Lexie

by Kimberly Dean

  “I’ve never been that drunk,” Lexie confessed.

  She was more aware of Cam than ever as he puttered around the kitchen. He found glasses in the second cupboard he opened and filled two of them with tap water. He put them on the counter. “Take the aspirin, both of you.”

  Lexie shifted on the stool. They were all stripped down and showing way too much skin. She wasn’t even wearing a bra. Her skin felt achingly bare, yet she couldn’t pull her gaze away from Cam. His muscles stretched and tightened as he turned to open another cupboard. As if drawn by a magnet, her eyes drifted downwards to his butt.

  The view made her mouth water.

  She felt Roxie’s stare burning her like a match, and she quickly lifted her glass to down the two tablets. What was wrong with her? She had problems coming out her ears. Serious problems. Family and business problems. The new arrival of a twin was a twist she hadn’t seen coming.

  So why was she suddenly attracted to a man she’d done her best to avoid? A man who’d put her sensors on high alert the first time she’d seen him? A man who was intrinsically linked with the father who’d just betrayed her?

  A man she didn’t even know if she could trust.

  He turned with a loaf of bread in his hand. “How do either of you feel about breakfast?”

  Their simultaneous groans answered that question.

  “Good. I’ll make toast.”

  “He is mean,” Roxie mumbled.

  Cam threw her a look over his shoulder. “It’s for your own good.”

  “God, that’s the worst kind.”

  Lexie pressed a hand to her pounding forehead. She wasn’t sure she was up to food either, but he proceeded to make dry toast for them anyway. Both she and Roxie eyed it suspiciously when he set it on a plate before them.

  “Eat,” he ordered. Turning back to the cupboards, he grabbed a box of cereal, poured himself a bowl and retrieved milk from the refrigerator.

  “Make yourself at home,” Roxie grumbled as she pulled off a tiny piece of crust.

  Cam merely lifted an eyebrow as he poured the milk over the cereal. He put the milk away, found a spoon and turned to lean back against the cupboards. He watched them as he ate.

  And Lexie watched him.

  Her gaze drifted over his chest as she sipped at her water. God, if anything was apt to make her hungry in this state, it was him.

  He pointed at her cooling toast with his spoon.

  She looked at it with distaste, but her stomach needed something to settle it. She took a timid bite and then another.

  “Stop crunching so loudly,” Roxie complained.

  “Sorry.”

  Almost on cue, a phone rang. They both cringed, and Cam moved quickly to the end table by the sofa. He grabbed his phone, but it was still three of the most ear-piercing rings Lexie had ever heard before he answered the call.

  “Rowe,” he said curtly.

  He glanced towards them as the voice on the other end spoke, and Lexie immediately knew who it was. As bad as she was feeling, an even heavier weight settled onto her shoulders.

  The real world was back.

  Turning from them, Cam spoke softly. The call wasn’t long, but with each cryptic word that was spoken, Lexie’s chin dipped. Embarrassment ran through her like syrup, thick and clinging. What had she been thinking yesterday to let things get so out of control? To let herself get so…so…wild? It wasn’t like her. It wasn’t how she conducted her life.

  She watched as Cam rubbed the back of his neck. It made the muscles in his back stretch, yet she could have sworn she saw his spine stiffening.

  The phone snapped shut, and he turned.

  She met his gaze. “It was my father, wasn’t it?”

  “I need to go in to the office.”

  She stared at him. She knew she was supposed to say that she’d go in too, but she couldn’t force the words past her lips. She’d been told to fix things, yet they were more complicated now than ever. She had to figure out how to deal with that—and with what was surely to come afterwards. But she was not on top of her game.

  “We have to go get tested,” Roxie reminded her.

  The DNA test. They’d scheduled it yesterday when they’d both still been coherent. Lexie latched on to the idea. Yes, that would help. She needed to get things organized. She needed to know where everything stood before she did anything. Most of all, she needed to straighten herself up and clear her head.

  She needed to regain control.

  “Don’t tell them,” she said to Cam. “Please?”

