by Alexis Gold
He hovered there for a moment, his lips just above hers, their breath mingled, their hearts racing, and she lifted her chin to press her lips softly against his, returning his kiss, tentatively and sweetly, almost believing that it was a dream, but knowing that it was not.
His strong arms lifted her closer to him, pressing her against the skin of his chest, and he carefully deepened their kiss, breathing her in a little more, letting his lips taste hers, embracing the intimacy of her mouth and her soul connected to his for an immeasurable moment.
Delilah was sure she was dreaming. She’d never felt so full of lightness and electric energy in her life. The feel of his lips touching hers seemed to wash away everything else in her, as though she was only tethered to this earth by his kiss, and if he were to let go, she would float away into the air.
Her hand closed more firmly around his wrist and he pressed her to his heart, and then he lifted his lips from hers and pressed his forehead against hers for a moment, before opening his eyes and looking down at her in stunned silence. She looked at him, and the world seemed to rush back in around them, swirling in around the two of them like a tide and pulling them apart slowly with its strong grip of reality.
“Do you want to try to stand up? Maybe we should be getting back to the house.”
It felt like a cool breeze had drifted through her heart, and she blinked her eyes, and nodded. “Yeah, let’s… let’s go back. I think I’m okay now.”
He helped her to her feet and she tried to keep from looking at his rock solid torso, as he bent to pick up his shirt, shook the sand from it and tucked it into the back pocket of his jeans. He looked at her for a moment and then said, “Are you okay?”
Delilah nodded and smiled a little, taking a few steps and then feeling she was alright, she walked back to the house with him, side by side in silence. He helped her in the door, and then said good night and vanished into what she thought of as his half of the house. The part of the house that she’d never been in before, where his room and who knows what else, was located.
She rubbed her hands over her face and went to her own room, taking a hot shower and heading to bed. She tried not to think of the kiss they shared. It was just a kiss. Neither one of them was even remotely interested in anything more, and while it was nice, it probably shouldn’t have happened.
When she woke up in the morning, it was early and dark still, and she pulled on her robe and slippers and headed for the kitchen to find Cameron sitting at the table with a single light on, a cup of coffee in his hands, and a newspaper laying on the table between his elbows.
“Good morning,” she said with a smile as she sat down beside him. He sighed and leaned back in his chair and took a swig of his coffee.
“We made the front page of the paper this morning.”
“The team? Well that’s good!” she said, thinking that his tone did not sound the least bit happy about it.
“No, not the team. You and I,” he said, pushing the paper toward her and taking another drink.
Delilah looked at him in confusion as she picked up the paper and stared at a small collection of photographs of Cameron helping her out of the obstetrician’s office and into the Murano. The captions and article speculated heavily that she was Cameron’s secret girlfriend and that she was carrying their love child. She grew immediately incensed and tossed the paper onto the table.
“What right do they have to print trash like that? That’s absurd! They’re not even close on it. Not at all.”
He looked at her, took a deep breath and sighed. “Well, that’s another part of the fame game that just comes as a piece of the pie. There’s not really much that we can do about that. Jim will take care of it. I’m sure he’s already all over it, but this still got printed and will be delivered far and wide to curious people who won’t stop talking about it until the next big scandal comes up.”
“I’m sorry.”
He turned and looked at her hastily. “Don’t be sorry, please… don’t. This isn’t your fault, and I’m so glad that I got to be there for the appointment. Really, it was one of the most incredible things I’ve ever gotten to experience. This is just some of the fallout of me being in public with you, that’s all. It’s not that big a deal. I just hope your family doesn’t see it, or anyone else we might have to explain anything to.”
Chapter Five
There was considerable fallout from the image hitting the newspaper. It hit the presses all over, and social media, and spread like wildfire. Delilah’s parents were on the phone to her immediately, and she didn’t answer their calls because she had no idea what to say to them. Several of her friends called her, and just as she had done with her parents, she ignored the calls, though it hurt her enormously to do it.
Cameron’s entire team expected honest answers, but he kept it simple and said to them, “She’s a friend of mine.” Which was true. They had seen him go so long without a girlfriend that they thought nothing more of it and dropped the matter, thinking that Cameron was just helping out a friend.
The obstetrician was inundated with calls and visitors looking for information and interviews, but Jim had squared the doctor away immediately, and the doctor refused to take any calls or visitors that weren’t prior patients of his.
Maryanne and Renee were at the house more often, trying to help console the ruffled feathers of both Cameron and Delilah, and they did help take some of the pressure off at home. Renee asked if she could take Delilah out for a massage and a spa day, and Cameron made it clear that they could go as long as they weren’t seen so that no more rumors would be spread. He thought the relaxation would do Delilah some good.
He came home from practice the day that Renee and Delilah were out, and was just relaxing on the sofa when the doorbell rang. He wasn’t expecting anyone and was more surprised than he had been in ages when he opened the door and saw the woman who was standing on his doorstep.
