Sharon followed Cameron into a plush reception area. The receptionist was sitting behind a semi-circle black, tall reception table. The walls were a dark, stormy gray with a white ceiling. The navy blue carpet was the softest she had stepped on, second only to the carpet in the apartment. There was a painting on the wall above the burgundy couch and chairs that consisted of waiting area. It had the outline of a football player about to thrown the ball in his hand but instead of the features painted in, colors from the rainbow were splashed within and around the figure. It was nice, tasteful and announced that the office was one which took care of athletes. The ceiling-to-floor window facing the waiting area brought in much needed light into the otherwise masculine and dark reception area. In all, she felt quite comfortable in the room.

"Hey, Jenna. Is Matt in?"Cameron asked, leaning his arms on the counter. Sharon could feel his eyes following her as she migrated to the waiting area and looked through the magazines. It was no surprise that all the magazines were sports magazine.

"Hey, Cammy. It didn't take long for you to visit us again. Did you miss me?"

Sharon could feel herself stiffening when she heard the interest in the receptionist's voice. A rush of hot, angry emotions filled her and it was quickly replaced with horror. She couldn't possibly be jealous that some woman was flirting with Cameron. For one, she just got out of a relationship. A bad one. And secondly, she'd only met him the day before. So she didn't have any claim on him.

Letting out a breath and hoping to distract herself, she returned to her perusal of the magazines, forcing herself to ignore Cameron and Jenna. Putting all her attention in reading an article, she was getting so engrossed that she jumped when someone tapped her shoulder. From the laughter behind her, she knew it was Cameron.

"You can stop now,"she said drily when she faced him. He was laughing so hard that he was clutching his stomach and bending slightly. Realising Jenna's attention was on them, she hit his shoulder, hoping it would make him stop laughing. "Cameron."

"Alright, alright. I'm stopping. But it was just so funny." He was about to start again but her glare managed to keep it under control. With a deep breath, he indicated a hallway to the right of the reception. "Come on. He's free."

"I'm coming along?"

"Of course. Now come on."

She was lost. Why was she attending the meeting with him? She had been planning to make herself comfortable in the waiting room while he met with his agent. She didn't know what she was doing as she trailed him into a brightly lit hallway in catnap gray. She wanted to talk to him, to demand an explanation from him but they passed doors and she heard voices inside. She didn't want to disrupt anyone and was sure any discussion she had with him was going to get out of hand. Resigning herself to being present during the meeting, she studied the photographs on the walls. It featured the photographs of different athletes in different poses of their chosen sport. There were swimmers, football players, basketball players. The list goes on. She believed they were all clients of the agency. She entertained herself with trying to find a photo of Cameron and was disappointed she couldn't find it.

When they entered the office area, she was surprised at women on the floor. There was an almost equal split between the genders but the women were all, to a tee, gorgeous. They were all tall. Some were voluptuous while others rocked the willowy look. Their makeup was flawless. Their clothes were both fashionable and office appropriate, making her feel disheveled and dumpy in comparison. And all their eyes were on Cameron the moment he entered. Some were blatant while the rest tried to be more discreet. Interest and appreciation shone from their eyes. Now that he had shed his disguise, Sharon could share their appreciation even though she felt a strong urge to claw all their eyes out.

Feeling Cameron's hand sliding into hers and tugging her on, she was astonished to realise she had stopped and was glaring at all the woman. Feeling her cheeks flushing, she refused to look at him when she saw him look back from the side of her eyes. She was sure he was grinning smugly and was ready to tease her. Ignoring his laugh, she followed him to a room at the back of the office.

She noticed that it was one of the biggest office and it was set a way separate from the rest of the office. She had a feeling that this was the office of the head honcho and a sliver of apprehension made her hesitate to move closer. It was only Cameron's hold on her that got her moving closer. And she was surprised when he just barged in.

"Hope I'm not interrupting anything."

--------@@@@@------

Cameron dropped into the chair across Matt, ignoring the glare Matt sent his way while he was on the phone. Leaning into his chair, he waited for Sharon to take the other seat beside him. When she didn't, he looked back at the door and was surprised to find her still past the doorway, her brows furrowed together.

"Shar, come on in. Matt should be done soon,"he told her. She took a hesitant step in and then her eyes shot to Matt. She seemed to be looking for something. When she didn't find what she was searching for, she closed the door and took the seat beside him. He could still noticed her wariness. It made him curious. Despite their extremely short acquaintance, he knew she was not an overly cautious person. On the other hand, she was not a very social person but that was due to her shyness and her discomfort with being around people she's not familiar with.

"Why'd you enter like that? Like you owned the place?"she whispered when she finally made herself comfortable. Matt was still on the phone and from the way he was practically shouting, it was going to take a while. "Clearly, he's not ready for you."

"Matt's used to this all the time. I'm his first client when he first ventured into this role so I can practically do anything short of sexing his employees and anything criminal,"he said flippantly. She was frowning up at him which made him realise that she was considerably shorter than him. When he had slung his hand over her shoulders, he hadn't noticed that she fit perfectly under his arm and against his side. That made her close to a feet shorter than him and he was 6'3". He had never gone out with a woman that short before. They had all been tall and slim. He was surprised that he liked having her fit perfectly against him.

