Chapter 16
Emma realized her intentions to be quiet would be wasted the moment she opened the door to their hotel room and overheard Cam on the phone. She wasn’t sure if she’d been ready to see him again yet, but the sound of his deep laughing at whatever someone must’ve said sent a spark of excitement through her. It was silly, yet she couldn’t help it if her body got all tingly simply by being in the same vicinity as him.
Shit. When did being excited about being near Cam become a norm for her?
There was that delicious laugh again. “I’m not going to bribe, trick, persuade, or any other plan you all have conjured up to get her to come visit so you can interrogate her. You guys need to get a life if all you’ve done since I’ve been gone is conspire about mine.”
Her toes curled as she paused. Were they talking about her? They had to be, she thought, who else? Or at least they better be because Cam said there wasn’t anyone else he was talking to. And now she very much so didn’t like the idea of him talking to another woman in that way.
Oh sheesh, she was losing it. If one night of pretend sex could have her acting all sorts of out of whack, then what in good heavens would the real deal with Cam Wright do to her? She didn’t want to find out. Or maybe she did.
“Hey,” she called out, closing the hotel door behind her.
“Speak of the devil,” Cam said into the phone. He turned and smiled at Emma as she came in and sat on the end of the bed. The morning air suited her because she looked beautiful and lively in her shorts and tank, hair swept back into a ponytail. “No, you can’t talk to her to convince her, either.”
She could tell how relaxed he was on the phone, smiling wide and carefree like his friend on the other end brought out the best in him.
“Yeah, yeah. Go get some work done. Talk to you later.” Cam hung up the phone, his eyes still on Emma. “Derek’s convinced that if I get you to come visit St. Louis then you’ll fall in love with everyone and stick around even if you think I’m a dud.”
She couldn’t help but grin. How much had he been telling his friends about her? “Is that so?”
“He said if that didn’t work then Slone could plan a dinner party and you’re sure to stay once you’ve tasted her cooking.”
She laughed. “It sounds like they’ve had time to think this through.”
Cam ran a hand through his hair. “If my friends had their way, they’d be on the next flight out here to meet the woman who could drag me across the sea within twenty-four hours of meeting her.”
Her heart picked up its pace at the way he was looking at her. “Do you not want your friends meeting me?” She shouldn’t go there, she really did know better. But when did she listen to caution?
“Honey, I’d be honored to have my friends meet you.” He didn’t move an inch, yet she felt his presence like he consumed her. “I already asked you what’d happen if I fell for you, but you tried writing it off. I may be willing to suffer the heartache, but no sense in putting them through it too.”
Lulu’s warning on the beach hit her square in the gut at his words. It wasn’t that he said anything offensive. No, quite the opposite. But it was the way his words made her feel, the way they held promise and hope, and yet the lack of the latter all at the same time.
“I think you give me too much credit,” she said, rising from the bed. “Like I said before, you’ll be tired of me by the end of the week.”
“You keep telling yourself that.” He knew what she was trying to do, talk herself out of whatever she was beginning to feel. “Are you going to keep running off if I don’t?”
Her mouth dropped open. “I didn’t run off,” she said. Well, maybe she did sneak out to clear her head, but she came back.
He grinned, not buying a word of it as he stepped closer until they were merely inches apart. He could see the quickening of her chest as her breathing became more shallow.
“Good,” he said, tucking a stray hair behind her ear, his hand lingering at her jawline as his eyes slid to her mouth.
Emma wasn’t sure what he was thinking or if he might kiss her, and damn herself because she wanted him to. It was she who said it would be a bad idea, yet here her body was betraying her as a searing heat went straight through her.
But that thought went out the window as Cam leaned in closer and she could feel the light whisper of his breath on her lips. She wasn’t sure if she was even breathing anymore.
Then without any warning, he said, “Asher said we should all meet at the beach when we get around. They already reserved us lounge chairs,” and he was gone. Nothing but cool air where he’d been only moments ago as Emma still stood there, her heart in her throat.
That jerk, she frowned. He knew exactly what he was doing and when he turned and gave her that devilish grin, she forgot all the warnings and thoughts of caution that had flown through her, because she was going to get him back for that little stunt.
It was likely payback for her enjoyment of making him squirm last night when he was turned on, although so was she. But if he thought he could steal back the control in this, then boy was he wrong.
◆◆◆
Half an hour later, with a beach bag on her shoulder, Emma walked beside Cam down to the beach. She saw where Henry, Lauren, and Asher had already beaten them down there. They crossed paths with Lulu going into her new room when they were headed down, so she knew her friend would be a bit still.
Henry smiled as they came closer. “Morning.”
“Good morning,” they replied.
“It’s a good day for the ocean,” he said. “I overheard it might do some raining tomorrow.”
“I bet there’ll still be plenty of time to swim or get outside,” Lauren commented. “I feel like it always rains off and on at the beach.”
