Authors: Brenda Jackson
C
ameron’s eyes opened slowly during the predawn hours. Something had awakened him. He reached out to pull Vanessa closer into his arms and came up empty-handed. All that was there, other than the slight indentation on the pillow where her head had lain, was her scent, an arousing fragrance that had become such an innate part of his life.
He gazed around the room and saw the open patio door. Evidently she hadn’t been able to sleep. For a long while, neither had he. It was hard as hell to accept that their twelve days were over and that today at noon he would be flying out, returning to the States.
He tightened his fists at his sides, damning their agreement. There was no way she could deny that their time together had been special, especially the last six days. They had taken early-morning walks on the beach, picnics on the bay, and had made love under the moonlight in a number of places. He would miss her like hell when he left and he hoped and prayed each day that she would realize they were meant to be together.
A shiver passed through him at the thought of the separation they faced. What if, when she returned to Charlotte, she had no problem in keeping her end of the agreement and would not want to see him again? What if their time together meant more to him than it did to her? What if his entire plan backfired and he wasn’t any closer to having her as a part of his life than he had been before taking Morgan’s advice?
He pulled himself up in bed, suddenly thinking about all the things he’d never wanted from a woman before, but now had to have from Vanessa. He’d thought he wanted possession, wanted to make her a part of his life without any deep emotional attachment or binding commitment. After all, he was a man who didn’t do emotional attachments. But now he wanted it all. He wanted her.
He loved her.
He sucked in a deep, shaky breath with that admission. It was one he had thought he would never make again after Stacy. But Vanessa had proven him wrong. She had brought out in him something no woman had done in over ten years—his desire to love unconditionally. She had broken down his defenses and made the twisted reason he’d wanted her in his life into something he hadn’t counted on. Love.
He had always wanted Vanessa but hadn’t realized or accepted that he also loved her.
Now he did, and what the hell was he supposed to do about it? He slowly slid back down in the bed. One thing he would not do was let her have her way and turn her back on what they could have together. His heart was at stake, and he was determined that, in the end, she would love him as much as he loved her.
He heard the sliding of the patio door and lowered his eyelids, pretending sleep. He wasn’t ready to admit his feelings to Vanessa just yet. Not until he had another workable plan.
Through half-closed eyes he watched as she dropped her robe and eased her naked body into bed beside him. She cuddled close, skin to skin, and lowered her head to his chest. Then, moments later she glanced up, placed a kiss on his lips and whispered, “I’m going to miss you when you leave, Cameron Cody. A hell of a lot more than I should.”
He didn’t say anything since he knew she assumed he was asleep and her words hadn’t been meant for him to hear. But those words sent every cell in his body vibrating. If she was fighting any feelings for him and was pretty close to the edge, he intended to push her over. He would try and be patient, but he wouldn’t let her send him out of sight and out of mind.
When she cuddled back in his arms to reclaim sleep, a smile curved his lips. There were some risks worth taking, and no matter what it took, he intended to convince Vanessa of that.
“Are you sure you don’t want to go to the airstrip with me?”
Vanessa shook her head as she watched Cameron get dressed. They had awakened that morning and made love. Then they had gone downstairs and, as they’d done on a number of other mornings, they had prepared breakfast together. Afterwards, they had come back upstairs to make love again. Now she was sitting up in bed half-naked and he was putting on his shirt and pants. A limo would be arriving in less than an hour to take him to the airport where his private jet would return him to the States.
“No, I think it’s best if we say our goodbyes here,” she said.
He glanced up and looked at her and then he slowly walked over to the bed and pulled her into his arms. “What we shared was special, Vanessa. I’m going to miss it and I’m going to miss you. Why can’t we—”
She quickly reached out and placed her fingers to his lips. “Don’t, Cameron. You promised. All this was supposed to be was an island fling. We both agreed. Flings aren’t meant to last.”
Taking a deep breath, Cameron fought back the words he wanted to say. He would let her have things her way for now, but once she set her feet back on American soil he would intensify his plan.
“Regardless, I meant what I said. If your days or nights become lonely and you find you still want me, just let me know and I will make myself available to you. Anytime, anyplace and any position.”
