She needed the extra money quickly? The hair rose on the back of his neck, and his hands tensed into fists. How the hell did he ask his next question?
“Were you in some kind of trouble?” He frowned. He’d asked the question much more forcefully than he had meant to.
Jackson shook her head. “Not really. Just the plain old cheating boyfriend kind of trouble,” she said. “So I needed my own apartment.”
“Oh.” Cameron unclenched his hands, and he rubbed his knuckles. “I’m sorry. That’s crap.”
She gave him a wry smile. “Yeah. I’m sorry, too. Good apartments are hard to find in New York.”
Cameron smiled a little.
“You want to know something else?” She looked at him, and he slowed his pace. Her voice sounded less sure. “He’s the reason I took you up to my room that first night. He had some...performance problems.”
“And you suspected I wouldn’t?”
“Well, yeah.” Jackson laughed for real this time. “But he also told me that I didn’t know how to have fun.” Her smile faded a little.
“And he said you were causing his performance problems?” he asked slowly.
Jackson swallowed. “He didn’t come out and say it. But he let me know that he didn’t have any problems with the woman he’d cheated on me with.”
What an asshole. He hissed out a breath. The dickhead was probably lying, too, but Cameron didn’t want to push the subject. Jackson looked hurt, and he had to shove his hands into his pockets to keep from taking her into his arms.
They stopped on a corner at a red light. The crowd closed in on them, and he took a step closer to her.
“You know that’s not true, clearly not true,” he said softly.
Jackson shrugged. “I guess I do now.” She looked lost in thought for a moment. “Yep,” she added. “Those nights were definitely fun.”
She started across the street with the rest of the crowd, leaving Cameron behind. Fun? This wasn’t a deliberate insult, the way she had played mediocre the other night. Fun was ordinary, forgettable. Not something that kept Jackson up late at night or woke her up needy and aching for his mouth and his arms and his cock. And Jackson McAllister was not going home thinking they’d had fun together. In fact, he was starting to hope she wasn’t going home at all.
She reached the other side of the street and turned around, looking for him, her brow creased. But when she found him in the crowd, her mouth tipped up into a slow smile, as if she’d found exactly what she was looking for. As if he were exactly what she wanted.
Cameron’s heart pounded in his chest, and he quickened his pace. Maybe he still had a chance to sort this out. But how much progress could he make in a week?
CHAPTER NINE
JACKSON STOPPED IN front of Cameron’s office door and took a calming breath. She had managed to get through the last few days without succumbing to the temptation of his godlike body. With effort, she’d stayed cool in yesterday’s meeting as Cameron gave her the basics of the security job she’d shadow at an upscale gala. She’d get through this meeting, too.
The problem was the longer she went, the more time she spent thinking up reasons why she should stop resisting and get one more taste of Cameron before she left. And if she was going to have another no-strings night, there were a few more ideas she was interested in exploring. Judging from the way she caught him looking at her these past few days when no one else was around, he wouldn’t turn her down.
It wasn’t the sex itself she was wary of. But every time they were close, she started reading into all the little things he did. Like remembering what she liked on her sandwich or how she liked her coffee. As if it all meant something more.
But if she could just accept this for what it was—a fling—she could invite him back to her hotel room again. Tonight. Because three nights together weren’t worse than two. Nor were four nights. Or five.
And just like that, she flashed back to that first night, her heart pounding as she stepped into her room. With Cameron behind her, his harsh breaths in her ear, she thought she’d explode before she even got her clothes off. And then there was his apartment, when he’d buried his face between her legs and made her pant and scream.
The heat rushed up the back of her neck. Maybe the problem was that she was remembering these two nights as better than they really were. After a dry year, she must have been hard up. Cameron had stepped in at the right time. Times. And now she’d spent every night since thinking about it. Inflating each time in her mind. If she invited him up to her room for one more night, maybe reality would break this spell, and she could go back to New York satisfied in every way.
More rationalization.
Jackson brushed out the wrinkles in the front of her skirt and stared at the plaque on the door in front of her. Cameron Blackmore, CEO. As if she needed a reminder of who she would find on the other side when she opened it.
She knocked. “Mr. Blackmore?” Jackson peeked her head in. Cameron was facing his computer. His hair had fallen down on his forehead again, begging for someone to come fix it. Lots of ex-military men still wore their hair close-cut, but Cameron’s thick black hair curled around his ears, and she had gotten a good handful of it that night when he... Nope. Shouldn’t be thinking about that at all.
Jackson cleared her throat. “Mr. Blackmore, I just wanted to show you that the interview ran today.”
He turned to her, and his gaze wandered down, stopping at the open neckline of her shirt. Yep, she had his full attention now. His gaze snapped back up, and his lips formed a tight line.
“Please don’t call me Mr. Blackmore.”
“Right. Cameron,” she said, pulling out her laptop. Hopefully she could keep herself from blushing every time she said his first name.
Jackson opened her laptop on his desk and pulled up a chair beside him. She clicked on the article and a photo appeared of Cameron, Derek, Simon and Max outside the office building, all dressed in black suits and white shirts. They all looked good. And Cameron looked really good.
