Reunited...With Child (9 page)

She moaned his name, and he pulled back, looking down at her feminine secrets, which were exposed to him. He traced his finger over the smoothly shaven area.

She reached for his hips and tugged him forward. He entered her slowly at first and then plunged all the way to the hilt. She felt so good, and he told her so, whispering dark sex words in her ear as he pulled slowly out of her body.

Her skin was smooth and smelled of peaches. He just couldn't get enough. He kissed her neck, then licked the skin at the base of her neck.

He was addicted to the taste of her. The feel of her. She went to his head and consumed him. All he could think of was staying inside her body forever. He had it right a couple years ago when he'd taken her to his bed and kept her there for a matter of weeks.

He felt her tighten around him, and he wanted to
get deeper inside. Needed to take her as deeply as he could. He put his arms under her thighs and lifted her legs high, resting her heels on his shoulders.

She leaned back on his desk. Her pert breasts with their berry-hard nipples were tantalizing. He reached down and palmed her as he thrust even deeper into her body.

And it still wasn't enough.

He felt everything in his body driving toward climax. Tingles started to move down his spine as she reached up for his shoulders and pulled him closer to her.

She lifted her neck and shoulders and found his mouth with hers. She sucked hard on his tongue, and he responded by thrusting into her harder until her hips were lifting toward him.

She held him tightly to her, and she cried out his name as she came. He tried to hold on, not wanting to come so quickly, but everything inside of him clenched and he spilled himself at that instant.

He kept thrusting into her and felt her tighten around him again as she continued to come. Then he stopped and fell into her arms. She held him close. For the first time since she'd come back into his life, he felt a moment's peace.

This—she was what had been missing in his life up to this point. And having her again made him acknowledge that it had been a mistake to ever let her go. Becca was his.

“You're mine now,” he said.

“Am I?” she asked.

“Yes.”

He leaned over her on the desk, keeping their bodies connected. He kissed her softly and tenderly, letting the emotion of this moment overwhelm him. She was more than just sex to him, and he had no words to tell her but hoped that one small kiss would convey what he was feeling.

She wrapped her arms around him and toyed with the hair at the back of his neck. He could rest in her arms for a lifetime.

A lifetime.

She went to his head faster than anything else ever had. He'd always been disciplined, so alcohol and women had never been a distraction for him.

But Becca was.

Looking down at her at this moment, he realized he didn't want to spend another day without her by his side. He wanted to give her things she couldn't give herself.

There was something very rewarding in doing that, and he wasn't about to let her slip away. Or was he? It wasn't just Becca whom he was getting involved with. There was his son to think about.

The son she'd hidden from him.

He glanced down at her. She had her eyes closed sleepily. He knew she wanted to stay in his arms—and he wanted her there. But too much. At some point she'd become too important to him, and that was dangerous. He needed distance.

He pulled back. He wasn't ready for this type of feeling or commitment.

He pulled out of her body and handed her some tissues from the box on the corner of his desk. He
couldn't think of anything to say as he turned and walked to his private washroom.

Then he looked at himself in the mirror and knew that no matter how much he wanted to pretend that nothing had changed between him and Becca, it had.

He had no idea how he was going to go back to being the man he'd been before. The man who had a barrier between himself and everyone except his brothers. Damn, she'd shown him that he was vulnerable. Something he'd never wanted to admit or acknowledge before.

But now he wasn't sure he wanted to go back to his old life. And he'd never been the kind of man who didn't know what he wanted. He wasn't going to let Becca slip away, so he had to figure out how to keep her in his arms
and
keep the space between them that he needed for his life to stay on track.

Becca was everything that he needed to make his life the complete package. But he didn't want to lose his head and forfeit everything he'd already worked hard for.

B
ecca hopped off Cam's desk as soon as he closed the bathroom door behind him. She found her panties and bra and quickly put them back on. Making love had seemed the right thing to do, but after he'd walked away she felt small and vulnerable.

More vulnerable than she'd expected to. The last time they'd had sex she'd just felt fulfilled. But she knew this time the stakes were much higher. She wanted Cam to be more than her lover. She wanted the little pretend family they had to be real.

She put her blouse on and buttoned it swiftly. She put her shoes back on and stood there for a few more minutes, wondering what she should do. She wanted to leave but that didn't feel right.

It was clear that making love had affected Cam as
deeply as it had her. The thing she didn't know was
how
it had affected him. For her it had felt like the confirmation of everything she'd been longing for. For him…well, she had the feeling that he wanted to pull back and put some distance between them.

She was tempted to leave right now. She heard the toilet flush and realized he was going to be back out in a minute. Was she staying or going?

She started for the door but stopped as she heard him behind her.

“Where are you going?” he asked.

“I wasn't sure you wanted me to stay,” she said. What she really wanted—no, needed—was a hug. She needed his arms around her so she wouldn't feel so alone and so damned fragile. But the look on his face said there wasn't going to be any cuddling. Not now.

“I'm not sure either,” he said. “I thought that having you would ease the tension between us, but I may have created more problems.”

