“Investigating someone’s personal life is not helping,” Adam argued.
“Funny, you didn’t always feel that way,” Linc added.
Adam sighed. “That was different. You were sleeping with Jade and she was staying in our parents’ house. We had a right to know everything about her.”
Linc stood. “No. I had a right to know everything about her, not you.”
Max interrupted. “For crying out loud, you and Jade are happily married. Can we please try to focus on the matter at hand?”
Adam turned to Max. “We could focus on our business matters if you hadn’t brought them into the mix. You know how they are.”
“Hey, we’re family,” Linc objected. “Whether or not we’re all in the same business doesn’t matter. If one needs help that’s what the rest of us are here for.”
“But I don’t need any help,” Adam insisted.
Linc crossed the room and placed a hand on his brother’s shoulder. “If you’re going to try and convince a woman to change her mind you’re going to need all the help you can get.”
“I usually don’t have any problems where women are concerned,” Adam said absently.
Linc grinned. “Then that tells me that this is an unusual woman. In which case you might need more than our help.”
Adam didn’t need anything but to see Camille Davis one more time.
Not in that way, he convinced himself.
He only wanted to tell her about the meeting tomorrow. At least that was the reason he’d taken the elevator to the tenth floor instead of the fifteenth where his room was.
He knocked on the door determined to get this over with as quickly as possible. And then she answered.
“Hello.”
Her voice seemed small now that they were face to face. In the restaurant there had been plenty of background noise so he’d had no problem hearing her. She still wore the slacks and blouse she had on earlier but she’d taken off the jacket. The chocolaty brown skin of her bare arms showed and he had to take a deep breath before speaking.
“Hi.” To his own ears his voice didn’t sound as confident as he would have liked so he looked over her shoulders for a momentary reprieve. “If you’re not busy I need to speak with you for a moment.”
Camille wasn’t busy. In fact, she was just enjoying a minor pity party before he’d knocked. The moment she’d closed that door behind her an hour earlier she’d been hit with the biggest wave of disappointment she’d ever felt. She’d acted rude and selfishly to Adam Donovan, a man who had been nothing but nice to her since she’d crashed his meeting.
She’d plopped down onto the couch, unable to enjoy the luxurious room he’d secured for her because she couldn’t get past the ill feelings towards his business deal and all that it stood for. He wanted to buy her father’s house, to take away the last memory she’d ever have of what being loved felt like.
That was the reason she did not want to sell the house but she couldn’t tell Adam Donovan that. He’d never understand. He had a great family who apparently loved him very much. He couldn’t possibly relate to her holding on to a piece of property as a way of staying connected to her father.
She’d already resigned herself to apologizing to him but thought she would at least have until tomorrow morning when she’d managed to secure herself a new outfit and a good night’s rest first. But he was here so there was no better time like the present.
“No. I’m not busy at all. Come on in.” Stepping to the side she allowed him entrance and inhaled the scent of his cologne as he walked by. With an inward groan she berated herself for once more entertaining the silly notion that she could be attracted to a man like him.
“We didn’t get a chance to talk about what time would be good for you to meet tomorrow,” Adam began as soon as he was in the sitting area of her room.
“I know,” she started to say then felt herself fidgeting and pushed her hands behind her back so he wouldn’t glimpse her nervousness. “First, I should apologize for the way I left earlier. It was rude and unprofessional.”
Adam looked shocked for a moment, then gave a half smile. “It’s okay. I’ve been told I can be a bit pushy at times. I apologize if I offended you.”
“Oh, no.” Camille shook her head quickly. “You didn’t offend me. I mean, I shouldn’t have been offended by your questions. They were harmless. I just have a tendency to overreact sometimes.”
“Really? So were you overreacting to having dinner with me or to the business we were discussing?”
With a small jerk of her arms Camille demanded her hands be still. She squared her shoulders and was determined to look him straight in the eye and answer him. Adam Donovan did not make her nervous. There was no need for her to be. He was here on business. But here was in a hotel room where just a few feet away was a huge elegantly adorned bed.
“I overreacted to your questions. At any rate, it’s over now. What time do you want to meet?” Before he could answer she put a hand up to stop him. “Keep in mind that I am only agreeing to this meeting because it was too late for me to get a flight back to L.A. and that was a part of our bargain. I don’t make a habit of going back on my word. It doesn’t mean that I’ve changed my mind about the sale.”
He took a step closer to her and Camille felt her lungs struggling to take in air. Behind her back her hands clutched again.
“You still haven’t heard my plans for the house, Camille.”
“It doesn’t matter,” she said, her voice shaky and unfamiliar. He was only a couple of inches away now and his scent drifted around her, cloaking her until she felt like she was securely surrounded. He was looking at her strangely, his eyes having darkened a bit since when he’d first arrived.
She took a step back.
“I’ve been known to be very persuasive,” he said in a deep, sexy voice.
“I can’t be persuaded,” she breathed and took another step back.
He reached out then and grabbed her shoulders. “Never move backwards,” he warned. “You’ll eventually be cornered.”
And that she was. Behind her was the couch; one more step back and she would have fallen down onto it and as close as Adam was he would have fallen down right on top of her. A position she had no intention of them being in.
She was gorgeous, in a quiet, sneak-up-and-bite you kind of way. Her chin was strong, her body singing every love song in the book to any man lucky enough to be around her. Her lips were small but plump and very kissable. But it was her eyes that held him captive. With their exotic shape and mystical color Adam couldn’t help but be swept away. So much so that he’d forgotten that this was supposed to be business and was touching her in a very personal way. She was small, almost a foot shorter than him. He could have easily picked her up and dropped her in the center of that bed he’d spied upon entering. But he found that
