by Alexis Gold
He shook his head imperceptibly. "It's no big deal,” he replied, his eyes moving from her lips back up to her eyes again.
They gazed at each other for a long moment, not breathing, their hearts beginning to pound and he felt as if gravity was pulling him further in toward her. He let it. He began to lean toward her face, close to her mouth, but just as he was about to reach it, she drew in a sharp breath and turned her head away.
"Can I get you anything? Would you like a drink?" He closed his eyes and turned his head from hers, breathing deeply and trying to slow everything in him down just a little.
"Water would be nice." he said, his mouth feeling a bit dry. He looked toward the living room and took a deep breath. Nothing he did slowed any part of him. She pulled a glass from the cupboard and filled it, and turned to hand it to him, just as he turned to take it from her.
His fingers closed over hers on the glass and heat spread from their fingers to each other. She held her breath and felt her chest tighten sharply. His eyes were locked on hers again as he took the glass from her and drained half of it before setting it on the counter.
She meant to look away from him. She tried, but his body was so close to hers, and she knew just how it felt to be in his arms, to taste his kiss, and to feel him deep in her. The knowledge of all of that kept her rooted to the spot, and locked on him.
Her steady gaze inflamed him considerably and as he set the glass down on the counter, he knew before he touched her that there was just nothing for it, no way he could be so close to her and not reach out to her. He lifted his hand to her cheek and a tiny gasp escaped her lips as he stroked his thumb over her skin.
She turned her face slightly toward his open palm and let her lips brush his thumb, her mouth opening slightly as she did so. It was enough to send a shockwave through Roman, and he didn't think at all, but only reacted as he turned her face to his, placing his other hand on her cheek and lifting her chin.
His mouth caressed hers softly at first, barely touching her skin, and she gasped again and closed her eyes. He pressed his lips gently against hers and kissed her, feeling as much amazement with her as he had on the boat. Her tongue touched the edge of his lips and she kissed him back, slowly and sensually as he drew her nearer to him.
Cami's hands closed on his hips and moved up his bare back as he opened her mouth with his and kissed her deeply. Fire began to spread between them, and everything inside them rushed and crashed as they wrapped their arms around one another and held on tightly in passion's embrace, tasting their lover's kiss and losing themselves in the pleasure of it.
An ache began to spread in Roman's groin and he felt himself grow hard with need. It was no time at all before Cami felt his body solid with desire against her, and she drew in a sharp breath as he pressed himself firmly to her and moaned.
Neither of them had been intimate since they were last intimate with each other, and between the long period of time without physical affection and the memories of their long past passion burning brightly in their hearts and minds, their bodies were ravenous for what they felt together.
Her hands wandered from his strong back to his muscled chest, and then she slid them up around his neck and held him close as his hands moved to her waist and pulled her tight against him. Their hungry kisses wanted more than just lips, and they moved their mouths over each other's cheeks and necks. Roman's tongue and teeth left a slow and torturous trail up her neck and to her ear before reclaiming her mouth again.
They drove each other further and further into heated passion and their hands began to touch and feel each other in need. Roman pressed her against the counter and moved his hips firmly against hers, making a soft cry of pleasure escape her as his hand curved over her hip and squeezed her.
She burned with need for him, and her heart beat wildly against her chest, pushing blood through her veins with such force that it drowned out the sound in her ears and the sense in her mind as it warmed her body from her core.
Roman felt as if he hadn't breathed for the whole year he'd been apart from her, and now he was suddenly high on the oxygen of being in her arms and holding her so close to him.
"Cami..." he whispered her name as his lips moved over her skin and his body yearned for hers. “God, I want you!" he said, almost helplessly.
She opened her eyes and pulled her lips from his, looking up at him with need and pain in her eyes. "Stop... Roman, please... we can't do this." She tried to make herself stay back, but then she leaned in and kissed him once more and it ignited the flames in her again.
He kissed her hungrily for a long moment, and then he pulled away from her and whispered hoarsely, "No, you're right... we can't do this." He looked as if he was in pain as well, as he forced himself to take a step back from her, letting his arms fall away from her and closing his eyes to the feel of her hands as they slid down his chest and stomach, and then left his body.
He backed away until he was leaning against the counter opposite her. They stood and stared at each other, their chests heaving breathlessly as their bodies tried to slow down.
"I'm so sorry," he whispered. "I didn't mean to..."
She nodded and looked away for a moment. "I know... me, too. I was going to keep things completely platonic between us, but you were just... so close... and it's just..."
He waved his hand between them. "No apologies. None. We both were taken up in a weak moment; probably just the situation and our proximity to each other... it was just an oops. We know we need to be careful around each other and just try to build on our friendship and leave this kind of thing... alone,” he said, with a sorrowful tone.
