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  She giggles and tugs at my hair, but I continue and lick down her flat, smooth stomach toward her totally bare center.

  “Show me your pussy, Cam.” I press my lips on the inside of her thigh, right next to where she wants me.

  She groans in discontent and desire.

  I swat her hip and bite her thigh. “Greedy! Now show me.” And she laughs, trying to push her legs together, but my hands shoot out to stop her.

  I almost come in my pants like a randy twelve-year-old that’s seen his first porn movie when her pointer fingers spread open her folds. She’s already wet, and my view is magnificent. Her back bows in eagerness of my mouth on her. I relish how she surrounds me completely. After days and weeks of chasing, she’s finally letting me inside. And the chase has made this victory all the more gratifying.

  “God, Cam, you’re so fucking hot.”

  My phone beeps just as I’m about to feast on her, and she grumbles in frustration.

  I kneel on the bed and get my phone from my pocket. When I bring my finger to my mouth to indicate for her to be quiet, her eyes widen in bewilderment that I’m stopping, and I answer the call, “Yes.”

  Cam attempts to close her legs again, but I place my palm on the inside of her thigh and give her a warning with a shake of my head.

  Capo John answers on the other end of the line, “A, I need access to the warehouse. Is it available?”

  Just to taunt Cam, I get off the bed, making it appear as if I’m stopping my teasing of her spectacular body.

  She fires up into a sitting position on the bed. “Adriano, you’re not seriously thinking of leaving me here now!”

  “Yes. It’s available,” I reply to John and smirk at Cam, who’s annoyance is growing rapidly, but I can see her holding back a grin too.

  Turning to the door, I touch the lever. John’s already hung up, but I pretend he hasn’t and keep nodding.

  “Adriano!” Cam whisper-shouts with bite.

  I twist my head to give her a devious smile and am hit with something soft. She hit me with a pillow. I stalk toward her as she scurries back on the mattress.

  “No, I’m not leaving you now! But that was payback for making me wait over three months before I even got to first base, Cam. You can wait a few minutes to come.” I’m at the bedframe in two big steps.

  Cam rolls over and tries to jump off the other side, but I’m too fast for her and quickly have her pinned on the bed, her back to my front. Lifting my body, I spank her ass, making her shriek.

  “And that’s for the pillow throw.” I nip her ear – an erotic sob passes her lips – and I lower myself onto her with both my palms flat on the bed next to her head. “Now I’ll continue...”

  I kick off my shoes and socks and lose my pants. Then I grind my cock between her ass cheeks while she throws her head back and moans in that sensual voice of hers.

  I take the pillow and place it under her stomach. Going down, I scrape my nails over her back, and she stiffens when I touch uneven skin. I look closer and spot faint scars on her lower back. I need to ask her about that later. Right now, her provocative ass is begging to be kissed.

  “Your ass is perfect, Cam.”

  She laughs and says sarcastically, “You have a way with words, but thank you.”

  “I promised to kiss it better. Do you want me to kiss your ass or pussy first?”

  I spread her legs, so I can lie on my back between them. Her hips are elevated because of the pillow tucked under her stomach. My arms come around her hips, and I wait with my face an inch away from where she wants me.

  I blow against her folds and pull her down close to my lips. “Say it.” But even if she stays quiet, I’m going to swallow every drop of her climax.

  “My pussy.”

  My tongue peeks out, and I grunt in satisfaction when I ease it over her smooth lips. Her musky scent has my dick leaking pre-come, and I lose any modicum of control.

  Her hips buck, and she oppresses a scream in the sheets when I suck on her while locking my arms around her hips. I can hear her staccato breathing, interrupted by moans, as she pushes down on my face. I taste every inch while sporting a raging hard-on. My fingers dig into the soft flesh of her behind, and I ease a finger into her. She circles her hips, and a throaty screams sends a jolt right to my balls. My god, I get even harder and continue to lick her, pumping my finger until I feel her walls clenching and struggling to keep my arms locked around her waist. She screams unashamedly loudly, and I almost come. Then her trembling legs give out.

