Chapter 12

I woke up to sunlight streaming silken over my body, shrouded in the comfortable haze of Cameron's perfume that clung to the bed and to our skin, and Cameron sitting next to me, caressing my body. Instinctively, I pressed my fingernail into my thigh, checking to make sure it felt right, that I wasn't dreaming.

"Morning," she whispered, her voice a husky little thing. My body ached for her right away—memories of last night coded into every inch of my skin, the sounds we'd made still humming in my ears. "You look fantastic in the mornings, don't you?"

"Ugh… I didn't take my makeup off, did I?"

She laughed, brushing my hair back from my eye. "It held on well, all things considered."

"You're just saying that to be nice…" I reached for the bedside table searching for my phone, hitting the cool surface before realizing it was probably in my bag flung down by the front door. "What time is it?"

"Eight o'clock. We were up past two, so… sure you got enough sleep?"

"I've gotten by on less…" I pushed myself up to sit with her, and our eyes caught there, something mystical in the moment—the shimmer of her eyes in the morning sunlight, that soft look in her expression. It made my heart pound, just seeing the way she looked at me, like…

"Doing okay?" she laughed.

"I didn't tell María."

She raised her eyebrows. I stumbled out of bed, my heart in my mouth.

"Shit, I forgot to tell her I wouldn't be in today—"

She laughed, pulling me back into the bed. "I'll get your bag. I assume your phone's in there."

I flushed, but I didn't fight it—the sensation of Cameron pulling me into bed wasn't something I wanted to fight. "I can walk," I protested, mostly just to be difficult. She gave me a fond look as she stood up.

"You look damn good in my bed. I'm not ready to give it up yet. And I'm very good at getting what I want."

She… really was. But I was still having a hard time wrapping my head around what she wanted. Because that look in her eyes said it was me she wanted, and I was supposed to make her want to buy a property—a big, expensive one—but I didn't want to stop this.

Especially when she walked back into the bedroom and I got to admire her stark naked, hips swaying as she walked towards me and handed over my bag.

"Dropped in a rush by the door," she said. I busied myself with looking in the bag, fumbling through my clutter for my phone.

"Hm… I wonder why."

"It's a mystery." She settled back into bed with me. "I have a request."

"Oh, do you? Well, whatever helps me close the client…"

She flashed a smile at me. "I have… some work that regrettably needs to be done today. I have two meetings at noon with buyers and then two hours of one-on-one work with some partners. And I assume you need to make it home at some point to attend to His Royal Highness."

"Oh—obviously," I laughed. "He's as fussy about missing a mealtime as you'd imagine."

"But before then… let's go get breakfast."

I paused. "Breakfast?"

She quirked a smile at me, but there was a flash of vulnerability in her expression. "Never heard of it? It's the meal you skip while you're overworking and getting to work straightaway."

"Er—on the contrary, if I miss breakfast, I cry as much as Earl does. Just… you mean, going out for it?"

"Mm. Like I said—I've been enjoying it this past year. My treat, of course."

I needed to draw the damn line already. I was in too deep, but this was a chance—one of the vanishingly few chances—to redraw those lines and move back in the right direction.

But nothing could make me want to be a good girl.

I looked down at our naked bodies. "Like this?"

"No. But I want you in lingerie under your clothes. So I can think about it while we eat."

God, she knew how to undo me. But I wasn't going to go along too easily. "Do you just get off to your own lingerie? Work must be exciting with you there, surrounded by your designs…"

She elbowed me. "I get off to you in them. You look incredible in them. And I'll thank you not to be a little brat about it."

"Oh, would you? Because I'm pretty sure you're into it."

She elbowed me again, laughing. "Text your damn boss. If you keep giving me sass, I'm going to fuck you again."

"Not much of a threat," I said, but I picked up my phone, feeling myself blush as I texted María. Hard to believe I was actually doing it—telling her to put aside her plans for us just because I wanted her to. I called it field work, which I knew would work because I went out on field work all the time, but this was the first time it was just an excuse.

And it was kind of electrifying.

"Er—" I caught myself a second after sending the text. "I didn't exactly bring a lot of clothes."

"Mm. Shame. Wear mine."

"And… my lingerie is a bit dirty."

She took my phone out of my hands and set it down on the table, and she laid me down onto my back, climbing on top of me. My whole area was still aching from last night's marathon session, but I lit up anyway at Cameron on top of me like this. Pushing my buttons, and I couldn't even mind.

"That's the other thing I want," she said. "I want to see you in everything. Model for me."

My face burned, my breath feeling short. "I'm sure you have plenty of models already."

"None of them that have me completely undone like you do." She met my gaze headlong with an intense look, the blue-green of her eyes an ocean I found myself lost in. "Do you know what it does to surround yourself with sexuality, London?"

