Forged of Steele Bundle (68 page)

The end.

She inhaled deeply and instinctively snuggled closer to him, and he wrapped his arms completely around her. They’d had a lot of these types of moments, usually after making love when there were no words left to say and he would just hold her. Making the decision to have an island fling with him had been hard, but now what would be even harder was walking away knowing there would not be a repeat. This was all they would have.

“Yes, I’ll go skinny-dipping with you, Cameron,” she finally said, turning in his arms and looking up to meet his gaze. “But I won’t walk out of this house down to the beach naked,” she added. “I’m going to need something to wear.”

A smooth grin curled the corners of Cameron’s mouth. “Will one of my T-shirts do?”

She couldn’t help but laugh, recalling how many times she had walked around in his T-shirts and how very little they covered. She remembered one night in particular when, in one of her seductive moods, she had seduced him while wearing his L.A. Lakers T-shirt. He had practically ripped the thing off before taking her right here on the kitchen table.

“If that’s the best you can do, then yes, one of your T-shirts will do,” she decided to say, trying to block the memories of that particular night from her mind.

“You know where they are.”

A grin tugged at her lips. “Yes, I do, don’t I?” She pulled herself out of his arms. “I’ll be back in a second.”

Vanessa was halfway up the stairs when she glanced back over her shoulder. Cameron was standing in the doorway separating the kitchen from the living room. His hands were braced on either side of the arch and his stance was as sexy as sexy could get. At that moment she wished she had a camera to capture that pose on film so she could take out the photo on those lonely nights after she returned to Charlotte.

She quickly turned back around and made it up the rest of the stairs. Damn, she didn’t need this
now, especially not when she was trying hard to keep what they were sharing in perspective. And she definitely hadn’t counted on it.

Cameron Cody was truly beginning to grow on her. Even worse, he was slowly but surely getting under her skin in a way she hadn’t thought possible.

C
ameron heard Vanessa return even before her bare feet touched the last step. He glanced up and tried not to stare. But he couldn’t help himself. The woman did wonders for his T-shirts.

It was his opinion that her body was outright and unreservedly perfect, and as she walked toward him, putting those long gorgeous legs out in front of her, his blood raced, literally pounding through every part of him. His gaze traveled all over her. This particular shirt—the one promoting his construction company—seemed shorter than
the rest. The cotton fabric clung to her full breasts and curvy hips.

When she finally reached the bottom step she slowly twirled around with her hands on her hips. “So, what do you think?” she asked as a smile twitched her lips.

He groaned inwardly. What he really thought was that now was a good time to kiss that lush mouth of hers, or better yet, to whisk her into his arms and take her back upstairs. Everything about her, every sensuous detail, was wreaking havoc on his control, his ability to think straight, his ability to resist emotions he’d never encountered before.

“I think,” he said, taking a step forward, “that you are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met, whether you’re wearing an outfit I personally don’t like, my T-shirt or nothing at all. You are simply stunning.”

A warm tingle started in Vanessa’s breasts and moved lower, toward her midsection. The dark, tense eyes staring down at her seemed both serious and deeply enthralled. She bit her lower lip, trying not to let his words affect her so, and found it difficult. They
had
affected her.

She took a deep breath and glanced down at him. The only thing covering his body was a pair of outlandishly sexy swim trunks that left nothing to her
imagination. They seemed like a second layer of skin and clearly emphasized the fact that he wanted her. Her heartbeat sped up at the thought of what would happen once they got down to the beach.

“I’m taking a large blanket and a bottle of body cream.”

Vanessa hitched a brow. “Body cream?”

He smiled. “Yes, I want to rub it all over you after we take a swim.”

A tremble ran through her body. She had a feeling that wasn’t all he intended to do.

Vanessa lay on her stomach on the thick blanket with the sand as a cushion. She closed her eyes at the feel of Cameron’s hands moving slowly, lightly over her shoulder, gently massaging the slope of her back and the curve of her neck. The cream he was rubbing into her skin smelled of tropical fruits, and his calloused fingers were working magic as he caressed her skin.

She released a long sigh when he rubbed more of the cream onto her back, tenderly kneading her muscles, working out her aches and pains at the same time he caused a different type of throbbing in her body.

