Her subtle smile shows she understands this. Of course it’s why she invited him to drinks. He compromised so that she wouldn’t have to. Camila reaches out and touches the back of his hand. Her warm touch channels a surge of energy through him. Marshall inches closer to her.
“Are we good?” He asks into her ear.
The sound of his voice ripples through Camila and awakens her whole body. She swallows more champagne to quell the desire that begins to pulse through her.
“May I kiss you, C.C.?” He whispers.
Camila fights to keep her eyes open. Her body is so ready for him. One touch, a single kiss, will undo her right here at the table. She tilts her head down toward him, her nod almost imperceptible.
Marshall draws up his left hand and touches her right cheek. “I want to hear you say it.”
“Kiss me,” she says in a low voice.
His soft lips land against hers as soon as she utters those two words he’s been wanting to hear for weeks. Marshall had begun to lose hope that Camila would ever contact him again. Their lips move in perfect sync. It’s not the passionate kiss of the lonely and desperate, nor is it the sensual kiss of two familiar lovers. It runs deeper than any of that.
Marshall sweeps his tongue lightly over Camila’s bottom lip. The surge of energy passing between them is greater than either of them had experienced. Not only is it awakening them to their need for each other, it’s carrying them beyond what they’ve known before. Marshall can feel it in his chest while Camila feels a vibration throughout. Tongues and lips continue to sweep, caress and stroke, plunging them further into the unknown with each other.
Each time Camila comes up for air, Marshall pulls her back. He can’t help himself. He doesn’t want to help himself. This is freedom to him, to love fully without restraint. Neither he nor Camila had known it was possible to experience both freedom and love simultaneously. And it’s this freedom that’s allowing her to finally let go of her fears without worrying about the future.
Marshall’s hand begins to venture over her hips and down to her thighs. The idea of being between them is driving him further into the kiss. Camila takes his hand into hers and squeezes, accepting his silent invitation.
“Allow me,” she says, laying a couple of fifties on the table.
“I really can’t.” Marshall reaches for his wallet as he trails kisses along Camila’s neck.
She places a hand over his. “I want to,” she insists.
“Then I get breakfast in the morning,” he replies, his thumb sweeping over her pulpy lips. Marshall swallows hard. He wants to see these lips around his cock so badly he’s not sure if he can wait any longer. He glances toward the back of the bar at the bathrooms, then thinks better of it. What he wants will take too long. Marshall starts to slide out of the booth without letting go of Camila’s hand.
They’re barely inside Camila’s building before her back is pressed against the wall. Marshall considers them fortunate to have made it this far. The seven-minute cab ride was sheer torture for him. He forced himself to stare out the window to avoid looking at Camila. Every time he’d steal a glance in her direction, he’d come undone. He could feel it from head to toe, to the point that he couldn’t think straight or feel in control of his movements. Every part of him wants to be with her, to be inside of her. The anticipation of pleasure had become so great he nearly forgot to pay the driver when he got out of the cab.
Camila isn’t any better. Beneath the veneer of calm, which she’s unaware she’s even projecting, is a deep and profound yearning for Marshall that she hadn’t known existed until tonight. Of course she’d wanted him before, and knowing what sex is like with him merely stokes her longing. Tonight, however, her craving comes from something different. It’s not just physical she realizes. If it were, she would’ve taken him in a dark basement entrance on Thompson Street. No. It makes her want to connect with him, to own and to be owned by this force that has propelled her toward him for the past few months. Giving into it can’t be done lightly. Camila understands that now. Because once she does, it will take her farther than she’d ever thought possible.
Marshall laces his fingers with Camila as he kisses her against the water-stained wall at the end of the stairwell. Slowly, they make their climb, one flight at a time, stopping to consume and be consumed. His tongue, her tongue, his mouth, her mouth. Every part of them that can touch and be touched carries them forward. Finally, outside her door, Marshall steps back to breathe, to allow himself the pleasure of remembering that morning they were first together. It was an almost perfect moment, before the storm that had crashed through their lives when they learned the truth about who the other was. How limited they were then, by circumstances and experience. If only he knew then what he knows now. He smiles.
