Sweet Surrender, Baby Surprise / The Secretary’s Bossman Bargain: Sweet Surrender, Baby Surprise / The Secretary’s Bossman Bargain

Cameron could still feel the anger and adrenaline that shot through his system as the judge cleared his name. If things had gone the other way, would he have reacted violently, like his father?

In a desperate attempt to channel the fury he knew was inside him, he joined the marines. And he vowed that he would never again give anyone the power to destroy him in the name of love.

But now there was Jake. And there was Julia. What was he supposed to do about them?

***

Julia finished her food allergies workshop and stayed over to answer all the questions from the audience. Even after she left the meeting room, several of her attendees followed, peppering her with more. This was the part of the conference she loved—glad to pass on the things she’d learned from her own mentors and teachers over the years. She considered it a tribute to her mentors and teachers that she was now able to share the knowledge they’d generously given.

She bid her students goodbye and entered the lobby, then stopped abruptly. Sally Duke stood with two other women by the concierge desk, fifty feet away. They were all dressed casually in Bermuda shorts, colorful T-shirts and walking shoes.

Julia didn’t know whether to avoid Cameron’s mom or confront her. After all, Sally had to have known Cameron was due back last night, yet when they’d run into each other yesterday, the older woman had blithely assured Julia that Cameron would be out of town for the duration. After all her careful planning, Julia couldn’t believe she’d walked right into a trap.

If Julia had known otherwise, she might’ve thought twice about attending the conference at all. And she definitely would’ve left Jake with their nanny back in Dunsmuir Bay.

Feeling like the worst kind of coward, Julia skulked away to avoid another run-in with Cameron’s lovely mother. As she scurried down a long hallway toward the bank of elevators at the far end of the hotel, Julia thought back to that moment the day before when she and Jake had first arrived at the resort.

She’d been pushing Jake in his stroller while a bellman followed with a luggage trolley stacked to the top with Julia’s suitcases and conference supplies and piles of baby paraphernalia. From across the wide-open lobby, someone had cried out her name.

“Julia, what a delightful surprise!”

She’d been shocked to see Sally Duke standing there when she turned to look. Normally, she would’ve been happy to see her Dunsmuir Bay friend. After all, Sally Duke had put Julia’s bakery on the map when she’d insisted that her sons carry Julia’s products in all the Duke resorts.

But before Julia had even been able to say hello, Sally had bent over to take her first look at baby Jake. Julia would never forget her own sense of apprehension as she watched the older woman’s reaction to the baby. Would she recognize the strong resemblance to her own son?

Julia had hesitated, then said, “Sally, this is my son, Jake.”

“Oh, how wonderful.” Sally knelt down in front of the stroller, grabbed hold of Jake’s foot and said, “Hello, you little darling. I’m so happy to meet you.”

Jake giggled and his dimple popped out on his right cheek. Sally gasped and her mouth dropped open. She stared at the baby for another moment, then looked up at Julia with tears in her eyes.

“It’s impossible,” she whispered.

There was nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. Maybe Julia was overdramatizing things, but she could barely breathe.

“Is it true?” Sally asked.

“What are you talking about?” Julia tried for casual, but she stumbled on the words.

“Oh, honey,” she said softly. “He’s Cameron’s, isn’t he?”

Julia felt her own eyes water as she slowly nodded.

“I thought so,” Sally said, gazing back at Jake and touching his nose playfully. “That little dimple is better than a DNA test.”

Julia had smiled, but her worry had increased. She could only hope Cameron took it this well when he finally learned the truth.

When Sally looked up again, she sniffled and said, “I’m in love with him already. Thank you so much.” She wrapped Julia in a tight hug.

Completely distressed, Julia swore Sally to secrecy until she could break the news to Cameron herself.

“He doesn’t know?” Sally had asked in shock. “Why on earth haven’t you told him?”

Julia hastily explained that she’d tried, but Cameron had never called or returned her messages.

Sally rolled her eyes in exasperation. “Why am I not surprised? I’m sorry Julia, but my son can be stubborn.”

Then Sally promised Julia that she wouldn’t say a word to Cameron. Her lips were pursed in determination as she called over the hotel manager and told him to put Julia and the baby in Cameron’s suite. Julia had protested, but Sally managed to convince her that Cameron would be gone for the next two weeks.

