Then You Happened

  “Cam, you’re here!” Jolene said as she ran in and hugged him.

  “Hey, sis. I want you to meet Sierra.”

  “Hi,” she said with a big smile. “I’m happy to share my room with you.”

  She was cute girl with her brown side braid and green eyes. “Nice to meet you.”

  Luanne called up the stairs for us to come down because the rest of the family had arrived, except Kelly, and dinner was almost ready. I followed behind Cameron and Jolene and met the rest of the family. Austin, the eighteen-year-old, looked just like Cameron. The only difference was he wasn’t as tall.

  I took my seat at the table next to Cameron. Luanne had made a nice dinner that consisted of a rather large pot roast, mashed potatoes with gravy, creamed corn, a tossed salad, and biscuits. The feeling of awkwardness settled in as the whole Cole family took turns staring at me. Cameron poured me a glass of wine and smiled as he sat down. He leaned over and whispered in my ear, “Sorry, there’s no tequila.”

  “This is fine. Thank you.”

  Mark, Cameron’s bartender brother, kept looking at me in a way that told me he may have liked me. “So, are you and Cam shacking up?”

  “I didn’t think anyone said that anymore. It must be a southern thing.” I smiled.

  “No, Mark, they aren’t shacking up. Sierra is a lesbian.”

  Mark was in the middle of taking a drink of water and he inadvertently spit it out.

  “Are you serious? You’re really a lesbian?” he asked.

  I slowly nodded my head as I tore into a biscuit. “Yep. One hundred percent pure lesbian.”

  Cameron wrapped his foot around my ankle and lightly tapped it. I looked at him and smiled.

  The whole family took turns talking about their jobs and lives and, as I sat there and listened to them talk, I sort of wished I had grown up in a family like this. Once dinner was finished and I helped clear the table, Cameron took me down by the lake.

  “I don’t think your mom likes me.”

  “Why would you say that?”

  “Have you seen the way she keeps looking at me? She must hate lesbians.” I smiled as I nudged him.

  “She’s staring at you because you’re beautiful. You’re the most beautiful girl I’ve ever brought home.”

  “And the only lesbian you ever brought home.”

  “Will you knock it off with the lesbian shit?” He smiled as he brought his hand up to my cheek. “So, what do you think of it out here?”

  “It’s nice,” I replied as I smacked my arm to kill the mosquito that had landed on it.

  “Nice? Is that all you can say?”

  “I told you that I’m a big city girl. The country life doesn’t really do it for me.”

  I could see the look of disappointment cross his face as he stared straight ahead at the lake. I took hold of his hand and gently squeezed it.

  “Thank you for saying that I’m beautiful.”

  “You’re welcome and don’t ever let anyone tell you different.”

  My heart was pounding and my palm was starting to sweat. Shit. My whole body was sweating in this swamp-like heat.

  “So you’re okay with our relationship as is? Just friends with benefits?”

  He looked over at me with the corners of his mouth slightly curved up. “Yeah. I’m okay with it.”

  “Why? Why would you be?”

  There was a moment of silence between us before he turned his head and looked in the other direction.

  “Because if being friends means that I get to spend any time with you at all, then I’m okay with that. I like spending time with you and I like doing things with you. Like when we went shopping for bathroom fixtures and dance shoes. I don’t want to do anything to compromise that. So, yeah, I’m okay with it.”

  That had to be the sweetest thing anyone had ever said to me. Why the hell did my heart have to hurt so bad thinking about relationships and being with someone? Cameron was a sweet guy. The sweetest and nicest guy I’d ever met and he deserved so much more than me.

  “My dad is taking all of us out tomorrow night for dinner and then Mark wants us to come to the bar after. So, what would you like to do tomorrow during the day?”

  I could have thought of a million things to do. Shop on Rodeo Drive, get a facial and massage at the spa. Maybe fly to New York for a Broadway play or even spend the day on a yacht, soaking up the sun and drinking lots of tequila.

  “Oh, I don’t know. You pick. It’s your birthday too.”

