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“Oh…kay.” Marney claps her hands together. “Cam and I were about to head over to Tony Nik’s for drinks. Anyone want to join us?”
I wince because that’s where we were, but none of my friends say a word as we troop back the way we came, Marney absorbed into the middle of the group. I hang back, as does Cameron, but I still don’t know what to say to him. Dan keeps looking over his shoulder, then shaking his head and waggling his eyebrows at me. I give him the finger, but that only makes him grin at me.
“As long as we don’t talk about the case, I think we’re fine,” I say. It’s a stupid opening line that makes me cringe inside, but it’s the best I’ve got right now.
Cameron nods, but it’s clear he’s uncomfortable. From the rigid lines of his body to the way he’s chewing on his lower lip, the tension rolls off him.
“Do you come to North Beach often?” I ask, which only gets me a shake of the head.
“Marney suggested it.”
Now it’s my turn to nod. Fuck, this is awkward. I hate getting-to-know-you small talk. I clear my throat. “Thank you for joining my Patreon. That was really nice of you.”
“You’re really good. It was the least I could do. Plus, I kind of got hooked on your Undercover Ops series and wanted to see what happens next.”
Cameron shrugs like it was the only logical thing to do, but it opens the door for a bit of conversation as we start talking about my work. He asks good questions, so I know he’s actually read my work, and—even better—he likes it. By the time we arrive at the bar, Cameron and I are talking about his work, and the conversation is flowing easier.
A table in the corner opens up with almost perfect timing, and our group takes it over. Cameron and I sit next to each other on the end. It’s a bit scrunched with so many people, but I can’t say I mind because it means Cam and I are sitting thigh to thigh. I look at him as he gets settled in his seat and think how incredible he looks, how attracted I am to him, and how happy I am that we’ve got this chance to get to know each other.
We’ve moved on to talking about where we grew up—it turns out, our families live in neighboring communities. My friends and I grew up in Bernal Heights, and Cameron grew up in Glen Park. We would have gone to high school together if he hadn’t gone to Lick. I get the impression that Cameron’s family has more money than mine, and then remember that his father is a lawyer, so that makes sense.
A waiter approaches our table to take our orders. He looks around, and says, “Hey, you guys came back. Good to see you again.”
My friends greet the waiter, yell out their drink orders, but I see Marney give Cameron a raised eyebrow. Yup. I think we just got busted. We add our orders to the list, and the waiter heads off to the bar.
“Do you and your friends come here often?” Cameron asks.
“Yeah. A couple of times a month.”
“That would explain the familiarity.”
“It would,” I say slowly. “But the truth is we were here earlier tonight.” And then I decide to come clean. “I may have looked at your Insta account after I saw that you’d donated to my Patreon and noticed that you were eating dinner up the street. My friends insisted we had to go to the restaurant and ‘bump’ into you.” I can’t look at Cameron after that confession, and my cheeks are flaming from my embarrassment.
Silence meets my admission, but then Cameron laughs. He touches my leg, then takes my hand. “Ty? Hey, Ty? It’s okay. I have a confession to make, too.”
When I look at him, those gorgeous green-gold eyes meet mine. They move back and forth as if searching for something in my face, and then he smiles. “Marney and I were going to come down to Nik’s because I noticed how often you’re here. Also from your Insta account. And I was hoping to run into you.” He swallows, then scrunches his nose and leans in to whisper in my ear. “I may have been stalking you a little bit since Friday as well.”
“Really?” I’m so shocked I can’t even be angry. Then again, it would be really hypocritical of me to be angry with him for doing the same thing that I’ve been doing. When I lean back to take in his expression, I see hope and interest, and when I lick my lips, his gaze falls to my mouth and his own opens a little bit.
“Yeah, really,” he says. “I haven’t been able to stop thinking about the guy who got my travel mug destroyed.”
“Fuck. I’m still so sorry about that.”
Cameron shrugs. “You replaced it, which you didn’t have to do.”
“True.” I look down at our still joined hands. “So, you came to North Beach to try and run into me?”
“I did. It was Marney’s idea, so if it feels creepy, blame her.”
“Or I could thank her.” I’m back to looking at his eyes, and I swear it’s like there’s no one else in the bar. Just him, holding my hand, watching me as if he’s afraid I’m going to run away.
“You don’t think it’s creepy?”
I laugh. “I wouldn’t go that far, but since we left here to go find you, and you did literally bump into me, I’m going to chalk this up to being in the right place at the right time.”
“Good.” Cameron’s expression loses any trepidation and turns slightly feral. His eyes seem to gleam like a cat’s, and I shiver as a jolt runs through my body from where our hands touch all the way through to my feet.
We’re leaning toward each other when Min shouts from across the table, “So. Cam. Is it okay for the two of you to be so friendly when you’re on the same jury?”
