Forged of Steele Bundle (Books 1-4) - Brenda Jackson [291]
Not wanting to think about McMurray anymore, Cameron switched his thoughts back to Vanessa. They had gone shopping again yesterday, this time for baby items. She was excited about the new addition to the Steele family, Chance’s son, Alden. Cameron was grateful she hadn’t asked for his opinion on anything since he couldn’t recall the last time he’d been around a baby.
A baby.
He remembered his conversation of a few nights ago with Vanessa when they’d discussed the possibility of her being pregnant. Yesterday, while shopping for Chance and Kylie’s baby, a part of him had wished that he and Vanessa had been shopping for their own child. He had never entertained any thoughts of sharing a child with a woman until now, but the more he thought about it, the more he liked the idea…with Vanessa.
He shook his head. First he needed to secure a strong relationship with the mother before he could even contemplate bringing a baby into the mix.
But he definitely was thinking about it.
“Okay, I’m stumped,” Vanessa said, tossing aside the crossword puzzle she’d been working on for the past half hour. A few hours ago she and Cameron had made love upstairs in his bed and now they were stretched out beside each other by his pool in a double chaise lounge.
“Maybe I can help,” Cameron said, glancing from the book he was reading. “What’s the clue?”
Vanessa picked up the book. “It’s a five-letter word for ‘a fruit-loving bug.’ The second letter is a P.”
Cameron turned on his side and stretched his arm around her. “Aphid.” He proceeded to spell it for her.
She stared at him, amazed. “And you knew the answer…just like that,” she said, snapping her fingers for emphasis.
He shrugged. “No great mystery. I love science, always have.”
Vanessa shook her head. He evidently loved math, as well, if the last two shopping trips were anything to go by. By the time they’d reached the cash register, he had totaled the purchases in his head, almost to the penny. She wondered…
She flipped on her side to face him. “Cameron?”
“Yes?”
Her heart began to race. It happened every time his sexy smile was directed at her. “It’s plain to see that you’re a very smart and intelligent man, and I don’t believe you acquired those traits since reaching adulthood. So why did you drop out of high school?”
She watched what amounted to pain form in his eyes and he shifted on the lounger, seeming uncomfortable with her question. He lowered his arm from her shoulders. For the first time ever, Vanessa could feel him withdrawing from her. Though he seldom discussed his childhood, he had told her about his parents and how they’d died and about the grandparents who’d raised him. Why did this particular question bother him?
“I’m sorry if I asked you about something that’s too personal, Cameron.”
He glanced back at her and then, as if he had reached a decision about something, he pulled her back into his arms. “No, it’s not too personal, at least not for you. I dropped out of school at sixteen because my grandfather lost his job. The company he had been employed with for over forty years deliberately laid him off less than a year before he was to retire so he couldn’t receive any retirement benefits.”
“Oh, how awful.”
“Yes, it was. He was sixty-four and because of his age, there was no other place for him to go or anything else that he knew how to do. My grandfather wasn’t the only person that particular company ruined that way. There were a number of others.”
Vanessa sat up. She was angry. “But couldn’t something be done about that company? Surely the government could have stepped in and—”
“The government did nothing,” Cameron said, just as angry and very bitter. “There were no laws in place to protect workers against such tactics. And with no money coming in, I had to do something. I couldn’t let my grandfather worry himself to death. His health hadn’t been at its best as it was, and he was trying to make that final year.