Finding Love's Wings

by Derrick, Zoey

"Just one more kiss, then I'll let you down." I smile against her lips and kiss her again. And then again, more deeply, dancing dangerously close to distraction.

  Cami giggles against my lips and squeezes me closer and tighter to her body. I can feel her nipples, hard as a rock, pressed against my chest. So not helping, I think. I have been dying to lay her back out on this bed since we left the bathroom.

  "All right, back to work, my little bear," she says.

  I blush. "Bear, huh?"

  She grins. "Yes. Bear."

  I smile at her blunt statement. "Where does bear come from?"

  She blushes now. "Papa bear, teddy bear, cuddle bear, you growl like a bear, and most of all, I find a comfort in your arms that I never knew I needed."

  "I love it."

  I kiss her again. She giggles and tries to squirm from my grasp, but I have no desire to let her go. I sit down in the desk chair with her straddling me.

  "You know what happened the last time we were in this position," she says.

  Ah, yes. I remember very clearly.

  "Go ahead. I can work distracted," I tease.

  "I'd like to test that theory, but I'm afraid of my inability to control myself. I don't want to end up distracting us both so we get nothing done. Because believe me, I would capture your attention."

  Oh, how right she is.

  "Too late," I tease her back, and she giggles.

  She reaches around me and grabs her iPad off the desk.

  "You use the laptop, and I'll do what I need to on the iPad."

  She squirms her way off of my lap. Just before she walks away, she reaches out and runs her hand over my sex. A promise of more to come.

  *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

  I climb up on the bed and prop my head up against the headboard, bringing my knees up so that I have a place to rest the iPad. When my email comes up, I have seventeen new messages, all either from Trinity or Vincent regarding the stories about Layla's affair and the fire at her house. My heart constricts again to think that he might have been caught in that fire instead of safe here with me.

  An email from Vincent catches my attention, completely different in tone and content than the rest. As I read it, a huge smile spreads across my face.

  Tristan, who must not be doing a very good job of getting to work, asks, "What has you smiling so much, Sweets?"

  "Oh, nothing. Just you."

  He snorts. "What about me?"

  "I received an email from Vincent about ten minutes ago with some very good news for you."

  "What does it say?" I can tell he's trying to keep his excitement in check.

  "Well, Vincent has not only received clearance to send you a script, but he has received four additional requests to schedule auditions."

  I watch as the smile on his face spreads wider and wider until he's literally grinning from ear to ear.

  "Cami!" he shouts. "Are you fucking kidding me?!"

  "That depends, Tristan. Should I be kidding?" My smile is just as wide as his.

  "Do you realize what this means?" he says. "It's not over. It's not over. Oh my God, Cami, it's not over!" He's shouting now, his legs bouncing up and down in his chair. "I'm not done. I can keep doing this?"

  I nod, and he leaps up off the chair and runs toward the bed. He dives on top of it like it's a pool, hitting the bed with such force that I shoot straight into the air. I squeal as I bounce back down.

  "Come 'ere, woman!" he growls as he grabs at my arm to pull me close to him. He pulls me around so that my face is upside down under his, with my feet resting on the headboard.

  "I could kiss you right now."

  "So what's stopping you?"

  It takes us the rest of the day to get things straightened out with both the police and the press. We order a late dinner up to the room, and afterwards decide to go for a swim. The sun has set and the outside lights flicker on.

  The pool is illuminated with LED lights that change color between blues, greens and purples. It's stunning to watch, and even more stunning to be swimming in when they change.

  While Tristan's changing, I find Tyson in his bedroom. I knock lightly.

  "Come in," I hear him say.

  Turning the knob and peeking my head in the door, I watch as he puts down the book he's reading, only catching a small glimpse of the title on the cover, which is bright orange.

  "Hi, Ty," I whisper. He's surprised at seeing me. "Sorry. I don't mean to bother you."

  "No worries, ma'am...Cami. What can I do for you?"

  "First of all, you can relax. I would like you to join Tristan and me out at the pool."