  Beside her, Roxie inhaled sharply.

  Cam’s eyes narrowed as he slid his cellphone into his back pocket. “Are you sure?”

  Lexie stared down at her toast. She already felt like roadkill, but the icky, tangled web of Underhill dynamics was wrapping around her all over again. “I have to figure out how to tell my father.”

  “Tell him what?” Roxie said in disbelief. “That I exist?”

  Lexie took too long to respond.

  With a flurry of expletives, Roxie climbed down from her barstool. She stomped towards the bathroom, and the door slammed shut.

  Lexie flinched. That wasn’t what she’d meant. Well, it was, but her sister didn’t understand.

  As happy as she was about the turn of events, the situation was complicated. Roxie didn’t have another family, but Lexie did. She didn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings or make anyone feel threatened or unwanted—especially her newfound twin. She just needed time to sort through things.

  Rowe sighed. “I’ll go in and feel things out. Don’t worry, we’ll figure out how to handle this.”

  Lexie was still staring at the bathroom door. “There is no we, Rowe,” she said tiredly.

  He hesitated for the briefest of seconds. “No?”

  A tingle of warning went down Lexie’s spine, and she turned to face him. “No.”

  His dark eyes sparked.

  She was saying the wrong thing to everyone.

  She felt the need to escape but, before she could, he moved in. Her breath caught as his hand settled on her chair, effectively trapping her. Another slid around to the small of her back. She lifted her hands defensively, but the moment she touched his chest, all that delicious heat buffeted her again.

  She went still and their gazes locked.

  “I think yes.”

  Ever so slowly, he pulled her forward. Lexie gasped, but he kept going until her hips were balanced precariously on the edge of the stool and she found herself clutching at him for support. She spread her legs for balance but moaned when he stepped between them.

  He pressed his hips into her, and his mouth was suddenly against her lips. “I want you,” he said roughly. “I don’t know what everyone else’s game is, but mine’s that simple. I want you, and I don’t want you hurt. By anyone.”

  He kissed her then, and Lexie’s head spun. His mouth was hot against hers. Hot, determined and devastating. Their lips sealed and their breaths meshed. His body overwhelmed hers, and memories of last night’s embrace came back sharp and clear.

  He felt as good as she remembered. Better.

  “Cam,” she gasped.

  His fingers tangled with the strap of her top. “Finally, a way to get you to say my name.”

  He pushed the strap aside and nuzzled her shoulder.

  She let her head fall back when his hand settled over her breast. The thin nylon provided little barrier, and the contact was practically skin on skin. She inhaled sharply, but that only pressed her more solidly into his palm. Her nipple tightened as he squeezed her breast, and she arched her back when his thumb swept over that tight bud.

  “Ah!” she whimpered.

  He was going so fast, Lexie could barely breathe. She knew she should stop him. Warning signs blared inside her head, but not as loudly as the hum of pleasure.

  The way he held her off-balance made her cling to him…accept his touch…

  But she wanted to do more than accept; she wanted to to
uch too. Ignoring all the alarms, she slid her hand down his chest, nails scraping, until she felt his heart pounding under her fingertips. She stroked the other down his back to the base of his spine. All that skin was as smooth and sleek as it had looked. She curled her fingers into his bottom, and his hips jerked forward.

  She groaned. He was hard and heavy between her legs, and the look in his eyes was hot and determined.

  “You’ve been driving me out of my mind for months,” he growled.

  “I…I didn’t know.” She’d felt his attention. How could she not? It had made her heart race and her thighs tremble.

  But she’d known it would be like this between them, raw and searing, consuming and a bit scary. It was why she’d done her best to lay low. This was her father’s gunner. The reorganization specialist. He was known for being cunning and heartless.

  Ruthless.

  She stiffened. He wasn’t known as the hatchet man for nothing. Just how far would he go to protect the company? To silence any scandals?

  Her father had called him.

  Not her.

  She snatched her hand away from his butt but couldn’t seem to move the other from his heart. It was still pounding hard.