She was a tall redhead, extremely beautiful, her body amply curved in all the right places, her big blue eyes planted on Cameron, and her full red lips in a solid pout. She looked like a pin-up girl from the forties. Cameron felt like his heart had just been ripped out of his chest.
“Well Cam, aren’t you going to invite me in?” she purred, sliding her hand up to her hip.
He shook his head to try to clear the chaos that was exploding inside of it, and he stepped back to let her waltz into his home. He could not take his eyes off of her; she was just the way he remembered in college, except more beautiful, somehow, sexier, wilder, naughtier, and perhaps some exotic blend of really good and really bad.
“Amanda. This is a big surprise. I didn’t actually expect to see you… ever again.” He followed her as she took her time walking through the front part of the house, and then strutted into the living room and kitchen area, stopping in the kitchen.
“I was surprised too, baby, but it’s nice to see you. You’re looking really,” she let her eyes travel slowly over the entirety of his body, “…really good. Be a darling and get me a glass of wine, would you? You should have one with me; you look like you could use a drink.”
He stared at her for a moment, and then realized that she was probably right, and a drink would do him some good. It might calm his heart down so that it wouldn’t beat right out of his chest and go running out the door. He handed her a glass of Merlot and poured one for himself.
“Thank you, baby.” She grinned at him, taking the glass and sipping it slowly, looking over the rim of it at him. She licked her lips and leaned over the counter, posturing herself so that all of her curves were much more pronounced. He noticed, and took a big gulp of his wine.
“To what do I owe this surprise visit of yours, Amanda?” he asked, trying his best to sound nonchalant.
“Oh, it’s just been a really long time since we’ve talked, and…” she stood up again and walked to him slowly, her eyes holding his almost in a trance, “I’ll be honest with you baby,” she lowered her voice to a silky s
mooth velvet whisper and placed her hand on his chest, slowly sliding her fingers over the buttons on his shirt and effectively giving him a heart attack, “I’ve missed you…” she looked up at him with her wide eyes and her sexy red pouting lips, “…so much.”
Amanda moved her hand up and down the center of his shirt, and then reached up and loosened the tie that was around his neck, slowly sliding it open all the way and pulling it off of his neck, letting it drop from her fingers to the floor. He tried to remember how to breathe as he looked down at her and her scent filled his nostrils and his lungs, permeating him with an intoxicating air.
A smile slowly spread across her face and she tilted her face up to his as her red painted nails slowly opened the top button on his shirt. “Remember how much fun we used to have, baby?” she giggled a little and slid her fingers to the next button, opening that one as well and running her nails down his chest in hard little lines to the next button. He stared at her, frozen to the spot.
“There has never,” she said, slowly shaking her head, her eyes holding his, as she opened the next button down on his shirt and moved her hands down again, “ever been…” she pulled at the last button and slowly pushed his shirt open, sliding her fingers up his rock solid abs and sculpted chest, “any lover for me, that has loved me the way you do,” she said as she rubbed her fingertips over his nipples and bit her lower lip.
He tried to speak but only managed to stammer for a moment, and she reached one red painted fingertip up and pressed it against his lips. “Shhh… don’t worry, baby, I know you’ve missed me too; I can tell just by the way you’re…” she looked down at his crotch and he wanted to melt into the floor, frustrated at his body for betraying his heart, “…reacting to me.” Her smile turned into a grin and she slid her hands around his face, and ran her thumb over his lips, pulling his lower lip down to open his mouth slightly.
“Now, give us a kiss, for old times’ sake,” she asked without really asking, pressing herself snugly against him and covering his mouth with hers, running her tongue over him and sucking at him just a little. He moaned and for one moment, he didn’t move.
But then he found himself reacting, as she had said, and then he was kissing her back, carefully at first, uncertain that it was what he wanted, but she pressed herself closer to him and kissed him more passionately and deeply, and he found himself spiraling in confusion and white hot flames, hungrily kissing her in return, grasping at her back, and pulling her tightly into him.
His hands were clenched in her hair and at the back of her blouse and she kissed him harder, making him groan, and as his need for her grew, so did a rancid ball of fury and pain, right in the center of his stomach, and as his desire for her increased, so did the toxic ball in the pit of him, blending with the desire and lust, until it overtook him and he shoved her away from him and gasped, trying to catch his breath and his thoughts. He looked away from her and stared at the floor.
“What’s the matter, baby?” she asked, coming to him and running her hands over his back.
“Do you remember how you left me? Do you remember that?” He flung the words at her angrily, slinging them from his old wounds. “You were screwing Dave in my bed! In my own bed! My girl and the guy I detested the most, going at it in my own bed. I’ve never been able to get that image out of my head. You on top of him like that… it’s burned into my mind, into my heart, and no matter what I do, I can’t forget it.
