“Open,” he commanded, tapping the inside of each of my knees. He was still standing at the edge of the bed, stroking himself as I did as he said, and once I was spread open for him, he dropped to his knees.
His hands wrapped around my hips, tugging me toward him until my thighs hit his shoulders, and his tongue licked the water from the inside of my thigh first before his mouth fused with my core. I fisted my hands in the sheets at the feel of his hot mouth on my clit, his tongue circling, teeth nibbling with just the slightest pressure as he sucked and kissed.
Just as I knew him, Cameron knew me — he knew all the right places to touch, the right ways to tease, the right spots to hit. After all these years, he still remembered, and I knew he always would.
And just when I wanted it most, he carefully slipped his middle finger inside me, turning his wrist toward the ceiling and curling that finger until I arched off the bed with an insatiable moan.
That moan fueled his passion, his tongue swirling faster as his finger worked me closer to a release. It never took long for Cameron to get me there, not when he knew exactly what I needed — exactly what I craved. But before I could catch the fire I chased, he slowed, withdrawing his finger with a soft kiss to my clit before he stood again.
Seeing him standing there at the edge of the bed, the floral wallpaper and half-full bath tub visible behind him, it was almost like traveling back in time. I blinked and saw him at just twenty years old, his hair a little longer then, face a little rounder and more baby-like. Then I blinked again, seeing how age had changed him, how the stubble grew on his chin now, how his eyes were a little more worn.
I thought I loved the boy I had in this room more than ten years ago, but it was nothing compared to how I felt for the man who stood before me now. He was my protector, my lover, my best friend.
And maybe I’d lost him for a while, maybe we’d drifted apart, but tonight, we were coming back together. Tonight, we would try again.
Tonight, I was his. And he was mine.
Cameron stroked himself once before he crawled onto the bed with me, helping me maneuver back into the pillows. When he settled between my legs, we both moaned at the feel of his hardness sliding between my wet lips. But he backed off a bit, kissing me softly until he balanced on his hands above me.
“Roll over.”
Again, I did as he said, heart racing with anticipation of him being inside me. When my stomach was on the bed, he pulled my hips up just a bit, lifting me with a low arch in my back and his crown at my center. His hands massaged my cheeks, spreading them wide so he could see all of me before he positioned himself at my entrance, and with careful, slow measure, he flexed forward, and my husband filled me.
For a brief, fleeting moment, I thought of Reese.
Not because I wanted him in that moment, but because I couldn’t help but compare how different it felt when Cameron slipped inside me. I knew the feel of him, I knew the way he curved inside me, and yet it was like a new man touching me that night. It was the man he’d revealed to me, the man I’d been trying to reach since our sons died, and now he was here — he was present — and he let me see all of him, feel all of him, like never before.
Cameron withdrew his hips with a low groan, sliding back inside me again a little slower, hitting a new depth as I tossed my head back. One hand came up to fist my hair then, and he held that fistful tight as his lips lowered to my neck. He kissed and bit his way down to my shoulder, his hips working a little faster, every nerve in my body awakening to his touch.
“Yes,” I moaned when he slid in at a slight angle, hitting the spot within me that drove me closer to release. “Right there. Yes, Cameron. Yes.”
His breath was hot in my ear as he moved, and I felt each flex, each centimeter inside me, each hand of his — the one in my hair, the one bruising my hip. He shifted me a little more to the left, a trick he’d learned years ago, one that let him reach that perfect spot inside me. And when he did, my moans grew louder, more erratic, my hands fisting in the sheets as I lost control.
There were no words as my orgasm built fiery and fast, three pumps of his hips getting me to the top before I soared over the edge. He stayed deep when he felt me shaking around him, flexing his hips in smaller pumps that hit that spot over and over as I came. And I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think, couldn’t do anything other than feel him in that moment.
It was the sweetest release, and at the end of it, I collapsed to the bed, hips dropping into the comforter as my back ached in the best possible way.
Cameron slowed, releasing my hair from his grip as he kissed gently down my back. I shivered under his feather-light kisses, shaking more when he withdrew, and he kissed my lower back softly before helping me roll to my back.
He took his time climbing back up my body, his lips and tongue savoring each stop along the way — my thighs, my stomach, my ribs, my breasts, my collarbone, my neck, before he finally settled between my legs and tasted my mouth with his own. I moaned into that kiss, arching up toward him, aching for him to fill me again until he found his own ecstasy.
He pulled back from our kiss, hand sweeping my hair away as his eyes searched mine, and in that moment, I saw it — the pain. It pained him to touch me, to have me, when he felt like he didn’t deserve to. He swallowed, brows bending together, and as he lowered another kiss to my lips, I replied to what he couldn’t say out loud.
“I love you, too, Cameron,” I whispered. “I love you, too.”
He sighed, shaking his head just once before his lips found mine again, hot and needy, and his thighs spread my own so he could slide inside me once more.
I was tighter now, my climax making me swell with want, and we both groaned at the way it felt when he stretched me open for him again. I ran my hands through his hair, tightening my grip and holding on as he flexed into me, over and over, slow at first before picking up a steady rhythm.
