Seductive Secrecy (Shadows series) (30 page)

“He’s out for good?” I asked.

“If he doesn’t get into any trouble, he is.”

“How did you leave it with him?”

His eyes dropped to my lips, then back up. “I just want to bury myself inside you and forget this whole conversation.”

The inside of my body began to warm; the outside started to
tingle. He knew how his words affected me and how to get me to
spread my legs. But I had finally gotten Cameron to open up and I
wasn’t going to let him in quite yet—and especially not on Dallas’s
couch.

“Cameron…”

He knew he couldn’t change the subject now. “He gave me his
phone number and told me to call him. He said he wanted to see
Ryder, too…that he wants to make things right. I guess he’s staying at a halfway house somewhere in the city. He has a job; he’s trying to get his life together.”

I nodded. “I’m sure it isn’t easy to get acclimated again after spending twenty-five years behind bars.”

He shrugged, but I knew he agreed. I couldn’t imagine how conflicted he felt. His father had completely abandoned him because he couldn’t stay out of trouble, and Cameron’s life had been hell after that. But his father had been punished for the crimes he had committed and he was making an effort to do better now that it was
over. That was more than Lilly had done
even as she was dying,
she was still a bitch. She hadn’t even been able to tell me that she loved me. She told Dallas instead.

“So are you going to call him?” I asked.

“Are you going to come home with me?”

I smiled as his eyes drifted to my mouth again. I knew his
thoughts were no longer on his father, they were on my body.

“I want to,” I exhaled.

He rose from the floor, stopping at the base of the couch to reach
one arm under my knees and the other behind my back. Then he
lifted me up and hugged my body against his chest. “I wasn’t going to give you a choice anyway.”

“Cameron,” I laughed, looking down at the tiny shorts I had on,
the white, skin-tight tank top and my braless nipples that were
poking through the transparent cotton. “You can’t take me outside like this. I’m practically naked. And I don’t even have shoes on.”

“You don’t need any. I’m going to carry you.”

“Like you’re my hero?”

“Yep. Just like that.”

I wrapped my arms around his neck. “What about my things?”

“We’ll come back and get them. I need you home—
now.
”

We moved through the living room and back through the
kitchen. “Do you think we should leave a note for Dallas to let him know I went home with you?” I asked.

He opened the door and carried me through it, moving down the narrow path to the elevator. “He already knows.”

“How?”

“I told him I wasn’t leaving without you. And if you refused to go, I was going to move in with him, too.”

The tingling that had started between my legs was now
throbbing and my wetness was spreading to the inside of my thighs. I ignored
the ache in my head, the one behind my eyes, the hangover that I
knew
was going to be even worse in the morning, and I focused on
Cameron’s skin, his smell. They were details I had memorized. I was afraid I
would never experience either of them again. Now that I had him
back, with my nose rubbing against the smoothness of his neck, he was making me high.

“You’re not really going to walk us home, are you?”

Dallas’s apartment was at least two miles from our place. The clock on the microwave had shown it was four in the morning. It wasn’t just unsafe to walk at this hour; it was crazy.

While I waited for his answer, my lips caressed the spot where his neck met his shoulder. My tongue swept up to his ear.

“No, baby,” he said, smirking as he gazed at my chest. “I don’t want to share the vision of you like this with anyone. I’m getting us a taxi.” He stepped out of the elevator and walked through the lobby. “You think you can keep it together while I hail one down, or do I need to take you into the stairwell right now and make you come?”

I nibbled at his lip. “I’ll try…but I make no promises.”

AS SOON AS WE GOT INTO OUR ELEVATOR,
Cameron pushed
me against the back wall and ran his hands up the length of my
stomach. My legs circled his waist. Then his fingers reached my
chest, stopping when they found my nipples. It had been so long since he’d touched me; I could barely control the volume of the sounds pouring from my mouth. He didn’t try to quiet me…and the way he rubbed
my nipples between his fingers told me he only wanted me to be
louder.

While he pinched and circled my sensitive buds, I pulled his T-
shirt over his head. My hands needed more of his skin, his
muscle…my nose needed more of his scent. When the door opened to reveal the entrance to our apartment, he turned us around, lifted me off the wall and carried me into the entryway.

“Welcome home, baby.”

My tank top was halfway off. I finished yanking it over my head and wrapped my arms around his neck, dropping it to the floor. “I’m so happy to be
home
.” We were on our way to the bedroom, the soft lighting illuminating the kitchen and living room leading us
onward. “I’ve missed our home,” I told him. It was as though
nothing had moved since I’d been gone. Even my favorite coffee mug was still in the sink. My eyes were drawn to it…it was such a symbol of comfort, of the soft, contented mornings we shared.

“I left it in there,” he said, noticing my attention had been drawn
away from him. “Since you’ve been gone, I’ve only come in here to
shower. It didn’t feel right being here, living here without you.” He kissed me. “Don’t ever leave me again,” he whispered. “Please.”

I pulled his face even closer to mine and leaned into his ear. “I
won’t…not ever. I promise.” Then I pressed my lips against his
again, preparing the smoothness of his mouth for the nasty pleasure my body was going to give it. His fingers tightened on my ass, dipping under the shorts and brushing over and in between my cheeks.

