See how well he handled it.
“So are you all right?” she asked Blaire. Other than her mother, her sister was the most sensitive person she knew. “What happened after we left this morning?”
Blaire’s blue eyes rounded. “Roxie didn’t tell you?”
“Tell us what?” Cam said.
“Oh my God.” Blaire glanced towards the bar. When she turned back, her cheeks were bright pink. “She kissed Landers.”
Cam coughed on his beer, and Lexie nearly fell out of her chair. “She did what?”
Blaire squirmed. “You know how Landers is. He was trying to take control, to be Mr. High and Mighty, but she put him in his place. Honestly, I think he was just trying to protect Daddy.”
“What, exactly, did she do?” Cam said. He was either gritting his teeth or trying not to laugh.
“Landers was telling her to leave, and she marched right up and… Well, she planted one on him.”
Lexie was stunned speechless.
“He turned about that color.” Blaire pointed at the green T-shirt a tattooed biker babe was wearing. “I thought he was going to be sick all over Mother’s bromeliads.”
As rightly he should. Lexie knew her mouth was hanging open, but she couldn’t shut it. She and Roxie were identical. It had to have been like kissing his sister.
Cam coughed. “Score one for the viper.”
“She’s crazy,” Lexie finally managed to spit out. Was there nothing her twin wouldn’t do?
A small smile pulled at Blaire’s lips. “Lowery wanted to come with me tonight, but he was afraid Roxie would shake her butt at him or something.”
A sound came out of Cam, astonishing Lexie. It had been a laugh. She’d never heard him laugh. How could he be laughing about this?
Blaire’s giggle joined in. “It was awesome!”
Lexie squeaked. It came out unexpectedly when her diaphragm squeezed. Blaire pointed at her in glee, and Cam let out another bark. Lexie slapped a hand over her mouth, but that didn’t stop it. Another laugh bubbled up, joyous and free.
After the week she’d had, it was unstoppable. It felt good to let go, to stand aside and view the audacity as it truly was. Once she started, she couldn’t stop. Cam and Blaire joined in, and soon others were staring at their table.
Lexie wiped her eyes and discovered Roxie standing over them. Her gaze was as sharp as her frown. “What’s so funny?”
Lexie pointed at her, her giggling making her finger shake. “You kissed Landers?”
Color stained Roxie’s cheeks. “It’s not like I’m into him or anything.”
“But for God’s sake, why kiss him?” Cam asked.
She shrugged. “I dunno. It was punch him or find another way to wipe that cocky look off his face.”
A high-pitched squeal escaped Blaire. “It worked!”
“Yeah.” Roxie hooked her thumbs in her belt loops. “It certainly did.”
“Shit.” Cam rubbed the back of his neck. “There’s no fixing this.”
Roxie gave him a saucy wink. “If he gives you any trouble, Hatchet, give me a call. I’ll flash my boobs at him.”
Cam gave another uncharacteristic roar of laughter, and Blaire collapsed onto the table. Lexie fought for breath as she looked up at her fearless twin and, simultaneously, they both doubled over in laughter.
Yeah, sometimes actions spoke a lot louder than words.
Chapter Thirteen
They didn’t stay at the bar long. Lexie felt better after things were patched up with Blaire, but she was still uncomfortable about the hush money Cam had agreed to give Roxie. It just wasn’t right. There were so many questions that still needed answers. She wanted to know the whole story as badly as her twin did. Apparently more. She knew it might hurt—would probably hurt—but she didn’t care. Not knowing was worse.
She glanced in the rearview mirror of her car as she pulled into a visitor’s spot in the underground garage at Cam’s place. He was already parked and striding over to help her carry her things. Blaire hadn’t lied. The bags she’d packed were good for at least a week’s stay.
“Let me get those for you,” he said when she popped the trunk.
