I rubbed my face and cursed myself for falling so heavily for an American who was just passing through. He’d meant to stay in Yorkshire for two days, visiting my brother while he was traveling in Europe. When we’d been introduced, two days quickly turned into two weeks. I was on summer break from my teaching job, and Nathan, my brother, had introduced us at a busy wine bar. At some point that first day Nathan left us alone. While others came and went, we talked and talked and connected at a deep level. Afterward, Cameron came home with me, instead of going back to Nathan’s.
Nathan told us he knew we’d hit it off. He’d known since he first met Cameron in the States, the year before. Yeah, right, I thought, with a wry smile. It didn’t really matter, because this wasn’t something I could deny.
I sat unhappily in the Land Rover and blew my nose. Through the fence that separated the lot from the rail tracks I saw that his train was disappearing out of the station. In forty minutes it would arrive in York, and he would change to a fast, mainline train to Edinburgh, where he was attending an academic conference on Monday, before traveling on. He’d invited me to go with him for the weekend, and I was tempted, just for two more days of what we’d had. But I was already in too deep.
Still, I wanted to go. Really I did. To hell with the consequences.
My pulse raced erratically as a crazy idea flitted through my mind. The train would stop at each of the villages between here and York, and if I put my foot down I could get to York Station in around the same time. I could surprise him and show him what I was made of. It was madness, a token gesture, but an important one all the same. Now that I had identified my deeper emotions, I suddenly needed to do something about it. A heady emotional rush drove me to act, born of the incendiary mix of desire and affection I felt for him. I shoved the keys into the ignition, locked my seat belt in place and reversed out of the parking place.
Seconds later I was on the road. If I made it to York in time, we’d have another ten minutes together before he left. I laughed at myself, shaking my head at my own reflection in the rearview mirror. Why was I doing this? Because I wanted him. Cameron was the best time I’d ever had. That first night, when I invited him to crash at my place, he stopped me on the threshold, backing me against the doorjamb.
“If I come inside, I’ll undress you, because I want you.” He stroked my neck and then kissed it, his breath warm against my skin. “You do realize that?”
I swallowed. Deep down I knew it, but he was so forthright. I was shocked, but I wanted it, too. “Yes, I know.”
As soon as the words passed my lips, his hands were all over me—demanding and masterful. His mouth claimed mine and I flared at his touch, turning into an elemental thing, all damp heat and vitality.
Moments later he lifted me from my feet, walked me inside and kicked the door shut behind us. “Which way to the bedroom?”
His voice was gruff and urgent with need as he looked down the hallway.
Unable to muster a verbal response I nodded my head and pointed at the bedroom door.
“Too late, I’ve spotted the sofa.” He turned me into his arms, wrapped my legs around his hips and headed for my old leather chesterfield in the lounge area beyond.
My hands locked on his shoulders possessively; my sex was throbbing.
He tipped me back over the arm of the sofa and allowed my shoulders to slide down onto the cushions, so that my hips were positioned right there on the arm of the sofa, my lower legs dangling free. I laughed, breathlessly. The way he handled me, so sure and direct, made me melt. Then he parted my legs, reached under my skirt and touched me between my thighs. When he made love to me that night I was truly in heaven.
I squeezed my thighs together and blinked. Apparently I couldn’t keep sex with Cameron out of my thoughts. I covered the first part of the drive to York quickly. Hope sped me on. Then I got stuck behind a tractor hauling a trailer full of hay bales. The oncoming traffic made it impossible to pass. My fingers tapped impatiently on the steering wheel while I waited for the driver to pull over and let me by. He would, hopefully, soon enough. Glancing at the clock, I could see it was going to be tight but there was still time. Making the connection was a challenge, one that I intended to rise to.
That’s what Cameron had done to me. He’d changed me because he challenged me and pushed me beyond my limits. I never would have tried anything like this mad car chase before he came into my life.
“Why not?” he’d asked, when I said we couldn’t possibly have sex out on the open landscape of the Yorkshire moors.
I glanced across the heather-covered ground and along the path we had walked. “Because someone might see.”
“But you want to?” He continued to stroke my pussy through my jeans.
Gasping for breath, I wriggled under his touch. “Yes.”
“Do you see anyone else around?”
I looked, scanned from the rocky outcrop beyond us to the rolling hills below. “No, but someone might pass by while we’re…”
It was too late. The click, click, click of my opening zipper signaled my surrender. He had his hand inside my jeans, inside my panties, and I wanted it.
“I’m willing to take the risk, if you are.” His finger slid into my damp groove.
I couldn’t reply. He made me come three times with his hand, until I was so desperate to have his cock inside me that I begged him to take the risk.
“I need you, Cameron.”
He took one last glance around, then hauled my jeans off, flipped me over so that he was covering my back, and climbed between my thighs.
“No risk, no reward,” he said as his hard cock plowed into me.
I smiled to myself as I remembered. It was his motto.
The tractor had moved aside and I was into the home straight. The traffic through the city center unnerved me, but when I saw the station up ahead and looked at the clock, I had maybe ninety seconds to spare.