And he didn’t watch my modest breasts as they bounced when he came, nor did he curse or groan. He just watched me, his eyes fixed on my own, his mouth falling open as a longing sigh left his lips and landed on mine. He pulsed out his release inside me, his hands gripping me tight, as if I’d float away once the moment was over. And when it was, my name was all he whispered before he kissed me.
He rolled to his side, taking me with him, his lips still soft on mine as he stroked my hair back away from my face. His eyes were closed now, and when he pressed his forehead to mine, our breaths slowing, I let my eyes fall shut, too.
And though he was all I wanted that night, and though I was sated and satisfied, I couldn’t ignore the familiar, lonely ache that crept its way up through my chest. Because Cameron had opened up to me that night, he’d let me in, and so I felt closer to him, yet still so far away — like we had both crossed our ends of the bridge, but were still separated by a five-foot jump between the two.
He had given me so much that evening, but there was still so much he held.
Could I find comfort in what he’d offered? Could I hold onto that small bit of light, hoping it would eventually grow tenfold and show me everything he’d hidden away over the years? And even if he could, I wasn’t naïve enough to believe that one happy night with Cameron was enough to erase what I’d felt with Reese.
Even now, laying in Cameron’s arms, I wondered if Reese was thinking of me. I wondered when I would see him next, and what I would feel when I did. It didn’t matter that I was angry with him, or that he’d kept Blake from me — I still wanted him.
Because though Cameron had made me happy tonight, Reese had made me happy first — after years of being dead inside, and well before Cameron had even woken up to see he was losing me.
And was that the only reason he was trying? Was he only doing what he thought he had to do to keep me, or was it what he wanted, too? Would it all stop if I stayed, if I came home to him? Would we slip back into that numb existence Reese had found me in just over two months ago?
I couldn’t be sure, but
I tried with everything I had to let what he’d given me be enough. And for the first time in years, as I fell asleep in my husband’s arms that night, I tucked my thoughts away, and I felt at peace.
For the first time in years, he felt like home.
Cameron
There were two things I was constantly aware of when it came to time.
One was that I didn’t have much of it. That one had been something I’d recognized early and easily. Two months wasn’t long — no one would dispute that. But the second reality that I had learned later was that time was also fragile.
My weekend with Charlie had been everything I’d wanted it to be — maybe even more. She’d come back to me, opened up, let me in, and I’d crawled into her like a shelter from the darkest storm. Bringing her back to Garrick had the exact effect I wanted. It reminded her of a time when it was just us, when we fell in love, and I knew that — at least for the weekend — she was mine. All mine. Only mine.
But time had passed.
Now, it was Wednesday. We unpacked our bags late Sunday night, crawled into bed together, and fell asleep with content smiles on our faces. But on Monday morning, she came back here — to Westchester.
To him.
And ever since then, I’d felt her pulling away again.
The heels of my dress shoes clicked through the vacant halls as I made my way to Charlie’s classroom. It had been so long since I’d been there, but I still knew the way. I used to surprise her all the time — for lunch, for holidays, for no reason at all, flowers in hand.
But just like with watching her get ready, I’d stopped coming to Westchester somewhere along the way.
And now, it was his territory, and I felt like the first soldier crossing over enemy lines.
Tomorrow, she would get on a plane and fly down to Florida to spend an entire weekend with Reese. It killed me, literally I felt my heart threaten to stop beating any time I let myself really think about it. But it was happening, and I couldn’t control that.
I needed to find something I could control.
My anxiety had festered like an infected wound since Monday, my hands itching for something to do to make her stay with me. I knew she had to go to the conference tomorrow, but how could I stay in her mind, in her heart, when she was away with him?
In a strange way, the universe had given me something last night. When I got home from work, Charlie told me her check engine light had come on. So, I let her take my car to school and I took hers into the shop. It was so small, so easy, but it was something I could do for Charlie. It was something I could take off her plate and put on mine. It was a way to show her my love.
And there was another way I’d show her, too — a plan I was putting into action for while she was away. When she came back to me Sunday night, it wouldn’t be just me she would come home to.
But that plan had to be shelved until she left.
For now, I used the energy from the weekend to keep her with me for as long as I could.
The halls filled with kids on their way to the lunchroom as I walked through the school. They filtered out slowly at first, a few classrooms dismissing early, and then the halls were crawling with little eyes and voices. I watched them all pass with a smile on my face, and when I recognized one of them, that smile split my face in half.
“Mr. Pierce!”
Jeremiah flung himself out of line and into my arms, which earned him a stern reprimanding from Robin, Charlie’s aide. When she saw it was me, she paused, holding the line in place for just a moment as a small smile found her lips, too.
“Hey buddy,” I said, bending to my knee to catch him. I managed to move the flowers I’d brought Charlie out of the way before he could crush them, and I squeezed him in a hug before he pulled away again. “How have you been?”
“Good,” he said quickly, his eyes still bright and round. “Mom said you guys are starting on our house soon!”
