He watched a smile touch her lips as she slowly opened her eyes to him. "Thank you. That was a wonderful thing to say."
He considered the look in her eyes. It was as if she was both surprised and relieved by his words. Why? Had someone once told her differently? An old lover perhaps? He pushed the thought aside, thinking if that was the case, the person evidently hadn"t recognized true pa.s.sion when he saw it. Besides, he didn"t want to think of anyone else having shared something so special with her. That was all in the past. Whether she knew it or would accept it, she belonged to him now and that was all that mattered. He would always tell her how remarkable she was.
"It"s true," he said, staring down into her face. From that first day he"d known she was a beautiful woman, but he hadn"t known just how beautiful until now. She had that afterglow look, that aroused look in her eyes that said she could and would take him on again. Even now, after what they"d just shared, he still wanted to devour her, and he was certain she knew it because his erection had grown hard against her belly.
He leaned down, deciding that he wanted to play with her lips again, and began licking them from corner to corner. He liked the purr of pleasure that eased from her throat. He liked it even more when he felt her hand travel down his stomach to close over his shaft. He sucked in a deep breath and groaned when she began stroking him.
"Two can play your game, Mr. Cody," she whispered. Her hands were steady, her fingers confident, and he felt a rush of blood surge through his veins, especially the ones located where she had touched.
"You"re playing with dynamite," he whispered, barely getting the words out when pleasure as raw as it could get shot all through him.
"Umm, I can believe that," she said softly, in a sultry voice. "I"m still recovering from the aftershocks of the last explosion."
"Vanessa..."
Cameron said her name, whispered it from deep within his gut. He leaned down and kissed her, at the same time positioning his body over hers again. He slid into her, slowly, easily, and felt as if he was getting a piece of heaven. He groaned in pleasure as he continued to kiss her hungrily while slowly moving in and out of her body.
He felt on fire, scorched, and when her body began quivering beneath his, he literally went up in smoke. She called out his name, clenched his shaft with her inner muscles, pulling him deeper inside her, and he threw his head back and growled as he experienced yet another mind-blowing, body-ramming o.r.g.a.s.m.
He had only one conscious thought: Just who was getting s.e.xually addicted to whom?
Chapter 9.
With her eyes still closed, barely released from sleep, Vanessa reached for the ringing telephone next to her bed. "h.e.l.lo."
"So, who"s my neighbor? Have you checked him out yet?"
Cheyenne"s question jerked Vanessa out of her slumberous state and she immediately opened her eyes. Sunlight was pouring into the room and she could hear the shower running. Memories of last night came flooding back and a quick glance at the spot beside her in bed indicated tumbled sheets and an indentation where a man"s body had been.
Cameron"s body.
"Vanessa, hey, are you awake? I asked about my neighbor and if you"d had a chance to check him out yet."
Vanessa sighed, knowing there was no way she was going to tell her sister that not only had she checked him out, but she"d gone a step further and had slept with him, as well. "Yes, I"m awake, Cheyenne, and yes, I"ve checked him out."
"And?"
Vanessa rubbed a hand across her face. "And it"s Cameron."
There was a pause. Then Cheyenne said, "Cameron? As in Cameron Cody?"
"Yes, as in Cameron Cody."
She could hear Cheyenne"s soft chuckle and frowned. It always annoyed Vanessa that her two sisters had found Cameron"s hot pursuit of her rather amusing. "So, I a.s.sume buying the house next door was a calculated move on his part after finding out you would be house-sitting for me for two weeks."
Vanessa sighed. If only her sister knew the whole story. "Yes, it was."
"Wow, that"s really something for a man to want you that bad to go to those extremes. Why don"t you put him out of his misery and go ahead and have an affair with him, Van?"
Vanessa couldn"t help the smile that touched her lips. She doubted Cameron was in much misery this morning since they were were having an affair. But it even went deeper than that. They were officially s.e.x mates for the next eleven days. "I"ll think about it." having an affair. But it even went deeper than that. They were officially s.e.x mates for the next eleven days. "I"ll think about it."
"He"s not going away. Determined men are like pimples. They keep reappearing."
"I"ll keep that in mind."
"I don"t understand why you don"t like the guy. He"s good-looking, s.e.xy, wealthy and-"
"Goodbye, Cheyenne."
"Hey, don"t you want my opinion?"
"Not really. Call Taylor and hara.s.s her." She then hung up the phone.