I got lucky and snagged a parking place just inside. As fast as I could, I locked up the vehicle and ran into the station, scouring the information boards for the arrival of the train I wanted to be there to meet.
“This is crazy.” I bit my lip. I was dizzy and high because I’d acted so impetuously. I couldn’t make sense of the information I read. Then I saw it and ran to the platform.
Nothing. No train and nothing approaching. Then I saw him across the platforms, his familiar khaki jacket and faded jeans, his short-cropped blond hair and broad shoulders. In my haste I’d gone the wrong way. I was in the wrong place. Panic hit me. He was on his way to the intercity connection.
“Cameron,” I hollered across the platforms, competing with the noise of the trains, the crowds and the announcements overhead.
Heads turned.
I shouted again.
Cameron drew to a halt and stared at me.
“Don’t get on the train!” I grappled for a reason to hold him back—something worthy, something that made sense. “I… I’ll…”
I’ll what?
“I’ll drive you to Edinburgh.”
He peered across at me with a disbelieving grin. “Yeah?”
I nodded frantically, shouting back across the gap between us. “I’ll come with you, at least for a couple of days.”
He threw his backpack over his shoulder, weaving through the oncoming crowd at top speed. “Wait right there,” he instructed.
Heady relief flooded me, and it morphed into an almost orgasmic rush as I watched him jog along the concourse to meet me.
Capturing me in his arms, he lifted me from my feet. “I always knew you were a wild woman, out of control underneath that cool, calm exterior.”
“No, it’s you.” I laughed, clutching at his shoulders gratefully. “You made me do this.”
“Did I? Why?” The knowledge was there in his eyes, shining brightly, but he wanted me to admit it. He set me down on my feet.
I leaned into him, crushing my breasts against his chest. “Because I want more.”
“Absolutely. I didn’t want to go home without you, so I took the only other option.” I laughed softly. “Only trouble is, will two more days be enough?” I looked deep into his eyes, trying to let him know how I felt.
“We can address that.” He sounded so sure. “Anything is possible. We’re in charge of everything that happens for us.”
Something in my chest knotted.
He touched his finger to my lips. “Damn,” he added, with that mischievous smile of his. “The fact you came after me is making me so horny.”
“I can tell.” I wrapped my hands around his hard hips and rubbed my body up against his. The bulge of his cock through our clothes felt too good.
“Which way is the car?”
I nodded back at the exit I had torn through moments before.
He grabbed my hand and headed in that direction, moving so fast I had to jog to keep up with him. Outside, when he looked at me for directions, I pointed the way, catching my breath before heading on.
When we reached the car he snatched the keys from my hand. He dumped his backpack on the driver’s seat, then opened the rear door and pointed into the backseat. “On your back, please, ma’am.”
I rounded my eyes. “You can’t be serious.”
“I can.” He wrapped his hand around my shoulder and guided me to the back door. “There’s no one around right now, and if anyone turns up and gets too close, well…it’ll look as if I’m loading luggage.”
“Loading luggage, hmm?” I sat on the backseat and then lay down.
I was about to say more when he tugged my high heels off and threw them into the foot well. Then he shoved my skirt up around my hips and grabbed me around the back of my knees, forcing me to open and bend my legs, so that my knees were drawn up and my underwear exposed. The way he took control of my body—wow. It did all the right things. I was hot and wet and wriggling like mad, desperate to be filled by him.
He pushed his finger down one side of my panties, teasing into my damp slit. His eyebrows lifted. “Believe me, I’ve got some luggage to load right now.”
I couldn’t believe he intended to do it, right there in the parking garage. We were under a low-ceiling area, in a corner, but still…could I do it? What if someone approached a nearby car?
He pushed one finger inside me and my temperature rose, need taking over.
Hell, yes, I could do it. “Hurry,” I urged. “Be quick.”
“Quickie in the parking garage, huh?” He stripped my underwear the length of my legs and off and then unzipped his jeans. “You have such great ideas.”
“Cheeky!” God, I loved him, and now he knew it.
He had his cock ready in his hand. I moaned. Behind the shelter of the open door he bent down and kissed me right on the clit. My back arched, my clit thrumming at the touch of his mouth, the stroke of his tongue. He lapped and suckled, sending me wild. My core clamped on itself repeatedly, wanting his hardness there.
“Cameron, please, hurry!”
He lifted his head. “You are so demanding.”
“Yes,” I sparred, and reached down to spread myself for him. “I drove like a bat out of hell to get here, so you better reward me.”
His eyes darkened as he looked down at my offered sex. Then he was over me, his glorious cock stretching me open. As he thrust into me and slid against the slippery walls of my sex, I clenched his shaft in welcome.
“Oh, yes,” he murmured, and ran his hands over my breasts through my top.
My nipples stung from the contact, aching for more than that—naked skin against naked skin. Then the crown of his cock pressed against my center and I arched and cried out, squeezing my knees tight against his hips.
“Fuck, you are so hot.” He began to thrust hard and fast, working into me over and over again until he shoved me right across the seat and we were both on the brink of climax.
“Oh, no!” I thought I heard voices approaching, but mercifully they faded away into the distance. Grasping him around the back of his neck, I urged him on. “Hurry, can’t stop now!”
