22. Ava
That was… well, that was something I wasn’t sure words had been invented for yet, it was that incredible. We hadn’t had actual sex, and I was so sore and yet also relaxed that I wasn’t sure what sex with Cameron would do to me.
Kill me, probably.
I’d never looked so forward to death.
“You okay?”
He was leaning over me, dick still hanging out of his pants and boxers, and my legs were still spread. My green dress was more of a belt at my waist, and my feet had long since fallen off the edge of the island.
Cameron brushed my hair off my temple and smiled down at me. “You’re exquisite, and I’m not sure I’ve ever heard a sexier thing than a woman begging to have my cum in her mouth.”
My sex-glazed brain cleared. “I did not beg.”
He chuckled, and his sexy sapphire eyes twinkled. “Okay, Sunshine. How about I get us cleaned up?”
I pushed up to my elbows. Our noses brushed, and he had to move back, but if I wasn’t mistaken, my irritation with him only made him happier. His grin widened as he stood up. “I did not beg, Cameron. I asked.”
“Actually, I think you were pretty bossy about it.” He reached down and tapped my nose with a finger. “Is that better?”
“Fine,” I huffed. “Carry me to the shower? I’m not sure my legs are working yet.”
He scooped me up like I was a pint-sized princess and kissed my forehead. “You have the best way of making me feel like a god.”
Once in my bathroom, he set me on the counter before he turned his back to me, opened my shower door, and flipped on the water. “Damn…that bathtub is almost as big as mine.”
It was a dual soaker, currently with a bamboo shelf braced over the top of it with a candle and miniature lighter.
“I love it.” I’d used it twice in the week since I’d lived there.
“We’re definitely taking a bath before I leave again.”
Reality weighed on my shoulders. He was here now, but he’d be leaving. “When will that be?”
“Tuesday night. Not sure I can push another early Wednesday leave time. I was late the other day, and Coach wasn’t happy about it.”
“Oh.”
He came to me then, resecured in his dress pants, and cupped my cheeks. “We have the rest of the weekend until Tuesday to do whatever you want. Go to the ranch or see your parents. Hang out in town or stay secluded in this house. And once I go back on Tuesday night, I’ll be back here Friday after practice. I’ll only be gone a few days at a time, Ava.”
“I know.” But right then, it didn’t feel like nearly enough time together.
He kissed me and helped shimmy me out of my dress until it pooled at my feet. “Take your shower.”
“You’re not joining me?”
“I see you naked for another split second and that shower is only going to lead to us getting dirty again. And I was pretty rough with you, so I want to take a break.” He kissed me again and made a delightful dance slip down my back straight to between my thighs. “We’ll get there. Later, though. I promise.”
He held my hand, apparently taking my comment about my legs not working seriously, and as he closed the door behind me, disappointment hit and swirled. I turned and caught his gaze through the mirror reflection on the wall opposite me.
He turned to me. “You don’t like that?”
We had spent so many years apart. So many lost moments. And we’d continue to have so many days separating us. For years possibly. Saying hello and goodbye would be said more frequently than obscure questions like “What’s for dinner?” The thought made my throat constrict, and I looked away, shaking my head.
I stepped into the water’s downpour and squeezed my eyes closed. If he left, I’d cry. If he didn’t leave, I was probably going to cry anyway.
A warm hand covered my shoulder, and a sob broke through.
Cameron turned me, and I found myself held against his solid, rock-hard chest with the perfect smattering of chest hair around his own nipples.
“All you have to do is ask, Ava, and I’ll give you everything I can.”
I nodded against him. This was embarrassing. Maybe it was hormones crashing from the brain-frying kitchen sexcapades. If I wasn’t trying to regather my senses and stop my tears, I would have laughed.
God, I loved being there with him. In his arms. Despite our crazy and wild beginning and last couple of weeks, Cameron has always been a part of my home.