Lexie opened the back door to get her laptop. She spotted the carryall she’d been carting around ever since she’d walked out of Underhill’s offices, but she left it where it was. She didn’t want to think about work. She closed the door without a second glance and headed to the elevator.
Besides, she could keep secrets too.
“Still mad at me?” Cam asked as he punched the call button.
“You need to talk to me before you make decisions that affect me.”
“Did you really want your life story playing out in the Cobalt News or Star-Crossed?”
“I know it wouldn’t have reflected well on Underhill, but—”
“Underhill had nothing to do with it.”
Was he serious? UAI was the reason he was here. “Five thousand dollars says otherwise. Just which account do you plan to take that out of, Cam?”
The elevator opened and he walked inside. Turning, he leaned back against the wall. “My own.”
Lexie frowned, but he held out his hand. She stepped inside and took it.
He pulled her close and hit the button for the penthouse. “I want control over any sort of search we do. People with no ethics aren’t going to be allowed to poke around in your life or our relationship.”
“Is that what we have going on here?” she asked. “A relationship?”
For the first time ever, she saw uncertainty in his eyes. It was quickly replaced with a look of bulldogged determination. “I thought so.”
“If that’s the case, then you need to stop taking control and start including me on decisions.”
He responded by pulling her closer, and Lexie felt the thrill right down to her toes. She might not be ducking him in the hallways any longer, but he was still dark, sexy and intimidating. Lone wolves didn’t mate easily.
“What would you say if I told you I was thinking about kissing you?” he said. “Is that a decision that would affect you?”
“Maybe.” She let her bags fall to the floor. The thrill settled in her belly, and she laid her hands on his chest. “Since I’ve been waiting for you to kiss me in an elevator for weeks.”
With a rough sound, he turned and pressed her up against the wall. His thigh slid between her legs as his head swooped down. He kissed her, his tongue licking deep. She moaned, and he rubbed that muscled thigh forward and then deliberately back.
He caught her breast. “Know what I’ve been waiting for?”
“What?” she whispered.
“Sexy Lexie to dance for me.” He dragged his thumb over her nipple. “Picturing you atop that bar at The Ruckus has been driving me crazy all night.”
Lexie blushed even as she rocked forward to meet that hard thigh. Her dress was pulled up high and tight, constricting her moves. The unforgiving material bit into her hips and grabbed at her butt. She felt trapped, bound, and it only made her hotter.
The elevator bell rang as the doors opened on the top floor, but neither of them moved away from the other.
“Do you promise to consult with me on personal matters?” she asked.
A muscle in his jaw flicked. “I was just trying to protect you.”
“We have to be equals if this is going to work.”
“This?”
“Our relationship.”
Cam’s eyes turned nearly black. “I promise.”
She ran her finger over his lower lip. “Then I’ll need music.”
Lexie never knew how her things got into the penthouse. All she remembered was the two of them stumbling together out of the elevator and across the hallway. They were all over each other as they moved into the apartment, hands caressing and mouths kissing. The soft cotton of his T-shirt bunched in her hands as he wrapped an arm around her waist and hoisted her down into the sunken living room.
“You fight back when
I do something that hurts you,” he growled into her ear. “You don’t do that with anybody else.”
She shivered as the sound made goose bumps rise on her neck. Did she?
He backed her across the threshold of the bedroom. “I like it.”
She did too. She didn’t know why she could stand up to him when she normally avoided confrontations at all costs. The man had just gotten under her skin. He might be daunting, headstrong and unrelenting, but she trusted him not to deliver the low blows she was used to.
She dug her fingertips into his back and followed the taut muscles down under the belt of his jeans. “Turn on the radio.”
The alarm clock was on the table at his side. He flipped a button, and music filled the bedroom. A guitar wailed soulfully while a bass and drums set up a groove that made Lexie start to sway her hips. Cam ran his hand over her stomach when she turned to give him her back. Lifting her arms overhead, she let the rhythm run through her body. “Unzip me?”
