Forged of Steele Bundle

by Jackson, Brenda

  She watched what amounted to pain form in his eyes and he shifted on the lounger, seeming uncomfortable with her question. He lowered his arm from her shoulders. For the first time ever, Vanessa could feel him withdrawing from her. Though he seldom discussed his childhood, he had told her about his parents and how they’d died and about the grandparents who’d raised him. Why did this particular question bother him?

  “I’m sorry if I asked you about something that’s too personal, Cameron.”

  He glanced back at her and then, as if he had reached a decision about something, he pulled her back into his arms. “No, it’s not too personal, at least not for you. I dropped out of school at sixteen because my grandfather lost his job. The company he had been employed with for over forty years deliberately laid him off less than a year before he was to retire so he couldn’t receive any retirement benefits.”

  “Oh, how awful.”

  “Yes, it was. He was sixty-four and because of his age, there was no other place for him to go or anything else that he knew how to do. My grandfather wasn’t the only person that particular company ruined that way. There were a number of others.”

  Vanessa sat up. She was angry. “But couldn’t something be done about that company? Surely the government could have stepped in and—”

  “The government did nothing,” Cameron said, just as angry and very bitter. “There were no laws in place to protect workers against such tactics. And with no money coming in, I had to do something. I couldn’t let my grandfather worry himself to death. His health hadn’t been at its best as it was, and he was trying to make that final year.”

  “So you dropped out of school to help.” It was a statement rather than a question.

  “Yes. Gramps didn’t want me to do it, neither did my teachers, but there was nothing else to do. There was still a mortgage on the house and Gramps was still paying the medical bills my grandmother had left behind.”

  For a moment he didn’t say anything then he added, “I’m just thankful for Mrs. Turner.”

  Vanessa raised a brow. “Mrs. Turner?”

  “Yes. She was one of my teachers who thought I had a bright future ahead of me, so she volunteered to tutor me. When I turned eighteen I passed the GED and got my high-school diploma that way.”

  Vanessa nodded. She was thankful for someone like Mrs. Turner in Cameron’s life, as well. “And what type of work did you do for those two years?”

  “I worked at Myers Feed Store for a while, driving his truck, making deliveries, and then I went to work for Handover Construction Company. With the money I made I was able to keep food on the table for me and Gramps and buy his medication each month.”

  Vanessa knew from what he’d told her last week that his grandfather had died right before Cameron had entered college. That must have been a lonely time for him. “Thanks for sharing that with me, Cameron.”

  Instead of saying anything, he pulled her into his arms and just held her close.

  “I can’t believe you’re taking time to call me,” Sienna teased. “I thought Cameron was occupying most of your time these days. Don’t tell me you’ve had enough of each other already.”

  Vanessa dropped down on her bed and glanced out the window. Down below she could see Cameron driving off, going to town to pick up the items they needed for dinner. Tonight they would get into the kitchen together. “No, we haven’t had enough.”

  She thought about what she’d said then decided she couldn’t really speak for Cameron and modified her reply. “At least I haven’t had enough.”

  Sienna was the only person to whom Vanessa had admitted that she and Cameron were having an affair. To Cheyenne, who called periodically, she hadn’t said anything, deciding to let her sister keep guessing, although Vanessa was pretty sure Cheyenne knew the score.

  “How many more days?” Sienna asked her.

  “Seven.”

  “Then what happens?”

  “Then Cameron returns to Charlotte. I’ll be leaving a day or two afterward when Cheyenne returns.”

  “What’s after that?”

  Vanessa rolled her eyes. “Sienna, why are you asking me that? I told you that nothing happens after that. Cameron will go his way and I’ll go mine. This was an island fling and nothing more.”

  “And what if you fall in love with him?”

  Vanessa shook her head stubbornly. “Won’t happen. You of all people know that I’ve learned—the hard way, I might add—how to keep my emotions in check.”

