Chapter 26 Camden
CAMDEN
“Hey, vixen . . .” I drag a finger down the soft, bare skin along her spine and wait for her eyes to open. “When were you going to tell me Christmas Eve is your birthday?”
“What time is it?” she murmurs soft and raspy and still sleepy. Not that I can blame her. We didn’t get much sleep last night.
I brush her hair from her face and enjoy the beautiful view of her draped naked across my chest. “Early. Sophie’s still sleeping.”
“Then why are we awake, Camden? Go back to sleep,” she practically purrs as my hand slips lower.
“What do you want to do for your birthday, Holly?” I push and smile as she shifts, and I get a shot of side boob. Hidden under her ridiculous Christmas sweaters is a body made to be worshipped, and that’s exactly what I plan to do.
“Nothing,” she groans and presses her lips to my pec. “It’s Christmas Eve. We never do anything for my birthday. Now go back to sleep.”
I roll her over and fucking love the way she spreads her thighs and cradles me between them without hesitation. “I can think of something better to do.”
She wraps her arms around my neck and presses her lips to mine, suddenly very awake. “Show me.”
I fist my cock and drag it through her hot pussy, soaked and soft and fucking intoxicating. “You sore, baby?”
She shakes her head and nips my lips. “Condom, Camden.”
“Yes, ma’am,” I tease her as my cock lies heavy between us, the tip teasing her hot cunt, and my girl moans the sweetest sound.
“Now, please . . .”
Like I’m ever going to tell her no . . . I rip it open and smile as she takes it from me and rolls it down. “Fuck me, Camden.”
Linking our fingers together, I press our joined hands into the mattress on either side of the bed and tease her clit with my cock, loving the way she squirms under me. “Fucking love being with you like this, Holly.”
Her breath catches in her throat, and she wraps her legs around my hips as I push in the tiniest bit.
Teasing Holly the way I’m realizing she loves.
Her back bows, and her eyes close, and I pull back out before pushing in again, harder and further.
Building her up, soft and slow and lazy because it’s her and me, and we’ve got all the time in the fucking world.
“Camden . . .” she whimpers as her heels dig into my ass, and the sound of my name on her lips is better than any high I’ve ever had.
“You feel that, baby? You feel me?” I bring my face close to hers and drag my teeth over her thrumming pulse. “Your cunt was made for me, Holly.”
“God, yes. I feel it.” She rips a hand free and drags it up my back, meeting me thrust for slow thrust. Grinding her hips against me. “So good.”
The baby monitor crackles, and I know we only have minutes before we’re interrupted. I drop my hand between us and circle her clit with my thumb, needing her to come before that happens.
“Fuck, Cam . . . so close. So good.” She circles her hips, moving faster. Her eyes locked on mine as I lean down and take her stiff nipple between my lips and bite.
Holly opens her mouth, a silent scream falling from her lips as she shatters around me. Clinging to me as I speed up, pounding into her until my blood roars in my ears, and I follow her into oblivion.
“Now that’s a good morning . . .” she whispers against my lips as Sophie’s first cry echoes through the room.
Camden
I need your help.
Luke
Dude. Santa’s not pressing charges. Pretty sure Rainey threatened to cut his balls off if he did. How’s Holly?
Camden
She’s fine. And fucking let him press charges. What he did was worse.
Luke
Has the team given you shit about the bad press yet?
Camden
No. Coach called and said to lie low but that he would have done the same thing.
Luke
I swear the girls never said this guy was a problem.
Camden
Yeah well, they’ve been calling him Handsy Santa for years, according to Holly.
Luke
Why the hell wouldn’t she say anything?
Camden
Because your sister’s a people pleaser. Do you not realize that?
Luke
I guess I never thought about it that way. Rainey Ryleigh and Hadley have always just been louder than Holly. But they never said anything either.
Camden
No clue why not. But that’s not why I’m texting. We need to talk about Christmas Eve.
Luke
You got something up your sleeve, Monroe?
Camden
Something like that.
“Are you sure you don’t need me today?” Holly asks as she slides the zipper up on her knee-high boots. “Hello . . . Camden. My eyes are up here,” she teases.
“Listen, you’ve turned me into a leg man.” I cross the room and press my lips against her neck. “Every fucking time you walk in front of me in those damn socks or these damn boots, I want to bend you over a table. I blame you.”
