The Stubborn Suitor: Book 1 (The Stubborn Suitor #1) (6 page)

C
ami took
extra time getting ready, sweeping her hair back to the side and giving herself a bit more dramatic eye makeup to match the little black cocktail dress she was wearing. Once again, she looked at herself in the mirror and conceded that she was smokin’ hot.

When the girls headed down to dinner after freshening up, Cami was disappointed to find that the large crowd from the night before had returned. Surveying the masses, she was finally able to spot Drew near the bar.

“I’ll be right back,” Cami said to Maggie before heading in Drew’s direction.

As she approached, she realized that he was in a deep conversation with the snooty older couple from the night before. She hesitated for a second, but eventually decided that she was not about to let some rude old snobs stop her from a potentially awesome romance. Taking a deep breath, she made her way through the rest of the crowd.

She was less than ten feet away when the model from this morning—Analise, Cami remembered her name to be—sauntered up next to Drew. She handed him a drink before moving even closer and putting an arm around his waist. To Cami’s horror, Drew returned her easy affection, wrapping an arm around her bony shoulders and rubbing circles against Analise’s back the same way he’d done to Cami the night before.

Cami cringed as she watched the pair. They moved together naturally, as if they’d been with each other for a while. Cami couldn’t help but wonder whether or not they actually were a couple.

Had Drew cheated on Analise with Cami? With that thought, Cami felt sick. She needed a drink. She continued walking again, this time past the group that Drew was a part of, to the bar, where she ordered a strong cocktail.

She took a long sip of her beverage before turning from the bar to scan the crowd for Maggie. Unfortunately, Drew happened to be staring right at her, and she accidentally met his eye. He offered her a small, almost sad smile. Cami didn’t return it. She turned instead and walked towards the other side of the patio.

She was more than ready for this weekend to be over.

D
rew was speaking
to a group of investors when he noticed Cami at the bar. The little black dress she was wearing perfectly accentuated her pert, round ass. As she leaned over the bar, the skimpy fabric rode up a little, revealing her taunting milky thighs. He remembered what it had been like to run his hand up those legs the night before.

He tried not to let his investors realize he was no longer paying attention, still smiling and nodding along with their conversation…but his mind was on Cami’s delectable body. It wasn’t just her body, though. Cami also had the most stunning face he’d ever seen: beautiful alabaster skin; soft, pouty lips; large emerald eyes that shone with intelligence—all framed by fiery red hair that bounced around her head, thick and lustrous.

Drew realized that he was waxing poetic about a woman he barely knew, when his future—the future he’d worked so hard to build—was standing right in front of him. Drew shook his head to clear his mind, then smiled weakly at the group of investors—men he’d grown to hate over the course of the last few weeks. Unfortunately, they were also men that he knew he needed in order to get him where he was going. Self-involved men only out to make money, yes, but needed just the same.

He glanced around the group before him. They were all so different from Cami. He’d only known her for a short period of time, but she’d proven herself to be completely unpretentious, kind, and funny. She was also extremely caring. Hell, she’d wanted to go searching for an abandoned champagne bottle in the middle of the night simply because she didn’t want to add to the workload of the staff. She was exactly the kind of woman he could see himself settling down with.

“Isn’t that right, Drew?” James Cook, president of the investment firm, was asking.

“That’s right,” Drew agreed, though he had no idea what they were talking about.

He shook his head again, berating his own lack of focus. He didn’t have time to date right now. He could think about settling down later. Tonight, he needed to woo his investors.

He offered one last longing look towards Cami’s curvaceous back. As if on cue, she turned towards him, giving him a perfect view of her large breasts, which were nearly spilling out of the top of her dress. Her huntress eyes met his, and he felt the chemistry between them sizzle, like the night before. But it was the briefest of sparks, gone as soon as it started. He offered her a small smile, sad that he couldn’t be over there with her. Perhaps they could catch up later.

Cami shot a pointed look at Analise Cook, James’s daughter, who was still unfortunately hanging off Drew’s arm. Cami then rolled her eyes and turned away, disappearing into the crowd. Drew felt something inside his gut coil into a bitter nausea.

Cami couldn’t possibly think that he was interested in Analise, could she? Analise was attractive, sure, in a cold, calculating way. She had none of Cami’s heat, nor her kindness. She was like an emaciated prune, compared to Cami, who was a delectable, fresh, mouth-watering plum. Of course Cami didn’t know that, but she had to realize that he wouldn’t have let things get so heated last night if he had feelings for another woman.