“Do you know how much I loved you? Can you even comprehend that kind of love? I wanted to marry you! I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you! This would have been our home, Amanda, yours and mine, and we would have… we would have…” He choked on the pain that was rising up in him.
“We would have been having a baby, instead of you and the woman in papers?” she asked softly and stepped closer to him.
He shook his head in frustration. “I’m not with her!” Then he looked closely at Amanda and narrowed his eyes. “Wait… that’s why you’re here! You came because of what you saw in the papers? That’s why you’re here?”
She reached for him again, wrapping her hands around his forearms and pulling him close to her. “Baby, I’m here because I saw that and I just couldn’t stand the thought of losing you, of you being with another woman like that, I saw her and I really understood just what I’d lost when I lost you! I lost my whole future, and yours right along with it, but I’m here now, and we can pick up right where we left off and make it better.”
She slid her arms around his waist and pulled herself tightly against him, looking up into his face with sad wide eyes. “Baby, we’ll make it better than it ever was. You don’t love her, you’ve never loved anyone like you love me… and I’ll give you anything you want,” she purred, raising her lips to meet his again, hugging him to her and pressing her lips softly to his as her hands moved up and down his back. “No one has ever loved you like I love you…” she said, kissing him more fervently.
“No one has ever hurt me like you hurt me.” He said it quietly, placing his hands firmly on her waist to push her away. He heard a gasp and both he and Amanda looked up to see Renee and Delilah standing at the entrance to the kitchen.
Delilah stood there in shock, seeing the buxom long-legged redhead snugly embraced in Cameron’s arms, his lips colored red from hers, and as much as that carved its painful way into her heart, it was only made worse by the nasty look that the woman leveled on Delilah.
Renee’s eyes went up in flames and she screamed at the woman. “You bitch! What are you doing here in my brother’s house? You have no business here, and you are not welcome here. Get out, you two penny whore! Get out of here now!”
Amanda turned her gaze to Renee. “Oh now, Renee, that’s no way to treat the woman who is going to be your sister, is it?” she scolded condescendingly. Delilah felt like she’d been punched in the chest, and she turned and walked swiftly to her room.
Renee’s mouth dropped open in shock, but only for a moment, because Cameron pushed Amanda away from him. “You need to leave, Amanda.”
She turned her pout up to his face and pleaded with him. “Baby, give me a chance, I know it was bad before but we can work it out. You and I … don’t lose this opportunity! Don’t let go of our love!”
“You let go of our love first, and after I let go of it, it was gone forever. There’s no reason for you to be here, Amanda. You can leave.”
She glowered at him, pursing her lips together and ignoring the sneer on Renee’s face as she turned on her heel, her red hair flying, and stomped out of the house, with Renee a split second behind her, slamming the door the moment Amanda was on the other side of it.
“I can’t believe she was here! What a little bitch she is! Agh!” Renee was furious. She paced back and forth for a moment and Cameron rubbed his face and then walked over to his sister and placed his hands on her shoulders.
“Sis, don’t let her drive you nuts. She’s gone, okay?”
“What the hell was she doing here, anyway?” Renee grumbled.
“I guess she saw the photo in the paper and decided she wanted to stop me from making a mistake with a new woman. She decided that she wants to be my wife and have kids, and I shouldn’t be with anyone but her.”
Renee leaned in closely and glared at the lipstick on his mouth and his open shirt and bare chest. “Did she talk you into it?” she snapped at him.
“No, not at all. I’m actually pretty disgusted with her. I’m glad she’s gone, and I’m glad you stood up for me. Thanks for kicking her out, Sis, you’re the best.” He smiled at her and hugged her. She sighed in relief and smiled back at him.
“Good. You deserve a lot better than that trash. Besides, you’ll be too busy for women in just a few more weeks, right?” She beamed up at him and he grinned back at her.
“You betcha. Hey… you two didn’t run into any problems today did you? No press, no cameras, no publicity?”
She smiled over her shoulder at him. “Nope, no problems at
all. Your sister is a master at being incognito. I should have been a spy. I could have had my own theme music and everything. I don’t even know if the spa staff knew we were there.”
She winked at him and gave him a hug. “I’m pretty wiped out now, all relaxed and lazy, so I want to go home. Have a good night, Cam. Love you.” She leaned up and kissed his cheek, hugged his neck, and then headed out of the house.
Cameron watched her go and then realized that Delilah wasn’t around. He felt bad about what she’d walked into and thought he’d better talk to her. He walked down the hall toward her room and stopped in front of her door, but there was no light, it was dark underneath the door and he thought perhaps she had already gone to sleep.
He raised his hand to knock on the door; he wanted to talk to her, to explain, but he looked again at the darkness and thought better of it, leaving her hallway to walk to his own bedroom for the night.