  “But why would you want to if the right person came along? You know that I wasn’t ready for Dane when we first met. Talk about night and day. He was the rich kid and I was the one whose parents had more issues than The New York Times had newspapers. I tried to fight his interest, tried convincing him of all the reasons we were wrong for each other. Then I finally talked him into letting me be his bedmate for a night, thinking that would definitely get us out of each other’s systems. You of all people know that didn’t work.”

  “Yes, but you and Dane were meant to be together, I’ve always told you that. I never knew why you were fighting it and fighting him.”

  “The same way I don’t understand why you’re fighting Cameron. Okay, he can be a control freak at times, he likes being in charge, the master of his game. But even you said he’s been letting you call the shots, allowing you to take control, so that means at least he’s flexible. And can you honestly say that after spending a week with him, he’s still the monster you always thought him to be?”

  Vanessa remained quiet for a moment as she pondered Sienna’s question. She thought about the time she and Cameron had spent together, all the fun they’d had. Then she said, “No, I don’t think he’s a monster.”

  Sienna must have heard the tiny catch in her voice because her friend didn’t say anything for a while, until she asked, “Are you okay, Vanessa?”

  “No, I’m not okay,” she confirmed with a bit of gloom in her tone. “But I will be. It’s just that…”

  “What?”

  “Nothing. I knew what I was getting into.”

  “Are you sure about that?”

  Despite all the misgivings she was suddenly feeling, Vanessa refused to give in to the racing of her heart and summoned every ounce of her common sense. No, she told herself, what she was feeling was nothing other than good old-fashioned lust. “Yes, Sienna, I’m sure.”

  Vanessa held out her hand to Cameron. “The sharp knife.”

  He carefully placed the item she had requested into her hand and then watched as she expertly removed the bone and skin from the four chicken breast halves before tossing the meat into the slow cooker.

  “Bell pepper.”

  He scooped up the bell pepper strips that he’d cut and tossed them in the pot to join the chicken.

  “Now the can of pepper-jack cheese soup and the chunky salsa mixture.”

  Before handing those items to her, he eased closer to her while she stood at the kitchen counter. “My mouth is watering already.”

  His closeness and the low chuckle that rumbled close to her ear actually made her shiver. Even after a week her body still reacted whenever he was near. “Then I expect you to have a clean plate later,” she said, placing the lid on the cooker and setting it to cook on low for six hours. “This is what I call easy and tasty.”

  “I can certainly see that.”

  Considering her mind had been elsewhere all day, ever since talking to Sienna, Vanessa had wanted to prepare something that didn’t take a lot of thought, and this was the first thing that had come to mind. It was one of the first dishes she had prepared in her home economics class in high school and she had served it to her family, or anyone else who wanted to eat it, for three nights in a row.

  “So it’s going to take six hours?” Cameron asked, easing still closer to her.

  She smiled, already knowing where his mind was going. “Yes, just about.”

  “Would you like to go swimming while we wait?”

&n
bsp; “Sure. Why not? But I didn’t bring a bathing suit over here with me.”

  Cameron’s smile nearly sizzled her insides. “Who said anything about you needing a bathing suit? Let’s be daring.”

  Vanessa chuckled. “If I recall, you’ve already been daring. I was sitting on the beach that day you decided to bare all before diving into the ocean.”

  He leaned over and touched her lips with his. “I saw you and even from a distance, I got turned on and needed to take a quick dip to cool off.”

  “You expect me to believe that?”

  He took her hand in his. “Yes, because it’s true. Haven’t these past days we’ve spent together proved it?”

  To Vanessa’s way of thinking, these past days they’d spent together proved how quickly she had succumbed to his charm. What bothered her most was knowing that sooner or later she would have to start withdrawing. Their time together was now a clock slowly ticking away, and every second, minute or hour counted…until the end.

  The end.

