Page 16 of Effortless

“We’ll catch up tomorrow or something, all right?” Tom asked.

He wasn’t even looking at Cross or Zeke now.

“That girl is like a Venus Fly Trap,” Zeke muttered. “All she’s got to do is sit still, look pretty, and the next stupid fucker falls right into her snare. Watch yourself, Tommaso. Before you know it, Camilla will have you falling in all kinds of love with her, and then she’ll smile when she waves you goodbye. That’s her deal—she doesn’t know how to do anything different.”

Was that supposed to be a bad thing?

Tom didn’t think so.

“Okay, that’s enough of this,” Cross said. “Let’s get me a drink.”

Tom took one more look at Camilla to consider his next move. She decided for him with a little tilt of her head as if to ask him to come over.

“Later,” Tom said over his shoulder.

Neither of his friends answered him back. That, or he just didn’t hear their response.

Tom slid in beside Camilla, with their backs turned to the entrance of the kitchen, as she took another sip from her wine.

“So it’s Tommaso, right?” Camilla asked.

She peered up at him, sly and sweet at the same time. How did she even manage that?

“Most people call me Tom, but Tommaso passes when I’m not in Chicago, or if it’s my mother using my name.”

“Why’s that?”

“My father is the Tommas of the family.”

Camilla nodded. “Ah, I see. I’m—”

“Camilla,” Tom interjected. “I know.”

Her gaze drifted to where her brother was snagging a new bottle of unopened bourbon from the top shelf of Zeke’s liquor cabinet.

“I bet you do,” she finally said. “You know, everything they said about me is true.”

“How do you know they said anything at all?”

“Because everybody deserves a warning when it comes to me.” Camilla grinned wickedly, gave him a wink, and took another drink of her wine. “My mother likes to say I’m a free spirit. Wild-hearted. Everyone else has a compass, and it points them north to keep them settled. My compass is broken, but that doesn’t stop people from thinking they can fix it.”

“Not all broken things need to be fixed. Sometimes, the interesting and beautiful parts are the broken ones. It’s the story, not the ending, that tells the tale.”

Camilla laughed a sexy, musical note. “You just took my easiest pick up line, and turned it into something beautiful.”

“Let’s call it a talent of mine.”

“One of many?”

Her crimson lips curved sinfully, baring her straight, white teeth. He didn’t miss the suggestive undertone in her question at all.

His cock perked to life all over again.

Quick-witted. Unashamed. Tempting. Beautiful.

Probably dangerous.

For a heart.