, ‘but you’re ignoring the part where Jules isn’t Braden. You have to get back in the game at some point.’
‘Do I? Why can’t I just focus on work. Nail my presentation and be single?’
‘Because that’s not you.’ Chloe reaches across the table to place her hand over his. ‘You’re a relationship guy. Honestly, you’re a bit of a romantic. You like people and company and caring for others.’
‘And the only person you’ve got to care for down in Canberra is Steven, so there’s certainly room in your social calendar.’
Cameron shuffles in his chair. His sisters aren’t incorrect about his personality. That’s why avoiding seeing Jules at work was the cornerstone of his tactic to not date anyone at work. Being in her presence makes him want to reach out. He’d flirted with her in the car, for fuck’s sake. Absolutely no chill, and no commitment to the one dating rule he has.
Chloe pinches his wrist. ‘Would it help convince you if I said you were so busy fawning over her, you didn’t notice she was doing the same with you?’
Cameron’s heart squeezes. ‘She was?’
He answered too quickly. It earns a smirk from Carrie.
‘Totally!’ Chloe says. ‘She was looking at you with these bright eyes, totally engaged and endeared by you.’
‘Not to mention all the arm touching.’ Carrie adds. ‘Felt like I was watching a Hallmark film in real life.’
