Noah had always wondered if she’d married on the rebound because it had been so fast, coming up right after he had been home on furlough and they had gone another—and final—round in their battle over his alpha-male, take-charge way, their city versus country life.
A part of him suspected that Thane wanted them back together and thought her fatherless child might draw them closer. That wasn’t going to happen. Noah knew Camilla hadn’t changed. She didn’t want any part of him in her life.
He sipped his hot coffee, closing his eyes, lost in memories of holding and kissing her that he couldn’t push out of mind. She was still the sexiest woman he had ever known. She dazzled him, and until he’d left for the Army, they’d had fun together. He had been staying in Dallas some of the time, or coming in from the ranch often to take her out, and for a time, they seemed to be getting closer. Until he started inviting her to his ranch.
Give the baby his present and tell her goodbye. After that and Mike’s wedding, there won’t be any other reason to try to see her.
His logical mind gave him clear commands, but he couldn’t stop the memories that clutched at his heart. Memories of one of the last times they were together, when he invited her to his ranch and she turned him down, leading to an argument as he tried to talk her into coming for a weekend. Finally he had stepped closer to slip his arms around her.
“Here’s where all our arguments vanish,” he’d said quietly. His mouth had covered hers and his tongue had gone deep while he kissed her. He’d held her close against him with one arm, his other hand slipping lightly over her curves, sliding down over her trim bottom, and then he’d shifted, his hand drifting beneath her dress to caress her breast. She’d been soft, wonderful, sweet-smelling, absolute temptation. He’d been lost. Her softness had made him shake.
For a moment she’d stood still in his arms, but with a moan, her arms had circled his neck and she’d thrust her hips against him, clinging tightly to him as she kissed him passionately in return, and he hadn’t wanted to ever stop.
He’d leaned over her, pouring himself into the kiss as if he could kiss away her reluctance and make her want a life together. Make being with him more important to her than her dislike of country life and her views on alpha males. Their moments of intimacy were the best possible, but it always came back to the truth: he couldn’t change the kind of man he was and make false promises that he never could keep and he didn’t want to give up his ranch. City life wasn’t for him.
Shifting, he’d slipped his hand beneath her dress, caressing her silken thighs so lightly, hearing her moan as she moved against him. Then he’d forgotten all their harsh words and impossible goals as he leaned down again to kiss her.
“I want you, Camilla,” he’d whispered minutes later, running his hand lightly over her nape and then holding her close.
She’d inhaled, closing her eyes to kiss him in return. She’d moaned softly and run both hands down his sides. “Noah, this isn’t going to solve anything.”
“Shh. For a few minutes shut out the world. We’ll talk about it later.”
“That just means you’re going to do what you wa—”
He’d kissed her so she would stop talking and there were no arguments. The sex had been hot, irresistible, and he’d picked her up to carry her to bed, where they forgot their differences.
Hours later, he’d slipped out of bed, gathering his clothes to shower and dress. When he’d come out, she’d been waiting. She had showered, pulled on jeans and a blue T-shirt.
They’d faced each other in silence. “We didn’t solve one thing. You just took charge and swept us into making love.”
“It looks as if we’re caught up in irreconcilable differences because I can’t stop being an alpha male. And frankly, I don’t want to give up living on my ranch. That’s my life.”
“And I don’t want to leave the city life. Noah, why are we even arguing? You haven’t proposed. We’re not that deeply involved.”
“One of us was,” he’d said. “All right, Camilla. I guess we say goodbye. I’m going to the military, anyway. I won’t be around for a few years.”
She’d flinched and drawn a deep breath. “We’re just opposites and neither one of us wants to change.”
“I guess you’re right. One goodbye kiss,” he’d said, kissing her again, knowing he had lost her. Hurting, getting aroused again, he’d held her tightly and they’d kissed.
He’d released her abruptly and stepped back, clenching his fists so he wouldn’t pick her up and carry her to bed. “This is goodbye. It’s what you want. Not what I want. You’re very special, Camilla. I am who I am and I guess you can say the same about yourself. You fuss about your brother being an alpha male, as well as your dad, but that didn’t stop you from loving Thane and turning to him when you had a problem. Aw, hell. There’s too much about me you don’t like—too much you love that I don’t want any part of, like living in the city and working here. I’m here now more than I want to be so I can take you out. Well, that’s over. I’m going into the Army and I’ll be gone. We just said goodbye.”
Tears had spilled over and run down her cheeks, but her frown had kept him from closing the space between them to take her into his arms.
“You’re right, Noah. I don’t want to live on a ranch or in the country. You’re a strong man and you’ll always want life your way.”
When he’d started to reply, she’d held up her hand as if to stop him. “I know what you’re about to say—that I have a strong, take-charge tendency myself. Maybe so. We’re opposites in too many ways. All we have that goes smoothly is sex. That’s breathtaking. But there’s more to life than that. We have to get out of bed, and from the moment we do, we’re opposites. So I guess it is goodbye,” she’d said, wiping her eyes.
“You know how I feel about you, but I have to be honest and I have to be me.”
He’d turned and walked out of her condo, knowing it was the end of their relationship and wondering how long it would take him to end his feelings for her.
The memory faded, but instead of feeling like three years ago, the pain of that breakup and goodbye was fresh. His feelings for her hadn’t ended as he had thought they would when he was on active duty. He’d thought he was getting over her and then one glimpse of her set him back. There was one ray of hope for getting past the hurt from their breakup—he had done far better when he was away from her.
As soon as he delivered her baby’s present and was in Mike Moretti’s wedding, he would rarely ever see her. Thane was gone now, so his friendship with her brother could no longer throw them together. He planned to stay in Dallas for several weeks to be close to his dad. He would have to come and go from the ranch and spend more time in the city than he had originally expected.
There hadn’t been a beautiful, fun, sexy woman in his life since he went into the Army. If he found one, maybe he could move on completely and the hurt over Camilla would lessen and disappear.
Convincing himself that life would improve, he tried to focus on the things he needed to get done while he was in Dallas. He needed to go see his dad. After that, he wanted to go by the family’s commercial real-estate business. The company headquarters of Grant Realty was in downtown Dallas, which was run by Ben, and they had two suburban offices covering the metropolitan area of Dallas and Fort Worth, Eli running one of those and Stefanie managing the