A small tremble rippled down Vanessa’s spine at Cameron’s offer. A part of her was tempted, but she held on to her resolve. Cameron had been wonderful these past few weeks only because he had allowed himself to put his guard down. He had been stripped of his control. Back in the States it would be business as usual, and he would go back to being the kind of man she did not want in her life. The kind of person who got what he wanted regardless of how he went about getting it. Ruthless, powerful, demanding. Those were three things she could not accept in any man.
But still…she would miss him. She would miss everything they had shared. For a little while he had stripped away her inhibitions, robbed her of her common sense and had filled her days and nights with more pleasure than any one woman had a right to receive.
“Vanessa.”
She met his gaze, saw the deep longing there and knew what he wanted. She shook her head. “You’ll miss your plane.”
He smiled. The smile where the corners of his lips tilted so sexily, the one that sent tingly sensations all through her. “I can’t miss the plane since I own it,” he said huskily. “And I can’t leave here without being with you again.”
He kissed her then, a hot, open-mouthed kiss that was filled with more passion than Vanessa thought she could handle. She would never get tired of savoring the taste of him. It was the kind of kiss that stirred everything inside her to life once again, that activated a dull, throbbing ache right between her legs.
“Cameron.”
He gently eased her down on the bed, while running his hands up her legs, her thighs and finding that very spot that ached for him. Instead of clamping her legs together to stop him, she parted them and he slipped his finger inside her. Her response to his intimate touch was immediate, and she released a moan of need from deep within her throat.
How could she still crave this when she had made love in two weeks more times than in her entire life? How could his touch alone make an insufferable longing erupt deep within her? Those questions were obliterated from her mind, squashed by the sensations that began taking over.
Intense pleasure suffused her entire body as his fingers worked their magic on her, and then shock wave after delicious shock wave consumed her. She literally gasped at the magnitude. Her body trembled and she clutched him, held tightly to his shoulder as an orgasm rammed into her.
He held her for long moments, waiting for the aftershocks to cease, to ease from her body. Then he slowly released her and stepped back, and she watched as he began removing his clothes. He took a condom from his nightstand and put it on.
Vanessa could tell from the intense look in Cameron’s eyes that even with the time restraints this wouldn’t be a quickie. He intended to leave her with something she would remember for a long time. He was determined to get her addicted to him.
A rainbow of emotions arced through her. Resentment. Inflexibility. Stubbornness. But all three were overshadowed by desire, a need that was deeply intense within her, even after what she’d just shared with him.
When he came back to the bed, gloriously naked, she pushed all those unwanted emotions aside. Instead she wanted to concentrate on this one last time. Rising up, she eagerly went into his arms, kissing him with the same hunger and intensity with which he had kissed her earlier.
Later, after he left, she would question her sanity, drum up all that common sense that he had blown to pieces. She would go back to being her own person, a confident woman who didn’t want or need a man in her life.
The tiny hot flames licking her body made any more coherent thoughts impossible. And when Cameron broke their kiss and eased her down in bed, she wrapped her arms around his neck, needing to hold on to him for just a little while longer.
The look in his eyes made her breathless, and when he positioned his body over hers and continued to look at her she could feel her body surrendering to him. To his wants and his desires.
When he entered her, she moaned at the impact and wrapped her legs around his waist. The way he made love to her, thrusting in and out, was making her delirious and she held on, needing as much as he was giving. She felt the muscles in his back straining with each powerful thrust.
And just when she felt the earth move, he leaned toward her and dipped the tip of his tongue into the corners of her mouth, licking her as though she was a taste he had to have.
At that moment the earth didn’t just move, it exploded, and she felt herself being blasted to a place Cameron had never taken her before. She screamed his name until her throat seemed raw and still the sensations kept ramming her, nonstop. She was slightly taken aback by the intensity of her passion, the force of her need, and when he followed her over, when that same explosion tore into him, she tightened her hold on him, lifted her hips and locked him in place.
And then she felt it, that affinity she had never felt before with a man, a special oneness. And no matter how much she tried fighting the feeling, it wouldn’t go away.
She was forced to admit that if she hadn’t gotten addicted, she was pretty close to it.
Vanessa kept running down the beach, along the shore. Cameron was probably back in the States now, back on Charlotte’s soil, and she needed to run.
