The Dare Collection July 2019. Nicola Marsh
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to fuck up. Thinking you might is just going to undermine your confidence and ensure you do screw up. So do that brilliant shining thing you do and just power through it—fake it until you make it. They’ll be so relieved not to have to deal directly with Cameron, they’ll fall all over themselves to give you whatever you ask for. Aaron already negotiated a preliminary contract, so it’s just a matter of ensuring the actual contract is laid out to his specifications.”
She made it sound so easy when she put it like that. Nice and simple. Trish ran her hand over the smooth fabric of the chair. “Why is everyone so down on Cameron? He’s kind of gruff, but he’s not a total asshole like everyone says.”
Becka shrugged. “Cameron is a difficult personality. I know because it takes one to know one, though we’re different flavors.” She shifted back and sighed. “I think the real question is, why are you trying so hard not to jump to his defense?”
She shouldn’t talk about it. Positivity was Trish’s gig, and there was nothing positive about the shame she’d been carrying around since that first kiss. Maybe she could have recovered if she hadn’t dropped the towel and had him turn away in response. Maybe. Either way, it wasn’t fair to dump her issues on her brother’s baby mama and fiancée.
But under those sympathetic eyes, she found herself speaking. Trish shifted her gaze to the pattern on the rug because it was easier to spill her secrets there than to the woman across from her. “I kissed him. And after he politely—for him—told me that it wasn’t going to happen, I faked my way through being totally professional and okay with it. Right up until I forgot to set my alarm, slept in and had him show up on my doorstep. I, uh, panicked and it ended up with me naked and him once again explaining that it most definitely wasn’t going to happen.”
A muffled snort brought her head up. Trish glared. “Are you laughing at me? I’ve been rejected twice and even if he’s right about it being a bad idea to bang like bunnies, it still stings. And if he’d stop looking at me like he does, it would make it a whole lot easier to bear.” Sometimes she would turn and catch such heat in Cameron’s gaze that it was a wonder she didn’t turn into a pillar of lustful flames right there in the office. But he turned away.
Every. Single. Time.
“Oh God, you poor thing.” Becka let loose a peal of laughter that filled the room to the brim. “Like running headfirst into a brick wall, isn’t it?”
“That’s not...inaccurate.”
Becka grinned. “I’m familiar with the feeling. You’ve got freckles all over, right?”
The change in subject made her frown. “Sure. Why?”
“Tell me one thing—actually, tell me two things. How long did it take him to turn away when you dropped the towel?”
“Um...” Trish’s skin went hot at the memory. “It wasn’t instant, if that’s what you mean.”
“Mmm-hmm. And when he looks at you... Is it possible he’s retracing your freckles all over mentally?”
Now that she mentioned it, his gaze did tend to take a specific path when he thought she wasn’t looking. A very similar path to the one he’d traced in the air above her skin that day. She cleared her throat. “It’s possible.”
“That’s what I thought.” Another laugh. Becka’s smile promised all sorts of wicked things. “Have fun on your work trip, Trish. I sure as hell would in your position.”
THE FLIGHT TO London was both heaven and hell. Cameron had never had a problem feeling cramped or caged in when he flew first class. The seats there hadn’t fallen victim to the desire to cram more paying passengers into the same amount of space that the rest of the plane had. He usually didn’t have to worry about his broad shoulders crowding out the person next to him and could relax and work through however long the flight was.
That was before he sat next to Trish.
Even with the space between them, he couldn’t shake his awareness of her. Every shift where she crossed and recrossed her legs. Every time her mass of curly hair brushed his shoulder. Every breath. She fell asleep halfway through the flight and ended up slumped against him, her little body curled in the seat and her head halfway in his lap.
He loved every agonizing second of it.
Though he managed to keep from touching her more than strictly necessary, it was all too easy to imagine they were traveling together, jetting off to some exotic island or snowy peak to spend a week tangled up in each other and blind to the rest of the world.
Instead, he went over the preliminary contract for the tenth time since Aaron had sent it over. It didn’t matter that the terms were standard with a few small exceptions. They’d handled overseas clients before, but Concord Inc. was unique in the way that they had an independent server for all their internal workings. Something like that wouldn’t normally need Tandem Security’s expertise—impossible to hack what someone couldn’t get to in the first place—but Concord Inc. did need access to public servers for outside communications.
And that could be breached.
Cameron kept himself busy mulling over the possible options as the plane finally landed. Trish managed to sleep through the entire thing, so he gently squeezed her shoulder. “We’re here.”
She opened those big blue eyes and blinked at him a few times as if she couldn’t quite place where they were or who he was. Awareness rushed over her expression between one breath and the next and she licked her pretty pink lips.
He went rock-hard, and then silently cursed himself for reacting at all. He couldn’t seem to stay in line when it came to this woman, but that wasn’t her fault. No, the blame lay squarely on his shoulders, and after his dickhead comment that day at her apartment, he’d been careful navigating the minefield that every conversation between them had become.
His fault.
Trish sat up and pushed her hair back from her face. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to take over your space.”
Since what he wanted most in that moment was for her to take over his space—and his cock—fully, he gritted out, “No problem.”
He managed to get control of himself by the time they deplaned, got through the custom’s process and grabbed their luggage. It was still relatively early in local time, but they wouldn’t meet with Nikki Lancaster until the next day. “Food?”
“Please.” She looked a little...wilted...after all the traveling. Trish’s hair was fluffier than he’d ever seen it, and she huddled within her large coat, her eyes seeming larger than normal. It was obvious that, despite her nap, what she needed was food and rest and some time to adjust to their new location.
Cameron got them to their hotel—a little boutique place strategically placed a few short blocks from Concord Inc. They’d ended up with a two-bedroom suite, which was what he and Aaron usually booked when their work required travel, but it took on a new significance with Trish.
They were staying behind the same locked door in this place.
For fuck’s sake, get ahold of yourself. This is business. This has only ever been business.
Except nothing when it came to Trish felt like business.
He held the door open for her, angling his body away to avoid her accidentally brushing against him. “Take whatever room you want.”
“Generous.” Trish shot him an arch look over her shoulder, as if she knew exactly why he was being so generous. She didn’t say anything else, though. She just dropped her bag in the middle of the small living space and went investigating.
Cameron forced himself not to follow her, but instead