She called it survival.
Seven
Kansas City
Two weeks after returning home from his trip west, Cameron received a package in the mail from the Viva Las Vegas Wedding Chapel. Curious, he opened the padded envelope and shook out the contents. When a packet of pictures and a DVD spilled into his palm, he blinked.
The first picture was of him and Olivia Donavon, both of them drunk off their asses, posing with two hula dancers and Elvis in a white cape suit.
For some reason, it reminded him of his first wedding. He’d rushed Sienna off to a quickie ceremony, too. As memories washed over him, Cameron carried the package to his study and pulled a box of pictures off his shelf. He fell into a deep mahogany chair and settled the box on his lap, carefully opening the lid.
As the top picture stared up at him, he sucked in a breath.
Cam had met Sienna Tridell during his first semester—his first week, actually—of his junior year at Kansas University. When he’d transferred to Lawrence, his cousin begged him to volunteer some of his time at a local help center where she worked. Since he’d always been the comedian in the family and was never without a smile, Lacey thought his positive demeanor would be a good influence on the type of people she worked with.
His unfortunate answer has been, “Sure, why not. I’ll volunteer.”
On his first day, Lacey walked him down the halls and explained what he’d be doing. When he glanced into a room where a meeting was in progress, he stopped dead. His eyes latched on to one female, and he knew he was a goner.
“Who’s that?” he demanded to know.
Lacey glanced inside. “That’s the support group for bipolar patients.”
He shook his head. “No. Who’s the beauty headed right this way with the long, straight black hair?”
“Oh.” Lacey pulled back to send him a leery look. “That’s Sienna,” she said in a hushed voice.
Sad Sienna, he dubbed her, for he’d never seen a soul that looked more depressed than this striking individual.
His body hummed as she drew closer, completely unaware of how his eyes devoured her.
“Hi there,” he said, anxious to get her attention.
She jumped, startled, and glanced leerily his way. When her brown gaze slid over him, he knew he’d do anything to make her smile.
“Hi,” she responded softly, her voice monotone and lifeless. She lowered her face and kept walking.
Forgetting Lacey and his tour of the facilities, Cameron turned and fell into step beside Sad Sienna. “I’m Cameron,” he announced.
She ignored him, but he wasn’t deterred.
“You want to go get some coffee?” he asked. “Or ice cream maybe. Or I could take you on a full date if you’d like. We could grab something to eat, catch a movie, get married. Anything you want.”
He talked to her all the way to the exit, and she stared at her feet the entire trip. At the door, she finally looked up. She studied him dispassionately with those beautiful, sad eyes that were lined with bags from lack of sleep, and gave him a slight smile. It made his heart stutter with excitement.
“Do you want to go out some time?” he repeated on a whisper.
“Maybe,” she finally answered, then turned away and pulled open the back door of a car waiting at the curb. She glanced back at him before getting in. “Bye.”
He smiled, feeling as light as a feather. “See you around.”
Lacey, who’d followed Cameron outside to the curb where he stood watching Sienna depart, grabbed his arm and spun him around. “What do you think you’re doing?”
Cameron shook his head in confusion. “What?”
“Sienna Tridell is a deeply troubled girl, Cam. After seeing her parents die when she was nine, she’s been a manic depressive who suffers from insomnia and has a partial addiction to half a dozen different prescription drugs.”
“But she sure is pretty,” he argued, flashing his infamously ornery grin.
“She’s a mess.”
Cameron didn’t care. He shrugged it off. “Hey, manic depressives need love too.”
And that’s exactly what he’d done. He’d given Sienna all his love. Knowing from the start how much it would take to make her smile, Cameron felt like the king of world when she smiled twice and laughed once on their first date.
He’d never been a people-pleaser before. He was usually too much of a jokester to care all that much about anyone’s feelings. But after meeting Sienna, his world altered on its axis. Suddenly, the only thing he wanted out of life was to make her happy.
