14. Cameron
Iwoke up to the sound of someone rummaging around in my kitchen, and for a moment my mind drifted to the possibility that it might be Felicity. Maybe she hadn’t left, and she’d spent the night on my couch? Tension grew between my legs remembering the way her ass looked in those leggings, and I let my hand wander down to cup myself through my boxer briefs.
The crash of breaking glass made Boris jump up from his dog bed and bark.
Tyler.
I grumbled as I hauled myself out of bed and slipped on a t-shirt and sweats. How the hell was he up already? He’d never been an early riser. Then again, I’d slept through my alarm, so the unpleasant wake-up call was a good thing. I was already too late to get in my early morning workout if I wanted to get to the office on time—and being late wasn’t an option. I had a busy day ahead of me.
“Hey,” Tyler greeted me with an apologetic wave. “Sorry about that. I wanted orange juice, and I dropped my glass. I’m trying to find a broom and dustpan.”
Boris ran over to Tyler the moment he heard his voice, but Tyler blocked him before he could get too close to the shards on the ground.
“There’s a hand broom under the sink,” I said. “I’ll take Boris out so you can clean up. He needs to go.”
“No,” he said quickly. “Let me walk him. You can get ready for your day, and I’ll take care of everything.”
“Fine,” I said.
I was back to being frustrated at him. There were times when Tyler was a one-man wrecking ball, and this was one of them.
Once Tyler and Boris had left, I went to the kitchen to make myself a quick cup of coffee, taking care to avoid the mess on the ground. Part of me wanted to clean it up, but I also wanted Tyler to face the implications of his actions. I’d been cleaning up after him for too long, last night included.
When I opened the refrigerator, I noticed the bottle of Beluga vodka I kept in the door moved to a different spot. Was he trying to make himself a screwdriver? I grabbed the bottle and took it to the refrigerator in the butler’s pantry. Not a great hiding spot, but at least Tyler would figure out I knew what he was up to.
I slammed the refrigerator shut and skipped coffee for now. I needed to get out of my apartment so I could focus on something other than Tyler’s problems. I didn’t have the time to stay and babysit him, so I finished getting ready and texted him instructions for Boris seeing as his daily walk was hours earlier than usual. Jimmy was waiting for me at the curb when I strode out of the building.
I tried to work on the way to the office, but all I could do was think about the past twenty-four hours. The amazing meal with Felicity, then the descent into darkness with Tyler. And then his bullshit this morning.
Whydid he keep fucking up? I let my head drop back against the seat and closed my eyes as Jimmy eased into the morning traffic. This was going to be a long day.
“Mr. O’Connor? Cameron?”
I jerked my head up with a snort. Had I fallen asleep?
“Yup, all good, Jimmy,” I said as I gathered my things and got out of the car.
First up this morning was a meeting with the PR team, which thankfully would be an easy start. They liked running the dog and pony show, so all I had to do was sit back and listen.
Alessandra handed me a cup of coffee on my way into the conference room. Thank god she could read my mind. Sandrine jumped up to greet me when I walked in, all smiles.
“Congrats on last night,” she said, holding up her phone. “Those photos are perfection.”
A genuine smile spread across my face at the thought. “Yes, they are. I’d say we’re off to a great start.”
“And the campaign is about to get even better,” she said. “I can’t wait for you to see what we have in store next!”
I took my position at the head of the conference table, glancing around to nod at everyone assembled. Felicity bit back a grin at me from the far end, and with just eye contact we shared a moment of mutual recognition of everything that had gone down between us the night before.
“Okay, let’s get moving, folks,” I said, hoping my impatience and exhaustion weren’t too obvious. “What have you got for me?”
“I’ll start,”’ Sandrine said, raising her finger in the air. “So, the feedback from the CamLicity campaign is beyond what we’d hoped for.” She powered up the smartboard display on the wall to show the latest rankings from my dinner with Felicity. “Based on metrics like these, we figured it would be wise to focus on other celebrity couples about to get engaged as well. We have a few ideas, but Glen thinks he’s got our first option all figured out. This is going to be a live reveal for the entire team—even I don’t know what he’s planning—so we’re all excited to see what he cooked up. Take it away.”
Glen stood up already wearing a smug expression, like he knew he was about to hit a home run. “I’ve been working on this on my own,” he began.
I groaned internally.
“In this campaign we’ve been focusing on the female side of the engagement equation. How many carats she wants, how the ring will look on her finger,” he continued, “but I think the male voice needs to be heard as well.”
