Forged of Steele Bundle (69 page)

“W
elcome back, Vanessa.”

Vanessa glanced up to find her four cousins standing in the doorway to her office. She smiled. “Thanks, guys. It’s good to be back.”

“And you really want us to believe that you prefer being here over Jamaica?” Donovan, the youngest of the Steele brothers, asked.

She chuckled. “Hey, I didn’t admit that but you know what they say. There’s no place like home.”

Referring to that quote from
The Wizard of Oz
made her think of Cameron and the night they had watched that particular movie together.

“Vanessa?”

She was jerked from her thoughts. She glanced over at Chance. “Yes?”

“I asked if you wanted to come to dinner on Sunday. We’re having a small dinner party to celebrate the baby’s arrival.”

She smiled. “I’d love to come.” She wondered if Cameron had been invited, as well, but decided not to ask.

“And mark your calendar for Friday night, two weeks from now,” Morgan said.

She raised a brow while grabbing the calendar on her desk. “What’s going on that night?”

“I’m hosting a party to officially kick off my campaign. The election is in three months.”

Vanessa nodded. She didn’t have to wonder if Cameron would be attending that event. He was committed to Morgan’s campaign. She sighed deeply and after penciling in the date on her calendar she smiled up at Morgan. “Consider it done. Do you need me to do anything?”

“Ask my campaign manager,” he said, nodding over at Donovan. “Or I could send you to Cameron since he’s the second in command.”

Vanessa frowned at Morgan. “No, that’s okay.
I’m sure Donovan can tell me anything I need to know.”

She saw the quirking of Morgan’s lips and knew it was business as usual between them. He was still trying to shove Cameron down her throat. Well, little did he know, Cameron had already been there. She flushed at the memory.

“Vanessa, are you okay?”

She drew a deep breath and glanced over at Sebastian. “Yes, Bas, why do you ask?”

“You seem preoccupied about something.”

If only you knew.
“I’m not preoccupied, just a little overwhelmed with the amount of work piled high on my desk.”

“Well, bring your thoughts off Jamaica. We have a lot of work to do this week. We need to call a press conference later today.”

Vanessa raised a brow. “Why?”

With irritation in his voice, Chance informed her, “An article appeared in this morning’s paper that we would be laying off over two hundred employees due to outsourcing.”

Vanessa shook her head. “I can’t believe someone has started that rumor again.”

“Well, they have, and now we need to work on damage control both with our employees and the
community. Although I do find it really strange it’s started up again only since Morgan is seeking public office. It wouldn’t surprise me if someone is trying to play dirty politics.”

Vanessa nodded. She thought the same thing. It was her job to make sure the Steele Corporation maintained a positive image, and the sooner she got back into her job, the less time she would have to think about Cameron.

“What time is the press conference?” she asked Chance.

“At noon.”

“All right, how about if we meet in an hour so you can go over some things with me?”

“That’s a good idea. We’ll leave so you can get settled.”

“Thanks.”

When her cousins walked out of her office, closing the door behind them, she leaned back in her chair, grateful she had plenty to do to keep her mind occupied. The last thing she needed was to dwell on the memories of the past two weeks.

“I saw the press conference on television the other day. I think it went well, Vanessa,” Sienna said as she sat across from her best friend at lunch.

“Thanks, I can’t believe we’re still tackling that issue but all it takes is a rumor to make people panic when it comes to their livelihood,” Vanessa responded. The two women were grabbing a quick bite at the Racetrack Café, a popular restaurant in town and one they frequented often.

Moments later Vanessa smiled over at her friend. “I can’t get over just how pregnant you look. I’ve only been gone for two weeks and your stomach has grown tremendously.”

Sienna chuckled. “To hear Dane tell it, I’m still not showing much, although I can’t get into any of my clothes. Heck, I’m five months already, but the doctors told me the baby will probably be small. But then Dane was a preemie when he was born.”

The smile left Vanessa’s face. “Are you worried the baby might come early?”

