The Real

by Kate Stewart

  His eyes lit fire and his jaw ticked as he studied me.

  “Just forget it. I’ll text you later.” I moved to walk around him and was caught by the wrist.

  “Wait a damn minute. If I was laughing it was because I find some of your antics hysterical, which they are. You are funny most of the time, and sometimes you aren’t, which is, oddly, still funny. I was at your house at six a.m. because I couldn’t sleep. And I couldn’t sleep because I couldn’t stop thinking about being next to you again and I needed any excuse to see you. I respect the boundaries you’re so insistent on keeping because I do care about you.

  “As for running, I saw the way you lit up last night when I talked about it. So, instead of rubbing myself raw with thoughts of you and the need to touch you, I thought I would kill two birds and exercise them out with you by my side. I’m having a horrible time controlling myself at this point because you’re the sexiest goddamn woman I’ve ever met. And in case it’s not clear by now when it comes to weakness, you’re becoming mine. So, if yelling at me on the street is making you feel better, I’m all for it, but I’d rather be doing much, much more, and by the look on your face, so would you.”

  I stood stunned. He closed in as my heart went hummingbird.

  “I’m not out to get you, Abbie. I’m falling in love with you.”

  The sun chose that moment to creep over the horizon, hitting us both. I threw myself at him, climbing him like a tree until our mouths touched. Cameron guided me with his hands, cradling my ass before he moved in, touching my lips softly with his as I sank into him, my legs shaking. He slid his desire-filled tongue along the seam of my mouth, and I opened for him. I gasped as he pressed in, and he kissed me breathless. I felt my knees beginning to give out as he pulled away. “I’m so sorry, baby—”

  “No, I’m sorry—”

  “I swear to God, I would never intentionally hurt you—”

  “I was just embarrassed—”

  “You don’t have to be, Abbie, never with me—”

  “You were just trying to be good to me, and you are so good to me, Cameron,” I murmured as I took in his features and clasped my hands around his neck, sliding my thumbs through the hair at the nape of it.

  Our mouths fused again, all doubts erased. His need matched my own. Chest to chest, our racing hearts met and molded. Give and take, we were relentless in our craving for the other. All that I felt I expressed with my kiss, and his was far too much to handle. We only pulled away when we heard a car approaching but kept our foreheads together.

  “This is so much better than—”

  “I can’t believe this,” I said at the same time as we pulled away.

  He leaned in again, and that next kiss stopped time, rebuked our pasts, led us crashing forward, and lasted a heart rendering eternity. The world was a blur as we stayed content in our cloud. He was all I saw, all I felt, and it was incredible.

  I was flying high as he pulled his lips away but kept us close.

  “I need this. I needed this so much,” he declared before he shut his eyes tight. When they opened, they were full of emotion. “Tell me I can have this, tell me I can be this happy. Tell me I can have you.”

  “Yes,” I whispered. “I’m nervous,” I said honestly.

  “I’m not. I want this, Abbie.”

  Normally those words would scare me, and in the past, have scared me, but his words were right. They weren’t selfish. He was giving and taking. A gift. And I realized I never wanted anything so much in my life. I was gone, no longer just me but hopefully a part of a we.

  And I would never be the same woman without him.

  I realized I had everything to lose as I pulled him tighter to me.

  “This is the best I’ve ever felt. Take me home, Cameron.”

  He pulled away and shook his head. “No, Abbie, that’s not what . . . I shouldn’t have said that, and I won’t push you.”

  “I needed it, Cameron, don’t you see? I needed you.”

  Brushing a wistful tear from my cheek with his thumb, he dipped in again, and again, sliding his warm hands around my waist beneath my sweatshirt and pulling me impossibly closer. With that kiss, we sealed ourselves together, our fate, in Wicker Park.

  “Take me home.”

  “Okay,” he said before he placed a reverent kiss on my forehead.

  I tugged at his hand leading the way and he followed, his brilliant smile magnified by the rising sun behind him. At a loss for words, we just stared at each other with matching intensity as we walked toward my three-flat.

