13. Tabitha
One Year Later
Ilook up from my spot on the couch and catch my husband staring blankly at his laptop. Again.
It’s been six months since our wedding, and I still feel all warm and fuzzy inside every time I think of Cam as my husband. I so love that word. Husband.
But now that I know about his pen name, I’m even more obsessed with the Abigail Cameron books. “Did you finally figure out the chapter?” I ask.
Instead of nodding, he frowns. ”You literally just asked me that.”
”That was hours ago.” I gesture at the library book in my hand. “Fifteen chapters and two sex scenes.”
Cam smirks. “Are you saying I have literary competition, Wife?”
I roll my eyes. “You know I only read other books to distract myself until you can feed my Abigail Cameron addiction.”
Cam sighs dramatically. “When my editor said I wrapped up their relationship too soon in The Duke’s Prize, that I should draw it out, I figured ‘piece of cake,’ I can write five more books in the series. But without you as my muse for the reluctant Gabriella…” Cam trails off.
“I’m sorry that letting you claim me is making it harder for you to write. But I”m not sorry that you did. So… sorry, not sorry?”
Cam gets up from his desk. “Writer’s block isn’t nearly as hard as it was not having Gabriella all to myself.”
“My Duke, take advantage now since you will have to share me one day soon.” I run my hand along my still flat stomach. “And I believe our young Duke will be making some claims of his own.” I press my breasts together as if they’re being pushed up in a corset.
Cam settles on the couch next to me and pulls me onto his lap. “Or Duchess.” He plants a kiss on the top of my head.
“Do you want it to be a Duchess?” I ask.
“With your hair and eyes.” Cam places his hand on top of mine.
“Your red hair,” I correct, threading my fingers through his, and picturing an adorable little ginger toddler.
Cam gives my hand a squeeze and sighs. “But at this rate, Gabriella’s never getting pregnant.”
“What if we act it out?” I wink. “See if that sparks your muse?”
Cam mulls it over for several seconds and jumps to his feet. “That’s it!”
“What’s it?” I ask, because he’s heading for the front door instead of the bedroom.
“We’re going to figure out this chapter, together,” Cam says. He leads me to the car and refuses to tell me where we’re going. We drive through town, and he pulls up in front of a very familiar building.
“It’s Sunday, Cam,” I remind him. “Library’s closed.”
“I know that,” he says. “That’s why we’re here.”
I frown. “We”re here because the library is closed?”
“Yes. And you have a key, so you can let us in.”
“I can’t just let us in after hours,” I protest as he moves the car away from the fire hydrant in front of the library, and parallel parks just down the street.
“You did last month when you forgot your wallet.”
“That was different. It couldn’t wait until Monday.”
“Neither can this.” Cam raises an eyebrow. “Maybe you lost your wallet again. Maybe we should go inside and look for it.”
“And why would we do that?”
Cam takes my hands in his. “Because I need some inspiration for the scene I’m writing. And it’s set in the Duke’s library.”
I hesitate. I know I’m not supposed to do this, but if I called Amelia and said an author wanted a tour after hours for inspiration, she’d definitely agree. And honestly, if she found out I snuck in with my husband on a Sunday night, the worst thing that would happen is that she’d never let me live it down.
We walk to the staff entrance, and I unlock the door, turn off the alarm, and lead Cam inside.
He looks around the dark building. “Now, we act out the scene so I can figure out exactly what to write.”
“You want me to be Gabriella?”
“Would you rather be the Duke?”
I snort. “I could borrow Sylvie’s outfit. She probably still has it.”
“I’m serious.” Cam takes my hand and leads me to the romance section at the back of the library.
Thankfully, the glow from the emergency exit light is bright enough that I don’t need to turn on the overheads.
“How about right here?”
The aisle isn’t in view of any windows, so we have our privacy. I nod.
“I’m stuck in the scene where Gabriella pulls the Duke into the library to tell him a secret.” Cam shakes his hand.
“Okay, so what’s the secret?”
“I have no idea. I was hoping it would come to me. I had considered adding a sex scene earlier in the book, and having her announce she’s pregnant, but it would throw off the entire story.” He purses his lips. “Only problem is, if she’s not pregnant, what possible secret could she have?”
“Why don’t we act it out and see if it comes to you?” I place my hands on my chest. “My lord, I have a secret to tell you.”
I wait for the lightbulb moment, but Cam stares at me blankly.
“The secret is…” I prod.
Still nothing.
“That I’m with child,” I try.
Cam grins. “I do like the sound of that, but Gabriella and the Duke aren’t there yet. Maybe we can start the scene from the beginning?”
