Reunited…
with Child
Katherine Garbera
One Month with
the Magnate
Michelle Celmer

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Reunited… with Child

“A toast to knowing what you want, and getting it.”

“A toast,” Becca said.

Cam looked at her like she was the very thing he wanted. That made her feel warm all over and she knew no matter how hard she tried to keep this tame, it wasn’t going to work. She wanted Cam. He was everything she liked in a man. She remembered the way they’d fit together when they’d made love, so perfectly, and she wanted him again.

“I have a confession to make,” Cam said.

“And that is?” she asked.

“I’m going to kiss you before you get in the car tonight,” he said.

She shivered and everything feminine in her came to attention.

“I was planning to let you.”

Dear Reader,

I hope you have been enjoying meeting all the Stern brothers! Cam is up last and to be honest he was a hard nut to crack. So of course I had to find a little something unexpected to throw his way. And Cam handled it as I expected he would—with the same determination that he faces everything.

Becca is the perfect foil for Cam. Where Cam relies on family and the bonds of community he’s created for his support, Becca is a lone wolf. She doesn’t know how to ask for outside help and pretty much expects to be left on her own no matter what happens in her life.

I hope you enjoy this story!

Happy reading,

Katherine

About the Author

KATHERINE GARBERA is the USA TODAY bestselling author of more than forty books. She’s always believed in happy endings and lives in Southern California with her husband, children and their pampered pet, Godiva. Visit Katherine on the web at www.katherinegarbera. com, or catch up with her on Facebook and Twitter.

This book is dedicated to my sweet husband, Rob,

for showing me that happy endings happen

all the time in the real world.

Acknowledgements

A special thank you to my editor, Charles, for all his insightful editing on this book.

One

What had she been thinking when she’d accepted this invitation?

Becca Tuntenstall really didn’t have time to go to a charity function in the middle of the workweek. But considering her former boss had invited her, she felt that it was just the second chance she needed. She’d walked away from everything and everyone in this world almost two years ago, and now she was ready to get back to it.

She checked her lipstick one more time in the ladies’-room mirror at the glitteringly decorated Manhattan Kiwi Klub. She’d designed this interior and really thought it captured the sparkle of the city with a sophistication that wasn’t really found in society anymore.

She left the bathroom and walked into the ballroom. Her former boss, Russell Holloway, stood facing her. He smiled when he saw her and waved her over. She fixed a smile on her own face and headed his way like the confident, brash woman she’d been two years ago.

“Becca?”

She stopped in her tracks as she heard the one voice she’d thought she’d never hear again.

“Cam?” she said, not having to feign surprise at all.

She stared at him for what seemed like a frozen moment in time, and a million memories rushed through her mind. She remembered how hard it had been to just walk away from this man. “What are you doing here?”

“Russell invited me.”

“Uh … okay. But don’t you live in Miami?”

“I do. But I do travel from time to time,” he said wryly.

She flushed, realizing she sounded like an idiot. “I’m sorry. You are just the last person I expected to see tonight.”

“Or ever?” he asked.

“Definitely,” she said. He looked good, damn him. Cam was tall, at least six foot five, with thick, dark brown hair and eyes that were so blue she couldn’t look away from him. He had a strong, stubborn-looking jaw and a clean-shaven face. He wore his tux with an ease that most men simply couldn’t carry off. He looked very comfortable and so devastatingly handsome that she had a hard time thinking straight. But then Cam Stern was the son of a socialite and a pro golfer. He’d been born with a silver spoon in his mouth and had only seen his wealth grow since he’d become an adult. In fact, she doubted there was anything that Cam couldn’t buy. She knew that well enough from her experience with him.

“Well, I’ve got to go,” she said, fully intending to walk away from him and never speak to him again.

“That’s not going to work, Becca,” he said.

“Why not? I believe your last words to me two years ago were that if I didn’t want to be your mistress we had nothing left to discuss,” she reminded him. She’d long gotten over her anger at the way he’d thrown her confession of love back in her face. Hell, no, she hadn’t. She still wanted to see him writhe. She still wanted him to feel the intense pain she’d felt when he’d said those words to her.

“I owe you an apology,” he said. “I have no excuse for being so cold. I was … your confession was unexpected and I wasn’t in a position to make a decision to put a woman on par with my business.”

“I know that,” she said. “Despite how bitter that sounded just now, I really have moved on. Let’s start over.”

“Over?”

“Yes, pretend you are just running into me again and I’ll be more polite,” she said.

He started laughing. “I have missed you, Becca.”

She shook her head. “Is there no one else who makes you laugh? “

“Not like you,” he said.

She smiled at him, but she wasn’t about to let herself fall for his good looks and easy charm again. Cam had done a lot more than break her heart. He’d left her shattered, and she’d had to rebuild her entire life and who she thought she’d be. “That’s too bad.”

“Yes, it is. What have you been up to?” he asked.

“I started my own business,” she said.

“I have to confess I knew that. Russell has been singing your praises to me for a while now.”

“He has? I wonder why,” she said.

“Because Cam has a project that could do with your touch,” Russell said, coming up to them. Russell was a New Zealand millionaire who, like Cam, had been born with more money than Midas. At forty-one, he was two years older than Cam, and he lived the life of an international playboy, jetting from one cosmopolitan city to the next, managing his chain of Kiwi Klubs.

She never turned down work, and she wouldn’t if Cam had a legitimate offer for her. She rarely saw her clients, and she could probably manage a few days of face-to-face time with Cam.

“What project?”

“I had hoped to discuss business at another time,” Cam said.

“Nonsense. What else would you two have to discuss?” Russell said.

“What else?” Becca asked. Her short, red-hot affair with Cam had also been super-secret. They’d met in her hotel room each night and had white-hot sex. She’d thought it was a whirlwind romance, but it had turned out that the reason Cam had been keeping her secret was that he hadn’t wanted more than sex from her.

“What else indeed,” Cam said. “I’m not sure if you have heard any of the radio ads for Luna Azul’s tenth anniversary celebration or not.”

“I have heard them. Very good idea to advertise a Memorial Day weekend trip to Miami to be surrounded by celebs and balmy tropical weather.”

“Thanks,” he said. “That was my idea. Anyway, we have recently purchased a shopping mall that we are going to open as Luna Azul Mercado. And I’m looking for a designer for the project.”

“And I thought of you,” Russell said.

She opened her clutch purse, took out a business card and handed it to Cam. “I’d love to hear more about your project.”

He took her card and glanced at it for a long moment before putting it in his pocket. “Business out of the way, perhaps we can enjoy the evening now. Can I get you a drink?” Cam asked.

“Gin and tonic,” she said.

When he walked away, she was tempted to sneak out the back, but she’d paid a lot of money for her seat at this charity dinner with the intention of meeting a lot of Russell’s friends and maybe securing more work for herself.

Becca doubted she would enjoy one second of tonight. There were few situations that she could think of that would be less fun than sitting next to two men from whom she’d kept important secrets. Russell didn’t know that she and Cam had been lovers, and Cam didn’t know that their affair had resulted in a child.

Cam had been prepared to see Becca again but he’d forgotten how he’d always reacted to her. One brief touch of her hand in his and his entire body had tingled.

Becca’s heart-shaped face was pretty—not classically beautiful, but he couldn’t take his eyes from her. Her nose was small and delicate, and her thick black hair was worn up with a few tendrils framing her face. Her mouth was full … seductive with that full lower lip, and he remembered the taste of her.

The scent of her had overwhelmed him, and he’d wanted to stand still and just breathe her in. He’d wanted to wrap his arms around her, plant his mouth on hers and say to hell with the last two years.

But he knew that wasn’t going to be easy. He’d hurt her when he’d thrown her out of his life. He would never admit this to another person, but Becca had scared him and he’d had to walk away before he’d done something foolish—such as fall for her.

He got their drinks and walked back across the room. She stood talking to a well-dressed woman and looked up as he approached. She had a new life, he thought, watching her. She didn’t need a former lover back in it. But he wasn’t a man who gave up easily and there was only one thing he wanted … Becca Tuntenstall.

“Your drink,” he said, handing it to her.

“Thank you. Cam, do you know Dani McNeil?”

“I don’t believe I do,” he said, shaking hands with the other woman.

Her hands weren’t as soft as Becca’s, and he didn’t have any reaction to touching her. As though he needed proof that Becca was different—he’d already figured that part out.

“Dani works for Russell’s foundation. She is the one who coordinated this tonight.”

“Well done,” Cam said. “I’ve attended a lot of parties and this one certainly ranks among the best.”

Dani flushed. “Thank you. I’ve got to go check with the kitchen. I want to make sure everything is perfect.” She walked away.

“I’m not sure I know many people at this function.”

“I do,” Cam said.

“Would you mind introducing me to some of them? I’m trying to grow my business.”

“I’m not clear on what it is,” he said.

“Tuntenstall Designers. I’ve designed interiors for hotels and nightclubs. I just finished work on a new hotel in Maui.”

“Sounds like you don’t need to grow too much,” he said.

“There are always more hours in the day to fill,” she said. “I’m afraid of running out of work.”

“Has that happened?” he asked, wanting to know more about what made her tick.

“Not yet. But it could and I don’t want that to happen.”

He smiled. “You remind me a lot of me when I started the club.”

“At least you had a trust fund to fall back on,” she said.

He nodded. “That’s true. But it didn’t make the work any easier. And I was very conscious of the fact that if I failed I’d be putting my future and my brothers in jeopardy.”

She quirked one side of her mouth. “I guess I didn’t think of it that way.”

“Why would you?” he asked. He was very aware that he and his brothers had cultivated an image of carefree playboys who’d never had to worry about anything.

“I hate it when people make assumptions about me,” she said.

“We all do it,” he said. “So who do you want to meet?”

“I really don’t know. I heard that Tristan Sabina was here and he is a co-owner of Seconds nightclubs …”

“You want me to introduce you to the competition?” he asked. He was joking. Seconds was more competition for Russell’s Kiwi Klubs than for Luna Azul. They had several branches in international hotspots instead of one dedicated location like Luna Azul. Someday Cam thought it might be nice to have another club, but he liked what they were doing in Miami. It would have to be just the right situation to tempt him to leave.

“Would you mind?” she asked.

“Not at all. In fact I know Tristan fairly well,” he said, taking Becca’s arm in his. He took a sip of his dirty martini and savored the salty taste.

“Do you need another drink?” he asked her.

“I’m good,” she said. “Thanks for doing this.”

“What?”

“Introducing me to Tristan,” she said, drawing to a stop. “You don’t have to.”

“I know. I want to,” he said. He’d let something slip away with Becca, and, to be honest, he regretted it. He hadn’t been ready for her love two years ago, and he didn’t know if he was now. But with his brothers settling down and Becca coming back into his life, he at least wanted to give it a chance.

He waved over Tristan, who was accompanied by his wife, Sheri. Cam made short work of the introductions.

“Becca is an interior designer,” Cam said.

“Enchanté, mademoiselle,” Tristan said.

“It’s a pleasure. I hope you don’t mind but I asked Cam to introduce us so I could give you my card. I’ve done a lot of work for nightclubs and hotels.”

“I don’t mind at all,” Tristan said. He took her card and pocketed it. “But I can’t talk business tonight or Sheri will likely kill me.” His French accent was very smooth and barely noticeable.

“I will,” his wife said. “He’s promised me a night out and I intend to hold him to it. We work together, so I hardly ever have a chance to just spend time with my husband that doesn’t involve work or family.”

“Then I’m sorry I brought it up.”

“Not at all. So how did you start your own business? My boss can be a bear … I might want to do the same.”

“You aren’t quitting, Sheri, and leaving me alone at the office.”

“Why not?” she asked her husband.

Tristan leaned down and whispered something in her ear that made her blush. Then she kissed him, and he put his arm around her. Cam wasn’t sure what had been said, but he knew that it was intimate.