  “I would love to go out on the boat.” He smiled.

  Now he was talking! “I would love to go out on the boat.”

  “Great. Then we’ll spend the day on the boat and then go to dinner and the bar at night.”

  “Damn it!” I yelled as I smacked the side of my leg. “These bugs are driving me crazy. Can we go inside?”

  Cameron put his arm around me and kissed the side of my head. I ducked out from under his arm and waved my finger at him.

  “No. No. I’m a lesbian, remember?” I laughed as I ran ahead of him.

  “A damn hot and sexy one,” he said as he grabbed me, picked me up, and carried me around to the side of the house. He took my face in his hands and pressed his lips against mine. His tongue slid through my parted lips and met with mine.

  We heard footsteps and he immediately broke our kiss. “And this over here is where—Hey, Mark,” Cameron said with a small wave.

  “Hey. Mom wanted me to come find you. It’s time to start game night.”

  Game night? Was he serious?

  “Okay, we’ll be there in a sec.”

  “Games?” I said.

  “Yeah. Whenever the whole family is together, we have game night.”

  “What kind of games do you play?”

  “You’ll see.” He smiled as I followed him into the house.

  When we walked through the door, there were two games set up. One game was Monopoly and the other was the game of LIFE.

  “Everyone take a seat at a game board,” Luanne said.

  “Which game do you want to play first?” Cameron asked.

  I seriously couldn’t believe that I was going to sit here and play a board game with this family. “Since I’m already playing the game of life, I guess I’ll play Monopoly.”

  “I was hoping you’d say that. I always win.” He smiled.

  Since there was an odd number of us, Cameron, Jolene, Mark, Austin, and I sat down at the Monopoly table. The rest of the family sat at the game of LIFE.

  “You need to watch out for Cam. He likes to cheat.” Austin smiled.

  Cameron looked at me with those piercing green eyes and smiled. “I do not cheat. I’m just good at this game.”

  “We’ll see.” I smiled back.

  Chapter 21

  Cameron

  I sat there in disbelief as Sierra bankrupted all of us and owned every piece of property on the board. My dad walked over and shook his head.

  “Maybe you should be in the corporate business, little lady.”

  She looked over at me and winked. It was the first time in a long time that I lost. She drank the last bit of wine that was in her glass and said that she was heading up to bed. Jolene jumped up and said she was heading up to bed too. She seemed really excited to have a roommate.

  I took off my pants and shirt and tossed them on the dresser. As I climbed into bed, I took my phone and sent a text message to Sierra.

  “Can you come to my room?”

  “Already there.”

  She slowly opened the door and stepped inside, making sure to close it quietly behind her. I lifted up the covers and she climbed in, sitting up with her back against the headboard.

  “You totally rocked that game.”

  “You need to remember where I come from.”

  “I let you win.” I smiled.

  “You did not. It was all perfectly strategized on my part. Can we have sex?” she blurted out.

  “I don’t know. With you being a lesbian a
nd all.”

  She laughed as I grabbed her hands when she went to smack me.

  “Take off that nightshirt and get down here.” I smiled.

  She quickly lifted her nightshirt over her head and tossed it on the floor. She positioned her body perfectly against mine so we were spooning. The more her naked flesh pressed against mine, the harder I became.

  “Feel that?” I asked as I pressed my erection against her bare ass. “If you want this, then you have to be quiet.”

  “I’m always quiet.” She giggled.

  “I beg to differ,” I whispered as I cupped her beautiful breasts in my hands and pushed myself until I was deep inside her.

  Once we were finished, she sat up, put on her nightshirt, and kissed my lips. “Thanks for the booty call and Happy Birthday.” She winked.

  “Anytime, babe. Happy Birthday to you.” I winked back.

  She quietly left the room and, as I lay there, I couldn’t help but think about how much I wanted her every day and how much I wanted her to need me. She was becoming an addiction and that was something I didn’t ask for.