His thumb brushed my chin, tilting my head back, and his lips met mine. He kissed me softly, tenderly, and as he slipped his tongue inside my mouth, his hands went to my hair, running his hands through it as the water sluiced down my back. “Let me take care of you then. Clean you up.”
I lifted to my toes and kissed the divot at the bottom of his throat. “Thank you.”
Our hands roamed and washed each other’s bodies. Cam teased me with his fingers, and I teased him with my hand wrapped around his thick length. He was hard the entire shower and only let me play for so long before brushing my hand away and kissing away the sting of rejection with a promised “later.”
We showered and dried off, never once taking our eyes off each other. While I dried off and dressed, Cameron ran outside and grabbed the duffel bag he’d left in the truck on his arrival.
It wasn’t until we were back in my kitchen, the moon high in the sky and digging through my fridge for drinks and snacks, when I finally thought to ask, “You happy with how you played today?”
How rude of me. In my defense, there hadn’t been much time in between his bossy greeting and getting eaten on my island.
The reminder warmed my cheeks, not that they could get warmer. As soon as Cameron washed my clit and called me a good girl while I rubbed myself against him, I’d been flushed. Wanting.
He opened a bottle of water while I laid out sliced cheese, sausage, and rolled prosciutto. A refilled glass of wine appeared, and I reached for it.
“We did well. Our defense struggled the first half, but it happens, especially this early. They got it together in the second half and did even better in overtime.”
“Think you’ll be as good this year as last?”
“Better, hopefully, if it means we make it to the Super Bowl again.”
That was rare. Few teams made back-to-back appearances. Even fewer could win both. “Maybe since you lost last year, that means this year’s your year.”
“Your faith in me is extraordinary,” he teased.
I watched his corded throat bob as he swallowed the bottled water in almost one full go.
“Well, until a few hours ago, I didn’t know you were so impressive.”
Cameron chuckled and swatted at my backside before he reached and grabbed the prosciutto from my hands.
“Hey!” I grabbed for it, but he tossed it in his mouth, chewing with a sassy little smirk on his face I’d seen so often over the years.
It filled me with the same anger now, without all the mix of hatred. Somehow, I think Cameron still enjoyed the anger, though.
He threw out his hands and stepped back. “What are you going to do about it?”
I glared at him. Considered. He was a foot taller than me. Nothing. There was nothing I could do about it, and we both knew it. “I’ll think of something. When you’re least expecting it.”
Cameron laughed at me and swiped a chunk of cheese off the plate. “I know I was messing around earlier, but did you have fun today?”
“I always enjoy being around your family.”
A spark of pain flashed in his eyes, and I knew he was remembering how he’d badger me, goad me, or somehow find me just to end up being cruel. I continued before he could apologize. “Also, I think Lydia has some sort of weird crush on Dalton all of a sudden.”
“No shit?”
“Feels like it came out of nowhere, but she was enjoying ruffling his mean ol’ feathers tonight.”
“Man doesn’t have feathers, he’s more robot than human.”
“Not inaccurate, but I did talk to Bryce. I’m going to head out there sometime this week. He’s going to let me know when it’s slower so we can talk.”
“Awesome.” His hand hovered over a chunk of summer sausage. “Will you slap me if I take this?”
“No.” I shoved the wood platter toward him and jumped on the counter. It was habit. More often than not, I sat on the island instead of sitting in a chair at my kitchen table.
Cam’s gaze went to the countertop. “Probably should have cleaned that before sitting on it.”
“I did. When you went outside to grab your bag and were getting dressed.”
No way would I prepare food on any surface he’d defiled me on without sanitizing it first.
“So. Plans for the weekend? Do you have to do any work?”
“Nope.” I shook my head. “I’m all yours.”
“Damn straight.” He leaned forward and sealed his mouth to mine. The kiss was quick, hot, and gone far too quickly.
For someone who was still scared of what we were starting, I certainly wasn’t hesitant when it came to the physical stuff. It was everything else I was still sorting through.