He wanted to save her. Bound and determined to pull her back from the depths of her despair, he’d centered his world around pleasing her. He’d—
Realizing he’d shuffled through every picture and pulled out all the shots with Sienna in them, Cameron’s hands started to shake. He shoved the bundle back into the box and firmly closed the lid. Then he pushed the entire container off his lap and onto the floor. The package from his Viva Las Vegas vacation landed on top with a thud.
Getting to his feet, he started for the kitchen. He needed a drink. He needed to forget. Nothing could mellow the ache like half a dozen shots of Crown Royal. Anything to ease the tightness in his chest and the images in his head of the sexy, blonde twinkie he’d recently married.
Frowning, he wondered idly why he always applied food to her when he mentally described her. Twinkie, Pop tart, cupcake. Then it struck him. She was too delicious. He grinned, remembering how her hair had flowed through his fingers right before he’d pushed inside her. She was good in the sack, he’d give her that.
He wondered if she’d made it home to Mommy Dearest all right. Then he snorted. What a crock. The two were probably celebrating their victory over bagging Cameron Banks. He was a little surprised he hadn’t received any word yet over how much money they wanted to rape out of him over this marriage business.
Well, he didn’t care. They could take it all.
It hadn’t been his money in the first place. He’d gotten it after Sienna died. Her father had been an insurance salesmen and he’d taken two huge policies out on him and his wife. All the money had gone to Sienna when they’d died, and then it had gone to him when she died. Suddenly stuck with nearly half a million dollars, Cameron had wanted to throw it all away. So, he’d bought stock with it, the riskiest ventures on the market, hoping it’d be gone within the month.
That had been back when the economy was booming. So, by some twist of blind luck—or bad luck, in his opinion—his investments had ended profitably. Half a million turned into five almost overnight and a bitter, shocked Cameron had no idea what to do with all that capital. He invested again, and again, and now, he had more millions than he could ever need. All because his wife had offed herself.
Cameron groaned and closed his eyes. Olivia Donovan and her mother could take every freaking cent. He didn’t want it.
When he reached the kitchen, he discovered he didn’t have any alcohol in the house. He’d dumped every bottle three years ago when he’d gone sober.
God, this night was going to suck.
Unless he made a quick run to the store.
*
Chicago, Illinois
Olivia was sure she’d seen the last of Cameron Banks.
It had been three weeks since her rebellious night in Vegas. The bruise on her face had faded and her mother hadn’t mentioned the incident again.
She hoped Vivian had gotten over her ludicrous idea of marrying Olivia off.
Her mother was like that sometimes. She’d devise a plan and be all hot and bothered over it for a few weeks and then suddenly lose interest and hop onto some other idea. Then again, Olivia thought it’d be funny if Vivian persisted and Cameron openly rejected her.
Smiling at a waiter who offered her a drink off a silver platter full of fluted glasses, Olivia shook her head, and the man moved on. Vivian had dragged her to Chicago for yet another business convention. She’d spent four hours sitting next
to Vivian through a long, boring presentation about new insurance claims, and now she was standing in an elegant ball room, surrounded by a flood of complete strangers.
She’d caught sight of her mother ten minutes ago talking to some congressman from Massachusetts. But thankfully, she couldn’t spot the witch at the moment. And she’d just ditched the opera house owner from Nashville, which was a relief. To keep him from gawking down her dress, she’d been lifting her hands to her mouth and stuffing all sorts of hors d’oeuvres down her throat in hopes of blocking his wandering eye. For a while there, she’d been afraid she was going to pop if she ate another bite. But fortunately, Mrs. Nashville had come along and swept him away.
Olivia wished she could escape up to her hotel room. But Vivian would kill her if she did.
In the past few days, her mother had actually treated her decently, for lack of a better word. She’d even bought her daughter the dress she was wearing tonight. Olivia had to admit, she loved the dress. It was a soft, long, elegant number with spaghetti straps and—
She let out a small scream and pulled to a stop before smacking directly into Cameron Banks.
Crap. No wonder why Vivian had been buttering her up.
Champagne flute in hand, Cameron lifted it in salute and sent her a sloppy grin. “Hey there, beautiful,” he slurred out. “Fancy meeting you here.”
