4. Nico
NICO
“So, sugar,” I said, sliding out of the booth and approaching Cameron, who was glancing between the front and back doors like he was about to run. “I hear you got scammed.”
“I’m not your sugar.” He glared. “And I don’t need you swooping in like some damn hero.”
I smirked. “I need something to do for a week. You need an artist. Seems like a good fit.”
Today had been a long day, but seeing Cameron made it all melt away.
“Do you not remember what happened the last time we saw each other?” Cameron threw up his hands and let out an exasperated groan.
Why was he so cute when he was mad?
“We must remember differently, because I had a great time.”
I take him in: he’s years older with a few more laugh lines around his eyes.
He had a close-cut beard now, a shade darker than the blonde hair sticking out at all angles from below his Frosty’s branded baseball cap, and icy blue-gray eyes.
But those thick thighs looked even better in that faded denim than they did when we were in college.
I’d thought about the night we shared more than once over the years, and I wondered why it hadn’t gone anywhere.
While there had been a handful of significant romantic and physical connections in my life, none stuck with me like Cameron.
Maybe I was romanticizing our last summer before the reality of adulthood hit full force, but he felt like the one that got away.
Now that I was single again and had him in front of me, I needed to close this open loop in my brain and find out whether we had something real.
The chemistry was still there. Even if his body was closed off, and his voice was grumpy, I could see the heat in his eyes.
I noticed the way his gaze slid over my body.
“Of course you did,” he mumbled, turning toward the blank wall and gesturing at it. “Just forget it. You said you could get this mural done in a few days, right?”
I stepped up behind him. Heat radiated from his body, contrasting with the chill of the air conditioning.
I remembered every detail of the night we shared, except for why he was so upset with me all these years later.
It grated on me. “I’m not going to forget it.
You said you’d meet me downstairs. You never came. Why?”
“I did come.” Cameron glanced over his shoulder, and his eyes widened like I was closer than he expected.
He put more space between us. “Ten minutes after, just like you wanted. Found you on the back porch talking with Mark. Fortunately, I overheard enough that I could match my story to yours, so you’re welcome for that. ”
“Story?” I furrowed my brow.
Cameron refused to turn in my direction, still studying the blank wall like it held all the answers.
“You never called either,” he said, finally.
“True,” I hedged.
By the time I was desperate to see him again, it felt too awkward to break the silence via the phone.
I tried to run into him every time I was back in Sleighbell Springs, but Cameron always evaded me, and my visits grew further and further apart.
Then my parents moved, things got serious with Gus, and I stopped coming back altogether.
Tension rolled off Cameron’s broad shoulders in waves as I stepped closer to him again.
“What do you want, Nico?” Cam’s voice was strained.
“I want to paint this mural for you.” I brushed my fingers along his arm, and my heart leaped when he didn’t immediately pull away. “In exchange, I want you to come to Boston with me this Friday for the opening of my art show.”
That finally got him to look my way, and his eyes narrowed with skepticism. “Why?”
I fidgeted with the rings on my right hand, slipping them off and into my back pocket. He tracked my movements.
“Well, the main reason is that my ex is the gallery owner and I don’t want to show up alone when he has a shiny new trophy boyfriend.” I kept my voice light, pretending it didn’t matter to me one way or another.
“I’m not a trophy.”
“Maybe not.” I pressed my front to his back, whispering into his ear, and goose bumps trailed down his neck. Being so close to him made me feel drunk. I missed him so much. “But you are hot.”
Cameron snorted. “You sure you want to bring a small-town farm boy to your fancy city party?”
I heard the bitterness in his voice, and I couldn’t blame him for it. I made no secret of my feelings about Sleighbell Springs when I was a teen, trapped by my parents’ whims.
“Last time I checked, small-town farm boys weren’t willing to take shit from fancy city folk. Sounds like you’re perfect for the job.”
His body was almost flush with the wall, and he put out his hand to steady himself. We were close in height, although I had a few inches on him. Cameron let out a choked groan as I slipped my hand around his waist. I paused to see if he would tell me to go fuck myself.
“Let me do this for you,” I said. “Let me make you feel good.”
Cam dropped his head, leaning more weight on the arm he had resting on the wall, and it was a prettier picture than anything I could paint there.
“I don’t forgive you,” Cam said, his voice barely a whisper.
I wished he would tell me what I needed to get forgiveness for, but I’d get it out of him sooner or later.
“You don’t have to,” I said, willing to do anything to touch him. “Can I?”
Time stood still as I waited for his answer.
The store was silent aside from the buzz of the freezer cases and our heavy breathing.
As soon as he nodded, my hand lowered from his waist to his bulge, and we groaned in unison as I stroked him through his jeans. I fumbled with his belt, thankful that the shades of the big storefront windows were drawn so that I could reach into his briefs and pull out his hard cock.
Cam moaned as I pressed him against the wall and squeezed a bead of precum from his tip. His hips pushed back against mine.
“You’ve been avoiding me for so many years.” I traced his crown with my thumb, wanting to drag this reunion out, luxuriate in the feel of his soft skin under my fingers. The impatience that came with years of pent-up desire wouldn’t let me. “I missed you.”
My hand slid over his length faster and faster, and I pressed my cock against his ass. “It seems like you might have missed me, too.”
Every muscle in Cameron’s body felt tight against me, like he was fighting his desire. “Fuck you.”
“Do you ever think about that night, Cam? You’re even hotter now than you were back then, and I don’t know how that’s possible.
” I couldn’t help the words that tumbled out of my mouth in the heat of the moment.
When my lips grazed against his neck, I could smell his cologne and taste his sweat.
“Do you ever think about how good it was between us? How your ass felt like it was made for my cock?”
“Damnit,” Cameron gritted out between clenched teeth as he thrust into my hand. “All the fucking time.”
“Fuck.”
My vision whited out as I processed his words, and suddenly I was humping his ass and coming in my pants like a teenager. Hearing him say those words was like every one of my wildest fantasies coming true.
I doubled down on my efforts with frantic slides of my hand over his dick, chasing every moan and whine and curse he gasped out beneath me. As I licked up his neck, I was finally given my prize. Cam shuddered, and his release painted the wall and my hand.
All too soon, I was left with the chill of the air conditioning against my sweaty skin as he stepped away from me, tucking himself into his pants before I could get a good look at his spent cock. He didn’t meet my gaze as he made his way back behind the counter, buckling his belt.
“Leave the designs you came up with on the table there, and I’ll take a look at them,” he said, disappearing into the back of the shop. “No promises.”
I stared at his cum dripping down the wall, panting. My release made a sticky mess inside my pants as I tried to figure out what the fuck just happened.