Chapter 24
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Fletch
I hit the lights and push the dimmer, turning to survey Camryn. She’s stopped in her tracks and is wide-eyed.
“What’s wrong?” I ask.
“Y-your room,” she says as she looks around us.
I turn and look at my room. It looks perfectly normal to me.
Looking back, I watch as she steps further into the space.
Her eyes follow the furniture around the perimeter of the room.
It’s sparse. My clothes are in my closet.
My room has a large bed and nightstands.
A small table by the entrance with a few drawers.
And a sitting area in front of the slider door that opens onto a small balcony.
There’s a floor-to-ceiling mirror in a gold frame opposite the bed.
And above the bed is a painting by an artist friend of mine.
The coffered ceiling has a gold inlaid design that surrounds the painting.
The walls of the room are a black-on-black design.
The light wood floors running throughout my apartment continue into my room.
“It’s…enormous,” she whispers as she stands in the middle of the room and spins with her arms out.
I feel my lips twitch but I’m too desperate to be inside her right now to be distracted by her amusing antics.
I walk up behind her and wrap my arms around her waist. We stare at each other in our reflection in the mirror.
I splay my hand possessively over her abdomen and for a flash of a second I imagine an entire life with her.
Children, a home, vacations, a shared bakery, late-night laughing, and passionate sex.
I blink away the thought faster than it emerged from the recesses of my mind.
“What?” Cam asks, raising her face to peer up at me from beneath her lashes.
“Nothing,” I lie as I lean down to kiss her, hoping it will make us both forget whatever it was I just did or thought.
She turns in my arms and I decide we need a distraction.
I pull her top off over her head. She kicks off her shoes.
I unbutton her jeans and push them and her underwear down her creamy thighs until they fall to the ground and I’m on bended knee.
She undoes her bra and it falls next to us.
She puts a hand on my shoulder as she pulls her foot from her socks, jeans, and underwear and then does it with the other foot, kicking the clothing to the side.
I look up at her. She watches me with a smirk and I return it while kissing her between her legs. Her skin pebbles telling me that no matter how calm, cool, and collected she pretends to be, she’s not immune to my touch.
I continue to lick and suck the wet flesh until her hands grip my hair and her body trembles.
“Fletcher,” she groans. I grin against her. She needs more.
I stand and she tugs at my buttons on my shirt. I assist and we slowly remove my clothing.
When we’re both standing naked, I lift her and set her on my bed. I decide I want a show tonight. Instead of crawling up the bed, I sit behind her and pull her back against my front. I hook her legs over mine and spread them wide.
We both stare at our reflection in the mirror in front of the bed.
I reach down separating her folds, running my finger up and down, and coating it in her wetness. My skin glistens with it as I skin two fingers into her. Her mouth falls open but her gaze stays locked on the erotic scene in front of us.
I lean my mouth to her ear. “Look how fucking perfect you are,” I whisper as I start moving my fingers in and out of her heat.
It’s like my personal wet dream. I’ve done things like this before, but somehow it feels different tonight.
She moans as I stretch her, so I can penetrate deeper.
I begin to work her harder and faster until I feel her muscles clench around me and her eyes squeeze shut as she cries out my name.
I watch her release coat my fingers. Slowly, I pull them free and bring them to my mouth to taste her again.
Fuck, this is hot and I want so much more with her.
I flip her over and we stare at each other as I sink inside and then remember I need a damn condom. Shit.
I pull out and her brows furrow.
“What’s wrong?” she asks, her legs wrapped around me.
“Condom,” I say as I look down and see my wet dick.
Her eyes search mine. “We probably should, but…” Her voice trails off and I look down at her.
“What?” I ask.
“When were you last with someone?” she asks and I roll to the side, so I’m not on top of her.
“About three or four months ago,” I admit. It was a hookup with a woman I used to see periodically when I was in London.
“And did you have any checkups since then?” she inquires.
“Yes. I had a full annual exam and bloodwork about a month ago,” I answer still confused as to why we are discussing this.
She nods and presses her lips together. “It’s been a long time for me. But I’ve had some health stuff that requires I take birth control,” she says.
“Health stuff?” I ask.
She nods. “I get really bad cramps and some other issues surrounding my period. There’s not a lot doctors could do for it, but taking the pill does help a bit, so I do it.”
I pull her toward me. I hate that she has to deal with that.
“Can I trust you?” she whispers. “I really want to trust you, Fletcher,” she adds, her eyes glaze a bit and I suddenly feel like such an ass.
We should have been talking about so much more than just hooking up.
There are a million unanswered questions between us.
I don’t have all the answers, but I know whatever is happening between us is important, more important than a store.
“Yes, Camryn. I won’t let business come between us. We’ll figure it out. I promise,” I assure her.
“I want to believe you,” she says and it’s a sucker punch to my gut.
“You don’t?” I ask.
She shrugs. “I sort of do, but it’s hard. I…things between us changed so quickly, I’m still trying to get my bearings. I want to give us a real chance, but I also can’t lose the café. It’s my life. I’ve worked so hard for it,” she confesses, her eyes welling.
A stray tear escapes and slides down her cheek.
I lean in and lick the salty liquid away.
“We are not going to let business come between us. I promise you that. You have my word,” I assure her.
But beneath my calm surface, I’m worried.
Will my family accept her? Can I figure out a way for both our businesses to thrive?
“OK,” she whispers. “We’ll figure it out together,” she adds with a small smile.
Her legs wrap back around mine and I sink into her.
I can’t remember the last time I went without a condom, and never so soon in a relationship, but this feels different.
This feels real as if every relationship before her was only practice.
We move in silence, our gazes locked. I move faster, chasing my release, needing to come inside her, to make her mine. It sounds ridiculous and I feel like an idiot thinking that, but some primal part of me wants to mark her in some small way.
“Don’t stop,” she whispers, her legs cross behind me, pulling me deeper inside her.
“Come, Cam, I need you to come, baby,” I whisper as I feel my balls tighten.
Her eyes squeeze shut and I lean down and kiss her while her body’s inner muscles convulse around me. And that’s all it takes for me to lose control and follow her over the edge into an abyss of pure ecstasy.
We both pant, our foreheads touching.
“Are you going to give me a tour of your palace, or are you keeping me locked up in your bedroom?” she asks.
I laugh and run my nose along hers. “I’d like to keep you locked up in here, but I have a feeling you’d end up exploring this place on your own,” I say as I begrudgingly pull out of her and roll us over so she’s lying on me.
She settles herself between my legs and places her hands, one on top of the other, on my chest with her chin on them.
“My entire apartment would fit into your living room,” she says.
“So?” I reply because I don’t care about that.
“We come from different universes. How is this going to work exactly?” she asks.
“We will figure it out,” I assure her.
“Will we?” she questions, her abdomen pressing into my softening dick, making it come back to life.
I tug on a strand of her red hair. “Stop being so stubborn. We can figure things out, but right now, I want to concentrate on more important things,” I say and thrust my hips up against her.
“You are like a racing car. You have a recovery time of like two seconds,” she laughs.
“I feel like we should test that theory a few more times,” I say with a smirk and she laughs again.
I roll us back over and stare down at the woman who I am falling for in a matter of only a few weeks. “I’ll give you the princess tour tomorrow morning. We have more important things to work on right now,” I tease as I nip at her jaw.
“I suppose I can live with that compromise…for now,” she murmurs as she leans her head back to grant me access to her neck.
“I love a good compromise,” I reply, leaning in and running my tongue down the column of her neck. Maybe we can figure out a business compromise too? Maybe, just maybe, things can work out between us.