Chapter 15
Lacey
My orgasm rockets through me and yet, he’s still moving in me, still driving me to another peak of pleasure.
I cling to Cameron, losing myself in the sensation of him filling me completely, perfectly. He’s thrusting in and out of me, and pleasure, the intense sensations, are building within me again.
Over and over, I rise and fall to meet him. Every drive into me brings me closer, closer still to the brink of my next orgasm. I taste myself on his tongue, and an erotic thrill pulses through me and charges into my core.
He is mine. All mine. And I am his.
I wrap my legs around his waist as he thrusts into me, deeper, faster. Our bodies are slick, wet, sliding against each other beat for beat, and I no longer know where I end or begin. I only know I am one with him.
Pleasure coils inside me and my clit is tight, pulsing, throbbing as his body strokes mine, eliciting delicious, tantalizing sensations. Tension coils low, and I rake my hands down his hard, muscular back, tracing every ridge, bringing him closer, closer.
His balls slap against me, hard and tight and his cock grows impossibly bigger inside me as he nears his own release. I want, need, to feel him lose himself inside me when I fly over the edge.
The tension coiling within me snaps, whips through me and stars burst behind my eyes. I call his name as he shudders and rams into me one last time, coming hard until he collapses on me, breathing heavily.
Still counting stars behind my eyes, I glide my hands down his back, tracing the powerful muscles until I reach his chiseled ass, then back up again. Slowly, my breath returns to normal as the aftershocks of my orgasm ebb away.
“So. That was one hell of a hello,” I say, threading my fingers through his hair.
“Sure was. You’re perfection, Lacey.” He rises onto an elbow and pushes my slick strands from my cheeks to tuck them behind my ear. “Absolute perfection.”
My heart thumps behind my ribs, responding to the tenderness in his gentle movement and the protective gaze in his whiskey-streaked brown eyes. “No one is perfect,” I say softly.
“You are to me.”
His words settle over me like a sunshine warming me from the inside out.
They wrap me in a sense of belonging, home, I haven’t felt in longer than I care to admit.
“You don’t have to say things like that, you know,” I whisper.
“I’m tougher than you think. After all, I am the daughter of a military man who…
” my voice trails off. I haven’t told too many people about what happened after my mom passed away shortly after I started university.
“I know he was gone a lot. And I won’t lie. I can’t promise I’ll be with you day and night once I return to my full duties at Select Protectors.”
“Yeah. He was gone a lot, and I understand that you will be too,” I say, then nibble my lower lip.
“The thing is he pretty much abandoned my sister and me once we were in college. After mom died from stupid cancer, he found a new wife and life pretty fast. My sister and I got left behind when he moved to Seattle to be with Denise and her sons. They were younger than us and now they’re both in the air force. ”
He catches my hand, presses a kiss to my palm, and holds it, linking his fingers through mine.
“That’s not cool. My folks are still alive and retired now, but I can’t imagine either of them just walking away from us if one of them passed.
How could he leave you behind? You’re everything I didn’t know I needed.
Strong, smart, beautiful and completely, totally irresistible. ”
“Yeah. Well, he did.”
“I’m sorry, Lacey. No wonder you’re looking for a guy who’ll stay the course. I wish I could tell you things will be different with me, and hell. If anything, I’m guilty of leaving behind everyone I loved and who loved me because I ran to the military after my…”
He stops and there’s a catch in his voice.
My heart does a little dip and roll, and I clasp his other hand, squeezing gently.
There’s more to Cameron’s story than I thought.
More to drive him than I imagined. And if I know the reasons, maybe we do have a shot at more than I had hoped with him. “After what? Why did you leave?” I ask.
He drags in a harsh, ragged breath and a muscle jumps in his strong jaw. I wait for him to break the silence, staring up at him with my heart thundering in my chest. Finally, after what seems like a thousand seconds but what really is only a few beats of quietness, he lowers his forehead to mine.
“I got engaged to my high school sweetheart shortly after we graduated.”
Everything in me stills. There’s no ring on his finger and he’s never spoken about her since we met. Not that we had a whole lot of opportunity to rehash the past during the past few weeks. We were, and still are, way too wrapped up in protecting me.
His hands are cold in mine. I squeeze both gently, encouraging him to continue while holding his gaze. “Why didn’t you get married?”
“Because stupid cancer killed her,” he says harshly. “We had this big life plan wrapped in a nice, neat box. One where I took over my dad’s construction business while she continued her studies at Georgia Tech. She wanted to become a software engineer, but… she got sick her sophomore year.”
Hot tears press behind my eyes and a lump forms in my throat. “I hate cancer.”
“So, do I. It happened so fast. Melanie got some rare lung cancer, and she didn’t even smoke or anything,” he says, his gaze now gleaming with his own unshed tears. “It just came out of nowhere. We tried everything, even an experimental treatment, but she was gone in less than four months.”
He blinks and a couple of tears track down his cheeks, echoing the ones salting my own. “You must have been so blindsided, so hurt. So angry,” I say, remembering all too well the emotions threatening to overwhelm me after my mother died.
“Yeah. I couldn’t face my hometown, the looks of pity on my family and friends’ faces. So, I took off, joined the military, and left everything behind. And…” he stops talking again.
His hands are warm again and hope whispers along my nerves, making me tremble a bit. “And what?” I ask.
“I didn’t plan to return to Georgia until my injury overseas. I sure as hell didn’t anticipate meeting someone like you. And now that I have, I’m reconsidering my options, my future.”
“Because of me?” I ask, my heart thumping wildly against my ribcage as wishes I thought I couldn’t have with Cameron dance through my mind.
But still, I have to make sure this isn’t just post sexy times talking.
“We’re only together because of your injury and the threat against my life.
Are you sure you want to upend everything you’ve got since you left Georgia for me? ”
He grins, his dimple flashing before he brushes his lips briefly against mine. “Absolutely. But are you sure you can handle being with me whenever I have to leave for my job, sometimes for several weeks?”
Something in me stills. I don’t know if I can and that’s the heart of the problem still hanging between us.
A lump fills my throat, and I blink back the tears now threatening to spill over.
“Cameron… I…I want to say yes,” I say, but I’m terrified about what I’ll risk by taking this heat, this passion to the next level.
And what will I lose besides time with him whenever he’s overseas rescuing other people, saving them, protecting them as he’s protected me?
His expression softens and he brushes a thumb across my cheek. “Then say yes. We can take it one day at a time.”
I swallow hard, my heart, aching with the intensity of his words, his gut reaction to my internal struggle, and his desire to give us a way to make something good happen here.
“You’re right, we can take it one day at a time,” I echo, my fingers still entwined with his, holding onto him with everything I have in me. “I think I can do that.”
I don’t know if I can live without him if his career leads to the ultimate sacrifice. But I do know I can’t push him away again. Because I don’t want to lose whatever time I can have with him now and after we stop the assholes that killed my friend.