Page 111 of Hard Rock Sin

"I do want to live with you. But I need to be on my own for a little while." I stood on my tiptoes to meet his gaze. "I don't want to just be the little sister crashing at your place. I want to be your girlfriend, your partner. I need some space before I can feel like I'm your equal. Can you understand that?"

"You are my equal," he said, confused.

"I don't always feel that way. I rely on you so much. Too much. You're always taking care of me. I need to feel like I can take care of myself, first."

The hurt in his eyes didn't completely go away, but Cameron nodded.

"Okay," he said quietly. He buried his face in my hair and clutched me to his chest.

"I'm not going anywhere," I explained. "We're still going to be dating. We'll still see each other all the time. I just need to have a place to call my own, at least for a little while."

Cameron pulled back, keeping his arms around me. He met my gaze, serious and intent.

"I suppose that just means one thing," he said solemnly.

"What's that?"

He gave me that familiar carnal grin, those dark blue eyes glinted with wicked mischief. "We'll have to have lots of sleepovers." He cupped my ass with both hands and squeezed.

I squeaked. Noah growled. Cameron laughed.

"At least have the decency to wait until I'm out of the room before you molest my sister." Rage threatened to take over Noah's expression again.

Cameron's face lit up, eyes sparkling. "So I have your permission to molest her?"

Noah snarled. "Don't push your fucking luck."

Cameron smirked. Noah scowled.

I let out a small laugh at the two of them.

With those familiar looks, Cameron's sly smirk and Noah's grumpy scowling, I knew we were going to be okay.

Epilogue

"Stop picking at the turkey." I smacked Cameron's hand away as he darted under my arm for another piece of crispy skin.

"If I don't get the good stuff now, Damon's going to snag it all," Cameron complained.

"The both of you need to leave some for everyone else." I finished checking the internal temperature and put it back in the oven for another fifteen minutes.

Cameron rubbed at his stomach. "But I'm starving. This is like a real life Hunger Games. Why can't we eat now?"

"Because everyone isn't here yet," Jen said as she came into the kitchen. She carried an armful of fine china in her hands. She held out the heavy dishes to Cameron. "Here, make yourself useful."

Cameron took them easily. "Why aren't we just using paper plates?"

"Because we're not heathens," I said.

"Some of us aren't," Noah muttered as he came up behind Jen. He wrapped his arms around her waist and tugged her to his side. He whispered something in her ear. She blushed and melted into his arms.

I averted my gaze. It wasn't as bad as walking in on them having sex, but the quiet moments were almost more intimate. I supposed if my brother had learned to deal with mine and Cameron's displays of affection, I could deal with his.

We were all gathering for Christmas dinner at Cameron's place. It was a bit odd, being here again. I'd only been back a few times since I'd moved out. I'd wanted to make a clean break. Cameron mostly spent time at my apartment — which was in actuality Jen's apartment.

The lease was ending in the new year, and I still hadn't figured out where I was going to go next. I knew I could always move back into the mansion, but for some reason that thought made me oddly uncomfortable. Maybe it was knowing that the place would never truly be mine. Maybe it was that it only reminded me of all the panic attacks I'd had here.

Either way, I only had a few more weeks to decide what to do.