Down London Road

just made his hotness even hotter. I wondered, not for the first time, what he’d be like in bed. His grin alone made me tingle – imagine what his tongue could do.
    My phone buzzed, snapping me out of my sensual haze.
    Malcolm.
    Guilt immediately washed over me as I pressed the ANSWER button. ‘Hey, Malcolm.’
    ‘Sweetheart. How are you?’
    ‘Just about to put out dinner for me and Cole.’ I winced at the omission of our guest. ‘Can I call you back?’
    ‘Of course. Talk to you soon.’
    I hung up and shoved my phone in my back pocket with shaking fingers.
    Seriously. What was I playing at?
    Cam stopped by early before work the next day and walked me to the bar. I found that now we understood each other Cam was pretty easy to talk to. He tried once moreto persuade me to go to judo with him, but I put him off, still not keen on the idea of having someone slam me into a mat or whatever it was judo involved.
    ‘Can you imagine me?’ I scoffed as we neared the bar. ‘I’d be screaming about breaking a nail within five seconds.’
    Cam gave me a look as he held the wrought-iron gate to the basement stairs open for me. ‘See, that’s the kind of bullshit other people believe. I know better.’
    ‘Oh, you do, do you?’
    ‘You were sitting chewing a nail last night after dinner.’
    ‘Yeah, but I filed it and repainted it for work this morning.’
    He flashed his teeth at me. ‘Whatever, Walker. I know the truth.’
    ‘Evenin’, Jo, Cam,’ Brian greeted us as we came down the stairs. He stood beside Phil, who was grinning at me like always.
    ‘Hi, guys.’
    ‘Brian, Phil.’ Cam nodded at them.
    As I made to pass them, Phil stopped me with a hand on my arm. He ran his eyes down my body. ‘Still with Malcolm?’
    ‘Persistent Philip, I am still with Malcolm.’
    He winked at me. ‘Persistence will win in the end.’
    ‘And so will an STD,’ Cam put in drolly, gently pushing me forward with his hands on my back so that Phil had to let me go. ‘But you already know that, right, Phil?’
    I tried to stifle my giggle as we walked into the bar to the sounds of Brian howling with laughter and Phil swearingat him. ‘It was only that one time. Fuck! I’m never telling you anything again, Bri.’
    ‘Euch,’ I whispered to Cam. ‘That was more than I needed to know.’
    ‘Correction: that was the
one
thing you needed to know.’
    I laughed again and we sauntered into the staff room, barely getting a ‘hello, goodbye’ out of Su, who came racing out of her office at the sight of us and disappeared as quickly as she’d materialized.
    ‘It amazes me that anything gets done around here,’ Cam said, shrugging out of his jacket. ‘She’s never here when she should be.’
    I grunted at that, completely used to Su’s physical absence and as always grateful for it.
    The bar soon started to fill up. As usual on a Tuesday, there weren’t many customers, but we were kept relatively occupied.
    We weren’t busy enough to diminish our attraction to one another, however. For some reason, being behind the bar together seemed to heighten the tension. Was it the confined space? I didn’t know. All I did know was that I spent half the time with one eye on my work and the other on Cam.
    Joss was right. I was absolutely aware of every move he made.
    And speaking of Joss, I wasn’t at all surprised when she stopped in at around nine thirty. I was surprised she was alone, but she explained that Braden was working late and Ellie and Adam were on a date.
    ‘So you were bored and thought you’d come to work?’ I asked, sliding her a Diet Coke as she settled on to a stool at my end of the bar. I didn’t think so. I thought she was worried about me.
    Joss just smiled and then nodded in greeting to Cam, who had just noticed her presence, but he was too busy talking to a customer to come over. No, not a customer. My eyes focused more carefully on the girl he was grinning at so flirtatiously. Becca and a friend. She handed him his aviator watch and Cam leaned over and pressed a soft kiss to Becca’s lips.
    I felt an ache rake across my chest, unfamiliar and brutal.
    My eyes slid back to Joss and she had one eyebrow raised at me. ‘What you’re feeling … it’s called jealousy. It’s a vile emotion, I know. However, it also tells you that Cam is definitely more than just someone you’re attracted to.’
    ‘We barely know each other.’
    ‘From what you’ve told me, you know each other better than almost