"Er… that's making it sound like you do fuck all your models."

"I will admit I've thought about that more than once. Even when I thought I was straight. But that's not the point." She pursed her lips. "Turning lingerie into a business, into a job, takes all the eroticism out of it. There's nothing exciting about it anymore. And it's hard to make designs that make people feel as attractive as they should in lingerie when I don't feel that. But… seeing you in them?" She traced a fingertip down my body, leaving a trail of electricity as she went. "It's more sexual, more erotic than I've ever known. And I don't want to let that go."

I bit my lip, hard. "I… don't know what makes me so special."

She snorted. "I already told you, London. Several times. Go take a shower, and I'll leave you the clothes to get changed into. Understood?"

I really liked when she got bossy. I couldn't even pull up a clever comment—I bit my lip and nodded, and I couldn't stop my heart racing the whole time I stepped into her shower and scrubbed myself down. I washed my hair and dried it on a towel before I blow-dried, and I styled it with her flatiron, which I hadn't done in years. I hadn't dated in a long time.

And it wasn't a date. But… it certainly felt like one.

She'd left a dark-red set for me—the Venusian Sunset, the one I'd looked up after she'd said would look good on me—and I felt myself burn as I pulled it on, checking myself in the mirror.

I'd never disliked my body, not really, but I hadn't liked it much either—just never really gave it much thought beyond regular care. But Cameron made me feel attractive—made me feel irresistible, in so many ways. Not just in the way she worshipped my body and couldn't take her eyes off me, but by putting me in a set like this.

She was right. This one had been made for me. I looked like I belonged in a sexually charged photoshoot, like I should have been on a lingerie ad promising women be sexy, be alluring, just like this.

I was fucking gorgeous. And it was an even more gorgeous woman making me look this way.

I was tempted to leave the bathroom just to see her reaction to me like this, but I wanted her to keep thinking about it—wanted to see her reaction when she'd been thinking about me all day and I finally got to show her, so I pulled on the clothes she'd left me. Cameron was a bit shorter than me, and definitely had smaller breasts, so the pants were a little short at the ankles and the shirt strained lightly at my chest, but all in all, a good fit. And the tiny peek of red from the bra at the collar was… well, Cameron would like it.

I cleaned up my makeup a little—my eyeliner was a passable smoky eye with a little wiping away, and Cameron's skin tone was a shade or two lighter than mine so her foundation worked as concealer under my eyes—took a long breath, and I let myself smile before I turned back to the door.

∞∞∞

Ocean Social was a gorgeous restaurant that was normally a bit pricier than I liked to eat at, but Cameron insisted I get whatever I wanted, threatening to whiteout the prices and hand me the menu back, so I eventually let myself have it. Sitting here at the open wall overlooking the beach, with the endless ocean beyond, crisp blue skies and clear blue water and the beach still quiet on a weekday morning, as the waiter brought out my eggs benedict on arepas and her smoked salmon bagel and our coffees—it was nothing to complain about.

Even though some poor woman dropped her keys straight into the trashcan as I came in and had to fish them out, and the hostess who seated us dropped a menu squarely on her toes as she tried to grab us two.

"You're a seafood person, aren't you?" I said as she bit into her bagel, closing her eyes with a satisfied sigh. She wiped a spot of cream cheese from her lips before she spoke.

"I don't typically eat anything that walks on land, but apparently everything else is fair game."

"Pescatarian?"

"Not strictly. But close enough." Her smile suddenly turned sad, looking out to the horizon, and once again, I was kind of impressed I'd figured it out.

"You hadn't really had a chance to explore that, had you?"

She sighed hard, cupping her coffee. "Christ, London, it's like you read my mind."

"Well… you have expressive eyes."

She gave me an impossibly sweet smile. "Think that's the first time you haven't tried pulling it's a salesperson's job. "

"Oh." I scrunched up my face. "I'm forgetting myself."

She looked down. "It really is all the little things, isn't it? He didn't do anything really wrong—didn't stop me from pursuing my career, didn't force me to move even though he didn't really like Miami, didn't say awful things about me, would never lay a hand on me."

"But… sometimes they know how to leave marks that nobody sees. Even their targets."

She shook her head, turning back to me with a focused look in her eyes. "You say that from experience."

"Well…"

"This Miguel person. You don't suppose he knows we're here?"

"He might? I don't know. I don't think he's eavesdropping on our conversation, at least. That's below even him. But he's got contacts who let him know if they spot certain people around town who he's keeping eyes on. You and I are probably both on that list."

"Why? As in—why is he so obsessed with you?"

I hung my head. "I don't know. Maybe he wants me out of Queen Pearl because I'm cursed."

