One Perfect Night by Rachael Johns Page B

couldn’t help peering down, her insides roiling as she took in the perfection of his large hands.
    How could she help her mind traveling back to that perfect night when his hands took liberties all over her body?
    As her body reacted in ways she’d never experienced before, she threw the tea towel down on the bench and decided it was time to leave. How crazy had she become to be turned on by washing up? “I’ll just grab my bag, then we’d better be going.”
    She slipped away to her bedroom to take a moment. Deep breaths, a little cold wipe across her brow, a stern talking to her hormones. When she was ready, she found Cameron waiting at her living room door, leaning against the frame. He smiled as she approached and brushed his palm against the small of her back as she slipped out the door ahead of him. It was totally innocuous, yet she felt as if her clothes had gone up in flames against her skin.
    She actually shivered.
    Cameron frowned as he pulled the door shut behind him. “You’re not cold, are you?”
    She bit down hard on her lip but was unable to lie. Their eyes met as she answered, “No.”
    The muscles in Cameron’s neck visibly tensed, his eyes smoldering in a way that told her he understood and that she wasn’t the only one with irrational hormones racing through her veins. For a second, she wondered if he’d lean forward to kiss her. Grasp her face in his strong bold hands and ravage her lips with his own. If they’d bypass the party altogether and head back inside. Despite not wanting to disappoint a five-year-old birthday girl, Peppa couldn’t help but hope.
    Instead, Cameron expelled air through tight lips, and marched right past her. Gruffly adding, “Let’s go.”
     
    The journey to his cousin’s was stifling. Granted it was hot January weather but his car air-conditioner had never had a problem combating the heat before. Cameron couldn’t deny it was Penelope’s presence that had his insides a sweltering mess. Usually the simple fact that he was attracted to an employee would be more than enough to douse the fire but such thoughts weren’t working where this particular voice talent was concerned.
    All he could think about was how her soft curves had felt in his hands and her words about not looking for Mr. Right. All he could think about was whether having an affair with an employee was really a blatant no-no.
    For once he couldn’t wait to get to his aunt’s place and give himself something else to focus on. This constant focus on Penelope and another proposition he wanted to offer her was driving him insane.
    When they pulled up at his cousin Chelsea’s inner-city townhouse, pink and purple balloons attached to the fence were waving in the wind. He couldn’t help notice Penelope’s face light up at the sight. The children were already inside and he could hear their noise from the driveway. His heart pounded against his chest cavity. He knew the ridiculousness of a businessman like himself being scared to face a group of little girls but it was what they signified that left him cold. A dream lost. A life wasted.
    Cut the philosophy, he told himself as he marched round to help Penelope and her wings out of the car. “You ready?”
    She breathed deeply and smiled refreshingly. “Sure. I hope I don’t disappoint.”
    “You won’t,” said Cameron. There was something about Penelope—an aura or something if he bought into that new-age sort of rubbish—that made her the type of person everyone wanted to be around. He knew the party-goers would be as enamored by her as he was; only they wouldn’t have to keep such emotions in check.
    Penelope reached down to grab a mammoth bag but he scooped it up first.
    “Thanks,” she said, as he beeped the car locked and they headed round the back as Auntie Rose had instructed.
    Before they were in full view of the guests, Chelsea ambushed them and grasped Peppa in one of her effusive hugs. “Thank you, my sweet,” she sang. “The