“He’ll never know what happened,” Sally had said with an innocent smile. “Trust me.”

Julia let herself into the suite and was surprised by the silence. There were no lights on, no sounds of activity anywhere. Back home, her house was never this quiet. Had Cameron taken the baby somewhere? Maybe Sally Duke had followed through on her promise to babysit and rushed up here to take the baby off to play.

Julia left her briefcase and purse on a dining room chair and considered pouring herself a glass of wine. The thought was irresistible but she would check on Jake first, then see about the wine.

It had been a long, intense day. She would have to talk with Cameron’s mother eventually.

The fact that Sally had set them both up still baffled Julia. And she had to wonder what Sally would think when Julia told her that Cameron had discovered her in his shower.

“Maybe I won’t go into quite so much detail,” Julia muttered to herself. Removing her high heels, she walked down the hall to the baby’s bedroom and still didn’t hear anything. When she pushed the door open, the first thing she saw was the empty crib. She suffered a moment of consternation as she wondered where her baby could be. The room was dim with the lights off but the drapes were open, letting in the dusky twilight. Looking beyond the crib to the twin beds, she finally spotted Cameron laid out, with little Jake sprawled on his chest, sound asleep. Cameron’s big hands were splayed protectively across the baby’s back, holding him in place.

Julia’s heart stuttered in her chest as she tried to swallow the emotional lump in her throat. Had she ever seen anything more beautiful than the sight before her?

Oh, she was in such big trouble.

She sighed, wondering if she could possibly be a bigger sap than she’d already been over Cameron Duke. There was no way she would fall for him again. Hadn’t she learned her lesson about commitment-phobic men? Besides, she and Jake were doing just great on their own, thanks very much.

But now Cameron was back in the picture and he’d made a few things quite clear. First, despite his apparent affection for Jake, he didn’t yet believe that the child was his son. Second, he’d like a repeat performance of the wild affair they’d had the last time they were together. But Julia had her child to consider now, and she was no longer interested in sex without love. Cameron wasn’t about to open his heart to her, let alone fall in love and marry her.

And she was fine with that. She’d grown a lot stronger in the year and a half since Cameron had refused to answer her messages. She was happy. Her life was full. She neither wanted nor needed Cameron Duke in her life anymore. No, the only thing she needed right now was someone who could convince her that everything she’d just told herself wasn’t a big, fat lie.

Four

Cameron heard a sigh and his eyes flew open. Julia stood a few feet away, staring down at him and Jake. She was still dressed in her serious business suit but she looked softer, almost more fragile now than she had that morning. He didn’t budge from his position as he whispered, “He’s asleep.”

“I see that,” she said quietly. “So were you.”

“Nope,” he countered. “Not asleep. Just resting my eyes.”

“Ah.” She smiled. “We should probably wake him up now or he won’t sleep through the night.”

Cameron frowned. “I never thought of that.”

“That’s okay, you didn’t know,” she said, walking to the edge of the bed.

Cameron patted and stroked Jake’s back. “Hey, buddy, mom’s home. Time for some grub.”

The baby stretched and grunted. Cameron watched as he blinked, then stared into Cameron’s eyes and began to whimper.

“Shh,” Cameron said, as Jake’s lips quivered. Concerned, Cameron shifted his gaze to Julia. “Why is he going to cry?”

“He’s always a little crabby when he first wakes up from a nap,” Julia said, reaching for the baby. “He’s a bit disoriented and probably needs his diaper changed.”

“Again?” Cameron frowned, feeling strangely bereft without the weight of the baby on his chest. “But the babysitter took care of that before she left.”

“I’m sure she did,” Julia said, smiling as she snuggled Jake against her shoulder. She slipped her feet into a pair of flat shoes she’d left by the bed. “But knowing Jake, I’d better check anyway.”

“Okay,” Cameron said, standing and stretching. “I’ll watch what you do. Just so, you know, in case you’re not around, I’ll know what to do.”

“Oh.” She seemed taken aback, as though the thought had never occurred to her that he was capable or interested in taking care of the baby. “Okay. Good idea.”

Sure enough, Jake needed a clean diaper in a big way. As Julia handled the task with an efficiency Cameron could only marvel at, she asked, “Did you speak with the nurse?”