She laughed. "Cursed? Are you serious?"

"I know it sounds silly, but… uh… yeah." I scratched my head, looking out at where the wind moved the bushes just past our table. "I have a thing with bad luck. But it only affects the people around me. All three of the other companies I've worked for after college have collapsed spectacularly."

"Startups?"

"Not even. EWO Operations, Castleton Office Suites, and Pillar."

She went wide-eyed. "That's… quite the resume."

"Yup. And there's some things going on at Queen Pearl right now that feel a bit risky, and I wouldn't be surprised if Miguel thinks my curse is carrying on…"

She laughed drily. "Those firms are all in the same market. Statistically, you probably aren't even the only person who's worked at all three."

"Well—it's more than just that." I scratched my wrist. "It's everything around me. You saw that woman drop her keys in the trash when we came in. And the hostess dropped the menus…"

"Those kinds of things happen all the time."

"They do, but they happen too often. It's always around me. I swear I'm not superstitious, or anything, but…" I shrugged wildly. "You can only have so many people get their cars broken into, hit their heads on things, get charged twice, trip down the stairs, technology blows out on them… and always right when you enter the room… before you start to think something's up. You're taking quite a risk, spending time with me."

She laughed. "Nothing's happened to me. I think I'm fine. Besides, I'd be willing to take the risk."

I paused, frowning. She raised her eyebrows.

"What?"

"Nothing's happened? No strange sort of… things breaking when I come around, dropping things, anything like that?"

"On the contrary, I've gotten very lucky."

Now that she mentioned it—there really hadn't been anything. She'd said it was bad luck that the woman she'd hit on in the bar had been her real estate agent, but I think she'd, uh… changed her mind on that. And aside from that?

"London?" she laughed, her brow furrowed in concern. "Are you all right?"

"I'm—yeah. Sorry."

"Is it that surprising that I haven't fallen down any stairs?"

"Well—" I felt my face burn. "Honestly? Yes."

She studied me a while longer, before the smile faded from her face, and she seemed to think it over as she took a bite from her food. Finally, she spoke softly. "I imagine it's… alienating to feel like you just bring bad luck to other people."

"I don't think so. Just…" I felt adrift all of a sudden.

"Don't you? Haven't you been putting it on?"

"Putting—what on?" I bristled inwardly, and I didn't even know why—why my heart was racing, why I felt backed into a corner.

She smiled lightly. "Being so good, London. You do all the right things, say all the right words at all the right times. You know how to be the right person. That's what someone does when they haven't gotten a chance to be the person they are."

My chest hurt. It was a distant realization, this feeling like I was looking on and seeing from far away that this woman, London Sinclair, sitting at a restaurant with her fancy arepas and her nice cappuccino, was aching. And she didn't know why. I didn't know why. "I think it's just… my job."

"Well," she said, sitting back and picking up her coffee, taking a long sip before casting her gaze out to the water. "You are excellent at your job."

My heart was pounding so hard, and I felt so destabilized, that it was all I could fall back on. "Was I right?" I said. "With what I said at that first property—that you are actually looking to buy."

She smiled at me, setting her coffee down. "I don't know."

"Er—I hadn't expected that one."

"Have I been doing it just to make a point? Maybe I was hoping you'd tell me. So… you tell me."

I should have just told her. Yes, you're actually looking to buy. Not that directly, but should have told her what she needed to hear, tell her that her excitement and passion was genuine, that these things clearly made her happy for her own sake, and that she was showing a lot of independence and that she wasn't living her life through his eyes. Set her thoughts back on the right track.

But maybe that was me being the right person because that was all I knew.

"I don't know either," I said, my voice small, just a breath. My heart raced, and I felt like I was cresting the top of a hill on a rollercoaster, looking at a drop. "I said then that you were because I wanted to… put the idea in your head. That you wanted to buy."

She went wide-eyed. "And… now you're telling me that?"

"I don't want to just sell to you. I guess I just… want to make sure you find what you want."

I watched as she softened, slowly, something I didn't know how to describe on her face, before she reached across the table and she took my hand, squeezing it. The gentle intimacy of it—so much more than just a physical connection, it sent my heart racing, something I'd never felt before in my stomach.

She smiled, sweetly.

"You're quite good at your job," she laughed, finally. "I'd probably buy anything you put in front of me right now. What was it you said to me yesterday while you were sweet-talking me? That preternatural charm of yours? "

I laughed, and then I heard myself speak. "Day after tomorrow. Let's go off script. There's a property I want to see if you like."

"That sounds like it's exactly the script."

"This one is… what was it, twelve million? Something like that? Only one way to find out if the sixty million is what you actually want."

I was gambling with Queen Pearl's—and my—entire future.

But the way Cameron smiled made it all worth it.