  I crawl up the sheets and move the pillow out from under her. She rolls to her back, and my hand reaches out to pinch her breasts. On the bottom swell, I detect more faint mutilations. I definitely need to talk to her about those marks, so I store it for later. Her small breasts are perfect, her stomach flat and smooth as silk. I need to have her long, lean legs wrapped around my waist.

  “You’re so beautiful, Cam.” I lie atop her with my thighs between hers. “Touch me.”

  I must feel her all around me. I want to watch every second of how she’s reacting to me, so for the first time in years, I fuck missionary style and abandon my usual style of a hard, distant fuck.

  Her arms wind around my neck and I position my cock between her legs, gripping the underside of her knees and pushing them back so she’s wide open for me.

  Her palm shoots against my chest. “Protection.”

  “No. I want to feel you bare. I’m clean,” I protest, rotating the head of my cock against her wet pussy for extra persuasion.

  Skepticism crosses her face.

  “Are you on birth control?”

  She tilts her chin down once, and that’s all the approval I need. I sink into her gradually, absorbing the feeling of her wrapped around my cock, and my eyes are fixed on her face, on every groan she breathes, and something inside me clicks, alters.

  “Take all of me, Cam.”

  Her teeth clamp down on her lip.

  I drive in and release her legs, bending forward, knitting my hands into her vanilla scented hair. Inhaling her, I find an insistent rhythm. Her arms and legs lock around me, holding me close. She moves with me, and I kiss her. I fuck her with my tongue and my cock in similar measure, sinking in hard, balls deep.

  Without pulling out, I lean back and roll Cam over to her right side. She gasps, and I move forward again while she’s sideways, gripping the sheets.

  “I’m so wet.” She’s urging me to take her harder, and I smile.

  “You like my cock.” I indulge in every dip of her. “Take me deeper, Cam,” I whisper with a plea.

  Grasping the curve of her hip, I wedge myself in deep, showing her how much I’ve wanted her. I hammer into Cam, one palm next to her head while my other hand starts to rub her pussy. And I bury my cock inside, my balls slamming against her hot core as her squeals turn to screams while I fuck her with everything I have. I practically shove Cam onto her stomach, but she keeps meeting my thrusts, partly from behind since she’s on her side, and I can feel my dick pulsing with my climax.

  Her orgasm bursts, and her body quivers in release. “Adriano…”

  I watch every second with a drop of sweat falling down my forehead. I clutch her hip and push in hard just as she shouts my name in that husky voice.

  “Ah, fuck!” I draw in a breath, hold it at the moment of my peak, and flop on top of her, trying to hold onto the devastating pleasure of being inside her.

  Kissing the side of her neck, I roll to my back on the mattress, holding my arms open. She sends me a smile that reaches her half lidded eyes and snuggles against me.

  What just happened?

  I didn’t even fuck her brains out, but with her flavor in my mouth, I’m more satisfied than in years. This victory is more than that, it showed me how fucking can be more than sex. I was engrossed in tantalizing Cam with my words and my tongue and then my cock. My intention was to fuck her out of my system, but she just skillfully tempted me, and I’m the one stuck in confusion.
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  I clutch my hair with one hand. Something transformed. I wouldn’t recognize what the hell that was until it would be too late.

  I skim my fingers up and down her biceps, knowing how ignorant I was to believe that sex would quench my lust for her.

  My lust had fully incited, and that resulted in a cluttered situation. Sex changed the entire dynamic of our already atypical relationship. It threw us into precarious territory of jealousy and control.

  CHAPTER 7

  Camilla

  The diner sounds busy because it’s such a small space, but I don’t let the murmurs of others deter my attention from across the street.

  A hint of vanilla wafts by, and I take a deep breath when a pang of longing pierces my heart. I use vanilla scented shampoo, and Adriano used to love that recognizable perfume.

  *

  One year and eleven months ago

  I wake up with Adriano bound around me from behind, his arm draped over my waist, hand between my legs. Even in his sleep, he manages to cop a feel.