  We took longer strides as we neared home, and then we went into a full-on sprint once inside the gate. On my porch, he nailed me to my front door and kissed me within an inch of my life. Backing up, he placed his hands on either side of my head as he looked down at me, his lust-filled eyes full of warning.

  “I can leave now, Abbie. But I won’t be able to if I make it through that door.”

  He leaned in as he sucked my bottom lip into his mouth before he pressed his erection into my stomach.

  “Stay,” I moaned as he trailed his kiss down my neck and then pulled away to nail me with his stare. I reached down and cupped his cock, sliding my fingers along the hard outline. My whole body tensed as I gauged the size of him.

  Hallelujah.

  My mouth watered with the need to feed off him. I was starving, and he was the only one I was hungry for. The star of every daydream I’d had since our eyes connected in that café. It was happening. I didn’t care we had so much left to discover, that he didn’t know all my truths, and I didn’t know much at all about his personal past. None of it could touch us. We’d spiraled from nothing into everything within a few months. It wasn’t just attraction. It was far more, both unspoken and admitted. And just as sure as I was standing on that porch, I wanted him to know.

  “I want this. I want you.”

  Once inside, he pushed me flat to the back of the door and slipped my Nikes off before slowly taking off my pants. He knelt and trailed his fingers inside my thighs.

  “If we do this, it’s only you and me. I want to make that clear.” I clutched his head as he slid my panties down before pushing a finger through my sex while he looked up at me. “This is mine from this minute on.”

  “Yesss,” I hissed as he rubbed a finger through my folds.

  Grinding against his hand, I pumped my hips eagerly. He hooked my leg over his shoulder, his breath hitting my clit.

  “I don’t know how slow I can take this,” he whispered before darting out his tongue and licking me smoothly from bottom to top. My moan echoed in my entryway as he spread me wide and devoured me. My legs buckled as his fiery green gaze met mine. He groaned as he swirled his tongue. Bucking into his mouth, I held onto him for support as he tore into me.

  He might have been the one on his knees, but I was the one at his mercy.

  Cameron’s grip was the only thing keeping me standing as he darted his wicked tongue over my clit only to come back for seconds with slow, leisurely licks. Gasping as the orgasm hit, I gripped his hair, riding it out until I went completely lax against the door. He stood, peeling off his shirt until it hit the floor. He paused his fingers as he drank me in, naked and needy for him.

  “Fuck, I’ll never forget the way you look right now,” he whispered.

  I felt beautiful and worshiped, the new normal that only he could make me feel.

  “I don’t want anyone else.”

  “I’ll keep it that way,” he assured as he tore off his undershirt.

  Wide, defined shoulders led to an even more demarcated chest, and no part of him was undefined down to a trim torso. His pants clung to him, a nuisance accentuating the beautiful V I knew he worked hard for. The man took care of himself, and it showed on every inch of defined skin. Coarse dark hair trailed down past the waistband of his briefs, and I wet my lips in anticipation. Sexy, full lips twisted before he thumbed off his pants and briefs, just enough so they drifted to the floor. He stepped out,
magnificently naked, and we stood in lust and appreciation. He watched me as I reached out with confident hands and spread them over his chest before bringing my eyes to his.

  “Tell me what you’re thinking,” he said, moving both hands to my back, capturing my hair against my skin and massaging up and down.

  “I’d rather show you.” I grabbed his hand and pulled him down the hallway to my bedroom. We stopped at the foot of my bed. The scent of the fresh white roses he’d sent me lingered in the air as I placed tongue-filled kisses along the crest of his chest. His beautiful cock bounced between us, and I gripped it firm in my hand. I stroked him, sliding my finger across the silky head of his crown. With greedy hands, he explored my naked flesh, caressing my belly, my sides, cupping my breasts, and rubbing his thumb over my nipples. My center pulsed as his eyes roamed, taking in every detail. A hint of a smile twitched his lips before he cupped my face.

  “Nice place.”

  He hadn’t, not once, taken his eyes off me. I let out a nervous laugh as we kissed again. He pulled away, but I stayed surrounded by his warmth.

  “Don’t be nervous,” he whispered. “You give me a new reason to want you every single day.”

  “Cameron, I don’t need this to be perfect. I don’t. I just need you,” I whispered.