"It"s not good to hang up on people."
Vanessa flicked her gaze in the direction of the deep male voice. Cameron was leaning against the bathroom door wearing only a towel wrapped around his waist. His body was glistening, still wet from his shower, and just as Cheyenne had said, he was good-looking, s.e.xy...
She wondered how much he"d heard. "Cheyenne is used to me hanging up on her. We have that kind of relationship."
He took a few steps into the room and she had to struggle with the breath that was forcing its way through her lungs. The only thing worse than a good-looking Cameron was a half-naked good-looking Cameron. Although there was the towel, it didn"t take much for her to visualize him wearing nothing at all, as he"d done most of last night. She had seen enough of him in the buff. Or had she? She then decided it hadn"t been enough and that she would love seeing even more.
"And what kind of relationship is that?" he asked coming to sit on the edge of the bed beside her. He had a just-showered scent. His smell was fresh, manly.
"It"s the kind where she expects me to hang up on her when she starts getting bossy, which she has a tendency to do. I"m the oldest and she"s the youngest but sometimes I think she believes it"s vice versa."
His s.e.xy chuckle seemed to rumble off the walls in the room. "And what about your other sister? Taylor. The one living in New York."
Vanessa sat up in bed and braced her back against the headboard. "Taylor likes keeping everyone out of her business, so she makes sure she doesn"t get into anyone else"s. She"s the one we call the Quiet Storm."
He lifted a brow. "And why is that?"
"Because she doesn"t have a lot to say. She"s usually mild-mannered and easygoing. But if you p.i.s.s her off, there"s plenty of h.e.l.l to pay."
"Oh, I see."
Cameron stared at her for a long moment and Vanessa began getting uncomfortable under his fixed gaze. "What?" she asked.
He smiled. "It just occurred to me that I hadn"t kissed you good morning."
"Oh, were you supposed to?"
"Definitely."
And then he was inching his face closer to hers for a kiss. It was soft and gentle, but it didn"t take long for it to turn into something desperate and hungry. When he finally lifted his mouth from hers, she kept her eyes on his lips and asked, "So what would you like to do today?"
The look and smile he gave her told her she hadn"t needed to ask. "I"ll let you think of something," he said.
A part of her felt that maybe she should send him away, put distance between them to lessen the impact his mere presence was having on her. An idea formed in her mind; perhaps they should each do their own thing during the day and just come together at night. But she immediately squashed it. The thought of planning only their nights together seemed too calculated, nonspontaneous and such a waste of valuable time. There was that part of her that wanted him around both day and night, and they only had eleven days left. "Would you like to go shopping?" she asked.
He lifted a dark brow. "Shopping?"
"Yes. There"re some wonderful shops in town."
He nodded. "All right, shopping it is. I need to go home and change but I"ll be back within the hour. Unless you want to go back to sleep for a while to get some rest. We were up pretty late."
That was an understatement, she thought. They had been awake practically all night. She had used muscles she hadn"t used in years, if ever. Those same achy muscles from yesterday were now aching for another reason.
"No, I"m fine. I don"t need any more sleep."
"Okay," he said, standing slowly. "I"ll see you in an hour."
Vanessa watched as he dropped the towel and began dressing. Although seemingly unbothered by his nakedness, she was getting getting bothered by it. Her skin was beginning to feel tingly, and the memories of last night were beckoning for a repeat performance. bothered by it. Her skin was beginning to feel tingly, and the memories of last night were beckoning for a repeat performance.
He was about to slip into his pants when she got up enough courage to act. "Cameron?"
He glanced over at her. "Yes."
"I don"t need any more sleep, but there is something else I can use right now." She was certain the look in her eyes and the low pitch of her voice were a dead giveaway.
"And what"s that?" he asked.
She sighed. He was deliberately making her spell things out for him. No problem. She could do that. "Come here and I"ll show you," she said.
He slowly walked back over to the bed, and she leaned over toward him and kissed his bare stomach before reaching out and gliding her hands over his thick erection. "This," she said looking up at him, "is what I can use right now."
The smile that touched the corners of his lips sent all kinds of sensations throbbing through her, and when he stepped back and removed his shirt she knew that being a s.e.x mate to this man was better than she had ever imagined. And the thought that he"d found her amazing in bed had boosted her confidence level sky-high.
