“Do you have children?”
She shook her head. “No. My ex-husband and I talked about starting a family, but it wasn’t in the cards for us.”
Cameron touched his napkin to the corners of his mouth. “You’re still young enough to become a mother or you could always adopt.”
Jasmine wanted to tell him she wasn’tthatyoung, and in another week she would celebrate her forty-third birthday. “Look at you,” she chided. “You talk about not wanting to become a baby daddy; meanwhile you’re suggesting I become a baby mama.”
“There is a difference. If you decide to adopt a child you’d be a single mother.”
“It’s the same difference. Either way I wouldn’t have a man in my child’s life,” she argued softly.
“What if you’d had a child when you were married and it ended in divorce? You’d still be a single mother.”
“True, but at least my child would know who his or her father is. I grew up with both parents and I’d want the same for my child.”
“That is something none of us can control,” Cameron argued softly. “Children can lose a parent either through divorce or even death and still grow up well-adjusted.”
Jasmine waited until the waiter removed her salad plate before he set down her entrée, and then Cameron’s before she asked, “Is that what happened to you?”
He frowned as he stared at the contents on his plate for several seconds. “No. Even though my parents are still married, there was a time when they were like oil and water.” His head popped up and the coldness in his eyes wouldn’t permit her to take a normal breath. The blue was replaced by a steely-gray.
“Are you saying they shouldn’t have married?”
“That’s not for me to say. But, there were times when I’d wished they weren’t together, because they were always at each other’s throats.”
Jasmine knew it was time to change the topic of conversation; she didn’t want to talk about babies, and it was apparent Cameron’s parents had had a volatile marriage, while her own had been equally turbulent.
“How long have you known Hannah?”
“It has to be at least thirty years,” he said. “I must admit there was a time when I was a teenager that I had a crush on her.”
“You’re kidding!”
Chapter 3
Cameron knew this disclosure would probably shock Jasmine. “No, I’m not. I’d just turned fifteen and that summer I went to work in my father’s office as a gofer. Hannah walked in with her father and I couldn’t take my eyes off her. Judge DuPont had come to see my dad about setting up an investment portfolio for his grandson. Hannah was ten years my senior, married and a mother but that did not stop me from gawking at her.”
“Did she know this?”
Cameron lowered his eyes, and the expression crossing his features made him appear slightly embarrassed. “No.”
“Not many men are willing to admit to their boyhood fantasies.”
“It could be they’re ashamed to admit it.”
“And you’re not?” Jasmine asked.
Cameron exhaled an inaudible breath. “No. I’m not perfect—far from it, and if I realize I’ve done something wrong, then I try to make it right.”
He did not want to tell Jasmine that he had dated a few women who were under the impression they would become the next Mrs. Cameron Singleton even when he hadn’t sent them signals or any indication that what they had shared would lead to an exchange of vows. As soon as they mentioned commitment, Cameron realized it was time to end it.
He liked and respected women, enjoyed their company, and had grown confident and comfortable being seen with a different woman every five or six months. It usually took that long for him to determine whether to continue or end their liaison. And while his brothers and occasionally his father chided him for sleeping around, he said nothing to change their minds. He’d become very discriminating when it came to sleeping with a woman, because he did not want to take advantage of them. There were women he’d continued to date without taking their relationship from platonic to physical.
“How’s your salmon?” Jasmine’s query shattered his reverie.
“It’s delicious,” Cameron replied. “Right now I’m trying to detox from red meat. There are times when I crave steak and I end up eating it at least twice a week. Recently I’ve made it a point to include more chicken and fish in my diet.”
“Do you cook for yourself?”