I nod. “So they’ve just entered the library?—”
“We’ve just entered,” Cam corrects.
“My Duke, forgive me for my nerves. But, I’ve been harboring a secret from you.”
Cam stares at me and nods. “Good. But before you can tell him what it is, I push you against the shelf like this.” He moves us so I feel the paperbacks against my back.
“And then what?” I ask a little breathlessly.
“Then I cup your cheek,” Cam says as his hand presses to my face.
“And what do I do?”
“You place your hands on my chest like this.” Cam moves my hands so I feel his bulging pecs.
I smile. “I like where this is going.”
“Then the Duke, I mean, I grab your thigh right here.” I feel his warm palm through my jeans. “And hook your leg behind my hip like this.”
My pulse starts to race, and I suddenly wish I wasn”t wearing jeans. “If you told me we”d be roleplaying, I could have at least worn a skirt.”
Cam’s grip tightens on my thigh. “I wish I’d thought of that.”
“I have a book club dress in my locker. It’s not Gabriella’s, but do you think it will help, you know, for the integrity of the scene?”
Cam scratches his chin thoughtfully, his eyes dancing as he fights to hide his smile. “It would help with my writing. Just please, for the love of romance, do not wear that corset.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it.” I hurry downstairs to the staff room and change. When I come back upstairs, Cam”s pupils dilate.
“It”s perfect. Now come here.”
He pushes me against the shelf again and hooks my leg behind his hip.
I place my hands on his chest, my heart racing. “Now what?”
“Now, the Duke lifts Gabriella”s skirt.” He slides his hands slowly up my leg and runs his fingers softly along my thigh. “What if he, I, slide my finger inside her, you?”
“I think she’d really like that,” I breathe.
“Good.” Cam pushes my panties aside, and I arch my hips forward impatiently. “Of course, Gabriella wouldn’t be wearing panties.”
“No, she wouldn’t.” I tremble as I wait for his touch.
“So the Duke could touch her clit right here.” Cam grazes it and I gasp.
“Please, Cam.”
“Cam? Who’s Cam?” he teases.
“Please, my lord?” I try again.
“Better.”
“So what happens next?” I ask.
“Well, I was thinking the Duke makes Gabriella come. But maybe it’s better if she stops him.”
“What? Why?” I demand. “I would never stop you.”
“Not even to reveal your big secret?”
I shake my head. “No. I’d definitely wait until after. And so would Gabriella.”
“In that case.” Cam drops to his knees and does things to my body that would make a lady in Regency times clutch her pearls and collapse in a heap of silks and satins. Fortunately for both of us, the Duke and I have moved past the fainting stage, though his touch still makes me swoon.
I cry out my release, the sound echoing through the empty library. My breath comes out in a heavy sigh, and I whimper when Cam drops his pants and slides inside me.
Then, suddenly, he exclaims, ”I got it.”
”Got what?” I whimper and clench around his cock, having entirely forgotten that we were supposed to be role playing.
”The secret.” He slams into me one more time. ”I know exactly what Gabriella”s going to tell the Duke!”
”Well?” I moan. ”What is it?”
”You”re going to have to wait and see.” He stills inside me, and I let out a needy whimper.
”Cam, please.” I”m not sure if I”m begging for him to keep going, or to tell me what he plans to put in the book.
”So needy,” he says, pinching my nipple through the dress. ”So impatient.”
”You better believe it,” I shoot him a mock scowl. ”Now spill.”
”My seed?” he teases, sounding very much like a Duke.
”The secret. Or we just stop and...” I give his shoulders a half-hearted push, though stopping is the last thing on my mind.
”Gabriella will admit she”s had sex dreams about the Duke,” Cam says quickly. ”Because she wants him as much as he wants her.”
I nod. ”I quiver for you, my Duke. I want you to pleasure me. It”s all I can think about.”
Cam growls, grabs my hips, and makes love to me like a man possessed. ”I love you so much, Tabitha Edwards.”
”I love you too, Cameron Albert Gail.”
I scream another release, wondering if I”ll ever be able to come to work and not hear the echo of it among the shelves.
When my knees give out, Cam pulls me into his arms. I rest my head against his chest, still panting. Cam places his hand on my belly. “Can you believe we’re going to be parents?”
I smile. “I can’t imagine doing this with anyone but you. My best friend, my lover, my husband...”
”...and your favorite author,” he teases.
I grin. ”You know it.”
”You”re everything I”ve ever wanted, Tabs. My best friend. The love of my life. The mother of our future child. And my fated muse,” he says.
I plant a soft kiss on his lips. ”And you”re my forever.”