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“Ha ha.” He smirked. “How was your first day back?”
“Okay, okay, it was amazing. I had the best time. The kids were so happy to see me and I was so happy to see them and we just worked on sketching today, but we’ll start painting next week. I want to get some fluorescent colors for the highlighting. It’s going to look amazing, and everyone will be able to see it from the street.” She went on, describing more of her plans, telling him a little about the kids and the staff at the center. As she talked, it seemed to Cameron that she was lit up from within.
“I can’t wait to see it.”
“Thank you.” She paused before continuing. “I don’t know if you know this but talking to you on our first not-date really helped. You’re a good listener.”
“You make it easy to listen.”
She seemed about to say something further but stopped when she realized they had arrived at the venue. Looking out the window, she said, “So what’s the deal tonight, really?”
He grinned at her when she was let out of the car by the valet. It was obvious she was trying to keep her cool, but he saw the way her eyes widened as she looked around.
“This is kinda like the Oscars, come on.”
“We’re in Jacskonville.”
“Yeah, and just look at all these people dressed in their finest. It feels like a movie to me.”
They made their way inside after being ticked off the guest list at the door. He didn’t miss the way everyone was looking at Emilia and was proud to have her at his side.
“This is the first time I’ve brought a date to one of these things.”
“So are all these people in your industry?”
“No, this one’s lots of different industries,” he pulled out her chair when they reached their table. They were the first ones to be seated. “And the awards are divided into sub-categories.”
“You mean, like Best Actor, Best Director etcetera?” Emilia said it absently, she was busy looking around the room, but he couldn’t help but laugh.
“Okay, fine, let’s pretend we’re at the Oscars.” Leaning over, he captured her mouth in a warm, lingering kiss.
“Perfect! I thought you’d never catch on.”
The rest of the night passed in the same way. Emilia was charming, talking to the people at their table about her youth center project, and what it was like to work for one of the nation’s largest firms. He watched her face light up with pride when she talked about Mia, how much fun it was to be her cousin’s PA, and it made him ridiculously happy.
The company won two awards—trust his dad not to tell him they’d been nominated for Most Reliable—but as they drove away from the party and back towards his house, as the tension between them grew till they were buzzing, Cam felt like the best prize he’d won was sitting right beside him.
