“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.”
“Well, he might as well get it out of his eyes,” Vanessa said with irritation in her voice. “We made an agreement and I expect him to keep it. We reached a clear understanding before he returned to the States. What we shared in Jamaica ended in Jamaica.”
“And you actually believe that?”
Vanessa couldn’t fight it anymore. She gave in to the urge and took a quick glance across the room to where Cameron sat. Automatically, as if he’d been expecting her to look, their gazes caught, locked, held. She felt something. A hypnotic connection that was having a strange effect on her. From across the room she could feel his gaze. It was an intimate caress, touching her everywhere, leaving no part of her body without contact. And she could smell his scent. It was as if they were still out there on the beach and his scent, all manly, robust and sexy, mingled with the salty ocean air.
“Vanessa?”
She drew in a deep breath, forcing her gaze to return to Sienna. She found her friend studying her intently. “Yes?”
“Why are you fighting it? Why are you still fighting Cameron?”
Vanessa’s hand tightened on the glass of tea she picked up. She needed a sip to cool off. Instead she took a long swallow. “I don’t want to be just another thing that he controls,” she managed to say moments later.
“And that’s all you think you would be to him?”
“Yes.”
“Well, you might not want my two cents but I happen to think you’re wrong. I believe, if given the chance, Cameron could be the best thing ever to happen to you, and how he conducts business has nothing to do with you.”
A part of Vanessa wished that was true, but still, she couldn’t separate the parts of the man. She didn’t want to know there were two parts of him, one she liked and one she didn’t. She wanted to like the whole man. “Can we talk about something else now?” she quietly asked.
Sienna nodded as she leaned back in her chair. “Okay, what do you want to talk about?”
“How about names for your baby? Have you come up with any more since the last time we talked?”
Vanessa needed this, a change in subjects. It would help her ignore the sensations flowing through her. As she sat and listened to Sienna, she fought the urge to look at Cameron one more time. It wasn’t easy.
“Who’s the woman, Cam?”
Cameron didn’t have to ask what woman X was referring to. “The one in the green pantsuit is Vanessa, Morgan’s cousin, and the other woman is her best friend, Sienna Bradford.”
Xavier nodded. He studied his friend over the rim of his wineglass. “And what’s going on with you and Ms. Steele?”
Cameron lifted a brow. “What makes you think something is going on?”
Xavier chuckled. “Mainly that you can’t seem to keep your eyes off her, and I’ve never known you to be that attentive to any woman.”
Cameron placed his fork down by his plate and leaned back in his chair to meet X’s curious gaze. “Vanessa isn’t just any woman.”
“She isn’t?”
“No.”
“Then who is she?”
Cameron glanced back over to where Vanessa was sitting, wishing she would look over at him again, feel everything he was feeling, want everything he was wanting. When time ticked by and she didn’t look his way, he finally returned his attention to X to answer his question.
“Vanessa is the woman I intend to marry.”
Cameron thought that the shocked look on Xavier’s face was priceless. “Marry?”
“Yes.”
Xavier shook his head, chuckling. “Does she know that?”
“She doesn’t have a clue. Vanessa has no idea that she will be the most important merger of my life.”