St. John congratulated her on her engagement, seemingly surprised that she was involved with Cameron Singleton. Jasmine teased St. John that now that he was back he and Hannah would have the house to themselves because she was moving out the next day.
As promised, Cameron came to get her Friday evening. He didn’t get to see St. John who still hadn’t recovered from jet-lag. And when he parked his car in his reserved space at the hotel Jasmine felt as if she’d ended one chapter in her life and was about to begin another.
“I had housekeeping clean your suite,” Cameron said when they exited the elevator. “And if you need anything there is a listing of the different departments on the table next to the house phone.”
Jasmine shifted the garment bag with the dress she planned to wear for the wedding. “Are we going to eat breakfast together?” she asked as Cameron rolled her Pullman over the carpet to the door connecting his suite to hers.
He stared at her under lowered lids. “Is that what you want?”
“Yes.”
Cameron opened the door and placed the Pullman on a luggage rack next to the closet. “Just open the door and come in whenever you’re ready.”
“I don’t have to knock?”
“No, babe. My door is always open to you.” He patted her bottom. “Now go to bed and get your beauty sleep. We can’t have you looking like I kept you up all night.”
Jasmine kissed his cheek. “Thank you, and good night.”
“Good night, love.”
She stood in the same spot long after Cameron had gone into his suite. He’d called her love, and she wondered if he did think of her as someone he loved. She wore his ring yet felt more distant from him than she did when they were together in New York.
They hadn’t made love in weeks since that passionate day in her apartment, and it was as if he no longer found her attractive. Jasmine did not want to think he’d pursued her because he viewed her as a challenge at Hannah’s wedding, and now that she was carrying his baby, he felt obligated to be in her life.
There were times when Jasmine tended to overthink a situation and make what her grandmother referred to as a mountain out of a molehill. However, the reality was she was in love with a man who through his actions demonstrated he cared for and about her, but she longed to hear him say more than an occasional term of endearment.
Jasmine decided to wait until Saturday to unpack and put her clothes away. Stripping off her street clothes, she left them on a chair and climbed into bed. She’d brushed her teeth and washed her face at Hannah’s before Cameron arrived to pick her up.
The mattress in the mahogany four-poster bed felt like heaven. It was firm yet hugged her body like a glove. The sea-foam green comforter matched the floor-to-ceiling drapes. The suite was as beautifully decorated as Cameron’s. Reaching over, she turned off the bedside lamp, plunging the room into darkness, and rearranged the mound of pillows under her head and shoulders.
Her last thought was to wonder whether Cameron was still awake before she floated into the comforting arms of Morpheus.
* * *
Cameron lay in bed channel surfing. He was too wound up to sleep. He couldn’t stop thinking about the woman on the other side of the door. Although he had invited her to live with him, he’d mentioned the door connecting the suites would remain unlocked in the hope that Jasmine would open it and climb into bed with him. He didn’t want to make love with her as much as he wanted to feel her body next to his; he wanted to listen to the soft whisper of her breathing and inhale the intoxicating fragrance of her perfume that complemented her natural scent.
Don’t rush her and she will come around on her own.Hannah’s words played in his head like a broken record. There was just so much he could take before he lost whatever fragile hold he had on his self-control. Cameron did not know why but he believed he was being paid back for how he had selfishly disregarded the feelings of the women who’d wanted more than he was willing to give.
He knew he was wallowing in self-pity. After all he’d gotten Jasmine to live with him and agree to an engagement which did not guarantee they would marry. And since becoming involved with her, he had begun a practice of self-examination, questioning if he was really that anti-marriage or was it that he feared he’d fail as a husband. That he wasn’t willing to compromise and it had to be his way or nothing.
He’d always ended a liaison if the woman said one word that struck a nerve. Cameron would take her home and walk away without a backward glance. Then he would block her number from his cellphone as if she never existed. His mother had accused him of being too controlling like his father, possessive, moody, and irritable and that no woman would put up with him for any length of time even if he wined and dined them and gave them expensive baubles. When she told him the best thing he had done was not bring a child into the world, Cameron refused to talk to her for weeks. He didn’t know if she thought he wouldn’t be a good father, but one thing he knew for certain was he never would treat a woman as his father had done her.
Cameron found himself watching a movie he’d seen before and settled down to watch it again. It was a comedy and he needed something to make him smile. He managed to stay awake to see the credits, then picked up the remote and turned off the television. Sleep was slow in coming, but then exhaustion finally won out.
* * *
Cameron woke with start when he realized he wasn’t alone in the bed. Streams of sunlight came through the windows and he knew he’d slept later than usual. He turned over to find Jasmine lying next him, her unbound hair spread out on the pillow next to his.
“I was wondering when you were going to wake up,” she teased.
A grin nearly split his face as he stared at her delicate features. “I was waiting for a princess to kiss me and break the magic spell the naughty witch placed on me.”
Rising on her elbow, Jasmine kissed his nose, his eyebrow, eyelid, and finally his mouth. She smelled of toothpaste and mouthwash. “Good morning, sweet prince.”
In a motion too quick for the eyes to follow, Cameron had her on her back, and buried his face between her neck and shoulder. “Good morning, my love.” She went completely still under him. “What’s the matter?”
“Am I your love, Cameron?”