Olivia pressed her palm to her heart and closed her eyes. When she opened them, he was still there, bigger than life, beaming his adorable lopsided smile and looking devastating in a tux.
Automatically, she scanned the room for Vivian.
“Oh, yeah,” Cameron continued on a husky murmur and moved closer. “Like the dress. It has lick-me written all over it.”
His eyes wandered down her body, and she suddenly remembered being naked and alone with him. She remembered it in vivid technicolor.
“Still look good in black, I see,” he commented and reached out to run one finger over her left shoulder, under the spaghetti strap. “But I must say, I do miss the leather.” He slipped another digit under the strap so the two could slide across her skin. “Nice necklace.” The tips of his fingers barely grazed the string of pearls that suddenly felt very snug around her throat.
Olivia shivered and jerked back, grabbing his wrist and tugging his hand off her as she glanced around frantically.
“Are you insane?” she hissed, continuing to hold his hand. “Hurry, you have to go before Vivian sees you talking to me.”
Cameron lifted his eyebrows and glanced around the crowded room. “Oh? She’s here too, hmm?”
“Yes! Now go.”
“Actually, I’d like to meet the woman.”
“No. Trust me, you wouldn’t,” Olivia assured.
But it was already too late.
“Olivia,” Her mother’s voice came shrilly from a mere ten feet away.
She jolted and spun around, guiltily dropping Cameron’s hand. Cameron remained stubbornly rooted by her side.
Vivian barreled their way. After frowning disapprovingly at Cameron, she immediately turned to her daughter. “Olivia.”
“Yes, Mother?” she asked a bit breathlessly.
If she was lucky, Vivian wouldn’t know who Cameron was or find out, and she’d chase him off, never the wiser.
But Cameron stepped forward. “Oh, is this your mom?” he asked with interest. “Well, it’s a pleasure to meet you, ma’am. I’m Cameron Banks, and I can see where your daughter gets her good looks.”
Olivia nearly passed out. What was he doing?
Gritting her teeth and fisting her hands, she closed her eyes briefly. He just had to go and introduce himself, didn’t he?
“Who?” Vivian asked in surprise as she slowed to a stop. After looking Cameron up and down, she took his outstretched hand and shook slowly, still studying him as she did so. “Hmm. I pictured you older.”
Cameron grinned, a spark of something nasty entering his eyes. “Really? And here I thought you’d be younger.”
Feeling a small thrill shoot up her spine, Olivia watched her mother blink. Vivian was used to being the aggressor in every verbal exchange. She had a knack for guiding conversations to suit her purpose. Olivia wanted to cheer Cameron on for his subtle little jab at Vivian’s vanity.
“You…wait. You know who I am?” Vivian asked, clearly surprised.
Olivia held her breath, but Cameron’s answer came out sounding
completely innocent. “Of course. You’re Olivia’s mother. Vivian Roark, C. E. O. of Helbrock Enterprise for the past twenty-eight years, ever since your father handed it to you when you married Roger Donovan. Your company majors in dog food but you prefer to dally in the big buy-and-sell market. Your most recent venture was WorldAct United. And I must say I’m impressed with the profit margin you made there.”
Wow. The boy had done his homework. Olivia lifted her gaze to Cameron’s and was surprised to find his eyes on her. He winked.
“I’ve heard of you too,” Vivian said, looking satisfied by the fact he knew her reputation. “That merger you accomplished between McCrill and Thompson Pack was impressive.”
Cameron seemed reluctant to pull his gaze away from Olivia’s. “I’m sorry, but I can’t seem to concentrate on business in the presence of this enchanting creature.” He sent Vivian a look of utter meekness. “Do you mind if I ask your daughter for a dance?”
Both Olivia and Vivian sputtered, but Olivia did so in dread while the sparkle in her mother’s eye contained pure delight. “Oh! Well, of course. Olivia loves to dance.”
“Does she?” Cameron asked, turning expectantly toward her.
Her face morphed into scarlet horror.