“What are you thinking about?” he asked in an
almost-whisper, leaning down close to her ear. He was on his knees straddling her butt. She could feel his nearness, his heat, and the way his hands were touching her, moving down her back, the rear of her thighs and then her behind was sending all kinds of sensations through her body.

“Umm, I’m thinking about how good your hands feel on me,” she said, almost in a purr. “I’ve never gotten this much attention from a man before.”

“And is that good or bad?”

She paused, thinking about his question, before she answered. “Before this trip, I would have thought it was bad. But now I can’t help but think it’s all good. I can’t imagine another man touching me this way, making me feel this way, and—”

She never finished what she was about to say. Cameron had gently turned her over and rubbed some of the cream onto her chest. He began rubbing it into her skin, caressing her breasts in a circular motion around the nipples while they hardened at his touch.

After smearing more cream onto her body, his fingers moved lower to her stomach and with the tip of his finger he drew rings around her navel, sending a rush of sexual pleasure through every
pore on her body. A part of her wanted to reach out and cover her feminine mound from his gaze, but she couldn’t. Besides, it would be a waste of time. She might be the one in control, but Cameron had a way of using anything she did to his advantage. She was beginning to see that he was smart in more ways than one.

“I didn’t tell you everything there was to know about this particular cream, Vanessa,” he said, his voice a low, sensuous timbre.

She let go of a shaky breath at the mere sound. “What didn’t you tell me?” She looked up into his face. He was above her, straddling her body. Then he began lowering his head closer to hers. When he was just inches from her face he said, “The cream I’ve rubbed all over you is edible. Do you know what that means?”

Her gaze was locked with his and was filled with hunger, heat, and a hefty dose of arousal. Of course she knew what he meant, what he was alluding to, but she decided to play dumb. “No, what does that mean?” she asked innocently.

Bracing his hands on both sides of her head, he leaned down to within inches of her lips. “It means, Vanessa Steele, that tonight, under the beauty of this Jamaican moon, you will become my treat.”

“Your treat?” she asked, her voice barely audible against the waves rushing toward the shore.

“Yes, but first this…”

And then he leaned closer, captured her lips and kissed her as though she was everything he had ever wanted, everything he had ever needed, and that kissing her was his lifeline for the next minute, hour, day. His mouth was feeding on hers with a hunger that made her whimper.

He slowly pulled his mouth away, and she immediately felt the loss of his lips on hers.

“Did I tell you that mango is my favorite fruit and this cream has plenty of mango in it?”

“Mango?”

“Yes. There’s also a pinch of pineapple and avocado. Real tasty fruits. Exotic fruits. Fruits with mouthwatering flavor.”

He picked up the bottle of cream and with his hands he smeared a trail of it from the tips of her breasts down to her stomach. When he came to her feminine mound with its smooth bikini wax, he stared at it for a moment before taking his hand and fully coating it with the fruity cream. It was like piling whipped cream on top of a hot fudge sundae.

“Cameron?”

“Yes?”

“What are you doing?”

“Fulfilling one of my fantasies. And I might as well confess right now that there’s nothing spontaneous about this. This is something I’ve been thinking about for quite some time. And when we do part, Vanessa, I plan to take the taste of you with me. I want it embedded so deeply in my tongue that it becomes a permanent part of my taste buds. I want the scent of you to inflame my nostrils for all eternity.”

“But we agreed—”

“I know what we agreed, Vanessa. This is an island fling and I will keep my word. But that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t remember what I consider to be some of the most special days I’ve ever had with a woman who has more passion in her little finger than some women have in their entire body. I won’t do anything intentionally to look you up when we return to Charlotte, but as I told you in the beginning, I want to make love so good that you’ll want to look me up.”

“I won’t,” she said stubbornly, frowning.

“Then I really have my work cut out for me over the next six days, don’t I?” he said softly, with a confidence she heard. His nostrils flared slightly when he continued. “You are in my
system, and all these days of loving you only implanted you deeper. And before we separate, I’m going to make sure that I’m as entrenched within you as you are within me.”

Vanessa glanced away, breaking eye contact as she looked out at the ocean. It was dark, and somewhere in the distance she could see the lights from a huge ship, probably a cruise liner. She was grateful they couldn’t be seen from that far out at sea.