  "That's really not necessa-"

  I cut him off. "I won’t hear of it. You've been working around the clock for the last week and then some. Take a load off. Nothing will happen to us up here, and you'll be closer to us anyway. I'm going to order a couple bottles of wine and champagne. Anything specific you enjoy?"

  "Apple juice." He smiles like he's hiding a private joke.

  "With vodka?"

  He laughs. "No, Cami. I don't drink."

  Did he not understand? "I want you to relax and have a good time with us. There must be some type of alcohol you like.”

  "No, really, Cami, I don't drink. On or off duty. Apple juice will be fine, and I will happily join you guys."

  "All right, Ty. I'll have some apple juice, wine, and champagne brought up. Anything else?" He shakes his head. "See you in a bit."

  When I finish the room service order, I call down to front desk to see if I have any messages. The concierge informs me that two messages were delivered to my suite downstairs, one first thing this morning and one just a couple of hours ago.

  Odd. Anyone who knows where I am has my cell phone number.

  "Can you have the concierge who delivers my order to the penthouse grab the messages from my suite on his way up?"

  "Certainly, Ms. Enders. One more thing while I have you on the phone. I was the one that took the second message not that long ago. I informed the caller that we had no guests by the name of Ms. Enders, and she was quite insistent that I was mistaken. When I refused to transfer her call to any of the rooms, she grew aggressive. I just thought I should warn you."

  My heart stops.

  PART TWENTY-EIGHT

  *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

  I'm sitting on the pool’s edge, patiently waiting for Cami to join me. The water is warmer than it was yesterday afternoon, no doubt due to the warmth of the day. The lights emanating around the sides give a great ambient glow. I'm excited to see Cami's porcelain skin glowing elegantly under these lights.

  I hear a noise behind me and I turn. I’m surprised to see not Cami but Tyson in his swim trunks.

  "Hey, man, what's up?"

  "Nada. Cami pretty much ordered me to join you guys tonight." He looks rather sheepish in his explanation.

  "Good. You need a night off."

  "You had no idea she was going to do that, did you?" He smiles.

  I chuckle. "No, I didn't, but I don't care. She's welcome to do as she pleases, and I'm happy to have you hanging out. Where is she?"

  "She was ordering room service. Wine, champagne, and apple juice, I think."

  "You and your apple juice." I chuckle. "One day soon I will get you drunk."

  He laughs, shaking his head. "Don't hold your breath on that one."

  "Watch me," I tease.

  I know that Tyson never drinks, but he never drinks because he's always on duty. I'm going to make a point of giving him some much-needed time off once the other two bodyguards get here tomorrow. They can keep an eye on us, and Tyson can enjoy himself.

  "Are you excited about tomorrow?" I ask.

  Cami had shown me a picture of Jolene from her Facebook page. She's quite the looker, with some big, beautiful green eyes. Six feet tall, too, which is still shorter than Tyson. She looks like she needs someone tall and strong to hold her.

  Tyson just shrugs. He takes a step into the pool and slowly w
ades into the water. "I'm trying not to get my hopes up."

  "I can completely understand." I pause for effect. "I saw a picture of her today."

  His head whips around to look at me in complete surprise, "Oh yeah? Care to share?"

  "Nope!" I laugh, throwing my head back.

  He gives me a dubious smile. "You're an ass, Trey."

  I laugh harder. "No, not an ass. Just letting your imagination run wild for another twenty-four hours. I must say, I don't think you will be disappointed." I smile knowingly and he blushes slightly.

  "In all honesty, I'm more nervous than anything. It's been years since I even considered entertaining a woman, let alone dated one." He looks down, a bit shy. I must say, a shy Tyson is a bit of shocker.

  "You'll be fine. Just be yourself and that will say it all."

  I hear the clinking of glasses behind me. Tyson perks up a bit, and I turn my head to see Cami. In one hand she's carrying three champagne glasses upside down between her fingers. In her other hand are three bottles, one that looks like Cristal, one a wine bottle, and the third plain old apple juice.

