CHAPTER SEVEN
CAMERONBLACKMOREYANKEDopen the door to his office building. More accurately, his father’s office building. It was one of many assets that Cameron had added to the Blackmore Inc. empire, all ultimately controlled by his father.
Cameron was a thorn in his father’s side that would never go away. If he had been a little older, a little more experienced when his grandfatherdied, Harlan Senior would have bypassed Cameron’s father altogether and named him chairman of the board. Cameron knew it. His father knew it. The board knew it.
But what Harlan Junior couldn’t understand was that Cameron had no desire to take over his job. He’d much rather be in the Sydney office with his team than in a boardroom in New York. Which meant he never had to see another airplanein his life. Let one of his half brothers take on that role and leave Cameron as the master of his own domain.
Harlan Blackmore was good at bullshit like country clubs and photo ops—much better at schmoozing than he was at the actual business of running a company. But no matter what his father threw his way, Cameron wouldn’t walk away from his grandfather’s legacy. His father had used Cameron’sstrong sense of loyalty to keep him in line in the aftermath of his parents’ awful divorce. And now he was counting on this same sense of loyalty to Harlan Senior to keep Cameron from rebelling against the board outright.
Which was the reason Cameron was in this current mess in the first place.
Though there was no way to blame last night’s mess on his father. That fell squarely on hisown shoulders. He had replayed the scene at least a hundred times since the elevator doors closed behind her, and he still couldn’t shake the hurt on Jackson’s face.
Telling her she was hot was about the stupidest thing he had done in a while, and considering the last two days of stupid moves, that was saying something. He had thrown it out to cover up what almost came out of his mouth ashe looked down at Jackson, still buried deep inside of her. He’d almost told her that he wanted to do this every day for the rest of his life. That this was what he had been missing. And that would have taken this messed-up situation to a new level of messed-up-ness.
Cameron walked into the elevator and punched the button for the top floor. He gritted his teeth. His entire business dependedon his ability to plan, to foresee all potential problems, to make everything run smoothly, but nothing about the last two days had gone right. And he had only a couple hours to come up with a new plan to dig himself out of the latest hole he’d made.
Then Jackson McAllister would show up at the office again.
“Good morning, Mr. Blackmore,” Chloe chirped as he walked through the glass doors.“Mr. Latu, Mr. Jensen and Mr. Rodriguez are waiting for you in the large conference room.”
Right. First he had to get through this meeting. These guys knew him better than anyone else in the world. One of them was going to figure out how badly he had screwed up soon. Judging from the night before at dinner, Cameron had his money on Derek. But that wasn’t going to happen today. Soon this meetingwould be over and he’d have time to do a little thinking in the weight room before he had to face Jackson again.
And figure out how not to botch this situation further.
He grabbed the handle to the conference room door and took a deep breath. Game time. He swung it open.
Derek, Max and Simon sat around one end of the long table. Max was in the middle of a story, and the other two satback in the black leather chairs, watching.
“After we’re done I say—” Max turned toward him and smiled. “Cam, just in time.”
Derek punched Max on the shoulder. “No way that story ends with ‘Cam, just in time.’”
Simon and Max chuckled.
“I’ll finish it later,” said Max. “Where’s your babysitter, mate?”
Cameron sat down in one of the chairs and let out a long breath. “She’s gota video conference with the board. She’ll be here in a couple of hours.”
They all watched him silently, no doubt waiting for more details. Cameron didn’t say a word.
Finally Derek broke the silence. “I’m just going to lay it all out for us. We need a new plan. I’m not feeling the idea of undermining Jackson McAllister’s reputation. Plus, I’m pretty sure we’d come off as sexist.”
Maxleaned back in his chair and smiled. “How’s this for a new plan? One of us takes her out and gets caught with her in some sort of compromising situation. I doubt the board sends anyone here after that. And she’s gorgeous, so I’ll volunteer myself for the job. A woman like that’s all business on the outside, but when you get her—”
“No!” barked Cameron. He heaved in a calming breath, but thedamage was done. Already he was picturing Max and Jackson together. Jackson moaning and calling out Max’s name instead of his. Cameron ground his teeth together hard.
No. Just no.
Cameron unclenched his fists. “No one messes with her,” he bit out. “Don’t bring it up again. Our plan isn’t going to work.”
Max rolled his eyes. “Okay, boss.”
Derek crossed his arms and sighed. “Hateto mention this, Cam, but how about just finding a way through that flying problem of yours and taking it up with your father and the board in person?”
Cameron shook his head. “Not an option.”
They had been over this before. The doctors had called it PTSD, but who the hell would be crazy enough to get on a plane after a crash like his unit had been through?
