Camille wrapped her legs around his waist, and although it meant that she was digging her gun into his ribs, he didn’t seem to mind. Fuck, he could kiss. He devoured her as he crushed her against the wall, freeing one hand to glide up the bared skin of her thigh, and she rocked her hips, encouraging him, moaning softly against his lips. The hard press of his cock through his pants was impossible to ignore, and more than anything she wanted him.
Please don’t be a fucking dream.
As if he could hear her thoughts, the kiss broke and he pulled back a fraction of an inch, their harried breaths mingling between them, his jade eyes intense on hers, and she heard the low growl in his chest just before he kissed her again, harder than before. Urgently, like he was afraid she might disappear before he could memorize her – as if he were worried it was a dream too. His fist tightened in her hair, and it sent sparks down her back to join the storm growing inside, forming a warm, tight ball of electricity low in her belly.
When he broke the kiss again they were both gasping, and he groaned, dropping his forehead against her shoulder. She could feel his heart pounding almost in time with hers, his shirt and jacket brushing against her chest. With a delicate touch she ran her hands tentatively up his arms until she could move them into his hair, fine strands tickled her hands before she tugged him gently away from her so she could see his face.
He looked like he was in pain, his incredible eyes vibrant and the most out of control she’d ever seen him. His was voice rough when he finally spoke, “You are so perfect, C. You are so unbelievably beautiful, and strong, and smart, and – God dammit.” With a sharp movement he grabbed her by the waist and lifted her away from him so that she had no option but to release him and plant her treacherous heels onto the tile again. When he tried to move away she grabbed onto his jacket and yanked him towards her.
No. Not again.
“Smith –” she said his name fast before pushing her hands into his hair to pull him down to her lips, and they stumbled backward until she was against the wall again. The kiss was all urgency on her part, and he met her with the same desperate intensity. There was an unmistakable hunger in it, a heat that was the delicate precision of fireworks and an out of control forest fire at the same time – and she was sure she was about to get burned, but she couldn’t stop it. Didn’t want to stop it. This was Smith.
Her savior. Her teacher. Her gun-toting angel of death.
It was a moment more before his hands landed on her again, but it seemed he couldn’t resist the pull either. One hand pressing in at her waist to pin her to the wall, the other sliding up her side until he held the base of her neck and suddenly she was pressed completely against him once more, the hardness against her lower belly unmistakable.
Just fuck me. Don’t think and fuck me.
As his tongue clashed with hers again she held onto his jacket, and moved her other hand lower until she was able to stroke him through his pants, gripping him gently. Urging him on.
“No -” the word escaped him on a grunt as he broke the kiss and jerked his hips away from her touch. “No, C.”
“Come back.” She reached for him again, but he pushed back from her.
“No.” He wiped a hand over his face, his eyes wild as they moved over her. “Hell… what have I done? Oh my God, what have I -” He turned and paced to the other side of the alcove, her heart trying to beat out of her chest as she caught her breath from the intense kisses and the suddenness of his departure.
“Smith, listen, I want -”
“Oh God, I can’t believe -” he cut her off, but then he couldn’t continue speaking. Those pale green eyes flicked towards her and then he turned away, his hands tearing into his hair to grip it painfully tight.
“Smith! Fucking look at me!” Camille shouted and her voice echoed off the tile, but it was worth it when he froze in place and slowly raised his gaze to her face. “I need you to listen to me right now, I want you. I want this. I’ve wanted you for so fucking long, and I don’t know what your fucking problem is, but -”
“I can’t do this.” He shook his head, keeping his eyes low.