She breathed in deeply, wondering if she could become addicted to Cameron. Could he become an itch she would need to have scratched at some point? She shook her head, refusing to believe it. People engaged in affairs all the time and walked away. But the big question was this: Could she really and truly walk away from his loving? Endless passion, earth-shattering orgasms, an easy camaraderie with a man who made her feel desirable?

Yes, she could do it, because, although she had gotten to know Cameron a lot better than before, there were still some things about him that she wouldn’t be able to tolerate. Such as his need to control and to be in control.

She turned back to look at him when she heard him removing his shorts. She watched almost spellbound as he slowly slid the garment down his legs,
then she blinked, thinking that tonight his erection looked larger than usual. Was that possible?

A warm, hot tingle began in her midsection and quickly spread to the area between her legs when he slowly eased back to her, settling on his knees in the middle of her opened thighs.

“I’m going to lick you all over, starting here.” He lifted her hips and placed her legs on his shoulders, bringing her feminine mound level to his. “Enjoy, sweetheart, because I certainly intend to.”

Vanessa gasped at the first touch of Cameron’s tongue on her sensitive flesh. Each stroke of his tongue was methodical, focused, greedy. He was giving her his undivided attention and it took everything she had not to scream out.

The intimate kiss might have started out as a late-night treat for him, but it was an entirely different thing to her. Each sensuous nibble was taking her to a place she had never been before, a place where only the two of them belonged. She didn’t want to question the rightness of her thoughts, she just knew they were so.

The more he loved her in this most cherished way, the more sensations consumed her, taking over her mind and body. Her heart beat faster and her breathing became difficult. When the rumble
of a scream was close to pouring forth from her throat, she bit down on her lips to hold it back. Her fingers dug into Cameron’s shoulders, holding his mouth in place.

But the sensations became too much to bear. She tightened her grip on his shoulders even more and drew in a deep breath before letting it out by screaming his name when an orgasm hit.

“Cameron!”

The moment she called out his name he pulled his mouth from her and moved his body in place over hers. Then in one smooth and swift thrust, he entered her, going deep. “Wrap your legs around my waist,” he whispered in her ear, and as soon as she did so, locking their bodies, he began thrusting in and out of her with the speed of a whip.

Her entire body clenched tightly, pulling everything she could out of him. She could tell he was fighting against an orgasm, trying to make it last, but she wanted more and she wanted it now.

Using her teeth she bit gently into his shoulder, then soothed the mark with her tongue. She felt him shudder, felt his body get harder inside hers and heard him moan close to her ear.

And then she felt it happen as he thrust into her hard. For the second time that night she didn’t want
to question the feeling of oneness with this man, the feeling that he could become her entire world, and that she was haphazardly tumbling into his.

She didn’t want to think about anything, especially not the fact they had only six days left after tonight. The only thing she wanted to think about was how he was making her feel. This instant. This moment.

Vanessa knew that no matter what, after this time with Cameron, her life would never be the same.

C
ameron’s eyes opened slowly during the predawn hours. Something had awakened him. He reached out to pull Vanessa closer into his arms and came up empty-handed. All that was there, other than the slight indentation on the pillow where her head had lain, was her scent, an arousing fragrance that had become such an innate part of his life.

He gazed around the room and saw the open patio door. Evidently she hadn’t been able to sleep. For a long while, neither had he. It was hard as hell to accept that their twelve days were over and that
today at noon he would be flying out, returning to the States.

He tightened his fists at his sides, damning their agreement. There was no way she could deny that their time together had been special, especially the last six days. They had taken early-morning walks on the beach, picnics on the bay, and had made love under the moonlight in a number of places. He would miss her like hell when he left and he hoped and prayed each day that she would realize they were meant to be together.

A shiver passed through him at the thought of the separation they faced. What if, when she returned to Charlotte, she had no problem in keeping her end of the agreement and would not want to see him again? What if their time together meant more to him than it did to her? What if his entire plan backfired and he wasn’t any closer to having her as a part of his life than he had been before taking Morgan’s advice?

He pulled himself up in bed, suddenly thinking about all the things he’d never wanted from a woman before, but now had to have from Vanessa. He’d thought he wanted possession, wanted to make her a part of his life without any deep emotional attachment or binding commitment. After
all, he was a man who didn’t do emotional attachments. But now he wanted it all. He wanted her.