A low curse nearly burned her ears. Catching the zipper, he drew it slowly downward.
She moved away from him, farther into the room. It was dark outside. She could see his reflection all around her in the windows and the mirror over the dresser. He’d always watched her, but there was nothing hidden now in his heavy-lidded gaze. It was hungry and proprietary.
And it made her wet.
She was trembling as she faced him again. He’d turned on the bedside lamp, and it cast a soft glow that reached across the room towards her. She ground her hips in a slow circle, and a strangled sound came from where he stood.
“God, Lexie.” Grabbing the remote, he aimed it at the windows. The shades clicked.
Lexie remembered that sound, and she remembered what had come afterwards. She closed her eyes and lifted her hair off her neck as her body rocked. Her nipples stiffened, digging into the padding of her bra even as the back of the dress gaped wide. A breeze from the air-conditioning vent swept over her bared skin, but it did little to cool her down.
She’d never felt hotter in her life.
She started to peel the sheath dress over her shoulders. “Who’s the boss now, Rowe?”
His hands clenched and opened at his sides. “Whoever you want it to be.”
She smiled. She liked that she had power over him, but he didn’t give it up easily. Moving silkily, she worked the dress down to her waist. His gaze settled on her breasts as they jiggled and swayed, and her nipples tightened to the point where they hurt. Working more quickly, she pushed the dress over her swiveling hips. Bound no more, she flipped it aside with her toe.
A shudder went through her when Cam grabbed the back of his T-shirt and tugged it over his head. She loved looking at him, so lean and muscled, so masculine and delicious. Her tongue ached for those dark nipples and the washboard feel of his abs. He took a step towards her, and the music picked up, unmistakably primal and grungy.
She kept dancing as she reached back for the hooks of her bra. The tight band under her breasts loosened, and it sagged forward. The cups gaped, teasing but not showing.
“Call me it again,” she whispered.
She shouldn’t like it, but she did. It made her pussy clench and her confidence soar.
“Come on, Sexy,” he growled. “Take it off.”
She let the bra drop to the floor, reveling in feelings of freedom and lust. She ran her hands over her breasts, luxuriating in the way they bounced as she moved. The music was visceral and sexual. It combined with the sounds of their heavy breaths, making the intent of the rhythm unmistakable.
She watched Cam through slitted eyes as she slipped her thumbs under the thin bands of material at her hips. Turning on the balls of her feet, she watched him again in the mirror. Her hips rolled as she pulled her panties down, bit by bit, exposing her ass.
She gasped when he was suddenly there. Touching her. Overwhelming her. His hands covered hers, his fingertips raking over her skin. He caressed her hot flesh as he helped strip off the last scrap of clothing she wore.
“Keep the shoes,” he ordered.
His hands encompassed her hips as she slowly rocked them to and fro. Lexie saw the two of them in the mirror, and the picture was striking. Her mouth went dry. They were both dark and lean, young and sexual. With his hands on her and their naked bodies close, the mirror took them as a couple. It wasn’t such an impossible picture anymore—the hatchet man with a willing sacrifice.
He settled one hand on her stomach and the other against the middle of her back. Gently, inexorably, he bent her down until her forearms were flat on the dresser top.
“Cam,” Lexie panted.
Their breaths were now as loud as the music coming from across the room. The sounds blended in her ears as his touch stroked up her spine, circled around the balls of her shoulders and glided back down. When his fingertips massaged the sides of her breasts, she shuddered.
The rhythm of the music was pounding as he caught her hips. He lifted them, and her toes curled in her high heels when his jeans pressed against her inner thighs. There was the sound of his zipper and then he was there, at her opening.
“Dance with me,” he said as he thrust into her.
“Oh God,” she groaned.
The stroke was deep and powerful. As tight as she was around him, she was slick. She rocked back to take him, and the rhythm they found was natural, sensual. Primitive. His hands slid underneath her, up her trembling stomach, to fold over her breasts. Lexie pushed into them and fireworks shot through her.
