“Not a juicy rib-eye, that’s for sure. I don’t like being set up.”
“And you think you were set up?”
“Yes.”
“Umm, I don’t recall you complaining about it that night when you came back downstairs. In fact, you looked rather giddy. Like the cat who’d gotten the canary.”
“That’s not the point.”
“Then what is the point?”
She inhaled deeply and decided to use another approach. “What is it with Cameron? Other guys have tried dating me, and you, Bas, Donovan and Chance have always been overly cautious, checking them out to make sure they don’t intend to run off with the family china. Yet, Cameron is a man known to take over companies and it seems like the four of you, especially you, Morgan, are all but handing me to him on a silver platter. Hell, let’s forget about silver, let’s even try a gold platter.”
“We like Cameron. He had a rough life with the way he lost his parents, yet he made it. He’s a survivor.”
“But look at what he’s doing to those companies,” she implored.
Morgan rolled his eyes. “Name one company where the employees haven’t benefited from Cameron’s takeover.”
“What about that one in Texas? Global Petroleum.”
“That’s personal for Cameron.”
Vanessa arched a brow. “And how is it personal?”
“He had a score to settle with the owner.”
“And for that reason he took over an entire company? What about the employees?”
“Like I said, they will end up in better shape. A lot better than Cam’s grandfather did over twenty years ago.”
Vanessa frowned. “What about Cam’s grandfather?”
Morgan came into her office and closed the door behind him. “You know about him?”
She shrugged. “Only what Cameron shared with me. I know he was fired from his job of forty years less than a year from retirement, and he lost all his benefits.”
“And did Cam tell you the name of the company responsible?”
“If he did, I don’t remember. Why?”
“Because Global Petroleum is the same company that fired not only Cam’s grandfather but five other men who were about to retire. None of them had a grandson like Cam who was willing to drop out of school to help make ends meet. Two of the men died within the first five years, the others still living are destitute. They’re old men, in their late eighties. One is in his nineties. Cam took over Global Petroleum not only for revenge, but he’s taking the company’s first five years of profits to give to those remaining four men so that they can live out the rest of their lives without wanting for anything. All the profits will be split among the survivors and their families.”
Vanessa leaned back in her chair, amazed. “He’s actually doing that?”
“Yes. And in my book that’s a pretty nice gesture for a guy you think is nothing more than a jerk.”
“I never said he was a jerk. I just never understood him, until now.”
Morgan shook his head. “And you still don’t understand him, Vanessa. The man loves you. That’s why I don’t worry about what may or may not be happening between the two of you. One thing I’ve discovered since becoming Cam’s friend is that true friendships are important to him, and because of it, he picks his friends carefully. And the reason he loves you is that he truly believes you’re more than worthy of his love.”
Morgan crossed his arms over his chest and met her gaze. “The big question of the hour is whether you’re going to prove him right or wrong.”
That night, after taking her shower, Vanessa slipped into bed with Morgan’s words from earlier that day on her mind.
“…And the reason he loves you is that he truly believes you’re more than worthy of his love.”
She shook her head. If Cameron did think at one time that she was worthy of his love, chances were that after what she’d said to him their last morning together he didn’t feel that way now. She had told him that she doubted him, and now he probably wouldn’t want to see her.
She sighed deeply, knowing she would go stark raving crazy if she had to wait another week before he returned to Charlotte to find out. She quickly reached across the bed for the phone.