Chapter 20
CHAPTER TWENTY
natalie
AFTER PEPPERING ME WITH a few more questions and making me finish the entire bowl of pasta, Cameron carried me to his room and dropped me onto his bed without ceremony.
His apartment passed by me in a blur, and I only got a glimpse of his orderly room before he covered me with his body, pressing my own down into his king-sized mattress.
He shook his head. “You look so fucking good in my sheets, Natalie.”
I couldn’t help a sheepish smile. “Yeah?”
“Mhm,” he hummed, nodding as he leaned down, eliminating the space between us. “You’ll look even better screaming my name as you come, though.”
And then his lips were on mine again, pulling an immediate moan out of me.
Yes, yes, yes.
The tender but dominating way he kissed me was unlike anything I’d ever known, and I loved it.
Cameron replied with a gritty “Fuck” before he ran his tongue along the seam of my lips, urging them to part.
I let him in without hesitating, heat rushing through me as he deepened the kiss.
It was all so perfect—the graze of his tongue against mine, his heavy breaths mixing with my own, and the warmth enveloping my entire body.
Actually, warmth was an understatement. Arousal bloomed inside me rapidly, spreading like an untamed wildfire, leaving me breathless and unsure of what to do. My body had never reacted in such a way to a simple kiss before.
But maybe that was because there was nothing simple about this, what was happening.
Cameron kissed me like it was an art.
Instinctively, I wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him closer, needing him closer, but Cameron removed them only a few moments later.
He ran his hands from my elbow to my wrists before taking my hands and pushing them back, stretching my arms above my head and anchoring them there.
I was trapped beneath him, but in the best way possible.
His weight could only be described as delicious and comforting and God.
“I just want to explore you tonight,” he murmured between kisses. “Learn you. Touch you. See you. Are you ready for that?”
I nodded, eager. He had no idea. Now that I’d given myself fully over to this idea, this desire, I was beyond ready to let go. I wanted to hand over any sort of control to him until morning.
“If there’s anything you don’t like, you tell me.” He pulled back so he could look down at me. Our eyes connected in a hazed moment that pulsed with longing. “Okay?”
I nodded again, feeling breathless.
“Aloud, Natalie,” he demanded, and I forced a swallow, finding my voice.
“Okay,” I vocalized, and Cameron relaxed a little, satisfied.
“Do we need a word for it, or can I trust you to tell me?”
“I’ll tell you.”
A few years ago, I wouldn’t have been as sure of my ability to say no, not with how Korey had trained me to say yes.
But thanks to a lot of processing and practicing, I’d unlearned a lot of that.
And Cameron had already respected my boundaries more than once, which made me feel that much more confident in my ability to speak up when I needed to, even if he was the one in control here.
“Good girl,” he breathed before dropping to press his lips to mine again. Thank God. I’d already missed them.
Cameron gave me a hard kiss and then started to travel down my body, dragging his mouth across every exposed piece of skin he could find, igniting sparks everywhere he touched. It felt like so much and not enough, all at once.
When he dropped to my stomach, he pushed my shirt up, exposing my abdomen to brush kisses over it, making me squirm with every inch he lowered.
I wanted him lower. I needed him lower. I ran my fingers over his hair, over curls that were a little too short to really grab onto, and Cameron groaned, seeming to like having my hands on him, in any way.
“Did you know that this shirt is see-through?” Cameron muttered against my stomach, slipping his fingers beneath the fabric.
They slowly smoothed upward, and I arched forward, wanting to help him find what he was looking for.
“I’ve been trying not to stare at the outline of your bra since you took your sweater off. ”
I smiled to myself because, yeah, maybe I had done that on purpose.
For the most part, I was a practical woman. My closet truly lacked options for sexy clothes, lingerie, or anything that might have been appropriate for a sex arrangement like this. The best I could really do was layer a tight white shirt over a black bra and hope it did the trick.
Apparently, it did.
“Is it?”
I was struggling with coherent thoughts now that Cameron’s fingers were tracing the underwire of my bra, skating along my skin. It felt like the path his touch had taken would be seared into my skin.
His smile pressed into my stomach, like he knew I was well aware of how transparent my shirt was.
