Cameron gently pulled away from me and turned me around so I was facing Hugh, and then we began to kiss.
Hugh’s kiss was harder than Cameron’s, and he gripped my face as he ran his teeth playfully across my lower lip. I tucked my hands inside his suit jacket, pulling slightly at his shirt, and Cameron slowly began to lower the spaghetti straps of my dress.
“Stop!” I screamed as my brain finally managed to wrest control of my body from my hormones. The guys both stopped immediately and stepped away respectfully.
“Are you all right, Muri?” Hugh had asked with concern written across his face. “Did we move too fast?”
“No, I mean yes, I mean... what did we just do? What was that?”
Cameron walked around so both young men stood in front of me, their gorgeous faces etched with concern. “Didn’t you want it?” Cameron asked, genuinely worried as I fanned my face in a vain attempt to calm down. “We thought you did.”
“Want it? Want what? I’m a good girl, and I can’t be doing that with two guys.”
I still couldn’t believe that my first kiss had turned out like that. At the time I was so confused. My body, my heart they liked it and wanted it to continue. But in my mind I just wondered how on earth the guys could think I might be that kind of girl.
How could I have been so wild?
I wasn’t the kind of girl who made out with two men at once; I’d been raised to not even agree to a date without checking with my parents first. What would they think of me if they knew what I’d done and what I desperately wanted to do?
Both guys moved forward to comfort me, but shame swelled in my stomach, and I batted them away.
“I have to go; I can’t do this. I’m not like that.”
I grabbed my coat and fled the house, using the time it took to walk back to my house to rationalize what had happened. We’d all had too much to drink; it was just a bit of fun, nothing really happened. I was still a good girl, and I still only ever wanted to sleep with one guy in my life, certainly not two at one time. Not a chance.
It wasn’t Cameron and Hugh’s fault. They were perfectly respectful, and deep down, I wanted it as much as they did. And that was what scared me so much.
Back then, I resolved to avoid them as much as possible; I’d be graduating soon, and I planned to move faraway for college. I was hopeful about my application to Savannah College of Art and Design taking me to Atlanta so I wouldn’t have to see the guys again.
Tears started to flow at the thought of not seeing my good friends, but it was for the best.
Someone entered the bathroom, snapping me out of my thoughts.
I looked at myself in the mirror with a stern glare. You’re not a naive, sheltered girl anymore, Muriel, I mouthed to my reflection. You’re a successful, experienced woman who can have whatever she wants. So, what do you want?
Cameron, my mind answered. And Hugh.
Shit.
I headed back out to the dinner, which was just wrapping up and turning into a full-blown party.
“You two,” I said to the guys as I approached, not bothering to sit down. “I’m going to head back to my bungalow. Do you feel like coming by later to catch up?”
It was a bold move, yes, and I still wasn’t sure exactly what I expected to happen. It would be good to clear the air, just the three of us. Get over any lingering resentment over what had happened.
And if I had a real spark with either of them, I needed to figure it out. If it turned out I still had a spark with both of them, well, I would have to deal with that too.
I gave them the directions, then said a quick goodbye to Poppy and Jas and headed out to arrange a cab for myself.
Chapter Three
Cameron Moore
I couldn’t stop smiling. Muriel had invited us back to her place. That had to be a good sign, right? At least it meant she didn’t hate us, which is what we’d assumed all these years.
“She probably still hates us.” Hugh had the uncanny ability to read my mind and then say the exact opposite thing.
“A woman wouldn’t normally invite men she hates back to her hotel room, you know?” I countered as we climbed into my car. Even someone with Hugh’s talent for pessimism couldn’t argue with that.
“She would if... if she’s planning to murder them,” he replied eventually.
And I had to laugh. Hugh knew perfectly well Muriel had no intention of killing us; he just had to win this little battle of wits. It was our shared sense of friendly competition that had kept us so close for all these years. Well, that and our shared love of women, although they were thin on the ground these days.