And he wanted that. He had been alone for a long time and had grown used to it, but there were times, especially now that his brothers were both engaged, that he wanted something more.

He glanced down at Becca and noticed that she was watching the married couple, as well. He’d ruined things with her once by not … by what? They’d had an affair. Affairs don’t turn into love overnight. Cam Stern had always known he wasn’t the kind of guy that women fell easily in love with. He was arrogant and difficult. He might know his way around a bedroom, and he knew he was the kind of lover who ensured his partner’s pleasure, but a life together was about more than sex. He’d learned that the hard way.

The conversation at the dinner table was fun and lively, ranging from politics to economic trends to fashion. Becca wasn’t sure she was going to fit in with the billionaires, scandalous heiresses and socialites, but she was managing to hold her own.

Seated around the table for eight were Russell and his supermodel date; Becca and Cam; then next to Cam, Geoff Devonshire—a member of the British royal family—and his new wife, Amelia Munroe-Devonshire; next to them were Russell’s CFO, Marcus Willby, and his daughter Penny.

Despite the fact that she expected Cam to focus on doing his own thing he didn’t. He’d taken the seat right next to her at the table and introduced her to as many potential clients as he could. She wondered if he was trying to make up for breaking her heart all those years ago.

She was seated between Russell and Cam. The friendship between the two men was evident by the way they teased each other and joked around. She forgot about the fact that she intended to stay on her guard. To just get through this night as best she could. Until the topic turned to Luna Azul’s Tenth Anniversary celebration over the upcoming Memorial Day weekend. “Did you invite Becca?” Russell asked.

“I didn’t,” Cam said, turning to Becca. “Would you like to come to the party as my guest?”

“You always have time to party,” Amelia said with a smile.

Becca realized that she and Amelia lived in two totally different worlds. To a socialite, it was no big deal to jet down to a party in Miami. But to a working single mother, it was a huge affair. While she liked Amelia, Becca had a feeling she’d never be able to understand the way she lived.

“I own my own business so if I take too many days off, then I don’t get paid,” Becca said.

She wasn’t going to let a table full of socialites pressure her into something she wasn’t sure she wanted to do.

But Becca was curious. “Tell us more about the plans for the party.”

Cam smiled. “Nate is working the celebrity angle so we are going to have a room full of A-listers. Justin has smoothed over the tension we had in the local community and we will be combining the party with the groundbreaking for our new Mercado. That is the work I wanted to talk to you about,” he said.

“We should probably discuss it later,” she said, not wanting to talk business now.

“Definitely,” he said.

“We can all give you some business advice, Becca,” Russell said. “No sense letting you screw up the way I did early in my career.”

“I can’t imagine Russell making many mistakes,” Amelia Munroe-Devonshire said. She was the guest speaker tonight. There was a time when she’d been more infamous than famous as the heiress to the Munroe hotel chain. But then she had married Geoff Devonshire last year and had been in the spotlight lately for her humanitarian work instead of her scandals.

“I have made more than my share, Amelia. I just managed to keep them out of the headlines.”

“Touché! It’s remarkably easier to stay out of the tabloids these days than it used to be. I can’t believe it,” she said.

Becca smiled at the heiress. She was funny and very fashionable but also down-to-earth—something Becca hadn’t expected.

“That’s because I keep a firm hand on the situation,” Geoff said. Geoff was a minor member of the current royal family.

“I believe that,” Cam added. “Both of you are of course invited to the Tenth Anniversary Celebration in Miami.”

“We are scheduled to be in Berne for a special award that Geoff’s brother’s mother is receiving,” Amelia said.

“You must be proud of her,” Becca said. Like most people she knew that Geoff and his two brothers had the same father but different mothers. The scandal that had rocked the world in the ‘70s when they’d been born had followed the men into adulthood and only last year when Malcolm Devonshire had died had it seemed to be put to rest.

“We are. Steven asked us to attend and we can’t say no to family,” Geoff said.

“No, you can’t,” Cam agreed. “That’s why I now have a brother in New York while our business is based in Miami. Justin is up here helping his fiancée close up her apartment before she moves back to Miami.”

Geoff laughed. “You do what you have to when it comes to family.”

Family. It was something she seldom thought about except in relation to her eighteen-month-old son, Ty. Her father had left when she was two, and her mother had died of breast cancer when Becca was a junior in college. She’d been on her own for so long that it had never occurred to her that she’d taken something very precious from Ty until this moment.

Ty had uncles and a father who might want to know him. Might.

That was a big word to base her fears on. One thing she knew for certain was that he’d never intended her to be the mother of his child.

She’d never intended it either.

The conversations turned to more private matters, and eventually Russell got up to introduce Amelia. Becca didn’t know if she could sit at the table for another minute. She needed to get out of there.

She wanted to go back home to Garden City where there was comfort in the walls of the home she’d grown up in and in holding her sweet eighteen-month-old son.

As the lights went down and Amelia took the stage, Becca fumbled for her purse. It fell to the floor. Cam leaned in close, his big arm behind her.

“Are you okay? “

“Yes. I just need to step outside for a minute.”

Cam reached down and picked up her handbag, handing it back to her. She pulled out her cell phone and saw that she’d missed a call from Jasper, her nanny. Finally some karma that might be good.

“I’ve got to go,” she said, standing and weaving her way through the tables. She got to the lobby of the club and saw that it was crowded with patrons.

She made her way to a quiet alcove set off the main entrance. She sat down on a padded bench before calling Jasper back.

“It’s Becca,” she said as he answered the phone.

“Sorry to bother you,” Jasper said. “Burt is sick so I had to take Ty to my house. I wanted to make sure you knew before you came home.”

Burt was Jasper’s twelve-year-old English bulldog.“Not a problem. Thanks for letting me know. I might stop by and get Ty tonight.”

“I figured you’d want to. I can even meet you at your house if you call when you are about fifteen minutes away.”

“I will do that,” she said, hanging up the phone.

She stood up and turned to leave the alcove but found that Cam was standing there.

“Everything okay?” he asked.

She nodded. “No emergencies.”

“That’s good. Amelia’s done talking and they’ve opened up the dance floor.”

“And?”

“I’d like to dance with you, Becca. We’ve never done that and it’s been too long since I held you in my arms.”

Two

Becca found herself pressed close to Cam on the dance floor a short while later. He smelled good, like expensive aftershave, and she had to really struggle to keep from resting her head on his chest. But she wanted to. It had been so long since she had anyone hold her, and she’d spent the last two years feeling very alone. She didn’t need a man … she got on very well without one. But there was something about dancing with Cam to the slow bluesy song “Love Is a Losing Game” that Amy Winehouse had made popular a few years ago….

“You’re a good dancer,” she said.

“My mother insisted on lessons. She might not have been too involved in her sons’ lives, but she did make sure we were raised proper gentlemen.”

“What does a proper gentleman do?”

“He knows how to talk to a woman, how to romance her.”

“Romance? Is that what you are doing to me?” she asked. She hadn’t gotten a chance to know the real Cam Stern when they’d had their affair, and though she’d thought she loved him, she knew that had been based on sex and quiet moments in the dark of night. She’d never danced with him or really even seen him outside of that hotel bedroom.

“I am,” he said, pulling her close and spinning them around. Though the dance floor was crowded, she felt like they were the only two people in the room. His eyes were intense as he looked down at her. She felt as if they could bore all the way through to her soul and the secret she kept from him.

She should go. She should walk out of his arms and leave. She needed to remember that no matter how romantic the night felt, Cam wasn’t the kind of man who was interested in settling down or starting a family. And she came with a ready-made one.

He kept his arms around her, and she told herself she was Cinderella and this was for only one night. Even Cindy had gotten one night with her Prince. She knew that Cam wasn’t some white knight who could rescue her. She’d seen the chinks in his armor. But when he held her close like this, it was easy to forget about that all that. It was so easy for her to just pretend that for once she was going to have her cake and eat it, too.

“What are you thinking?” she asked, as she glanced up and found him staring at her.

“That you are the most beautiful woman in the room,” he said.

She flushed and shook her head. “I’m not.”

“In my eyes you are,” he said. He leaned down, and the warmth of his breath brushed her cheek as he spoke directly into her ear. “You are the most exquisite woman I’ve ever seen. You have haunted my dreams.”

“Then why did you wait so long to get back in touch with me?” she asked.

“I didn’t think you’d be able to forgive me. And I wasn’t sure if I had fantasized about you so much that I made you into someone you weren’t. But none of that matters now.”

But it did. He was talking to her as if nothing had happened except a bad breakup. But she knew there was so much more between them, and she had no idea how to tell him.

He wasn’t the evil ogre she’d made him out to be. She’d known that even back then, but she had pride. Some said too much pride was a bad thing, but Becca didn’t really know how to define “too much.” She had only understood that Cam wasn’t the kind of man who’d take the news of her pregnancy well.

She twisted and started to walk away from him.

He caught up with her and grabbed her arm as she reached the edge of the dance floor. “Where are you going?”

“I can’t do this, Cam. I am trying to pretend this is all just a nice night out, but every time I look in your face I see the past. And I’m just not ready to deal with that tonight.”

“I’m not asking you to,” he said. “I think we should forget about what happened between us—”

“I can’t. It’s way too complicated to go into now, but trust me when I say I could never pretend we didn’t meet.”

“That’s a good thing,” he said.

She shook her head and pulled away from him. “No, it’s not. There are things about me that you don’t know.”

“Tell me about them,” he said.

“Not here. Come to my house tomorrow morning.”

“I can’t wait until tomorrow,” he said.

She smiled up at him as he leaned in close. The hardness of his body was a remembered thrill. “We already did lust. Remember?”

“Yes,” he said. “I know you remember, too. It’s there in your eyes when I hold you. You still want me.”

She did still want him, but she liked to think she was older and wiser. Please, God, let her be wiser. She couldn’t fall for him again. Wouldn’t let herself be that weak where he was concerned. Cam Stern wasn’t the kind of guy she could have a one-night stand with and walk away from.

But that was what she wanted. She wanted to pretend they were strangers with no baggage or no commitments. That they could have one night of passion with no consequences. But it was too late for that. She was emotionally entangled with him, even though he wasn’t with her.

She went up on her tiptoes and rubbed her lips over his and then slowly opened her mouth and kissed him.

She held on to his shoulders and felt his mouth move against hers. He parted her lips with his own, and his tongue snaked over her teeth into her mouth.

His thrusts were light and teasing, making her crave so much more of him. She opened her mouth wider, held on to his shoulders and let everything drop away. She didn’t think about the past or her secrets. She didn’t think about the glittering people at this charity ball. She didn’t think of anything except Cam Stern and his mouth.

That oh-so-talented mouth that was moving over hers and making her forget everything except the way he tasted and the way he felt.

His lips were firm but also tender against hers. His hands smoothed their way down her spine. One sprawled in the middle of her back and the other dipped lower to her hips, drawing her closer to him.

“Let’s get out of here,” Cam said. “We need to go someplace private.”

Confused for the first time in a very long time, Becca really didn’t know what to do. So she followed Cam out of the ballroom and onto the street as he hailed a cab.

Cam wasn’t ready to let the night end. Seeing Becca again wasn’t at all what he had thought it would be.

The April sky was clear, the night air a little cool but not cold when they left the club. Cam had said his goodbyes to Russell earlier and Russell had offered the car, but Cam had turned him down. He liked to do things his own way. He wanted to be in control.

Cam hailed a cab for them and asked to be taken to his hotel, the Affinia Manhattan, which was a suite-only hotel. Though he’d only been in town for a few days, Cam liked to have room to be comfortable. At six-five, he was a big man, and he didn’t like to be in a room crammed with a bed and a dresser.