“I mean,” she giggles as I lick a line down her neck. “I can get on board with that, but first I need to go talk to my dad.”
“Go. Sophie and I are going to chill today.” Sophie picks that moment to pull away from me and reach out for Holly. She clasps Soph’s hands between hers and kisses them before tickling my baby girl’s side.
Both of them smiling and happy.
Happy in a way I’m not sure I ever expected.
“Want me to stop at West End on the way back and grab dinner?” she asks.
“Sure. That works for me,” I tell her and pull her against me one more time before she leaves. “Drive careful.”
Holly smiles like I’m crazy. “See you soon.”
I watch her leave and sit Sophie down. “What do you think, Soph? Should we keep her?”
Not like I need Sophie to tell me yes to know that woman who just walked out my door is meant to be ours.
The door creaks back open, and I spin around. “You forget something?”
Only it’s not Holly looking at me. It’s Emmie. “Hey. I just saw Holly outside. She seems good.”
“Yeah. She’s okay. She’s going to talk to her dad.”
“Things seem serious between you.” Emmie doesn’t ask a question. That’s not her style. “Hi, baby girl,” she coos at Sophie before picking her up and snuggling her to her face. “You seem happy, Cam.”
“I am,” I admit. “Wasn’t exactly expecting this.”
“I know. It’s kind of weird, right?” She brings Sophie over to the window to look out at the snow. “We spent so much of our lives in fight-or-flight mode. It’s almost not natural to be able to accept the good that’s right in front of you.”
“I never wanted you to live in fight-or-flight mode, Em. I swear to God, I tried to do everything I could to make sure you had a better life than that.” I fucking hate the sound of that for her. “I tried so hard to make sure you and Vivi didn’t have to live like that.”
“I know you did, Cam. But we were all kids.” She gets quiet for a minute as she turns toward me. “I think Vivi would like Holly. She’d like her infectiously happy personality.”
“She’d love how much Holly is obsessed with Christmas.” My heart hurts, thinking about my sister and how much I wish she were here right now.
Emmie smiles, and it doesn’t look sad the way it typically does when we talk about Vivi. “She’d love how much Holly’s Christmas chaos drives you crazy. Vivi loved driving you nuts.”
“She really did,” I laugh. “I wish she could be here to see Sophie and Rosie.”
“Me too. Her and Dad.” She kisses the top of Sophie’s head.
“But they know, Cam. And I like to think they’re watching over us, and they can see we’re happy.
” She drops her voice, a seriousness there now that wasn’t a second ago.
“You know it’s okay to be happy, right? We’ve had a lot of bad in life.
More than I think a lot of other people have.
But none of it was your fault. You did the best you could. We were all kids.”
I nod, knowing she’s right. Even if it’s hard not to blame myself for a lot of the shitty years. “It’s so fucking hard to not feel like it was my responsibility to protect you guys better. I worry I’ll fail Sophie the same way. Maybe fail Holly too.”
“Hey.” She moves in front of me and gets right in my face.
“Do not talk about my big brother that way. You’re here, and you’re pretty great, Camden.
You did everything you could. We all did.
Life happens. And sometimes, it’s bad. Sometimes, it’s not.
Right now, it’s pretty great, so enjoy every minute of it.
Don’t second-guess. Don’t wait for the other shoe to fall.
Embrace living, Camden. Embrace happy. You deserve it. ”
I wrap an arm around Emmie and Sophie. “How did you get to be so smart, kid?”
“I had some pretty great siblings to look up to.” She rests her head on my shoulder. “And I’m pretty excited we get to raise our kids together now.”
“Do you have plans for Christmas Eve, Em?”
She smiles and shakes her head. “We spend the whole year with Maverick’s family. I’m pretty sure I could convince him that we need to do Christmas Eve with ours.”
It’s been a long damn time since I’ve looked at my life and felt like it was more than just Emmie and me.
Even over the past few years since Maverick and Rosie came into Emmie’s life, it’s taken me a while to feel like I deserved them.
Like I deserved to be part of a family. I hadn’t even considered having one of my own until Sophie was placed in my arms for the first time. And now . . . Now, it just feels right.
“Good. I have an idea . . .”