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‘What’s your point?’
‘My point is.’ Matteo stops to look at him like he’s looking into him. It’s disconcerting and he crosses his arms over his chest. Cameron doesn’t want anyone pointing a magnifying glass at his insides. There’s stuff he’s not proud of in there, and feelings he doesn’t want to be aware of.
Matteo shakes his head. ‘I’m sorry I didn’t realise the Braden stuff got to you so much.’
‘It didn’t.’
‘You sure? Because last time I was at one of these conferences with you, you were Mr Networking at the welcome drinks. Out there saying hello to everyone from every publishing house, chatting with so many people it was like you were running for Prime Minister. This time? Nada.’
‘People change.’
‘I see that clearly.’ He gestures to Cameron, who stiffens at the look in Matteo’s eyes. Man, he’d forgotten how sincere Matteo can get when he wants. Disappointing him is like disappointing both parents at once.
Cameron sighs. ‘If I say it is, will you drop it?’
Matteo holds Cameron’s gaze for a moment before he relaxes back into his chair. ‘Yeah. I’ll drop it.’
‘Thank you. I’ve gotten enough of that from my sisters.’
‘The Parker sisters!’ Matteo smoothly pivots the conversation, serious face departing on the wave of his grin. ‘You’ve met up with them, then?’
‘Of course.’ Cameron eagerly grabs the new conversation topic. ‘Had lunch together yesterday, and I’m seeing Carrie again tonight.’
‘How is Carrie?’
‘Married,’ Cameron replies, seeing the panty-dropping look in Matteo’s eyes.
‘Shame.’
‘She’s quite happy, actually.’
‘Found herself a nice country boy, like she was always joking about?’
Cameron hesitates over saying the next bit, knowing what he’s setting himself up for. ‘A conductor.’
Matteo catches the implication immediately. ‘No shit. So someone she works with?’
‘Worked. Past tense.’ Though it started when he was conducting the orchestra she plays in. Cameron keeps that part to himself.
Matteo stays true to his word, and his no lying thing, and doesn’t bring up Jules again. They carry on their conversation, catching each other up on the last few months of lives lived separately. It’s easy, like rewatching a favourite movie. He laughs, Matteo tells anecdotes, Cameron shows him pictures of his new place and Matteo invites himself down for the next long weekend.
After what feels like no time, Cameron needs to head off to get ready for the symphony. And seeing Jules, who he is having a conference fling with, which he is completely satisfied by.
‘Enjoy,’ Matteo tells Cameron as he stands. ‘Let Carrie know if the marriage goes south, I’m available. And tell Jules if she wants more than a fling, I’m open.’
The sudden jealousy-geyser that erupts inside Cameron makes him knock into his chair as he walks away. He tries to cover it with a laugh but it’s not convincing even to his own ears. ‘Not happening.’
Chapter 13
Jules walks around to the Opera House from Circular Quay, shoulders back and hips swinging. She draws looks from passers-by and they inject her spine with confidence. The sun has started to set, painting the sky with oranges and pinks, and the city lights dance on the water of the harbour.
Cursing herself again for not having Cameron’s phone number, and not thinking to ask Chloe for it, Jules walks slowly along the railing by the Opera House, on the lookout for Cameron and his luscious hair.
She almost walks past him until he lifts a hand in greeting and she does a double-take at the man she’d dismissed a second earlier.
Her lips part as she drinks in Cameron as he leans back against the railing. Gone are the chinos and loose polo shirts. In their place is a well-fitted navy suit that doesn’t hide his well-muscled thighs or the breadth of his shoulders. He looks like he’s stepped out of one of her fantasies, the one in the office where he sits across from her and tells her what to do in that alluring voice of his and watches while she gets herself off to his instructions.
Jules gulps and floats over to him, caught in a sexual haze, thoughts of skipping the symphony to make music of a different kind with Cameron at the forefront of her mind.