But how would she know that? She didn’t really know him from Adam. And right now, he did have his arm wrapped around Analise Cook—though that was only because she initiated it, and he couldn’t afford to push her away and offend her father and thus alienate the investors. But then again, Cami couldn’t know that.

Quit obsessing over Cami,
he commanded himself again. He would have plenty of time to date once this deal was done. He only needed to impress these people for another few weeks. He could hold out that much longer. He could wrap his arm around Analise’s bony frame and pretend to care about her modeling career. He could laugh at James and Nancy Cook’s awful, elitist jokes.

It’s a means to an end,
he reminded himself.

However, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t seem to get his mind off Cami. He continued to nod and smile, half listening to the conversation so that he could add a comment here or there. But his mind was miles away—or right across the deck, where Cami was laughing with Grant, his sister, and a bunch of their friends.

His mind wandered to the night before, the way she’d writhed beneath him so wantonly, shaking with desire at the mere touch of his mouth and fingers. Her lavish breasts had undulated as she twisted in pleasure. She’d been so wet, so hot and tight around his fingers. He couldn’t help but think about how hot and tight it would feel wrapped around his cock.

He’d gone up to his room last night and thought about just that as he’d stroked his rigid cock. He’d pumped into his fist, imagining it was Cami’s wet heat. He’d come harder than he had in a long time—with a partner or without.

Despite all this, right now he was right where he needed to be—right where he’d always wanted to be—standing in the middle of a group of multi-million dollar investors. Yet Drew couldn’t help but wish that everyone else would just disappear. He wanted nothing more than to be alone with Cami, to watch her smile and hear her laugh, then listen to her moans mingle with his own as he buried himself deep within her.

Just a few more weeks
, he reminded himself, as he forced a laugh at another stupid joke.
I can make it a few more weeks.

A
fter walking away from Drew
, Cami had spent the remainder of the night getting drunk with Maggie, Grant, and their friends. She tried to push every single thought of Drew Sloane out of her mind as she sipped cocktail after cocktail.

Maggie was almost as drunk as she was, hanging off Declan in a way that Cami was sure she’d regret in the morning. She made a mental note to make sure Maggie ended up back up in the room with her. She wasn’t going to let her best friend make a drunken mistake like the one Cami had made the night before.

Just thinking about it sent another wave of frustration through Cami. She knew better than to fool around with strange men—especially when she’d been drinking. This was why she was single in the first place. That was exactly what she and Maggie had been discussing on the phone the other night—after their mothers had both tried to pick apart their weight. Cami had absolutely no lack of interested men. It was just that all of the men that were interested in her turned out to be jackasses. Or, perhaps
all
men were jackasses, she thought with a chuckle.

But Drew had been such a sexy, seemingly sweet jackass.

Cami shook her head, willing thoughts of Drew out of her mind. That didn’t work, so she flagged down a server to order another drink.

By the time Cami and Maggie finally stumbled up to their room, it was after midnight and they were both completely wasted. Maggie crashed face-first onto the bed and immediately fell asleep on top of the comforter.

Cami took her time getting ready for sleep, brushing her teeth, washing her face, and slipping into a comfortable little pair of soft shorts and a silky camisole. But even after that entire routine, she lay in bed awake. She couldn’t rid her mind of images of Drew.

It was one thing if he didn’t like her at all—if he had just turned out to be a total ass. But he hadn’t. The scene she’d encountered with his sister had been completely genuine. And the way he’d looked at her last night on the beach—like she was the answer to all of his problems—that had been genuine, too. Plus, their chemistry, when they were together, was undeniable.

With a growl of frustration, Cami rolled onto her back. She was extremely thirsty, she realized. Not wanting to wake up dehydrated and excruciatingly hung over for the second morning in a row, she decided to make a quick trip to the kitchen and get a bottle of water. Then she’d be able to sleep, she reasoned.

Cami debated whether or not to leave the room in her skimpy sleepwear. She didn’t have a robe to throw over, or even some comfortable sweats. So, changing would require pulling on one of her sexy little dresses, which she really didn’t have the energy to do. It was almost one in the morning, she reasoned to herself. The likelihood of running into anyone at this time of night was slim to none.

She wondered for a moment whether or not she would even consider walking around a strange mansion in the middle of the night barely dressed if she was completely sober. Probably not, she decided, but headed down the stairs anyway.

She chugged an entire bottle of water while standing in front of the fridge, than grabbed a second bottle to take back up to her room. If she didn’t end up drinking it, Maggie probably would.

