“Did he take his phone?” she asked.
Chloe shook her head. “He doesn’t usually, but you’re welcome to try him.”
Jackson grimaced and looked at the clock. Okay, so maybe she should have checked in with Cameron this morning if she wanted him to be available. But the thought of calling him? She pinched the bridge of her nose.Concentrate.
She needed to gether plan under way: get Cameron to agree to the idea, choose an appropriate charity, arrange for an opportunity to meet the head of the organization and then spread the press release. And she was already getting a late start.
“You said he just went down?” she asked.
“Yes,” Chloe said. “I suppose you could catch him coming out of the changing room, but he might be... Never mind.”
“I’llfind him,” said Jackson as she turned back toward the elevators.
The doors opened onto the fifth floor, and Jackson stepped out into a spa-like atrium, with white walls and pictures of water and sand. The hallway in both directions was wide and empty, and the reception desk was unmanned. How did she find her way to the workout room? Listen for sounds of male grunting? She started down thebright hallway, passing doors with unhelpful labels like Room 1 and Room 2. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.
A door clicked farther down, and low male voices sounded through the hallway. Jackson looked up in time to see a glimpse of ripped ab muscles and a jagged scar before they were covered in a T-shirt. She didn’t even have to look up to see who they belonged to. Heat flooded throughher, cutting off all rational thought.
“... Afraid I’ve fucked it all up—” Cameron stopped midsentence as his head came through the neck of his shirt.
“You still have time to fix it—” Derek Latu followed Cameron through the door and came to a stop. He looked at Jackson, at Cameron and back at Jackson again. “Ms. McAllister. This is...unexpected.” Derek’s face betrayed only mild surprise,but Jackson could tell he was taking her in with new eyes.
“I’ll catch you later, bro,” he said and headed down the hall.
Jackson waited for the sound of the door closing behind Derek before she let out her breath. “Were you ladies gossiping about your exploits?” she hissed.
Cameron blinked. “No,” he said flatly.
“You didn’t tell him about...” She waved her hand between them, searchingfor a good ending to this sentence. Nothing came.
Cameron gave a bark of laughter. “Hell, no.”
“Then why was he looking at me like that?”
The corners of Cameron’s mouth turned up. “Um. Well, you were staring at me, and you looked...” His eyes danced with amusement. “Let’s just say you might have tipped him off.”
Jackson leaned back against the wall. She closed her eyes as heatcrept up her neck and into her cheeks. Shit. “Really?” she whispered.
“Mmm, really.”
His voice was closer, and when she opened her eyes he was standing right in front of her. Not business distance. He was approaching lean-down-and-kiss-the-hell-out-of-her distance.
“No glasses today,” he murmured. “Gonna pretend you didn’t recognize me again?”
She put up her hand. “Stop right there.”
Cameron furrowed his brow.
“I’ve been known to do really stupid things when you get that close,” she said. “I can feel my IQ dropping as we speak.”
Cameron stayed put, smiling down at her. “Can I say something?”
She rolled her eyes at him. “Like I could stop you.”
“Look, I messed up last night,” he said softly. “I was a little thrown off by how things went, and—”
“No.” Sheshook her head to stop this exchange before it got worse. “It’s over.”
Cameron frowned.