“You were doing it pretty fucking well a second ago.” She growled under her breath, refusing to let it drop this time. There was no bathroom for him to go run and hide in, and she wasn’t going to let him pretend that he didn’t feel the pull like she did. She’d seen it now. Felt it. He’d lifted the mask and shown her exactly what he wanted, and there was no fucking way she was accepting his lies again. “Do not pull this shit. I want you, you want me, there’s nothing fucking wrong with –”
“I don’t even know how old you are, C!” He shouted at her, and there was no mask at all anymore, no cool exterior, no professional distance making her feel alone – he was fully present, every random emotion on full display as it passed over his face. His voice was cracking, pained, and the words tore at her as he spoke. “Jesus, I don’t know how old you are…” he laughed to himself, wiping a hand over his mouth as if he could erase the memory of her lips. “All of this. I’ve done all of this, I’ve shown you all of this, and I don’t -”
“Why on earth would my age mean anything?!”
“Because it does, and I’m sorry. I never should have done this.” He shook his head, holding his hand out like he was trying to stop her.
“Fuck you!” she shouted, her anger boiling up inside her. She pointed at him and stepped forward from the wall. “You don’t get to tell me I’m strong, smart, and then act like this. You don’t get to be confident in my ability to kill another person – and then try to tell me I’m too young to handle this. That I can’t handle YOU. Fuck you, Smith. You know what? You’re a colossal asshole.”
There was a flicker of fire in his eyes when he looked up at her. “This is different, C.”
“It’s not different, you’re just being a pussy about it.” She laughed and raked her gaze up and down his James Bond meets male model perfection appearance, his normal calm façade all tied up in knots just because he wanted her. “You’re just afraid.”
“I am not afraid. I’m protecting you.” There was a little more bite in his voice, and she smiled.
“Protecting me? Don’t be a spineless bastard, Smith. You’re only protecting yourself.”
“I will not be another monster in your life, Camille!” he snapped, and she opened her mouth as she stared at him.
So that’s it. That’s always been it.
“You think you’re a monster? For wanting me?” She laughed bitterly. “You think that if I thought you were a monster that I would have kissed you a few months ago? Do you really think that if I believed you were just another asshole that I wouldn’t have slit your throat in your fucking sleep before now?”
He stared at her, his expression growing controlled again, all of that wild panic leaving his face, but she wasn’t done.
“Because if you think that I’m that fucking stupid, I don’t know why you trusted me with a gun in the first place. I don’t know why you’d ever trust me to have your back on a job.” She lifted her chin, chewing on her lip as she rested back against the wall, wrestling with the flickering rage and lust and hurt. “Unless you don’t trust me. Is that the deal here? You don’t trust me? My judgment? My fucking ability to make choices? Because of my past?”
“Of course I trust you!”
“Then why are you being such an incredible asshole about this?!” She slapped the wall next to her, grateful that the sound of some droning speech echoing down the hallway meant their angry words probably couldn’t be heard inside the gala.
“I can’t do this right now.” He stepped away from the wall and started to move towards the entrance, but she moved fast to cut him off, standing her ground in front of him.
“No.” You are not running from me again.
“Move, Camille.”
“Make me.” She braced her heels as much as she could, and when he moved to step around her she dropped and swept his legs out from under him. Smith
landed hard, but twisted to flip himself into a crouch, his eyes flashing as he looked up at her. “Get up,” she growled down at him, channeling his voice from every session they’d ever had together, and his muscles twitched in response.
“This is not the place for this,” he said as he stood slowly, but she could tell by the way he was moving that he was ready for the fight.
“You picked the location.”
“There are civilians.”
“We’ll call it a marital dispute.” Lunging for him she faked a hit to his left side and then twisted and landed her elbow into the ribs on his right, before bringing her elbow up into the side of his head. He caught her arm then, twisting it, but she moved with him and delivered a series of hits to his midsection before he released her.
His hand caught her long hair when she tried to step away and she cursed herself for not figuring out how to do some fancy up-do that would have been more difficult to grab. She let him bow her backwards, feeling the strain in her back, and then held onto his wrist tightly so she could throw her leg up and around his neck in a swift movement that sent them both to the floor in a heap.
Smith didn’t wait. As soon as they landed he grabbed her arm and twisted it, pulling it straight up as he flipped her onto her stomach, landing his knee in the small of her back as he slammed her to the floor so she couldn’t ease the pressure. “No one will believe this is a simple marital dispute,” he growled above her.