It took him a moment to figure out what she was talking about. Then, for some reason, Cameron decided he wasn’t quite ready to concede that Julia was right about Jake being his son. He’d let her squirm for a bit longer. “Oh, for the blood test? Not yet.”

She sighed. “I don’t know why you can’t see it. Your mother knew Jake was your son within seconds. And before you jump to any conclusions, let me assure you that I didn’t say one word to her. She just knew.”

“My mother?” Cameron frowned. “She saw Jake?”

As she maneuvered Jake into some kind of stretchy blue pajama thing, Julia related what Sally had told her the day before.

“Okay, I’ll admit my mother might have a scheme in mind,” Cameron said, watching her. “That still doesn’t mean Jake’s my son. I mean, I can’t imagine I’m the only guy you’ve ever …” Cameron couldn’t continue with that thought. He didn’t want to picture Julia with other men, not that it was any of his business what she did or who she did it with. He just didn’t want to think about it. He coughed to cover his uneasiness. “Anyway, as I said before, we used protection. So you want to tell me how this could have happened?”

Julia raised her gaze to meet his. “Of course we used protection, but for goodness’ sake, Cameron. Don’t you remember how many times we did it that weekend? Something was bound to happen.”

Yeah, he remembered. And even after all this time, Cameron’s groin still stiffened at the memory of that red hot meeting of lips and tongues, hands, skin, bodies.

“Anyway,” she said, after taking a deep breath, “you can blame your mother all you want, but we both know how this happened.” Still blushing, Julia hoisted the baby up into her arms and rushed out of the bedroom. “I’ll go warm a bottle and start his dinner.”

Cameron followed, unwilling to end the conversation just yet. “Come to think of it, we wouldn’t have met in the first place if my mother hadn’t demanded that we carry your bakery stuff in our hotels.”

She turned. “True. But that was almost two years ago now. Do you really think your mother was thinking at the time that we would … oh, never mind.” Her chagrin was obvious as she hurried away from him and went to the kitchen. She placed the baby in his carrier on the bar and made sure he was secure, then walked over and opened the refrigerator door.

“That we would what?” Cameron asked provocatively. “That we would fall into bed the first night we met?” He came up close behind her and wrapped his arm around her waist to stop her in her tracks. “Or that we would spend seventy-two hours making love over and over again, until we passed out?”

He moved even closer. Her curvaceous bottom pushed against his erection and she moaned.

“Do you remember?” he asked.

“Yes,” she whispered. “Thank God for room service or we might’ve starved.”

He laughed, then groaned as she pressed into him. He kissed the skin beneath her ear. She stretched her neck to give him more access and he ran his tongue along her jaw line. “Do you remember drinking champagne in that big tub?”

“I remember,” she whispered.

“God, you smell so good.” He turned her around and kissed her cheek, her chin, then covered her trembling lips with his. Her mouth parted and he delved inside, exploring her moist heat with the sweep of his tongue. She sighed and he plunged again.

The doorbell rang and they both jumped, then stared at each other in disbelief.

“This is crazy,” Julia muttered, and grabbed a bottle from the refrigerator shelf.

“Who the hell can that be?” Cameron groused and stalked to the door. He took a moment to compose himself before he opened the door.

“Hello, darling,” his mother said.

“Yoo-hoo! Hi, Cameron,” Beatrice said, waving behind her.

“We want to see the baby,” Marjorie said. “We’re not interrupting anything, are we?”

Cameron shook his head as the three women sashayed into the suite. They had been friends longer than Cameron had been alive. They still played cards together every Tuesday. Beatrice and Sally both volunteered at the hospital and Marjorie still worked as Duke Development’s Human Resources manager.

“Hello, ladies,” he said, and closed the door behind them.

“Are we too late?” Marjorie asked, glancing around the room.

Sally followed her gaze, then turned to Cameron. “We were hoping you’d let us babysit while you two kids ran out and grabbed some dinner.”

Julia poked her head out from behind the kitchen bar. “Oh, no, that’s not—”

“Sounds great,” Cameron said immediately. “Give us five minutes and we’ll be ready to go.”

“They railroaded us,” Julia grumbled as she sipped her chardonnay and nibbled on a carrot stick from the relish tray.