“Not really, but if it does, I’ll be getting the best medical care. Dane’s mother tried to insist that we use Dr. Tucker, but Dane and I told her we were perfectly satisfied with the doctor I’m using. Needless to say, she wasn’t happy about it, thinks I’m to blame and hasn’t said too much to me since. She doesn’t know how close I finally came to telling her off.”

Vanessa frowned. The rift between Sienna and
her mother-in-law was an ongoing one that had started when Sienna and Dane had first begun dating. Sienna was not the woman Mrs. Bradford had wanted for her son. Dane had been born into a rather wealthy family, while Sienna was what Mrs. Bradford considered a “nobody.”

Vanessa clearly recalled how a little over three years ago, Sienna and Dane’s marriage had seemed doomed, headed for divorce, until a snowstorm had left them stranded together at their cabin in the mountains. The forced togetherness had given them a chance to talk, to analyze what had gone wrong in the marriage and to decide that they still loved each other enough to stay together and make things work. Now they were doing just fine and would continue to do so as long as they kept Dane’s interfering parents out of their business.

After the waiter had delivered their meals and left, Sienna glanced over at Vanessa. “Well, are you going to tell me what went down in Jamaica between you and Cameron Cody?”

Vanessa glanced at Sienna over the rim of her glass of iced tea. After taking a sip, she said, “Come on Sienna, you know what a couple do when they’re involved in an affair. Ours was no different and it was fun and enjoyable while it lasted.”

“And you think it’s over?”

“I know it’s over. Cameron and I were very clear on the terms,” Vanessa said. She hoped, for both their sakes, that he honored the agreement as he’d promised. But then she had no reason to think he wouldn’t given that she’d been back in Charlotte for almost a week and he hadn’t tried contacting her.

It would have been easy for him to do so. Her office was down the hall from Morgan’s so it would have been relatively simple for him to drop by and visit Morgan and find a reason to seek her out. She didn’t want to admit it, but she was a little disappointed that he hadn’t.

“I take it the sex was good.”

Vanessa blinked when memories assailed her mind. The sex wasn’t just good, it was amazing. She couldn’t help but think of all the satisfaction she had gotten from Cameron that she hadn’t gotten from Harlan. Cameron had been a thoughtful, caring and unselfish lover.

“Well?”

Vanessa was pulled out of her thoughts. She glanced across the table and saw a silly-looking grin on Sienna’s face, as if she’d been privy to her thoughts. Gosh, she hoped not! She cleared her throat. “Well, what?”

“Was the sex good? I happen to think it must have been.”

Vanessa raised a brow. “Why would you think that?”

“Because you seem more at ease, relaxed, less tense. I can tell you’ve taken the edge off. And I have a feeling I should be thanking Cameron for that.”

Vanessa didn’t want to admit it but Sienna
did
have Cameron to thank for it. An affair with him had been just what she’d needed and just what she’d known it would be. Unforgettable. Since returning to Charlotte she hadn’t been able to sleep a single night without reliving those moments in her dreams.

“Don’t look now, but he’s here.”

Vanessa’s stomach suddenly clenched. “Who’s here?”

“Your lover boy. Cameron Cody. He just walked in with another man and the waiter is leading them over to a table near the wall. I don’t think he’s seen us.”

Thank God for that,
Vanessa immediately thought, fighting the thousands of butterflies that had been released in her stomach. Maybe they could finish eating and leave before he did notice them.

“Oops. He glanced over this way and saw us.”

Sienna’s words weren’t what Vanessa had wanted to hear. “Then let’s pretend we haven’t seen him.”

Sienna smiled. “Too late. I looked right in his face.”

Vanessa picked up her tea glass with somewhat shaky fingers. “Fine, then I’ll be the one to pretend.”

“Too late again. He’s coming over this way.”

“Great! That’s all I need.”

Sienna lifted a brow. “If you keep acting this way, I’m going to think you’re in need of something else. Are you getting your edge back on again?”

Vanessa hadn’t thought Sienna’s comment the least bit funny and was about to tell her so when she saw a shadow cross their table. She swallowed as she glanced up into the darkest, sexiest eyes that had ever been given to a man. And at that moment she remembered how those same eyes got even darker just moments before he—

“Sienna. Vanessa.”

