“How’d it go?” he asked softly and fell in step with me as we walked toward the back stairs.
“She’s weird,” I said.
“But will she help?” He sounded anxious, and it set me on edge.
“I think so,” I said. “She said she’ll try, anyway. She says she wanted to eat first.”
Cam snorted. “I’ll ask Bea if she can help with that.”
I stopped him in the shadow of the hall before we reached the steps. I grabbed his wrist and held him there, and he stared down at me, head tilted to the side, his lips parted. I’d been thinking about those lips, about that body so much lately, and now I felt a sudden thrill pass over and through me.
“I was so close to being like her,” I whispered. “One wrong move and I would’ve ended up like her, you know? Jaded and used up.”
“But you didn’t,” he said and touched my cheek softly. “I found you.”
“You did,” I said, biting my lip. “What if you hadn’t?”
“That doesn’t matter.”
I pressed myself against him then in a rush. He stumbled back against the wall then held me tight. I didn’t cry—I didn’t think I had any tears left in me. But I breathed his smell deep, spicy and smooth and right, and let his strong arms keep me safe and warm in the darkness of the beautiful hallway.
It was another world, an entirely different world, and I loved it, wanted it so badly, wanted to be with him. I hated what I’d become, half-feral and living only to steal and survive, living for nothing more than my next meal. I was an alley cat, wild and rough.
Cam could bring me back. I already felt like I was finding my way home.
He tilted my chin toward him. I felt a wild, stupid giddiness as he kissed me softly, his other hand moving down to cup my ass. I bit his lip and he pulled me tighter against him as I reached down to unbuckle his belt.
He let out a grunt of warning, but I didn’t stop. I reached down and felt him, felt his length along my palm and stroked him slowly as his hands cupped my ass tighter. We were right in the middle of the hallway in a house that didn’t belong to us, and Bea or the Don or even Sasha could find us at any moment, but the lights were dim and it was late, and nobody wandered to this part of the manor, or at least that was what Cam had said.
So I didn’t stop, even if I should’ve stopped, should’ve controlled myself.
He turned and pushed me back against the wall. His hands were rough as he got my jeans unfastened and shoved his fingers down to tease my soaked pussy. I kept stroking him, feeling him get harder and harder in my palm, getting rock solid and gorgeous, and I moaned as he kissed my neck and my lips.
“I won’t let you get like that again,” he whispered and slipped my panties aside to roll a finger around my clit. “I promise, I won’t.”
“I believe you,” I said and moaned as his tongue swirled around mine.
“I’m going to watch out for you,” he whispered as his fingers sank deep inside of me. I gasped and stared up at the ceiling as a wave of pleasure broke over me and made my back shiver, my legs shake. “You can hate me all you want for joining this Valentino family, but I’m not going to let you go again.”
“I don’t want to go back,” I moaned and stared into his eyes. “I want to stay here with you.”
He let out a soft growl and bit my lower lip then tugged at my jeans, getting them over my hips. I gasped as he turned me around, pushing me up against the wall, his hand down between my legs, his hard cock pressing against my ass. I moaned and felt the cool wallpaper against my cheek, and I looked back over my head as he kissed my lips. He teased me, pressed against my soaked pussy, then slowly sank his cock deep between my legs from behind.
I let out a low, gasping moan. He felt like heaven and fire, pain and pleasure and everything right. It was like I spent the last two years buried underground struggling to dig my way back out, and now suddenly I stepped into bright sky and fresh air.
Cam brought me back. He pulled me form that grave and gave me a new purpose.
I never hated him, even when I thought I did. I disagreed with his choice, and was angry he put himself in that position, but the truth was, I hated myself and my family even more. I hated my parents, and I despised that I stuck around. So when Cam joined the Valentino family, I felt something break inside of me, and I ran away from it all.