His eyes locked with mine. “So glad you did this.”
A hot tide swelled in the pit of my belly. I was closing on release with every thrust of his body. “Cameron,” I whispered.
“You do know I’m crazy about you?” he asked, right then, right when we were both on the edge of orgasm.
Oh, how that hit me—it hit me where I was on fire for him.
“I feel the same,” I managed to respond and tightened my grasp on his shoulders. My core contracted and went into spasm. Relief washed over me. His cock swelled and bowed inside me, then jerked and spent.
The sound of a passing car made me half sit against him. He took the chance to kiss my neck. Over his shoulder, I could see we were safely obscured by the open vehicle door. My legs were weak from everything that had gone before, the dash to the car, the power of the orgasm. “I may have to stop along the way, my legs are weak.”
He kissed my cheek, reluctantly disengaging down below. “We can take all weekend to get there.” He looked deep in my eyes. “So long as we’re together, nothing else matters.”
I nodded and then cupped his jaw, stroking his stubble with my thumb. Who knew what would happen? Right at that moment being together was all that did matter.
“No risk, no reward,” I responded, echoing his motto—the motto that I had now embraced as my own. Never had it been more true, and never had I felt more rewarded.
IF
Emerald
I breezed through the screen door in a breathless whirl. “I brought the tablecloths,” I said to the bride’s mother, who was busy assembling hors d’oeuvres at the kitchen counter. I set the bag from the store on the dining room table, which was already cluttered with picnic paraphernalia—except for tablecloths, which Sarah had called in a frenzy to tell me her mother had forgotten to pick up.
“Great,” Janice said as she turned from the counter and gave me a hug. “Here’s your name tag. Would you mind being in charge of handing those out?”
“Not at all,” I said, shuffling through the stack as I stepped back out to the deck. I peeled the back off mine, labeled with my name and MAID OF HONOR in smaller letters below it, and pressed it to my dress.
“Hey, Valerie,” Sarah called behind me as I reached the wooden steps. I turned as she emerged from the house and met me in a hug. “Where’s Chris?”
“He wasn’t feeling well this morning. He wanted me to tell you and Shawn that he’s really sorry to miss your engagement party.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. Tell him I hope he feels better. No big deal though about today,” Sarah continued with a wave of her hand as we headed down the steps to the backyard. “This is really just to introduce the wedding party and Shawn’s and my extended families to each other before all the wedding stuff starts in earnest, you know?”
I nodded as Sarah continued on to find Shawn while I veered toward the front of the house to commence my job. The guests started to arrive, and I greeted them at the driveway and directed them with their name tags to the picnic tables in the backyard. As one of the groomsmen I knew and his wife approached, I handed them their name tags before turning to the man with them.
“I’m Hayden, Shawn’s best man,” he said with a smile. He slipped his sunglasses off to reveal friendly slate gray eyes below his tousled dark hair.
“Oh, yes, I remember seeing your name in here.” I gave him a quick smile, feeling a bit flustered as I shuffled through the stack in my hands. I knew next to nothing about the best man, except that I would be walking down the aisle with him in about six months…and that I found my face burning at the idea. Unnerved by this response, I located his name tag and handed it to him.
“Thanks,” he said easily. I kept my voice light as I directed the three of them to the yard,
a vague heat forming in my belly as I noted the lack of a ring on Hayden’s left hand.
I turned back toward the driveway, recalling with a deep breath that I myself was spoken for. My eyes dropped as guilt replaced the excitement stirring in me. Chris and I weren’t married, but we had been together for three years, and even if I had been feeling inexplicably restless and confused lately, I was still monogamously committed to him.
When the last name tag had been handed out, I went to the dessert table. In a rare indulgence, I allowed myself a piece of cake and carried it to the circle of chairs occupied mostly by the bridal party. I took the empty seat directly across from Hayden and did my best to ignore the fluttering in my stomach as I turned my attention to the cake on my plate.
It was dark chocolate, with a layer of raspberries in the middle and creamy white frosting on top. I scooped up a dollop of frosting and gave it a delicate lick as I listened to Sarah talk about invitations. Nodding, I ran my tongue over my frosting-sweetened lips and glanced up to see Hayden watching me.
I blushed and looked down—though not before I caught the deliberate interest beneath his cool gaze. Breathless, I turned my attention back to Sarah as confusion formed in my core. Why was I having such a response to Hayden? I was in a serious relationship. Much as I would have jumped on this opportunity years ago when that wasn’t the case, I was in no position to do so now.
When Sarah paused in her description, I jumped up and dropped my plate in the trash on the way to the food table to grab something to take inside. I didn’t look back as I headed with both hands full toward the house. On the way up the wooden steps to the deck, I climbed too quickly and slipped, nearly dropping the Crock-Pot in my hands before I felt a firm grasp around my waist from behind.
“Easy,” Hayden’s voice said in my ear, and I got wet. It might be that I wasn’t supposed to, but I did.
I steadied myself and turned around. Hayden’s hands slipped from my waist, and he smiled.
Passion Page 15