Sweet Surrender, Baby Surprise

tempted by the way he watched her so intently, what did he do? He kissed her chastely and dumped her off at her bedroom door.

She hadn’t slept a wink and it was all his fault.

“Jeez, kiddo,” Cameron muttered, grabbing Jake’s hand before he could smear bananas in his hair. “They go in your mouth, not in your hair.”

Despite her somewhat surly mood, Julia bit back a smile. “Nice save.”

He looked up and grinned and Julia’s heart took a sharp dip. “Thanks. You off to the conference?”

“Yes,” she said. “The babysitter should be here in five minutes.”

“Okay, good,” he said, as he took a cloth and wiped cereal off Jake’s neck. Jake giggled and Cameron gave his nose a light tweak. Jake pounded his tray in delight and Cameron stroked his head affectionately. “Yeah, you’re pretty tough, aren’t you, pal?”

Julia’s first baking demonstration was to begin in less than twenty minutes, but how could she leave when Cameron and Jake were having so much fun bonding, eating, playing? It was all so domestic. So normal and comfortable. So…desirable. She’d wanted this so badly, for so long, and now it was happening. How could she leave? Not just today, but ever? How could she give this up?

The man and the baby laughed in unison and Julia stared, mesmerized. Dear God, was there anything more sexy than the sight of this strong man taking care of her baby?

The tears came from nowhere and Julia tried to sniffle them away. She had to go. Leave. Quickly, before her brain exploded from confusion, from distraction, from yearning. From love. Not to mention lust.

She took another deep breath and let it out, then leaned over and kissed Jake’s cheek. “Bye-bye, sweetie. I love you.”

Without thinking, she kissed Cameron as well, right on the mouth. Realization hit her and she tried to break off the kiss, but he grabbed her arm and kept her close, lengthening the contact until she gasped for air.

Breathless, she managed, “Um, bye.”

“Bye-bye, sweetie,” Cameron said, grinning brashly as she backed out of the room and rushed out of the suite.

The meeting with the new investors had gone smoothly, Cameron thought, as he slipped their business cards inside the pocket of his suit jacket. Now he had an hour to kill before he met with his managers for their weekly lunch. Strolling down the wide hall to the conference center, he found the demonstration room he’d been looking for and walked inside.

“Can you taste the difference?” Julia was saying as she wandered up the aisle, holding a large bowl and handing out samples to the attendees on small plastic spoons.

“It’s so bright, it practically glows,” she said cheerfully. “I love that. And see how sticky it is? That’s from the egg whites. This type of frosting takes longer to make, but look at the stiff peaks. It’s gorgeous, isn’t it? Worth the extra effort, don’t you agree?” Julia popped a sample into her mouth. “Mmm, and so sweet, it melts on your tongue.”

Cameron was hard in an instant. It didn’t seem to matter that the room was filled with people, or that she was dressed conservatively in sensible heels, slim navy pants and a pale blue shirt with a cook’s apron tied securely around her waist. He wanted her now. He could imagine her in just the apron and heels and his hardness intensified.

Gritting his teeth, he wondered how an innocuous, twenty-second description of cake frosting could make him want to pick her up and toss her onto the nearest flat surface where he could plunge into her hot, moist core?

Maybe it was her vocabulary. Sticky, stiff peaks? Melts on your tongue? Damn, just what was she teaching these people?

At that moment, Julia saw him and stopped in her tracks. His gaze narrowed in on her and he wondered if she could see what she was doing to him.

Her eyes flashed with awareness and she had to cough to clear her throat. “We’ll take a ten-minute break now, and when you come back, I’ll reveal the secret ingredient for making the ultimate buttercream frosting.”

Cameron ignored the stream of attendees drifting past him and stared directly at Julia until the room had cleared and she approached.

“What a nice surprise,” she said with a smile. She still held the bowl of frosting and scooped out a small spoonful. “Want a taste?”

“Yeah,” he growled. He grabbed the bowl and spoon and put them on the nearest desk. Then he clutched her upper arms, pulled her close and kissed her. He could taste the sweetness on her lips, her tongue, and wanted more. Wanted all of her. Here and now.

She reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck and he knew she could feel his length pressing against her.

“Where can we go?” he demanded. “Right now. Where can we be alone?” He didn’t know why he was asking her. Hell, he owned the place, he ought to be able to come up with something. But with her clinging to him, his mind was a sieve. He couldn’t think, couldn’t focus, couldn’t do anything but take as much of her sweet heat as she could offer.

“Cameron,” she whispered, panting for air. “My students will be back in a minute.”

“I want you now,” he said, as if she couldn’t tell from the rock-hard pressure against her. His mouth covered hers in a move of possession so demanding that she could only comply, opening to allow him entry so deep that he wondered vaguely where he left off and she began.

“Cameron, I…I want you, too,” she said on a gasp of air. “But we’ll have to wait.”

“I can’t wait much longer,” he muttered, then took her mouth again, sweeping inside to savor more of her moist warmth.

“Tonight,” she promised when they broke off the kiss.

“Tonight,” he echoed, just as the doors swung open and her students filtered back into the room.

“And we’ll talk,” she added.

“Yeah, we'll talk.”

Seven

Julia stepped inside the suite and glanced around the quiet, empty living room. Were Cameron and Jake taking a nap again?

A sudden, distant whoop of laughter made her smile, and she followed the shrieks and giggles all the way back to the bathroom attached to the second bedroom. Taking one cautious look inside the room, she burst into laughter herself.

Jake sat, surrounded by floating toys and securely tucked into his sturdy bath ring seat. The seat was suctioned to the bathtub’s surface so he couldn’t go anywhere, but he could splash up a storm. And that always made him happy.

Cameron, on the other hand, was drenched. “Partner,” he said, as he soaped up a washcloth and swiped it across Jake’s shoulders and back. “We’re going to have a long talk about water conservation one of these days.”

Julia smiled. She’d spent the morning going over all the pros and cons of a marriage to Cameron Duke, but when he’d walked in on her frosting workshop earlier, she forgot everything she’d been thinking. The look in his eyes as he’d stared at her told her everything she needed to know. Maybe he didn’t love her yet, maybe he would never use the L-word with her, but in that moment, in his eyes, she had seen something so intense, so real, so elemental. Part of her wanted to take that leap of faith, to be part of his life, to be a family with him and wanted to experience his passion every day for as long as it lasted. But another part of her was holding back, worrying and wondering if a loveless marriage to Cameron was perhaps the worst thing she could commit to, for both of them.

Cameron looked up at her then, his face dripping water. “Do you want to take over here?”

“No, you’re doing great,” she said, and made her escape.