She nodded. "I agree. We have a daughter to raise together and none of us can afford to be confused about what we are doing or how we are doing it. We'll just be more careful in the future. That's all." She managed a small smile at him and he returned it.
"Okay," he replied, watching her and wishing in his core that they hadn't needed to stop.
She turned and pulled his shirt from the sink and let the water drain away, then rinsed it off. He walked into the living room and stood beside Emma's little bed, looking down at her, as Cami walked past him and took his shirt to the bathroom. He heard the blow dryer come on and run for a long while.
He didn't know how they had fallen back into each other's arms the way they had, but he knew for their delicate situation to work, it could not happen again. Cami, running her hair dryer back and forth over his shirt, was thinking precisely the same thing.
She got it mostly dry and brought it out to him. He thanked her and pulled it back on, buttoning it as she turned away from him, and busied herself with Emma's diaper bag.
Roman closed the last button and reached for Cami's shoulder. He turned her and she slowly looked up at him, confusion and a hint of sorrow touching her eyes.
"It's going to be okay. We're just in a strange situation, that's all. We'll work through this, and we'll do it together. No apologies and no worries. We have a beautiful daughter that we created, and we are going to raise her as loving and devoted parents, and as really good friends. We can do that for her and for each other." He smiled at her.
His confidence and kindness unraveled the tangled knot of stress and emotion in her stomach, and she wrapped her arms around his waist and leaned her head on his chest.
"You're right. We can do this. We'll figure it out." She smiled a little again and then let him go. "Thank you so much for all that you've done for us and all that you are doing. It's so appreciated."
Roman nodded and took her hand, walking to the door with her. "It's absolutely my pleasure."
He hugged her tightly again and then with one last longing look in his eyes, he turned and walked out of the door, closing it softly behind him.
He went home and went inside the house, only to walk straight into Agnes who looked at him with hawk eyes from head to toe. "You look like hell. What have you done to your shirt?"
Roman was in no mood for dealing with
his mother-in-law. "I spilled something on it earlier and tried to wash it out." He began to walk toward the staircase to go to his room, but she kept talking to him.
"You know, you're a lucky man to have a wife like my daughter in your life to help you out. You certainly couldn't do anything without her. It's a good thing she's such a smart and beautiful woman, or you'd never get a chance to meet anyone like that Senator she brought in for you.
“You're damn lucky to have her. If you were half the man you ought to be, you'd show her some appreciation for everything she does for you." Agnes snapped at him and he stared at her as she turned and headed out of the front door.
"Please don't come back," he whispered to the closed door. He couldn't believe she thought her daughter was the reason that the Senator was even involved with them in the first place. He continued up the stairs to his room, showered, and changed his clothes.
He was sitting outside by the pool later that evening when Denise walked out to talk to him. She sat beside him in a lounge chair and looked at him with consternation.
"I can't get Carmen to call me back. I know it's because you offended her at the party and now I have to work extra hard to get back into her good graces again!" She scowled at him.
He lowered his brow at her. "Why don't you leave her alone and wait for her to call you?" he asked, certain that Carmen would share his thoughts and suggestions.
She shook her head adamantly. "No! I don't want her to think that I don't care if we're friends. She has to know that I mean business and that I'm her best friend."
Roman shook his head and looked away from her.
"I've decided to go another route to get to her, and that's to go through Edward. Maybe he can help her understand that I'm serious about our friendship." She glared a little.
"She ought to consider herself lucky to be friends with me, after all, she was just his nanny; she was just hired help and she was screwing him on the side, so he felt obligated to her and he married her. I can't imagine why; she's not even white like him. Most of the other ladies in society are just nice to her because she's the Senator's wife, but me... I really mean it.
“I'm trying to be friends with her and support her, even though she's just really a nanny and from a lower class of people. You would think she'd be grateful to me for sacrificing myself like that for her, and she would want to spend some time with me. How else is she ever going to shine?"
Roman stared at his wife in disbelief. "You're kidding! You think she's married to the Senator because he felt obligated to her? He loves her! It doesn't matter what color her skin is, Denise, all that matters is that they fell in love!" He felt anger building up inside of him and compounding with every passing moment.
"What are you talking about, saying that she should be lucky to have you as a friend? Wasn't it you who was just saying recently that we needed to be friends with them so other people would look up to us and see how important we are? It sounds to me like you already feel that important and you think she should be looking up to you for social importance!"
Denise scoffed and shook her wild red curls. "That's not what I'm saying at all! You're putting words in my mouth like you always do! By the way, Mother told me how awful you were to her when you came home this afternoon, and you think that you've done all the work bringing the Senator in for business and to buy that stupid boat! How dare you! You know damn good and well that it was me that did all the work with them and brought them in!"
