Chapter 10
Chapter
Ten
SCARLETT
J ames had found the city.
He found the city .
Was there a possibility he was lying to me? Absolutely. The man had liar written all over his body in permanent marker. I had no doubt he would say whatever he had to just to get a woman to like him. Hadn’t I let him touch my face? Stroke my lips? Not that I minded those things. As annoying and awful as James was, his touch was kind of nice. Besides, the body he hid beneath those stuffy shirts? Damn . The man was carved out of ivory and steel, the perfect specimen of a human.
Or maybe I just needed to get out a little more, because obviously my judgment was clouded.
But on the off chance he was telling the truth…
When I heard the hostel guest’s whispers of the lost city, I assumed it was just a made-up ghost story, the kind told to tourists to make sure they don’t stray too far off the beaten path. I did my research thoroughly before booking my trip, and I hadn’t seen anything about a city.
As far as I was aware, anything of importance left to be discovered on this river had already been discovered.
But maybe I’d been wrong. Maybe the city wasn’t just a ghost town. Maybe James had actually found it.
Wouldn’t that be something? I knew our trek up the river was supposed to take us through villages—some still occupied, and some not. But the chance to be one of the first to explore how people lived once upon a time? To be the first to document and study it? That was the chance of a lifetime.
James knew what he was offering me. Dangling it in front of me, like a carrot in front of a horse.
Was I really that transparent?
Maybe I’d just been spending too much time trying to figure out these men, and hadn’t spent enough time keeping my walls safely in place.
Was that really such a bad thing?
The way my body blazed where our skin touched gave me mixed signals. I wanted him. But I didn’t want to. Maybe this was how everyone felt all the time, trying to figure out their place in the world, how to connect with other people. I’d spent so long trying to figure people out, I’d forgotten how to fit in.
I didn’t think it was normal to be attracted to three men at the same time, but maybe it was just the close proximity on the boat, and the way the rainforest made me feel like I was floating along in a dream.
But even acknowledging this, I still burned. I burned so hot I was surprised my clothes hadn’t singed to ash.
“Scarlett!” Camp’s deep voice had me spinning around.
I’d been so worked up in my thoughts, I hadn’t even realized where I was going. My original plan was to go back to the wheelhouse with Nash, but now I couldn’t even remember why I’d gone downstairs.
For a snack. I’d gone for a snack. The snacks I’d promptly dropped when James caught me before I fell.
To anyone else, Camp would’ve looked miserable. But I’d spent enough time around him since boarding the boat to notice the small smile that graced his features. I’d begun to pick up on the way his eyes lit up—especially when he was around me.
If James was old money beautiful, and Nash was effortlessly beautiful, then Camp was a soft kind of beauty. His hair fell gently around his face, until he pushed it back. The curve of his lips formed a perfect arc, and his almond-shaped eyes reminded me of being wrapped in a warm blanket on a cold day.
He was simply easy to look at. Easy to be around? That was another story. But I was beginning to see how his brain worked.
Camp jogged up beside me. “Nash says we’re going to be anchoring the boat and going ashore tomorrow. There’s some kind of cave he likes to show people. But seeing as I wasn’t expecting to be a part of this trip…”
“You have no gear.” I looked him up and down with a laugh. “I don’t think I’m going to have any clothing your size.”
Camp’s smile spread. “For as shirtless as Nash always seems to be, he apparently has some hiking gear I can use. What he doesn’t have is a spare backpack. My strap snapped when I boarded the boat. But he said you had a few backpacks with books…?”
Camp’s acknowledgement of Nash being shirtless immediately brought forward an image of James, towering over me in the hallway, touching my skin so gently I could’ve been imagining it. I shook my head to rid myself of the thought.
“Yeah, I should have a spare one. Come on—we’ll go take a look.”
With Camp following behind me, I made my way to my cabin, holding the door open for him.
I stuck my head into the small wardrobe, looking for the backpack I knew held books. My skin was still on fire, tiny flames igniting where James’ eyes lingered a second too long. I did my best to silence those thoughts, sealing them carefully away. “Bingo.”
Emptying the bag of books, I spun around only to find myself in his arms.
“Sorry, I didn’t realize you were right there.” I offered up the backpack weakly, not wanting to point out that his hands were simply reigniting tiny flames left behind by our shipmate. “One backpack.”
Camp looked down at me, holding my forearms like I might sprint away at a moment’s notice. “One backpack.”
He didn’t reach to take the bag, and I didn’t move out of his arms. We stood there, waiting for the other, a decision laid out between us. I rolled my lip between my teeth, and Camp’s gaze darkened.
“I haven’t been able to get your lips out of my head,” he whispered.
His words rocked through me, sending a shockwave of excitement through my veins. A dozen words rushed to my lips, and the only one I could clumsily offer was, “Oh.”
A smirk pulled at the side of his mouth. I found myself wanting to kiss that exact spot. He spun us around, stepping into me, walking me backward.
“Haven’t you thought about it, too?” he asked, trailing his fingers up my arm, skin still raw and exposed. Did he know I was already craving something I couldn’t have?
