Blake arched his brow. And pouted. The CEO of a Fortune-Five-Hundred business scowled. But she ignored it. He was just playing her. Behind the mainframe of his gorgeous face, she knew his brain was already running yes/no programs working on keeping her.
Cameron wouldnotbe returning to work for him. However, she wasn’t leaving without giving him a taste of what the last three years felt like.
Chapter 2
Blake stomped through the cabin to look in the fridge again. Still empty of the necessities. And by necessities, he meantbeer. Icy cold and waiting for his selection. He needed something to take the edge off. Was marijuana legal in Virginia? He hadn’t smoked since college, but damn, now he wanted to more than breathing. Didn’t matter. He didn’t have any and didn’t want to make the purchase. When you owned the world’s largest gaming company, you couldn’t just call a college dope boy and ask for a bag.
No, you sent your driver or someone else you trusted. Cameron was the person he trusted more than anyone else on the planet, and she was leaving him. Or she thought she was.
Cameron had been by his side for the last three years, every function, trip, and meeting. Sure, she’d been off for illness, family visits, and vacations before; but they’d been a team. Hadn’t she seen that? Cam started working for him when he began negotiating the sale of his first computer game system. Helios International had wanted to buy the system and all the rights. The company offered more money than he’d ever imagined. His fingers had twitched on the contract as if he were still sitting in his gaming chair, trying to work his way through an electronic maze to the next level. Cameron had convinced him to hold out and insist on retaining licensing rights and,more importantly, publishing rights. It was a gamble. There were a lot of competitors, and Scott Electronics wasn’t the only fish in Helios’s massive pond. The gamble worked. The game system skyrocketed over the competition. After he added exclusive holographic worlds to the console, they profited more money than some third-world countries’ annual budgets.
The first big win for Scott Electronics coincided with Cosmos World’s first anniversary. They’d celebrated with a crazy night of friends and family. Staff running through the office like crazy kids. Popping champagne bottles and spraying each other down like NBA players after a championship win.
Blake had stumbled into an office with Cameron and laid the biggest drunk wet kiss on her startled mouth. Just a quick kiss because they were celebrating, and to hell with HR and personnel rules. She was his equal, not his subordinate, anyway. At least that’s what his sodden mind insisted.
The moment their lips met; he’d sobered up. He’d lusted after Cam’s curvy body, curious what secrets those starched corporate suits guarded. The lust slow brewing like a coffee pot in the background.
The taste of her lips turned the mundane coffee maker into a top-of-the-line espresso machine. Bringing everything he’d held in check to a bubbling, frothing, steamy boil. Cameron tasted like a creamy latte with cinnamon sprinkled on top. The coffee was bittersweet and delicious. Until the last sip delivered the sugar that had settled at the bottom with an electrifying jolt.
Blake’s head had struggled to keep up with his heart’s blips, zings, and bells. The sirens blared that he’d won the game. The kiss had gone on and on. He remembered pulling her down to the sofa in his office. Ripping her jacket open, kissing the long ebony column of her neck, sucking his way down to her breasts… and then nothing. A fucking blank. He’d woken up in the office alone, frustrated and pissed.
The pearl buttons of her silk shirt were the first things he’d seen when he opened his eyes. Oh God, had he attacked her like an animal? He wore the same clothes, so at least he hadn’t forced himself on her. A cold sweat covered his body; she could sue him. Take everything he’d had, or worse. She. Could.Leave. He spent the weekend trying to figure out how to approach her. What words would make it right? On Monday, Cameron arrived in another crisp, starched suit like nothing had happened. Had she forgotten? Blake was so disgusted by his actions he’d never pursued it. The minute he saw her in her navy-blue uniform, he knew he’d lost any chance with her.
It would have been so much better if she’d just kicked his ass. Hell, he’d wanted to kick his own ass. Have a knockdown, drag-out fight. Get everything out in the open and follow it up with the best damn make-up sex of their lives.
Now Cameron was leaving. And he was stuck on a damn mountain, unable to do a damn thing to stop it. Blake trekked to the window and wrenched the cabin curtain open. He hated waiting. He needed to get this shit over and have it out with Cameron. It was way overdue.
***
A silver SUV pulled into the cabin’s driveway an hour later. A whole damn hour. And because of the shitty wi-fi at the resort, he’d been sitting twiddling his thumbs. He didn’t move from the couch and continued rotating his fingers around each other. It was rude and ungentlemanly not to get the door, but it had also been rude to keep him waiting. He was supposed to be a damn gentleman, but—no. Not today,when his universe was collapsing around a wadded-up note. A note he’d unfolded and read a hundred times, as if each reading could undo the words.
He closed his eyes and relaxed his head on his folded palms, staring at the ceiling. He was just ornery enough to enjoy the huff and puff as the winner labored to bring her suitcase up the three steps and fumbled with the key.
A blast of humid air smacked a wet lick across his face before the door closed. “Really?”
Blake’s eyes flew open, and he jumped to his feet. “Cameron?”
“Yes,Cameron. You couldn’t help your guest up the stairs with her luggage. Haven’t I raised you better than that?”
He rolled his eyes at her familiar taunt. “What happened? What are you doing here? Where’s the winner?”
“Right here.”
Blake’s eyes looked behind the bare shoulder revealed by Cameron’s tank top. “Is she still in the car?”
“Blake, it’s me.”
His brows pulled together, and he cocked his head.
“I’m the winner.”
Japanese algorithms written in Arabic letters would have made more sense. “But you said you were leaving. You wanted nothing else to do with me? I don’t get it.” He scrubbed a hand through his hair and looked at the door again. “Is this a joke? One of those let’s prank the boss shows?”
“Blake. No, of course not.”
Cam huffed her bangs out of her face and smoothed her hair down.
“Oh, God. You have hair.”