“The suits were a nice touch, Jackson,” he said. “Thanks.”
She smiled. “You’re welcome. The reporter seemed to like you all. You’re lucky. Some of those answers you gave could’ve been spun in other directions.”
Cameron narrowed his eyes. “Spun? It’s none of anyone’s business why refugee organizations are my giving choice. And you know what I said was true. I finally made it public because someone convinced me that it might bring more money to UNHCR.” He gave her a pointed look and added, “That’s you, in case you don’t remember.”
Jackson rolled her eyes. “Got it. But I meant the other questions. About the women and the less-than-flattering media attention you’ve gotten lately.”
Cameron pushed his chair back and leaned forward, resting his forearms on his knees. “That was true, too,” he said. “We serve our clients well.”
Jackson snorted—case in point. But the heat rushed to her face again. Hearing that comment from him shouldn’t sting. She knew what he meant, but she couldn’t help but think about all the women he’d been with. The press clippings suggested there’d been many, and though Cameron had said they didn’t show the whole story, his reputation wasn’t a complete lie, either. It was the reason she’d been sent here in the first place. “That sounds like an admission of guilt. You’re lucky that guy didn’t run with it.”
Cameron turned his head, and his gaze was heated. “Are you trying to ask me a personal question?”
The right answer was “no.” She was here in his office to talk about the interview she had set up for him. Which he had handled just fine. The rest shouldn’t matter...but reading about his implied sexual exploits on the front page of a top business site didn’t feel good.
Jackson closed her eyes. “I guess it’s personal. I want to know...how much does the media have right ab
out you?”
Cameron expelled a breath slowly. “I never sleep with active clients. I’m not my father.”
She blinked her eyes open in surprise. “No, you’re not at all. At least not from what I know of him.”
Cameron was a clear copy of his father physically, but that was where the similarities ended. While Harlan Blackmore projected a glossy polished exterior, Cameron seemed to want to wear his roughest edges on the outside, for everyone to see.
“Look, my father paraded my mother around like he was a good, married man. My mother thought they were in love. But really he was fucking anyone he wanted, and he moved on when it was good for business. It was all for show. But I didn’t find that out until a lot later.” Cameron looked at her again. “I’d rather people think the worst of me than lead them on.”
“Lower the expectations?”
He gave a humorless laugh. “I guess so.” He ran a hand through his hair. “It’s not like I never see any action, but it’s rarely anything more than one...encounter. And always separate from business. Unless some sexy New Yorker catches me unaware.”
“Catches you unaware?” Jackson snorted. “You found me at the bar, not the other way around.”
Cameron shook his head slowly. “I know. That’s not what I meant.”
“I get it,” she said. He raised his eyebrows at her, and she added, “But you prefer flings. You’re not the relationship type.”
“I said that, didn’t I?” he muttered. “I haven’t been for a long time.”
“Just keeping the situation clear,” she said quickly. “Got it.”
Cameron turned to face her. He rested his arm on the back of her chair and leaned closer. “Maybe I need to revise that statement.”
Jackson put her hand up. “Not on my account.”
“It’s my statement,” he murmured. “I can do whatever the hell I want with it.”
Jackson hadn’t breathed in way too long. Her breath came out as a little gasp, and she glanced over at Cameron to see if he had heard it. He definitely had.
“Ready?” he said, leaning closer. “If I got together with someone for more than just a night or two, it would be fun and intense and hot as hell in bed. And it wouldn’t be anyone else’s business except for mine and hers. And there definitely wouldn’t be anyone else for either of us.” He paused, playing with a strand of her hair. “You let me know if you want more details.”
Jackson’s heart was thumping way too hard. He didn’t have to spell that part out for her. She didn’t need to be told that getting together with Cameron Blackmore would be fun and intense and hot as hell. And after trying to stop obsessing over him for the last few days, she knew better than to rule anything out.
“What kind of details?” she whispered.
His eyes widened, and his mouth curved into a slow smile. “The kind we need to lock my door for.”
Jackson’s phone rang, and they both startled. Cameron straightened up, and Jackson reached into her bag and looked at the screen.
“Kyle?” Cameron’s eyebrows shot up, and he frowned. She stood and took a couple steps away.
“Jackson, I forwarded you a couple emails to look at,” her assistant said when she answered.
Shooting a glance behind her, she whispered, “Can I call you back in a bit?”
“Did I interrupt something? Sorry.”
Jackson’s face burned. “No, you didn’t interrupt.”
Her back was turned to Cameron, but she could practically feel the tension radiating from him.
“Nothing urgent,” said Kyle. “It’s late here, so just check your messages and I’ll look at it in the morning.”
“Okay.”
Jackson hung up the phone and touched her heated cheeks. Damn. Kyle had cut them off before she’d done anything stupid. She should be regretting the first steps down the slippery slope of increasingly forbidden territory, but the regret wasn’t coming. Just disappointment. She still wanted him, long after her rational brain should have kicked in.