If it was possible to hear the rolling eyes of a half dozen women, I experienced it in this moment.
“We want to make this campaign as buzzy as possible, which is why I reached out to someone with a Q Score that’s currently setting records.” Glen walked backward to the door as he spoke. “Ladies and gents, may I present our next #RomanceintheWild candidate…” He opened the door and spoke to someone just outside the conference room, inviting him in.
“Mr. Steven Brudny!”
Fuck.
Felicity’s ex.
Glen stepped back, and a vaguely attractive man in a hoodie and blazer walked in beaming confidence, like he owned the place. A few people clapped politely while I swiveled to face Felicity.
Her cheerful expression had shifted to that of a person trapped in a waking nightmare. She seemed haunted, frozen in place.
“Hey folks,” Steven said as he waved to everyone with what looked like fake humility. “Happy to be here. It’s great that Veritique realizes what a force my book has become. I’m a bestseller, yeah!” He pumped his fist. “So glad people understand that Unhinged Heart is a masterpiece.”
No.
I rose to my feet right as Glen led Steven to an empty chair at the table.
“Don’t get too comfortable, Mr. Brudny.”
“Excuse me?” He shot me a baffled look, as if it had never crossed his mind that anyone he met would be anything but thrilled to be in his presence. “Did you not get the memo about who I am?”
I curled my hands into fists but didn’t let any stray emotion register on my face. “Oh, I know exactly who you are, and that’s the problem.”
Steven looked around the table, like he was hoping to find support among the other people in the room. I saw him twitch when his eyes finally landed on Felicity.
“Ohh,” he said in a more upbeat tone, still locked onto Felicity. “Now I get it! Well, hey there, Lis! Been a while.”
Felicity just shook her head in response, unable to muster up a word. I’d never seen her speechless.
I hated it.
“Felicity and I are old friends,” Steven said, glancing at the people gathered around the table. “We know each other super well. You could say that I can read her like a book! Right, Lis?”
He was getting dangerously close to revealing his connection to Felicity in front of her colleagues, but like hell was I letting that happen on my watch.
“Mr. Brudny, there seems to have been a misunderstanding. You see, the core of this campaign is the open and honest love between two people, and you’re just about the last person I can think of who exemplifies those qualities,” I said to him. “I’m not surprised you didn’t even bother to bring your girlfriend with you, since it’s clear to me that the only person you love in this world is yourself. And since we’re not really looking to grow our share in the ‘self-aggrandizing asshole’ market, I don’t think we’d have any use for you.”
Steve sputtered, looking outraged and indignant. “Who are you, anyway?”
“I’m the person who knows what’s best for this company, and it’s not you. So you can collect your things and head out.” I pointed to the door.
“What the hell?” Steven went whiny. “Why am I being treated like this? Lis? C’mon, you can vouch for me, right? Old friends support each other.”
“I’m not your friend,” she finally said in a small voice.
Steven leered at her. “Correct, because we used to?—”
“Out!” I shouted.
I’d sucked all the air out of the room with one word.
I took a few steps toward Steven before I realized what I was doing. Instinct had taken over me, and all I could think was protect her.
“What, you wanna fight me, dude?” he asked, jumping out of his chair.
“No,” I replied in an even tone. “I want you to listen to the instruction I gave you three minutes ago and leave. If I have to ask again, it won’t be you I’m asking but the security guards who will drag you out of here and dump you on your ass on the sidewalk—next to the rest of the trash.”
I finally glanced around the room and realized that the entire PR team looked mystified by what was going on, but not entirely unhappy about it. My employees trusted me, and they understood I would never respond to someone like this without good reason.
“Is he for real?” Steven asked Glen in a quiet voice.
“The realest,” he answered. “That’s our CEO.”
Steven finally seemed to clock into the fact that his little sponcon gig with Veritique wasn’t going to happen.
“Fine. Your rings are shit anyway,” he said as he stood up. “I bet Barth Co. doesn’t treat potential partners like this.”
“Mr. Brudny?” I reached for my phone and flicked it on. “One last thing.”
I snapped a photo of him, then dictated a message into my phone to the security teams at all branches of the store, nationwide, saying that the man in the picture was never to be allowed entry into any Veritique under any circumstances. “Aaaand send,” I said, tapping on my phone which let out a swooshing sound as the email went out. “You can go now,” I said, waving Steve off. “We’re done with you. Glen can see you out.”
He left the room muttering under his breath with a sheepish-looking Glen following behind him.