  She inhaled deeply and instinctively snuggled closer to him, and he wrapped his arms completely around her. They’d had a lot of these types of moments, usually after making love when there were no words left to say and he would just hold her. Making the decision to have an island fling with him had been hard, but now what would be even harder was walking away knowing there would not be a repeat. This was all they would have.

  “Yes, I’ll go skinny-dipping with you, Cameron,” she finally said, turning in his arms and looking up to meet his gaze. “But I won’t walk out of this house down to the beach naked,” she added. “I’m going to need something to wear.”

  A smooth grin curled the corners of Cameron’s mouth. “Will one of my T-shirts do?”

  She couldn’t help but laugh, recalling how many times she had walked around in his T-shirts and how very little they covered. She remembered one night in particular when, in one of her seductive moods, she had seduced him while wearing his L.A. Lakers T-shirt. He had practically ripped the thing off before taking her right here on the kitchen table.

  “If that’s the best you can do, then yes, one of your T-shirts will do,” she decided to say, trying to block the memories of that particular night from her mind.

  “You know where they are.”

  A grin tugged at her lips. “Yes, I do, don’t I?” She pulled herself out of his arms. “I’ll be back in a second.”

  Vanessa was halfway up the stairs when she glanced back over her shoulder. Cameron was standing in the doorway separating the kitchen from the living room. His hands were braced on either side of the arch and his stance was as sexy as sexy could get. At that moment she wished she had a camera to capture that pose on film so she could take out the photo on those lonely nights after she returned to Charlotte.

  She quickly turned back around and made it up the rest of the stairs. Damn, she didn’t need this now, especially not when she was trying hard to keep what they were sharing in perspective. And she definitely hadn’t counted on it.

  Cameron Cody was truly beginning to grow on her. Even worse, he was slowly but surely getting under her skin in a way she hadn’t thought possible.

  Chapter 12

  Cameron heard Vanessa return even before her bare feet touched the last step. He glanced up and tried not to stare. But he couldn’t help himself. The woman did wonders for his T-shirts.

  It was his opinion that her body was outright and unreservedly perfect, and as she walked toward him, putting those long gorgeous legs out in front of her, his blood raced, literally pounding through every part of him. His gaze traveled all over her. This particular shirt—the one promoting his construction company—seemed shorter than the rest. The cotton fabric clung to her full breasts and curvy hips.

  When she finally reached the bottom step she slowly twirled around with her hands on her hips. “So, what do you think?” she asked as a smile twitched her lips.

  He groaned inwardly. What he really thought was that now was a good time to kiss that lush mouth of hers, or better yet, to whisk her into his arms and take her back upstairs. Everything about her, every sensuous detail, was wreaking havoc on his control, his ability to think straight, his ability to resist emotions he’d never encountered before.

  “I think,” he said, taking a step forward, “that you are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met, whether you’re wearing an outfit I personally don’t like, my T-shirt or nothing at all. You are simply stunning.”

  A warm tingle started in Vanessa’s breasts and moved lower, toward her midsection. The dark, tense eyes staring down at her seemed both serious and deeply enthralled. She bit her lower lip, trying not to let his words affect her so, and found it difficult. They had affected her.

  She took a deep breath and glanced down at him. The only thing covering his body was a pair of outlandishly sexy swim trunks that left nothing to her imagination. They seemed like a second layer of skin and clearly emphasized the fact that he wanted her. Her heartbeat sped up at the thought of what would happen once they got down to the beach.

  “I’m taking a large blanket and a bottle of body cream.”

  Vanessa hitched a brow. “Body cream?”

  He smiled. “Yes, I want to rub it all over you after we take a swim.”

  A tremble ran through her body. She had a feeling that wasn’t all he intended to do.

  Vanessa lay on her stomach on the thick blanket with the sand as a cushion. She closed her eyes at the feel of Cameron’s hands moving slowly, lightly over her shoulder, gently massaging the slope of her back and the curve of her neck. The cream he was rubbing into her skin smelled of tropical fruits, and his calloused fingers were working magic as he caressed her skin.

