10 Years Later (11 page)

“Well, that’s really too bad because, um . . .” I paused as he sucked gently at my earlobe, tugging it between his teeth and biting lightly. “I need to be able to speak for my job.” At least, that was what I intended to say; I had no idea if I actually spoke the words or not. My entire body was on fire, alive with the heat he provided, and I was certain nothing functioned properly.

“Don’t worry, babe. It’s only temporary.”

His lips curved into a smile against my neck as he continued to kiss my exposed skin. Every nerve ending in me came to life with his touch. I reached for the bottom of his shirt, tugging it toward his neck as he ducked out of it and tossed it to the floor.

He sat up and leaned back against his calves before his hands grabbed my waist on either side. They worked their way up the length of my body, across my rib cage, around the slow curve of my breasts, my top bunching up with the movement as they neared my face.

“Lift your arms,” he said softly, and I did as he asked.

Once my shirt was gone, I pulled at my now-snarled hair and smoothed it out with my fingers as Dalton reached around my back and unclasped my bra. I wiggled my shoulders and threw the piece of fabric to the floor with our other garments. He groaned, his eyes fixed on my breasts, and I reached for his hair, winding my fingers in it. His face tilted up, his eyes meeting mine before he looked back down at my half-exposed body.

“You’re so beautiful, Cammie,” he whispered, and my cheeks flushed with more warmth at the compliment.

Dalton moved his head down, taking my bare breast into his mouth and sucking. His tongue flicked at my nipple, making the sensitive flesh feel even more so. I arched my back involuntarily and bucked against him, my hips pressing against his hardness as he moved to the other breast, giving each a fair amount of attention.

I didn’t know if it was our history, or what had existed between us prior to tonight, but everything Dalton did turned me on more than I’d ever been before. I felt like a transformer, ready to explode and cause a blackout with flying sparks. Everywhere his gaze touched me, every flick of his tongue, nibble of his lips, touch from his fingers, everything he did made me feel out of control in the best possible way. I wanted every part of Dalton on me, in me, around me.

I reached for his pants, my fingertips barely able to touch the top button on his jeans. He leaned back slightly and glanced down to where my hand was trying to reach. “You want these off?” he asked and I nodded, biting my bottom lip.

Pushing off the bed, he stood next to me as I threaded the button through the loop and unzipped the zipper. His hands did the rest as he stepped out of his jeans, revealing a very large hard-on covered by a pair of black boxer briefs. I couldn’t look away.

Dalton stepped back toward the bed and did the same with my jeans, stopping to kiss my stomach as the skin was revealed. I shimmied my hips back and forth as he tugged my jeans lower and off my legs to reveal a blue-and-white thong. He kissed his way back up my body before pressing himself against me, our underwear the only thing separating us.

The feel of his hot skin against mine was overwhelming, and I didn’t want to wait any longer. I wondered if I was going to have to beg him to get inside me.

“It’s been a long time for me, Cammie,” he confessed, as if reading my mind, and it only made my want for him grow.

“Me too.” I angled my body so that I could reach the hem of his boxer briefs and tugged, hoping to set his hard-on free.

Dalton took control, pulling off his briefs and my thong in an instant, and before I knew it, there was nothing between us, not even air. We lay there together, skin to skin, not moving, just being. I wondered if I should tell him that I was on birth control, but didn’t want to come off as too desperate or needy, even though I felt both when it came to him in this moment.

I kept condoms in my nightstand drawer and I reached out for it, pulling it open as Dalton moved to see what I was doing. Tilting my head so I could look inside, I fished one out and handed it to him. He tore the wrapper with his teeth before leaning away from my body, which instantly cooled at his absence. I watched as he expertly rolled the condom down the length of his hard-on before his eyes met mine.

Pressing his warm body back on top of me, I closed my eyes as he moved to enter me. When he said softly, “Look at me, Cammie,” I opened my eyes as he stared at me, into me, through me.