She stood up in a huff and stormed off muttering about how ungrateful he was and how she could do so much better than him any time she wanted to. The door closed behind her and he leaned back in his chair and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly.
He was trying to remember why he married her at all, and then visions of her as they had been when they were hot lovers came back to him and he remembered exactly why he had married her. Then he knew that the biggest reason he had married her was no longer a factor, and he searched, without result, for a reason to still be married to her.
The following day he was elbow deep in work at his office when he realized he’d left a flash drive with some files he needed back in his office at the house. He tried to call Denise to ask her to bring it to him but she didn't answer her phone. Though the Senator was their most significant client at that time, he was by no means their only client, and Roman realized he'd have to run and grab the file himself. Just as he was picking up his keys, the phone rang at his desk and he picked it up.
"Hello?" he answered.
"Roman, it's Cami." Her voice came through the line and it felt like a soothing wave of warm sunshine to him. He sat back down and couldn't help the broad smile that spread over his face.
"How are you doing?"
"Oh, I'm good! We both are. Your daughter is playing with some of the new toys you bought her. She loves the giraffe, by the way," Cami said, smiling and thinking how nice it was to pick up the phone and talk to him whenever she wanted.
"Great!" Roman said happily, thinking of Emma smiling and laughing at the little squeaker giraffe he'd gotten for her. "What's going on?" he asked lightly.
"Well, Emma is going to be meeting her new pediatrician here in San Francisco the day after tomorrow and she's also going to get some shots. I thought you might want to come with us." Emma did not like shots, and Cami thought it would help to have Roman there to cheer her up.
Roman jumped at the chance to do his daddy duty. It was a delight and pleasure for him to be able to be involved with her as much as he could. "Yes! Absolutely. Just text me the details and I'll be there. Oh, and please tell Janine so she can put it in my calendar, too."
Cami smiled. "Okay, I will. Thank you, Roman, it means a great deal."
He nodded, thinking of them both with a light and happy heart. "I'm glad to do it. I'll patch you through to Janine." He transferred the call and Janine picked it up. Roman reached for his keys and hurried out to his car.
Thoughts of Cami and Emma filled his heart and made him smile as he drove through the city to his house. He wasn't looking forward to the doctor giving Emma shots, but he knew they were necessary, and he vowed to be there for her anytime she needed him. He couldn't think of many more times a baby needed more comfort than when getting shots.
A while later, he pulled up in front of the house and saw a little green car in the driveway. He frowned slightly, wondering why it was there and he headed to his office to get the flash drive. He had it tucked into his pocket and was just about to leave when he heard Agnes on her cell phone, complaining about something and he knew he wouldn't be able to get to the front door without going past her. He gave it a quick thought and decided to go through the back of the house and around the grounds to the front, to get to his car. It would take an extra couple of minutes, but he was glad to sacrifice those to avoid his mother-in-law.
He slipped quietly through the house and out of the back door. He was just walking past the pool house when he heard people inside it and he stopped in his tracks. There shouldn't be anyone in his pool house. He walked over to the door and opened it, stepping inside and stopping dead in his tracks when he saw what was going on.
Roman was standing at the door that opened into the living room area of the pool house, and in the center of the room was a folding massage table opened up and laid out, and beside the table was an armless chair. And seated on that chair was a young muscular man with long black hair. His body was bare except for his shorts, which were sitting in a pile at his ankles as he leaned back at an angle on the chair.
Sitting astride him, wearing nothing at all, was Denise, her hips rocking wildly over his, her fiery red curls bouncing with abandon as she rode him, and her hands clamped to the back of the chair behind his head. The man's hands were grasping her hips, holding her down onto him, and his mouth was filled with the tip of one of her massive breasts.
Because of their loud moaning and raucous sex, they had not heard him come in, nor did either of them see him until he had almo
st reached them.
"What in the hell do you think you're doing?" he shouted as he got close to them. They both stopped moving instantly and turned in a flash, staring at him. Denise hopped off him, leaving him sitting in the chair, nude and fully aroused, staring in shock at Roman.
"Get your damn clothes on and get the hell out of here now!" Roman yelled at the man.
"Armando!" Denise called out, reaching her hand toward her lover. "Hurry! Before he does something awful to you!"
Armando jumped up swiftly from the chair and reached down to his ankles, yanking his shorts back up over his hips to his waist. He glanced momentarily at Roman, his eyes wide with fear, and he quickly folded up his massage table as Denise ran to Roman and stood between him and Armando.
Roman looked down at her in disgust. "I'm not going to do anything to him except call the police to arrest the trespasser on my property if he doesn't get the hell out of here right now!"