He didn’t release me when we reached the bedroom; he just
rested me on top of the mattress instead and kneeled in front of me, taking
my shorts and panties off in one easy sweep. When I was fully
naked, leaning against the pillows, he paused. His back arched as he reared up to get a full look at my body. “You’re beautiful.”

The setting on the bedroom lights was so low, it was as romantic as flickering candles. It was also subdued enough to highlight my curves. My skin glowed in the golden radiance; his shimmered in it. But I knew better. “I was a hot mess when you found me on Dallas’s couch. Now you’ve added in a cab ride and some flattened out hair from the elevator. There’s nothing beautiful going on over here.”

“That’s where you’re wrong,” he said. “I’m not looking at any of that. I’m looking at
you
, Charlie. Going this long without touching you, without seeing you naked, the images I held in my head don’t even compare to what’s before me right now.”

“Flattery will get you
”

“I’m not flattering you.” He reached forward, his two fingers grazing the spot between my lips, running to the top of my clit, and then he entered me, but only briefly. “I’m already between your legs and I’m about to feel that wetness on my dick. What I’m doing is telling you exactly what it feels like to be me right now…and I’m one lucky motherfucker.”

My face was blushing, my body was trembling. And my heart was absolutely full.

“I love you,” I said softly. It came so naturally. I waited for
Lilly’s voice to slink in and tell me again how I didn’t deserve anything this wonderful. It never came. I hoped she was gone for good.

I heard his intake of breath, the silent few seconds he held it in and the gust when he released it. It hit my chin and trickled down to my chest, the warm air wrapping around my nipples.

“I’ll never get tired of hearing you say that,” he said.

“I love you…I love you. I
love
you.” I didn’t want to stop.

He shook his head slowly as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. I almost couldn’t believe that I was
saying
it. But I felt it, and I meant it. I was absolutely sure of it.

“I love you, too,” he said finally.

I couldn’t wait any longer.

My hands reached for the buckle on his belt. I unclasped it, then
unfastened his button and his zipper. I stood off the bed while I
pulled them down, taking his boxers with me. I climbed back in, straddling
his body as I came straight down on top of him. His breathing
tensed, the movement taking him by surprise. I lifted and slid down onto his hardness. I had missed this rhythm, this sensation, this closeness that came with having him inside me.

Using the mattress and his shoulders, I had plenty of leverage to continue bouncing, giving his hands the freedom to wander over my body. But he didn’t just use his fingers; he used his mouth as well. One followed the other, instinctively covering the spots that craved just a bit more of his touch.

“You’re so wet,” he panted. “It feels like my tongue just left
you.”

His finger moved down my body, placing it on the spot he’d just mentioned. I moaned and tightened, squeezing him within me.

“
Fuck
…that felt good. Do it again.” He rubbed harder, faster, while I clenched my muscles, giving him exactly what he asked for. “You’d better slow down, baby…I’m close.”

I was close, too. But I didn’t want to slow down. Knowing
Cameron, this wouldn’t be the only time we would have sex tonight. He’d take a short rest, and then he’d be all over me again. My body needed to be reminded of the ecstasy that it had missed. But it needed to be freed from all the pent-up angst first. After that, we could go as slow as he wanted.

“You want me to come?” he asked.

My body was giving him that answer; the speed with which I
ground over him hadn’t slowed at all, and I told him how close I
was. He responded by flipping me onto my back, lifting my legs to his
waist and spreading them as wide as they would go while he
kneeled in front of me. He could plunge as deep as his length would allow, and he wrapped his hands around my thighs and held them tightly while he entered and exited. The pressure had already been close to peaking when I had been on top. Having him dominate my body,
with his eyes beaming at me while he stroked, only brought me closer.

I arched my back, I gripped the comforter between my hands,
tilting my neck so the top of my head pushed into the mattress.

“Tell me you love me again,” he said.

I could feel how close we both were based on the way he moved. The tingles had taken over, making it difficult to concentrate on what he was asking.

“Say it, Charlie. Say it while I come.”

I only had to wait a few seconds. “
I love you.
” My voice shook
and shuddered along with my body. His did, too. Finally, he
collapsed on top of me, staying inside my warmth and wetness as I pulled him onto my chest and kissed the top of his head.

Then I said it again.

“I love you.”

I WASN’T SURE WHAT TIME
I eventually crawled out of bed, but my growling stomach and pounding head finally drove me out of
the sheets. Dressed in the T-shirt I had yanked off his chest last
night, I padded my way down the hall and immediately made myself a cup
of coffee once I landed in the kitchen. I admired the quiet that
surrounded me and the sunlight streaming in as I took my first sip. I was finally back in my
home
. I’d been far too preoccupied to have
noticed it last night, but something had in fact changed while I’d
been gone. There was a new painting hanging in the living room. It wasn’t exactly
new
Cameron had actually completed it months ago. But he had finally hung it, replacing another that had been in the same spot. It wasn’t the one he’d bought me from Jameson’s gala; that one had been hung in the dining room. This new canvas was the portrait he
had done of us: a black-and-white image of my naked back, my
shoulder
blades protruding slightly, the two side-by-side freckles on my
shoulder just under the place where my bra strap would have been. The top of my ass rested at the bottom of the canvas and my legs were wrapped around him. His tattooed arms were crossed and bound around me; his head was tucked into my neck, and mine was nestled into his. He hadn’t included our faces. He hadn’t needed to. There was so much
emotion in the image of just our bodies. It was pure and raw and
real.