  His brow furrowed, and his hand spread wider over her breast. His gaze burned into hers, but whatever he saw there made his touch gentle.

  “Well, now you do.” Deliberately, he pulled the strap of her top back into place, covering her. With a ragged breath, he stepped back. He glanced towards the bathroom. “Will you be okay today without me?”

  Lexie nodded. Her mortification was overwhelming. She had no excuse this time; she was sober. Did she have no self-control when it came to this man?

  He cupped her cheek and made her look at him. “Stop overthinking everything.”

  Her throat tightened when she saw the understanding in his eyes. He got what Roxie hadn’t, because he knew the Underhills. In a short period of time, he’d gotten closer to Julian than anybody.

  Especially her.

  “I can’t,” she whispered.

  And he knew why.

  A muscle in his temple throbbed.

  “Where’s your phone?” He grabbed her purse and handed it to her. When she found her cell, he took it and started pushing buttons. “If you need anything, you call me.”

  He dropped the cell into her purse and gave her another searching look. Before she knew it, he was kissing her again. Hard, hot and full of fire.

  Her lungs rattled when it stopped as quickly as it had started. She watched, wide-eyed, as he picked up his things and headed to the door.

  He glanced back at her before stepping into the hallway. “We will figure this out,” he promised. “Together.”

  Chapter Seven

  Cam was on his phone when he stepped off the elevator onto the twelfth floor. “That’s Roxie Cannon, with two n’s in the middle. I need whatever you can find, all the way back to birth. She works as a barmaid at a dive called The Ruckus here in Cobalt City. Beyond that, all I know is that she claims to have spent her childhood in the foster care system.”

  He was already nodding when he heard the disclaimer come from the other end of the line. “I know juvenile records can get tricky. Privacy laws, yeah, yeah. Just do whatever you can.”

  He disconnected as he headed down the hallway past Lexie’s office. The investigative firm he was using wasn’t local, but they were the best. He wouldn’t trust this task to anyone else.

  He couldn’t put his finger on it, but something just wasn’t right with the women’s stories. They just didn’t jive. Like the two of them, night and day.

  How could identical girls have been split up like that? Gone on to lead such different lives?

  He shook his head. He really didn’t like leaving Lexie alone right now. She was vulnerable, and she was hurting. Yesterday had been life changing for her, and she was too trusting for her own good—except when it came to him.

  He scowled. Whatever Julian had summoned him for had better be good.

  He knocked on the CEO’s office door. When he walked in, he found he wasn’t the first to arrive. Lexie’s hotheaded brother already looked to be in a huff.

  “The fallout from that billboard is beginning,” Landers said as he paced around his father’s office. “Tristan Caine is backing away from the deal we discussed last week.”

  On the golf course, Cam noted as he shut the door behind him. Caine owned a local chain of discount stores that would account for a very small percentage of sales. Still, a lost deal was a lost deal. They couldn’t afford it.

  “He says we’re too controversial right now, and I’m getting the same pushback from others,” the sales manager continued. “They’ll follow soon.”

  No doubt the others were fraternity pals he counted on to do business. Cam leaned against Julian’s desk and crossed his legs at the ankles. The only reason Caine even associated that billboard with Underhill Associates was because Tristan knew Lexie as Landers’s sister. If the sales staff had concentrated on getting bigger, more diverse accounts, nobody would have made the connection.

  Landers shook his head, but his perfectly cut hair fell right back into place. “The bastard shut me down, but then had the balls to ask if Lexie was seeing anyone. Can you believe it?”

  Cam clenched the edge of the desk. Bastard was right. There was no way in hell that preppy college boy was getting within a hundred feet of her.

  “Where is she, anyway?” her brother demanded.

  “She didn’t come home last night,” Julian said from his spot by the window.

  Finally, the question Cam had been waiting for since he’d stepped into the room. He didn’t like how long it had taken for these two to wonder about her whereabouts and her safety. “She won’t be in today,” he said flatly.

