“Thank you,” Camilla said as the nurse started to leave.
“It’s no problem. Don’t forget, you have a call button by your bed, you use that any time you need to.”
Camilla nodded.
Then she and Nic were alone. She knew she didn’t have much time before the pain meds started working.
“I didn’t get any letters Nic.”
“Don’t worry about it. We’re just going to move forward, okay?”
The first wave of dizziness hit. The pain began to dissipate.
“I can’t think right now. Seriously, I can’t handle any of this. Can we do this some other time?”
He gave her a considering look.
“Please Nic,” she said quietly. “I need you to leave.”
“Okay honey, I’ll leave now, but I will be back. I love you Cami.”
She watched him walk out the door.
17
She heard the click of the door close behind him. She didn’t have any tears left. She stared at the white hospital wall. Memories assailed her. Not of the jungle. Of course not. It was the one precious memory that always came to her. It was Nic. Always Nic.
“Cami, your heart is beating a million times a minute,” he said as he pressed a warm kiss against the pulse in her neck. “We don’t have to do this.”
Her laugh didn’t sound like her, it was rich and husky. “You don’t know how many times I’ve imagined us here at this point, naked, in one another’s arms. Of course, my heart is beating fast, I’ve never been so excited. This is my every dream come true.”
Camilla stroked her hands along the back of his broad shoulders, then drifted them down his back until they sank into the firm flesh of his ass. Perfection.
Nic grinned down at her, his hazel eyes flashing. “So you’re not going to have any maidenly vapors?”
Another husky laugh. “Where did you ever hear that?” she asked as she squeezed his ass again.
“I don’t want to talk about some show mom was watching on cable,” Nic said. Slowly, he lifted his body up from hers so that she could see him from the top of his chest to his groin. Maybe she was going to have maidenly vapors.
Her hands were now laced around the back of his neck, she looked into his eyes, but they were focused elsewhere.
“God Cami, you’re so fucking beautiful.”
She could feel the blush start from her toes and go all the way up to her face. Every part of her body was heating up.
“I want to touch you,” she said as she pushed at his chest. Nic grinned down at her.
“You are touching me.”
“Down there,” she whispered. “Now shove over so I can.” She pushed harder and he rolled over onto his back.
“So little Miss Pushy Pants, you have no problem manhandling the goods, but you can’t say the word cock?”
She watched avidly as Nic circled his flesh with his fist and stroked it up and down. He shuddered and so did she. She moved closer so she could see better, her fingers twitched, she so badly wanted to touch him.
“Cami, talk to me. Is this too much for you?”
“No,” she exclaimed. “Well maybe,” she said slowly as she licked her lips. “Nic, I know it’s going to hurt the first time, but I feel all achy. It’s been hurting a lot not doing it.”
His head shot up to look at her face.
“Achy?”
“I think about this a lot.” She grabbed his wrist, wresting his hand away from his erection. She knelt up on the bed, loving how his eyes followed her every move. He changed positions so that he was kneeling in front of her. Waiting. For long moments they stared at one another.
“What do you want? Name it and it’s yours,” he asked.
She drew his hand down so that he could touch the folds of her sex. Her entire body jerked; it was like she’d touched a live electrical wire. Nic’s other hand cupped her cheek.
“Stay with me Cami,” he whispered. His fingers stroked her tender flesh, up and down he followed the seam of her sex. Cami held her breath, waiting for a deeper touch and he didn’t disappoint her. When one of his big fingers probed deep she gasped and grabbed his shoulders.
“You’re so soft and wet. You feel so good, Cami.”
“I do?”
He looked back up so she could see his eyes. They were almost emerald green with desire.
“Baby, I need you to lie down, can you do that for me?”
Part of her wanted to argue. They were in this together, so she would only lie down if he did, but there was something in his face that made her comply. His arm wrapped around her back to help lower her to the mattress. His finger never stopped stroking inside her body.
“We’re going to take this slow,” he said with a tight smile.
“I don’t want to go slow, I want you now.” She reached out to touch his erection.
“No Cami, don’t touch me. If you do I’ll explode like a rocket. Keep your hands on my shoulders. Just let me pleasure you this first time, okay?”
She could see his need and anxiety, and it got through to her like nothing else could have. She relaxed back into the mattress, her hands by her head, and let the sensations wash over her. Nic bent his head to her breast. He licked all around her nipple then blew. She arched off the bed as he pressed two fingers inside her body.
“What?”
He sucked her hardened tip into his mouth and she moaned. Fire ripped through her blood, sparks sizzled down every vein as she tried to make sense of what she was feeling. Dimly she realized she’d spread her legs wide in a wanton need for more.
She was so close to the pinnacle, an orgasm like no other, when Nic pulled his fingers out of her heated channel and knelt up higher.
“No!” She lifted her weak arms and tried to pull him back to her.
“I’m here Cami, I’m not leaving.”
She heard the crinkle of a foil wrapper and realized he was protecting her. When wasn’t he protecting her? She watched as he sheathed his erection and moved over her, one arm cuddling her head, his eyes looking into hers.
