I took his hands off my hips and brought them to my breasts. He took the cue, using his fingers to pull and pinch, to knead and grab. I placed my open palms on his chest, using him for leverage, and then I forced my hips down, putting every ounce of pressure I could on my pussy, and rocked against him.
“Holy fucking shit,” he growled. I wanted to see the look on his face as he spoke, to see the way his face contorted when he was close, but my concentration was on the way my hips were grinding into his, the shocks of pleasure that rocketed through my body as my clit rubbed against his pubic bone. My eyes cinched closed and my lungs worked overtime.
The warmth between my legs built, sparking and igniting, and without much warning, I was coming. My back arched as I came, letting out a loud moan, and it was followed closely by Camden’s own shout of release. I stilled, my head lolling back, my hands still gripping his pecs, a bead of sweat rolling down my temple and onto my neck.
After a few silent moments, Camden finally spoke. His words were pushed out between panting breaths. “This is not good.”
The words themselves might have made me worry, but I could see the smile on his face so I knew he didn’t regret what we’d done.
“Now I’ll never be able to look at another Skee-Ball game the same. I’ll always get an erection at arcades. That’s really not cool.”
I laughed, collapsing onto him, loving the way I could still feel him deep inside me. His hands trailed up my back, which was slick with sweat.
“This was your idea, remember?”
“Best fucking idea I’ve ever had. You,” he said, one of his hands cupping my cheek and bringing my face up to meet with his. “You’re a fucking goddess, Riley. I’ve never seen you like that before. It was so fucking sexy.” He kissed me then, the kind of kiss where teeth meet because you’re both smiling.
“I’m not sure what came over me. I think I got carried away.” My cheeks warmed at my words and I knew I was blushing.
“Well, promise me you’ll get carried away again soon.”
“I’ll try.”
We lay there for a few more minutes catching our breath. But soon the moment passed and our heartbeats leveled out, and the dampness of our skin turned cold.
“Let me take you home,” he said softly against my ear.
I didn’t know if he meant my home or his, but it didn’t matter because I already knew I’d be at home if I was with him.
When we walked out to the waiting limo, it was the ultimate walk of shame. I probably looked as though I’d been thoroughly fucked, but I couldn’t find it in me to care. And to his credit, the limo driver didn’t seem fazed by it. Since I could actually see the inside of the limo, I took a moment to look around, noticing it was top of the line. This was no limo used for bachelor parties or proms, it was an expensive vehicle.
Camden slid onto the seat next to me, wrapping his arm around my shoulders and pulling me close, and I couldn’t help the smile that took over my face.
“Hey, so,” Camden said a few minutes later. Uncertainty laced his voice, and that wasn’t a word I’d use to describe him, so I turned to him with concern.
“Yeah?”
His free hand came to rest on my knee and it went a little ways to soothe me, but his voice still had me worried.
“We didn’t use a condom back there.” He looked right into my eyes as he said the words, and then his gaze searched mine.
“Oh.” He was right, we hadn’t. And I hadn’t realized it at the time, but right after, the realization had hit me. “Um, I’m on the pill.”
“I’m really sorry, Riley. I’m sorry it happened that way. I don’t want you to think I did it on purpose. I didn’t. I have a condom. I have one on me at all times since we started dating, but I got caught up in the moment. That’s a terrible excuse, but I want you to know that I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay,” I said, my voice small and confusion now completely taking over. Being with him, with nothing between us, had felt natural and wonderful. And, yeah, we probably should have discussed it, but I didn’t think he’d done it on purpose. “Mistakes happen.” It was all I could think of as a response. I hated the icky feeling that was now coursing through me.
“I’m clean,” he said suddenly, his tone urgent. “Shit,” he said, pushing his mussed hair off his forehead. “I didn’t mean for this to go down this way.”
“I’m clean too, Cam. It’s fine. We can move on. Pretend it didn’t happen.”