She kept jogging, mindless of the exhaustion that had seeped into her bones. She wanted to be tired so she could sleep tonight, so the dreams wouldn’t come. It would be bad enough when she reached out and found the place beside her empty.
She had stood at his upstairs bedroom window and looked down below to watch him leave. Right before he got into the car, he glanced up, knowing she would be there. He had stared at her for a long moment before lifting his hand. She had expected a wave but instead he had blown her a kiss.
That single action had gotten under her skin, and for the rest of the day all rational thoughts had been reduced to a mess of emotions.
So, for now, she kept running to release that wild, reckless streak that Cameron had encouraged. She was determined to be all right and to put her island fling behind her. Cheyenne had called. The photo shoot had ended and she was on her way home. That meant in a day or so Vanessa would be free to leave this island that would always hold so many special memories.
She kept running, feeling her muscles ache, feeling the heaviness of her heart, but she refused to acknowledge the pain, the anxiety, the deep, intense need Cameron had so effortlessly fulfilled. She had begun missing him the moment he had gotten into the car that had taken him away. He had left his door key with her and also his car key, both generously offered for her use.
Vanessa inhaled deeply as she continued to jog. She had taken a chance. She had trodden on dangerous grounds. She had indulged in a very special kind of risky pleasure. But she didn’t have any regrets. What she and Cameron had shared was priceless and the memories would be endless.
When she returned to work on Monday it would be business as usual. That’s the way she wanted it and that’s the way she intended it to be.
“W
elcome back, Vanessa.”
Vanessa glanced up to find her four cousins standing in the doorway to her office. She smiled. “Thanks, guys. It’s good to be back.”
“And you really want us to believe that you prefer being here over Jamaica?” Donovan, the youngest of the Steele brothers, asked.
She chuckled. “Hey, I didn’t admit that but you know what they say. There’s no place like home.”
Referring to that quote from
The Wizard of Oz
made her think of Cameron and the night they had watched that particular movie together.
“Vanessa?”
She was jerked from her thoughts. She glanced over at Chance. “Yes?”
“I asked if you wanted to come to dinner on Sunday. We’re having a small dinner party to celebrate the baby’s arrival.”
She smiled. “I’d love to come.” She wondered if Cameron had been invited, as well, but decided not to ask.
“And mark your calendar for Friday night, two weeks from now,” Morgan said.
She raised a brow while grabbing the calendar on her desk. “What’s going on that night?”
“I’m hosting a party to officially kick off my campaign. The election is in three months.”
Vanessa nodded. She didn’t have to wonder if Cameron would be attending that event. He was committed to Morgan’s campaign. She sighed deeply and after penciling in the date on her calendar she smiled up at Morgan. “Consider it done. Do you need me to do anything?”
“Ask my campaign manager,” he said, nodding over at Donovan. “Or I could send you to Cameron since he’s the second in command.”
Vanessa frowned at Morgan. “No, that’s okay. I’m sure Donovan can tell me anything I need to know.”
She saw the quirking of Morgan’s lips and knew it was business as usual between them. He was still trying to shove Cameron down her throat. Well, little did he know, Cameron had already been there. She flushed at the memory.
“Vanessa, are you okay?”
She drew a deep breath and glanced over at Sebastian. “Yes, Bas, why do you ask?”
“You seem preoccupied about something.”
If only you knew.
“I’m not preoccupied, just a little overwhelmed with the amount of work piled high on my desk.”
“Well, bring your thoughts off Jamaica. We have a lot of work to do this week. We need to call a press conference later today.”
Vanessa raised a brow. “Why?”
With irritation in his voice, Chance informed her, “An article appeared in this morning’s paper that we would be laying off over two hundred employees due to outsourcing.”
Vanessa shook her head. “I can’t believe someone has started that rumor again.”
“Well, they have, and now we need to work on damage control both with our employees and the community. Although I do find it really strange it’s started up again only since Morgan is seeking public office. It wouldn’t surprise me if someone is trying to play dirty politics.”
Vanessa nodded. She thought the same thing. It was her job to make sure the Steele Corporation maintained a positive image, and the sooner she got back into her job, the less time she would have to think about Cameron.
“What time is the press conference?” she asked Chance.
“At noon.”
“All right, how about if we meet in an hour so you can go over some things with me?”
