Cameron’s soft chuckle caressed her skin. “Trust me, that’s not possible. I doubt I’ll be tired of you after the first thousand years. But how long the affair lasts will be up to you, and I promise to adhere to your time frame.”
He took a step back. “Think about everything I’ve said and if you’re interested, I’ll see you on the beach at noon.”
As Vanessa watched him walk away she knew she had to get a grip. Over the past three years the man had tilted her world, and now he was proposing to rock it in a way it had never been rocked before. She inhaled deeply, then let the breath out slowly. No, she told herself, the thought of a meaningless fling with Cameron was too much. She wouldn’t even think about it.
She thought about it all morning. Pacing the confines of her sister’s living room, she went through the pros and cons of Cameron’s proposal, and it seemed the pros were tilting the scale.
If he had suggested such a thing five years ago, she would have told him just where he could go. But that would have been her pre-Harlan days, a time when she wanted to believe in romance and a forever kind of love.
She had grown up believing that two people could meet, fall in love and stay together for the rest of their lives, until death did them part. Her parents had done it, and so had her aunt and uncle. And when she had been looking at things through rose-colored glasses, she had wanted that same special love for herself.
But Harlan had taught her one vital lesson in life, something she wouldn’t ever forget: All that glittered wasn’t gold. She was older and smarter now and didn’t look through those rose-colored glasses anymore. After she’d thoroughly analyzed that summer in Europe, the one thing that stood out was how each day Harlan wanted to change her, mold her into the person he wanted by suggesting certain outfits for her to wear, foods that he preferred she eat and activities he’d rather they did. It was always what he wanted, without any consideration for what she wanted. It had always been about Harlan. He had controlled everything.
Even their lovemaking.
That night he hadn’t asked for any suggestions or ideas. He’d done things his way, mainly for his own satisfaction. And if he thought she had failed in pleasing him, well, if the truth were known, he hadn’t pleased her, either. But at the time she had fancied herself too much in love to care.
Now she did care.
After not having been intimate with a man since Harlan, the thought of a relationship with one just for sex should be a turnoff. But knowing the man involved was Cameron was quite the opposite. He turned her on. Besides, the dynamics of a man-woman relationship weren’t what they used to be. Men, she told herself, no longer courted you. They seduced you.
So what was wrong with seducing them back?
There would be no misunderstandings in their relationship. There would be a beginning and an end. And most importantly, it would be a way finally to get Cameron to leave her alone and a way finally to get the one thing her body needed. A man.
But not just any man.
It needed the man who’d so ruthlessly invaded her dreams, the man who could stare at her from across a room and make heat swell within her. The man who could start her pulse—her pleasure points—to beating in a way that sent blood racing through her veins.
And she would be the one in control.
That was the one thing that appealed to her. How would Cameron react once stripped of control? Once unable to call the shots? He would have a hard time of it, no doubt, but she would enjoy every single minute.
Every single inch of him.
She sighed deeply. Was she crazy to consider such a thing? Or was she crazy not to? She would be going into the affair with both eyes open, with no unrealistic expectations. There would be no future in the brief relationship they shared but at least her celibate days would come to an end. For the rest of her stay on this island, she would put out of her mind that Cameron Cody had to be the most insufferably irritating man she’d ever met and instead concentrate on how he was also the handsomest and sexiest. Being around him, looking into the darkness of his eyes, studying those intriguing lips and knowing what it would feel like being touched by those big, strong hands, being made love to with an intensity that took her breath away, was worth the risk.