to any woman anymore. It hurt too much to have his heart ripped out of his chest when Caroline died. He figured there was literally nothing left of it.
The women knew it, understood it, and took what they could get from him. No shortage of women who wanted to be seen with him, sleep with him, enjoy the money he had, and casually slip away when the time came. The problem with that was none of them would make a good mother to Emma.
He hadn’t lost his head over a woman since Caroline until a month ago. He’d had a hard day and ended up right here, sitting in his office looking out at the night and thinking about Caroline and how much he missed her. He’d drowned himself in her memory and what it felt like to be her husband and to love her and be loved.
He’d gone downstairs to Decadence to have dinner alone at his reserved table. When he’d entered the restaurant, he’d seen a woman at the bar who reminded him so much of Caroline that he almost believed it was her. He struck up a conversation, and they’d ended up going at it on the sofa in his office. It had been the one and only time he’d lost his head that way.
When it was over and he’d realized what he’d done, he apologized to the woman and offered to drive her home. She’d made things easy and asked him to dinner.
So began his relationship with the blond beauty, Shelly Ramsey. They’d been seeing each other regularly for a month. He took her to several charity benefits and social functions he attended for business purposes. So far, they enjoyed each other’s company.
He scheduled dinner with Shelly and Emma downstairs at Decadence and awaited his daughter’s arrival. He stared at the picture of Emma again and wondered if it was too soon to introduce her to a woman he was seeing.
He thought about Shelly. Nice, well spoken, and beautiful, if not too made up at times. Caroline often made jokes about herself to make others feel comfortable around her. Shelly didn’t have a sense of humor about herself. She took things too personally.
The more Cameron thought about Shelly, the more he realized his interest in her ran more to her resemblance of Caroline. The longer he spent with her, the more he realized her looks weren’t enough to keep him interested.
Always nice to him, but not necessarily to others. That was a problem for Cameron. At every business function they attended, Caroline went out of her way to befriend everyone. She was a warm fire on a cold night. Everyone wanted to gather around and feel her warmth. He missed that about her. He’d bask in the praise and compliments about what a wonderful woman he’d snagged. They’d tell him how lucky he was and how they thought she was great. He hadn’t needed anyone to tell him he was lucky. He knew it.
So far, Shelly hadn’t shown that side of herself. If she even had it in her. He sometimes suspected some sort of hidden agenda.
Cameron sighed and put the picture of his daughter back on the corner of his desk and considered himself a royal jackass. Yeah, the sex was good, but he spent the whole time pretending Shelly was his wife. After the first time, he hadn’t lost his head quite so completely. In fact, now he could take it or leave it. He chalked Shelly up to supreme stupidity and a deep longing for his dead wife.
He wished he’d realized Shelly was just a substitute for Caroline before he’d agreed to introduce her to his daughter. Emma would arrive any second, and he couldn’t cancel now.
He continued to stare out the window at the ocean in the far distance. A row of lights appeared very small on the water. A ship, lights lining the mast. He imagined a sailboat and wished he were aboard right now.
MARTI STARED OUT across the water and sighed. She loved the ocean, the sound, the smell, the solitude, and most of all, the sheer size of it. You could lose yourself out here on the wide-open sea. She had for the past year, and now it was time to find herself back on land.
The saltwater spray swept up from the bow and misted her face. Her last day on the ship; tomorrow she arrived in nearby San Francisco.