“I thought you said you only wanted someplace private,” Becca said, arching one eyebrow. “Why do we need to go to your hotel? “

“I don’t know any other quiet place we can talk.” He wanted her to himself. That was one thing he’d done right during their affair. They had spent all of their time together in her hotel room. Having sex and lying in each other’s arms. Despite the fact that they were both working hard during the day, the nights had been filled with only each other.

She tipped her head to the side. She studied him, and he wondered what she was searching for. When he looked at her, he saw the same beautiful, sexy woman he’d known two years ago. But she had changed. There was something mysterious about the woman sitting next to him now.

“Okay, we can go to your hotel, but we are getting a drink in the lobby bar.”

“Fair enough. I want to take my time and really apologize for the way things ended.”

“Apology accepted,” she said.

She was a graceful and charming woman, and as she sat next to him during the cab ride, he surreptitiously studied her. Her heart-shaped face was framed by her hair, and her eyes were dark and mysterious in this light.

He wouldn’t have thought to look into his romantic past to find a woman to move forward with, but it made sense to him now that Becca was here.

He stretched his arm out behind her and toyed with the soft tendrils of hair at the base of her neck. “Thank you. But I know you like me so I have that in my favor.”

“How do you know this?” she asked.

“The way you smile at me,” he admitted. “And the way you kissed me.”

“That wasn’t about you,” she said.

“It wasn’t?”

“No. It was a gift to myself. A chance for me to taste the forbidden fruit of the past and then move on.”

“Why are you in this car with me now?”

“I wanted to hear what you had to say,” she said. “I really don’t know much about you.”

“Or I about you,” he said.

“I think men like it that way,” she said.

“Men? I hope I’m a little different than every other man out there,” he said. “I think I want to know everything about you.”

She shook her head. “I doubt that. As long as I have secrets then I will be mysterious and just a little more attractive to you.”

“You couldn’t be anything less than you are right now, Becca. I want you.”

She shook her head again. “I know you do, but we aren’t going down that path.”

“I can’t think of anything except you in my arms,” he said, watching her blush.

“Why are you here? You said Justin is helping his fiancée move.”

He laughed. “Fine. I will stop talking about your sexy little body for a few a minutes, but I can’t stop thinking about you naked in my arms.”

“Cam.”

“Okay.” He knew he was pushing her, but he only had this night before he had to return to Miami. And apologizing for the way things had ended between them wasn’t enough to repair the damage he’d done. He wanted her back. He hadn’t realized how much until he’d danced with her. Kissed her.

“I’m here visiting Justin and to attend this charity ball tonight. The African Children’s Fund was one of my mother’s pet charities,” Cam said as the car started moving.

“Well, that’s nice.” She would have liked to think that she’d made a clean break with everything Cam Stern, but she still read about him in magazines, and late at night when she was feeling very alone, she sometimes went on the internet and read about him. She should have realized he’d be here tonight, but honestly, she’d been busy with work, and having an eighteen-month-old kept her on her toes.

“What have you been up to?” she asked.

“I think I mentioned we are celebrating Luna Azul’s tenth anniversary. Even if you can’t take me on as a client, I would like you to come to Miami. My invitation earlier was genuine.”

“Um …”

“Think about it, Becca.”

“I’ll do that,” she said, but she knew the answer had to be no.

“Ten years is a long time,” she said.

“Yes, it is. Are you interested in redesigning the new marketplace?”

“Sounds like that will be a fun project. You can email me the details on that.”

“Are you really going to make small talk and pretend that a casual business acquaintance is all that we have between us? “

“Yup,” she said. “That’s all we have.”

“I remember,” he said. “But I never meant for those weeks to be the only ones we spent together.”

“I know you wanted me to be your mistress … I’m sorry I asked for more.”

He said nothing and the silence grew between them.

“You travelled a lot for business back then and I expected you to be back in Miami frequently.”

“I stopped working for Russell so I wasn’t making as many trips to Miami as I used to.”

She bit back a sad smile. To Cam she was just someone to have sex with. She’d seen that pretty early on, and while she enjoyed the white-hot passion that flowed so strongly between them, once she’d discovered she was pregnant, she knew she couldn’t be with him.

She had someone else to think of … Ty. Her little gift from Cam.

But talking to him made her realize why she’d liked him so much. The truth was, from the first moment they’d met she’d liked him. He was honest and fair and so damned handsome that she couldn’t stop staring at him.

Blue was such a nondescript word for the color of his eyes. They were deep blue, the kind of color that she’d seen in only one other place—the azure waters of Fiji. His jaw was strong and well-defined, but it was his mouth that captured her. Those strong lips that felt so soft and so right against her own.

“You’re staring at me,” he said wryly.

“I forgot how good-looking you are.”

That startled a laugh out of him. “Why did you start your own business? Do you like it?”

“I do,” she admitted. “More than I expected to. And being my own boss means I can control my workload. You know Russell is a complete workaholic, so if I’d continued at Kiwi I would probably be in the office tonight.”

“Very true,” Cam said, stretching his arm along the back of the seat. His fingers brushed her shoulder and she glanced up at him to see if he was trying to distract her. But he didn’t seem to notice the accidental touch.

Cam watched her carefully, and she hoped that he took her story at face value and let the topic drop. She knew that right now she had the opportunity to tell him about Ty, but she couldn’t find the words.

He tipped his head to the side, and she realized that this evening wasn’t going the way she wanted it to. She should be home with Ty.

She thought about how scared she’d been the first night she’d brought him home from the hospital. She had always been focused on her career, so she hadn’t had any girlfriends to come and stay with her. And every time little Ty had cried, she’d cried with him.

It had been the longest night of her life, and she’d missed her own mom so keenly it had hurt. But then morning had come, and she and Ty had found their own way.

“What are you thinking about?” he asked.

“Nothing,” she said. Seeing Cam again gave her a chance to let him know that he had a son. But she had no idea how he felt about family. She knew he didn’t believe in love and had two years ago wanted nothing more from a woman than sex.

“Have you ever thought about having a family? Not just your brothers. I mean a family of your own.”

This was it. If he said, Yes, I’d love to have kids, then she would say, Oh, that’s funny, you have a son.

“No.”

“Why not?” she asked. Already she had an inkling she wasn’t going to like the answer. Cam was too much of a workaholic businessman to want a family. He had only had time for the affair with her because it hadn’t interfered with his job. And she knew that.

“I had a paternity suit brought against me right as Luna Azul started taking off. The suit was false but we had to go to court and I think that made me realize that having a child was something I wanted to take very seriously. I didn’t want to have a child with just any woman.”

Becca’s stomach dropped, and she felt like she was going to be sick. She wrapped an arm around her own waist and knew there was no way she could just tell Cam that Ty was his son. In fact, she just wanted to get out of this car and return to her safe little home as quickly as possible.

Three

Cam had a hard time looking at Becca and not touching her. There was something about her that called to him, and he knew part of it at least was the false feeling that they were still intimates. It didn’t matter that it had been over two years since he’d last seen her. He wanted her, and it felt to him that no time had passed.

“I’m glad we met again tonight,” he said. He rubbed his finger over her cheek. Her skin was so soft that he could touch it for hours.

The cab pulled to a stop in front of his hotel, and he paid the driver before following Becca out of the cab. The doorman held the door open as they approached.

“I have to call for a car now or I’ll never get one later,” she said. “I’ll meet you in the bar. Go ahead and order me a Baileys.”

“I’ll take care of the car. You go get a seat and I’ll be right there.”

“I’d rather—”

He put his finger over her lips. They were full, and he was dying to kiss her again. Touching her mouth, he found it soft and even more tempting than he’d expected.

“I said I’ll take care of it.”

She playfully nipped at his fingertip and then turned and walked away.

He watched her. She’d surprised him, and he reminded himself that a lot had changed with Becca in the last two years.

And he was dying to know more.

But if he was going to build trust with Becca, he needed to respect the fact that she didn’t want to be rushed into his bed. So he called for a car, asking for it to arrive in an hour.

He joined her in a quiet area of the bar where she’d found two large armchairs and a small table.

“I ordered you a Baileys, too.”

“Thanks. Your car will be here in an hour,” he said.

“Great. So what did you want to talk to me about?” she asked.

“Us. Are you going to give us another chance to get to know one another?” he asked.

As she nibbled on her lower lip, he wanted to groan out loud but didn’t. He wanted her mouth, and promised himself that before he put her in a car back to Long

Island, he was going to taste her and prove to himself that she couldn’t taste as good as he remembered.

“I’m thinking about it,” she said at last. Their drinks arrived, and she held hers with both hands. “It’s hard for me to just rush into anything with you.”

“If we are going to get to know each other, we should talk,” he said. “Tell me something about you that I don’t already know.”

She paused, her eyes darkening.

“I don’t like surprises,” she said.

“What kind?” he asked.

“Any of them. I like my life to go according to plan. I can adjust and change my plan but I don’t want to have to do it too often.”

“Me, too,” he said. “Though to be honest, usually I just bully my way through a situation until I get the results I want.”

“Hence me having a drink with you tonight,” she said.

He just smiled and lifted his glass toward her. He took a sip and sat back in his chair.

“Tell me more about why you are in Manhattan,” she said.

“Justin and I are exploring the idea of expanding Luna Azul someday. We are discussing eventually opening clubs in other parts of the country. Manhattan is the first location we are contemplating.”

“That’s a big step,” she said.

“It is. And to be honest, I love our Miami locals. But we are ready for it. And now that you and I have reconnected I will have another reason to come up here.”

“Cam—”

He shook his head when she tried to speak. “I want to get to know you better, Becca.”

“I don’t know if that is a good idea. I’m more complicated than you probably have time for,” she said. Her eyes had narrowed, and she tipped her head to the side, studying him.

“I know that. That’s why … Am I wrong here to think that there is something between us?”

“No. We’ve always had that attraction that is impossible to resist, but I want more than that. And you don’t.”

“I’m willing to try it.”

“Try what? I had a hard time getting over you, Cam. I don’t think I want to take a chance on letting you break my heart again.”

“I can’t make promises,” he said. “But I do know that I want more than a secret affair. Will you at least agree to come to Miami for the Tenth Anniversary party and spend the weekend with me? “

“As your lover?” she asked.

“I hope so. Definitely as my friend. I want to get to know you better. I feel like we have something unfinished between us.”

Becca didn’t panic. But she wanted to. Cam had no real idea of what was unfinished between them. She knew that he was talking about sexual attraction or maybe the kind of thing that made her tick. And she knew she wasn’t going to share too much with Cam until she could trust him.

“I think that isn’t going to be as easy as you might think,” she said.

“I know it’s not. But anything and anyone worth having is worth working to get to know.”

She wasn’t sure if he’d mellowed or if it was simply that he was keeping the passion that had flared between them the first time under wraps. But talking was making her realize that Cam was a decent man. A man she wanted to know better and maybe a man that she wanted her son to know.

“I agree.” She had to find out more about his past. Had to understand the best way to tell him they had a son. “So tell me what kind of woman you would choose to have a child with,” she said.

It was the one thing she wanted to know. Telling him about Ty was only the first step—making sure that he treated her son well once he knew that Ty was his was the important part.

“That’s a big jump in conversation.”

“I know, but I want to know the kind of man you are.”

He leaned back in his chair and took another sip of his drink. “I’ve never really thought about it. My dad was everything to me when I was growing up, and my mother was more concerned with her social position than her children.”

“I’m sorry.”

He shrugged. “It is what it is. No changing the type of woman she was. But I want to make a better choice than my dad did. I want a woman who will want to be a mother to our children. Who will make them a priority,” he said.

His words made her feel better that he was Ty’s father. But she still didn’t know if he was just paying lip service to the type of man he thought he should be. And to be fair, he probably didn’t know either. She’d had similar uncertainty about becoming a parent. She’d never expected to be a mom and had thought she’d have a nanny who took care of the kid all the time. But once Ty was in her arms, she’d realized she didn’t want to miss a moment of his life.