Cameron glanced around at the other tables in the elegant dining room of the Monarch Dunes. He was happy to see that there was a full house tonight, but the space still felt intimate. Stylized sconces along the sage-green walls cast dramatic shadows on the cathedral ceiling. Around the large room, screens and plants created a sense of privacy and exclusivity for the diners. The service was attentive yet discreet. And the food was excellent, naturally. The Duke brothers insisted on it.

“Do you really mind being out tonight?” he asked.

“Oh, no.” She glanced around, admiring the room and the view. “Of course not. Everything is lovely.”

“Good,” he said, resting back in his chair. “Take a sip of your wine and relax.”

She complied. “It’s wonderful.”

They were seated at a table along the glass wall overlooking the golf course and the cliffs and ocean beyond. It was a beautiful night, with a crescent moon and a million stars in the sky. The crystal glassware and silver flatware caught the candlelight and cast rainbow shards on the pristine white tablecloth.

He gazed at her through the glow. “I’m glad you like it.”

Sighing, she said, “I just don’t want Sally to think I expect her to babysit.”

“Get used to it,” Cameron said with a sardonic grin. “Now that she knows about Jake, you’ll have a hard time keeping her away.”

“I know,” Julia said, smiling. “She’s already threatened to pitch a tent on my front lawn so she can see him every day.”

Cameron raised one eyebrow. “I’ll talk to her if she gets pushy.”

“Oh, goodness no,” Julia said, and reached out to touch his hand in reassurance. “I think it’s wonderful. I don’t have any family so the thought of Jake having a grandmother to dote on him is like a dream come true.”

Cameron held on to her hand when she tried to slip it away from his. “Speaking of family, I did what you suggested and looked up the Parrish Trust.”

“So you know I’m not looking for a handout.”

“No, I guess you’re not,” he said. “But when I was looking at the trust information, I saw that your parents died when you were young. I’m so sorry.”

“Yes, they died in a plane crash. It was devastating. I was ten years old and had no other family to live with.”

“What happened to you?”

She smiled wistfully. “I had a nanny who’d been with me since I was born, so the judge allowed her to stay with me. My court-appointed guardians were two of my parents’ lawyers and they moved into our house.”

“You’re kidding. You had lawyers for guardians?”

Julia grimaced. “Yes. And it was just as businesslike an arrangement as you can imagine. You know, I finally read my parents’ will a few years ago and it made me feel like one of their properties. I know they loved me, so I blame it on the lawyers. It’s just how they used to write these things. The bottom line was, neither of my parents had siblings so there were no relatives who could take me in.”

“Be thankful you weren’t put into the foster care system.”

“Oh, I am,” she said in a rush. “My nanny, Rosemary, was great. She was like a mother to me.”

“You were lucky to have her.”

“Yes, I was.” Julia fortified herself with another sip of wine. “But two years later, she died suddenly. Cancer. It was overwhelming. I cried for weeks.”

“I’m sorry.” He squeezed her hand lightly.

She nodded. “The trustees hired another nanny but she didn’t do much. I was too old by then.”

“You were only twelve.”

“I always felt like a grown-up,” she said, smiling as she broke a breadstick in half and munched on it. “My parents traveled quite a lot for their foundation so I was used to spending time alone. It was okay. I was a self-sufficient kid.”

Cameron sipped his wine. “You were lonely.”

“Oh, please,” she said, waving the comment away. “Don’t make me sound like some poor little rich girl.”

“Why not?” Cameron’s tone was so compassionate that Julia felt her eyes sting. Good grief, would she burst into tears merely because someone showed kindness to her?

“Because no one cares,” she said. “Boo-hoo, all the money in the world but no one to love her. It’s such a cliché.”

“Clichés are true for a reason.” Cameron put down his wineglass. “Some things are more important than money, Julia.”

Did he mean love was more important? Julia wondered, but wasn’t about to ask him out loud. Instead she said, “I agree, but it’s easy for people with money to say it’s not important. So rather than annoy my friends, I keep it simple and don’t talk about myself.”

“Except to me,” Cameron said, and his lips twisted in a grin.

She frowned as though she’d just realized the same thing. “So it would seem.”

