Down London Road

anyone else does.’
    Somehow, this was the truth. I leaned forward on the bar, frowning at my friend. ‘Yeah, how did that happen?’
    ‘How did what happen?’ I turned my head to see Cam approaching, fastening his watch on his wrist. Becca and the other girl were gone. He waited for an answer, his eyes curious on mine.
    I decided to hedge. ‘You really are a nosy bugger, aren’t you?’ I teased.
    Cam tipped his head to the side, contemplating me. ‘Deflection?’ His eyes glittered as if something had just occurred to him. ‘You were talking about me, weren’t you?’
    I wanted to wipe that cocky smile off his face.
    Joss groaned. ‘You and Braden should be forced to join a club for men who need to get over themselves.’
    My eyes slid to her in amusement. ‘Blatant displays of egotism will be punished in the form of making them wear Speedos in freezing-cold conditions.’
    ‘And possibly withholding food.’
    ‘No. Sex. Withholding sex.’
    Joss bit her lip. ‘I don’t know if that would work for me.’
    I eyed her incredulously. ‘Are you telling me you couldn’t go without sex for a few days?’
    ‘I don’t think so.’
    ‘Where is your willpower?’
    My friend took a swig of her Diet Coke. ‘Hey, you haven’t had sex with Braden Carmichael.’
    No, I hadn’t, although I almost blushed remembering I’d definitely tried to get myself into the position to do so. ‘Yeah, but I’ve had perfectly good sex and I could still abstain for a few days.’
    ‘Perfectly good sex?’ Cam interrupted us, drawing both our gazes. His voice was low with some unnamed emotion. ‘Abstain?’ His now heated eyes ran the length of me before returning to meet mine. ‘Then
he
isn’t doing it right.’
    My heart puttered to a stop before choking and wheezing. When it got back up to speed, it took off in a drag race. All that sexual heat rolled over me and I felt my knickers grow damp with want.
    ‘Jesus C,’ Joss croaked. ‘Now I’m turned on.’ She jumped off her stool, checking her phone. ‘I think I’ll go home and see if Braden’s back from work.’
    And just like that she left us simmering in our sexual chemistry.
    I smiled weakly at Cam. ‘How’s Becca?’
    A few customers approached the bar and we both moved to serve them. As we were preparing their drinks Cam answered tightly, ‘Becca’s fine. How’s Malcolm?’
    ‘Fine.’ He’d taken me for lunch during my break from work that day and I’d managed to convince him that everything was hunky-dory.
    ‘Cole text yet to say if he’s home?’
    I found myself grinning like an idiot at his concern, and my customer grinned back at me, clearly thinking the look was for him. I quickly handed him his change and turned to Cam. ‘Yeah, he’s home.’
    His eyes crinkled at the corners, adding another one of his expressions to my favourites. ‘Good.’
    The rest of the night flew by. We worked, we talked, we joked, but the sexual undercurrent remained. When we walked home after our shift, we did so in utter silence. I could say it was just tiredness, but my whole body was vibrating like a tuning fork just strolling beside him. We said goodnight at his door, and as I took the stairs to my flat with his eyes on my back, I wished, not for the first time, for a different life – that Cam was single, that Malcolm wasn’t a part of my life that I cared about, and that for once I could do what I really wanted to do.
    And what I really wanted to do was Cameron MacCabe.
    I checked on Cole and found him sleeping peacefully in his room. I even checked on Mum just to make sure she hadn’t choked on her own vomit or anything like that, and I found her snoring away. That done, Ichanged into my PJs and crawled into bed. But I couldn’t fall asleep.
    My blood felt as if it was on fire in my veins, my nerves were sparking at the very ends, and I couldn’t get the smell of Cam’s cologne out of my nostrils.
    I was so turned on, it wasn’t funny.
    How different would my night have been if Cam had followed me into Su’s office when I’d gone in there to leave her new stock information? What if he’d come up behind me, pushed my hair off my neck, and pressed his hot mouth to my skin as his hand skimmed around my waist and down to the buttons on my jeans …
    … if he’d undone them, his long fingers sliding inside, beneath my underwear …
    My own hand smoothed over my stomach, slipping under my pyjamas and knickers so I could bring myself to climax,