Hot Commodity (13 page)

Automatically, she scanned the room for Vivian.

"Oh, yeah," Cameron continued on a husky murmur and moved closer. "Like the dress. It has lick-me written all over it."

His eyes wandered down her body, and she suddenly remembered being naked and alone with him. She remembered it in vivid technicolor.

"Still look good in black, I see," he commented and reached out to run one finger over her left shoulder, under the spaghetti strap. "But I must say, I do miss the leather." He slipped another digit under the strap so the two could slide across her skin. "Nice necklace." The tips of his fingers barely grazed the string of pearls that suddenly felt very snug around her throat.

Olivia shivered and jerked back, grabbing his wrist and tugging his hand off her as she glanced around frantically.

 
"Are you insane?" she hissed, continuing to hold his hand. "Hurry, you have to go before Vivian sees you talking to me."

Cameron lifted his eyebrows and glanced around the crowded room. "Oh? She’s here too, hmm?"

"Yes! Now go."

"Actually, I’d like to meet the woman."

"No. Trust me, you wouldn’t," Olivia assured.

But it was already too late.

"Olivia," Her mother’s voice came shrilly from a mere ten feet away.

She jolted and spun around, guiltily dropping Cameron’s hand. Cameron remained stubbornly rooted by her side.

Vivian barreled their way. After frowning disapprovingly at Cameron, she immediately turned to her daughter. "Olivia."

"Yes, Mother?" she asked a bit breathlessly.

If she was lucky, Vivian wouldn’t know who Cameron was or find out, and she’d chase him off, never the wiser.

But Cameron stepped forward. "Oh, is this your mom?" he asked with interest. "Well, it’s a pleasure to meet you, ma’am. I’m Cameron Banks, and I can see where your daughter gets her good looks."

Olivia nearly passed out.
What was he doing?

Gritting her teeth and fisting her hands, she closed her eyes briefly. He just had to go and introduce himself, didn’t he?

"Who?" Vivian asked in surprise as she slowed to a stop. After looking Cameron up and down, she took his outstretched hand and shook slowly, still studying him as she did so. "Hmm. I pictured you older."

Cameron grinned, a spark of something nasty entering his eyes. "Really? And here I thought you’d be younger."

Feeling a small thrill shoot up her spine, Olivia watched her mother blink. Vivian was used to being the aggressor in every verbal exchange. She had a knack for guiding conversations to suit her purpose. Olivia wanted to cheer Cameron on for his subtle little jab at Vivian’s vanity.

"You...wait. You know who I am?" Vivian asked, clearly surprised.

Olivia held her breath, but Cameron’s answer came out sounding

completely innocent. "Of course. You’re Olivia’s mother. Vivian Roark, C. E. O. of Helbrock Enterprise for the past twenty-eight years, ever since your father handed it to you when you married Roger Donovan. Your company majors in dog food but you prefer to dally in the big buy-and-sell market. Your most recent venture was WorldAct United. And I must say I’m impressed with the profit margin you made there."

Wow. The boy had done his homework. Olivia lifted her gaze to Cameron’s and was surprised to find his eyes on her. He winked.

"I’ve heard of you too," Vivian said, looking satisfied by the fact he knew her reputation. "That merger you accomplished between McCrill and Thompson Pack was impressive."

Cameron seemed reluctant to pull his gaze away from Olivia’s. "I’m sorry, but I can’t seem to concentrate on business in the presence of this enchanting creature." He sent Vivian a look of utter meekness. "Do you mind if I ask your daughter for a dance?"

Both Olivia and Vivian sputtered, but Olivia did so in dread while the sparkle in her mother’s eye contained pure delight. "Oh! Well, of course. Olivia loves to dance."

"Does she?" Cameron asked, turning expectantly toward her.

Her face morphed into scarlet horror.

"Olivia," Vivian said and nudged her toward Cameron.

He took her elbow and nearly dragged her onto the floor. "Relax," he murmured unobtrusively in her ear, but she ignored him.

Cameron settled his hand more snuggly around her waist and touched a little too low, making her lift her head and gawp at him. "What in God’s name are you doing?"

He lifted his face from where he’d been looking quite openly down her cleavage. "What? Isn’t this all part of the plan? I take one look at you and fall all over myself in love?"

Olivia’s eyes went frosty. "That’s Vivian’s plan. Not mine."

Cameron sent her a sloppy grin. "Well, maybe it happened anyway."

Olivia gritted out an irritated groan. Why her? Please, God, why?

"Why haven’t I got any papers in the mail from you?" she said, deciding to change the subject.

"My lawyer’s busy right now with another assignment," he answered, distracted as he returned to gawking down her dress. "Holy hell, you’re not wearing a bra, are you?"

She opened her mouth to answer, but he suddenly noticed a certain ring on her right hand. The ring he’d bought her in Vegas.

"Hey," he said, reaching for it. "That doesn’t go there."

It looked for all the world like he was going to slip it off and set it back in its proper place on her left ring finger. Olivia ground her teeth. Of course, he had to go and notice she was wearing she stupid thing.