She nodded. “I want that, too. I mean in a dad. I don’t want a man who is on his BlackBerry with the office while he is at home and supposed to be spending time with the family.”

“Good. Something we have in common,” he said. “We both think family should come first. That is partly why I wasn’t ready to settle down with you two years ago, Becca.”

“Life is complicated sometimes,” she said.

“Very.”

He leaned forward and took her hand in his. “I really do want this to be a fresh start for us.”

She was afraid to believe him. She knew that they’d never be able to make a fresh start unless she came clean first about Ty. But tonight she didn’t want to ruin the feeling between them. That excitement and hope that came from getting to know someone the first time—for her it was building on the fantasies she’d spun around Cam since she’d had Ty.

She wasn’t going to lie; she’d wanted him to come back into her life. She just never thought that he would. And now here he was.

“Why are you staring at me?” he asked.

“I just realized that I like you.”

That made him chuckle. “What’s not to like?”

“You are autocratic and bossy,” she said.

“I think you like that, too. You need a man who doesn’t let you ride roughshod all over him.”

“Did I do that before?”

“No, but I think I was the exception. You are very used to getting your way,” he said.

“I am. I have had to be. Since I was twenty I’ve been on my own and that means I have to make good choices.”

“Have you always made them?” he asked.

She shook her head. “No, but I try not to have regrets. I mean I can’t change any decision I made to get where I am today.”

That was one thing she’d learned growing up. Her mother had said that everyone makes mistakes. A wise person learns from them and moves on. A fool lingers over them and spends all their time wishing they’d done something else.

He lifted his glass. “A toast to knowing what you want, and getting it.”

“A toast,” she said.

He looked at her as if she was the very thing he wanted. That made her feel warm all over, and she knew no matter how hard she tried to keep this tame, it wasn’t going to work. She wanted Cam. He was everything she liked in a man. She loved his height; he was taller than she was, with big shoulders and firm muscles. She remembered the way they’d fit together when they’d made love, so perfectly, and she wanted him again.

It had been a long time since she’d slept with a man—since Cam to be exact—and she felt overdue. But a one-night stand wasn’t the answer.

“I have a confession to make,” Cam said.

She didn’t want him to tell her anything else. She just wanted this hour to pass and for her to get into the car and drive away. And this time she hoped that they’d stay apart because the more time she spent with Cam, the more she realized that she missed having a man in her life. Missed having this man in her life.

“And that is?” she asked.

“I’m going to kiss you before you get in the car tonight,” he said.

She shivered, and everything feminine in her came to attention. She wanted to feel his big strong arms around her again. Wanted him to hold her and make her feel like she wasn’t alone in the world.

“I was planning to let you,” she said because she didn’t want him to get the upper hand. And because it was the truth—other than the one big lie, she was going to be honest with Cam.

“I thought you wanted to start slow,” he said.

“I do, but denying there is lust between us is silly. I want you and I suspect you are very aware of it.”

“I am. But I don’t want you to feel pressured,” he said.

And that made her heart melt. That one comment made her realize that Cam was a man that she wanted not only in her bed but also in her life.

The driver of Becca’s car sent Cam a text when he was outside the hotel.

“Your car is here,” Cam told Becca.

“So soon? I really enjoyed talking to you tonight. I’m glad you insisted we get together.”

She sounded so casual, as if they were old friends and not old lovers. He knew that was the only way to be unless they wanted to rehash every moment that they’d been apart.

“Me, too,” he said. He had enjoyed talking with her. She was intelligent and well-spoken and not afraid to laugh at herself. “I’m going to insist we have breakfast together as well, and then we can discuss business. If you can’t help with the Mercado, I think that the Manhattan club will be right up your alley.”

“It might be,” she said, getting to her feet. “If we have breakfast it will have to be at my place. I hate the morning drive to the city.”

He laughed. “Very well. I will come to your place. Give me your address.”

She gave it to him as he led the way through the lobby. But instead of taking her out the front door, he pulled her down a hallway to a small intimate alcove.

“I don’t want to say good night in front of other people.” He put his hands on her waist and drew her into the curve of his body. She fit next to him like a puzzle piece that had found its mate.

“Why not?” she asked, tipping her head back to look up at him.

“I told you I’m going to kiss you, and some things should never be done in public.”

He pulled her closer. “That was one thing we did right the first time, kept this private.”

She stared up at him. Her eyes were wide and pretty, but he thought he also saw some trepidation in them.

“I agree there. I don’t like everyone to know my business,” she said.

He stroked his finger over her cheek and then traced her bottom lip with it. She opened her mouth and the tip of her tongue brushed his finger. Everything tightened in his body, and he leaned down, rubbing his lips back and forth against hers before gently mingling his tongue with hers.

She tasted just as good as he remembered, her mouth hot and moist. The Baileys they’d drunk flavored the kiss, but it was the taste of Becca that was addictive.

She moaned deep in her throat, and he tilted his head to deepen the kiss. He was starving for her and was only just realizing it. Letting her go had been a mistake.

He reached down her back and spanned her small waist with his hands, lifting her off her feet towards him. The small mounds of her breasts rested against his chest.

She pulled her mouth away. “I think this is getting out of control.”

She had a point, but he didn’t want to let her go. Not yet. He lowered his head again, and she lifted hers to meet him. Her tongue slipped into his mouth, rubbing seductively against his, and he hardened.

Letting her go was going to be difficult. But he had made her a promise that they’d go slower this time. And he’d keep it, even if it killed him.

Slowly he let her slide down his body until she was standing on her own again. He pulled back and lifted his head.

“Definitely out of control, but I like it.”

She rubbed her fingers over her mouth. “I do, too. But I don’t want to make a mistake.”

“What kind of mistake?” he asked.

She shook her head. “Nothing. So how about nine-thirty for breakfast tomorrow?”

“Sure. But I’m not letting you change the subject,” he said.

She bit her lower lip. “I just want to make sure we both know what we are doing.”

“I do,” he assured her. He took her hand in his and led her back out into the lobby. It was odd to think of the passionate embrace they’d shared happening so close to the real world and strangers.

“You sound confident but there are things you don’t know, Cam,” she said.

“Then tell me about them,” he invited. “I want to know everything this time, Becca. No halfway for us.”

“I’m not ready to talk about all my secrets,” she said.

“I’m not going anywhere, so when you are ready we will talk. There are things that take time to find their way out,” he said.

“Do you have secrets?” she asked, then shook her head wryly. “Of course you do. You are a complex man.”

“Am I? I think I’m a simple man with simple needs.”

“And what are they?” she asked as they approached the front door of the hotel.

“Right now, they involve you in my arms. But that’s not happening tonight.”

“So what are you going to do?”

“I think I’ll go to my room and pour myself a drink.”

“Drinking is never the solution,” she said.

“I know that, but it will take the edge off my wanting you.”

“Does that really work?” she asked.

“I have no idea, but I’m going to give it a try,” he said.

She turned and then leaned up and kissed him really quickly. Just a brief touch that sent sparks through his already aroused body.

“Thank you.”

“For?”

“Stopping and not pressuring me. It would have been very easy for you to change my mind,” she admitted.

He knew that, but he wasn’t going to say it out loud. “I want more than one night with you, Becca.”

She tipped her head to the side to study him. “I hope so. I’m not that temporary woman I was back then.”

“I can see that. I hope you will learn that I’m a different man, too. I’m ready to settle down with the right woman,” he admitted.

“I’m not sure I’m that person,” she said.

“No pressure. I just wanted to let you know that I’ve changed, as well.”

“I could tell right away. No BlackBerry in your hand during dinner,” she said.

“With you by my side I’m not focused on work as much as pleasure.”

She flushed. “You are very good about pleasure.”

“Thank you.” He kissed her hard and deep. “See you in the morning.”

She nodded and walked to the car. He watched until the car drove away and then turned and headed back upstairs. He needed to know more about Becca but he had to be careful. He didn’t want to be the man to hurt her … again.

Four

Becca woke early, as she always had since becoming a mom. She fed Ty his breakfast and then set him in his playpen while she checked her email. Last night she’d managed maybe two hours of sleep. Her dreams had been plagued with visions of Cam. The dreams were an odd mix of passionate embraces and tearful explanations. And today she felt very apprehensive about inviting him to her house for breakfast.

But it was too late. Cam and she had too much between them for her to just let him walk out of her life this time. And she couldn’t move forward until he knew about Ty. It was going to be hard … how did you tell a man that he’d fathered a child with you nearly two years earlier?

She hoped he’d be accepting and understand why she hadn’t contacted him earlier, but she wasn’t too confident of that.

The paternity suit he’d mentioned yesterday bothered her. She wished she had more time to do some research on it. But when she’d done a cursory search of the internet, she’d found nothing.

She glanced over at Ty and thought about Cam. What would he think of his son? She should just tell him, she thought, now, before things went any further between them. But she was afraid.

And she hated to give up control of a situation. Right now she made every decision in Ty’s life. She chose the nanny and the food and when he went to bed. Once Cam knew about his son, everything would change.

Her life wasn’t easy, but it was hers. And the choices she made about Ty’s upbringing were hers and hers alone to make. She knew that when there were two parents, things could be difficult. Yet it was a dynamic she’d never experienced since just her mom had raised her.

Growing up alone with just one parent hadn’t been easy, but it was what she was used to. So once she’d realized she was pregnant and made the decision to go it alone, she’d settled into it very easily. She’d felt she already had the best example of how a mom handled being a single parent.

The doorbell rang and she glanced at the clock. It was nine. It was a little early for Cam, but she wasn’t expecting anyone else. She picked up the baby monitor, leaving Ty playing happily in his playpen, and headed for the door. A quick glance out the window confirmed that it was Cam.

She opened the door. He wore a pair of chinos and a golf shirt. He smelled of aftershave and looked well put-together. She felt frumpy in her slim-fitting yoga pants and T-shirt—so not ready to face the world or Cam Stern yet.

“You’re early.”

“Good morning to you, too,” he said with a smile. “I brought bagels and coffee so I hope I will be forgiven.”

She shook her head. Cam threw her off balance. Even without trying, he was doing it to her this morning. She needed that thirty minutes to get her mind wrapped around how to tell him about Ty. “No, you’re not. I wanted to change out of messy clothes before you got here.”

“You look lovely,” he said.

“I don’t feel it. I should make you wait on the front step but that coffee smells really good.”

“Then I will come in and sit in the other room while you get changed.” He seemed so reasonable that she started to feel a bit like a grump.

“Sorry I’m being so grouchy, but I am not a morning person. You can come in and wait for me on the back patio while I get changed,” she said. She opened the door and turned to lead the way through the house.

“I’ll want a tour later.”

“If you’re lucky,” she said. She led him to the back screened-in porch where she had a glider in one corner and a small round table with four chairs. In the winter months she had glass windows installed to make the room usable year-round.

“I will take care of breakfast. I brought everything we’d need.”

She thought she was handling the surprise of him very well when one word from the baby monitor shattered her composure.

“Mama?”

“Mama?” Cam asked.

“I … I have a son. Sit down and I’ll be right back.”

She left the patio and a perplexed Cam and went to get Ty from his playpen. She bent down and scooped him and kissed his little head. She hugged him close and closed her eyes, pretending that the next few minutes weren’t going to completely change their world. But there was no denying it.

As they returned to the back porch, Ty became talkative. “Hi, man,” Ty said, from her shoulder.

“Cam, this is Ty.”

Cam looked at Ty and then back at her. And then back at Ty again. She saw in his face … he knew there was something familiar about Ty.

“Hi, Ty.”

Cam turned to face them both and held out his hand. Ty reached for it and tugged on his finger and then squirmed to get down. He could walk and crawl and really liked being independent.

She bent over to set him down, and he immediately toddled over to Cam. He held on to Cam’s leg and looked up at him.

Cam ruffled her son’s hair. “I don’t know if it is because the last baby I was this close to was Nate, but he reminds me a little of my brother.”