She swallowed hard. “I don't know. I wanted to be your lover and spend every night with you. You were right—living together and not sleeping together is weird.”

“Me, too, but we are still strangers. Sexually compatible strangers, but maybe we need to cool it for now.”

She nodded. “Um… I need to go home and have a shower before the rehearsal dinner.”

“Why?”

“Because I can still smell you on my skin and I need to be thinking with my mind and not my hormones if I'm going to meet your brothers.”

“I like the thought of my scent on you,” he admitted. “And I want to talk about the Mercado before you go home. If you stay on that side of the desk I think we can conduct business and then you can go home. I will pick you up at seven.”

She nodded. He talked about what he wanted for the Mercado, and she took copious notes. When he was finished, he walked around his desk. He turned to the credenza along one wall and picked up a portfolio. “This contains the design specs for our new project. Take it with you and look it over.”

She took the leather binder from him, and when their hands brushed against each other, she shivered. She still wanted him. During their affair two years ago they'd spend an entire afternoon making love. And to be honest, now that her body had had him again, it craved more. She craved more.

Why was Cam the one man in the world who could make her feel like a sex-crazed teenager? It had been that way from the beginning, and she shouldn't have been surprised that two years later nothing had changed.

“Why are you staring at my hands?” he asked.

“I was remembering the way they felt on my body,” she said.

He cursed low under his breath and put his hands on her waist, drawing her closer. “I was thinking the same thing. This starting over is hard.”

“Yes, it is. I wonder if we are making a mistake,” she said, tipping her head back so she could look up at him.

She wanted to see a sign in him that everything was going to be okay but his dark blue eyes were unreadable. There was no sign. And she felt foolish for even looking. Since her junior year in college she'd been on her own. Why should now be any different?

She was the one who took care of herself and made sure that she had what she needed. Cam wasn't going to be her hero or her white knight. That wasn't the kind of guy he was.

He was a modern man who expected the woman he was involved with to be her own savior. And it didn't matter one bit that all she wanted was to cuddle close to him and rest in his arms. That she wanted some kind of comfort from him and the assurance—no matter how false it was—that everything would be okay.

“No,” he said. “This wasn't a mistake. I won't let it be.” He kissed her tenderly on the forehead. “I'm sorry I'm rushing you out the door, but Justin just got back to town and I have a meeting with him and Nate in twenty minutes. You have made me forget about work.”

“Oh, okay.”

“I had no intention of seducing you this afternoon. But I'm glad I did.”

“Are you sure?”

“No. But I don't regret it and I think if we ignored this side of our relationship we'd be starting over on a lie and I don't want that.”

She flushed and nodded and walked away without saying another word.

 

He felt as if he was missing something important but had no idea what it was and could only watch her leave.

Calling her back to him would be the right thing to do, but he needed some space. Some distance to figure out who he was and what he should do next.

He had never encountered anyone who shook him up the way she did. He wanted to pick her up in his arms and lock the door and make love until they didn't have the strength left to lick their lips. But that wasn't going to happen.

He also wanted to make sure she knew that she was more to him than a lover. He had to keep reminding himself that he was moving on to another stage in his life. But he didn't want to put the white-hot lovemaking with Becca behind him.

He realized that the two of them were always going to be incendiary, and nothing was going to change that. He just had to figure out how to manage that part of the relationship.

Added to that was the fact that they were parents. Ty was important to him and Becca was important to Ty. So they were tied together in way that he hadn't anticipated. A way he'd never been attached to someone before.

He sank back in his chair and tried to concentrate on business. It had never been hard for him until now. He knew where his focus needed to be, but Becca challenged that. He wasn't going to be an absentee father to Ty. Not that he wanted to be but, honestly, he knew
more about babes than babies and he was struggling to find his way with his son.

There was a knock on his door and he beckoned the person to enter. It was Justin and his fiancée, Selena. Cam got up and walked over to his brother, embracing him.

“Glad to have you back home,” Cam said.

“Good to be here,” Justin said.

Cam leaned over and gave Selena a kiss on the cheek. “Have a seat, you two, and I'll tell you about our problems.”

“With the Mercado?” Selena asked.

Selena was a beautiful Latina with olive-colored skin and thick ebony hair. She was petite and curvy. And she had eyes only for Justin. Something that always made Cam feel good. He liked seeing his brothers with women who clearly adored them. He wasn't sure if it was because his mother had been so cold or not, but he had never thought any of them would find a woman they could be that comfortable with.

At moments, he thought that he might find that with Becca. But he doubted it. He'd have to relax his guard around her and she'd have to do the same and they were both wary of each other to do that.

“Yes, with the Mercado. We need to close down the businesses while we are doing construction,” Cam said.

“I thought we'd already agreed that you would keep them open,” Selena said.

Selena had been the big-gun New York City attorney
that the Mercado merchants had hired to represent them.

“We did. But there are safety concerns.”

“What concerns?” Justin asked.

