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.