She couldn’t believe she’d put it on tonight. Actually, she couldn’t

believe she hadn’t taken it off since Vegas. But it was such a nice ring, and Olivia did love her bling. Besides, she’d been wearing it on the wrong hand anyway. Certainly, he wouldn’t think their marriage meant anything to her. He wouldn’t think—

"Cameron!" she hissed, curling her fingers into a fist to stop him from removing the diamond. "The annulment?"

"Oh, right." He smoothly returned to the subject at hand, letting the ring stay where it was for the present. "With everything going on, it’ll probably be a few months before Bos’ll be able to get to that."

"Months?" she squawked.

He lifted his brow. "What’s the hurry? Are you that anxious to run off and marry some other stranger?"

Olivia set her jaw and looked away. "I just want this over and done with as soon as possible. At least before Vivian finds out."

"Now, now. Don’t worry, Livy Love. I won’t tell anyone about our night in Vegas." He pulled her closer.

Olivia frowned. Livy Love? No one called her Livy, and they certainly didn’t call her Livy
Love
.

Abruptly, she noticed he’d bent his head so that his face was next to hers, their cheeks barely grazing. He loudly inhaled the perfume she’d dabbed behind her ear. "God, you smell good."

She tried to step away, but he held her tighter. "What’re you doing?" she breathed, feeling too drawn for her own good. "I thought you hated me."

Cameron lifted his face, looking stunned. "Hate you? I don’t hate you. I might’ve been a little upset on our last encounter, is all. But I’m better now."

"You mean, you’re drunk now."

"Hey, whatever works." Cameron grinned and shrugged good-naturedly.

Olivia clenched her teeth. "And why are you drunk? The report I read said you were a
recovering
alcoholic."

His eyes flashed with heat. "It’s called
none of your business
."

She snorted. "Really? I thought it was called falling off the wagon."

For a fraction of a moment, his fingers tightened on her and his teeth clenched in a snarl. Fear raced up her spine, making her shiver. His eyes lifted at her reaction, and after he blinked a few times, regret filled his gaze. His grip eased, and his face relaxed.

 
"Anyway." He cleared his throat and glanced away. "I was wondering something. I need a little favor from you."

Olivia swallowed. "What?"

He turned back to her, his green eyes intense and enticing. "Well, I’m horny."

She pulled back. "Excuse me?"

He shrugged helplessly. "It’s the champagne. Does it to me every

time. I don’t understand it either. There’s just something about the chemical makeup that makes me want to…" He paused to shiver as if wracked by an orgasm.

Olivia’s imagination immediately brought up a picture of them in bed together, a very memorable, very vivid picture. It caused her to shiver too, and this time, it wasn’t in fear.

"Anyway, I’m dying to get laid," he said, making their conversation feel all too surreal for Olivia. "But the problem is now that I’m married, I don’t feel it’s right to go off and have an affair. Since it’s going to be a couple more months before this thing with us can be cleared up, I’d like to take my one last chance to have sex with my wife now, before we go our separate ways. And I don’t know about you, but I sure as hell can’t wait a few more months until the annulment is final."

"I don’t mind if you have an affair. It’s not like we’re really married anyway."

But Cam shook his head. "If there’s one thing my mama taught me, it’s not to cheat. So, I can’t, okay? It’s a moral thing."

Blinking because, well, she was bowled over by that kind of announcement, Olivia blurted out, "Well, I’m not going to sleep with you!" Realizing a second too late how loud she’d been, she glanced around, hoping no one had heard her outburst.

"Why not?" Cameron said not even seeming to care if anyone overheard. "It’s not like we haven’t done it before."

"We’re trying to get an annulment," she reminded through her teeth.

"Hey, I won’t tell if you don’t." Cameron sighed in delight as he moved his fingers against the base of her spine, making her suck in a breath. "Be a sport, Livy. It was good that one time. If there’s one thing I remember about our wedding night, it’s that we’re good together. Amazing, in fact. Crazy amazing. Amazing to the point of—"

Turning beet red, Olivia slapped her hand over his mouth. "Shh!" She glanced around to make sure no one was paying them any attention. "I can’t believe you’re talking about this to me in front of the entire world. With my
mother
watching."

When he playfully nipped her thumb, she jerked her fingers back.

"No one can hear us," he assured, tugging her a smidgeon closer. "So, what do you say, huh? Give me your room number. I can slip by after everyone else has gone to bed. Then we can stay up all night, playing hide-the—"

This time she ground her heel against his toe to shut him up. His step faltered, and he winced. She shook her head no and pulled out of his arms. As she turned to stalk off the floor, Cameron followed, sidling next to her. He took her elbow again and steered her in a different direction. When she realized he was returning her to Vivian, she resisted.

His grip tightened. "This is what you chose then, Olivia," he

murmured in her ear just as she lifted her face to take in her mother’s smirk of triumph.

"Didn’t step on your toes, did she, Banks?" Vivian asked cheerfully, obviously not catching the last few seconds of their dance.

"Not at all," Cameron lied smoothly. "I haven’t partnered someone so smoothly in nearly four weeks." His eyes slid meaningfully toward Olivia, and she blushed before glancing away.