“That’s a good point.” Henry clapped his hands as if the matter was discussed. “I’m going to swim. It’s too hot to lay in the sun.”
“I plan to read and get a tan,” Emma said, sitting her bag down next to one of the lounge chairs.
“I intend to join you after I take a quick dip.” Lauren turned toward Asher. “Are you coming?”
“Oh, yeah. I need to take advantage of the water before I crisp.” He laughed as he followed his girlfriend to the ocean where Henry had already waded out into the water knee-deep.
“He really does fry,” Emma said, watching as they all made their way to the water.
Cam could care less about Asher frying, even if he was a good guy from what he could tell. “I don’t,” he said and smiled over at her. “In case you want to start taking notes.”
“And why would I need to take notes?” She pulled a towel out of her bag and splayed it across the chair.
She felt him step closer, his body like an immovable mountain behind her.
“So you can pretend you know everything about me, remember?” he asked over her shoulder.
Emma turned and gave him a sweet smile. “Can you do me a favor?”
“What’s that?” He cocked a brow, knowing damn well not to trust that face she was giving him.
She reached down into her bag and pulled out a bottle of sun tanning lotion. “Can you rub this on me?”
Ah hell. Cam knew his little charade in the room was going to bite him in the ass, and he even tried talking himself out of it, but he liked seeing desire light up those dark eyes of hers. “Can’t you? I’ve seen you put on lotion a million times in the short window of knowing you.”
Technically, he was right, even if most of those times were sunscreen. Either way, she planned to seek her revenge. “No. I want to lay out on my stomach first to tan my back. If I try to put it on, I’m likely to get sand all over me or lose the lotion to the towel.”
He growled, holding his hand out for the bottle.
She refrained from letting him see her smile as she laid the headrest of the chair flat so that she could lie on it.
“This is bronzing crap,” he said. “The stuff that gets you more sun.”
“Duh,” she gave him an expression to suggest he had stated the obvious.
He frowned, still examining the bottle. “But you’re always slathering on SPF to protect you from the sun. Why do all that just to put this on now?”
“Because it’s a beach day,” she said as if that was explanation enough.
However, he didn’t hear it because the moment he quit reading the label on the bottle and looked down at the woman who’d stripped down into her bikini and was now laid out on the lounger in front of him, all functional thoughts and senses quit working in his brain. Unfortunately, his friend down south didn’t get the message and was ready to jump to attention at the sight.
Emma could’ve sworn she heard him mutter something along the lines of “You hate me,” under his breath, but she didn’t say a word as she bit back her smile.
Of course, she had to pick a pair of bottoms that didn’t even begin to cover a fraction of her ass cheeks, he thought, unable to quit staring. No wonder she’d opted to wear that button-down over her suit today. Because there was no way he would have been able to keep his hands off her back in the room if he’d seen her walk out of the bathroom in this.
And the irony of it wasn’t lost on him that now he would get to do just that, but she knew damn well what she was doing, asking him to rub lotion on her where everyone could see and he couldn’t dare take it to the next level.
Cam gritted his teeth as he lowered himself to sit on the chair next to her. “Nice bikini,” he commented.
She smiled. “Oh, you like it? Today felt like a good day for something simple.”
He grunted. “More like skimpy.”
She turned to glare at him.
The right side of his mouth lifted. “I didn’t say that was a bad thing.”
She rolled her eyes as she laid back down.
“Where at?” He squirted some lotion on his hand and then rubbed both together.
“Everywhere.”
He could’ve sworn he heard victory in her voice. Cam began rubbing the lotion on her back, making circular motions with his hands until he realized he’d put on too much and began kneading it outward toward the sides. “I’m going to lift your strap,” he warned and waited until she nodded her head before he slid his palm underneath to spread the lotion further.
He squeezed a little more out of the bottle and onto her upper back.
Emma gasped at the sudden chill, which earned her a chuckle and a not-so-apologetic sorry.
Cam began working the lotion into her already tan skin, thinking maybe her sunscreen wasn’t so effective after all. “Do you work out?” he found himself asking as his hands found her shoulders.
She leaned into the touch as much as one could from a lying position. It felt more like a massage and damn if she didn’t carry a lot of her stress in her shoulders. “Yeah. Do you?”
“How often?”
“That’s not an answer,” she replied.
He dug his thumbs into her shoulders and she let out a light groan at how good it felt.
“You first,” he said.
She rolled her eyes but wasn’t going to fight him on it when his hands were working magic on her right now. “I do some sort of movement daily.”
“Like what?”
She let out a sigh as he kneaded her neck. “I like to go for walks and hikes when I have time for it, and I live near a reformer pilates studio that I attend a few times a week. Sometimes I meet up with friends at a rock climbing gym, but we just do it for fun. I jog when I’m in the mood for it, hit the gym for weights if I feel like I’m getting cabin fever or staying in a hotel, and I like to do yoga occasionally.” His left hand found a knot and she let out a moan. “It hurts so good,” she sighed.