“I honestly don’t give a fuck about anyone else.” She grabbed his wrist, digging her thumb into the tendons until she felt his grip loosen and then she broke the hold, ignoring the sharp pain in her arm as she did it. Reaching back she grabbed onto his jacket and threw her weight over, lifting her hip to help and he toppled to the floor beside her. A sharp hit to his diaphragm made him cough, and then she shoved herself to her feet, planting her heel over the same spot so that the slight pressure of the vicious point made it difficult for him to regain his breath. “You don’t get to pretend you don’t want me anymore, Smith. You don’t get to lie to me. It’s time to fucking man up and deal with this. I’m not letting you run from me, and I’m not taking no for an answer this time.”
His eyes roamed up her body until he met her steady gaze, his pupils slowly growing to overtake the ring of pale green. “Is that right?” he asked, and then his hands were on the backs of her calves, warm fingers squeezing the flesh. Then he pulled hard, buckling her legs. His strength wasn’t something she could fight against in the moment, and when it resulted in her straddling his ribs, her knees spread wide, she didn’t even want to argue. “So… I can’t say no?” his voice was a low purr that sent chills over her skin.
“I don’t think you want to,” she whispered.
“I don’t.” Smith reached for her and pulled her down to his lips for a kiss, his fingers tangling in her hair. It was the kind of kiss that burned the air out of her lungs and set her blood on fire, making her dizzy with it. Impossible. This is impossible. A low groan hummed between them, the world narrowing down to just the two of them for one blissful moment, and then he growled and pushed her back. “Shit. Not here in the middle of the hall. We need to move, come on.”
“Language, Smith.” Camille grinned as she lifted herself off him, and when he stood he swatted her ass sharply. “What the -”
“Come on.” He flashed a wicked smile, grabbing her hand to pull her with him around a bend at the back of the hallway.
“Do you have any idea where you’re going?” she asked, her shock making laughter hover at the edge of her voice.
“Sort of, I’ve been here exactly once before.” He pulled her down a hallway that she would have walked right past had he not turned them.
“And?”
“And it was for a job, so I did review the plans just in case…” his voice faded as he walked them down the narrow hall, and then he stopped at a door. When he tested the lever handle it didn’t budge, but he smiled at her and simultaneously shoved the handle down while slamming his shoulder against the door. There was a cracking sound and then the door opened.
It was a small meeting room, complete with leather chairs gathered around a long table.
He flipped the light on and tugged her inside, shoving the door closed behind him, jamming it back into the frame. It wasn’t the first time she’d seen that predator’s gleam in Smith’s eyes, but it usually only appeared when they were in the middle of a fight, circling each other, and he was looking for an opening. Now he was focused on her in a very different way, and part of her was tempted to run just so he could chase her. Catch her. Take her.
A better version of that morning’s spontaneous session.
“Last chance, Camille.”
“For?”
“To take this all back.” His voice was lower, rougher, but she just smiled.
“Don’t worry, Smith. I’ll be gentle with you.”
He grabbed her by the waist and spun her around, pressing her back against the door with his hard body. Every inch of him was muscle, and she knew that too well from years of being this close for very different reasons. “To be honest, Camille, I don’t know how gentle I can be.”
“Did I ask you to be gentle?” She shoved at his ribs, and he growled low in response, his grip at her waist tightening.
“No. You did not.” With a flash of movement that she almost blocked on instinct he fisted her hair and craned her neck back, looking down at her with all the intensity he usually had when he had a gun in his hand. “You will tell me to stop if you want me -”
“Would you shut up already and kiss me?”
“I don’t deserve you,” he whispered and then he tightened his grip in her hair sending electric tendrils looping down her spine just before his lips met hers with the kind of fierce abandon he’d first shown in the hall. He turned them around and forced her backwards towards the table, only breaking the kiss when he had to kick a chair out of the way. Lifting her effortlessly, he laid her out and let out a low groan as he traced his hands down her curves, still hidden under the dress.