“Come on.” Cameron picked up the platter. “Let’s go enjoy this on your patio. I’m curious to hear all your ideas for your garden.”
“Really?”
Cameron flinched. I guess I hadn’t hidden my doubt. But could he blame me?
“Yeah, Sunshine,” he said, and this time his smile was soft. “I want to hear all about it.”
“All right.” I hopped off the counter, grabbed our drinks, and opened the sliding door for him.
Once outside, he set the platter down on my table, and I handed him his water. We walked around the already-installed raised beds, where I shared my vision of curved trellises I’d install so I could walk under them when the vegetables were growing.
I pointed to the flat area beyond. “I was thinking I’d like to do a firepit out here, maybe.”
“Yeah?” He spun in a slow circle. “That could look really good. Especially if you can string some pole lights by the beds.” He gestured to the corners of the boxes. “Light the way out here, but it would make the whole area glow.”
“You think?” I shouldn’t have surprised me he was into this. It shouldn’t have at all, but it’s been so long since I wanted Cameron to notice me, take an interest in my life. The surprises kept coming.
He grinned down at me. “I remember a day when Isaiah and I were teenagers. We weren’t driving yet, so we couldn’t have been sixteen, but we’d come in off your land on our ATVs, and you and your mom were in the kitchen, cleaning all the beans and tomatoes you’d picked that day.”
“Really?”
“You were at the sink, and your mom made some comment about how filthy she was, and all I remember was you giving her this look, and it was pure happiness, probably a smile like the way I felt when I was on a horse, working with my dad. And you just looked at your mom and said, ‘Yeah, isn’t it great?’ The two of you laughed, but it was almost like some secret between the two of you.”
I tried. I tried so hard to remember that moment, but couldn’t. “I don’t remember that.”
“Probably because to you it was a normal day, but I remember that look on your face and the happiness and peace you had. I’m not surprised at all you want to turn this backyard into something that would give you that. You’ve always loved the land, the work. I’m not surprised you didn’t love living in Denver. It’s not you, and there’s nothing wrong with that. I think it’s a beautiful thing.”
Tears stung my eyes, and I couldn’t place why for a moment. I turned away from him, from the intensity in his gaze he always seemed to have, but there was something else there, too.
He saw me. He knew me. And he was right. It was a beautiful thing.
I took his hand in my hand, and the warmth of his large, calloused palm pressed against mine. His fingers entwined with mine with no hesitation. I gave him a quick squeeze and tugged. “Let’s go eat that food before the bugs get to it.”
He chuckled, and we sat on the small couch in my backyard. We talked about everything and nothing. We talked about his season, and we laughed at memories of Isaiah and I running through muddy potato fields and the time I’d tried to be grown up and had glue-on nails and lost them while we were sorting potatoes.
I groaned when Cameron reminded me, and my head fell to his shoulder. “I still hope those got out before the potatoes ended up being bagged.”
He wrapped his arm around my shoulders and held me against him until the sun set, the lightning bugs lit up my backyard, and the night cooled, until I shivered against him.
“Let’s get inside,” he said, lips brushing the top of my head. “Let’s go to bed and watch a movie.”
He had me at the bed part. Lost me at the movie part.
“A movie?” We had all night together, and that was what he wanted?
“In your bed. Where we’ll probably only pay attention to the first half.”
Well, that sounded like a doable plan.
I couldn’t do this. How Cameron could be so nonchalant was killing me. My skin was itchy, my pulse was racing, and my core was throbbing all over again. Watch a movie in my bed with Cameron lounging next to me without a care in the world?
This was killing me. And we were only ten minutes into the movie. No way was I paying attention to Remember the Titans, Cameron’s all-time favorite football movie. I’d insisted he pick since he chose my favorite last time. I didn’t even need to watch the dumb thing. I’d watched it enough with him and Isaiah since we were kids. I already knew every single line, and I had no doubt Cameron knew it even better.