“Not that I’m complaining,” he breathed, nipping at the waistband of my leggings. Meanwhile, his finger was now circling over the cup of my bra, right where my nipple was, sending me reeling from the barely there sensation of him caressing me through the thin fabric.
“You can stare. I don’t mind,” I said before sucking in, shocked at how such a featherlight touch could cause so much heat within me, how it could shoot straight between my thighs, creating such a strong, undeniable ache. My whole body buzzed like a live wire.
“That’s good. I plan on doing a lot of staring tonight.”
The huskiness of his voice caused the buzzing to grow louder, my body shakier.
I should maybe feel self-conscious about the idea of having Cameron Bryant so entirely focused on me and my body, but I didn’t.
Nerves had nothing to do with the hammering of my pulse.
It was only anticipation, heat, want, desperation.
My nipples pebbled, and Cameron groaned in response, immediately taking note.
He swiped his finger across one with more pressure, making me arch higher, needing more.
And then he gave it to me, cupping his hand roughly over my bra, squeezing me in a way that made me gasp.
The quick shift between his gentle exploration and gruff command of my body was exhilarating.
I loved that I had no idea what to expect from him, that every touch was new, that the possibilities of what might happen were endless.
And somehow I knew, from just this very first taste, that they were all going to be good. Maybe even great.
Cameron’s fingers dipped over the top edge of my bra, and he captured my peaked nipple between them, pinching, causing me to cry out in both surprise and delight.
Great. It was definitely going to be great.
“So responsive.” Cameron’s raspy voice sounded incredibly pleased as he yanked on one side of my pants and pressed his mouth to my bared hip bone—sucking, teasing, licking.
Heat rushed to my cheeks at his comment. “I haven’t been touched for a long time,” I admitted.
“A fucking travesty,” Cameron growled, dropping both of his hands to my hips, hooking fingers in my waistband. “This body deserves to be worshipped. You realize that, right, Natalie?”
I looked down to find his smoldering gaze on me, his movements paused as he waited for my answer.
Nodding slowly, I struggled with words. Cameron was poised between my legs, hands ready to rip my pants off completely.
“Don’t let anyone touch you ever again unless they’re going to do a good fucking job of it. Understand me?”
His voice was brusque while his eyes bored holes into me with their intensity, as though he could barely contain the way he wanted me but was determined to on my behalf, wanting to take things at a pace that would work for me.
But while I appreciated how careful he was being, I didn’t need it. Or even really want it. I’d been dancing along the edge of a release for days. He realized that, right?
“Will you do it?” I whispered. “Please?”
“Oh, Natalie.” Cameron’s expression twisted in something akin to pain, but he didn’t explain himself. He did tighten his grip on my pants, sliding them down my legs in one swift movement. Eager, I helped him, kicking off the stretchy fabric until it was tossed somewhere else in his room.
Cameron found my hips within seconds, kneeling before them like they were his altar. His lips returned to my skin, kissing from my pelvis inward, nipping at the edges of my underwear, like he couldn’t decide if he wanted to get rid of them or not.
“Are you wet, Sunshine?” he asked, moving to press open-mouthed kisses to my inner thighs, spreading me wide on the bed for him. “Have I made you ruin another pair of panties yet?”
“Yes,” I confessed and looked down to find him staring at me with naked hunger.
He warned me that he was going to do that—stare. But I hadn’t expected him to be quite so bold about it, quite so openly transfixed by me, especially considering I wasn’t even naked yet.
“I can tell.” It was a barely audible murmur. “A drenched little pussy, all for me.”
His words—so dirty—and his voice—so deep and gravelly—made me tremble with need.
“For you,” I agreed and then held my tongue to keep from asking, begging him to touch me.
His gaze speared into me, making me feel like I was on fire.
My pulse pounded between my legs, a throbbing that went beyond anything that other men had made me feel, and Cameron had barely done anything. I didn’t understand it.
I felt his touch a moment later and practically sobbed in relief, pressing my lips together to keep it from coming out.
But he didn’t go where I expected him to, where I needed him to.
Instead, Cameron slid his finger beneath the hem of my underwear, sliding it to the side, baring my pussy for him.
His touch ran down the side of my slit, skirting away from anything that could give me relief, and I wanted to cry.
I’d never been this turned on in my life, and I had no idea what to do about it.