Becca felt as if her heart was going to beat right out of her chest. This would be the perfect moment to tell him why. “Well, it’s funny you should say that—”

But his phone started ringing, and he pulled the BlackBerry out of his pocket. He glanced at the screen and then back at her.

“I have to take this. Do you mind?”

She shook her head and walked over to scoop up her son. She felt odd. She’d almost told him the most important bit of news he could hope to get and then business—work—had interrupted. Maybe that was a sign, she thought.

“I’ll go get changed and be back in a minute,” she said, walking away.

She had to remind herself that when she’d considered calling Cam and telling him that they were going to have a child, she’d decided not to because he just didn’t seem like the type of man to want a family.

Their relationship had just been something to get them through the hot Miami nights. She knew that she was partially to blame for that. On some level, it had been exactly what she’d needed from him during that time. He hadn’t been ready for anything else, and she knew that because she’d bared her soul to him and he’d told her to hit the road.

There were moments when she still wasn’t sure she believed she was a mom. She still didn’t believe that her life had taken this unexpected turn and she was where she was today.

But she did want a new start. A part of her did want a partner to share the rest of her life with. And she and Cam did have sexual chemistry in their favor. One thing that Becca had figured out about herself over the last two years was that she missed sex and having a man in her life.

She entered her bedroom and set Ty on the floor while she quickly changed into some nice caramel-colored trousers and a light blue sweater. She put her hair up in a chignon after she washed her face and applied her makeup. Looking in the mirror, she thought she seemed normal enough, but inside she was a mess.

She sat down in the large padded armchair in the corner of her room. It had been her mother’s, and sitting there often made Becca feel closer to her.

“What am I going to do?” she asked out loud.

“Mama?”

She glanced over at Ty, who was walking slowly toward her, then decided crawling would be faster and dropped to all fours. “Yes, baby?”

“Where man go?”

She bent over and picked him up, holding him on her lap. “He’s still out there making us breakfast.”

Becca tried to talk in full sentences to Ty even though she wasn’t sure he always understood things. She kissed his soft forehead and felt such joy, love and comfort just from holding him. She didn’t want to do anything to jeopardize that.

Her own mother had kept her father’s identity from Becca until Becca was eleven. But her father hadn’t been a very successful man, and it hadn’t been easy for Becca to locate him. In fact, she’d searched more than once for him but never found a trace.

And that had left an emptiness inside of her. Something no amount of soul-searching or club-joining could fill.

There had been other kids of divorced parents at her school, but she’d been the only one who hadn’t known her father. Heck, she never even knew his real name.

She didn’t want that for Ty. Not when she had an opportunity to give him a father—his real father. She’d have to do it, she thought.

She stood up and walked out the door with a purpose. Cam Stern was going to learn the truth about Ty today, and then she’d deal with the consequences because she wanted her son to have everything that she’d never had.

She wanted him to go to good schools and have new bikes and nice friends. But she also wanted him to have a father. To have a man who’d play catch with him and talk to him. And teach him to drive to someday. And she wasn’t going to find a better man than the one who had unknowingly sired him.

Cam was still on the phone when she came out of the bedroom but looked up at her when he saw them. He smiled and then wrapped up his conversation. And despite her determination to tell Cam the truth, her determination to ensure that Ty had a relationship with his father, she faltered. Because she knew that Cam would never again look at her the way he did right now once she told him the truth.

Cam finished up his call. There was no way that Ty wasn’t his child. He looked just like Nate and had the same cowlick that Cam himself had. But how was that possible? He wasn’t a man who left things like that to chance.

Becca came back into the room holding the baby, and Cam waited to see how she would proceed. He was angry that she’d kept his son from him, but he wanted to hear what she had to say.

“I’m so glad our paths were brought back together. I felt like we had unfinished business after the way things ended,” Becca said. “In fact I have something important to talk to you about.”

“That sounds very cryptic.”

“I hope that once I tell you … there’s no easy way for me to say what I have to, Cam. I want you to know that the last thing I ever wanted to do was to hurt you.”

“I repeat—that sounds very cryptic,” he said. He glanced again at the boy.

“Oh, man, there is no easy way to say this.”

“Just do it,” he said.

“Yes. Um … sit down,” she said.

As soon as he sat down, she popped up and paced away from him.

She shoved her fingers into her hair and pulled. “You’re his father, Cam. I got pregnant when we were together.”

“What?” he asked.

“You are Ty’s father,” she said. There—it was out in the open, and now they could discuss it like two mature adults.

“I don’t believe it.”

“What’s not to believe?”

“We used condoms every time.”

“You know they aren’t one-hundred-percent reliable, right?”

“Of course I do. But this has never happened to me before, so don’t be snarky,” Cam said, getting to his feet. He was the determined businessman she’d first met two years ago. A man used to getting answers. A man used to getting his way.

“I wasn’t trying to be sarcastic. I just have been struggling to tell you about Ty and it never occurred to me that you’d doubt he was yours.”

“That’s where you made your mistake. I’ve had another woman accuse me of being the father of her child.”

Becca put her hands up in the air. “I’m not going to argue with you about this.”

“Of course you aren’t,” he said. “I’m not sure I can believe that I have son, but I see the resemblance and I suspected …”

“You do have one. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about him sooner but I never had any idea that you would care.”

He turned back toward her, and she’d never seen anyone look angrier than he did. She took a step away from him, but he didn’t walk toward her.

“How would you know that?” he asked.

“We weren’t in a relationship, Cam. Don’t you remember—my boss didn’t even know we’d slept together.” She’d been so overwhelmed by Cam that she’d hardly been able to think of what to do. Two years ago … she’d been twenty-five, and no matter how adult and mature she’d thought she was, well, she wasn’t. And Cam had made her feel … just feel. She’d had one other lover before him and it had been little more than a rushed coupling in a college dorm room. But Cam was a real man and he’d swept her away.

“Did you tell Russell?”

Becca felt horrified at the thought of her boss knowing she’d slept with one of his friends. She had kept that knowledge very close.

“No. Of course not. I didn’t tell anyone. I don’t think that Russell even knows I have a son. I told him I was leaving to start my own company. And he was my boss, not my confidant.”

Each question was tearing at her confidence. She briefly wondered if she should have just kept quiet after all, then dismissed the thought.

“I got really sick a month after I left Miami and at first I figured it was just the malaise of a broken heart. I didn’t realize I was pregnant until a few weeks after I got back home.”

Cam ran his fingers through his hair. He was still sorting out the logistics of how things happened. Answering his questions brought back all those feelings she’d had when she’d learned she was pregnant.

“I almost called you. I didn’t have any numbers for you but Russell’s secretary had your office number. Do you remember her? Lani?”

“Yes, I remember her,” Cam said.

“Then you will probably also recall that you were dating her cousin about that time,” Becca said. “And I wasn’t about to call you up and give you the news that you didn’t want. At that point I wouldn’t have been able to handle another rejection. It had seemed to me you had moved on.”

“I guess it would. I still deserved to know I had a son.”

“I know. I’m so sorry that I didn’t tell you but I was in a pretty vulnerable state and you didn’t seem like a viable option for someone to lean on,” she said.

She crossed her arms around her waist and took a deep breath. “To be fair, back then we weren’t anything but lovers. We didn’t know about each other’s lives or really even care. We just met up each night and had hot sex.”

He looked over at her, his large blue eyes unreadable. He seemed so distant and so cold and she really didn’t know what he wanted from her. She had no idea what she should say to smooth over this moment.

“That is a fair assessment of who we were.”

“Yes, it is.”

“Why did you decide to tell me now?” he asked.

She bit her lower lip and fought to find the right thing to say. “When I saw you last night, I realized I owe you the truth.”

She was in an indefensible position. She knew what she’d done was wrong and there was no way to spin this. No way to turn it into anything other than the painful truth.

“Now I’m not sure what I believe. But I’m going to take your word that Ty is my son because I can’t figure out why you’d make that up. Unless you thought you could get money from me?”

“Why would I need money from you?” she asked. Granted, she wasn’t a millionaire like Cam, but she owned her own home and her business was doing very well.

“Everyone always needs more money,” he said.

“I’m seeing a side of you I don’t particularly like,” she said.

“I could say the same. What kind of woman waits until her son is almost two years old to tell the father about him?” he asked.

“I just explained that to you,” she said.

“I’m not buying it, Becca,” he said. “I’m not buying into any of your act anymore.”

“Stop talking to me like that,” she said. “You are angry and you have a right to be, but you are just saying mean things right now.”

“You’re damned right I am. And I have a lot more that I’m trying to hold back. Nothing about this morning has done anything but make me doubt every word you’ve ever said.”

“That’s fine with me, Cam. Why don’t you leave and we’ll never have to see each other again?” she said. She marched over to the door and opened it.

But Cam shook his head. “I’m not leaving yet.”

“Oh, I think you are,” she said. “I don’t care if we ever see you again.”

“Sit down, Becca. We’re about to come to an understanding and I’m not leaving here without my son.”

Cam had never expected to hear anything like the news Becca had just delivered. He let anger roil through him because if he had a chance to think, he was going to be hurt and upset. Two emotions he wasn’t about to let her know she’d caused.

“The first thing we will do tomorrow is to find a doctor who can do a paternity test.”

“Why? I just told you that Ty was your son.”

“I want an official document saying he is and then we will modify the birth certificate so that my name is on there,” he said. Now that he was pushing aside the anger, there were a lot of housekeeping items that had to be tended to if they were going to sort out an arrangement for Ty that would ensure his welfare.

“Okay, I can see why you’d want that,” she said.

“Good,” he said, but he didn’t care if she agreed or not. He had rights, and since she’d hidden his son from him since his birth, Cam intended to make up for lost time.

“Next up we will see my attorney and he will draw up papers for us to have joint custody. There will also be an agreement that states that none of my holdings or fortune will fall to you.”

“Fine,” she said. “This isn’t about me, Cam.”

He nodded. “That just leaves the matter of Ty moving down to Miami. I can’t live in New York and I want my son with me.”

“Wait a minute. I’m not ready to move,” she said.

“Too bad. You and Ty are going to move down this week and you will live with me at my house. He needs his mother nearby to make this adjustment easier.”

“What will I do there? My business is here.”

“You will design the Mercado interiors for me.”

“Are we going to get married?”

“Hell, no. I’m not about to repeat my father’s mistake and marry a woman who puts her own needs first.”

“That’s not fair. I put Ty’s needs first,” she said.

“I will give you that,” he said. “I have to make a few calls. Pack whatever you need for the next few days and we will leave on my private jet to Miami.”

“I can’t move that quickly.”

“You don’t have a choice,” he said. “Either you do this or I take Ty and you never see him again.”

She was shaking, and tears glittered in her eyes, but she still wore that determined, stubborn look. He knew that he was making her mad, but he didn’t give a damn. He’d never felt as betrayed as he did at this moment.

“I will do the paternity test and I will agree to joint custody, but Ty will continue to live with me in New York. You can see him on the weekends if you’d like. But you aren’t taking over his life or dictating to me about mine. If you’d been a different kind of man over two years ago, you wouldn’t be so shocked now that you have a son.”

“I’m not arguing with you about any of this. I know what I want and I will get it. You are welcome to hire an attorney and have him deal with mine. But my son is coming with me now.”

“Fine, I will do that. I think it’s time you left,” she said.

“I’m not leaving without you and Ty. I can’t trust you not to sneak off,” he said.

“Of course you can. I wouldn’t have told you about your son if I didn’t mean for you to have a chance to get to know him.”

“As noble as that intention is, Becca, it is too little, too late.”

She just shook her head. “That’s fine. I don’t want to move, Cam.”

“Too late,” he said. “My life is in Miami and Ty’s will be, too.”

“I’m not giving up my son.”

“Then go get packing. My secretary will arrange for movers to come and get your stuff.”