Cami was just turning to go, when she came face-to-face with Drew, who was just entering the kitchen. They stood silently for a moment, eyes hungrily roving over each other’s body.

Drew looked completely rumpled and unkempt—it was the sexiest that Cami had ever seen him. He was still wearing his clothes from the previous evening, though his shirt was untucked and partially unbuttoned, with the sleeves rolled up past the elbow. And his tie seemed to have had disappeared. His dark hair was sticking out in every direction, as if he’d been running his hands through it.

Or someone else had been running her hands through it
.
The picture of Drew and Analise frolicking on the beach—just like Cami and Drew had the other night—flickered through her mind.

“Excuse me,” Cami said angrily, trying to push past Drew. But he was a solid form against her, all toned hard muscle, refusing to let her through.

“Cami,” he whispered, pushing further into her. “It’s just…a really bad time.” His breath hitched as his chest pressed against her breasts—which were only covered by a slim slip of silk. “It’s a bad time for me to meet a girl I really like.”

“I’m sorry to hear you and Analise are having problems,” she snarled, trying her best to move around him towards the door.

“Fuck Analise,” she heard him whisper under his breath.

And then he was all over her. His hot mouth claimed hers, kissing and licking at her lips until she opened for him. His hands wound down her body until they reached the perky flesh of her ass. After squeezing tightly, he used his grip to pull her up as if she weighed nothing, closer to his mouth. Instinctively, she wrapped her legs around his waist and allowed him to press her against the wall.

His tongue continued to dominate her mouth as he ground his hardening length against her crotch. Cami couldn’t help but press back, while all of her common sense washed away by the surge of adrenalin and want.

Once Cami was securely pressed against the wall, Drew released her ass and allowed his hands to explore her body, moving up until they were cupping and squeezing the ample flesh of her soft breasts. She moaned and pressed into his touch, relishing the way his thumbs made delicious circles over her swollen, aching nipples.

Drew’s mouth moved from her lips, trailing kisses down her neck and cleavage. He licked at the bead of sweat clinging between her breasts before moving further down to mouth at her nipples through the thin silk of her camisole.

Cami was going crazy. She wanted nothing more than to reach down and release his cock, so that he could fuck her right there in the middle of the kitchen, pressed against the wall.

It was that crazy thought that finally snapped Cami out of her alcohol and hormone induced craze.

“What am I doing?” she asked herself, pushing against Drew’s chest until he backed up and allowed her to slide down his body until her feet touched the floor. She quickly maneuvered past him and ran towards the stairs.

“Cami, wait,” Drew called after her, but Cami didn’t stop until she was back in her and Maggie’s bedroom, the door safely locked behind her.

Once there, with Maggie still sleeping soundly on the bed next to her, Cami finally allowed herself to take a shaky breath. Her legs were suddenly wobbly, and she began to slide down until she was sitting on the floor, with her back against the wall. She drew her knees up and pressed her face against them.

“What am I doing?” she asked herself again.

The man was obviously crazy. He was hot and cold—he didn’t know his own mind. He had another woman—possibly his girlfriend—hanging off him half the time. Then he would look at her in a way that made her body catch on fire, and the next thing she knew they’d be grinding together like horny teenagers.

She had more self-respect than that. She deserved a man who would value her. Cami’s mind wondered back to the scene between Drew and his sister earlier that day. He’d told her almost that exact same thing. He’d seemed so sweet and caring at the time—a good older brother.

God, she wanted
that
Drew. Why couldn’t she have
that
Drew?

“Because the man is crazy,” she said aloud. “Maybe he has a multiple-personality disorder.”

“What?” Maggie asked, suddenly sitting up in bed and glaring at Cami. Her hair was sticking up in every direction again and there was dried drool in the corner of her mouth.

“You’re going to make some man very happy one day,” Cami quipped playfully.

“What?” Maggie asked again, tilting her head to the side in confusion.

“Nothing. Sorry. Go back to sleep,” Cami said soothingly.

“Why are you on the floor?” Maggie asked.

“No reason. Just go back to sleep.”

Maggie continued to stare at her questioningly for a moment, then zoned out. Falling back against the comforter, she immediately fell back to sleep—apparent by the gentle snores reverberating though the room.

Cami remained seated on the floor for a long time, deep in thought. With everything she was going through with her ex and Madison, the last thing she needed was some stupid guy sending her mixed signals.

But, try as she might, she just couldn’t get Drew out of her head.