Free From Best Friend to Bride by Jules Bennett

hadn’t been able to get a grasp on how much that kiss, both kisses, had affected him.
    “We’ve lost him again,” Eli mocked, pulling Cameron from his daze.
    “He’s still working in his head.” Drake took a pull of his beer, then let the bottle dangle between his knees. “You’re off the clock right now. Enjoy it.”
    Cameron rested his forearms on the edge of the deck railing and glanced out into the wooded backyard. Eli had built an addition on his home and then added the deck. He and his wife of nearly a year, and their baby, lived in their own little corner on the edge of town.
    Drake, with his new bride and adorable stepdaughter, was embracing family life, as well. Drake had even mentioned how he and Marly wanted to try for a baby of their own.
    Cameron couldn’t be happier for his brothers, but they could keep their minivans, grocery lists and scheduled bedtimes. That wasn’t a lifestyle he saw himself settling into anytime soon...if ever.
    “I’m not working in my head,” he defended himself. “I’m just enjoying listening to you two go on about recipes and paint swatches like a bunch of old ladies at a hair salon.”
    “Someone’s grouchy,” Eli muttered.
    “Maybe he doesn’t have a recipe worth sharing and he’s embarrassed,” Drake added with a low chuckle.
    Cameron turned, flipping his brothers the one-finger salute. He missed getting together with them. They used to try to have a cookout or something once a week, especially since Eli’s deployments were over and he was officially a civilian now, but Cameron’s schedule was anything but regular. He hated putting work ahead of his family, but sometimes he couldn’t help the matter. The criminals didn’t seem to keep nine-to-five hours.
    “Oh, hell,” Drake whispered as he sat straight up in his deck chair. “You’ve finally got woman issues.”
    Eli’s head whipped around, his gaze narrowing on Cameron. “Seriously? Because if you have woman issues, that means you have a woman, which is a damn miracle.”
    Finishing off his beer, knowing full well he needed something stronger to get into this discussion, Cameron tossed his empty bottle into the bin.
    “I don’t have a woman,” he ground out, dropping onto the settee. “I have a headache over one.”
    Why did he have to go and issue Megan that challenge? Why did he have to push her into proving she was lying? Because all he’d gotten out of the deal was a hell of a great kiss, sleepless nights full of fantasies fueled by his best friend and a whole lot of anger with himself for crossing the line.
    His own issues aside, how could he actually move to another level with Megan knowing her brother was well on his way to prison? Hell, Cameron was having a hard time keeping that bottled up now, and they were just friends. How could he keep secrets if he allowed intimacy to slip into the picture?
    “Who is she?” Eli asked. “Oh, is it the new lady in town that lives out behind the grocery store? I hear she’s single and if those tight-fitting clothes and spike heels aren’t an invitation—”
    “An invitation to what?” Nora asked from the patio door with her arms crossed over her chest, a quirked brow and a knowing grin on her face.
    Eli cleared his throat. “Hey, babe,” he said, crossing the wide area to wrap an arm around her waist. “I was just thinking about you.”
    She swatted him in the stomach. “If you think I’ll ever dress like I work a pole every night, you’re insane.”
    Eli groaned. “Please, don’t mention a pole.”
    Cameron and Drake exchanged a conspiratorial look before they busted out laughing. “Still scarred from the image of Maddie Mays?”
    Squeezing his eyes shut, Eli shook his head. “I’m trying to forget, but she was in again yesterday. Why does she always bring up her workout regime with me?”
    “Because you’re her doctor,” Cameron smirked, enjoying the idea of his brother in such an awkward position. “Aren’t you sworn to