“I will need to be here.”

“That’s your choice but you must know Ty will be staying with me.”

“Dammit, Cam.”

“Yes, dammit, Becca. How could you not tell me we had a son?”

“You told me I was mistress material and nothing else,” she said. “Do you remember that?”

He did, but that didn’t change the fact that she’d hidden Ty from him.

“I am not leaving until the movers have been called and I have a chance to talk to them. I will go to Miami with you but I’m not going to allow you to put me and Ty second in your life. If you want to be a father to him, then he deserves the best.”

“What do you mean?”

“You can’t be a workaholic and a good father. I understand you want to punish me but I won’t let you punish your son.”

Her words made him realize she was different than his mother had been when it came to her son. “I will be happy to put Ty first. Go pack up what you need. I will call a mover and get someone out here.”

He stopped as it finally hit him. “Oh, my God, I have a son.”

“Yes, you do,” Becca said.

He ignored her and went over to Ty, who was playing happily with his toys. He stared at the boy, and Ty smiled up at him. Then Cam reached down and rubbed his finger over that soft cheek of his.

“My son,” he said softly.

He stood there looking at the boy, and the anger that had been riding him since Becca made her announcement started to ease. He could never be mad at Ty or do anything that would jeopardize his son’s happiness.

He looked over at Becca. “Why did you name him Ty?”

“It was my mother’s father’s name. I never knew him, so it seems silly to say he was my grandfather. His name is actually Tyler Cameron Tuntenstall.”

“You gave him my name?” Cam asked.

“Yes. I … I knew someday he’d ask about you and I wanted him to have a connection. I know you think this is all some kind of conspiracy against you, but I made the only choice I could for my son. It was hard for me because I didn’t want to follow in my mother’s footsteps. I had promised myself that my children would have both a mother and a father.”

Later maybe he’d be able to appreciate those words, but right now he couldn’t. “I didn’t think it was a conspiracy. I’m beginning to think it was pure selfishness on your part.”

Cam turned and walked out the door without looking back. He knew she wasn’t going anywhere in the time it would take him to line up a mover. Right now he needed some space. She’d knocked him for a loop, and he had no idea how he was going to recover. He only knew that his heart hurt.

Less than eight hours later Becca was seated on Cam’s private jet and waiting for takeoff. Ty was seated next to her, his favorite stuffed animal—a yellow dog—and his blanket tucked close to him. He hadn’t seemed too traumatized by today’s events, and she had the feeling that he’d settle in to living in Miami more easily than she would.

Cam had arranged for a mover to get the stuff necessary for her and Ty to live in Miami. The rest of her belongings would be staying in the house. She had no idea what kind of strings he’d pulled, but the men had actually been at her house today and she’d told them what had to be boxed and moved. Her nanny, Jasper, would oversee the movers from here and in less than a week her belongings would be in Cam’s house in Miami.

He sat across the aisle and hadn’t said more than two words to her since they’d gotten on the plane. The gentle lover of last night was clearly gone, and she had no idea how to reach him again. But she did know if she was going to move to Miami with her son, she wanted at least a shot at some kind of real relationship with Cam.

She wanted that picture-perfect family she’d always fantasized about. She knew she should try to break the ice but talking to him about Ty wasn’t the way. Cam had demonstrated he was too volatile where their son was concerned.

Once they were in the air and could get up and move around, she took off Ty’s seatbelt, but he was sleepy and nodding off in his car seat.

“There’s a bed in the back,” Cam said. “I can lay him down.”

“Um … let me see the bed. We’ll probably have to pile up some pillows around him. I don’t want him to fall off.”

Cam nodded. She reached over to unlatch the car seat and Cam was waiting right there. “I want to carry him.”

“Of course,” she said. Cam had been like this all day. He was genuinely trying to get to know his son, and she had been very careful to let him.

Cam lifted him, and his blanket fell to the ground. Becca picked it up and then followed them to the bed at the back of the jet. It was luxuriously appointed and very comfortable-looking. He laid Ty in the center of the bed, and they worked to put some pillows around him so he wouldn’t roll off the bed.

“I am amazed that I have a son,” Cam said.

“I am, too. He’s such a precious little gift. I … my life changed the moment he came into it.”

“I bet it did,” Cam said.

He moved to leave the bed area, and she followed him. The jet pitched as they hit a pocket of turbulence, and Becca fell forward into Cam. He wrapped one arm around her as he fought to find his balance and keep them both on their feet. When the plane steadied, she looked up at him and he was staring down at her.

“Thank you.”

“No problem,” he said, but he didn’t let her go. “I can’t believe we are in this situation, Becca.”

“What situation?” she asked. “Being parents?”

He shrugged. “That, but also moving in together. I still want you.”

“I think we need to figure out how to be parents before we do anything else,” she said.

“I would agree except for a pressing problem,” he said.

“And that is?”

“I can’t look at you without wanting to kiss you and make love to you. I want to strip you naked and take out all my frustrations over your actions on your lovely body.”

“Sexual revenge?” she asked. His words thrilled her, sent molten heat pooling between her legs and made her nipples hard. She’d be lying if she said she didn’t want Cam. That he wasn’t the only man she thought of night and day.

“Yes,” he said.

She shook her head. “Would you forgive me if I gave in?”

“I don’t know. I think so.”

She didn’t know if she could do what he was asking. Being in his arms was one thing; knowing he wanted her just as some sort of way of getting back at her … well that wasn’t exactly what she was into.

“Think about this,” he said, lowering his head. His mouth took hers slowly and gently. She felt the warmth of his breath over her lips and then the first foray of his tongue rubbing over hers. His hand tightened on her waist and the other one went up to the back of her neck.

His fingers tunneled through her hair, and he held her head firmly in his grip as they continued to kiss. She wanted to think that this wasn’t making her agree with his idea, but it was. It reminded her of how long it had been since she’d had a lover. And she wanted him; she wanted release.

She put her hands on his shoulders and slid them down his arms. He was strong and muscled, and she liked the way he felt under her touch. She continued touching him, finding his belt with her fingers and caressing her way along the edge of his waist to the center of his pants and the belt buckle. She tiptoed her fingers lower until she felt the hard ridge of his erection. She rubbed him through his pants, up and down until his hips canted toward hers.

He lifted his head and stared down at her. His eyes narrowed, and the flush of desire burnished his cheeks.

“Let me know what you decide,” he said and walked back to his seat.

Becca stood there aching, wanting, and realized that Cam was still angry at her. She slowly walked to her seat and sat down, taking a magazine out of her bag. She flipped through it but didn’t see the pictures or articles on the pages. She only saw herself and Cam, and she knew that if they were going to have a chance at a future together, one of them was going to have to bend. Was it going to be her? She wanted so badly for Ty to have everything she never had, and that included the family of her dreams. One with Cam.

Five

They arrived at Cam’s house safely in the early evening. The drive was quick. The estate sat back from the road at the end of the palm-tree-lined drive. The yard was lusciously landscaped with blooming trees and perfectly mowed emerald-green lawns. The building itself was something out of a design magazine, and made Becca feel a bit like she had when she’d met Amelia. Out of place. She liked it, but it didn’t look like somewhere she would live.

As she went in, she glanced around the high-ceilinged arched entryway and let out a low whistle between her teeth.

“Nice digs.”

“Thanks,” he said. She’d put Ty down, and he was crawling toward the living-room area. “I will show you both to your rooms.”

The little boy toddled over and tugged on his pant leg as he had earlier, and this time, Cam bent down and picked him up.

“Hello, there,” he said to Ty.

“Hi,” Ty said before putting his thumb in this mouth. He shook his head; Nate used to do the same thing when he was little. Cam’s memory of that time was a little fuzzy, but this boy reminded him very strongly of his brother.

“How am I going to convince your mommy to just do what I want her to?” he asked Ty.

“Coffee,” Ty said.

Cam lifted one eyebrow at the boy. Did he even understand what was being said? Cam suspected he did to a certain extent, but having a conversation with an eighteen-month-old wasn’t going to give him any answers to Becca.

The boy held on to his shoulders as Cam turned to face Becca. There was something sweet about holding a baby—his son.

“I’ll take him.”

She held her arms out, but Ty didn’t make any move to go to her. “Ty.”

The boy took his thumb out of his mouth. “I like the man.”

“I’m glad,” she said, taking him from Cam and putting her son on a blanket where she’d laid out a couple of toys. She took Cam’s hand and led the way to the hallway where they could still see Ty but he couldn’t see them. “I … I wanted to talk to you.”

“What about?”

“I …”

“Stop hesitating. You are a woman who knows her mind,” he said.

“You have shaken me. I didn’t expect to see you or tell you about Ty. Not like that. And then you kissed me and got me all hot and bothered but you want to make it about revenge and I’m not sure that’s healthy for me.”

“I think it would be excellent for me,” he said. “But I am willing to talk to you about this. I’m still so angry, Becca.”

“I get that. But we need—”

She glanced over at her son. And he saw the biggest change in Becca compared to the woman she was over two years ago. She had someone else to worry about when she made decisions.

“Is it because of the paternity suit that you’re so bitter?” she asked.

“Not at all. I’m mad at you and you alone, Becca,” he said. “You owe me an apology after the secret you kept from me. But if you choose to beg forgiveness in my bed, I won’t complain.”

She nodded. It was a moment of truth for them both. The chances of them changing each other’s minds and actually getting to the point where they could trust each other were slim. He wasn’t going to deny it.

“Don’t judge me too harshly. I never knew my father. He left before I was born,” she said.

“I’m sorry. My dad was the greatest influence on my life. My mother wasn’t very maternal, but my dad … I think you missed something really important there, Becca.”

“I know I did. And I don’t want Ty to grow up the same way,” she admitted.

“I’m not making any promises,” Cam said. “But you and I had something electric and I think it’s time we explored it more fully.”

His phone rang.

“Stern.”

“Cam, it’s Nate. I’m glad you are back because we have an emergency at the club. Some of the local leaders are raising a stink about the Mercado again. Can you get down here and handle it? I’m supposed to be upstairs with Jen practicing a waltz for our first dance for the wedding.”

Jen was Nate’s fiancée. Cam’s little brother had fallen in love with the dance instructor at Luna Azul, and they were planning a wedding in less than a week’s time. Love had hit Nate hard and Cam had a little bit of trouble believing it. But his brother had never been happier and Cam wished him the best.

“I’m on it. You go do your dancing thing. I’ll be there in less than thirty minutes.”

“Thanks, bro, you’re the best. I want to hear all about the trip.”

“I’ll be happy to tell you about it later. Bye, Nate.”

He turned to Becca. “I’m needed at the club. We can continue this discussion later.”

“It’s fine.”

“Good,” he said. “Becca, I know I said I’d put Ty first … not be a workaholic, but this is an emergency.”

“I get that, Cam, but you said that family was important and we’ve just gotten to your house.”

“In the future, I will be here more often. This is an emergency.”

“Okay, but I’m not going to let you do it too often,” she said, relenting.

He tipped his head to the side. He was still angry she hadn’t told him about Ty, but he could see that she wasn’t going to be resentful toward him about his work. “Thank you.”

She just nodded. He pulled her into his arms.

She flushed and felt the stirring of desire deep inside her. She put her hands on his shoulders, then wrapped her arms around his neck. She lifted herself toward him. He rubbed his hands down her back, cupping her butt and bringing her closer to him.

She felt his erection nudging at the bottom of her stomach and looked up at him. It was a powerful feeling to know that she could make Cam react.

She leaned up to kiss him, but he controlled the embrace. His mouth moved over hers, and no matter how hard she tried to deepen the connection he wouldn’t let her.

“Kiss me,” Cam said.

She shook her head. “I want you to kiss me. I want to know that there is still a spark of something that’s not motivated by your need for vengeance.”

