Chapter Thirty-Two
MICHAEL
I was sitting at the dining room table, waiting for Camila, when I heard a terrified scream coming from upstairs.
I jumped to my feet and ran up the stairs as fast as I could, my mind racing through every possible scenario of what could be happening. I mentally prepared for any kind of emergency, ready to defend her from whatever attack might be occurring.
But not that one.
That scene was definitely not what I had imagined.
Camila was lying on the hallway floor. On top of her, a Siberian husky wagged his tail and licked her face, clearly trying to get her to play.
Meanwhile, Camila was crying and screaming for help.
I needed a few seconds to get my heart rate back to normal after the scare she gave me. Only then could I react appropriately — I went to rescue her from Apollo’s grasp.
Naturally, laughing as I did so.
“Get off, boy, Camila doesn’t want to play with you,” I said as I pulled him away.
My dog seemed to understand and backed off, sitting next to me, curiously watching the woman who remained on the floor.
“You’re safe now, Camila. You can get up.”
She opened her eyes and sat up, scooting back a little as if trying to put more distance between herself and Apollo.
“Your dog attacked me!” she screamed, hysterical.
“Apollo wouldn’t hurt a fly. He just wanted to play with you.”
She didn’t answer, and I figured she was replaying what happened in her mind and realizing she hadn’t even gotten a single bite from the dog.
I approached her and extended my hand to help her up. She accepted it and, as soon as she was on her feet, took a step back again, startled. I looked at Apollo and saw that the reason for her reaction was that, even sitting, he had started wagging his tail again.
“Are you sure he’s not going to bite me?” she whimpered.
“I can guarantee he won’t.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“Because I’ve known Apollo since he was a puppy. I trust him one hundred percent. He’s incapable of hurting anyone. Just like I’m sure you’d say your cat couldn’t kill someone.”
She didn’t answer right away, and that already worried me a little. It got worse when she finally said something, “Don’t be so sure. I wouldn’t say that about Waffle. I think he’s very capable of killing someone if he wanted to.”
I made a mental note to keep a close eye on that feline whenever I was around.
“We’ll talk about your cat later. Come on, let’s have breakfast.”
“I’m too scared to go downstairs with him around. Can’t you hold him?”
“What do you mean, hold him?”
“Carry him in your arms.”
“Camila, he’s a Siberian husky. He weighs nearly seventy pounds.”
“I weigh more than that and you managed to carry me here, didn’t you? Stop being dramatic!”
I sighed, thinking this was all a huge exaggeration.
But in the end, I gave in, lifting the giant dog in my arms. Apollo rested his front paws on my shoulders as I carried him down the stairs like a child.
I noticed that, walking beside me, Camila still eyed him warily, but at some point, she smiled.
I think she was beginning to let herself be charmed by Apollo.
And I had already been completely charmed by her.
*****
It was interesting to watch that friendship begin to form.
While she ate her breakfast, Camila still eyed Apollo with suspicion.
But soon she made a comment about him being a beautiful dog.
Then, she asked if he could eat a piece of toast, and when I said yes, she threw it far so he could fetch it—probably to make sure he wouldn’t accidentally bite her hand when taking the treat.
“He really does seem like a good boy…” she said at some point.
“He is. And he wants to be your friend, but you’re not giving him a chance.”
“It’s not easy. I’ve got some trauma, I told you. I was bitten when I was seven.”
“Was it a big dog like Apollo?”
She had already stopped eating but grabbed another piece of toast, bringing it to her mouth, clearly trying to dodge the question.
It didn’t work, because I kept looking at her until she finally admitted, “Actually, it was a little smaller…”
“How much smaller?”
“It was a pinscher.”
I wanted—I swear I wanted—to take it seriously, but before I knew it, I had burst into laughter.
Camila looked irritated.
“What’s so funny?”
“A pinscher? You told me the dog attack almost killed you.”
“I was seven! And it hurt!”
“I believe you… Sorry, I just… I found it funny. But don’t worry, Apollo isn’t mean like a pinscher. Not even close.”
“It’s not easy to let go of fears…” she pouted, but soon seemed to drift into another train of thought. I didn’t even have to ask—she told me herself, “Why did you say you wanted to apologize?”
“Isn’t it obvious? You wouldn’t be going through so many unpleasant and dangerous situations if you weren’t involved in this crazy agreement with me.”
“They dragged me into this way before the agreement, since we were filmed together and someone spiked our drinks.”
“That only happened because you were near me. I’ve been a curse in your life since the day we got close. After what happened last night, I’ll understand if you want to end our agreement.”
She took a breath to say something, but I motioned for her to wait until I said everything I’d been rehearsing over the last few hours. I feared that if she interrupted me, I might give up.