“What?” Camila rests her back against her door. Her limbs are too loose and relaxed to reach for the keys in her bag.
Marshall wraps his arm around her waist and brings her lips to his. How quickly and easily they melt together. “You,” he says, between kisses.
Camila smiles back, knowing full well what he means. You too. She presses her lips against his as her arms snake up his chest and around his neck. She could kiss him for hours and it would feel like mere minutes. The door gives way behind her, and they fall in, not letting go of each other this time.
Camila sheds her layers before Marshall. Sweaters, jeans, shirts, and shoes are spread all around them. One by one, everything that separates them is left on the floor until all Camila can feel is her need slowly marking her inner thighs. She squeezes them together instinctively, dying to find some relief from the raging that’s beginning to burn through her with each passing second.
Marshall is nearly frozen with anticipation. In the bar, all he could imagine was Camila kissing his cock. In the cab, he pictured going down on her. Faced with the probability that he can have both, he’s not sure what he wants more. All he’s aware of is how much he wants Camila. All. Of. Her. He licks his lips and decides. He has to have her first.
A small step toward her and she’s in his embrace, carried to the bed in a matter of seconds. Marshall lays her out among the unmade sheets and spreads her open for him. His eyes move over her body appreciatively, stopping when he sees her sticky desire. He gulps back the tidal wave that threatens to drown him in this, in Camila.
She lowers her hand to her sex, and Marshall takes his cue. His hot, wet tongue licks her desire. He moans when he tastes her. “It’s been too long,” he says into her cunt, his warm breath mingling over her wet thigh. Camila gathers a sheet in her hand when her pussy trembles beneath his lips. He continues to alternate kisses with strokes of his tongue, penetrating her cunt then licking up and down, over her clit. The sensations overwhelm them both. Her soft skin in his mouth, her ass and thighs between his hands. Camila cries out. Her climb is so swift and pleasurable she didn’t realize how close she was.
Marshall reaches up a hand and strokes her breasts, her nipples becoming hard points under his touch. Camila starts to buck her hips unable to hold back, not wanting any more than this moment. He pinches her nipples just enough for Camila to feel it in her cunt which is so close to opening under his kiss. He wants this. She wants this. For them both to have what they want from each other is such a feat since it’s something they’d both fought against when they first met.
One more audible cry escapes Camila, and she surrenders to him, her body letting go under the soft caress of his lips and the deep probing of his tongue. Camila falls back as pleasure after vibrating pleasure courses through her now languid body.
Marshall rests his head against her left thigh, admiring her glistening cunt and the way Camila looks at this moment, her body flushed and swollen from his touch. She’s so responsive tonight, no more so than any other time they’ve been together, but it makes him happy to think that despite what they’ve been through, she hasn’t closed herself off to him.
Camila opens her eyes as the vibrating slows. Desp
ite how satisfied she feels, a part of her yearns for more. Marshall feels her shift below him, and he moves up toward her face, kissing along her torso and stopping over her breasts. He sucks a nipple into his mouth before scraping the soft flesh with his teeth. He moves over the next one, ensuring he gives equal treatment to every part of Camila before finding her lips.
Once there, she raises her body off the bed and folds herself into him. He grabs her ass and pulls her right leg over his waist. Camila is so wet with his saliva and her desire. Marshall slides himself as far as he can inside her. She tilts her hips up until she feels like she’s about to break. It’s there that she can feel only him. It’s there that he’s at the deepest point of her being.
Slowly he pulls all the way out and then back in again, each stroke purposefully deep and unhurried. As far as Marshall is concerned, they have all night and all day and all night again. He’ll stay as long as she wants him to. He groans as he continues to fill Camila with his cock, forcing Camila to arch her back and grab hold of his ass.