“Not yet,” he said, rubbing his lips lightly over hers. “I want to make sure you really want me—and not just to get me to forgive you. You do want me, don’t you, Becca?”

“I do,” she said. “My entire body is vibrating waiting for your kiss. I hate to admit this but I’ve thought of you and our time together often in the last two years.”

“Why do you hate to admit it?” he asked, stroking his thumb back and forth over the base of her neck.

“I think it makes me seem weak and gives you an advantage over me,” she admitted.

He cupped her face with his big hands and leaned forward to kiss her so tenderly that she almost melted on the spot. Her knees weakened and her heart beat even harder in her chest.

“I will take any advantage I can get,” he said.

He angled his head to the left and kissed her again. This time it was more passionate. He thrust his tongue deeply into her mouth. She shifted in his arms, holding on to his shoulders as he ravaged her mouth.

She wanted more from him. His tongue couldn’t touch her deeply enough. She was aching for his weight to be more solidly against her. For his erection to be pressed against the apex of her thighs where she was so empty and needy. Her dreams of Cam had fed her libido for the entire time she’d been pregnant, when her hormones had been out of whack and she’d needed a man.

Now Cam was here and this was everything she remembered. The feel of him pressed up against her made her desire him even more. She wanted to touch his flesh, not feel him through his clothing. He shifted around until the wall was pressed against her back and he was pressed against her front. She lifted one leg and wrapped it around his hips.

He moaned and thrust his hips toward her. He rubbed himself along her pleasure spot until she thought she’d go insane from longing. She tunneled her fingers into his hair and held him to her as his mouth continued to taste hers.

He pulled back, breathing heavily. “I have to go,” Cam said. His skin was flushed with desire, and she knew that leaving was the last thought on his mind.

She nodded and turned around to go get Ty. When she brought him back, Cam gave Ty a kiss on the head. His hands brushed Becca’s and their eyes met. She said nothing as he walked down the hall and out the door.

Ty was the one man she could trust in her life. It was something she’d do well to remember; otherwise she was going to end up letting Cam Stern break her heart again.

Cam drove through the rush-hour traffic in Miami. He’d taken his new Tesla sports car and wanted to let the car run full out but knew better. He was the responsible Stern, the one who kept his own wants and desires well-hidden from the world, and he sure as hell wasn’t going to let Becca change that.

He realized this wasn’t the kind of car a family man should have. Hell. He was a dad. He’d had no way of planning for this. It was the one eventuality he hadn’t planned for. He knew he could do it—he’d raised his brothers and given them a secure platform to launch from when their parents had died.

He’d do it for Ty. He knew he could be a good dad. But he had no idea what to do with Becca. She was the fly in the ointment of his plans for the future.

There was no discounting the sexual attraction between them, and he wished he could honestly say that he only wanted her in his bed … but he knew that he wanted her in his life. He really liked her as a mom. He knew that there were women who loved their children and would put them first. But this was the first time he’d actually encountered one. Then again, Becca had always been different. When their affair had ended, he’d felt her absence in his life. He’d wanted to somehow reconnect with her but … had been afraid of an emotional commitment. That had come back to bite him in the ass—now he had a son and a woman he wasn’t sure what to do with in his life.

He pulled into the parking lot at Luna Azul and got out of the car. He walked toward the building and felt that sense of home he so often experience here. This was the place he’d poured all of his dreams and desires into. And the club had taken off. It was more than he and his brothers had ever expected it to be.

Luna Azul was in the heart of Little Havana right off Calle Ocho. It had been a cigar factory in its heyday but had closed and fallen into disrepair when Cam had found it and purchased it for a very good price. He’d decided to make it the premiere club in Miami and had done just that, transforming the former cigar factory’s entryway with a Chihuly glass sculpture installation of the night sky showing two moons—a blue moon. And then decking out the rest of the club all in dark Latin tones. Upstairs there was a rooftop club that echoed the streets of Havana back in their pre-Castro glory days.

Now he knew he had to find something else to pour his energy into and Justin had suggested a club in Manhattan. Nate liked the idea because the A-listers there were more accessible than other areas of the country, but Nate had said he’d make it work wherever they wanted to open their new club. He had to think through he details, and he would need to start putting together a team to bring the project to life. They’d all agreed that another Luna Azul wasn’t exactly what they wanted. They needed to make that club unique from the one in Miami.

Opening a club was time-consuming, which was why he’d always been into short-term affairs. He’d had to raise his brothers and he hadn’t had for another emotional commitment.

“You look very serious, bro,” Nate said, coming up behind him and patting him on the shoulder. “Don’t worry. I calmed down the local leaders over the latest Mercado drama. We have a meeting set for tomorrow.”

Cam turned and gave his brother a quick hug. “I’m glad. I’m thinking about the new club idea.”

“Good,” Nate said. His brother looked like he’d stepped off the pages of GQ magazine, which was why he was the public face of the company, the one who always showed up in the tabloid gossip columns. “What are your thoughts? “

His ideas were rough, but they were starting to take form. He needed something different. The club scene in

New York was just as competitive as in Miami, maybe even more so, and they’d need to be different to stand out.

“That we need something to reflect whatever community we are a part of up there. I was hoping to do something in Spanish Harlem.”

“Really? Tell me more.”

They’d played a key role in revitalizing the stylized Little Havana area here in Miami, and he was pretty sure they could do the same thing in New York. They just had to have the right idea.

“I know. I was thinking a retro-styled club that captures the glory of the old days. It might fit the city better than a Luna II-type deal.”

Nate rubbed the back of his neck. “I like the idea, but it’s really different from what we’ve done before. That will mean a new design team and everything. I think we should stick to doing what we do best and that’s a Little Havana-style club.”

“I have the perfect designer in mind for this new project. In fact, she’s going to do the interiors on all the redesigns of the shops in the Mercado.”

“Of course you know the perfect person. Cam, when are you going to realize that life isn’t perfect? You always have every angle covered,” Nate said.

Cam tried to always appear to his younger brothers as if he had it all together. It was easy enough when things were going well as they had been for the last few years. But when the company had initially struggled or when their parents had died and Cam had had to find the strength inside himself to step up and keep his brothers focused and happy, it had been hard.

“I try, but Nate, I know that life isn’t perfect. We grew up in the same house, didn’t we?”

“Yes. And I came out of it with my own baggage and lately I’m beginning to see that for you it’s a desire to make everything picture-perfect. No faults allowed.”

Was that true? “I don’t think I’m that difficult.”

“Listen, man, I love you. You’re my big brother and you always have my back, but you are one demanding son of a bitch and I think that you should accept that nothing is going to ever be as perfect in the real world as you want it to be.”

Cam tucked that nugget away for later contemplation. He wasn’t going to change overnight or probably at all. He was too set in his ways.

“So who’s the designer?” Nate asked.

“Becca Tuntenstall. She used to work for Russell Holloway.”

“Are you sure she’s the right choice? We don’t want our club to look like Russell’s.” Nate scratched the back of his head. “It’s hardly my area of expertise. I just want to make sure I’m asking the right questions now that Justin is out of state.”

Justin was their corporate attorney and handled most of the legal problems that cropped up. Recently, he’d negotiated a deal with the local community leaders to launch the Luna Azul Mercado, an upscale shopping center to complement the nightclub. It was fair to all parties involved, and Justin had wrangled himself a fiancée out the deal.

Cam didn’t know what was going on with his brothers up and getting engaged.

He smiled at his little brother. Nate had always been the charmer—the one who skated through life with a smile. Now he was stepping up, and Cam was proud of him.

“She’s done some work for other chains, as well. She’s the best designer for the job,” Cam said. He’d already decided to give the assignment to Becca if she proved worthy. He couldn’t uproot her life and not provide some work for her. Besides, he wanted her completely under his control. He was going to make her regret not coming to him when she’d first found out she was pregnant.

Nate’s expression changed. “Is she more than a designer to you?”

Cam hesitated. He wasn’t the type of person to talk about the women he was involved with, even to his brothers. Plus, she was the mother of his child … something that he had absolutely no idea how to tell his brothers. He wanted everything with Becca and Ty figured out and wrapped up before he said anything to either of them.

“Yes, she is.”

“Wow. You haven’t been seriously involved with a woman since Myra.”

Myra had been a mistake, and he’d been too young and too eager to have it all with her. Myra was the woman who’d brought the paternity suit against him. Did he just have bad taste in women or what? Myra had wanted him to pay for another man’s mistake, and Becca didn’t think he was worthy of his own son.

“She’s not really like Myra.”

“I didn’t mean to imply that she was. How about if you bring Becca to our rehearsal dinner Friday night? A nice casual affair, and I think it would be nice to meet this gal.”

But Cam wasn’t sure that he was ready for that. “I’ll let you know.”

“Why not?” Nate asked. “If you are serious about her, I want to meet her and get to know her.”

Cam rubbed his hand over the back of his neck and tried to find the right words to say to his brother. “We had an affair a few years ago and it ended abruptly, so this time I’m trying to get to know her more slowly. Listen, there is more going on than a normal relationship.”

“Hanging out with the family doesn’t seem slow enough to you?” Nate asked.

“I don’t know, Nate,” Cam said. He stopped and took a deep breath. “Um … I have a son and Becca’s the mom. I just found out about it and moved her down here, but I have no idea what we are going to do next.”

Now it was Nate’s turn to pause. His eyes widened.

“I have a nephew?”

“Yes.”

“How dare she keep him from us?” Nate said.

Cam smiled. Nate was always there for him and Justin. They had always been close, and family was more important to them than anything else. “I said the same thing. I have her in my house with my son and I have to figure out what to do next.”

“Um, I vote for suing the hell out of her and then cutting her off from the boy.”

“She’s not like that,” Cam said. “Ty needs her. She quit a high-powered job so she could work from home and raise him.”

“Damn. I liked it better when I could envision her as the evil bitch queen.”

Cam laughed for the first time since Becca had told him he had a son. “Thanks, Nate. I need that.”

“I do what I can,” Nate said and then pulled him close in a bear hug. “I’m here for you whatever you decide.”

None of the Stern men was really built for long-term happiness in relationships. He was very glad to see his brothers settled with new fiancées, but at the same time a part of him feared that it wouldn’t last. And he wanted more happiness for them than their father had found in his marriage to their mother.

Cam had been watching after his brothers for so long that it was hard to realize he finally didn’t have to really worry over them any longer. He was at a point in his life where he had everything set in motion. Now he could relax.

“How about brunch on Sunday at my place?” Cam said. “I think that will give me the time I need to get used to Becca being there and figure out where we are going next.” Then he could control everything if he had them to his house. He was the kind of person who didn’t like to be surprised by any eventuality.

He and Nate walked into the club, and, as always when he crossed the threshold into Luna Azul, he paused to appreciate everything he’d worked and sacrificed for to create. Jen was waiting for Nate and came over to them. Cam left them and made his way to the bar on the main floor. He needed to check on the situation with the Mercado and then meet with the head chef and make sure that everything was going well in the back of the house.

He told himself he walked away so quickly because there was work to be done, but he knew that it was really because he wanted what Nate and Jen had. Sure, he already had a son; now he needed to see what kind of arrangement he’d have with Becca. It couldn’t be anything as pure as what Nate and Jen had, right? He didn’t like himself for thinking that way, but he still felt so empty over the time Becca had stolen from him and his son.

Becca got out of bed in the middle of the night and walked out onto the porch. It was April, and the smell of jasmine was heavy in the air. She walked away from the house carrying with her the small listening unit to the baby monitor. She found a bench nestled next to the pool and sat down.

She knew that, for her, fear came calling in the middle of the night. It was the time when she felt most alone and most afraid of the decisions she’d made in her life. At this moment she felt she shouldn’t be here in this house. Coming to Miami had been part cowardice—because she hadn’t wanted to stand up to Cam—and part fantasy—because she’d hoped and prayed for some white knight to come and rescue her.