  He took control then as he lifted me to wrap around him. My head fell back at the feel of his thickness against my center. Once on my bed, he leaned over me, his words hitting soft blows to my core. “You and I don’t deal in absolutes and perfection, remember? We’re too smart for that.”

  “Okay,” I agreed as I kissed his jaw.

  “Nothing more than what we are,” he whispered as he tugged my lobe into his mouth.

  “And no more waiting.”

  “No more waiting,” he repeated.

  “I mean now. Right now,” I moaned as he spread me out on my bed. His soft chuckle only amplified my agitation. I wanted him too much. He looked down at me with so much longing, I felt my eyes water.

  “I would watch you every day of forever for the chance to touch you like this.” He flicked his tongue over my lips as his fingers spread me and he slipped them inside. My back bowed off the bed.

  “Jesus,” he rasped out as his eyes raked down my body and he watched his fingers sink into me. “But if we ever decide to look for perfect, I would say this is as close as it gets.”

  He pushed in again, sliding his fingers in and out, and invading the deepest part of me, stretching me. He pumped in again and again before his head dipped and he curled his arms around my thighs.

  Anxious for him, I looked down, and he anchored me in his hold. Unwilling to release me from his stare, he bent and watched me react to the swipe of his tongue. I seized at his touch, my body firing and igniting. He drank me in with slow, precise swipes while I drew his thick hair in my fingers and twisted beneath him. I yanked at the silky strands while he groaned, his arousal peaking with the urgency. He gripped my thighs, lifting my body to match the movements of his tongue. Lick. Suck. Lick. Suck. And then it went blurry as white-hot heat struck me and my whole body tensed.

  “Cameron,” I cried out hoarsely with an arousal-soaked voice.

  Twisting his fingers inside, his tongue flicked along the ball of nerves, and I detonated again. He lifted to his knees, watching my body shake with my release. Our stare impenetrable, I gave him my every reaction, unabashed and completely vulnerable.

  His length jerked at my response to his touch as he slowed his fingers and came up to take my mouth. I knew he was satisfied, his kiss told me so. I’d never been more ready.

  Wordlessly, he hovered above me then leaned down to touch his mouth to mine. A slow kiss, and then another, and then another had me dizzy.

  Enveloped completely by his warmth, he positioned himself at my entrance, and I locked my legs around his waist in invitation.

  “No more waiting,” I whispered as he brushed the hair away from my face with gentle hands. Eyes connected, he pushed inside me slowly, inch by steel pulsing inch, and stretched me full. My mouth opened in a silent O as his beautiful jaw went slack at the feeling of our connection.

  The only sound was our mingled breaths when need took over and he moved back and pressed in hard.

  I whimpered.

  “Fuck, Abbie, Jesus Christ.”

  And then we were gone, our bodies took over as he filled me to the brink. Chests glistening, our hands clasped over my head, he rocked into me so I felt every inch before he swiveled his hips and did it again. He hit me deep with every stroke, making sure to touch every place I needed.

  My body his slave, I came apart as his name pushed out past my lips. It was his name that wrote itself across my heart; it was his eyes that spoke to my soul. It was Cameron.

  I lost myself, trusting him with every minute. His sex was my undoing. His flesh burned as he pushed himself into the deepest part of me.

  “Abbie,” he grunted out, his voice needful as I nodded more permission he didn’t need. He let go of my hands and pulled us to sit so that I straddled his lap. On instinct, I began to rock against him as he thrust up, one of his arms wrapped around me like a lifeline, and the other fisted in my hair, tightening so he controlled my gaze.

  Lust-filled eyes connected, I bared my teeth as he struck deep and jerked me down. Biting his lip, I felt the onslaught as I watched his features twist with his release, eyes full of heat and ecstasy.

  He thrust up again as he came, and I fell over the edge while he spilled into me. We were drunk on need, shrouded in pleasure, exhausted by the feeling of each other as I collapsed in his hold, chest heaving.

  The last of the sunlight filtered through my room when Cameron moved us to lay down as our breathing evened out. In my silent bedroom, only our hearts sounded as he kept me pinned to him. Wrapping my thigh around his waist, I basked in his hold, a smile against his skin.