I nearly cried out in joy as he entered me, filling me completely. It almost felt too good, too perfect. I moved my hips in time with his thrusts, our movements perfectly synchronized. Each time he moved in and out of me, I felt my mouth open with the pleasure it elicited, and his tongue soon found its way inside. He felt so good, so skilled, so in tune with every move my body made against his.

I came first as a heat wave exploded from somewhere deep within me. Shuddering, shaking, and convulsing, I opened my eyes to watch as Dalton lost himself inside me. His biceps tensed, his jaw locked, and his brows drew together as his own pleasure-filled explosion occurred. After he finished, he collapsed on top of me, his chest damp with perspiration as it heaved.

“That was much better than our first time,” I gasped out into his hair.

Cammie

Three thirty in the morning arrived far too early, and I suddenly remembered that I wasn’t alone. Reaching for the alarm, I hit the snooze button, wanting a little more time in bed with Dalton. I nuzzled back against his chest as he squeezed me closer.

“Are you leaving,” he said softly against my head.

“In a little bit, yeah. But you don’t have to. Stay as long as you want,” I offered as hope lurched in my chest and filled my heart.

“It’s okay if I stay?” His voice was groggy, and I found it utterly adorable.

“Of course. Unless you’re planning on robbing me blind. Then you should probably leave when I do,” I tried to tease, but it was early and I’d barely slept at all.

“Don’t plan on robbing you. Unless you have something I can’t live without. Like more cookies.” He yawned and rolled me on top of him, my hair falling onto his chest and almost blocking my view of it. He reached out to sweep my hair away and tucked it behind my ears. “So this is what you look like in the morning.”

I suddenly grew self-conscious, wondering if I looked like a complete ass. “That bad, huh?”

“More like how can you look this pretty? Did you pull a ‘bridesmaids’ on me while I was still asleep?”

“A ‘bridesmaids’? Like the movie?” I asked, confused again by one of his entertainment references.

“You know, how she hopped out of bed and made herself all cute before she pretended to wake up.”

I laughed, remembering the scene and how true to real life it had been. I had totally done that before, but not this time.

“That was hilarious. But no, I woke up like this.” I waved a hand down my face. “Although I’m a little worried what
this
looks like right now, to be honest.”

“It looks pretty.
You
look pretty.” He smiled, brushing his fingers along the side of my cheek.

My alarm blared again and I pulled away to smack at it, trying to silence it. “I have to get up.”

“And I have to go back to sleep.”

As he pulled my comforter around his naked body, I fought the urge to grab my cell and take a picture. I needed proof to text to Kristy later, I thought. Or maybe I simply wanted something to remember our night by?

When I placed a soft kiss on his cheek, his arms clasped me out of nowhere and pulled me against him. “I need to get ready for work,” I managed to squeak out. “I can’t be late.”

Dalton grunted and made a funny noise as he slowly released his death grip on me. I forced myself to head into the bathroom when all I wanted to do was crawl back into bed next to him and revel in the fact that Dalton Thomas was once again in my bedroom. Naked.

Alone in the bathroom, I glanced in the mirror and breathed out a sigh of relief that I didn’t look terrible. Aside from no lipstick and a few eyelashes sticking out in odd directions, last night’s makeup was still perfectly applied. No wonder he thought I looked pretty. I normally showered in the evenings so that I could sleep longer in the mornings, but last night was anything but ordinary. I brushed my teeth and then my hair, before pulling out my makeup case to add some minor touchups.

Once I finished, I flipped on the light switch in my closet and stepped inside, closing the door behind me without a sound. I had a full-length mirror in there, and there was plenty of room for me to get dressed without having to go in and out multiple times. I didn’t want to keep waking Dalton up, but I did hate that with the door closed, I couldn’t steal glances at his body lying in my bed.

After pulling on my sandals, I exited the closet fully dressed and ready for the day, albeit a little tired and sore. Leaning down toward Dalton as he lay sleeping, I planted another kiss on his cheek. “I’ll see you later. Lock the door on your way out. There’s coffee in the kitchen.”

