Cameron couldn’t retract the smile that touched his lips. Experience had taught him a valuable lesson—if there was something you wanted, then you put all your efforts into getting it. You didn’t wait for it to come to you or you’d never have it. And he was a man with a reputation for going after whatever it was he wanted. Hence, here he was, on this beautiful tropical island, going after Vanessa.
By this time tomorrow she would know that he was her neighbor. She would also know that for the remainder of her time on the island, he intended to seduce the hell out of her.
The last time he’d come up against the Steeles, he had failed. This time he would only be dealing with one. Vanessa. He wanted her and no matter what it took, he wouldn’t fail at having her.
The ringing of his cell phone crashed its way into his thoughts. Annoyed at the interruption, he picked it up and flipped it open. “Yes, what is it?” he said gruffly.
“McMurray is trying to fight back.”
Cameron recognized the caller’s voice immediately. Xavier Kane was not only his right-hand man but also a good friend. The two had met at Harvard when Cameron was in business school and Xavier in law school. Though both had been loners, somehow they’d forged a bond that was still intact today. For years Cameron had tried to convince Xavier to come work for him, knowing it would only be a matter of time before his friend got tired of defending men who were guilty of white-collar crimes. Cameron had needed someone to have his back, someone he trusted implicitly, and X was that man. Now Xavier handled all the legal aspects of Cody Enterprises.
A faint smile touched Cameron’s lips. “He can fight back, although it’s rather late since Global Petroleum is now legally mine.”
“Well, I just thought you should know that he held a press conference today, and I don’t have to tell you that he painted you as someone who won’t have any sympathy or loyalty with the present workers when you clean house.”
Cameron shook his head. “I bet while he was in front of the camera he didn’t happen to mention how he messed up his employees’ pension plan or how they were about to lose their jobs anyway at the rate he was going.”
“Of course he didn’t. His intent was to make you look bad. And when I called him to let him know we wouldn’t hesitate to take him to court for slander, he made a threat.”
Cameron raised a dark brow. “What kind of threat?”
“That you’re going to regret the day you were ever born for taking his company away.”
Cameron shook his head. “He brought that on himself.”
“You and I both know he doesn’t see things that way. And there’s no telling what will happen when he finds out your connection to his company. After all this time he’s evidently put behind him his bad deeds of yesteryear.”
Cameron’s face hardened. “He might have, but I haven’t.”
“Just be prepared, Cam. All hell’s going to break loose when he discovers why you took his company away.”
“How he handles things doesn’t matter to me, X, and as far as I’m concerned, John McMurray is serving no purpose by causing problems now.”
“Yes, but I’ve always told you that there’s something about him that bothers me. It’s like he’s not working with a full deck most of the time. As a safety precaution I’m going to let Kurt know what’s going on. I want to make sure his men know that McMurray is not allowed back on the premises. If he hasn’t cleaned out his desk by now, we’ll ship his things to him.”
“I agree we should tell Kurt.” Kurt Grainger, another college friend, headed up security for Cody Enterprises.
A few moments later, after hanging up the phone, Cameron banished John McMurray from his mind. The only thing he wanted occupying his mind were thoughts of a woman by the name of Vanessa Steele.
Chapter 2
“What neighbor?”
Vanessa tapped her foot impatiently on the ceramic tile floor. “I’m talking about the man who lives next door, Cheyenne,” she said trying to hide her frustration. She had a harder time squashing the irritation she felt with herself for being so curious about the man’s identity.