Fire flared in Vanessa’s eyes. She couldn’t believe the audacity of the man. “And should I feel grateful about that?”
Cameron moved a step closer. “It’s not gratitude I want you to feel. Right now I want you to feel something else altogether.”
Before she could blink, he stepped closer and pulled her into his arms. His mouth descended upon hers, snatching her next breath. For some reason that she didn’t understand, instinctively her lips parted at the same time she felt strong hands wrap around her. Before she could register anything else, before she could regain total control of what was happening and stop it from going further, Cameron inserted his tongue into her mouth.
The moment she sampled his taste, just as bold and daring as the rest of him, she gasped. Then she moaned deep in her throat when her pulse rate escalated. Suddenly, she felt a spine-tingling sensation race through her body, along with an intense need to put all she had into this kiss.
The kiss was everything she’d hoped it would not be, the kind of kiss that drew her to him like a magnet. It was the kind of kiss that did more than give her a sampling of his taste. It was feeding her in a way she had never been fed before. His invasive tongue was doing things a male tongue had never done in her mouth before, making it an art. With other men, she had considered kissing a chore, something that was expected of you.
But Cameron was taking the art of French-kissing to a whole other level. It was downright scandalous, all the things he was doing. But a part of her didn’t want him to stop. And he was getting her to join in the erotic byplay, something she had never done before.
She felt herself drowning in his sensuality, getting smothered in the passion. And she knew if she didn’t put a stop to this madness now, he would claim a victory; the same way he did with anything else he went after. And she refused to become another one of his claimed possessions.
With more strength than she’d thought she had, she pushed herself out of his arms and inhaled deeply to regain control of her senses. She felt flustered and knew she probably looked it, as well. But to her way of thinking, he maintained a calm demeanor, looking totally in control, programmed and completely at ease. His coolness made her even angrier. It also proved what she’d said earlier. The man had no feelings.
“That should not have happened,” she snapped.
“But it did, and it will again,” he said with strong conviction in his voice. “We are two passionate individuals, Vanessa. The reason you didn’t fight me off just now is because you’ve been aching to taste me just as long as I’ve been aching to taste you. And things won’t stop there, sweetheart. They can only go further.”
“No!”
“Yes. You can’t fight me on this. Becoming mine is inevitable.”
“Like hell!”
A small smile curved his wide mouth. “Actually it’ll be more like heaven. That I promise you.”
She took another step back. “Don’t promise me anything, Cameron. Just stay away from me.”
“Sorry, I can’t do that.”
Her mind registered his words but she refused to accept them. “I will fight you with every breath in my body.”
“You do that. And at the same time I plan on claiming you with every breath in mine.”
“You know nothing about me!”
“But I will. I intend to get to know everything about you, Vanessa. Count on it.”
Knowing that continuing to exchange words with him was a complete waste of her time, she angrily moved around him to leave his home, pausing only to snatch her red straw hat off the table.
Chapter 3
“Mr. Cody, what do you want me to do with the basket that Ms. Steele brought?”
Cameron forced his gaze from the window where he watched an angry Vanessa make her way down his palm-tree-lined driveway toward the path that would lead her back to her place. To say she was highly upset with him would be an understatement.
He turned slowly, took a deep breath and let it out before asking, “Where is it?”
“I placed it on the kitchen table.”
“Leave it there. I’ll take care of it.”
“Yes, sir.” She turned to leave.
“And, Martha?”