  Unexpectedly, I don’t have any regrets. I’ve buried the nightmares of my past deep inside, and I’ve always dreaded becoming intimate with someone again for fear that those nightmares would surface. But the opposite happened. He noticed my scars; I could sense him stiffening slightly when he outlined my damaged skin, but he didn’t utter a word. Instead, he loved my body with unrestrained adoration.

  I trace my toes up his legs, and he nuzzles my hair.

  “Good morning.” I wiggle my ass against his hard-on.

  “Morning,” he mumbles, his voice thick with sleep.

  We’re both quiet for a long time.

  “What time is it?” Adriano suddenly asks, and he moves away, snatching his pants from the floor to take his phone out. “Shit! I have to go to work.”

  I sit up while disappointment fills me. “Right now?”

  He tucks his legs into his pants and buttons his collared shirt. “Yes, now. I need to go home first,” he comments distractedly.

  Is he running away from me? “Is something wrong?” I blurt boldly when insecurity sweeps through me. Does he have that much experience with women that I was a letdown?

  After stepping into his shoes, he combs a hand through his hair and meets my eyes. “No. I’m just late.”

  His distance is unsettling me, and I refuse to be just another one of his women. “Why are you being like this? Is this how you treat all women? Where’s fun Adriano now? Once you’ve had me, you’re done?” I hold his gaze.

  His teeth clench, and he warns, “Don’t you do this. You know me better than that.”

  I kneel up on the bed, naked. “Do I? I let you fuck me without protection while I know you flirt with everyone. And now, you’re acting different... I’m starting to feel horrible.” My voice drops to a whisper when I realize I’m rambling. It’s on the tip of my tongue to ask if I wasn’t satisfying, but I’m not that brave.

  He studies me with a calculating look before he’s on me in a split second, pushing me flat on my back on the bed.

  “You’re overthinking this. I’m just late – that’s it.” His face inches closer to mine as he leans on his hands, and he speaks with an impatient tone. “Yes, I flirt, Cam. It’s innocent. And I’m only going to say this once; I haven’t fucked anyone else since I met you. I’ve chased you and waited for months.”

  A wave of relief springs to life because wondering whether or not he still has sex with other women has been hounding my mind.

  He senses that my annoyance is draining and palms my cheek. “And what horrible feeling are you referring to?”

  I let out a sigh. “I’m not sure...”

  “Tell me,” he urges, soothingly yet firm.

  “I’m not sure where we go from here.” I attempt to sit up again, and he rises off me.

  “Cam, we’ll talk tonight,” he says with a blank expression and heads to the door.

  What? Did he not expect that answer, so he cuts the conversation instantly? Unable to make out whether he’s upset, I cloak the grey sheet around my body and follow him to the door. I stop at the doorframe when I spot movement in the club already.

  Gina, a brunette stripper, passes Adriano on his way to the exit and halts him. She sees me, and her mouth tilts down in distaste, but she hides it and beams at him, uttering something.

  I watch what Adriano does. He doesn’t push her away, but answers her – too quietly for me to hear – and then leaves without a backward glance to me.

  I raise a brow at Gina, acting as if I’m not intimidated by her rivalry, even though I am, and I’m feeling exposed as I clutch the sheet to my chest and return to the bed.

  And then it hits me: sex changes everything.

  Has the sex just ruined our friendship?

  I stay at the house all day, tending the bar from the afternoon into the night, and wait for Adriano to come for me. But he doesn’t.

  It’s already after midnight when Damian, Gina, and a blonde stripper – the only three people in the strip club – are seated at a nearby table, speaking at the top of their voices.

  I retrieve my phone from my purse underneath the bar and check to see if Adriano’s contacted me.

  “Where is everyone tonight?” the blonde asks.

  “They’re out,” Gina answers and continues, “Why? Are you waiting for Adriano?”

  I resist looking up and letting them know I’m eavesdropping.

  Gina comments, “He’s not coming tonight; he told me this morning.”