He loved her.

He sucked in a deep, shaky breath with that admission. It was one he had thought he would never make again after Stacy. But Vanessa had proven him wrong. She had brought out in him something no woman had done in over ten years—his desire to love unconditionally. She had broken down his defenses and made the twisted reason he’d wanted her in his life into something he hadn’t counted on. Love.

He had always wanted Vanessa but hadn’t realized or accepted that he also loved her.

Now he did, and what the hell was he supposed to do about it? He slowly slid back down in the bed. One thing he would not do was let her have her way and turn her back on what they could have together. His heart was at stake, and he was determined that, in the end, she would love him as much as he loved her.

He heard the sliding of the patio door and lowered his eyelids, pretending sleep. He wasn’t ready to admit his feelings to Vanessa just yet. Not until he had another workable plan.

Through half-closed eyes he watched as she dropped her robe and eased her naked body into
bed beside him. She cuddled close, skin to skin, and lowered her head to his chest. Then, moments later she glanced up, placed a kiss on his lips and whispered, “I’m going to miss you when you leave, Cameron Cody. A hell of a lot more than I should.”

He didn’t say anything since he knew she assumed he was asleep and her words hadn’t been meant for him to hear. But those words sent every cell in his body vibrating. If she was fighting any feelings for him and was pretty close to the edge, he intended to push her over. He would try and be patient, but he wouldn’t let her send him out of sight and out of mind.

When she cuddled back in his arms to reclaim sleep, a smile curved his lips. There were some risks worth taking, and no matter what it took, he intended to convince Vanessa of that.

“Are you sure you don’t want to go to the airstrip with me?”

Vanessa shook her head as she watched Cameron get dressed. They had awakened that morning and made love. Then they had gone downstairs and, as they’d done on a number of other mornings, they had prepared breakfast together. Afterwards, they had come back upstairs
to make love again. Now she was sitting up in bed half-naked and he was putting on his shirt and pants. A limo would be arriving in less than an hour to take him to the airport where his private jet would return him to the States.

“No, I think it’s best if we say our goodbyes here,” she said.

He glanced up and looked at her and then he slowly walked over to the bed and pulled her into his arms. “What we shared was special, Vanessa. I’m going to miss it and I’m going to miss you. Why can’t we—”

She quickly reached out and placed her fingers to his lips. “Don’t, Cameron. You promised. All this was supposed to be was an island fling. We both agreed. Flings aren’t meant to last.”

Taking a deep breath, Cameron fought back the words he wanted to say. He would let her have things her way for now, but once she set her feet back on American soil he would intensify his plan.

“Regardless, I meant what I said. If your days or nights become lonely and you find you still want me, just let me know and I will make myself available to you. Anytime, anyplace and any position.”

A small tremble rippled down Vanessa’s spine at Cameron’s offer. A part of her was tempted, but
she held on to her resolve. Cameron had been wonderful these past few weeks only because he had allowed himself to put his guard down. He had been stripped of his control. Back in the States it would be business as usual, and he would go back to being the kind of man she did not want in her life. The kind of person who got what he wanted regardless of how he went about getting it. Ruthless, powerful, demanding. Those were three things she could not accept in any man.

But still…she would miss him. She would miss everything they had shared. For a little while he had stripped away her inhibitions, robbed her of her common sense and had filled her days and nights with more pleasure than any one woman had a right to receive.

“Vanessa.”

She met his gaze, saw the deep longing there and knew what he wanted. She shook her head. “You’ll miss your plane.”

He smiled. The smile where the corners of his lips tilted so sexily, the one that sent tingly sensations all through her. “I can’t miss the plane since I own it,” he said huskily. “And I can’t leave here without being with you again.”

He kissed her then, a hot, open-mouthed kiss
that was filled with more passion than Vanessa thought she could handle. She would never get tired of savoring the taste of him. It was the kind of kiss that stirred everything inside her to life once again, that activated a dull, throbbing ache right between her legs.

“Cameron.”

He gently eased her down on the bed, while running his hands up her legs, her thighs and finding that very spot that ached for him. Instead of clamping her legs together to stop him, she parted them and he slipped his finger inside her. Her response to his intimate touch was immediate, and she released a moan of need from deep within her throat.

