Sweet Surrender, Baby Surprise / The Secretary's Bossman Bargain. Kate Carlisle
Julia swiped the sexy camisole off the chair cushion and grabbed her high heels from under the dining room table. Then she headed into the kitchen and began gathering the baby bottles on the sink.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“I’ve got to pack our things.”
“Wait.” Cameron grabbed hold of her arm before she could go any farther. “No packing. You’re staying here.”
She looked up at him. “We can’t stay here, Cameron. You’re here.”
“Exactly,” he said decisively. “That’s why you’re staying here, too.”
She gave him that big-eyed incredulous look of hers again. Why he found it so sexy, he couldn’t say. Maybe he enjoyed the challenge she provided.
Shaking her head, she said, “If you think something’s going to happen between us, you’re wrong.”
“Honey,” he drawled. “I think we proved awhile ago that it definitely could happen.”
“Now, look—”
“You’re right, though,” he continued. “It’s not going to happen tonight.” With a casualness he didn’t feel, he let go of her arm and walked into the living room. “But you’re still staying here.”
“Okay,” she said, following him. “I’d rather not disrupt the baby tonight anyway. We’ll move to another room in the morning.”
An irrational shot of annoyance ran through him and he covered it by grabbing another beer from the refrigerator and popping the top off. “You don’t get it, babe. You’re staying here until the paternity test is completed. In fact, you might as well stay through the conference. There won’t be any rooms available anyway.”
She gritted her teeth. “I gave my room away when your mother insisted I stay here. I don’t suppose it’d still be available.”
“It’s not, trust me,” he said. “Besides your conference, we’ve got a golf tournament here this weekend.”
She flashed him a frown of frustration. “But you own this place. You should be able to find another room for me and Jake.”
“I could, but I’m not going to,” he said flatly, then pointed toward the back bedroom. “If that is my son in there, I don’t want him staying anywhere but here. With me. And we’ll know the truth soon enough, won’t we?”
“I think that went well,” Julia muttered to herself as she slipped between the sheets of the twin bed in the guest room. Jake was sleeping soundly, completely unaware of the drama going on around him. She was gratified to hear his innocent baby snores and wished more than anything that he would never have to be touched by unhappiness of any kind. She knew she couldn’t shield him forever, but for now, he didn’t need to know that his mommy and daddy were in such an emotional twist over him.
She tried to concentrate on her son, tried to picture his soft little hands waving in the air and hear his funny belly laugh, but visions of Cameron kept interfering. She winced as she remembered how easily she’d melted in his arms. How could he still wield that kind of power over her? She’d known that one day she would have to confront him with the reality of Jake, and she’d steeled herself for that moment. But he’d caught her unprepared. Now he knew how susceptible she was to his charms. He knew he could wiggle his finger and she would come running.
It was humiliating to know that he was right. In a matter of hours, she would have to tangle with him once more. Would she come running to him again? Or would she be able to withstand his immense allure? It was almost as if he’d put a spell on her.
Yawning, she fluffed her pillow and tried to settle her active mind by breathing deeply for a count of ten. She knew she would need all the sleep she could get if she expected to put up a good fight tomorrow.
Cameron stretched, then tried to turn over onto his back—and landed on the floor.
“What the—?” he grumbled. Where the hell was he?
His brain slowly engaged and he groaned as he remembered exactly where he’d slept last night. Moving slowly, he pulled himself up off the living room floor, then sat on the couch with his elbows resting on his knees.
After Julia had gone off to bed, he’d finished his beer and tried to watch the football game, but it had lost its appeal. So he went to bed where he tossed and turned, unable to sleep with the knowledge that Julia was sleeping in the room just across the hall. He wanted her in bed with him. Wanted her lush body pressed against his. Wanted to bury himself in her silken warmth.
But you can’t always get what you want, he thought. Not right away, anyway. He was a patient man and he would have her in his bed soon enough.
Last evening, though, that thought had not been conducive to a good night’s sleep. So Cameron had come out to the living room couch, thinking he’d zone out on late-night television. He finally fell asleep and now he regretted it as he stood and tried to stretch out his spine. Damn, his couch looked spacious and luxurious, but spending the night on it had been a tactical error. His back was whimpering like a whiny schoolgirl. He stood and stretched and tried to remember when, exactly, had he turned into such an old man? He was barely into his thirties.
Determined to work out and get rid of the aches and pains, he slipped on a pair of gym shorts and sneakers, then left the suite for a brisk twenty-minute run around the resort grounds.
Forty-five minutes later, after a hot shower and two cups of coffee, he felt a whole lot better. A good thing, because he would need to be in peak condition to deal with the new occupants of his suite.
“Dada!”
Speaking of.
“Good morning,” Julia said as she carried Jake into the room. She had him in some kind of space-age kid carrier and without thinking, Cameron took it from her and placed carrier and baby up on the breakfast bar.
She was dressed in a sleek, navy pinstriped suit with a crisp white blouse and black heels. Her wavy blond hair was tamed back into a simple ponytail. And why he found that look so damn sexy, Cameron couldn’t figure out, but he knew he was on a slippery slope, watching her walk around the kitchen as she grabbed an apple for herself and warmed a bottle for the baby.
“Dada,” Jake whispered, gazing up at Cameron’s face.
“He says that a lot,” Cameron said, staring at the kid. He realized as he spoke that Jake’s repetition of the word dada didn’t bother him half as much as it had last night.
“It feels good on his tongue,” Julia explained, then blinked and quickly turned toward the coffeemaker.
Cameron laughed as she crisscrossed the kitchen, her cheeks blushed pink after realizing what she’d just said. Obviously, she hadn’t thought about the words before uttering them, and now he could think of a few things, too, that would feel good on his tongue.
“I’ve got a conference panel in forty minutes,” she said briskly, back to business after a few hurried sips of coffee. “I’ve arranged for a babysitter to watch Jake for the day, and she should be here any minute. But if you’d rather not have anyone in the suite while you’re here, I’ll understand. I can check with the concierge for another place to—”
“It’s fine if the babysitter stays here.”
“Okay.” She nodded. “Good. Thanks.”
“Did you sleep well?” he asked.
“Wonderful, thank you,” she said, and rinsed her coffee mug. “You?”
“Like a rock,” he lied.
“That’s great.”
Well, this was awkward. He leaned against the bar, watching as Julia put the mug in the dishwasher. Then he glanced over at Jake, whose eyes were closed. He was already sleeping peacefully, Cameron realized.