  I smile at her, but the smile she gives me in return is strained. Something's off. Then I notice a couple small pieces of paper in the hand holding the glasses.

  "Hi, baby. You all right?"

  "I need a drink first."

  I nod as she comes over to me. I take the bottles from her and she sits down next to me, dangling her feet in the water. I look for the corkscrew and see it's hooked into her bikini top. Hmm, guess she ran out of places to carry it. I reach over and grab it, brushing my hand against her nipple.

  She gasps. "Behave yourself," she breathes.

  "Impossible," I retort.

  I twist open the apple juice, grab a glass from Cami, and pour. Tyson sloshes over to us, and I hand him the glass.

  "Thanks," he says to me, then turns slightly toward Cami. "Thank you, Cami."

  "Of course, though I wish you would have some champagne or wine with us."

  Tyson chuckles and shakes his head. "No, thanks."

  When I pop the cork on the champagne it goes flying toward the center of the pool. I chuckle as I move the pour-over to run onto Cami's lap. She starts laughing and I bring it up higher so that it runs over her breasts. She tilts her head back, and I pour some into her mouth. She's laughing as she tries to swallow, and I watch the blush spread across her cheeks. No doubt because Tyson's watching with interest.

  "There," I say. "You've had your drink, now what's bothering you?"

  She holds up the pieces of paper I'd noticed earlier.

  "There were two messages delivered to my suite downstairs today, one this morning and one just a couple of hours ago. The concierge downstairs took the second message and felt it necessary to warn me that it was rather rough." She takes a deep breath. "I haven't read them yet. I brought them with me."

  She hands me the two pieces of paper.

  "You want me to read them?"

  She nods. Taking the corkscrew back from me, she opens the bottle of wine and pours some into a champagne glass, then pours me a glass of Cristal.

  I look at the folded pieces of paper. On the backside of each are the date and time of the message.

  I open the one from this morning:

  Gentleman caller for Cameron Enders. Caller informed no such guest is staying at the hotel. Caller insisted that I was mistaken, aggressively advised me to transfer him to Ms. Enders immediately. When I refused several times, caller requested a reservation for Wednesday, June 13th. When told there was no vacancy, caller hung up. Call was routed through Hawaii, indicating a call originating in the U.S.

  "Sweets, besides Mick, do you know of any other men who know you're here?"

  "I know a few men, but only Mick and Vinnie know where I am. There is Reed, of course. I suppose he could have tracked me down. Why?"

  I tell her what the note says.

  She looks puzzled. "Reed's the only one I can think of who might seek me out here, but he has my cell phone number. And besides, there's no way he would have tried to make a reservation. He can't afford the last-minute flight, let alone the price of a room at this hotel. So the chances of it being him are slim." She paused. "What about the other message?"

  "I haven't gotten there yet." I unfold it and hold it out to her. "Do you want to read it first?"

  She just shakes her head.

  I look at the note and realize quickly that someone is onto us.

  Female caller, very distraught, first asked for Tristan Michaels, then when I informed her that no guest existed by that name, she started spouting off various cartoon names. I denied each one. She grew increasingly more upset and finally asked for Cameron Enders. She was informed that no guest was here by that name. Growing more agitated and said, "I'm gonna kill that bitch," and “That bitch stole my man.” Swearing and ranting continued until I politely terminated the call.

  "Fuck!" I shout.

  I'm so unbelievably angry. How dare she threaten Cami? Not to mention I'd made it very clear that we were broken up. Layla had no right to claim me as her man.

  "What?" Cami and Tyson say in unison.

  I read them the note. "I swear to God, this has to be Layla. But how in the hell did she find out where I am? And how in the fuck does she know about Cami?"

  Cami and Tyson look at each other, complete shock on their faces.

  "Those girls? With the autographs?" Cami asks.

  "It's entirely possible," Tyson says. "Though where would they have seen you together? They were too young to be in the bar, and I don't remember ever seeing them in the restaurant downstairs. And even if they'd seen you together, they wouldn't know Cami's name. The hotel would not release any names to anyone regarding their guests."