***

The baby was asleep in his bed when they returned to the suite. Sally and her friends assured them they’d had the time of their lives and wanted to do it again. Then they said good-night.

“Would you like a nightcap?” Cameron asked, as he headed for the dining room liquor cabinet.

“I have a long day tomorrow,” she said, tossing her sweater over the dining room chair. “But I wouldn’t turn down a cup of hot chocolate.”

“That’s not quite what I had in mind, but okay.” He shut the cabinet and followed her into the kitchen. “I’m not sure we have all the ingredients.”

“We do.” She pulled a slab of chocolate down from the cupboard and began to break it into chunks.

“Where did that come from?”

“I brought it with me,” she said.

“You always travel with your own supply of chocolate?”

She looked at him as though he were a dimwit. “Of course.”

“Oh, right, guess you never know when you’ll be called on to make dessert.”

“That’s right.” She placed the chunks in a small saucepan, added a touch of water and put it on the stove.

“That’s it?” he said, his tone dubious. She pointed to the pan, then the fire. “Chocolate. Hot. Equals hot chocolate.” “It seems like cheating.”

She rested her fist on her hip. “You think I should carry cocoa beans and grind them to dust first?”

“Something like that.”

She laughed. “This skips a step or two.”

He gave her another skeptical look, then stared at the pan. “I’m not sure about this.”

She stirred the mixture slowly. “Because you’ve always made it with cold milk and chocolate syrup.”

“Well, yeah,” he said, biting back a grin as he leaned against the bar. “Anything else is just un-American.”

“Don’t judge until you’ve tried it,” she said mildly, adding some more drops of water as she continued to stir.

“It’s starting to smell good.”

“Here, you stir,” she said, handing him the spoon as she turned down the fire slightly. “I need to make whipped cream.”

“I suppose you brought that with you, too.”

“Always.” She pulled a container from the fridge.

He couldn’t hold back his smile. “I like the way you travel.”

She reached into a drawer and pulled out her own hand mixer, poured cream into a bowl, threw in a heaping spoonful of sugar, and began to mix it up. Less than four minutes later, she had a bowl of thick, pillowy whipped cream. She poured the creamy chocolate into two small coffee cups, added a dollop of whipped cream on top, and handed one to Cameron.

“Sip the chocolate through the cream,” she instructed. “That way, you get the hot with the cold, but you don’t dilute either.”

She stood inches away, watching him as he tried the concoction. He watched her, too, as he sipped the hot, creamy chocolate through the cool, soft whipped cream. It was possibly the most sweetly decadent thing he’d ever eaten.

“Well?” she said.

He stared at her and wondered what the chocolate and whipped cream might taste like when licked off her breasts.

“It’s almost immoral, it’s so good,” he said, his voice husky.

Her cheeks began to turn pink again and he found he enjoyed making her blush. He also savored watching her realize the direction his thoughts were traveling.

She coughed to clear her throat. “So, you like it?”

“Like it?” He took another long sip and emptied the cup. “Yeah. I’d suggest you package it, but I’m afraid it might be banned in thirty or forty states.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” she said demurely, and placed her cup on the counter. “Thank you.”

“No, thank you. It was delicious.” He put down his cup and reached for her. “I want to taste it on your tongue.”

Before she could utter a word of protest, his mouth consumed hers.

The heat was instant and overwhelming. The sweetness of her mouth was incendiary. Pressing her against the kitchen wall, he kissed her again and his tongue swept inside, tangling with hers. Now he tasted the need in her. Now he sensed the surrender he’d craved from the first moment he’d seen her in his shower, her long legs wet and warm, her breasts firm and round. He wanted her with a fervent passion he hadn’t felt in months, maybe years. Maybe since the last time he’d been with her.

He ravaged her mouth again and again, sweeping and plunging and reveling in her heated depths. She wrapped her arms around his neck and raised herself so that the apex of her thighs pressed against his burgeoning erection. He held her there with one hand while he shifted his other hand up to cover her breast. She moaned and he knew she wanted him as much as he wanted her.

His body shouted at him to take her here, now, against this wall. Tear off her clothes and plunge into her over and over again until they both slid to the floor from sheer exhaustion. He couldn’t remember feeling like this, couldn’t remember ever needing a woman this much, as much as he needed another breath. Maybe more. She was his. Now.