“But why would you want to if the right person came along? You know that I wasn’t ready for Dane when we first met. Talk about night and day. He was the rich kid and I was the one whose parents had more issues than The New York Times had newspapers. I tried to fight his interest, tried convincing him of all the reasons we were wrong for each other. Then I finally talked him into letting me be his bedmate for a night, thinking that would definitely get us out of each other’s systems. You of all people know that didn’t work.”
“Yes, but you and Dane were meant to be together, I’ve always told you that. I never knew why you were fighting it and fighting him.”
“The same way I don’t understand why you’re fighting Cameron. Okay, he can be a control freak at times, he likes being in charge, the master of his game. But even you said he’s been letting you call the shots, allowing you to take control, so that means at least he’s flexible. And can you honestly say that after spending a week with him, he’s still the monster you always thought him to be?”
Vanessa remained quiet for a moment as she pondered Sienna’s question. She thought about the time she and Cameron had spent together, all the fun they’d had. Then she said, “No, I don’t think he’s a monster.”
Sienna must have heard the tiny catch in her voice because her friend didn’t say anything for a while, until she asked, “Are you okay, Vanessa?”
“No, I’m not okay,” she confirmed with a bit of gloom in her tone. “But I will be. It’s just that…”
“What?”
“Nothing. I knew what I was getting into.”
“Are you sure about that?”
Despite all the misgivings she was suddenly feeling, Vanessa refused to give in to the racing of her heart and summoned every ounce of her common sense. No, she told herself, what she was feeling was nothing other than good old-fashioned lust. “Yes, Sienna, I’m sure.”
Vanessa held out her hand to Cameron. “The sharp knife.”
He carefully placed the item she had requested into her hand and then watched as she expertly removed the bone and skin from the four chicken breast halves before tossing the meat into the slow cooker.
“Bell pepper.”
He scooped up the bell pepper strips that he’d cut and tossed them in the pot to join the chicken.
“Now the can of pepper-jack cheese soup and the chunky salsa mixture.”
Before handing those items to her, he eased closer to her while she stood at the kitchen counter. “My mouth is watering already.”
His closeness and the low chuckle that rumbled close to her ear actually made her shiver. Even after a week her body still reacted whenever he was near. “Then I expect you to have a clean plate later,” she said, placing the lid on the cooker and setting it to cook on low for six hours. “This is what I call easy and tasty.”
“I can certainly see that.”
Considering her mind had been elsewhere all day, ever since talking to Sienna, Vanessa had wanted to prepare something that didn’t take a lot of thought, and this was the first thing that had come to mind. It was one of the first dishes she had prepared in her home economics class in high school and she had served it to her family, or anyone else who wanted to eat it, for three nights in a row.
“So it’s going to take six hours?” Cameron asked, easing still closer to her.
She smiled, already knowing where his mind was going. “Yes, just about.”
“Would you like to go swimming while we wait?”
“Sure. Why not? But I didn’t bring a bathing suit over here with me.”
Cameron’s smile nearly sizzled her insides. “Who said anything about you needing a bathing suit? Let’s be daring.”
Vanessa chuckled. “If I recall, you’ve already been daring. I was sitting on the beach that day you decided to bare all before diving into the ocean.”
He leaned over and touched her lips with his. “I saw you and even from a distance, I got turned on and needed to take a quick dip to cool off.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
He took her hand in his. “Yes, because it’s true. Haven’t these past days we’ve spent together proved it?”