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

“Don’t judge me too harshly. I never knew my father. He left before I was born,” she said.

“I’m sorry. My dad was the greatest influence on my life. My mother wasn’t very maternal, but my dad … I think you missed something really important there, Becca.”

“I know I did. And I don’t want Ty to grow up the same way,” she admitted.

“I’m not making any promises,” Cam said. “But you and I had something electric and I think it’s time we explored it more fully.”

His phone rang.

“Stern.”

“Cam, it’s Nate. I’m glad you are back because we have an emergency at the club. Some of the local leaders are raising a stink about the Mercado again. Can you get down here and handle it? I’m supposed to be upstairs with Jen practicing a waltz for our first dance for the wedding.”

Jen was Nate’s fiancée. Cam’s little brother had fallen in love with the dance instructor at Luna Azul, and they were planning a wedding in less than a week’s time. Love had hit Nate hard and Cam had a little bit of trouble believing it. But his brother had never been happier and Cam wished him the best.

“I’m on it. You go do your dancing thing. I’ll be there in less than thirty minutes.”

“Thanks, bro, you’re the best. I want to hear all about the trip.”

“I’ll be happy to tell you about it later. Bye, Nate.”

He turned to Becca. “I’m needed at the club. We can continue this discussion later.”

“It’s fine.”

“Good,” he said. “Becca, I know I said I’d put Ty first … not be a workaholic, but this is an emergency.”

“I get that, Cam, but you said that family was important and we’ve just gotten to your house.”

“In the future, I will be here more often. This is an emergency.”

“Okay, but I’m not going to let you do it too often,” she said, relenting.

He tipped his head to the side. He was still angry she hadn’t told him about Ty, but he could see that she wasn’t going to be resentful toward him about his work. “Thank you.”

She just nodded. He pulled her into his arms.

She flushed and felt the stirring of desire deep inside her. She put her hands on his shoulders, then wrapped her arms around his neck. She lifted herself toward him. He rubbed his hands down her back, cupping her butt and bringing her closer to him.

She felt his erection nudging at the bottom of her stomach and looked up at him. It was a powerful feeling to know that she could make Cam react.

She leaned up to kiss him, but he controlled the embrace. His mouth moved over hers, and no matter how hard she tried to deepen the connection he wouldn’t let her.

“Kiss me,” Cam said.

She shook her head. “I want you to kiss me. I want to know that there is still a spark of something that’s not motivated by your need for vengeance.”

“Not yet,” he said, rubbing his lips lightly over hers. “I want to make sure you really want me—and not just to get me to forgive you. You do want me, don’t you, Becca?”

“I do,” she said. “My entire body is vibrating waiting for your kiss. I hate to admit this but I’ve thought of you and our time together often in the last two years.”

“Why do you hate to admit it?” he asked, stroking his thumb back and forth over the base of her neck.

“I think it makes me seem weak and gives you an advantage over me,” she admitted.

He cupped her face with his big hands and leaned forward to kiss her so tenderly that she almost melted on the spot. Her knees weakened and her heart beat even harder in her chest.

“I will take any advantage I can get,” he said.

He angled his head to the left and kissed her again. This time it was more passionate. He thrust his tongue deeply into her mouth. She shifted in his arms, holding on to his shoulders as he ravaged her mouth.

She wanted more from him. His tongue couldn’t touch her deeply enough. She was aching for his weight to be more solidly against her. For his erection to be pressed against the apex of her thighs where she was so empty and needy. Her dreams of Cam had fed her libido for the entire time she’d been pregnant, when her hormones had been out of whack and she’d needed a man.

Now Cam was here and this was everything she remembered. The feel of him pressed up against her made her desire him even more. She wanted to touch his flesh, not feel him through his clothing. He shifted around until the wall was pressed against her back and he was pressed against her front. She lifted one leg and wrapped it around his hips.

He moaned and thrust his hips toward her. He rubbed himself along her pleasure spot until she thought she’d go insane from longing. She tunneled her fingers into his hair and held him to her as his mouth continued to taste hers.

He pulled back, breathing heavily. “I have to go,” Cam said. His skin was flushed with desire, and she knew that leaving was the last thought on his mind.

She nodded and turned around to go get Ty. When she brought him back, Cam gave Ty a kiss on the head. His hands brushed Becca’s and their eyes met. She said nothing as he walked down the hall and out the door.

Ty was the one man she could trust in her life. It was something she’d do well to remember; otherwise she was going to end up letting Cam Stern break her heart again.

Cam drove through the rush-hour traffic in Miami. He’d taken his new Tesla sports car and wanted to let the car run full out but knew better. He was the responsible Stern, the one who kept his own wants and desires well-hidden from the world, and he sure as hell wasn’t going to let Becca change that.

He realized this wasn’t the kind of car a family man should have. Hell. He was a dad. He’d had no way of planning for this. It was the one eventuality he hadn’t planned for. He knew he could do it—he’d raised his brothers and given them a secure platform to launch from when their parents had died.

He’d do it for Ty. He knew he could be a good dad. But he had no idea what to do with Becca. She was the fly in the ointment of his plans for the future.

There was no discounting the sexual attraction between them, and he wished he could honestly say that he only wanted her in his bed … but he knew that he wanted her in his life. He really liked her as a mom. He knew that there were women who loved their children and would put them first. But this was the first time he’d actually encountered one. Then again, Becca had always been different. When their affair had ended, he’d felt her absence in his life. He’d wanted to somehow reconnect with her but … had been afraid of an emotional commitment. That had come back to bite him in the ass—now he had a son and a woman he wasn’t sure what to do with in his life.

He pulled into the parking lot at Luna Azul and got out of the car. He walked toward the building and felt that sense of home he so often experience here. This was the place he’d poured all of his dreams and desires into. And the club had taken off. It was more than he and his brothers had ever expected it to be.

Luna Azul was in the heart of Little Havana right off Calle Ocho. It had been a cigar factory in its heyday but had closed and fallen into disrepair when Cam had found it and purchased it for a very good price. He’d decided to make it the premiere club in Miami and had done just that, transforming the former cigar factory’s entryway with a Chihuly glass sculpture installation of the night sky showing two moons—a blue moon. And then decking out the rest of the club all in dark Latin tones. Upstairs there was a rooftop club that echoed the streets of Havana back in their pre-Castro glory days.

Now he knew he had to find something else to pour his energy into and Justin had suggested a club in Manhattan. Nate liked the idea because the A-listers there were more accessible than other areas of the country, but Nate had said he’d make it work wherever they wanted to open their new club. He had to think through he details, and he would need to start putting together a team to bring the project to life. They’d all agreed that another Luna Azul wasn’t exactly what they wanted. They needed to make that club unique from the one in Miami.

Opening a club was time-consuming, which was why he’d always been into short-term affairs. He’d had to raise his brothers and he hadn’t had for another emotional commitment.

“You look very serious, bro,” Nate said, coming up behind him and patting him on the shoulder. “Don’t worry. I calmed down the local leaders over the latest Mercado drama. We have a meeting set for tomorrow.”

Cam turned and gave his brother a quick hug. “I’m glad. I’m thinking about the new club idea.”

“Good,” Nate said. His brother looked like he’d stepped off the pages of GQ magazine, which was why he was the public face of the company, the one who always showed up in the tabloid gossip columns. “What are your thoughts? “

His ideas were rough, but they were starting to take form. He needed something different. The club scene in

New York was just as competitive as in Miami, maybe even more so, and they’d need to be different to stand out.