“Olivia,” Vivian said and nudged her toward Cameron.
He took her elbow and nearly dragged her onto the floor. “Relax,” he murmured unobtrusively in her ear, but she ignored him.
Cameron settled his hand more snuggly around her waist and touched a little too low, making her lift her head and gawp at him. “What in God’s name are you doing?”
He lifted his face from where he’d been looking quite openly down her cleavage. “What? Isn’t this all part of the plan? I take one look at you and fall all over myself in love?”
Olivia’s eyes went frosty. “That’s Vivian’s plan. Not mine.”
Cameron sent her a sloppy grin. “Well, maybe it happened anyway.”
Olivia gritted out an irritated groan. Why her? Please, God, why?
“Why haven’t I got any papers in the mail from you?” she said, deciding to change the subject.
“My lawyer’s busy right now with another assignment,” he answered, distracted as he returned to gawking down her dress. “Holy hell, you’re not wearing a bra, are you?”
She opened her mouth to answer, but he suddenly noticed a certain ring on her right hand. The ring he’d bought her in Vegas.
“Hey,” he said, reaching for it. “That doesn’t go there.”
It looked for all the world like he was going to slip it off and set it back in its proper place on her left ring finger. Olivia ground her teeth. Of course, he had to go and notice she was wearing she stupid thing.
She couldn’t believe she’d put it on tonight. Actually, she couldn’t
believe she hadn’t taken it off since Vegas. But it was such a nice ring, and Olivia did love her bling. Besides, she’d been wearing it on the wrong hand anyway. Certainly, he wouldn’t think their marriage meant anything to her. He wouldn’t think—
“Cameron!” she hissed, curling her fingers into a fist to stop him from removing the diamond. “The annulment?”
“Oh, right.” He smoothly returned to the subject at hand, letting the ring stay where it was for the present. “With everything going on, it’ll probably be a few months before Bos’ll be able to get to that.”
“Months?” she squawked.
He lifted his brow. “What’s the hurry? Are you that anxious to run off and marry some other stranger?”
Ol
ivia set her jaw and looked away. “I just want this over and done with as soon as possible. At least before Vivian finds out.”
“Now, now. Don’t worry, Livy Love. I won’t tell anyone about our night in Vegas.” He pulled her closer.
Olivia frowned. Livy Love? No one called her Livy, and they certainly didn’t call her Livy Love.
Abruptly, she noticed he’d bent his head so that his face was next to hers, their cheeks barely grazing. He loudly inhaled the perfume she’d dabbed behind her ear. “God, you smell good.”
She tried to step away, but he held her tighter. “What’re you doing?” she breathed, feeling too drawn for her own good. “I thought you hated me.”
Cameron lifted his face, looking stunned. “Hate you? I don’t hate you. I might’ve been a little upset on our last encounter, is all. But I’m better now.”
“You mean, you’re drunk now.”
“Hey, whatever works.” Cameron grinned and shrugged good-naturedly.
Olivia clenched her teeth. “And why are you drunk? The report I read said you were a recovering alcoholic.”
His eyes flashed with heat. “It’s called none of your business.”
She snorted. “Really? I thought it was called falling off the wagon.”
For a fraction of a moment, his fingers tightened on her and his teeth clenched in a snarl. Fear raced up her spine, making her shiver. His eyes lifted at her reaction, and after he blinked a few times, regret filled his gaze. His grip eased, and his face relaxed.
“Anyway.” He cleared his throat and glanced away. “I was wondering something. I need a little favor from you.”
Olivia swallowed. “What?”
He turned back to her, his green eyes intense and enticing. “Well, I’m horny.”
She pulled back. “Excuse me?”
He shrugged helplessly. “It’s the champagne. Does it to me every
time. I don’t understand it either. There’s just something about the chemical makeup that makes me want to…” He paused to shiver as if wracked by an orgasm.
Olivia’s imagination immediately brought up a picture of them in bed together, a very memorable, very vivid picture. It caused her to shiver too, and this time, it wasn’t in fear.
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