“I understand you got into this because you needed the money to renovate your grandmother’s bookstore. The money is already yours, even if we don’t go through with the agreement, and—”
“You think this is about the money?” she cut me off.
Shit.
As always, I’d chosen the worst possible words.
“No. Of course not. But last night I was terrified when I realized they were planning to do something to you. If I hadn’t gotten there in time to save you, I would never forgive myself.”
“But you did. You saved me. And thanks to you, I’m okay, right?”
“Thanks to me, only God knows what could’ve happened to you in that state.”
“But nothing did happen, Michael. And nothing will. We’ll be more careful from now on. There’s less than two months until the hearing, soon all this will be over.”
Over was the last thing I wanted.
If we kept up this charade, in less than a month I could have Alice with me… But I wouldn’t have Camila.
Suddenly, that equation seemed flawed. It didn’t make sense to me anymore.
Still, continuing meant I’d get a few more weeks with Camila. But I didn’t want that if it meant putting her at risk again.
“You must be really tired, Camila. Why don’t you rest a bit more? I need to make a few phone calls and handle some things—you can make yourself comfortable, okay? I’ll take Apollo with me, so he doesn’t scare you anymore.”
That was certainly a cowardly move on my part, though I did need to make those calls.
I had to talk to Janet and find out if the guy from last night had really been arrested, and check if no one had filmed the beating I gave him and posted it online to ruin me.
I needed to know what my current legal situation was so I could decide what to do next.
And besides, I really didn’t think Camila was in the right state to have that conversation now. She might have been lucid enough to make her own decisions, but she was still emotionally shaken. I wanted to give her time.
So, I stood up, snapped my fingers for Apollo to follow me, and left the dining room, leaving Camila behind.
I reached the living room and was about to climb the stairs when Camila’s voice stopped me.
“Michael, wait.”
I turned around to find her running toward me until she stopped right in front of me. Apollo, seeing the door was open, ran into the yard where he loved spending his days. Yet I felt like he somehow understood he should give us a moment alone.
“You’re right about one thing…” she began, standing before me, looking straight into my eyes. “I agreed to this for the money. But it’s definitely not money that’s making me want to stay.”
Her declaration wasn’t necessarily a surprise. So I said, “I know you genuinely want to help me win custody of Alice.”
“I do. I want that more than anything. But a guy with your womanizing reputation should be better at reading women and realizing I want a lot more than that.”
Okay… That was a surprise. Camila never lost her habit of being blunt and direct. It was one thing for her to tell me she was in love while drugged. This… this was completely different.
Since she was being honest, I would be too.
“Last night, when I put you in the car, you asked me for a kiss.”
Her cheeks flushed slightly and she looked away, seemingly trying to remember the moment. I wasn’t sure if she actually recalled or simply sensed it, “And you didn’t do it to me, did you?”
“No. Not the way you asked. You were drugged and I knew you wouldn’t remember anything the next day. I wasn’t going to take advantage of that vulnerable moment.”
“If it were a different moment, would you have given me that kiss?”
“We’re in a different moment now. You could find out if you tried—if you really want to.”
“Then kiss me.”
This time, she wouldn’t have to ask again.
I claimed her lips with mine, giving her exactly what she asked for the night before: a real kiss. Intense. Filled with the insane desire I felt for her.
And I could say it was like the teasing kisses we shared at the company party, but I’d be lying if I said that. This was so much better. Even without alcohol, the lust was far stronger now. And there was something else—something unexplainable—beneath it.
Because I was used to wanting a night with a woman. But with Camila, I wanted days and nights. I wanted to taste her in every way, in every room of that house, in every possible position, for every remaining day of my damn life.
I ran my hands down her back until I reached her ass, and she instinctively wrapped her legs around my waist. Without breaking the kiss, I started climbing the stairs, nearly stumbling a few times from how dizzy I was from her kiss…
and by feeling her hot pussy under her silk pajama pants.
My cock, already more than hard, seemed to throb in desperation to be inside her.
I took her straight to my room, throwing her on my bed and falling on top of her, without stopping kissing her for even a moment.
I had wanted to do that for a long time.
To be precise, ever since I met her, at the bar at that party, and it only became more and more urgent the more I spent time with her.
In a somewhat clumsy exchange of hands, she opened the buttons of my shirt, while I did the same with the top of the pajamas she was wearing.
Not that I had any difficulty with it, but it ended up getting in the way because of the hasty and clumsy movements of her hands.
It was charming how, despite being apparently consumed by desire, she had no experience in it.
Then, the red alert went off in my mind.
A warning that screamed: VIRGIN.
Fuck, what the hell was I doing?