“That’s a good idea. We’ll leave so you can get settled.”
“Thanks.”
When her cousins walked out of her office, closing the door behind them, she leaned back in her chair, grateful she had plenty to do to keep her mind occupied. The last thing she needed was to dwell on the memories of the past two weeks.
“I saw the press conference on television the other day. I think it went well, Vanessa,” Sienna said as she sat across from her best friend at lunch.
“Thanks, I can’t believe we’re still tackling that issue but all it takes is a rumor to make people panic when it comes to their livelihood,” Vanessa responded. The two women were grabbing a quick bite at the Racetrack Café, a popular restaurant in town and one they frequented often.
Moments later Vanessa smiled over at her friend. “I can’t get over just how pregnant you look. I’ve only been gone for two weeks and your stomach has grown tremendously.”
Sienna chuckled. “To hear Dane tell it, I’m still not showing much, although I can’t get into any of my clothes. Heck, I’m five months already, but the doctors told me the baby will probably be small. But then Dane was a preemie when he was born.”
The smile left Vanessa’s face. “Are you worried the baby might come early?”
“Not really, but if it does, I’ll be getting the best medical care. Dane’s mother tried to insist that we use Dr. Tucker, but Dane and I told her we were perfectly satisfied with the doctor I’m using. Needless to say, she wasn’t happy about it, thinks I’m to blame and hasn’t said too much to me since. She doesn’t know how close I finally came to telling her off.”
Vanessa frowned. The rift between Sienna and her mother-in-law was an ongoing one that had started when Sienna and Dane had first begun dating. Sienna was not the woman Mrs. Bradford had wanted for her son. Dane had been born into a rather wealthy family, while Sienna was what Mrs. Bradford considered a “nobody.”
Vanessa clearly recalled how a little over three years ago, Sienna and Dane’s marriage had seemed doomed, headed for divorce, until a snowstorm had left them stranded together at their cabin in the mountains. The forced togetherness had given them a chance to talk, to analyze what had gone wrong in the marriage and to decide that they still loved each other enough to stay together and make things work. Now they were doing just fine and would continue to do so as long as they kept Dane’s interfering parents out of their business.
After the waiter had delivered their meals and left, Sienna glanced over at Vanessa. “Well, are you going to tell me what went down in Jamaica between you and Cameron Cody?”
Vanessa glanced at Sienna over the rim of her glass of iced tea. After taking a sip, she said, “Come on Sienna, you know what a couple do when they’re involved in an affair. Ours was no different and it was fun and enjoyable while it lasted.”
“And you think it’s over?”
“I know it’s over. Cameron and I were very clear on the terms,” Vanessa said. She hoped, for both their sakes, that he honored the agreement as he’d promised. But then she had no reason to think he wouldn’t given that she’d been back in Charlotte for almost a week and he hadn’t tried contacting her.
It would have been easy for him to do so. Her office was down the hall from Morgan’s so it would have been relatively simple for him to drop by and visit Morgan and find a reason to seek her out. She didn’t want to admit it, but she was a little disappointed that he hadn’t.
“I take it the sex was good.”
Vanessa blinked when memories assailed her mind. The sex wasn’t just good, it was amazing. She couldn’t help but think of all the satisfaction she had gotten from Cameron that she hadn’t gotten from Harlan. Cameron had been a thoughtful, caring and unselfish lover.
“Well?”
Vanessa was pulled out of her thoughts. She glanced across the table and saw a silly-looking grin on Sienna’s face, as if she’d been privy to her thoughts. Gosh, she hoped not! She cleared her throat. “Well, what?”
“Was the sex good? I happen to think it must have been.”
Vanessa raised a brow. “Why would you think that?”
“Because you seem more at ease, relaxed, less tense. I can tell you’ve taken the edge off. And I have a feeling I should be thanking Cameron for that.”
Vanessa didn’t want to admit it but Sienna
did
have Cameron to thank for it. An affair with him had been just what she’d needed and just what she’d known it would be. Unforgettable. Since returning to Charlotte she hadn’t been able to sleep a single night without reliving those moments in her dreams.
“Don’t look now, but he’s here.”
Vanessa’s stomach suddenly clenched. “Who’s here?”
“Your lover boy. Cameron Cody. He just walked in with another man and the waiter is leading them over to a table near the wall. I don’t think he’s seen us.”