So why he decided to torture me by climbing into my bed, stretching out on top of the covers, and wrapping his arm around me so I was pressed to his side, my head on his shoulder where I could inhale the oaky and fresh scent of his cologne, where I could vividly see his Adam’s apple dip as he swallowed, and where I could see his pulse beat at the base of his throat was maddening.
His hand was draped behind my back, his large, warm palm resting against my hip, and occasionally, his thumb brushed back and forth. I’d change out of my dress into a tank top and short, lightweight cotton shorts that were so short that if he were to move his fingers an inch, he’d be brushing against my skin.
Something I suspected he knew, and his slow torture involved knowing that and doing absolutely nothing about it.
I swallowed a frustrated growl and stretched my legs, pressing my thighs together to relieve the ache he created.
Stupid Cameron. This was all his fault, and as I swallowed again and tried to get my stupid, freaking wild hormones under control, that dumb thumb of his did another little brushy-brush.
“You all right?”
No. I was absolutely not all right. Still, I refused to let Cameron, who was cool as a cucumber, all languidly relaxed and stretched out, know how easily he distracted me and turned me on. “Yup.”
He chuckled, pressing his lips to the top of my head, and his hand at my hip dipped further down and back to the fleshiest part of my backside. His fingers dug in, and he squeezed me tighter against him.
A moan slipped through. Unbidden. Couldn’t be helped.
“You sure about that?”
Damn him. His voice was deeper. Rough. And if I wasn’t mistaken, his abs were tense and no longer relaxed. In fact, I was pretty sure the bulge in his athletic shorts was growing.
“Camden?”
“Yeah, Sunshine?”
I could do this. I could throw myself at him. I could absolutely, one hundred percent…
“Oh…”
His hand squeezed harder, pushed, and in a blink, I was on top of Cameron. My legs instinctively sliding down to the sides of his hips, and there I was, straddling Cameron, peering down at him in surprise at how fast he’d done that. Well, that sure helped me with my decision-making, didn’t it?
He was definitely hard. At least getting there. He rocked me against his covered crotch with his hand at my ass, and his other slid up my arm and slipped to the back of my neck.
His eyes were heated, all that amber color I loved so much when looking at him had darkened, and he pressed his lips together as he rocked his hips against mine.
“That what you want?”
“Yeah.” I nodded and leaned over him. My hands went to his chest, his shoulders, and the sides of that muscular neck while I moved closer. “Except I bet it’d be better if we didn’t have clothes on.”
I shot him a grin, one he returned just as easily. With another rock of his hips up, my head fell back. He wasn’t anywhere close to being inside me yet, and already I was close.
This was going to be fast.
Good, most likely, amazing even. But fast. Way too fast.
I sat back up and reached for the hem of his shirt. I pushed it up until Cameron had to lift his head and shoulders off the bed and tear the rest off him.
While he did, I removed my own tank top, and there I was. Straddling Cameron Kelley, topless, while he had his hands on the trimmest part of my waist.
“Before this goes further, I need to grab my condoms.”
“Side table,” I told him and nodded to the nightstand closest to him. “I bought them earlier this week. Hoping…”
Cam shifted and opened the drawer. He easily found the box of condoms and pulled out a strip of them. I blushed, remembering how I’d stood in front of the selection at the market, hoping like hell no one saw me as I tossed the Magnum XL box into the cart. Fortunately, the day I’d gone, some high school boy I didn’t know was working the checkout counter, and I got to avoid the awkward run-in with someone in Lydia’s family.
Instead of closing the drawer, though, Cam kept digging. There was a clunk, followed by him turning his head and giving me a wickedly sexy grin.
“This what you’ve been using when you’ve been wanting me?”
He pulled out the toy he’d sent me. Now, with the reality beneath me, the toy seemed like merely that. A poor and smaller imitation of the real thing.
He flipped the vibration setting on.
“Cam…” I warned, but he moved too fast, and that toy was suddenly pressed to my clit. “Oh!”