“That’s not what I want. I’ve wanted to talk to you about this for a while, but you’ve been busy and I didn’t want to add to your stress. Listen.” He turned on the seat, facing me, reaching up to push my hair behind my ear. “I care about you and I want to stop using condoms. But only if that’s something you want.”
“Have you been with a lot of women without one?”
“Never.”
“Never?”
“Nope. I’ve never been with anyone who I even thought about it with.”
“So, what’s different now?”
“You are.” His answer was short and to the point, but it was enough to stop my heart. “When I think about you, I’m not thinking about our next date or what we’ll be doing next month, I’m thinking about our life together. I’m thinking about all the ways I can show you how much I care about you, and all the things you do that make me happy.” He reached down and laced his fingers through mine, looking down at our intertwined hands, but I left my eyes on him. “Making love to someone without a condom is a big deal to me, Riley. It’s always been something I thought I would share with someone special, someone I saw a future with, someone I could fall in love with. Taking away that barrier, for me, means trusting someone with myself, my body, and my heart. Maybe it’s dumb, maybe I’m being a big idiot, but I’ve been saving this for someone in particular, and that’s you.”
His thumb trailed gently over the back of my hand, and I tried to put some words together to explain how I was feeling.
“Giving all of myself to you is something I’ve struggled with in the past, but there are no barriers between us now, Camden. What you see for us, in the future? I want all that. With you. And being with you tonight, really connected, it means the world to me.” I reached up and pressed my hand against his cheek. “I trust you with my body and my heart.”
He placed his hand over mine and pulled it down, placing a kiss right in the middle of my palm.
“I don’t know what I did to deserve you, but I’m going to do everything I can to keep you forever.”
“Forever sounds good.”
Chapter Sixteen
Camden
I woke up reaching for her. It had become a habit. Every morning if she wasn’t pressed up against me, I reached out, found her, and pulled her over, wrapping myself around her. But this time, when I reached for her, all I felt was cold sheets and empty space. I cracked an eye open, noticing it was still dark outside, sunrise still a few hours away. Sure enough, the other half of my bed was empty. I closed my eyes again, and finally made out the sound of the water running in the bathroom.
Riley was up and showering at five in the morning. It took me a moment to figure out why in my still-sleepy morning haze, but then I remembered it was the day of the party. My mother’s party. And Riley was probably in there freaking out.
I moved the covers off me and swung my feet to the floor. I padded to the bathroom and walked to the shower. Ever since Riley started spending nights at my house, I’d thanked the construction gods for all-glass walls in showers. There was never, in all of history, a better sight to wake up to than Riley showering.
“Hey, babe,” I called out. I opened the glass door and poked my head in. She turned and gave me a pretty pathetic smile. I knew she was nervous and I’d anticipated a less-than-bubbly Riley this morning.
“Did I wake you up?” she asked, leaning her head back into the water falling from the rainwater showerhead. I watched as she smoothed her hands over her hair and the way her perfect
breasts moved as she did.
“I only woke up because you weren’t there.”
“I swear, starting tomorrow, I’m going to sleep for a whole week.”
“Sounds good,” I appeased her, but we both knew she’d be up by ten on Sunday morning, bored, and ready to start a new project. “You want breakfast?”
“You don’t have to make me breakfast. I feel bad enough you are awake right now.”
“Well, I am awake, so you can either let me make you breakfast, or I can come in there and distract you with various parts of my body. Which will it be?”
She narrowed her eyes at me. “You know I don’t have time for that right now.”
“What I know is that an orgasm or two will seriously calm you down. But I also know that you feed off this nervous energy, so sex might actually mess up your epic event planning game. So, I’m going to go make you breakfast. Okay?” Her expression had softened as I spoke and by the time I finished my diatribe she was smiling.
“All right, but no coffee.”
“I’m sorry, have we met? I thought you were my girlfriend, Riley Smith, but my girlfriend drinks coffee like she’s being paid to do so. I think there’s been some sort of mix-up.”