  My heart sinks, and my eyes fall closed as I hear her words. He promised me he’d be back tonight. Usually, he texts when he won’t be able to make it, but after seeing no messages, I gather he’s ignoring me. Dismayed, I toss the phone back into my purse, and I discreetly escape the room. Gina wanted me to overhear; I’m sure of it.

  As I descend the stairs into the foyer, my sandals click off the tiles, and I realize that I have no transportation or anyone else to call.

  “Cam!” Damian charges down the stairs. “Where are you going?”

  I sigh, not knowing what to do. “Well, I want to go home, but everyone’s left.”

  “I’ll take you home.”

  Having no other choice, I accept and go outside with him. “Thank you.”

  We drive in silence to my apartment in the Loop while I’m engaged in thoughts of Adriano. I should’ve known he’d change the moment we had sex. I do know him, up to a certain level, but we actually don’t know each other’s pasts. I’m not even sure what his present is. In actuality, we don’t really know each other at all.

  The BMW comes to a stop in front of my apartment building, and it hits me that Adriano might be bothered that Damian took me home, so I ask a favor, “Could you please not tell Adriano about driving me home?”

  A frown sweeps across his forehead, but he promptly hides it. “Okay...” he agrees, cautiously.

  Because I’m too affected by today, I don’t elaborate at all. “Thanks for the ride.”

  I go inside my second floor studio apartment, which is scarcely decorated and consists of just a kitchenette, bed, and closet, and I drop onto the bed, feeling wounded.

  Taking out my phone, I twirl it in my hand and consider texting Adriano, but my battered pride prevents me, and instead, I hurl the phone across the tiny space. Thank goodness, it doesn’t break; the old phones are resilient. Unlike my heart. I already miss him. Last night was so much more for me than a fuck. I’m falling for him. It’s always been more than a friendship for me.

  I wrap the edges of the duvet around me, hoping to speak with him tomorrow. He can’t avoid me for long. A tear breaks free, and I shut out the world, trying to find consolation in sleep.

  The following night, I see Adriano in the strip club.

  I’m rearranging barstools when he saunters in, as always, in neatly pressed dress pants and a white collared shirt, no suit jacket. A tingle deep in my belly spirits up at the sight of him: tall, dark, and handsome.

  The gir
ls are here too, and Gina hogs him. He smiles tersely at her but looks directly at me, his gaze burning like a brand against my skin.

  When he steps away from her to join me, she gives me the evil eye, and I leer back.

  Adriano closes the distance casually with one hand in his pocket and asks, without emotion, “Where were you last night?”

  I stand tall; I’m not the one who ran out of here yesterday. “Here.”

  “All night?”

  “Yes.”

  That produces an incredulous nod. “I see.” Adriano motions Gina over with a discreet wave.

  She comes with a wary, yet victorious smile.

  I stare at Adriano, irritation building, as they stand close together right in front of me. I’ve been missing him, and he acts so detached and odd.

  He knows about Damian. Whether the Italian himself outed me or that bitch, Gina, I haven’t figured out.

  I don’t acknowledge her and grip the bar behind me.

  Adriano shifts behind Gina as his hand sidles up her throat, and she loves it. He bends his head toward her ear, not touching the shell. Her eyes fall closed, and his freeze on mine, battling with me.

  “Who took Cam home last night?” he whispers and lifts a brow.

  Gina’s eyes fly open. “Damian.”

  Her response elicits a wry smile from him. “Really...” He draws the word out. “How interesting.” Pure jealousy and displeasure cloud his face; it’s not a desirable trait on him now. “I don’t like hearing that, Cam. And you know what else I don’t like?” His other hand comes out of his pocket, gripping Gina’s hip and tightening his fingers around her throat. “Your telling on Cam the moment I step through the door.” His unwavering eyes bore holes into me. “Don’t play games with me, Gina. And stay clear of Cam,” he sneers and releases her. “Leave us.”

  She scampers away with a scornful expression.

  Adriano plants both hands over mine on the bar and forces me to lean back, his leg nudges between mine and he presses against me, face-to-face.