  That, at last, took Julian’s attention away from what was happening outside. “She called in?”

  “I took the message.”

  Her father nodded thoughtfully. “Yes, well, I’m sure she’s working on getting that billboard removed. Once she puts her mind to something, it gets done.”

  Didn’t he mean once she was tarred and feathered and ordered to do it? Cam’s temper spiked. He shouldn’t have come in, not for this.

  “What was she thinking?” Landers asked for the thousandth time. “Did she need some extra cash? Hell, I would have floated her a loan before letting her do something like that.”

  She hadn’t done anything. Besides, who was this lazy punk to be telling his older, smarter sister what to do?

  Cam pushed away from the desk and went to pour himself a glass of water. He’d promised Lexie he wouldn’t say anything, but damn it was tough not defending her. “Did you need me here for something in particular, Julian? Because I spent enough time on this subject yesterday.”

  Underhill drummed his knuckles against the window. He seemed to be doing that a lot these days, just watching the activity twelve stories down. People came and went. Cars passed by and traffic lights flashed. The older man didn’t see much of it.

  “Dad?” Landers said.

  Julian blinked and looked at his son. “Go back to Caine and offer him a ten percent discount. See if he bites.”

  Landers rolled his eyes. “Ten percent discount, all because Lexie decided to try to be sexy.”

  Try? Cam nearly coughed up his water.

  Enough was enough. He turned on his heel and was in the hotshot’s face in three steps flat. “If you’d gotten that deal contracted on paper instead of heading to the clubhouse after the ninth hole, we wouldn’t have to be renegotiating at all.”

  Red dotted the younger man’s cheekbones, and fury flared in his eyes.

  “Landers, go make that call.” Julian wandered over to his desk, but his blue eyes were steely again.

  It took five long seconds before his son backed down. “Yes, sir.”

  Cam watched every step the kid took until the door closed behind him. “You’ve still got teamwork issues, Julian.” />
  “I know,” the CEO sighed. He sat down heavily in his chair. “What can I say? He’s like I was at that age, a fiery go-getter.”

  Yeah, a go-getter. That’s what the jackass was.

  Cam straightened his tie. As far as issues went, Landers Underhill wasn’t even a blip on his radar screen. If he kept going after Lexie, though, he was fast going to become an active target.

  Cam turned his gaze back on Julian. As always, accounting spreadsheets filled the CEO’s desk and, as usual, Julian had marked them up with his red pen. There seemed to be more blood on the paper than normal, though. The man looked downright gruff—nothing close to the meltdown he’d had with Lexie, but uptight.

  “What did you really call me down here for, Underhill?”

  Julian tossed his red pen onto the desk with a thwap. “I got a phone call this morning from Teach Me, Incorporated.”

  Finally. Cam had been putting enough feelers out there. “We discussed this.”

  “I know, but their timing stinks, coming out of the woodwork just when this scandal is hitting. It’s lowball business, and I don’t like it.”

  What scandal? The Underhills liked to give off the picture of pious propriety, but that billboard was simply a picture of a pretty girl. With a lot of cleavage. Who happened to look like their daughter.

  Cam shoved his hands into his pockets. “We’ve given the turnaround three months, but it’s not happening. Children’s games aren’t the hot ticket right now, especially those in the educational category.”

  “I know, I know. Everyone wants computers and bells and whistles. If it isn’t flashing, they won’t buy it.”

  “That’s part of the problem.” The other was that Underhill had hit the electronic and computer game market too late.

  “The other is kids’ attention spans these days,” Julian said, jabbing a finger into the air. “They play with something for a few days and then pff, it’s gone. Parents are tired of spending good money on something that’s tossed aside.”

  It was a lot more complicated than that, but whatever the reason was, Underhill Associates was falling by the wayside. They might have been top dog in the industry twenty years ago, but there were other, more innovative, more aggressive competitors out there these days. Like Teach Me. Cam didn’t get it. He and Julian had specifically restructured UAI’s debt to make the company more attractive to a big player like that. Julian should be thrilled he’d gotten that call.