He starts to pick up pace as her moans grow louder, her breathing becoming more staggered. Marshall leans down until Camila’s knees are pressed against his chest, his cock perfectly angled to push Camila toward her next spiral. Whatever this nameless thing that exists between them is, it possesses them both. He isn’t finished yet, but he’s too close to coming to contain himself. It’s been so long since he’s experienced Camila, her beautiful body, her incredible cunt. He wants so much for her, and from her. Marshall can feel the waves of passion start to move over him again.
He lifts one hand to touch Camila’s clit, but she’s already there. “I’m going to come,” she whispers, her voice nearly lost in the sound of her moaning and his breathing. Marshall’s lips are on hers again as he moves in and out of Camila wildly, unable to restrain himself. She feels so fucking good, too good, the kind of good you want to hold onto out of fear it won’t last. Yes, it’s that’s good.
There’s no longer a need to hold back. He can feel Camila’s orgasm pulse around his cock, pulling at him, telling him to let go. A few more strokes and Marshall explodes into Camila, pouring every bit of himself into her.
Chapter 60
Muted winter sunlight filters through the shades in Camila’s room as she stirs. Every inch of her body protests as she turns over and notices Marshall still asleep next to her. It takes a few minutes for Camila to sift through the thoughts that come rushing in her awakened state. School, work, her father, her uncle, her near-future career path flash into her mind jumbled and scattered like puzzle pieces that don’t quite fit. Suddenly she’s grateful to have the next six months to sort it all out before taking that leap into the unknown. Her parents had taught her that life is the accumulation of experience and the wisdom that comes with it. Up until now, she never appreciated exactly what they meant. For Camila, life had been about the treadmill—school, more school, followed by career. She didn’t realize that constantly running toward the next thing kept her in place. It wasn’t until her cousin and Marshall challenged her to expand and open herself that she realized how one-dimensional her life would’ve become.
“You’re staring.” Marshall’s rough morning voice sounds sexy to Camila.
“Thinking, not staring. You just happen to be in my line of sight.”
“Oh yeah?” Marshall’s lips part into a smile, half-hidden by his pillow. “Any of those thoughts include me?”
Camila shrugs her shoulder. “Maybe.”
Marshall traces circles over her bare shoulder, his touch warm and inviting. “Care to elaborate?”
“No need,” she replies, rolling onto her back. “You’re here with me, I think that says something.”
Marshall leans over to kiss the top of her breasts then lays his head on her chest. “Yes, I think it does.”
Camila runs her hand along his back, her thoughts slowing to the beat of her heart. “Will S & M keep you busy for the next several months?”
Marshall moves his head slightly to indicate ‘no.’ “Why?”
“I’ve worked during most of my school breaks and almost every New Year’s Eve since I started bartending. I’ve never given myself the time to travel. You mentioned that Italy is your favorite country to visit, right?”
Marshall props himself up on his elbows. “Is that an invitation?”
Camila nods. “I take it Christmas isn’t a very important holiday in your family.”
“On par with Thanksgiving,” he replies.
“Would you like to come . . . .”
Marshall’s kiss envelopes Camila’s lips before she can finish the question. Of course she knew what his answer would be, and it hits her that that’s what love is, knowing the answer before you even ask.
Wild Poppy
(Wildflowers, book 4)—Coming Fall 2016
Poppy Baron has been an influential figure in New York society for decades. What most people don’t know, however, is that the perfect life she’d cultivated for herself and her family on the surface didn’t reflect her deepest desires or her darkest secrets. Before Poppy married William Baron, the heir to Baron Media, she was Poppy Koslowski, daughter of the disgraced media tycoon, Jay Koslowski. Growing up on the Chicago’s North Shore, Poppy wasn’t prepared when her family lost their entire fortune overnight. Determined to follow through on her dreams of becoming a Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist, she winds up in Paris where she meets the passionate and intriguing, Henri Olin, who’s political and social ideology awakens Poppy to a world so different from her own. Unfortunately, Henri decides that pursuing his political ambitions is more important than Poppy and leaves her with no choice but to give up the one person she loves most in the world. Alone and virtually penniless, Poppy is forced to make her way back to America and to piece together the remnants of her life in New York City. Only there, she’s confronted with yet another life choice, one that will forever shape her destiny.