He chuckled. “So you like a bit of everything,” he said in response to her exercise regimen.
“You could say I like to mix it up.” When his hands left her upper back, she tried not to sound too disappointed. That wasn’t an issue any longer when she felt those strong fingers cascade over one of her calves. “What about you?” she asked, trying not to get lost in how good his hands felt on her body. She was beginning to think her plan was backfiring because if he kept this up, he’d have her eating out of the palm of his hand.
“My apartment has a gym with the basics, but that’s all I need. Besides that, I play basketball with my friends a lot for fun. Whenever we travel as a group we like to rent bikes and normally if I’m staying somewhere with a pool, I’ll swim laps for the hell of it. I like to stay moving.” But the exercise he wouldn’t mind partaking in right now included throwing these long legs of hers over his shoulders all night.
“I think we might have a lot in common.”
“Why do you say it like it’s a bad thing?”
Emma frowned. She hadn’t realized she’d said it out loud.
Cam poured more lotion into his hands and then began working on her other leg, staying well below her knees for as long as he could. He wasn’t sure if he’d be able to walk to the water without the world knowing what was on his mind the moment he touched that sweet backside of hers.
“It’s not. It’s just surprising, I guess.”
“Why’s it surprising?” he asked, continuing the massage. He was well aware that rubbing lotion on could’ve been a quick job, but he wasn’t sure if he was avoiding putting it on her ass or relishing every moment he got to touch her.
He waited as she thought of her next words. “Of all the people I could have trapped into this vacation,” she started. “I found the one person who they would actually believe I could like.”
Cam grabbed the bottle again but paused to think about what she’d said. “Better than hating each other’s guts.”
“Maybe,” she muttered more to herself than to him.
“It’s going to be cold,” he warned.
Emma took a deep breath and held it, waiting for the chill to hit her skin. She still gasped when the lotion landed on one butt cheek and then the other. “You could’ve warmed it up a little,” she protested.
Cam grinned. “Well, then I’ll do my very best to make it up to you.” He began softly rubbing the lotion into her skin, trying not to dwell on how badly he wanted to squeeze her ass cheeks. Hell, screw squeezing them. He wanted to slap her ass and then bite it.
He swallowed back the temptation and began making larger circles, his hands caressing the sides of her hips and up toward her lower back, his fingers slipping beneath the material.
Mmm. Emma refrained from squeezing her legs together, wanting the friction to offer relief from the frustrating throbbing he was awakening between her legs. Thank god her bikini was black or she’d fear he could tell that the ocean wasn’t the only thing guaranteed to be wet around here.
“Did I understand it right earlier? Lulu moved in next door and will be our neighbor going forward?” Cam continued to massage, his fingers taking hold and using his thumbs to press in and around in small circles. He could feel the tension through her body, how stiff she’d become the moment his hands began caressing her. If it wasn’t for the hard-on he was trying to keep at bay, he’d feel like the victory was all his because this little plan was affecting her as much as it was him.
“Mhmm,” was all Emma offered, unsure if her brain could form coherent words. She couldn’t focus on anything with this incessant craving to have those wicked hands move further south.
“So last night was all for nothing?”
“Mhmm,” she repeated.
His thumbs slipped beneath the edges of her bikini bottom that went down the middle, and he could feel her body slightly curve upward into his touch. He smirked. At least he wasn’t the only one being betrayed by their body.
She felt him remove his hands and a sigh of relief fluttered through her lips. But then they were back and much lower, and Emma didn’t know if she should thank her luck or curse it, because as his thumbs tucked under the lower portion of her ass and hands framed the rest of it, she couldn’t think of anything except how badly she liked the idea of Cam raising her up right here on this beach chair and burying himself in her from behind.
If he clamped down on his teeth any harder, he was sure he’d be paying the dentist a lot of money. He kneaded–no, more like grabbed and pawed at–the lower half of Emma’s ass like a man who couldn’t control his hunger. If he could just run his tongue along the curvature of where her butt met the back of her thigh, he was sure he could die a happy man.
In fact, maybe he should thank her for this torture because he knew damn well no woman would ever compare to the one lying out in front of him right now.
“Well, isn’t this an interesting sight?”
Cam retracted his hands back so fast like a kid getting caught in the cookie jar. Emma popped up instantly.
Lulu stood there, one arm on her hip, the other stuck through the hole of an inflated float, and a knowing grin on her face. “Should I come back so you two can finish?”
Cam had never been more thankful for a pool float in his life, because he grabbed it from his coworker before she realized what he’d intended, and then headed off for the water, the float conveniently positioned in front of him. “I’m going swimming,” he shouted, leaving an amused and still shocked Emma to face her best friend.