  "Staff? Like Jessie or the waitress in Blu last Friday? They would've had access to hotel guest names," Cami suggests.

  "Truth is, it could've been any member of the staff that knows Cami and myself. Though I'm not registered as Tristan, it's not hard to put two and two together. But how would it get back to Layla? There's nothing in the papers regarding my whereabouts. That is the only way I can think of that Layla would have had a direct line to where I am." I take a deep breath. "Maybe it wasn't Layla. Maybe it was some other woman, like the crazy one in the video about the fire. Or maybe the call came from within the area, and it was really a staff member. This note doesn't have routing information on it like the first."

  Tyson chimes in, "To be honest with both of you, until we have a real threat to worry about, not a phone call that is subject to interpretation, I'm not taking this very seriously. Hell, for all we know Mick and Beau are playing pranks on both of you. Male first, this morning, then the female this afternoon. It's possible."

  Cami shakes her head. "Not something that they would do. I personally really don't care who it was. All I care about is Tristan being able to relax without the fan bombardment."

  Someone threatens her and all she cares about is that I can relax?

  I wrap my arm around her waist and pull her close to me. Kissing the top of her head, I whisper, "You, my sweets, are one amazing woman."

  She blushes and ducks her head. I lift her face to mine.

  "Don't ever be ashamed of a compliment, Cami. You will be receiving them from me often. You surprise me at every turn." This is true on so many levels. "I stand by what I said this afternoon, after we finally got off that awful sheriff's office call. I would be honored to have you as my PR rep or even my agent. And you will make an amazing CEO when and if you decide that you want to step up and take control. No doubt, once people can see what you do, it'll bring even more people to Bold."

  She nods but says, "I rather enjoy my freedom and ability to do the things I want without having to be tied to an everyday office job."

  "That may be true, baby, but you would be CEO, and your working hours would be entirely your choice. You have proven today that you can effectively handle a crisis no matter where in the world you are."
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  "I never thought about it that way." She seems pensive. "I work well with Trinity and Vincent, and I enjoy working for them. I'll think about it."

  "Good! Now, let’s have some fun."

  I get up and head to the box on the side of the patio, where I'd found some fun pool toys the other day. I find the beach ball that I am after and toss it with speedy precision at Tyson. It bounces off the side of his head and lands on the far side of the pool. Cami and Tyson both start laughing. I cannonball into the pool, effectively soaking Cami.

  She's still laughing as she drops into the pool, swimming after the ball. I reach for it, but she beats me to it and turns to toss it to Tyson. My plan backfires when it becomes a game of keep-away from Tristan, but we're all laughing and having a good time.

  Finally around midnight, Tyson calls it a night, leaving me and Cami with half a bottle of champagne and the pool to ourselves.

  Once Tyson is out of sight it takes me all of two seconds to embrace her and start kissing her lips, nudging her cheek with my nose, and caressing her body with my hands. She responds immediately, her breathing becoming harsher and deeper. The moans that escape her lips bring about the desperate need to be inside her.

  I grab at the bows of her bikini and pull. The material floats free of her breasts and I groan. She wraps her legs around my hips, rubbing her pussy against the tip of my dick through my shorts, even as her heels work at pushing them down. My cock is already spitting out desire for Cami, so I help her get my shorts off. As soon as I'm naked I feel Cami seeking to line up my stick with her entrance.

  We're up against the side of the pool, the champagne bottle within easy reach. As she slowly slides herself onto me I take the bottle and whisper, "Look up, baby." She does, opening her mouth, and I pour.

  I miss, catching her breasts. She moans as the cool champagne hardens her nipples. I lick at the champagne. She thrusts down, swallowing me whole in one thrust and coaxing a moan from both of us. I clean off her breast with my mouth, paying special attention to her nipple, licking and sucking as she starts to slide up and down my erection. I pour more champagne, this time closer to her mouth so I don't miss. When she has her fill she turns her head. But I'm so distracted by the sensations along my dick that I just let the rest of the bottle pour out all over her neck and bare breasts. I lick and suck my way around her body.