  She released a long sigh when he rubbed more of the cream onto her back, tenderly kneading her muscles, working out her aches and pains at the same time he caused a different type of throbbing in her body.

  “What are you thinking about?” he asked in an almost-whisper, leaning down close to her ear. He was on his knees straddling her butt. She could feel his nearness, his heat, and the way his hands were touching her, moving down her back, the rear of her thighs and then her behind was sending all kinds of sensations through her body.

  “Umm, I’m thinking about how good your hands feel on me,” she said, almost in a purr. “I’ve never gotten this much attention from a man before.”

  “And is that good or bad?”

  She paused, thinking about his question, before she answered. “Before this trip, I would have thought it was bad. But now I can’t help but think it’s all good. I can’t imagine another man touching me this way, making me feel this way, and—”

  She never finished what she was about to say. Cameron had gently turned her over and rubbed some of the cream onto her chest. He began rubbing it into her skin, caressing her breasts in a circular motion around the nipples while they hardened at his touch.

  After smearing more cream onto her body, his fingers moved lower to her stomach and with the tip of his finger he drew rings around her navel, sending a rush of sexual pleasure through every pore on her body. A part of her wanted to reach out and cover her feminine mound from his gaze, but she couldn’t. Besides, it would be a waste of time. She might be the one in control, but Cameron had a way of using anything she did to his advantage. She was beginning to see that he was smart in more ways than one.

  “I didn’t tell you everything there was to know about this particular cream, Vanessa,” he said, his voice a low, sensuous timbre.

  She let go of a shaky breath at the mere sound. “What didn’t you tell me?” She looked up into his face. He was above her, straddling her body. Then he began lowering his head closer to hers. When he was just inches from her face he said, “The cream I’ve rubbed all over you is edible. Do you know what that means?”

  Her gaze was locked with his and was filled with hunger, heat, and a hefty dose of arousal. Of course she knew what he meant, what he was alluding to, but she decid
ed to play dumb. “No, what does that mean?” she asked innocently.

  Bracing his hands on both sides of her head, he leaned down to within inches of her lips. “It means, Vanessa Steele, that tonight, under the beauty of this Jamaican moon, you will become my treat.”

  “Your treat?” she asked, her voice barely audible against the waves rushing toward the shore.

  “Yes, but first this…”

  And then he leaned closer, captured her lips and kissed her as though she was everything he had ever wanted, everything he had ever needed, and that kissing her was his lifeline for the next minute, hour, day. His mouth was feeding on hers with a hunger that made her whimper.

  He slowly pulled his mouth away, and she immediately felt the loss of his lips on hers.

  “Did I tell you that mango is my favorite fruit and this cream has plenty of mango in it?”

  “Mango?”

  “Yes. There’s also a pinch of pineapple and avocado. Real tasty fruits. Exotic fruits. Fruits with mouthwatering flavor.”

  He picked up the bottle of cream and with his hands he smeared a trail of it from the tips of her breasts down to her stomach. When he came to her feminine mound with its smooth bikini wax, he stared at it for a moment before taking his hand and fully coating it with the fruity cream. It was like piling whipped cream on top of a hot fudge sundae.

  “Cameron?”

  “Yes?”

  “What are you doing?”

  “Fulfilling one of my fantasies. And I might as well confess right now that there’s nothing spontaneous about this. This is something I’ve been thinking about for quite some time. And when we do part, Vanessa, I plan to take the taste of you with me. I want it embedded so deeply in my tongue that it becomes a permanent part of my taste buds. I want the scent of you to inflame my nostrils for all eternity.”

  “But we agreed—”

  “I know what we agreed, Vanessa. This is an island fling and I will keep my word. But that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t remember what I consider to be some of the most special days I’ve ever had with a woman who has more passion in her little finger than some women have in their entire body. I won’t do anything intentionally to look you up when we return to Charlotte, but as I told you in the beginning, I want to make love so good that you’ll want to look me up.”