“I love you so much. You’re my world.” He blessed her with a tender kiss that soon turned hot and wild. Camilla lifted her knees, trying to tempt him into her body. He swept his hand down until he was touching the curls at the apex of her thighs, but that wasn’t what she wanted.
“No, I want your…your…”
“Say it, honey,” he grinned down at her. “The word is cock.”
She balled up her fist and hit him on his shoulder. Hard. “Fine, you smartass, I want your cock.” She whispered the last word, she couldn’t help it.
His laughter sighed out of him. His hand moved past her curls and then she felt his thumb touching her clitoris.
“Ahhhhh.” White shone behind the backs of her eyelids. It wasn’t quite the right touch that she needed at first, but Nic being Nic, learned quick. Soon he was circling her swollen bud and she was panting and struggling to keep herself under control.
“Stop it! I need you inside me. We get to make love, you promised.” She felt tears dripping down her temples. She stared up at him, seeing the indecision on his face. “Nic, it’s going to be all right. I promise. How could anything we do together ever really hurt me? Our bodies were meant to be together.”
He continued to circle her clit as he positioned his cock at her swollen entrance. Camilla willed herself to relax. When he started to enter her it was everything she could have hoped for—he was stretching her, filling her, making her feel complete. Then he pressed even farther, and the sensation changed. Her body was trying to stop him, trying to keep him out. She looked up at Nic’s face that was tight with concentration.
He started to pull out.
“Cami—”
Using her knees she shoved up with all the strength that she had.
“Uggh,” she muffled the sound as quickly as she could by pressing her mouth against his neck.
Dammit, she felt even more tears leaking from her eyes. She was a
damned faucet, and it was going to scare the hell out of Nic.
“Cami. Look at me.”
She took three deep breaths and the pain drifted away. It was like it had never happened. Instead, she was connected in the most primal way possible to the man she loved. She pulled back so she could look into his eyes and smiled.
He searched her face. She knew what he saw—nothing but love.
A slow smile spread across Nic’s face. She felt him pulse deep inside her and her eyes widened.
“Are you ready?” he asked.
“I’m ready for anything.” She grinned. She gasped as he slowly retreated, his cock caressing every part of her, then he pushed back inside just as slowly, watching her intently. Had anything ever felt so good?
“That’s my line,” he smiled.
She must have said that out loud.
He continued to caress her channel with delicious strokes of his cock. She gulped in a huge breath when he pressed even deeper, then pulled back out, scraping against a magical place.
“Again,” she begged.
His strokes got faster and stronger, and her legs wrapped around his waist. He moved the hand that had been beside her head and slid it down her body until he was once again touching her clit.
It was too much pleasure, but she greedily grasped every bit of it. She looked up into his handsome face, memorizing him, memorizing this perfect moment in time.
“I want everything,” she begged. “I want you to give me all of you.”
She loved his look of surprise.
“Let go, Nic. I want us to fly together.”
It was like she had unleashed a thunderstorm. His kiss was ferocious. His tongue delved deep, exactly matching the rhythm of his cock, his chest glided against her breasts, making her nipples feel like they were going to burst.
Higher and higher he pushed her. So high she could see the clouds, the sky, the stars.
She burst through to the edge of the galaxy, lost in wide emerald green eyes that were dazed with pleasure.
“You’re my everything, Cami,” he whispered as his thumb traced her bottom lip. “My everything.”
18
“What took you so long to get here, Mrs. Ross?”
It was Nic’s voice, and he sounded pissed. Wait, she’d told him to leave, hadn’t she?
“I had to give a speech, if you must know. I’ve been in constant contact with Camilla’s doctors as soon as she was admitted. If I thought her situation was critical, of course, I would have canceled and come immediately.”
“Where’s Mr. Ross?”
Oh, he sounded so pissed. She needed to open her eyes. This was not good.
“Clifford is on a dig. I contacted him, but it will be a couple of more days before he can get here.”
“Jesus Christ, you people are fucking amazing.”
“Nic,” Camilla called out as she opened her eyes. “What are you doing here?”
“Camilla, you’re awake.” Her mother walked over to her side before Nic had a chance to answer. “How are you feeling? The doctor said you might need to have another surgery, he’s not sure, it depends. The damage was extensive.”
Camilla looked into eyes that were a mirror of her own. “Hello, Mother. What country is Dad in?”
“Mongolia. He should be here the day after tomorrow, that is if you’re still in the hospital. I think it would be best if you came home for a little while. I don’t think you’re in any condition to take care of yourself. I can hire in a nurse.”
So much for tender loving care. No questions about the kidnapping. Nada, zip, nothing. You would have thought a scientist would have had more curiosity.
“Mother, I can just as easily arrange for a nurse in my own apartment.”
“Nonsense, everyone would expect you to be staying with your father and me.”
Ah-ha, now everything makes sense; she doesn’t want to lose face with her university friends.
“She can stay with me,” Nic said as he stepped up beside her mother. “I have plenty of leave I can take so it wouldn’t be a problem at all.”