  Minutes later, the fog clearing, I ran my fingers over the divots of his chest.

  “Wow,” I murmured bracing myself over him with appreciation. His body was rock solid, not a single flaw, and I was sure if there were any, I wouldn’t see them.

  Wordlessly, he looked up at me as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. All I saw was need, want, lust, and I prayed I didn’t mistake what looked like love. Because in my greed, I wanted that too.

  Please let this be love.

  Goosebumps erupted on my skin as he lazily stroked my back with the pads of his fingers. I leaned in and kissed him, my mind reeling as our breaths synced.

  We didn’t need any more words. We’d said enough. Content, we laid surrounded by the sunrise, neither of us moving as he put me in a sleepy lull with his touch, his warmth pulling me as close as I could get.

  Many hours later, but only seconds after we broke apart, Cameron’s fingers traced the lines of my body while I glanced out the window at the snowfall. In a comfortable silence, I ran my fingers through his soaked hair while he kept his affection on my skin. It was a new kind of heaven.

  “Abbie?” I heard shouted from my front door and shot out of bed. The only two people that had a key to my place were Bree and . . .

  “Mrs. Zingaro!” I squeaked as Cameron shot out of bed too. We searched the carpet in vain. Our clothes were still in the entryway.

  “Oh, good, honey. I was worried. I know you told me to use this key only for emergencies, but I heard some very loud noises. Oh, oh, dear. I see you aren’t alone. Yes, these are men’s clothes. I’m sorry.”

  The door shut with a thud as Cameron and I stood naked on opposite sides of the bed. My chin trembled before we both burst out laughing. But it was cut short when I thought of Mrs. Zingaro.

  “Shit, shit. I always worry when it snows and she takes the stairs.” I ran to my closet and threw on a sweater dress.

  “I’ve got it,” Cameron called from outside the closet.

  “She’ll beat you to death before you get near her. Trust me.”

  “I think I can take her.”
/>   “You sure?” I asked, peeking over at him, pausing to take him in, naked and in my bedroom.

  Hallelujah.

  “Like what you see?”

  “Meh,” I said as he charged me.

  “What’s that?”

  I grabbed the growing muscle between his thighs. “I said meh.”

  “But you didn’t mean it.” He bit my lip and my eyes bulged at the pain.

  “Ow.”

  “I’ll go make sure she got in okay.”

  “Okay.”

  Fifteen minutes later, I was dressed and walking outside. I heard Cameron’s deep baritone on the other side of Mrs. Zingaro’s door. Poor baby. He’d been roped in.

  I knocked and, seconds later, the door was opened by a grinning Cameron. “Heeey,” I said with false enthusiasm, my eyes wide. “You need saving?” I whispered conspiratorially.

  “Not at all,” he said, opening the door. Jenny was in her kitchen cooking.

  “She’s making dinner for us.”

  “Great,” I said, showing him all my teeth.

  He chuckled and kissed my forehead. “It’s fine.”

  I looked up at him. “Are you sure?”

  “Yeah, I’m sure. I just want to hang out with you. This is what you two Golden Girls do, right?”

  “Very funny,” I said, nudging him in the gut with my elbow before I walked in.

  Jenny’s place was completely renovated and modern, save the décor. I couldn’t help but laugh inwardly at the way she’d taken a completely post-century pad and rewound time. Her furniture was old, and she had a plant on every available surface.

  I shook off the cold and walked toward her with Cameron on my heels. In her quilted robe and slippers, Mrs. Zingaro was holding a spatula over a boiling stovetop and appeared to be stuck in one of her crippled, dead states.

  I nudged Cameron. “Why don’t you go ask her if she needs any help.”

  Cameron obliged and walked into the kitchen casually. When he approached her and spoke, she startled and slapped him in the chest with a spoonful of tomato sauce.

  I howled as he looked over at me and narrowed his eyes while Jenny apologized profusely. Cameron told her not to fuss as she reached under her kitchen cabinet and took out a bottle of 409, instead of the clearly marked stain remover, and began to spray his chest with it.