My head fell back as the vibrations sent shockwaves through me.
“You’re so damn sexy, Ava.”
“Shit.” I shook my head and looked down at him. My cheeks were burning hot, and I couldn’t do anything except feel him grow harder beneath me and quake as he found my clit with expert precision and held it against me. Even through my shorts, it was a wicked, wicked thing. My fingers curled into Cam’s chest as I rode both him and the poor substitute for the real thing, and right as I was going to climax, right as everything seemed to burn with desire and my body started quaking, it was gone.
Silence filled the room, and I slapped Cam’s chest. “What the hell? Don’t be an ass.”
He had the nerve to laugh at me, and the sound was so beautiful, I almost forgave him. I stretched forward to where he’d move the toy out of reach, but he was faster.
Cameron grabbed my wrist and slipped it behind my back. The move made me arch my back, and he sat up, taking a nipple into his mouth. With one hard, deep tug on my nipple, I forgave him for everything he’d ever done and everything he’d do in the future.
His mouth was magical, and as he added tongue and teeth, the sounds that escaped my throat would be embarrassing if I were making them for anyone else. I wasn’t sure I’d ever made noises like the ones Cam could pull from me so easily.
He moved to the other breast, muttering as he slid his lips against my chest and my breasts. “Kneel up and take off those shorts. They gotta go.”
I did, moving awkwardly above him, unable to move much without losing his mouth that was so divine he was making this a supernatural experience, and when I was back against him, he’d somehow, at the same time, shoved down his pants far enough that his hard, thick length pressed right against my sex.
“Shit,” I rasped and glanced down. Cam pulled off my nipple, cupped the back of my head, and slammed his mouth to mine. “Come here.”
He laid back down, pulling me with him. He tossed a pillow to the side, kept moving me forward until I was right there, hovering over him.
“Cam…” Oh, this was new. And nerve-racking.
His fingers slipped up my inner thighs, and he parted my folds. “Don’t be nervous.”
“I’ve never done this.”
“All you have to do is sit down and take it.”
God, that was hot, and as he pressed a finger inside of me, my nerves scattered.
My head fell back, and my hair brushed my backside. With his other hand at my hip, he pulled me down. I widened my legs until I was there.
“Oh my god,” I cried out right as his mouth hit me. This was so different. So much more incredible than the kitchen counter, and I hadn’t been sure anything would top that. I fell forward as he ate me, as he added a second finger, and my hands hit the wall in front of me.
Soon, I was rocking back and forth, completely forgetting that Cam’s face was staring right at my pussy, because, holy shit, this was incredible. My thighs began to tremble, and all the need I’d felt since climbing into bed next to him exploded into a rush of white-hot pleasure that flared through my body.
“Cameron!”
He groaned against me, and the vibrations sent me further into the most maddening, unending orgasm, my entire body trembling above him. As it started to leave me, Cameron’s tongue flattened. I jumped at the sensitive contact as he took the time to bring me down softly, gently. So at odds with the force in which he’d taken me.
“I want you to ride me,” he said, gently shifting my body back down his stomach. It was awkward, crawling on my knees backward, but as I moved, Cameron grabbed the string of condoms, tore one off, and reached behind me to sheath himself. Once I was there, raised above him, he held his hard, gorgeous, and enormous dick with his hand. “Take what you can, Ava. I don’t want to hurt you.”
“You won’t.”
I covered his hand with mine, lined him up to my center, and holy freaking cannoli, the pressure that filled me as he entered me was insane. I barely had the tip in and had to take a second to adjust.
Cameron’s hands went to my thighs, where he brushed my flesh with large, soothing strokes. “Keep going, honey. You can do this.”
The hell I could. All confidence fled as I sank down another inch, feeling that pinch of pain that I knew would only give me pleasure in the long run. I bit my bottom lip, looked down as he stretched and filled me until somehow, miraculously so, I was sitting with my clit pressing against his groin.
“There you go,” he murmured. “What a good girl.”