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Cameron Tucker pulled out his wallet to pay the pretzel vendor. “I’ll get this, Gloria.”
“Oh Cam, I invited you out for the day,” Gloria Delgado-Pritchett protested.
“It’s my treat. You paid for lunch.”
“It was my pleasure,” Gloria replied easily and handed him his garlic pretzel. She took his arm and guided him to one of the benches.
Cam playfully nudged her. “You bought a fabulous red dress. You’ll be stunning and I know Jay will love it.”
Gloria laughed. “Of course, he will.” She tore a small piece off her pretzel and popped it in her mouth. “Now, are you ready to talk about the fight with Mitchell?”
Cam frowned and took a big bite of his pretzel.
“Come on. You’ll feel better.”
Cam swallowed. He watched the people walking by. He took another bite and chewed sullenly.
Gloria put an arm around his shoulders. “I know. He can be insensitive like his father.”
Cam hurriedly demolished his pretzel, refusing to look at Gloria the whole time. He wiped his mouth with a napkin. “He didn’t give Lily my last name,” he said in a voice barely loud enough for her to hear.
“What do you mean? Her name is Lily Tucker-Pritchett.”
Cam shook his head. He sniffed. “No. Her name is Lily Tucker Pritchett. My name is her middle name on the adoption papers.”
Gloria hugged him. “It must be a mistake.”
“No. Mitchell doesn’t make mistakes like that. He saw how scared I was right before we got Lily and he thought I might leave. He actually thought I could leave them.” Cam glanced longingly at her half pretzel. “Are you going to finish that?”
Gloria kissed his cheek and gave it to him. “Go ahead. Is Mitchell going to fix it?”
“He said he would, but I just can’t look at him right now. I’d do anything for him. I thought he knew that,” Cam answered sadly and tore into the pretzel.
Gloria rubbed his back. “I’m sorry. I wish there was something I could do, but I do know that Mitchell loves you.”
Cam finished in three quick bites. “I just don’t want to think about it right now.”
“What do you want to do?”
Cam took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He looked around. “Oh, I don’t know…” His voice trailed off as he saw him coming out of a sporting goods store. His jaw dropped. “Check out cinnamon mocha skin and muscles.”
Gloria followed his gaze. She grinned. “Tight t shirt and jeans.”
Cam whistled. “And worn in all the right places.”
The object of their scrutiny started walking away from them. Gloria nudged Cam. “Come on,” she whispered.
“What?”
“We’re married, not dead.”
Cam stood but frowned. “But isn’t this a little creepy.”
Gloria rolled her eyes. Her accent got thicker. “We’re not stalking him. We’ll just follow for a little while.”
Cam took her arm. “Okay.” He giggled. “I could watch that fine ass for a while.”
Flawless Skin and Muscles didn’t seem to notice them trailing him. He stopped just outside the book store and waved to someone. They stopped and pretended to be looking at the clothes in the window at The Gap.
Cam barely turned his head to see another man join Flawless Skin and Muscles. “He’s got a friend,” he muttered to Gloria. He watched the two men talking. “Jeans and a black button down shirt open at the neck. Not bad for an older guy.”
Gloria peered around Cam’s body. “And a beautiful head of hair.” She lightly elbowed him. “And there is something to be said for a man with experience. I don’t know about the goatee though.”
Cam leaned in. “Believe me. There’s something to be said for a man with a beard,” he said in a conspiratorial whisper. He folded his arms across his chest. “Not that I want to give Mitchell credit for anything right now.”
“They’re walking away.”
Cam and Gloria continued to trail the pair. They tried to hide as their targets stopped at the Hallmark store, a chocolate shop, and a video game store. Then they headed towards the exit but the pair stopped.
Cam and Gloria pretended to look at the sunglasses at a nearby stand. “Do you think they know?” he hissed, while he slipped on a pair of aviator sunglasses that most definitely did not flatter his face.
Gloria shrugged. “I don’t know. They have not looked back at us.” She held up a black pair that looked like it came from an 80s sitcom. “What do you think? For Jay?”
Cam removed the sunglasses and wrinkled his nose. “Oh Lord, no.” He tried to watch their targets without being too obvious about it.
Flawless Skin and Muscles stepped closer to his companion, freely invading his personal space. He put a hand on Beautiful Head of Hair’s shoulder. His hand slid down his back before slipping into the back pocket of his jeans.
Cam covered his mouth to stifle a squeal. “Muscles just grabbed Beautiful Head of Hair’s ass.”
Gloria giggled. “It must be true what they say. All the good ones are either taken or gay.”
Beautiful Head of Hair shot his friend an annoyed look but made no move to remove the hand. He leaned in close to the other’s ear. Flawless Skin and Muscles tensed instantly and grabbed his arm to drag him outside.
Gloria laughed louder. “Someone liked what he just heard.” She saw them get into the back of a black luxury car. It drove away and she grinned at Cam. “What do we do now? You want to go home?”
Cam took Gloria’s arm and led her back the way they came. “No. I’m gonna spend some more of Mitchell’s money.”
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Fifteen minutes later, Dave Rossi interrupted their hot make out session in the back of the car. He broke the kiss and rested his forehead against Derek’s. “You’d use any excuse to grope me in public.”
Derek Morgan enjoyed Dave’s hot breath against his lips. He held Dave tightly. “True, but I didn’t mind giving them a bit of a show.”
“They weren’t very subtle, were they?”
Derek trailed his lips along Dave’s jaw and murmured, “They stopped whenever we stopped. It was like a cartoon.”
Dave chuckled. “The guy reminded me of Garcia. Bright clothes and an unapologetic diva.”
Derek pulled back just enough to arch an eyebrow at Dave. “Unapologetic diva?”
“Garcia’s own words.”
“And the woman was quite a stunner but probably a handful.” Derek laughed and nuzzled just below Dave’s ear. “And there’s only one person I want to get my hands on.”
“Lucky me,” Dave moaned. “I wonder how long they were following you.”
“I picked them up as soon as they stopped to look at The Gap. Neither of them has even set foot in a store like that.”
“I’m glad you decided to let them know that you’re taken.” With that, Dave turned his head to capture Derek’s lips.
Derek groaned and melted into the kiss. All thoughts of his admirers disappeared. His sole purpose was to have Dave inside of him as soon as possible and he’d always thought it was good to have goals in life.