other million thoughts were all centered around the realization that Cameron would finally meet Jake. She knew it would’ve happened eventually, but since he hadn’t brought up the subject tonight, she was fairly certain that Cameron, stubborn to the end, had never looked at her emails and therefore, had no idea about the baby. Well, she really hoped he liked surprises.
She headed down the hall toward the bedroom door to face the inevitable. “I’d better take care of this.”
“Take care of what?” Cameron asked, coming up behind her and wrapping his arms around her waist.
“The noise you heard before? The crying?”
“The noise from next door? I don’t hear it now,” he said, and continued his sensual onslaught by kissing her neck, then nibbling that most sensitive spot behind her ear.
She couldn’t help but sigh deeply. Her skin tingled everywhere Cameron’s amazing lips touched her. As his hands worked their magic over her body, Julia recalled that everything about Cameron Duke excited and delighted her.
But why in the world had she trusted Cameron’s staff when they’d promised he would be away this whole time? But even his mother had insisted it was safe to stay in the suite. Julia should’ve known by the twinkle in the older woman’s eye when she insisted that Julia stay in Cameron’s suite, that she was being set up.
Her first instinct had been to leave Jake at home with the nanny while she traveled to the conference. But their nanny had a chance to go on a cruise with her daughter, and many of Julia’s old friends attending the conference were bringing their families with them. They’d all wanted to see little Jake. For that reason, plus the fact that she missed her baby when he wasn’t with her, Julia had decided to bring Jake along, too.
It figured that Cameron would cause all her plans to go awry. It wasn’t as if she never wanted him to see the baby, but there was no getting around the fact that this was going to get very awkward, very quickly.
“Mmm, that feels so good,” Julia murmured as she turned in Cameron’s arms and kissed him with all the ardor she could muster. It wasn’t a hardship. The man was incredibly sexy and handsome as sin. He seemed taller than she remembered, and definitely stronger. More confident, too, if that were possible. His dark green eyes watched her with a predator’s gleam. She shouldn’t have found it so absolutely thrilling, but she did.
But damn him for showing up like this! It was just her bad luck, which was the only kind of luck she’d ever had when it came to Cameron Duke.
She’d met him eighteen months ago and willingly succumbed to his charms. They’d had an incredible, torrid four-day affair. Weeks later, she realized she was pregnant.
She’d tried to do the right thing and contact him, but Cameron had all these damn rules about women. Sure enough, true to his word, he never looked back, never contacted her again.
She’d tried emailing him a few times, but it was sadly obvious now, he’d never read any of her messages. And maybe it was just as well. With his so-called rules regarding relationships—or rather, the obsessive need to avoid them—she’d come to the realization that Cameron Duke wouldn’t want to have anything to do with raising a child.
She could just imagine what he would think of her for bringing the baby here, especially when he found out Jake was his. Cameron was a decent man so it wasn’t as if he would toss her and Jake out of his suite. But he might accuse her of setting this whole thing up and there was little doubt that he would deny the baby was his.
“Oh,” she whispered as he pressed himself closer to her. It was getting impossible to think straight with the delicious onslaught of his mouth and hands, but Julia was starting to wonder if she might possibly distract him long enough to get Jake settled. Then she could deal with everything tomorrow morning. Perhaps it was cowardly, but she could live with that.
Whatever she did would have to happen fast, before her baby decided to take matters into his own chubby baby hands.
“Look, Cameron,” she said, finally catching her breath. She needed to get him out of the hallway, now. “Why don’t you go get a fresh beer and I’ll just slip into something more—”
“I don’t need a beer, Julia,” Cameron said, running his hands down her sensitive thighs. “I just need this.”
“Mmm, me, too,” she said as she moved her fingers along his tight, muscled shoulders. “But first, I need a minute to freshen up.”
“You took a shower ten minutes ago,” he reminded her as he nuzzled her neck. “You’re fresh as a daisy.”
She moaned, then reluctantly wriggled out of his grasp. “But I really need to dry my hair.”
“Yeah?” He brushed a few curling strands away from her face. “It looks fine to me.”
“Thanks, but I don’t want to catch a cold.”
He looked at her skeptically. “Right.”
She smiled brightly. “So how’s that fresh beer sounding?”
“What?”
“Beer,” she repeated. “In the kitchen. And didn’t you say you wanted to watch the football game?” “Yeah, sure. But—”
“Go ahead, then. I’ll be right there.” She tried to push him toward the living room but the guy was like a brick wall. Unmovable.
“What’s going on here, Julia?”
Just then, Jake cried out, “Mama, Mama!”
Cameron’s eyes widened.
So much for distractions. She could tell from the tone of Jake’s cry that he wasn’t hurt or hungry, but that didn’t make this moment any easier. “Fine. Look, I didn’t want to have to—”
“Okay, I definitely heard that,” Cameron said, ignoring her words as he stepped around her handily. “I think it came from the other bedroom.”
“No, no, no.” Julia jogged just as quickly around to stop him. “It’s probably just a cat. I’ll take care of it.”
“A cat?” Cameron frowned as he glanced down the hall again. “I don’t think so.”
The baby cried out again and Julia sagged against the hallway wall.
“Aha!” Cameron said and walked toward the second bedroom.
She dashed in front of him and blocked the door. “This is none of your concern, Cameron. Why don’t you go turn on the game?”
Cameron was staring at her as if she’d gone insane. Maybe she had. Seeing him again was causing her to behave completely contrary to her usual sensible self. She could blame him for that, too.
“Move it, Julia.”
She held up her hand to stop him. “No way. This may be your suite, but you’re not going in there without me.”
“Then open the door.” His look said he wasn’t going anywhere until he’d investigated what he’d heard.
“Fine,”