I cleared my throat as I turned back to the team. “I apologize for getting loud just then. It’s probably obvious to you that I didn’t think Mr. Brudny was a fit for our organization in many ways. I don’t want to go into the details, but suffice it to say that my decision is final. I’m sure we have many other potential candidates who better exemplify the Veritique core values. Let’s move on.”
The meeting continued for another forty minutes as if nothing had happened. I could feel Felicity watching me, but I couldn’t bring myself to meet her gaze. Would she think I had overstepped? She’d stopped me before from retaliating against her piece-of-shit ex. Maybe I’d crossed a line. But how could I have done nothing when I saw how she reacted to just the sight of him? The asshole was lucky he hadn’t gotten punched.
Once back in my office, I tried to focus on the mountain of work I needed to tackle, but my mind kept drifting back to Felicity’s broken expression when Steven taunted her.
I needed to see her.
My door swung open right as I slapped my laptop closed. It was like she’d been summoned by my thoughts.
“Felicity…I was just coming to see you?—”
She nearly jogged to me, her eyes trained on my mouth. She crashed into me forcefully enough that it got a wunf of surprise out of me, and the next thing I knew, her lips were pressed against mine.
If the kiss outside her apartment was good, this one was legendary. She kissed me in a frenzy, like her pent-up emotions from the last hour were all fighting to the surface at once. I, meanwhile, was lightheaded with relief. I wrapped my arms around her, hoping she could tell that I would always, always fight for her.
Her tongue darted along my lip, a brief experimental flick that nearly got a groan out of me. So much for the contract. I let my hands drop to caress the curve of her hips, then down to her ass, to bring her even closer to me.
Fuck, she tasted sweet.
“Thank you,” she murmured as our mouths melded. “Thank you for…for standing up for me.”
Speaking the words made her even hungrier. Her hands slid up and threaded through my hair, sending a wave of electricity down my back.
I needed more. I picked her up and slid her skirt up her thighs so she could wrap her legs around my waist. Our kiss deepened as I lowered myself onto the nearby couch. Felicity wound up straddling me. She ground against me and let out a little whimper.
I ran my hands along the tops of her thighs as our tongues teased back and forth. Her skin…Felicity felt like she was made of silk. She arched her chest against mine, pressing her breasts against me.
I was now rock hard.
“I want you,” I whispered into her ear. I paused to kiss her there and she giggled.
“Cameron, I want you too,” her voice hitched as I put my hands on her hips and pulled her against the swell in my pants. “But not here. We can’t.”
“Why not? This couch is nice and strong.”
She laughed again as I kissed the hollow of her throat. “Someone could come in.”
“Let them watch,” I insisted. “They might learn something.”
Our mouths found their way back together, and we kissed as I raised Felicity’s skirt inch by tantalizing inch. Oh, the things I was going to do to her. I pictured letting her ride me on the couch, then bending her over my desk and taking her from behind, so I could squeeze that perfect ass of hers as I had her. How many times could I make her come?
Then it hit me. I wanted to take my time with her. Explore every hidden inch of her, with my hands, my tongue, and of course, my cock. As much as I wanted to shove her panties to the side and plunge inside her right now, I knew it would have to end too soon. The phone could ring at any moment, or we could be interrupted by an impatient knock at the door while my mouth was anchored between her legs.
I pulled away. “Do you have plans tonight?”
Her eyes were shining and her chest was heaving as if she’d just finished a sprint. And that mouth of hers…that full bottom lip swollen even fuller by our kissing.
Felicity shook her head wordlessly.
“Come up to my place. I don’t want a single interruption the first time I fuck you.”
She inhaled sharply hearing me say exactly what we were both thinking. She ground against me and leaned closer to whisper in my ear.
“I don’t want to stop.”
The rhythm against my cock nearly destroyed my resolve, but I wasn’t about to let it get the best of me. We both knew it’d be worth the wait.
Her hands were clasped behind my neck, so I reached up to gather them in mine, clutching them between us like I had her in handcuffs.
“Let’s make a deal; if we stop now, we won’t have to tonight.” I pulled her closer so I could whisper in her ear. “I’m going to fuck you. All. Night. Long.”
She closed her eyes and let out a shuddery sigh.
“Maybe I’ll let you sleep after you’ve had your third orgasm, but only for a little while. Then I’ll wake you up with my tongue between your legs, and we’ll begin again.”
Felicity sucked in a breath at the thought of it.
“Deal,” she murmured.