No Kissing Allowed (No Kissing Allowed #1)(19)

I forced myself to draw a breath, or else my entire body would turn green with envy. Misha Kyle. I knew next to nothing about modeling, but everyone knew Misha Kyle. She was that girl every girl in America wanted to look like. Long tousled hair, perfect golden skin, legs that went on for days and days. And she was with Aidan. Ugh.

Alexa had said he had a reputation, but I’d never seen it firsthand, so I’d pretended that the rumors were just that—rumors. But Aidan said he didn’t date, which meant he only hooked up. Clearly, his latest conquest was Misha Kyle.

She continued to tell me every single detail about Aidan and Misha, and by the time we returned to the office, I was wishing for a touch of amnesia so I could forget everything she’d said. I started back for my desk, desperate to finish this day so I could go out with Grace and Lauren that night and hopefully find a decent guy to distract me, when I heard my name called from behind. I knew that voice. Could I keep walking like I’d never heard him?

“Cameron?”

Dammit.

Turning slowly, I cleared my face of all emotion. Aidan stood in his doorway, wearing a light blue dress shirt and black slacks and looking like he’d just walked off a photo shoot. Probably one where he was naked with Misha. Ugh, ugh, ugh. I had no right to be this upset. He and I weren’t a thing. We weren’t even friends. But we’d hooked up, and I couldn’t undo that in my mind. To me, he would always be UT Guy first, Aidan second.

“Yes?”

Several employees passed before he said another word. He looked around the office and then back to me, like he wasn’t sure how to talk to me after the gym. Having sex was one thing, but we’d both exposed pieces of our pasts now. He knew my dad had died, and I knew his wasn’t a good man. “Cameron…”

He studied me a moment longer, and I realized I both hated and loved his stare. He stared at you as though you were complex and important. As though his mission in life was to figure you out. It was overwhelming and intoxicating all at the same time. “Creative sent a few quick mock-ups for Blast. Would you like to look them over?”

“Sure.” I glanced around for a hard-copy proof, but didn’t see one. “Um, sorry, am I missing something?”

Aidan shook his head like he’d been in a daze. “They’re on my computer. I didn’t want to wait for hard copies. Do you have a minute?”

“Um, yeah. Yeah, of course.” I followed him into his glass office, conscious of how visible we were to the rest of the staff. My thoughts went to the last time we were alone together, the charge between us so intense there was no pulling away. God, I wanted to kiss him. I wanted to do more than just kiss him. Forget the rules and complications, I wanted to wrap my arms around him and see if his body remembered me the way mine so clearly remembered him. I tried to shake the thought from my mind, but it was too late. My body buzzed with desire.

“So, the mock-ups?” I asked, desperate to get in and out of his office as fast as possible.

“Right.” He moved his mouse to wake his computer, and instantly the most beautiful ad I had ever seen filled the screen. It was masculine. It was edgy. And it was mine. Something about seeing your idea put into reality was so absolutely breathtaking. Unlike anything I had ever experienced. I covered my mouth with my hand, fighting to keep from squealing with excitement.

On the left was a boy with a Band-Aid under each of his eyes. He was tiny and wearing a football uniform that looked two sizes too big. He had a frown on his face. And then to the right was Charlie Spike. Heisman contender. One of the best quarterbacks in the country. In place of the Band-Aids were two black stripes. He looked fierce and tough, everything a young boy wanted to be when he grew up. It was a perfect transformation. Colored sweat slipped down his face, and at the bottom were the words “Blast Water, turning kids into athletes.”

“It’s amazing.”

“It’s a great feeling, huh?”

I studied the ad, and the longer I stared at it, the more I realized something was missing. It looked too manufactured, too fake. It didn’t resonate like it should.

Aidan cocked an eyebrow at me. “What?” he asked.

“Nothing. It’s just, something isn’t right. It’s good. Yet, there’s something…”

He focused back on the screen, his eyebrows threading together. “You’re right. It’s close, but we need it to be perfect.” He started to say something else, but stopped.

Now it was my turn to ask, “What?”

“Nothing. You—nothing.”

I closed my eyes for a second to give me the courage to say what I needed to say next. The tension between us had been excruciating all week. When we were alone in the gym, everything was fine. But being around the office, with the awkward hellos and avoiding each other’s eye contact in meetings—enough was enough. We were working in the same office, on the same project. We needed to put that night behind us.

I glanced quickly at the door and then leaned in closer and lowered my voice. “Look, so we had sex. It doesn’t have to be a thing. It’s nothing. No big deal.”

Aidan raised his eyebrows as a slow grin spread across his face. “Actually, I was just going to tell you that you have a little mustard on your cheek. Right there.” He pointed at my left cheek, and my entire body burned red and splotchy. There was no containing this embarrassment.