  ****

  Sierra

  I couldn’t sleep. Not only did I feel like an egg sizzling on the sidewalk in the damn heat, but the loud snore that came from little Jolene was obnoxious. I took my phone from the nightstand and looked at it. Not one single happy birthday text. Are you fucking kidding me? As I looked closer, I noticed I had no service, zero, zilch. Damn country. I looked at the time. It was five forty-five. I got out of bed and went downstairs to the kitchen. I popped a k-cup in the Keurig and, once it brewed, I took it outside on the patio. I jumped when I saw Cameron sitting in one of the chairs.

  “Shit!” I quietly yelled as some coffee spilled from the cup. “I didn’t know anyone was out here.”

  He got up and handed me a napkin. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine. You just startled me.”

  “Happy Birthday.” He smiled as his lips brushed against mine.

  “Thank you. Happy Birthday to you. Why are you up so early?”

  “Why are you?”

  “I’ll tell you why. Your sister saws logs all night and it’s as hot as a camel standing in the middle of a desert.”

  “Huh?” he said.

  I gave him a wave of my hand and sat down in the chair next to him.

  “Why are you up and out here so early?”

  “I love being out here with my coffee and watching the morning fog rise off the lake. It’s so peaceful and it’s enough to make you really think about life.”

  Suddenly, my phone started blowing up. Service must have finally kicked in. I had over a hundred text messages from everyone wishing me a happy birthday, including one from Ava with a picture of us from last year’s birthday celebration. Cameron smiled as he took the phone out of my hand and set it down on the table.

  “Enjoy this view while it lasts.”

  I didn’t want to enjoy the view. I wanted to read all my text messages and emails. The service was sketchy up here and I didn’t know when I’d get it back. There was a text message that came through and caught my attention. It was from Ryan.

  “Happy Birthday, Sierra. I just thought I’d let you know that I’ve moved back to Los Angeles. Maybe we can catch up some time.”

  I needed to take in a deep breath because I couldn’t believe the nerve of that asshole. How dare he fucking text me. HOW. DARE. HE.

  ****

  Cameron drove us to the marina. I looked around and was really confused because this marina didn’t look like the marinas back in Los Angeles. Where were the big, exciting boats? I started to worry. Cameron took my hand and led me to the dock where a boat was sitting. He climbed on and turned around and looked at me when I stopped.

  “What’s wrong? Climb in.”

  “What’s this?” I asked with a smile.

  “It’s a fishing boat. We’re going fishing.”

  I was confused because he never said a word about fishing. “No, we’re not. We’re going to spend the day on a boat. A real boat.”

  “Sierra, this is a real boat and we are spending the day on it. We’re going to fish. I’m teaching you how to fish!” He smiled.

  The fake smile that was plastered to my face stayed. “I don’t fish. I hate fish. I won’t even eat fish. When you said we were spending the day on the boat, I thought you meant, like, drinking and basking in the sun.”

  “This is a lake. A beautiful, peaceful lake. Not an ocean. This lake is meant to enjoy fishing and that’s what we’re going to do. Now get your sweet ass in here so we can go.” He smiled.

  “No,” I said as I folded my arms.

  “No? Really, Sierra?”

  He stepped out of the boat like he was mad and walked over to me, picked me up, and carried me onto the boat.

  “No. This was not my idea of a boat trip,” I said, kicking.

  “Yeah, well, it’s wasn’t my idea to take ballroom dancing lessons and wear those stupid shoes. But I did it anyway for you. So you will do this for me and you will like it!”

  I sat down on the seat and looked at him. He was really hot when he was being authoritative. I was getting turned on, but I didn’t let him know that. I was mad at him, no matter how sexy he was.

  “Here,” he said as he handed me a brown paper bag.

  I grabbed it out of his hand, opened it, and pulled out a bottle of tequila and a plastic glass.

  “I figured you would need and want that,” he said as he untied the boat and we began to take off across the lake.

  “Thank you, but I’m still mad.”