Cameron’s greeting broke into Vanessa’s thought, just at the right time. “Hello, Cameron,” both she and Sienna said at the same time. Vanessa couldn’t help but take in the sight of him. He was standing beside their table, dressed in a designer business suit, seeming completely at ease in the
sexy stance she liked so well, his feet planted apart as if he was ready to take on anybody, especially her. And he would do it in such a way that would leave her totally breathless if not totally wrenched from never-ending orgasms.

“I saw the two of you and wanted to come over and say hello,” he said to both while fixing his gaze directly on Vanessa.

Vanessa cleared her throat. “That was kind of you,” she responded.

He nodded slightly and then said, “Well, I’ll let the two of you get back to your meal. I’m dining with my attorney.”

“Thanks for dropping by and saying hello,” Sienna said smiling.

“It was totally my pleasure,” he assured them.

Vanessa caught on to that one word.
Pleasure.
The man was the king of it. He could deliver it like nobody’s business.

“It was good seeing both of you.”

“Same here,” Sienna said.

Vanessa, who was trying to recover from a flash of one particular memory that had taken place in Cheyenne’s shower, merely nodded.

He turned and walked off. When Sienna was sure he wasn’t in hearing range she asked, “Am I
to assume you no longer dislike him as much as you used to?”

Vanessa shrugged as she bit a French fry. “He’s all right.”

“That’s not what I asked you, Van.”

Vanessa frowned. Sienna wanted things spelled out for her. “Yes, you can assume that. But…”

“But what?”

“Cameron Cody is still Cameron Cody. He just happens to handle things differently in the bedroom than he does in the boardroom. I’ve seen him in action in both, Sienna.”

“And the way he carries himself in the boardroom is the one you can’t get over, isn’t it?”

“Should I be able to? It showed me what I can expect after the touching, kissing and the deep thrusts. You still have a man who likes being in control. A man whose actions can actually destroy a person’s livelihood when they find themselves out of a job.”

“Didn’t you read that article in
Ebony?
Although there tends to be some changes whenever a new management team comes on the scene, from what I gather, Cameron actually looks out for the employees of any company he acquires. In fact, the benefits package he brings is usually better than
the one it replaces. He ends up being a blessing in disguise.”

A blessing in disguise.
Now that was a different way to look at him, Vanessa thought. And although he had been exactly that to her in the bedroom by literally destroying Harlan’s claim that she was not worth a damn in bed, she could not imagine him being thought of that way in the boardroom.

“Well, it no longer matters what I think of Cameron,” she finally said, wiping the corner of her mouth with her napkin and fighting the urge to tilt her head, ever so slightly, and look over to where he was sitting. The tension that had invaded her stomach moments earlier was now a warm, melting feeling of longing that was seeping right to her center. It was a part of her that knew Cameron by name.

“Well, I hate to be the one to tell you this, Van, but Cameron still wants you. Evidently he didn’t get enough in Jamaica.”

Sienna’s words sent heat pouring through her. She swallowed deeply. “What makes you think that?”

“The way he was looking at you. He was talking to both of us, but he was looking at you, with that I-want-you-in-my-bed look. I recognized it since I’ve seen it in Dane’s eyes plenty of times.”

“Well, he might as well get it out of his eyes,” Vanessa said with irritation in her voice. “We made an agreement and I expect him to keep it. We reached a clear understanding before he returned to the States. What we shared in Jamaica ended in Jamaica.”

“And you actually believe that?”

Vanessa couldn’t fight it anymore. She gave in to the urge and took a quick glance across the room to where Cameron sat. Automatically, as if he’d been expecting her to look, their gazes caught, locked, held. She felt something. A hypnotic connection that was having a strange effect on her. From across the room she could feel his gaze. It was an intimate caress, touching her everywhere, leaving no part of her body without contact. And she could smell his scent. It was as if they were still out there on the beach and his scent, all manly, robust and sexy, mingled with the salty ocean air.

“Vanessa?”

She drew in a deep breath, forcing her gaze to return to Sienna. She found her friend studying her intently. “Yes?”

“Why are you fighting it? Why are you still fighting Cameron?”