“Have a good day, babe. I’ll try not to eat all your food when I wake up,” he said groggily, teasing me. At least, I assumed he was teasing.

It should have felt uncomfortable, the idea of leaving him all alone in my condo, but it didn’t. Nothing about Dalton being in my personal space weirded me out in the slightest, and I had no qualms about leaving him there with all my things.

On the drive to work, I was dying to call Kristy and tell her all about my night, but she wouldn’t be awake yet and I’d never hear the end of it if I woke her up for this. I’d have to talk to her during normal hours, and I prayed I’d be able to wait that long.

• • •

My work day dragged by, partly because I was so tired I could barely keep my eyes open. There was also some part of me watching the clock with anticipation until I could go home, hoping that Dalton would still be asleep in my bed when I got there, although I knew he wasn’t. He’d sent me a text message earlier, telling me
thanks for letting him sleep over
and to
not pay attention to any missing items
.
His comments made me laugh, but also alerted me to the fact that he had most likely gone to work.

I successfully avoided Tom and John’s on-air questions to me throughout the day, waving off their accusing looks and comments about my incessant yawning. Eventually the show moved on to other topics, thankfully not of the
Cammie’s current love life
variety. It helped that we gave away tickets this morning, for front row seats to a concert by the current hottest boy band, so that kept the guys distracted and me very busy.

Yawning as I waited for the elevator at the end of the day, the sound of Scott yelling my name stopped me. I turned to face my boss as he waved me forward.

“Heading out?”

I wondered if that was a trick question. “Yeah. I finished all my paperwork and entered all the winners’ information in the computers, as well as backed it up by hand, just in case. I checked with the sponsors for tomorrow’s show and they’re all set, sending products over in the morning for us. I called Solancey’s agent and manager to make sure she’ll be at the studio by seven thirty. They confirmed. All food and beverage is confirmed. Everything’s a go. Did I miss anything?”

“Nope. Everything sounds great.” He pushed the elevator call button before glancing around, and I suddenly wished we weren’t alone. “But you look like shit, Cammie. It’s obvious you didn’t get much sleep last night. Let’s not make it a habit.”

I tried to hide my shock and discomfort as he continued. “You’re doing a great job, but this kind of thing gets old real quick. And without sleep, you’re bound to start fucking up. Most people can’t handle these hours, but I think you can. Don’t blow it. No guy is worth losing your job for.”

The elevator arrived with a ding, and he held the door open for me as I stepped inside, unsure of what to say in response. How had one night with Dalton turned into my job being threatened at work?

As the doors started to close, I wedged my arm between them and they shot back open with a jerk. “I’ve never given you any reason to doubt my work ethic, Scott. And yes, I might be tired today, but your assumption that it has to do with a guy is completely uncalled for, not to mention inappropriate. How do you know I wasn’t sick? Or helping a friend? I don’t appreciate the veiled threats to my job when I’ve done absolutely nothing to warrant them.”

Scott said nothing, simply stood there as his eyes grew wide, and when the elevator started beeping loudly, I groaned and pulled out my arm. “If I start screwing up, then we can have this discussion, but not before then.” The doors shut with a bang, and I blew out a frustrated breath.

Shit.
I hope I didn’t get fired for saying all of that. But sometimes you just have to stand up for yourself.

Saying Kristy’s name once I was inside my car, I waited as the phone finally connected and started to ring.

“I only have a second,” she answered instead of saying hello. “I’m swamped since we’re closing early today.”

“You go. I can talk to you later,” I offered.

“No, it’s okay. Just make it quick.” She breathed out, and I heard the sound of papers being shuffled and the slam of a stapler in the background.

“Uh . . .” Now that I had her on the phone, I didn’t know where to start. I called her because I wanted to tell her about Dalton, but now I was pissed about work.

“Cammie, seriously!”

“Dalton and I slept together last night,” I blurted.