She didn’t know if that made her a masochist because Cam was the man who’d left her high and dry. And while he wanted to play up the fact that he didn’t know about Ty, in her mind it came down to the fact that he hadn’t loved her.

She was here because … she glanced up at the moon and had no real idea why she was here. She felt lost in a way that she hadn’t felt since her mother died. Even Ty’s presence in her life, as unexpected as it had been, hadn’t shaken her the way Cam had. And she had no earthly idea what to do next.

“Trouble sleeping?” The voice was deep and steady. Cam. Of course he’d be out here when she was.

“Yes. I keep trying to figure out what to do next,” she said. No use lying to him or pretending a bravado she didn’t feel. Tomorrow morning she might be stronger, but tonight she was lonely and confused and needed a pair of strong arms around her to tell her she wasn’t alone.

“With what?”

“With you,” she said.

“I already told you what I want. I want you. I’m not sure what to do with you once I have you but I know I’m not going to let you walk right back out the door.”

“How about if we try to build a realationship together?” she asked. “Something slow where we get to know each other beyond the sex?”

“That won’t work.”

She couldn’t really see his features since he was hidden by the shadows. He stood just out of the light provided by the landscape fixtures.

“Why not?” she asked. She shook her head and leaned forward to put her head in her hands. “I just need time to breathe.”

She didn’t hear him move, but a moment later his big hand was on her shoulder rubbing in a circle. “I can give you that.”

She turned her head to the side and looked up at him. He didn’t have on a shirt, just a pair of low-slung pj bottoms. It was hard for her to see him but she remembered that muscled chest with the light smattering of hair. She reached out and touched him. “I’ve dreamed so many times that you came back to me.”

“You did?”

“Yes. It was so hard doing this alone and I wanted to tell you.” She started crying, surprising herself with how much emotion she’d bottled up since Ty’s birth. “You have no idea … it was only the echo of your words that you wanted a mistress and nothing more that kept my silence.”

He stroked his hand over her head and then bent down and lifted her up. He sat down on the bench with her or his lap. “You still should have told me, but I understand why you were hesitant to. I’m truly sorry.”

“I am, too,” she said, looking him straight in the eyes. She had no place to put her arm but around his naked shoulder, and she did just that.

“I want to start over. But not from a place of anger,” she said.

“I can try,” he admitted. “But I’m not making any promises. What do you suggest?”

“It’s obvious we both want to be parents to Ty. I suggest we try to work and live together for his sake.”

“And sex?” he asked.

“I’d like to see it develop naturally,” she said. “Not because of some arrangement. Or out of spite.”

She held her breath. Hoping that Cam was the man she’d glimpsed earlier tonight while they’d played with Ty and made him supper. Hoping he could see that with all this anger between them, they were never going to be able to move on.

“Okay,” he said. “But if you hide anything from me again all bets are off. Ty will be my son alone and you will have no rights to him. I’ll make sure of that.”

“I’m not hiding anything else from you,” she said.

“I’m not kidding,” Cam said.

“Neither am I,” she promised. She wanted that family of her dreams too much to do anything to compromise it. And if Cam was offering her a second chance, she was going to jump on it with both feet.

He held her in his arms, and they both said little. His hands moved over her as she sat there just listening to the sound of his breathing. She knew that the answers she’d come here seeking were still just out of her reach. But she felt closer to her dreams of a real family and a man who she could trust than she’d ever been before.

When he tipped her head back and lowered his mouth to hers, she knew she should push away and go back inside. She knew that sex with this man wasn’t safe for her. But she also knew that she’d been alone too long with only her dreams to keep her company—and that every one of them had been of him.

Six

Becca might need some breathing room, but all Cam needed tonight was Becca. He’d heard her leave her room. He’d put her in the room next to his so he could come and visit her at night once she became his lover again. And he’d had no doubt that she would become his lover. He was determined to have it all this time.

Becca’s lie about their son had given him a nice safe place from which to approach this entire relationship. He didn’t trust her, and that meant he was safe from falling in love with her. And love was something the Stern men weren’t particularly good at. But making love to a beautiful woman—well, that was something else entirely.

And Becca was the only lover he’d never been able to forget. He skimmed his hands down her back and around her hips. He flexed his fingers and squeezed her before moving his mouth from hers.

He nibbled his way to her ear and traced the shell of it with his tongue. “Did you want me on the plane?”

“Yes,” she said, her voice light and breathy. “Very much.”

“Good,” he said, rewarding her with a nibbling kiss at the base of her neck that sent shivers through her body. She shifted on his lap, arousing him even further.

“Have you thought about finishing what we started?” he asked.

She nodded. “But I have to ask you about your reputation as a playboy, Cam. Are you clean?”

That surprised a laugh out of him. “Yes, I am. I give blood regularly. Do you want to see my blood-donor card?”

She flushed. “No. I’m sorry if that made you uncomfortable.”

“You had every right to ask,” he said. “But tell me, Becca. I want to hear from your lips how much you want me,” he said. He brought one hand down low between her legs, stroking her buttocks, and then he lifted her up so she straddled him on the bench.

The fabric of her nightdress fell away from her chest and he had a quick glance of her cleavage. He reached up, cupping her right breast. He rubbed his palm over the globe until he felt her pert nipple blossoming against his hand.

He leaned down and licked her shirt where her nipple was pressed, and she shivered again, her hips moving against his erection.

“Tell me,” he said.

“I thought of nothing but that moment and wished you’d taken the kiss so much further,” she said. “I want your mouth on my breasts and your hands all over me as I move against you.”

Her words enflamed him, and he felt his erection strain against the fabric of his pajama pants. He pulled her night dress up and off her body and stared down at her breasts.

She put her hands on his chest and leaned toward him to kiss him. Her nipples rubbed against his chest, and he felt her rotate her shoulders so that they brushed through his chest hair. He put his hands on her butt and lifted his hips. His erection brushed between her thighs. She moaned and rode him a little harder, her hips moving back and forth without the motion of his hands.

She reached down between them and tried to free him from his pants. He lifted his hips off the bench and reached down to do it himself. Immediately he felt her wet hot core rubbing over his length. He groaned and closed his eyes, hoping to give himself a little breathing room, but he was ready to come. He wanted to be inside the velvet glove of her body. He wanted to hear her breath catch and then make her call his name again and again while he filled her.

“Are you on the pill?” he asked, barely able to get the words out. His voice sounded guttural and deep to his own ears.

“Yes. I am not trusting condoms anymore.”

“Thank goodness,” he said. He shifted her on his lap and maneuvered his hips so the tip of his erection was poised at the entrance of her body.

She quivered, and he felt her melt as she started to push down on him. To try to take him. But he wanted to be the one to take her. He held her still with his hands on her hips and pushed up into her one slow inch at a time. She bit her lip and moaned deep in her throat. Her nails dug into his shoulders, and he felt her tightening around him, but he kept his entrance slow and steady. He wanted it to last forever because he knew once he was buried hilt deep, he was going to give in to the tingling in his spine that called for him to thrust into her until he came.

“Cam….”

“Yes,” he said between clenched teeth.

“I need you,” she said.

“I’m giving you what you need,” he said.

“It’s not enough,” she said, her words like an electric spark in his nerve endings. “I need all of you filling me up.”

He groaned her name and stopped torturing them both with his slow entry. Using his hands on her hips, he moved her up and down with a speed that drove them both toward orgasm with no chance to breathe or think. There was only the feel of her nipples rubbing over his chest. The taste of her tongue buried deep in his mouth and the feel of him wrapped so tightly in her sweet center that he thought he’d never want to leave her.

“Cam … I’m coming,” she said.

Her words triggered his orgasm, and he pumped once more before he emptied his seed inside of her. She was breathing heavily, and he was covered in sweat as she collapsed against him. He wrapped his arms around her and rubbed his hands up and down her back. He tried to pretend that this was just a little game of getting his own way, but somehow in the midst of seducing Becca, he had been seduced himself.

Cam carried Becca back up to the house and tucked her into her own bed before he left. He wanted to stay and sleep in her arms, but he knew better than to give in to that desire. He walked across the hall to Ty’s bedroom and stood over his sleeping son.

He felt as if he’d taken a punch to the chest when he realized that the little boy sleeping there was his. Not just his son, his and Becca’s. She meant more to him than he’d ever admit out loud, and tonight had proven it. With any other woman he’d have kept his cool and seduced her on his own terms, but she’d made him lose it.

He leaned down and brushed Ty’s hair off his forehead. He needed to make sure that Ty’s future was secure. Cam’s parents had died in a plane accident so their loss had been unexpected. Luckily, he and his brothers had been in their twenties. But if something happened to him or to Becca, where would Ty be?

He didn’t want to take a chance on Ty being left with nothing or no one. His brothers would step in, but they needed to have wills and guardianship issues worked out. He left Ty’s room and walked back to his own, hesitating in front of Becca’s door.

He wished … hell, he wasn’t some wussy guy who wished for things, he made them happen. So why the hell was it so hard to get Becca to do what he needed her to do? Why was he standing out here instead of holding her in his arms?

Because Becca made him weak. He would never have forgiven a business associate who’d lied to him. And he knew whether he said the words out loud or not, he’d forgiven Becca. He didn’t know if it was because of the sex—that would make it easier for him to explain to himself, but he suspected it was because of her tears and the fear she’d expressed so easily tonight. She didn’t have all the answers to this parenting thing, and she was feeling her way the same way he was.

He didn’t go into her room. That would send a message to her that she had him. Instead, he went down the hall to his office and sat behind his big oak desk.

Worn with age, the executive leather chair had been his father’s. Cam had vivid memories of playing under this desk while his father had talked on the phone to his sports manager.

He sent an email to Justin initiating two things. The first was joint custody for Ty. The second was a will that would name his brothers as the guardians for Ty if anything happened to him. He didn’t want to leave Becca on her own with no one again. And he knew that she’d never agree to sharing custody with his brothers, but he wasn’t about to ask. Some things were just too important to leave to chance.

Feeling better about Ty’s future, he got up to go back to bed when he got a text message from Justin.

You have a son?!?!

Cam quickly typed in his response.

It’s after midnight. Why aren’t you sleeping?

Selena and I are working. Now tell me I read that email right you have a son?

Yes. 18 months old. Ty Cameron Tuntenstall. Can you do everything I asked?

First thing tomorrow. What about the mother?

She is living with me. I don’t know where it will lead.

We need to talk.

Tomorrow or Friday night before Nate’s rehearsal dinner party.

Selena’s home so I’m going to let this drop until tomorrow. But I want to know what the hell is going on. We’ll talk later.

Cam walked over to the bar and poured himself two fingers of Johnnie Walker, slinging it back in one gulp. He had made mistakes in business and some of them had been costly, but they’d never made him doubt himself the way this thing with Becca and Ty did.

He didn’t know if it was simply because he’d never intended to have a family of his own. Or because, having been presented with Ty, now he was starting to rethink himself and his entire life.

His brothers had settled down, and he wasn’t sure that he ever would. But now that he had Ty, he sort of wanted to. Becca was an added complication. One he thought he’d have a better handle on if he had her back in his bed.

But sex hadn’t made things any easier to figure out. That ticked him off. He poured another glass of Johnnie Walker and sipped it this time, taking the glass with him back to his bedroom. He walked in and didn’t bother to turn on any lights. He went into the bathroom and washed up from earlier when he’d had sex with Becca and then padded naked back to his bed.

The moonlight streamed in through the one window blind he’d left open, and he stared at it. His dad had always said that with the moon to guide life’s journey, nothing bad could befall them. But Cam knew his dad hadn’t counted on a journey like this one.

He walked back across the room, pulled back the sheets and slid into bed.

Becca rolled over into his arms.

“What are you doing here?” he asked her, pushing himself back a few inches.

“I didn’t want to sleep alone tonight. I’ll do anything as long as you let me stay.”

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