Throughout The Gilded Flower Trilogies and the Wildflowers Series, you’ve had a glimpse of Poppy’s many faces. Now, here’s your chance to see how her past influenced the person she’d become.
Wild Poppy, the final installment of Wildflowers, due out November 2016
About the Author
Elizabeth Ann Hayes writes Romance under the pen name Vivian Winslow. Elizabeth was born in San Diego, California but has spent most of her adult life as the consummate wanderer. Her nomadic life took her abroad to cities like Paris, Madrid, London, Hong Kong, Los Angeles, and São Paulo. After eleven moves across four continents over a span of seventeen years, her journey brought her back to New York City in 2011 where, despite the chaotic pace, she’s managed to make it home for herself and her family.
Since 2014, Elizabeth has published nine novellas in her Gilded Flower Trilogies as well as two installments of Wildflowers, a New Adult series of standalone novels. These contemporary romance books are female-driven with strong, beautiful and intelligent women as well as diverse characters, reflecting her own multi-cultural heritage. The inspiration for her books comes from a strong desire to break the mold in the genre, which largely portrays women as weak, subservient and having low self-esteem. Believing that stories have the power to influence attitudes and shift perspectives, Elizabeth writes in order to challenge this paradigm. She doesn’t mind being considered a feminist although she believes balancing the roles of men and women in literature honors both the masculine and feminine in everyone. But more than anything, her sincere hope is that her books foster the reader’s connection to their unique strengths, gifts and desires.
You can connect with Vivian at:
http://www.vivianwinslow.com
https://www.facebook.com/vivianwinslowauthor?ref=profile
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8183361.Vivian_Winslow
https://twitter.com/VivWinslow
http://www.pinterest.com/VivWinslow/
https://instagram.com/vivwinslow
http://vivwinslow.tumblr.com
https
://medium.com/search?q=vivian%20winslow
Amazon Author page - http://amzn.to/1p4dE3N
Other Books by Vivian Winslow
Gilded Flower Trilogies
The Lily Trilogy (Books 1 – 3)
Available on Amazon.com at http://amzn.to/1C7Wiau
Available on Barnesandnoble.com at http://bit.ly/1AVPDP9
Available on Kobo.com at http://bit.ly/YXODN0
Available on iTunes at https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/the-lily-trilogy/id988107727?ls=1&mt=11
The Dahlia Trilogy (Books 4 – 6)
Available on Amazon.com at http://amzn.to/1A8D1D5
Available on Barnesandnoble.com at http://bit.ly/1HlPDwP
Available on Kobo.com at http://bit.ly/1DQly6Y
Available on iTunes at https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/the-dahlia-trilogy/id988113900?ls=1&mt=11
The Violet Trilogy (Books 7 – 9)
Available on Amazon.com at http://amzn.to/1A8nDvq
Available on Barnesandnoble.com at http://bit.ly/1RU4OSp
Available on Kobo.com at https://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/the-violet-trilogy
Available on iTunes at https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/the-violet-trilogy/id992416493?ls=1&mt=11
Wildflowers Series
Blossoming Flower (Book 1)
Available on Amazon.com at http://amzn.to/1W5h0nW
Available on Barnesandnoble.com at http://bit.ly/1hKegts
Available on Kobo.com at http://bit.ly/1OFdSt0
Available on iTunes at https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/blossoming-flower/id1049382245?ls=1&mt=11
Forbidden Rose (Book 2)
Available on Amazon.com at http://amzn.to/1YLtmyZ
Coming Fall 2016 – Wild Poppy (Book 4)
Uncovering Camila (Wildflowers Book 3) Page 24