“We are. Are you going to come and help us start building on groundbreaking day?”
Jeremiah nodded. “Uh-huh. Mom said she’s gonna get me my own shovel!”
I chuckled, ruffling the hair on his head.
And for just a flash, I felt my unborn son like it was him staring back at me through Jeremiah’s eyes.
“Well alright,” I said. “Can’t wait to see it. I bet you’re going to be a big help to us.”
“I will be! You can count on me, Mr. Pierce!”
He was still bouncing a little when Robin coaxed him back in line, and I waved her a thank you as the line began to file away again.
The halls grew quieter as I closed in on Charlie’s classroom, and when I rounded the corner and saw her through the open doorway, I couldn’t help but stop and smile.
This was Charlie in her element.
I wished I could have caught her in time to watch her with the kids, the same way I had the first time I’d surprised her at work. But even now, watching her tidy up the classroom while she hummed softly to herself, I could feel the joy radiating off her.
Her smile was genuine as she swept through the classroom, and I watched greedily, soaking up what that smile did to me, in turn. To some, they’d look at her and say she was “just a Kindergarten teacher.” But for Charlie, there was no better job in the world. There was no better time to teach children, to help them form habits, to comfort them as they transitioned from home life to school life. This was her calling, it was what she was made to do.
School made her happy. Teaching made her happy. And, more than anything, those kids made her happy.
I was reminded again that one day, she would be the best mother the world had ever seen.
I hoped I’d be there to witness it first-hand.
Charlie caught a glimpse of me when she was stacking up workbooks, and at first, her mouth seemed to flatten at having a visitor. But when she did a double-take, she paused, her brows pinching together.
And then her smile lit up the room.
“Cam?” She shook her head, abandoning the workbooks she’d stacked up on her desk. “What are you doing here?”
“Surprising you. Did it work?”
I handed her the flowers, and she laughed, inhaling their scent with eyes closed before they fluttered open and found mine again.
“I’m very surprised,” she said, placing the vase of flowers on her desk. She fiddled with a few of the stems before turning to me again, slowly trailing her hands up my arms to hook behind my neck. “Thank you.”
I kissed her. Because there was nothing else to do in that moment. When she looked at me like that, when her eyes lit up for me and not for him, I had to find a way to seal that snapshot of time in her mind.
“I can’t remember the last time you came to Westchester,” she said, her big eyes searching mine. “I mean, other than the concert. I guess what I mean is I can’t remember the last time you came here, to this wing.”
“To your room,” I finished for her.
She smiled, nodding. “Yeah.”
“Well, I took your car into the shop. They’re going to take a look and get back to me. But they gave me a rental until then, and I already took off work, so I figured I’d surprise you for lunch. Can you sneak away to go off campus? If not, we can just go to the café.”
Charlie shifted.
“Um, maybe I could run down and grab something for us, and then we could eat here.”
“In your classroom?”
She nodded, her eyes skirting to the open door behind me.
And that’s when I realized.
She was supposed to have lunch with him.
I swallowed, heat creeping up my neck. “Okay. Should I wait here?”
But before she could answer, there was a knock on the frame of her door, and I turned to find Reese gaping at us just as Charlie pulled back.
She cleared her throat. “Hey, Reese. Cam surprised me for lunch,” she said quickly. “I know we were supposed to go over plans for the conference, but I figured we could talk more on that
in the morning?”
Reese was still staring at me, like he couldn’t believe I was in my own wife’s classroom. It was like I didn’t belong, and I guessed that, in a way, for him, I didn’t. This was where he’d had Charlie alone. It was where he’d gotten her to open up to him.
In his eyes, I wasn’t supposed to be here.
I smirked.
Reese narrowed his eyes at that, stepping into the classroom with his hands slipping easily inside the pockets of his slacks. “Hey, Cameron, nice to see you,” he said, a fake smile finding his lips.
“Likewise,” I managed.
Reese evaluated me, his jaw tense. “Those flowers from you?”
I didn’t answer. We both knew they were, and I wasn’t dealing into whatever game he was trying to play.
He sniffed. “They’re nice. I didn’t realize you liked lilies, Charlie.”
At that, I glanced at the flowers, and then at Charlie.
She didn’t like lilies. She liked daisies.
How could I forget that?
Charlie ignored the dig, her arms folding over her chest. “We’re going to go off campus to eat. Can you let Robin know I’ll be a little late getting back? She knows the rest of the plans for the day.”
Reese swallowed at that. “Sure. Is seven still okay for me to pick you up tomorrow, then?”
I frowned, finding Charlie. “I was going to take you to the airport on my way to work.”
She cringed. “Well, I just knew that would make you late for work. Reese offered to pick me up, since it’s on his way, and we’re both going to the same place.”
“Oh,” I said, as calmly as I could manage. “I guess that makes sense. I don’t mind being late for work, though. If you want me to take you.”
“It’s really no problem,” Reese said, and my fists clenched at my sides.
What He Always Knew (What He Doesn't Know Duet Book 2) Page 9