“Ha. Ha. I’m serious. I have enough nervous energy running through me to power a small village right now, and coffee will only upset my stomach.”
“Got it. No coffee. Any other requests?”
“Just a good-morning kiss.”
“Now that’s a request I can accommodate.” I opened the door wider and stepped into the shower slightly, watching as she came the rest of the way to me. She pushed up onto her toes and pressed a sweet and wet kiss to my lips, and both our mouths moved into a smile simultaneously.
“You’re the best,” she said, grinning at me.
“Says the naked woman. I think that makes you the best.”
She laughed, but shook her head and walked away. I could have stayed there all day and watched, but I knew that wouldn’t be productive, so I left and walked into the kitchen instead.
Thirty minutes later when Riley emerged, she looked like a classy business professional. Not a hair out of place, sophisticated makeup, and a killer pantsuit.
“You look great, babe,” I said as she came directly toward me and reached up for a quick kiss.
“Thanks. This is my lucky suit.”
“I thought you had a dress for the party tonight.”
She groaned. “Your mom insisted I buy a new dress. Usually, for a client’s event, I’m background noise. I am not supposed to be seen. If you see me, it’s bad, it means there’s a problem. I’m a behind-the-scene kind of gal. But your mom is adamant about the fact that she wants me to enjoy the party like a guest—which will be impossible, by the way.”
“My mom wants you to have a good time.” Riley shrugged and then sat down at the bar of the island in the kitchen. “Here,” I finished putting the last of her food on her plate and set it down in front of her. “You’re going to need a lot of energy today, so eat up.”
She looked down at the plate, then her gaze bounced back up to me. “I can’t believe you went to all this trouble.”
I scoffed and said, “It’s just pancakes, eggs, and bacon.”
“It’s amazing. Thank you.” Her eyes were soft and her head was tilted to the side slightly.
“Anytime.” I winked at her and loved the way her cheeks turned pink. “So, you’re going to come back here to change before the party?”
“Um, no,” she said with a mouth full of bacon. Was it just me, or did all guys get turned on when their girls try to talk with a full mouth? Never mind. “Hadley is meeting me there and bringing my dress. And my shoes. And an entire arsenal to turn me into Cinderella.”
“So, I won’t see you until the party?” I brought my coffee cup up to my mouth to take a sip, waiting for her answer.
“No,” she said as she put her fork down on her plate. “I’m sorry. I don’t have time to come all the way back here and get ready.”
“It’s fine. I just wanted to know. And since I do, I can give this to you now.” I pulled open the drawer everyone had in their kitchen that held a wide array of contents. It had takeout menus, batteries, a flashlight, and a few paper clips. It also had a skinny, long, black box. I picked it up and held it out to her.
She looked at the box and then looked up at me. “What is that?”
“It’s a present.”
“A present?”
“Yeah. You know, a gift.”
“For what?”
I shrugged. “Nothing. Everything. I wanted to give you something to show you how proud I am of you. You’ve been working tirelessly for six weeks on this, and I know you’ve sacrificed a lot.”
She stared at me for a moment, gaze never wavering from mine, but then her eyes started to well. “Why did you have to go and be all sweet? Now I’m going to cry and ruin my makeup.” She dabbed at the corner of her eyes and ran her finger under them.
“Babe, open the box.”
She finally reached out and took it from me and then slowly opened it. I watched her eyes as they landed on the bracelet, widened, then welled some more. Placing my cup on the counter, I walked around the island to her and took the box from her hand.