Another step and the backs of my knees hit my bed. Grateful for the support, I eagerly collapsed onto it.
A mistake . My movement left Camp towering over me, a look of absolute worship across his face. Maybe not a complete mistake.
“I might have thought about it once or twice.” Or three times. If I was counting.
Camp sank to his knees in front of me, hands on my thighs. “You’re a bad liar, Scarlett.”
I grinned. “When I want to be.” I was slowly burning, a pile of embers lingering where I once sat.
His hands pressed my legs wider, and without thinking, I obeyed and spread my knees. He sank deeper between them, gripping hard. “You try so hard to act like you don’t need anyone,” he breathed, trailing bruising fingers up my hip.
“And you don’t do the same?” I gasped as he grabbed a handful of my thigh, kissing up my leg. “You’ve been doing a damn good job of acting like a lone wolf since you got on this boat.”
Camp paused, looking up at me from between my legs, hands still gripping my thighs and pushing them apart. “Maybe it’s time for us to both accept it’s not healthy to be alone for this long. Maybe in order to stay sane, we need to be around other people from time to time.” He pressed a light kiss on the inside of my leg. I squirmed against the gentle touch.
“Is that what this is then? I’m sure doctors would love to know that the cure for insanity is a quick fuck.”
He laughed quietly against my skin. “What do you want this to be, sweet girl?”
Words failed me, and anything to make me sound cool or chill or relaxed flew out the window entirely. “I think I want you to touch me.”
“I can do that,” Camp murmured. He settled back between my legs, alternating light-as-air kisses with teasing touches. “Relax, Scar. I’m not going to hurt you. I want to make you feel good. I want to make you let go.”
“I just…” I looked up at the ceiling, trying to ignore how his casual use of my name made me feel. “I haven’t done this a lot.”
He froze. “Like…ever?”
I was suddenly grateful he couldn’t see the blush spreading across my face from my current position. “I’m not a virgin. I’m just not…experienced.”
Camp sighed. I couldn’t tell what emotion went along with his exhale.
“Listen, if it’s too weird, I get it. No hard feelings. You can go back to your room, and we can forget this ever happened.”
The bed shook, and it took me longer than it should have to realize Camp was laughing. Laughing at me .
I flew upright. “Listen. I get it. I spent too much time focusing on school and not enough focusing on dating. Ha ha, very funny. You got your laugh. You don’t need to do it in front of me though.” I tried to kick my legs around him, doing my best to cover my underwear with very little to work with.
Camp held my legs in place with a strong grip, a sober look on his face. “You’ve got it all wrong. I’m not laughing at you. I’m laughing at how I got so goddamn lucky. You’re freaking smart, sweet girl. Your brain works in amazing ways. But the fact that I might know more than you in this? That I can teach you this?” He shook his head, pressing another kiss to my trembling thigh. “Not a laughing matter. It’s fucking hot as hell.”
I stopped fighting him, something in his voice making me relax against his touch. “Really?”
“Really.” His hands crept higher, sending shockwaves of desire through my entire body. “But you tell me. Say the word, and I’ll stop right now.”
I could stop him, and he’d listen. I knew he would.
“Don’t stop,” I whispered.
The briefest of nods, and he sank his teeth lightly into my thigh. “Thank fuck.”
I laughed. “What happened to ‘I’ll stop right now?”
My laugh was cut short as Camp kissed just along the edges of my shorts, high enough to make something squeeze low in my belly.
“I would.” Another kiss. “I would do whatever you asked me to.” Kiss . “But doing something and wanting to do something are two different situations, sweet girl.”
His finger stroked a line, brushing against the thin outline of my panties.
Camp raised his head up, blue eyes shades darker than normal. “Can I?”
I nodded, unable to form words while he shimmied my panties over my hips. Sitting up, I tossed my shirt to the side, leaving myself bare before him.
Camp sat back on his heels, his eyes taking in every inch of me, painfully slow. A part of me wanted to cover up, but I buried those thoughts deep behind the pleasure rushing through my head.
This was what it felt like to be wanted.
“You’re fucking perfect,” he breathed, reaching a tentative hand out to stroke a smooth line down my waist. “A literal piece of artwork.”
I couldn’t control the flush rushing to my cheeks, knowing it was Camp saying it hit me ten times as hard. Camp held words close to his chest, only using them when necessary. If he said it, he meant it.
His hand paused on my waist, pushing me back onto the bed. “Lie back. Relax.”
My muscles tensed as I reclined, wanting to be in control, sitting up and seeing everything going on. I raised my head off the bed, only to meet Camp’s heated gaze, staring back at me from between my legs.
“Relax,” he repeated. “I’m not going to hurt you. Let me do this for you.”
He pressed a light kiss against my clit and I squirmed.
“Are you sure?” I asked. He was right there, and this moment seemed wildly personal.
He raised a brow. “Believe me when I say, if I didn’t want to be here, I wouldn’t be on my knees in front of you. Now lie back and let me work.”
I landed back on the bed with a thump. Camp’s quiet laugh shaking the mattress. Sex, sure. I’d had it. But a guy had never gone down on me before. Was it normal? Did it even feel good?