His hips double hitched, shagging her fast and hard. She stared at their reflection in the mirror. Cam stood, muscles rippling, as he fucked her from behind. The look on his face, though, had more than lust and possessiveness. She moaned and let her eyes close as pleasure overwhelmed her.
This wasn’t just fireworks. This was a relationship.
Cam had already left for work when Lexie woke up the next morning. For a moment she lay on the bed, staring at the empty spot next to her. She inhaled deeply and reached out to stroke the wrinkled sheet.
“Mmm,” she sighed, rolling onto her back. She stretched and tried to rouse herself. It was still morning, but it was later than she usually slept. She’d been so dead to the world, she hadn’t even heard Cam get up.
She pulled his pillow to her chest. She could have sworn he’d gotten up in the middle of the night too. She was going to have to do something about that. All that moving and shaking could wait. She’d seen the weariness around his eyes and the tension he carried in his shoulders. She needed to work on keeping him in bed longer.
She smiled softly as she looked across the room at the dresser. Somehow, she didn’t think that would be too difficult.
She was still smiling when she got up and headed to the bathroom. She showered, washed her hair and got dressed. She’d just stepped into the living room when she found the bag Blaire had packed, her laptop and her purse all in a neat pile outside the door. She unpacked and made it until after the lunch hour before she ran out of things to do.
“How do people do this?” she wondered aloud.
She wasn’t used to being bored. When it came to work, she was nearly as bad as Cam. It was a big part of her life, and she didn’t know how to fill her day without it.
Nibbling on her lower lip, she glanced at her laptop. She didn’t want to think about Underhill Associates. Like Roxie, she’d had all the family she could stand for a good long time, but her marketing team was another matter. They’d been right in the middle of a new social media push. And the quarterly report… Had that been delivered? The bean counters would need that, and so would Cam.
Feeling her energy pick up, she unpacked her laptop and connected to the internet. She soon found that her marketing team was doing fine without her. They were professionals, after all. She’d hired them.
Going back to her browser, she looked to see if any of Roxie’s initial contacts with the tabloids had made it into print. Half of her hoped they had, while a more rational side
agreed with Cam that opening a can of worms might not be a good idea. In the end, she found nothing.
“Apparently five thousand dollars is a good investment,” she muttered.
Setting her laptop aside, Lexie wandered around the apartment. What was she supposed to do? How was she supposed to spend her time? The pain over her adoption was too raw, and she’d thought about it enough already. She picked up the crystal paperweight and ran her thumb over the smooth edge. If she didn’t find something to do, though, that was right where her mind would go.
Her proposal.
She literally stopped. She had no idea what had triggered the thought, but it was a good one. Her proposal to save Underhill Associates… Now there was something she could sink her teeth into, even if she didn’t know what she was going to do with the idea.
She retrieved her keys from her purse and hurried down to the parking garage. Opening the carryall in her backseat, she grabbed a copy of the proposal she’d never gotten to pitch. She smoothed the clear plastic cover. It seemed like years ago that she’d worked on this.
She flipped through the pages as she headed back to the elevator. She was reading by the time she made it to the top floor, and only the dinging of the bell told her that the elevator had stopped.
“It’s good,” she whispered to herself.
The sound echoed in the empty elevator compartment.
“It’s really good.”
The doors started to close on her, and she jumped. Scooting out of the elevator, she hurried back into the penthouse.
The concept was strong, even though there were a few areas that still needed work. And it was so simple. Julian had been complaining about the changing market for educational toys for months. Kids quickly tired of the things they had and constantly wanted something new. With the economy in the tank, though, parents were cutting back and not giving in to their child’s every whim.
So why not help them with that? Why not let them return toys and use the credit to buy something new?
Wasn’t the point of educational games to teach and advance skills? All of Underhill’s games were level based. The kids should be moving on to newer and more challenging things.
Lexie Page 17