She was mesmerized, tongue-tied as he leaned forward and started to press kisses to her waist, her belly, her hips. The fabric was an infuriating barrier. She wanted his skin on hers, wanted him on top of her, inside her. Wanted to make this real before he panicked again and scattered this moment to the wind. “Smith, would you fucking -”
“You and your mouth…” he growled, swatting her side with a stinging spank.
“Let me up and I’ll show you exactly what my mouth can do.” Camille propped herself up on her elbows, meeting his eyes. The intense look on his face made a wicked smile spread across her mouth, and she deliberately traced her bottom lip with her tongue – he just chuckled.
“Oh no, C, me first.” He yanked her to the edge of the table forcing her flat, and then shoved her dress up. The crisp sound of a knife opening made her sit up again, and she watched as he swiftly cut the sides of her underwear in two smooth slices, the blade never brushing her skin. Smith tucked the knife away somewhere, pulled off his jacket to toss it onto a chair, and then he raised an eyebrow at her as he slid her gun from the holster. The metal trailed up her inner thigh before he raised it up. “Mind putting this somewhere? It’s in my way.”
“Sure,” she said on a breathless whisper, taking the gun from him to lay it on the table beside her.
Smith grinned as he crouched down between her spread thighs. “Do try to be quiet, I’d hate to have to kill someone for interrupting.”
Camille swallowed, her breath growing short as he stared at her for a moment, and just as she was about to make some snide comment he leaned forward and traced his tongue slowly up her slit. “Fuck,” she hissed, and laid back, pushing her fingers into her hair while his warm tongue tasted her, sending tremors through her muscles as he licked her on a long sweep, ending with a flick over her clit. It was intense, almost too intense as he teased her in the most intimate way. Slowly, deliberately, every single lap from his tongu
e making her squirm until his strong hands grabbed her hips to hold her still against the table. “Fuck, Smith!”
“In a minute.” There was laughter in his voice as he braced his shoulders against her thighs and pulled her more firmly towards him, his lips closing over her clit to draw it in. Waves of pleasure pulsed through her, making her arch off the table, and there was nothing she could do as he devoured her. Soaking wet, her hips rocking up against him as she tried to keep her moans and gasps as quiet as possible. Shifting, Smith focused in on her clit, crippling and overwhelming, and then he slid two fingers inside her curling them to meet a spot that seemed to echo and rebound the shivers rushing through her.
“Oh my -” The words were stolen from her on a long moan that made her bite down on her arm to stay quiet. She was drawn taut as a bowstring. A kind of tension she’d never felt before, fully enveloped in the unbelievable ecstasy he was pulling from her. It was bordering painful, all of her muscles tensing as she dug her nails into her palms.
So close. So close. So close.
“Come for me,” he commanded and as if her body had been waiting for his permission she came hard, lights sparking behind her eyes as she bit down on a curse. A surge of wetness flooded between her thighs and he licked at her, moaning between her thighs as he drew out every trembling shiver he could. When she fell back against the table, limp in the after effects of the orgasm, he placed nibbling kisses to the inside of her thighs. “Beautiful…” he whispered.
“Holy shit,” she muttered, panting.
Smith stood slowly, loosening the button of his pants and shoving them out of the way, but she needed to touch him again. She sat up and pulled him against her for a kiss, her fingers twisting the fabric of his shirt to hold him. The tang of her taste on his lips was impossibly perfect, or at least she thought it was until his arms came around her, crushing her tight to him, keeping them so close that not a breath could have passed between them.
“I want you,” she whispered against his lips and he kissed her again, his heart pounding behind his ribs. It continued until she started to rock her hips against him, hungry to feel him closer, and then he was working to get his fucking clothes out of the way. He pulled back just enough for her to see him, his cock long and hard in his hand and she reached between them to run her thumb over the head where a pearl of precum lingered. Smith let out a groan, his jaw clenching as she stroked him, and then she lifted her hand and slowly sucked her thumb between her lips, tasting him.
Early Sins (Dangerous Games Book 0) Page 16