When Camp’s tongue licked a slow swipe up through my core, all the air in my lungs left me in one go. Fuck . Okay. Maybe it felt pretty damn good.
I moaned when he swirled his tongue around my clit, and again when he sucked it lightly.
“There you go,” he whispered, dipping a finger inside with his mouth pressed up against me. “See how good it feels to let go?”
My only response was to arch my back against him when he slipped his finger deeper, licking my clit with more intensity than before. Crying out, I rocked my hips against him, desperate for more. He smiled against me, then pulled away.
I reached to pull his hair, to bring him back against me, but he moved just out of reach, teasingly fucking me with his finger. “Do you want more?”
I nodded, before realizing he couldn’t see me. “Please. Oh God, please.”
A second finger joined the first. At the same time, he lowered his mouth back to my core. A thousand sensations followed, and I couldn’t think of anything beyond Camp and his mouth, and the release slowly building inside me. I was going to topple off a cliff, and I didn’t care who saw or heard. I didn’t care what was waiting for me at the bottom.
“Oh my God, Camp!” I moaned as his fingers picked up speed.
His mouth disappeared again, immediately replaced by his thumb pressing my clit, sending a shockwave of pleasure through my body. “Let go, Scar. Let it all go for a minute. I’m right here. Show me how you fucking come, all over my fingers.”
Light flashed before my eyes and I fell into the hardest orgasm I’d ever had. Apparently, my limited experiences weren’t great, if the one I’d just had with Camp was any indication. Wave after wave of pleasure rolled through me, until Camp slowly pulled his fingers out.
He shuffled over top of me, until I opened my eyes, looking up at him with a smile. “Hi.”
“Hi.” He kept himself propped up on his hands, examining my face closely. “You okay? You good?”
I nodded, an easy yes. “More.”
Camp blinked. “More?”
I nodded again. “Please.” If my face wasn’t already red from the high I was still coming down from, I would have blushed.
“Are you sure? If it’s too much, I get it?—”
I tangled my hands in his hair, pulling him down for a hard kiss. As he pulled away, both of us were breathing heavily. “Please. Give me more.”
Camp was already standing, tossing off his shirt. I propped myself up on my elbows so I could watch the show. He smirked, unbuttoning the loose pants he wore, kicking them off. His boxers were next. He didn’t lose eye contact as he dropped those, too.
He stepped forward once, then twice, never once breaking our gazes until he was propped up over me once more. His hard cock nudged against me, reminding me exactly what I was doing at this moment.
I was about to have sex with someone I barely knew. Did that count as an adventure?
Stroking a light finger against my cheek and down my neck, he asked, “You okay?”
I rocked my hips into his without thinking. “I’m good. I promise. If there’s a problem, you’ll be the first to know.”
“Okay, okay!” He rolled his eyes with a smirk. “Sorry for trying to be a gentleman about the situation.”
“Honestly? I’d rather if you didn’t try.” I grabbed his head, pulling him down to meet me so I could kiss him.
He groaned, the sound ricocheting into my mouth in the most delicious way. “Fuck, okay. You win.”
Camp kissed me again, deeper this time, as he slipped inside me, just enough to make us both moan.
“Mmm…” he mumbled against my lips, sinking an inch deeper. “You’re already taking me so well. So fucking good.”
“Oh!” I sighed as he fitted himself firmly inside, the walls of my core clenching around him. I was…more than okay with this.
“Seeing as you don’t want me to ask you if you’re good…I’ll tell you to hold on instead.”
I let my eyes close as my arms wrapped around Camp’s neck, my back arching naturally as he began to drive in and out of me. Slowly, at first.
There was something incredibly intimate about the way Camp fucked me that had been missing from my previous encounters. I didn’t know if it was just being with someone I found myself completely comfortable around, or if it was just Camp . All I knew was with each deep thrust, I found myself losing a little bit more of my soul, those tiny little pieces drifting away from me, looking for a new place to reside.
Camp moaned on top of me, cursing as he grabbed my chin, forcing me to look up at him. “Keep your eyes on me, Scar. Keep those pretty eyes on me the whole time.”
I nodded, unable to form words as my orgasm began to build deep in my core once more. My eyes drifted closed of their own volition, and Camp squeezed my chin again. I snapped my eyes open.
“Eyes. On. Me.”
I let myself get lost in his eyes, telling a story I don’t think he’d ever put into words himself. My pleasure was coiling, spiraling out of control, and he moved his hand from my chin to my hip, pulling me up to meet him.
“Come with me, now. Let yourself go, once more. Fall with me,” he whispered, grinding against me as he thrust.
My orgasm ripped through me as I cried out Camp’s name, over and over again, eyes on him the entire time. He chased his own release, his ocean blue eyes crashing with waves as he came.
Breathing hard, he rested his forehead on mine. “I won’t ask you if you’re good.”
I smiled up at him. “Thanks. But I’m more than good.”
“I don’t think anyone could ask for higher praise than that.” Camp rolled off me, bringing me with him, both of us curled up in my tiny bed.
I didn’t know what to make of my time on board so far. It had been nothing like I expected. And yet, it seemed to be everything I needed .