“What? Like you had a sleepover, or you had sex and then slept?” she whisper-shouted into the phone.

“The last one,” I said before I looked around, as if the drivers in the cars next to me could hear my conversation.

“Shut up! At least one of us is getting laid. Tell me it was amazing, but tell me quick,” she demanded, and I knew she had to get off the phone.

“It was amazing. I’ll tell you all about it later. Call me after you get off work.”

“Call you? Screw that, I’m coming over.” She laughed before hanging up on me without saying good-bye.

When I walked through my front door, something was different. Light streamed through curtains I normally never opened in my bedroom. Walking in there to close them, I noticed that my bed had been made, something I also didn’t always do, and a single red rose lay on top of my pillow.

Smiling, I reached for the rose and sniffed. I was impressed that he had made my bed, but the rose was a nice touch. With the rose in hand, I walked into the kitchen to find the other eleven roses sitting in a vase on my counter. A Post-It note stuck to the vase read:

Thank you for the best night I’ve had in years.

Literally.

In years.

I can’t wait to see you again.

Preferably before our next reunion.

Yours–Dalton

That was when I noticed the plate that held the cookies was suspiciously empty. Nothing but crumbs remained and I whined to myself, wishing I had a couple of them to eat. Another Post-It lay on top:

It’s your own fault for making cookies that taste so good.

Burn them next time and I won’t eat them all.

Probably not.

At least, I don’t think I will.

Hell, you never know with me.

Rolling my eyes, I peeled off each note and stuck them to the corkboard in my bedroom that hung above my headboard. It might have been a cheesy thing, but I had saved everything from Dalton when we were kids, and I planned to save everything from him now that we were adults. There were simply some guys you wanted to hold on to—every memory, every note, every conversation—you longed to keep it all. And that was how I felt when it came to him.

Kristy called to tell me she was on her way over and she was bringing food, so I stopped staring inside my refrigerator like it would magically make a meal appear if I looked hard enough. I really needed to go shopping, especially if a man was going to be hanging out at my place.

“What a freaking day I’ve had.” Kristy’s voice echoed through my hallway as the front door slammed.

“Ugh. Me too. What’s going on with your work?” I grabbed the bag from her hand that she held out to me and moved toward the couch.

“Who cares? Tell me everything that happened last night. He came over here, right?”

I reached into the bag and pulled out a bag of oven-baked chips, a chocolate chip cookie, and an oversized sandwich that had
Turkey/Swiss
written in black marker on the white paper wrapper. “I love you. Thank you so much for this.”

“No problem. Now tell me,” she demanded as she unwrapped her own sandwich, which I assumed was most likely something chicken related.

“He came over. He brought dinner from the Thai place around the corner. We talked about so much stuff,” I admitted, feeling the relief wash over me again at our confessions.

“Oh my God, did you ask him why he took Carla Benton to prom?” she asked through her mouth filled with food. “Sorry.” She pointed at her face before wiping it with a napkin.

“Yeah.” I took a bite and chewed until I could swallow it. “He said that he asked her because he heard that I was going with Mark. Remember when he asked me?”

Kristy’s eyes grew wide. “Shut the fuck up. That’s why he took her?”

I shrugged one shoulder. “That’s what he said. That he heard I was going with Mark, and he decided to ask the next girl who flirted with him.”

“Typical male,” she murmured.

“I know, right? It’s sad to think that everything could have been avoided if we’d just talked about it then, instead of not talking about anything.” I sighed. “We really didn’t communicate well.”

“Most of us don’t at that age. We’re too hyped up on raging hormones and invincibility.” Kristy took another bite, and I did too as I waited for her next question. “So then what? You guys cleared up everything from the past and hopped into the sack?” she asked with a snicker.

“Yep. That’s how it happened. He told me why he took Carla to prom, and I dropped my pants right there and said
take me
!” I stuck out my tongue at her, and she threw a chip at me. “Stop wasting good food,” I chided as I dug around me for the chip and popped it into my mouth.