Vanessa Steele and Cameron Cody have been circling each other ever since they met when he tried (and failed) to take over her family's business basically by offering them lots of money, and although all her other relatives have come to like Cameron (including her cousin Mason who's like Cameron's best friend now), Vanessa remains convinced that he must have horrible morals as a corporate raider and that he is best avoided. Of course, she also appears to be in denial a bit about the immense sexual attraction between the two of them, and when she finds out he's coming to Charlotte again, Vanessa takes off to her sister's villa in Jamaica which conveniently needs someone to oversee the installation of a new pool while her sister is off being a model somewhere.
Cameron however is a determined guy who has decided that he's going to marry Vanessa just as soon as he can get her to talk to him for a second and, being a super rich and succesful guy, buys the villa next door to her sister's the minute that he finds out she's headed there to avoid him (warning thanks to aforementioned cousin). Also on the cousin's advice, he realizes that this whole convincing Vanessa to trust and want to marry him thing isn't working so he proposes to her that they become sex mates for the duration of her vacation in Jamaica - and after just a bit of thinking Vanessa agrees on the condition that they never contact each other again afterwards. They have some hot sex that well and truly convinces Vanessa that her previous lover Harlan had no idea what he was talking about when he trashed her lovemaking. Meanwhile on the business front, Cameron has just taken over the company that fired his grandfather less than a year before he would become eligible for retirement (and considering the recent newsarticles about racism in retirement packages I found it odd that that possibility wasn't raised here, but it kinda read like everyone in Vanessa and Cameron's world is black so I guess there wouldn't be racism) - and the previous owner is being a sore loser, going so far as to set explosions (but don't worry he will be punished after he takes a rocket launcher to Cameron's home in Texas. Will Vanessa admit that she loves Cameron so they can live HEA forever?
This book is a classic category/series romance, complete with multiple (unnecessary) allusions to previous heros/heroines who I knew nothing about considering that this was a new to me selection for March. I mean I did like Cameron and Vanessa, but it was a bit hard to relate to, especially their extreme wealth, and I'm growing increasingly less fond of the let's hook up for sex but it turns into something more sort of plots (see also Harlequin Blaze). Other issues: I thought I had understood that Vanessa had only really had sex with Harlan which was just once and not that great, so it surprised me when "Vanessa had seduction down to an art form" following just one confidence boosting encounter with Cameron; and the general overtones of melodrama, for instance when Cameron is going to confront the former owner of the business which fired his grandfather "it's time for him to know who I am, why I took his company away and why I intend to keep it, no matter what he does." This book was ok, but I kept thinking of ways it could've been better, and it ended up being just an average read for me.