  “That’s okay, Sierra. You can be mad all you want. In fact, sit there in silence if you wish. I’m going to do some fishing. It’s been a long time since I was out here and I miss it. Maybe, just maybe, if you opened your eyes to the other side of life, instead of being so caught up in your material world, you’d appreciate life a little more and you’d see the beauty in things you never knew existed.”

  I rolled my eyes. How dare him. What the hell was the matter with these guys? Whatever. I was just going to get my tequila on and soak up the sun. My phone chimed with a text message from Royce.

  “Happy Birthday, sexy. If you’re around, I’d love to give you your birthday gift. It’s about ten orgasms wrapped up in a new toy I acquired. How about it?”

  Right now, that sounded good. I could go for George giving me ten orgasms. Oh yeah. I forgot. I was in the middle of a lake, being held captive, and forced to look at slimy fish.

  “Sorry, Royce. I’m in North Carolina on a fishing boat. Go me!”

  “Sounds dreadful. I’m sorry you got yourself into that situation. We’ll fuck when you get back. Call me and Happy Birthday.”

  Cameron got out his fishing rod and lures. He stopped the boat in the middle of the lake and cast his reel out into the water. I stood up and took off the sun dress I was wearing, revealing the bikini I had on underneath. I sipped on my tequila and closed my eyes, taking in the hot rays of the sun. I was startled and grabbed the side of the boat as Cameron jumped up and started to reel in his rod.

  “Look at that beauty!” He smiled as he dangled his rod with the fish he caught in front of me.

  “Get that thing away from me!” I said as I fell onto the floor.

  He laughed. “Come on, Sierra. It’s only a fish.”

  “I HATE FISH! I already told you that. They creep me out.”

  He took the fish off the hook and threw it back into the water, then he held out his hand and helped me up.

  “I’m sorry.” He chuckled.

  “It just tickles me pink that you find my fears so amusing.”

  He cocked his head as his eyes traveled from my head down to my toes. “You look extra sexy in that bikini.”

  “Save it for the fish.” I scowled.

  Cameron sighed and went back to fishing while I went back to drinking my tequila, trying to forget how miserable this birthday was becoming.

  Chapter 22

&nb
sp; Cameron

  I looked behind me and saw that Sierra was sprawled out over the bench with her eyes closed. I couldn’t help but stare at how beautiful her body was. She had me hard from the minute she took off that dress. I didn’t dare let her know. She was already pissed off at me for taking her fishing. What I wouldn’t give to make love to her on the boat, in the middle of the lake. I was starting to get hungry as I looked at the cooler I brought with us.

  “Hey, Sierra.”

  She opened one eye and, if looks could kill, I’d be dead right about now.

  “What?”

  “Could you hold the rod for me while I eat a sandwich? I’m hungry.”

  She sat up and took the rod from my hand. “Do you want one?” I asked.

  “No, thank you.”

  “Just hold it still. Don’t move it, mess with it, nothing.”

  I grabbed a sandwich and a coke from the cooler and sat down on the bench. I was enjoying my sandwich until Sierra began to scream.

  “Cameron, I think we caught something!” she exclaimed as she pulled up the rod.

  I jumped up from my seat and stood behind her while I told her what to do.

  “Reel it in and pull. Oh my God, this baby is huge. Pull back and reel it in. You can do it.”

  She struggled, but I was there to guide her. She finally reeled in the line and there was a beautiful big fish hanging from the end of it.

  “Look!” She smiled.

  “Congratulations, babe. You just caught your very first fish.”

  “Yay, me! Just go ahead and keep it over there while you unhook him.”

  At that moment, a part of Sierra had been opened up to a whole new world. As much as she hated to admit it, I could tell how excited she was when she reeled that fish out of the water.

  “So, do you have another reel?”

  “Really? You want to fish now?” I asked.

  “Yeah, that was kind of fun.” She smiled.

  I grabbed the other rod and taught her how to tie the lure on. We spent the next three hours catching fish and making fun of each other. Before we headed back, I laid Sierra down on the floor and made love to her under a blanket. We almost got caught. Almost.