Forged of Steele Bundle (Books 1-4) - Brenda Jackson [313]
After they came again, simultaneously, he lay against her, breathing hard but thinking how great life was. He was a man in love and he had the woman he wanted in his bed. Now if he could only convince her to become a forever part of his life, as well.
“Sneaking out on me, Vanessa?”
Vanessa swirled around, holding her shoes to her chest. “I thought you were asleep, Cameron. It’s time for me to leave.”
He glanced to the window. It was daybreak. In essence she had spent the night. He moved to get out of bed. “Let me slip on something and walk you to your car.”
“No. Please don’t. I’m fine.”
He stayed put, seeing the look of uncertainty in her eyes. Did she regret what had happened last night? There was only one way to find out. “When will I see you again?”
He watched her nervously lick her lips, and his stomach clenched when he recalled just what she had done to him with those same lips and tongue last night. He also noticed she was backing up slowly toward the door. “I’ll call you.”
“When?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. I hadn’t counted on this.”
He figured now was not a good time to tell her that he had. A part of him had wanted to believe she still desired him and the attraction between them was just as strong and hot as it had been in Jamaica. What had happened last night had proven him right.
He knew he couldn’t be completely honest with her anymore. He stood. “Can I give you something to think about?”
“Yes, what?”
“I love you.”
She closed her eyes and her shoes dropped to the floor. The sound made her snatch her eyes open and she dropped to her knees to pick her shoes up. Without looking at him she gathered them in her arms and said, “This is getting complicated. I have to go.”
He took a few steps toward her. “What’s so complicated about me loving you?”
She looked at him as she stood up. “Because I’m not sure how I feel about you.”
He reached out and pulled her to him again, making her drop her shoes for a second time. He picked her up in his arms and moved to sit on the bed with her cradled in his lap. His teeth caught her earlobe before he whispered huskily, “Don’t you? I’m betting my money that you love me, too.”
She pulled back and stared down at him. “Why do you think that? Because we enjoy great sex together? A lot of people enjoy great sex, Cameron.”
He shook his head. “We’re not talking about a lot of people. We’re talking about us. And we share more than great sex. You’re everything I want in a woman, Vanessa. You’re compassionate, honest, trustworthy and—”
“But I’m having doubts about you, Cameron. You take people’s companies away. What you do affects their lives. I read an article on the Internet a few weeks ago about what you did to that company in Texas, Global Petroleum, and how the people resent you for taking it over and that’s why you’re having problems there.”
Cameron moved her off his lap and stood, somewhat irritated and trying like hell to hold on to his temper. “You can’t believe everything you read, especially not off the Internet, Vanessa, and particularly not off that particular site. John McMurray had that site up and running for a while mainly to discredit me.”
“But—”
“But you have to trust me. I know what I’m doing.”
“But I don’t. My family could have been in the same boat that Global is in now had you succeeded in taking over the Steele Corporation.”
“No, the circumstances are different, Vanessa.”
“I don’t think that they are.”
Cameron inhaled deeply. He loved this woman with all his heart and soul but more than anything, he wanted her to believe in him and trust him completely. “I’m leaving for Texas tomorrow and will probably be gone for a week or two. When I get back, let’s have dinner and talk. There are a few things I think we need to clear up, okay?”
She slowly nodded and then stood and slipped into her shoes. “I have to go. If I don’t see you or talk to you before you leave, I hope you have a safe trip.”
And