Slowly, Jackson turned around. Cameron’s mouth twisted into a scowl. “Who’s Kyle?”
She blinked. Kyle? It took a moment to register his tone. Was it...jealousy? She smiled a little, and Cameron’s expression darkened.
“Kyle’s my assistant,” she said. When the scowl didn’t ease, she added, “He’d be more interested in you than me, Cameron.”
He let out a breath and his shoulders came down an inch or two. A strange look crossed his face, as if his own reaction had taken him by surprise. Then the tension in his gaze turned hot, setting off a new kick of heat through her body.
She turned away.
“Where are you going?” he growled.
“To lock the door.”
Jackson crossed the room on wobbly legs. Hopefully she’d make it to the door without tripping. They could do this just one more time. But who was she kidding? Hell, if he was going to strip her down right here, she’d probably come back for more. Again and again until her time in Sydney was up. And she could save all the issues with hooking up with him for the plane ride back.
Jackson faced him. He leaned back in his chair, legs splayed, not bothering to hide his growing erection. His dark gaze was doing crazy things to her insides.
“Does anyone have a key?”
Cameron smiled darkly. “Derek, Max and Simon. Why? You have some discovery fantasies you want to tell me about?”
A pulse of heat ran from her core. Did she have discovery fantasies, or was it just the sound of his voice right now? Everything he said sounded dirty.
Jackson had spent the last few days looking anywhere but at Cameron. Now, finally, she could look. Drink in his deliciously large body. His blue dress shirt was rolled up at the sleeves, revealing corded muscles and a spray of dark hair down his arms and on his big hands. It was the same color as the hair on his chest and the hair that trailed down his stomach. His washboard stomach. His shirt only hinted at it, but her memory was more than adequate.
If things were different, if they were together or even lived on the same continent, would she ever get used to being with such a physical man? Would she take him for granted? Or would she forever be fascinated by the power he held in himself? Damn, this man was too much. He brought his hand to the bulge in his pants and adjusted himself. Wait, how long had she been staring at his erection?
Her gaze snapped back up to his face, and he chuckled. “You can look all you want, sweetheart. I don’t mind. And the way you lick your lips every time you look down at my pants makes me hard as hell.”
She’d just licked her lips? Jackson closed her eyes. There was nothing to do but laugh. “I didn’t realize I was that obvious.”
“Believe me, I’m not complaining. But you might not want to do that in public.”
“Right. Got it.”
But as Jackson watched him from across the office, his smile faded. All the teasing was gone. His gaze raked down to the neckline of her shirt, over her hips, down her legs. Now it was his turn to stare at her. But that didn’t last long. He stood up and came to her in fast strides. She took a step back and found the door behind her.
Cameron’s gaze was raw and hungry, but he didn’t touch her. He rested his hands on both sides of her, caging her in, his heavy body hanging over hers. Heat radiated everywhere from him, and it was impossible to tell where her breaths ended and his began.
His voice was a low rumble in her ear. “You still haven’t answered my question. Do you have any fantasies you want to tell me about?”
She shook her head slowly. Not exactly fantasies. Curiosities.
“If it’s not discovery, what makes you hot, Ms. Jackson McAllister?” He shifted closer. “What about office fantasies? Fantasies about everything we shouldn’t be doing right now?”
She nodded slowly. Yes, she certainly had those. She hadn�
��t thought about this kind of thing before she came to Sydney, but since she’d stepped into Cameron’s office that first day, her imagination had become more and more...vivid.
He slid one hand behind her neck and she trembled as he wove it into her hair. She was starving for him, and now that he was so close, touching her, she couldn’t wait any longer.
“You promised me details.” She sighed. “About what it would be like...”
He smothered a grin when she couldn’t finish her sentence. “Don’t worry, Jackson. I haven’t forgotten. I’m just making sure we’re both on the same page.”
Then finally, finally, he lowered his lips to hers. He was hungry, so hungry, and she was, too. She nipped at him and opened her mouth for luscious, lingering strokes of his tongue. She grabbed on to his hips and pulled him against her, and his hand tightened in her hair. She finally came up for air, and he eased back until their lips were barely touching.
“We’re getting way ahead of ourselves,” he panted. “Let’s start back when you came into my office.”
Were they going to play out this scenario, right here during work hours? This was a dangerous mix of real and pretend. What would happen if she played out the dirty office fantasies she had about Cameron? What if they were no longer just fantasies but things they really did together? Maybe it didn’t matter. She was leaving soon, no matter what they did here. She tipped up her head, and her cheek brushed against the stubble of his chin.
“You wanna hear how I imagine this little meeting between us today, sweetheart?” he whispered. “I’m thinking you’re not just here for two weeks. I’m thinking you work for me. You’d come in just like you did today. You’d lean over to show me whatever the fuck you wanted me to see, and you’d give me a nice view down your shirt, just like you did the first day you were here in my office.”
Her eyes flared and he laughed. “And you’d give me that innocent, wide-eyed look, just like right now. I’d get hard, just like this.” He took her hand and pressed it against his rock-hard erection, straining against his pants. “You ready to keep playing this out?”
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