“We can repair the sidewalks and redo the facades while the businesses are open. Some of the repairs can wait until we have a new design in place but there are concerns about the cracked sidewalks and the parking lot is a mess. It's not safe to have people in and out of the shops while we have that machinery there,” Cam said. He knew that the business owners were concerned about their bottom lines but safety was important, too. They were flirting with a lawsuit if someone got injured during the construction phase.

“I'm sure they don't want anyone to get hurt,” Selena said.

“Tomas is stubborn, Selena. Your grandfather argues with me about everything. Even if he knows that I'm not trying to hurt his business, he still has to make me negotiate everything.”

Justin started laughing. “I will see what I can do. He is always looking for a little more.”

“Yes, that's it exactly. Now that business is out of the way…we need to talk about Nate's bachelor party.”

“I think that's my cue to exit,” Selena said. “I'm going to my
abuelita's
house, Justin. Meet me there later?”

“Yes. I think we'll be done in an hour or so.”

“Perfect,” Selena said. “Bye, Cam.”

Selena left and Cam was alone with his brother.
“Becca is going to be at the party tonight…I want you to be…well, nice.”

“Geez, Cam, I'll try.”

“Good. That's all I ask. Nate is stoked about the wedding,” Cam said, changing the subject.

“I know. He keeps texting me about what Jen did or said. It's funny, I never saw him as a family guy, but then I never expected him to quit playing pro baseball, either.”

“Life has a way of making you change,” Cam said. Realizing that life was doing that to him right now. He had to change or lose Becca and Ty.

“Yes, it does. I think I'll walk over and talk to Tomas, then meet up with Selena. Do you need me for anything here?”

“Nah, I'm good.”

Justin left, and Cam went back to work on some details for the tenth-anniversary celebration.

 

When she got back to Cam's house, Becca walked into her room and tossed the portfolio on the bed. There was a note from Jasmine saying that she and Ty were down at the pool. She kicked off her shoes and fell back on the bed. Staring at the ceiling, she searched for answers. Just once she'd like something in her life to go easily.

She wished her mom were here so she'd have someone to talk to. Becca knew that if her mom were alive, she'd have some good advice about what she should do. Her mom had always been a big proponent of truth and consequences. And Becca knew if she'd
sent Cam a letter or told him about Ty when she'd first gotten pregnant, she wouldn't be in this predicament now.

She rolled over on her stomach and stared at the luxury room. The scent of Cam lingered on her skin, and the feel of him seemed to be imbedded in her senses.

She got off the bed and went to the bathroom, showering off Cam and what had happened between them. Tonight when they had dinner, she'd see how he treated her around his brothers. She was keen to know if they were really a couple in his eyes or if she was still just his secret lover.

She emerged from the bathroom determined to take control. Since Cam had forced her to move down here, she had to let the situation dictate what she did and how she acted, but now she had be the one in charge.

She took the portfolio that Cam had given her and opened it. Work had always been her solace, and it was now. The design specs were right up her alley, and as she read over them, her mind was filled with visions of how to bring the Stern brothers' desires for the Mercado to life.

She started sketching and drawing and making notes, and when Jasmine and Ty came back from the pool almost two hours later, she had the beginnings of a spec design for Cam.

She stopped working and held her son in her arms. After a while, she sent the nanny home and went to bathe him. She wanted them both to look their best when they met Cam's brothers. She was so nervous, she could hardly think straight.

She smiled, but her heart wasn't in it. This thing with Cam was a black cloud hanging over her. It would continue to be until she knew what it was he intended for the two of them. Would they just continue to live together and raise their son and make love? Or was there going to be something more? Already she felt her emotions building, and she knew she was very close to falling in love with him again.

She looked at herself in the mirror and saw how lost she looked.

“Ah, Becca, don't look so sad. You have a wonderful son and a good life. If Cam is half the man you believe him to be somehow this will work out,” she said to herself.

She'd been alone too long, and she wanted what every mother wanted…to have the father of her child in her life and to create a family.

She didn't know if the desire was keen for her because she'd never had that nuclear family growing up, but she knew that it was important to her and she wanted it.

After getting Ty dressed, she cuddled him close to her so that she could find some solace in holding him. And waited for Cam.

Cam showed up promptly at seven to pick them up. Earlier this week, he'd bought a new SUV for them to drive Ty around in. Yet another sign that he was warming up to being a father. Cam got out of the car and took Ty.

“You both look nice. The rehearsal went well and I
think you are going to find my brothers on their best behavior.”

“Why?”

“I told them that we were trying to do right by Ty and I don't want them to make you feel uncomfortable,” Cam said as he buckled Ty into his car seat.

“Thank you, Cam.”

“It was the least I could do. I did drag you down here and install you in my home. It wouldn't be fair of me not to look out for you.”

Her heart melted. This was what she'd been waiting for. For the first time since she'd made that decision to let Cam manipulate her into coming here, it felt like the right one.

She leaned over and kissed him hard on the lips. “Every time I think I have you figured out, you do some thing unexpected.”