“I wanted to get you something you could wear with your dress tonight, something that you would see and remember that I’m behind you, supporting you, all the time. Even if you can’t see me. I also wanted to give you something that would make you think of me. That might be selfish of me, but I don’t care.” Gently pulling the bracelet from the box, I turned her wrist over and clasped the bracelet securely on her. “The saleswoman who helped me was pushing this tennis bracelet,” I said, running my finger over the sensitive skin where her pulse was beating. “But I looked at all of them and thought they were plain and boring. This one, however, looked more like you. The way the central diamond is surrounded by smaller diamonds, and how they all flow out in kind of a wave? That made me think of you. There’s nothing ordinary about you, Riley. You’re my twirling diamond.” I pressed a kiss right over her wrist and then leaned in to kiss her lips, our contact tainted by the salty taste of the few tears she’d shed.
“How am I supposed to get any work done with those words running through my mind and the reminder of you on my body?”
“I don’t know, but I’m glad it’s you and not me.” I kissed the tip of her nose and walked back to my coffee.
“You should really stop while you’re ahead,” she said with a laugh.
“Oh, I plan on it.”
Chapter Seventeen
Riley
“Guests are starting to arrive, Riley.” Rachel’s voice rang through my earpiece, and I tried to settle the nerves pinging around in my belly. Deep breath in, hold it, breathe it out slowly.
“Okay, team,” I said into my mouthpiece as I pushed the button down that was clipped to the neckline of my dress. “It’s showtime, people. We’ve been planning this for weeks and know exactly what we’re doing. If for some reason you need assistance, get ahold of Rachel, Jasper, or myself. There will be no panicking or alerting the clients that there is a problem. Find me. And have fun, everyone.”
One by one, my team chirped in and gave encouragements, but I knew we were all going to have to work our asses off.
“Riley, darling, there you are.” I looked up to see Meg walking toward me, arms outstretched. I walked into her embrace, accustomed to the idea that she was a hugger. “You look ravishing,” she said as she held my shoulders at arm’s length. “Has Camden seen you in this dress yet? He won’t be able to keep his eyes off you.”
I blushed at her words, but also loved the wave of warmth that washed over me. It meant a lot to me that Meg liked me, and that she seemed happy Cam was with me. In fact, it meant more to me than I ever expected it to.
“Thank you. You look beautiful too.” Meg had chosen a classic little black dress. She’d paired it with all things sparkly and it looked
amazing. I had barely finished my sentence when Andrew came to Meg’s side, offering me a warm smile, and I tried to put on a brave face.
“Good evening, Mr. Rogers. It’s good to see you again.” My words weren’t cold, but they weren’t warm either. They were professional. That was the best I could give him.
“Please, call me Andrew.” He continued smiling and took a moment to move his gaze around the room. “This is incredible, Riley. Meg has been doing nothing but singing your praises for weeks now, and I can see why. You’ve put together something really spectacular here.”
“You haven’t even seen the best part yet,” Meg said excitedly. “There’s another ballroom downstairs set up for the silent auction. We’ll have dessert and cocktails down there after dinner, and then come back up here for the main event.”
“I still can’t believe you managed to get Indigo Ale here,” Andrew said.
“Well, someone on my team had a favor to call in and luckily they were available. They’re immensely philanthropic and this event fits right into their wheelhouse. They were happy to do it.”
“Still, it’s impressive.” He winked at me and I wanted very much to believe in this Andrew, to think that he was on my side, but I was still wary. I did offer him a more sincere smile, but I couldn’t put my guard down 100 percent.
“Have a good time tonight, both of you.” I pressed my finger to my ear as though I was listening to someone, and then gave Meg an apologetic look. “I’m sorry, duty calls.”
“Of course, dear. Don’t work too hard.”
I did a lap through all the guests areas and then through the vendor areas as well. Everything seemed to be running smoothly, only tiny fires popping up that I could have fixed with my eyes closed and hands tied behind my back. When I walked back into the main ballroom, which was set for dinner, my eyes fell on Hadley standing in the corner. Meg had insisted I invite her, wanting me to feel as though I had a friend here I could relax with if I got the chance. It was a nice gesture, and I appreciated it, but at that moment I was holding back laughter.
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