Before Camilla could respond to his offer, her mother turned on him. It didn’t seem to bother her that she was a foot shorter and probably a hundred pounds lighter than him, she was going to have her say. “I don’t know how you even found out about Camilla’s ordeal, or how you came to be here, but you are surely not involved. You should never have been involved with my daughter from the beginning. The best thing that ever happened was the day you disappeared and were never heard from again.”
“Mother.” Camilla was aghast. She’d known that her dad and mom disapproved of Nic years ago, but never to this extent. “Do you know what Nic did? He and his teammates risked their lives to save me and the other students. He’s a hero.”
Enid Ross looked like she had sucked on a lemon. “He’s just a glorified thug that our government has on the payroll to do their dirty work.”
She knew that her mother was an elitist but she’d never heard her like this before. It was profoundly upsetting. How could she have been raised by this woman?
“Mother, Nic serves our country. I am proud of what he does. He is an honorable man, and he helped to save eleven lives two days ago.”
“Camilla, I’m not going to argue semantics with you. I came here to talk about your recovery. Your shoulder is going to require a great deal of time to heal, and then there will be months of rehabilitation. I have no idea when you can go back to your job at the university. We need to develop a plan for your future.”
“Jesus lady, you can’t possibly be worried about Cami’s career right now. She was just kidnapped. You can’t possibly understand what she’s gone through. She needs a hell of a long time to just recover from that.”
“Nonsense. My daughter is strong. She can rise past that. It’s her physical well-being that I’m concerned about.”
Camilla watched Nic’s incredulous expression. She wanted to laugh. She remembered spending time at his parents’ house—the times when his parents had been there—and she had loved them. They had been so warm and welcoming. It was a whole different dynamic at the Hale household. Camilla had almost been embarrassed to introduce Nic to her parents, and her mother was proving why again. But the woman was her mother, and Camilla wouldn’t have expected anything different.
“Mrs. Ross—”
“It’s Doctor Ross,” she interrupted.
“If you’re a damned doctor, then you should really understand that Cami needs love and support right now, not to be railroaded by some unemotional robot.”
“I’m a doctor of physics, not a medical doctor.”
Camilla swallowed a laugh. Really, that’s what her mother wanted to defend herself about?
“If Camilla would allow it, I want her to come home with me, so I can take care of her.”
“Wait a moment, did you just ask me, Nic? Was that an actual question, not an edict?”
He rubbed the back of his neck and grimaced. “Actually, it was a plea. Please Cami, come to my place.”
“That’s utter nonsense. Camilla, you haven’t heard from this boy since he left you years ago, why in the world would you even consider allowing him to have anything to do with you now?”
Boy?
“Mother, can we sort this out some other time. It’s too much for me to take in right now.”
“Fine. I’m going to check in with your doctor, maybe even your surgeon, and then I’m going to my hotel. I will come and visit you as soon as visiting hours begin tomorrow morning. You’ve had enough fuss for one day.”
“I’ll see you tomorrow morning then.” Camilla nodded. That was when it occurred to her that her mother hadn’t even touched her during the entire visit. She watched as her mother turned toward the door.
“Nic, come along,” Enid said, looking back at the man who was standing next to her bed.
“I’m not leaving unless Cami asks me to.”
“Her name is Camilla.”
; Camilla looked up at Nic’s face. Her dream was uppermost in her mind—she just couldn’t let him go.
“It’s okay, Mother, he can stay.”
“As you wish,” she clipped out. Then she let herself out of the room.
Nic looked down at Camilla. There were bruises on her face. Between the massive bandages that started up at her neck and went down to her right elbow to the smaller bandages on her left arm she almost looked like a mummy.
“Thank you for letting me stay,” he said. She didn’t respond. “Why are you letting me stay?” he finally asked.
“Lots of reasons. Who you were back then, the man you are today. The man who put his life on the line for people he didn’t know. Take your pick.”
Her blue eyes studied him. He remembered that, how she used to watch him. It had been like she was trying to get under his skin and understand exactly what made him tick. It had amused him back in high school because even he hadn’t known what made him tick back then.
She didn’t say anything else, and finally, he blurted out what had been eating at him.
“You’re not married. Your name is still Ross. I don’t see a ring.”
She frowned. “No. Are you?”
“Nope, never been. And you? Ever been married that is?”
She was still frowning up at him. He wanted an answer. Not just to this, but to everything. He wanted to know about every single day of her life since he had last seen her. But first, he wanted to know about Harris Prescott, the man she’d been engaged to.
“No, I’ve never been married, not even close.”
What the hell?
“That’s not true, Cami. You were engaged.”
Wide blue eyes met his. “I was never engaged,” she denied.
“Does the name Harris Prescott ring a bell?” He kept his voice soft and even. There wasn’t a chance in hell that he was going to be anything but gentle with this woman who had been mauled two nights ago. But at the same time, he wasn’t going to let this slide, either.
Camilla rolled her eyes. “Oh him. According to Mother and Dad, I was engaged all right. He’s an archeologist who worked with Dad. He asked me to marry him. I put him off, but as far as my parents were concerned it was a done deal. They even put an announcement in the paper. But no, I’ve never been engaged.”
Her Faithful Protector: A Navy SEAL Romance (Night Storm Book 6) Page 13