This was one more thing that he liked about her. He even liked her show of jealousy when the other women in the office had practically undressed him with their eyes. He usually hated it when a woman tried to claim him but he welcomed it with her. Mentally listing the things he liked about her, he was stunned that he liked almost everything she did or just was. But maybe it was like a honeymoon period during their acquaintance. Where everything she did was fine. He was sure he'd find flaws or something that'd annoy him with a longer acquaintance.

Wishing to change the train of his thoughts, he asked,"So why were you so careful coming into the office?"

"I was just remembering my previous boss. He didn't like it when people would walk into his office even if they had knocked. He never made any exceptions. Not even for his mother,"she told him. "There was this one time when he was shouting and screaming at me for such a transgression. The thing was I had knocked." Cameron felt like finding that man and beating him into the ground. Sharon didn't deserve it. But knowing that he couldn't, he decides to distract her from the memory.

"So he's a dick."

"Yeah. He's a-"

"Dick. You can just say it, Miss Ashwood. No one in this room will say anything if you curse,"he teased, happy that he managed to get a small smile out of her.

"I'm sure there are other words that's not so offensive."

"I still don't hear the words. It's easy. It rhymes with sick but replace the s with a d. Come on, I know you can do it. Dddiiiiick." He had grabbed the arms of her chair and swivelled her towards him. He smiled when she giggled.

"No. Cameron, that's crude."

"Do you want another word to describe him? How about an ass? A butthole-"

"How about you stop taxing your brain and tell me why you're here?"Matt said, putting down the phone. A smile was flirting on his lips even though he looked so tired that his usual model-like features lost their shine. "And stop flirting in front of me. Makes me miss my wife while she's away for a business trip."

"Where'd she go?"Cameron asked, willing to take up the rope Matt had thrown him. He could feel the awkwardness that was emanating from Sharon. She was trying hard to disappear into the chair, making herself as small as possible.

"Vancouver, I think. I wasn't really paying attention. So, back to the reason why you're here."

"Right. I'd like to talk to you about the therapist you keep talking about." Cameron tried to make it appear that he didn't care but he couldn't lie to himself. Not when his heart began to beat faster and he could feel the sweat forming on his forehead. He was scared. Even though he had been injured before and recovered with the help of other physical therapists, this injury made him confront that he was not getting any younger. At thirty-two, his body was slowing down, not as fast as those twenty-year-olds being drafted into the NFL. It was taking longer to heal and while he was recovering, some second-string quarterback was replacing him. Before long, he'd be put out to pasture and he didn't know what he was going to do then. That was why he was so resistant to going to a physical therapist while recovering this time.

Feeling someone's hand sliding into his, he was forced out of his head and found Sharon talking to Matt. He was surprised. Just a minute ago, she was trying to disappear into the woodwork. But when he listened to what she said, he realised he must've taken too long to answer a question and she had taken up the baton.

"W-we have an agreement. A bargain really. I have to something I don't like and, in exchange, he has to something he doesn't like either. I've held my end so now he has to do his,"she explained even as her hand tightened in his.

"Yeah. So about the therapist-"

"And who is the lovely lady, Cameron?" Matt was looking quite interested in Sharon, making Cameron want to get her away from him. He didn't care if he had never been bothered with other men sniffing around the woman he was going out. He cared now. He didn't know whether Sharon found Matt's narrow face, equally narrow, aquiline nose, large, round blue eyes and full lips attractive. And he didn't want to find out. He wanted to cart her out but when she turned her bright green eyes on him, expectant, he performed the introduction. Balefully.

"Matt, meet my roommate, Sharon Ashwood. Sharon meet my agent, Matt."

"Roommate? I thought she was your-"

"She wants to make sure that I actually do it. That's why she's here,"he quickly said, knowing what Matt was about to say. And, though a part of him wanted to label her as such, they had only known each other for two days.

Yet you have slept with women after an even shorter acquaintance. The shortest having been an hour, right?his conscience chimed, making him frown.

"I don't even know why I'm here,"Sharon said, glowering at him.

"Right,"Matt said, his eyes moving between them. Then he got to business. "Brad won't be able to help since he will be out of the country for the next month or so. That's why I have several physical therapists lined up."

"Good. Send me the name and I'll check them out." Cameron just wanted out of the office. He didn't want to talk about it anymore. Why was he even in this room? Wait, he was the one who'd brought up a bargain. He must be dumb.

"To make sure you actually meet them, I'll be coming along,"Matt added, heaping insult to injury. Cameron scowled at him.

"Like hell. Aren't you busy or something? I don't need a bloody babysitter,"he growled, making Matt sigh.

"Cam, if it weren't for Miss Ashwood, you'd still be avoiding me. Now, I know you don't want to meet them, I really do, but I have to make sure my cashcow is in good condition."

"I knew you only liked me for my money,"Cameron murmured but his anger soon overwhelmed his good humor. "I'm a fucking adult. I know what to do."

"Well, I don't trust you. Not with this. Maybe I'd believe you if Miss Ashwood went along-"

Their eyes connected before turning to Sharon who was watching them with wide eyes. When she realised their attention was on her and why, she shook her head.

"If you're thinking about what I think you are, my answer is no. I have no wish to act the jailer to this prisoner. Like he said, he's an adult,"she said.

"Actually, I said that I was a fucking adult-" He stopped when she shot him a glare.

"Plus, I'm currently looking for a job. I can't just tell the company that I need to leave for some afternoons or mornings because of Cameron."

"That's easily rectified. You can work for me."