How could she still crave this when she had made love in two weeks more times than in her entire life? How could his touch alone make an insufferable longing erupt deep within her? Those questions were obliterated from her mind, squashed by the sensations that began taking over.

Intense pleasure suffused her entire body as his fingers worked their magic on her, and then shock wave after delicious shock wave consumed her. She literally gasped at the magnitude. Her body trembled and she clutched him, held tightly to his shoulder as an orgasm rammed into her.

He held her for long moments, waiting for the aftershocks to cease, to ease from her body. Then he slowly released her and stepped back, and she watched as he began removing his clothes. He took a condom from his nightstand and put it on.

Vanessa could tell from the intense look in Cameron’s eyes that even with the time restraints this wouldn’t be a quickie. He intended to leave her with something she would remember for a long time. He was determined to get her addicted to him.

A rainbow of emotions arced through her. Resentment. Inflexibility. Stubbornness. But all three were overshadowed by desire, a need that was deeply intense within her, even after what she’d just shared with him.

When he came back to the bed, gloriously naked, she pushed all those unwanted emotions aside. Instead she wanted to concentrate on this one last time. Rising up, she eagerly went into his arms, kissing him with the same hunger and intensity with which he had kissed her earlier.

Later, after he left, she would question her sanity, drum up all that common sense that he had blown to pieces. She would go back to being her own person, a confident woman who didn’t want or need a man in her life.

The tiny hot flames licking her body made any more coherent thoughts impossible. And when Cameron broke their kiss and eased her down in bed, she wrapped her arms around his neck, needing to hold on to him for just a little while longer.

The look in his eyes made her breathless, and when he positioned his body over hers and continued to look at her she could feel her body surrendering to him. To his wants and his desires.

When he entered her, she moaned at the impact and wrapped her legs around his waist. The way he made love to her, thrusting in and out, was making her delirious and she held on, needing as much as he was giving. She felt the muscles in his back straining with each powerful thrust.

And just when she felt the earth move, he leaned toward her and dipped the tip of his tongue into the corners of her mouth, licking her as though she was a taste he had to have.

At that moment the earth didn’t just move, it exploded, and she felt herself being blasted to a place Cameron had never taken her before. She screamed his name until her throat seemed raw and still the sensations kept ramming her, nonstop. She was slightly taken aback by the intensity of her passion, the force of her need, and when he
followed her over, when that same explosion tore into him, she tightened her hold on him, lifted her hips and locked him in place.

And then she felt it, that affinity she had never felt before with a man, a special oneness. And no matter how much she tried fighting the feeling, it wouldn’t go away.

She was forced to admit that if she hadn’t gotten addicted, she was pretty close to it.

Vanessa kept running down the beach, along the shore. Cameron was probably back in the States now, back on Charlotte’s soil, and she needed to run.

She kept jogging, mindless of the exhaustion that had seeped into her bones. She wanted to be tired so she could sleep tonight, so the dreams wouldn’t come. It would be bad enough when she reached out and found the place beside her empty.

She had stood at his upstairs bedroom window and looked down below to watch him leave. Right before he got into the car, he glanced up, knowing she would be there. He had stared at her for a long moment before lifting his hand. She had expected a wave but instead he had blown her a kiss.

That single action had gotten under her skin, and for the rest of the day all rational thoughts had been reduced to a mess of emotions.

So, for now, she kept running to release that wild, reckless streak that Cameron had encouraged. She was determined to be all right and to put her island fling behind her. Cheyenne had called. The photo shoot had ended and she was on her way home. That meant in a day or so Vanessa would be free to leave this island that would always hold so many special memories.

She kept running, feeling her muscles ache, feeling the heaviness of her heart, but she refused to acknowledge the pain, the anxiety, the deep, intense need Cameron had so effortlessly fulfilled. She had begun missing him the moment he had gotten into the car that had taken him away. He had left his door key with her and also his car key, both generously offered for her use.

Vanessa inhaled deeply as she continued to jog. She had taken a chance. She had trodden on dangerous grounds. She had indulged in a very special kind of risky pleasure. But she didn’t have any regrets. What she and Cameron had shared was priceless and the memories would be endless.

When she returned to work on Monday it would be business as usual. That’s the way she wanted it and that’s the way she intended it to be.