Thank God for that,
Vanessa immediately thought, fighting the thousands of butterflies that had been released in her stomach. Maybe they could finish eating and leave before he did notice them.
“Oops. He glanced over this way and saw us.”
Sienna’s words weren’t what Vanessa had wanted to hear. “Then let’s pretend we haven’t seen him.”
Sienna smiled. “Too late. I looked right in his face.”
Vanessa picked up her tea glass with somewhat shaky fingers. “Fine, then I’ll be the one to pretend.”
“Too late again. He’s coming over this way.”
“Great! That’s all I need.”
Sienna lifted a brow. “If you keep acting this way, I’m going to think you’re in need of something else. Are you getting your edge back on again?”
Vanessa hadn’t thought Sienna’s comment the least bit funny and was about to tell her so when she saw a shadow cross their table. She swallowed as she glanced up into the darkest, sexiest eyes that had ever been given to a man. And at that moment she remembered how those same eyes got even darker just moments before he—
“Sienna. Vanessa.”
Cameron’s greeting broke into Vanessa’s thought, just at the right time. “Hello, Cameron,” both she and Sienna said at the same time. Vanessa couldn’t help but take in the sight of him. He was standing beside their table, dressed in a designer business suit, seeming completely at ease in the sexy stance she liked so well, his feet planted apart as if he was ready to take on anybody, especially her. And he would do it in such a way that would leave her totally breathless if not totally wrenched from never-ending orgasms.
“I saw the two of you and wanted to come over and say hello,” he said to both while fixing his gaze directly on Vanessa.
Vanessa cleared her throat. “That was kind of you,” she responded.
He nodded slightly and then said, “Well, I’ll let the two of you get back to your meal. I’m dining with my attorney.”
“Thanks for dropping by and saying hello,” Sienna said smiling.
“It was totally my pleasure,” he assured them.
Vanessa caught on to that one word.
Pleasure.
The man was the king of it. He could deliver it like nobody’s business.
“It was good seeing both of you.”
“Same here,” Sienna said.
Vanessa, who was trying to recover from a flash of one particular memory that had taken place in Cheyenne’s shower, merely nodded.
He turned and walked off. When Sienna was sure he wasn’t in hearing range she asked, “Am I to assume you no longer dislike him as much as you used to?”
Vanessa shrugged as she bit a French fry. “He’s all right.”
“That’s not what I asked you, Van.”
Vanessa frowned. Sienna wanted things spelled out for her. “Yes, you can assume that. But…”
“But what?”
“Cameron Cody is still Cameron Cody. He just happens to handle things differently in the bedroom than he does in the boardroom. I’ve seen him in action in both, Sienna.”
“And the way he carries himself in the boardroom is the one you can’t get over, isn’t it?”
“Should I be able to? It showed me what I can expect after the touching, kissing and the deep thrusts. You still have a man who likes being in control. A man whose actions can actually destroy a person’s livelihood when they find themselves out of a job.”
“Didn’t you read that article in
Ebony?
Although there tends to be some changes whenever a new management team comes on the scene, from what I gather, Cameron actually looks out for the employees of any company he acquires. In fact, the benefits package he brings is usually better than the one it replaces. He ends up being a blessing in disguise.”
A blessing in disguise.
Now that was a different way to look at him, Vanessa thought. And although he had been exactly that to her in the bedroom by literally destroying Harlan’s claim that she was not worth a damn in bed, she could not imagine him being thought of that way in the boardroom.
“Well, it no longer matters what I think of Cameron,” she finally said, wiping the corner of her mouth with her napkin and fighting the urge to tilt her head, ever so slightly, and look over to where he was sitting. The tension that had invaded her stomach moments earlier was now a warm, melting feeling of longing that was seeping right to her center. It was a part of her that knew Cameron by name.
“Well, I hate to be the one to tell you this, Van, but Cameron still wants you. Evidently he didn’t get enough in Jamaica.”
Sienna’s words sent heat pouring through her. She swallowed deeply. “What makes you think that?”
“The way he was looking at you. He was talking to both of us, but he was looking at you, with that I-want-you-in-my-bed look. I recognized it since I’ve seen it in Dane’s eyes plenty of times.”