“What?” she whispered. “What are you doing here?”
Cameron had the nerve to chuckle. “I came to help you through this. Though by the look on my father’s face, I’m guessing you’re doing just fine on your own.”
Jackson’s heart raced faster, and her fingers tingled.Somehow, he had made it here. The man who had sworn off planes forever had flown here, to New York. She ached to touch him, to make sure he was real. She ached to do a lot more than that. So she grabbed the file in front of her and held on tight.
Because...that email. He had planned to discredit her. He had written it out and sent it to his team. Had he come to New York to play her, startoff nice before he finished her off? She didn’t want to believe that the Cameron she knew would do that, but he was the son of Harlan Blackmore. Good at what he did. And he had shown her just how much he loved playing games. And winning them.
But Jackson wasn’t going to think about that. She sat on the edge of her chair, searching for something to say. Harlan Blackmore beat her to it.
“Well, son, this is a surprise,” he rumbled. “If I had known that pussy would bring you to a board meeting, I would have arranged for it long ago.”
Jackson sucked in a harsh breath, and Cameron froze. His hands balled into fists, and his jaw worked angrily. This was bad in so many ways. Harlan Blackmore was just as awful as Cameron had insinuated. Even worse. And Cameron looked about two secondsaway from punching his father in the face.
“Don’t, Cameron,” she said. “What’s the point?”
Her voice shook a little, but she was beyond caring.
Cameron closed his eyes and let out a long breath. He unclenched his hands, and his heavy shoulders came down a fraction of an inch.
“I would have thought a comment like that was beneath even you, Father,” he said slowly. “But you’re fullof surprises, as well.”
He headed for the corner of the room and grabbed an extra chair. He set it down next to Jackson. What the hell was he doing? She couldn’t sit next to him. She couldn’t listen to his smooth, deep voice and smell his musky scent and not react.
She took a steadying breath. It didn’t work.
Cameron was watching her. Waiting. She couldn’t do this. She glanced overat him, but he was looking down at the printout of his email. And frowning.
Slowly, he met her gaze again. He didn’t reject the paper or call it out as a fake.
“Later,” he said softly. But his eyes said more.You know me.
Jackson swallowed hard. Did she?
But they were in a meeting. Her voice was going to shake if she spoke again. Which would only feed Harlan Blackmore’s attacks.Cameron was still waiting for her to begin. He thought she could do this. And she still couldn’t get her mind back into gear.
Finally, Cameron leaned back in his chair and looked out at the board. “Ms. McAllister spent the last two weeks boosting the Blackmore Inc. image, and the write-ups we’ve gotten are evidence of her success. So I’m ready to listen to her plan for our next steps.”
Right. Just talk about the plans. Don’t think about anything else.
So she pulled out her file, cleared her throat and started to speak.
