Hot Commodity (Banks / Kincaid Family #1)(20)

"No," Leah stated.

Shocked, Cameron lifted his face. Usually, people backed off when he mentioned Sienna. He did it seldom, but it was always a good way to get concerned loved ones off his case and nab himself some leeway. Yet Leah didn’t budge.

Weird.

"It’s been, what, nine years," she said. "You need to get over this."

"Ten," he gritted out. "It’s been ten years."

Leah finally softened. Her face transformed as she reached for his arm. He pulled back before she could touch him.

"I’m sorry," she said. She sounded genuinely remorseful too, until

she added, "But this time you’re not just hurting yourself. You brought an innocent woman into it."

Innocent? In his mind’s eyes, Cameron caught a flash of Olivia Donovan in her black leather bustier with her plush tits about to spill out the top, telling him he could do anything he wanted to her if only they’d marry. He almost snorted in his sister’s face. Yeah, right. Real innocent.

"What’re you going to do with her?" Leah asked.

Remembering exactly what he’d already done with her, Cameron refrained from snickering. He picked up one of his nephew’s toys and shrugged, tossing the block between two hands. "I’m not going to do anything. She’s calling her mother as we speak to come get her. I’ve already talked to Bos. He’s going to work up the divorce or annulment papers, or whatever."

Leah arched a brow.

"What?" he said. "Did you want me to stay married to her?"

"No," she muttered and let out an irritated sigh. Then she growled. "Why can’t you just stop this depression? A divorce might save you this time, Cameron. But what about next time? Why won’t you just let your family help you?"

"Help me do what?" They couldn’t bring Sienna back. They couldn’t take the guilt and remorse off his shoulders. They couldn’t fix shit. There was nothing they could do but hurt right along with him.

"Cam," she bit out, gritting her teeth. But movement from the doorway caused both brother and sister to glance up.

Wearing his dress shirt with the arms hanging down over her hands and her fingers constantly working the cuffs in a nervous gesture, Olivia hunched in the doorway. She looked on the verge of another crying jag.

"She’s already gone back home," she said, her voice cracking.

She looked about as scared as a lost lamb, and Cameron’s frustrations grew. If what she’d told him about her mother was true, then she was just as innocent in this situation as he was, and the whole night had been one big, avoidable accident.

God. Exactly what he didn’t want to deal with.

"Okay," he said, remaining as calm as possible. "Where’s home?"

Her shoulders heaved as she sucked in air. "Pasadena."

He nodded. "Fine. Tomorrow, I’m headed home myself. I’ll just have my pilot detour us by your place on the way."

"But you’re going in completely the opposite direction of California," Leah cut in.

Cameron gave his sister a sour look. "What would you rather have me do? Take her back to KC with me?"

"Well, she is your wife."

Cameron growled and tossed down the block he’d been holding. It hit another that happened to be a vital foundation piece to the structure his nephew was building. As the entire stack went tumbling, four-year-old Aiden burst into devastated tears.

Leah gathered her sobbing son into her arms and held him to her chest as she glared at Cameron. "Look what you did," she said accusingly. She cooed to Aiden and struggled to her feet. With a final scowl at Cam, she carried her son from the room, telling him they’d go do something else and leave mean old Uncle Cameron alone.

Cameron sighed and shoved over another pile of blocks. He glanced at Olivia, who watched him with untrusting eyes.

God, he needed a drink.

Feeling his nasty mood spark, he decided to take it out on her. "So, how am I supposed to know you’re telling me the truth?"

Her story was too fishy. None of it added up. He was having a hard time believing she’d stumbled across him by mere coincidence when he was the one guy she claimed to be avoiding.

When Olivia frowned in confusion, he explained, "Maybe you wanted to do exactly what Mommy told you to do. Maybe you followed me to that bar last night and waited until I was good and plowed before strolling over in that tight little number."

"No."

He snorted when Olivia shook her head emphatically. "You know, maybe Mommy didn’t want to keep me as a son-in-law at all. Why would she need to? If you could talk me into marrying you, which you did, then you could just keep me in bed long enough until we bypassed the opportunity to get a nice simple annulment and had to go through a divorce instead, where you’d take half of everything I own."

Olivia’s jaw dropped. "I don’t want anything from—"

"But you know what?" Cameron cut in. "You can go ahead and take it. I don’t give a rat’s ass. I can be poor and miserable just as easily as I can be rich and miserable."

"You’re wrong," Olivia told him, shaking her head again.

But Cameron wasn’t buying it. "You know what’s wrong? You. It’s just plain wrong to go out, planning on seducing a complete stranger just because you know he’s rich. Some people would call that stealing, you know. You didn’t even earn it. Oh, wait. I guess you did. You screwed me real good last night, didn’t you? Well then, it must be time for me to pay my whore. Except you’re a little more pricey than most, aren’t you?"