ordered you a Baileys, too.”
“Thanks. Your car will be here in an hour,” he said.
“Great. So what did you want to talk to me about?” she asked.
“Us. Are you going to give us another chance to get to know one another?” he asked.
As she nibbled on her lower lip, he wanted to groan out loud but didn’t. He wanted her mouth, and promised himself that before he put her in a car back to Long
Island, he was going to taste her and prove to himself that she couldn’t taste as good as he remembered.
“I’m thinking about it,” she said at last. Their drinks arrived, and she held hers with both hands. “It’s hard for me to just rush into anything with you.”
“If we are going to get to know each other, we should talk,” he said. “Tell me something about you that I don’t already know.”
She paused, her eyes darkening.
“I don’t like surprises,” she said.
“What kind?” he asked.
“Any of them. I like my life to go according to plan. I can adjust and change my plan but I don’t want to have to do it too often.”
“Me, too,” he said. “Though to be honest, usually I just bully my way through a situation until I get the results I want.”
“Hence me having a drink with you tonight,” she said.
He just smiled and lifted his glass toward her. He took a sip and sat back in his chair.
“Tell me more about why you are in Manhattan,” she said.
“Justin and I are exploring the idea of expanding Luna Azul someday. We are discussing eventually opening clubs in other parts of the country. Manhattan is the first location we are contemplating.”
“That’s a big step,” she said.
“It is. And to be honest, I love our Miami locals. But we are ready for it. And now that you and I have reconnected I will have another reason to come up here.”
“Cam—”
He shook his head when she tried to speak. “I want to get to know you better, Becca.”
“I don’t know if that is a good idea. I’m more complicated than you probably have time for,” she said. Her eyes had narrowed, and she tipped her head to the side, studying him.
“I know that. That’s why … Am I wrong here to think that there is something between us?”
“No. We’ve always had that attraction that is impossible to resist, but I want more than that. And you don’t.”
“I’m willing to try it.”
“Try what? I had a hard time getting over you, Cam. I don’t think I want to take a chance on letting you break my heart again.”
“I can’t make promises,” he said. “But I do know that I want more than a secret affair. Will you at least agree to come to Miami for the Tenth Anniversary party and spend the weekend with me? “
“As your lover?” she asked.
“I hope so. Definitely as my friend. I want to get to know you better. I feel like we have something unfinished between us.”
Becca didn’t panic. But she wanted to. Cam had no real idea of what was unfinished between them. She knew that he was talking about sexual attraction or maybe the kind of thing that made her tick. And she knew she wasn’t going to share too much with Cam until she could trust him.
“I think that isn’t going to be as easy as you might think,” she said.
“I know it’s not. But anything and anyone worth having is worth working to get to know.”
She wasn’t sure if he’d mellowed or if it was simply that he was keeping the passion that had flared between them the first time under wraps. But talking was making her realize that Cam was a decent man. A man she wanted to know better and maybe a man that she wanted her son to know.
“I agree.” She had to find out more about his past. Had to understand the best way to tell him they had a son. “So tell me what kind of woman you would choose to have a child with,” she said.
It was the one thing she wanted to know. Telling him about Ty was only the first step—making sure that he treated her son well once he knew that Ty was his was the important part.
“That’s a big jump in conversation.”
“I know, but I want to know the kind of man you are.”
He leaned back in his chair and took another sip of his drink. “I’ve never really thought about it. My dad was everything to me when I was growing up, and my mother was more concerned with her social position than her children.”
“I’m sorry.”
He shrugged. “It is what it is. No changing the type of woman she was. But I want to make a better choice than my dad did. I want a woman who will want to be a mother to our children. Who will make them a priority,” he said.
His words made her feel better that he was Ty’s father. But she still didn’t know if he was just paying lip service to the type of man he thought he should be. And to be fair, he probably didn’t know either. She’d had similar uncertainty about becoming a parent. She’d never expected to be a mom and had thought she’d have a nanny who took care of the kid all the time. But once Ty was in her arms, she’d realized she didn’t want to miss a moment of his life.
She nodded. “I want that, too. I mean in a dad. I don’t want a man who is on his BlackBerry with the office while he is at home and supposed to be spending time with the family.”
“Good. Something we have in common,” he said. “We both think family should come first. That is partly why I wasn’t ready to settle down with you two years ago, Becca.”
“Life is complicated sometimes,” she said.
“Very.”
He leaned forward and took her hand in his. “I really do want this to be a fresh start for us.”
She was afraid to believe him. She knew that they’d never be able to make a fresh start unless she came clean first about Ty. But tonight she didn’t want to ruin the feeling between them. That excitement and hope that came from getting to know someone the first time—for her it was building on the fantasies she’d spun around Cam since she’d had Ty.
She wasn’t going to lie; she’d wanted him to come back into her life. She just never thought that he would. And now here he was.
“Why are you staring at me?” he asked.
“I just realized that I like you.”
That made him chuckle. “What’s not to like?”