The moment his knee touched the mattress she was reaching out to him, rubbing her naked body against his. And when he wrapped his arms around her and eased her down into the thickness of the bed coverings, she knew it would be late when they got to town to do any shopping. But then, some things just couldn"t be hurried.
"So what do you think of this one?"
A surge of desire raced through Cameron as he sat in the chair at the dress shop surveying yet another outfit on Vanessa. It was hard to believe women did this sort of thing every time they purchased clothes. First, it took them forever to find exactly what they wanted on the rack, then they had to go into the dressing room to try it on and then come out wearing it to get someone"s opinion. So far this was her sixth outfit. He had liked them all except for the one that had barely covered her thighs, definitely showing too much leg. He"d told her he hadn"t liked the little black skirt, but she had smiled and placed it in her "to-buy" stack anyway.
He smiled when he thought of those legs of hers, the same ones that had wrapped around him tightly, locking him inside her body, clenching her muscles to draw everything out of him while they had- "Cameron, I asked what you thought."
Her words reclaimed his attention. He tapped his fingers on his knee. This would be another one he didn"t like. It showed too much breast. h.e.l.l, her twin globes were pouring out of it and the swath of light overhead was making it nearly impossible not to notice the hardened tips of her nipples pressing against the fabric. This dress would make a lot of women jealous. But it was the men he was worried about. Men would see her in this dress and immediately want to take her out of it.
"I don"t like it," he finally said.
"Why?"
Last time, with the skirt, he hadn"t given her a reason and she"d decided to purchase it anyway. Maybe if he told her why he didn"t particularly care for this dress, she wouldn"t buy it. "It shows too much cleavage. Your b.r.e.a.s.t.s are all but pouring out of it."
He then dragged his gaze over the rest of her and said, "The outfit leaves very little to the imagination. It"s clinging to you like a second layer of skin. A man will look at you in that dress and immediately think of s.e.x."
She glanced down at herself in the outfit. "You think so?"
"h.e.l.l, yeah."
She glanced back up, met his gaze and smiled. "In that case I think I"ll take it."
Cameron immediately saw red and wondered if steam was coming out of his ears. Before he had a chance to say anything, she had darted back into the dressing room. She was lucky they were in a public place or he would be striding into that dressing room to teach her a lesson about tempting him.
He was about to settle back in his chair to wait for her to come out wearing yet another outfit when his cell phone rang. The caller ID indicated it was Xavier. "Yes, X, what"s going on?"
"The main office at Global Petroleum was broken into last night. Security has been tight there for the past few days so we figure it might have been an inside job. A McMurray loyalist. We"re discovering he had quite a few."
Cameron tightened his grip on the cell phone. "Was anything taken?"
"No, just a mess made with papers scattered all about. But a message was left for you, smeared on the wall."
Cameron rubbed the bridge of his nose. "What did it say?"
"Told you to give the company back to McMurray or you"ll be sorry. Kurt told me to let you know that he"s determined to find the person responsible."
Cameron nodded. There was no doubt in his mind that Kurt would would find the person or die trying. "Okay, keep me posted." find the person or die trying. "Okay, keep me posted."
"Do you want me to advise Kurt to let the local police know what"s going on?"
"No, not yet. If we go to the authorities it will eventually get leaked to the papers. If the person is a McMurray loyalist then that"s what they"re counting on. Free publicity. I don"t intend to oblige them."
"All right. I"ll get back to you if anything else comes up."
Cameron clicked off the phone at the exact moment a rustling sound caught his attention. Glancing up, he saw the outfit Vanessa was now wearing. It had to be made of the flimsiest material ever created. He immediately came to his feet. "No. h.e.l.l no," he said, almost growling. "I don"t like it."
He couldn"t believe someone would design such a thing for public wear. It was so thin he could even see she wasn"t wearing any underwear. The dark area between her legs clearly showed that.
An innocent smile touched her lips. "What do you mean you don"t like it?"
He crossed his arms over his chest. "Just what I said, Vanessa. I don"t like it."
She placed her hands on her hips and he saw that the top part of the dress was just as transparent as the bottom. She might as well have been standing there naked. "In that case it"s a good thing you don"t have to wear it because I happen to like it," she said. "And I"m getting it."
She turned around to leave and he called out to her, annoyed. "I thought you wanted my opinions."
She turned back around. "I do."
Cameron frowned, puzzled. "Then please explain why the outfits that I don"t like, you"re buying anyway."