Reunited...with Child / One Month with the Magnate: Reunited...with Child. Michelle Celmer

had a paternity suit brought against me right as Luna Azul started taking off. The suit was false but we had to go to court and I think that made me realize that having a child was something I wanted to take very seriously. I didn’t want to have a child with just any woman.”

      Becca’s stomach dropped, and she felt like she was going to be sick. She wrapped an arm around her own waist and knew there was no way she could just tell Cam that Ty was his son. In fact, she just wanted to get out of this car and return to her safe little home as quickly as possible.

      Three

      Cam had a hard time looking at Becca and not touching her. There was something about her that called to him, and he knew part of it at least was the false feeling that they were still intimates. It didn’t matter that it had been over two years since he’d last seen her. He wanted her, and it felt to him that no time had passed.

      “I’m glad we met again tonight,” he said. He rubbed his finger over her cheek. Her skin was so soft that he could touch it for hours.

      The cab pulled to a stop in front of his hotel, and he paid the driver before following Becca out of the cab. The doorman held the door open as they approached.

      “I have to call for a car now or I’ll never get one later,” she said. “I’ll meet you in the bar. Go ahead and order me a Baileys.”

      “I’ll take care of the car. You go get a seat and I’ll be right there.”

      “I’d rather—”

      He put his finger over her lips. They were full, and he was dying to kiss her again. Touching her mouth, he found it soft and even more tempting than he’d expected.

      “I said I’ll take care of it.”

      She playfully nipped at his fingertip and then turned and walked away.

      He watched her. She’d surprised him, and he reminded himself that a lot had changed with Becca in the last two years.

      And he was dying to know more.

      But if he was going to build trust with Becca, he needed to respect the fact that she didn’t want to be rushed into his bed. So he called for a car, asking for it to arrive in an hour.

      He joined her in a quiet area of the bar where she’d found two large armchairs and a small table.

      “I ordered you a Baileys, too.”

      “Thanks. Your car will be here in an hour,” he said.

      “Great. So what did you want to talk to me about?” she asked.

      “Us. Are you going to give us another chance to get to know one another?” he asked.

      As she nibbled on her lower lip, he wanted to groan out loud but didn’t. He wanted her mouth, and promised himself that before he put her in a car back to Long

      Island, he was going to taste her and prove to himself that she couldn’t taste as good as he remembered.

      “I’m thinking about it,” she said at last. Their drinks arrived, and she held hers with both hands. “It’s hard for me to just rush into anything with you.”

      “If we are going to get to know each other, we should talk,” he said. “Tell me something about you that I don’t already know.”

      She paused, her eyes darkening.

      “I don’t like surprises,” she said.

      “What kind?” he asked.

      “Any of them. I like my life to go according to plan. I can adjust and change my plan but I don’t want to have to do it too often.”

      “Me, too,” he said. “Though to be honest, usually I just bully my way through a situation until I get the results I want.”

      “Hence me having a drink with you tonight,” she said.

      He just smiled and lifted his glass toward her. He took a sip and sat back in his chair.

      “Tell me more about why you are in Manhattan,” she said.

      “Justin and I are exploring the idea of expanding Luna Azul someday. We are discussing eventually opening clubs in other parts of the country. Manhattan is the first location we are contemplating.”

      “That’s a big step,” she said.

      “It is. And to be honest, I love our Miami locals. But we are ready for it. And now that you and I have reconnected I will have another reason to come up here.”

      “Cam—”

      He shook his head when she tried to speak. “I want to get to know you better, Becca.”

      “I don’t know if that is a good idea. I’m more complicated than you probably have time for,” she said. Her eyes had narrowed, and she tipped her head to the side, studying him.

      “I know that. That’s why … Am I wrong here to think that there is something between us?”

      “No. We’ve always had that attraction that is impossible to resist, but I want more than that. And you don’t.”

      “I’m willing to try it.”

      “Try what? I had a hard time getting over you, Cam. I don’t think I want to take a chance on letting you break my heart again.”

      “I can’t make promises,” he said. “But I do know that I want more than a secret affair. Will you at least agree to come to Miami for the Tenth Anniversary party and spend the weekend with me? “

      “As your lover?” she asked.

      “I hope so. Definitely as my friend. I want to get to know you better. I feel like we have something unfinished between us.”

      Becca didn’t panic. But she wanted to. Cam had no real idea of what was unfinished between them. She knew that he was talking about sexual attraction or maybe the kind of thing that made her tick. And she knew she wasn’t going to share too much with Cam until she could trust him.

      “I think that isn’t going to be as easy as you might think,” she said.

      “I know it’s not. But anything and anyone worth having is worth working to get to know.”

      She wasn’t sure if he’d mellowed or if it was simply that he was keeping the passion that had flared between them the first time under wraps. But talking was making her realize that Cam was a decent man. A man she wanted to know better and maybe a man that she wanted her son to know.

      “I agree.” She had to find out more about his past. Had to understand the best way to tell him they had a son. “So tell me what kind of woman you would choose to have a child with,” she said.

      It was the one thing she wanted to know. Telling him about Ty was only the first step—making sure that he treated her son well once he knew that Ty was his was the important part.

      “That’s a big jump in conversation.”

      “I know, but I want to know the kind of man you are.”

      He leaned back in his chair and took another sip of his drink. “I’ve never really thought about it. My dad was everything to me when I was growing up, and my mother was more concerned with her social position than her children.”

      “I’m sorry.”

      He shrugged. “It is what it is. No changing the type of woman she was. But I want to make a better choice than my dad did. I want a woman who will want to be a mother to our children. Who will make them a priority,” he said.

      His words made her feel better that he was Ty’s father. But she still didn’t know if he was just paying lip service to the type of man he thought he should be. And to be fair, he probably didn’t know either. She’d had similar uncertainty about becoming a parent. She’d never expected to be a mom and had thought