“Not just because of that.”
I waited, breathlessly.
“I’m worried you’re becoming necessary,” Landon murmured, staring down at me. “What word encapsulates that?”
I didn’t know, but I felt the same way. Every day that Landon and I spent together, he became more and more integral. Not just because he could handle Emma’s shifting toddler moods even when I couldn’t, but because I cared more and more about him.Boyfriendwas too simplistic a word for what he meant to me. He was Emma’s father, my lover, our protector. I loved him even though I knew doing so might break my heart.
I wanted to put how I felt into words, but something held me back. What if his love for Emma was coloring how he saw me? Would I feel so important and necessary if I’d only brought myself back to LA – if I wasn’t the mother of his cherished daughter? I wanted to think so, but I wasn’t sure.
So instead of telling him, I showed him. I pulled his face down to mine and poured all of the unspoken love and pent-up passion into kissing him. Landon responded swiftly, reaching down to roll the thin material of my dress up to my hips. I slipped my hands down between us, working at the buttons of his shirt as he backed me against the couch.
The curtains were open, but this time, I didn’t ask him to close them.
This time, I felt safe.
21
LANDON
Iwanted to go slow, but her hands were around my waist now, tugging my shirt free from my pants. Her slim, cool fingers slid between the material and my back, and I felt her nails scratch lightly across my skin. The erotic juxtaposition of pain and pleasure went straight to my groin, and I had to fight the urge not to push her down to the carpet and pound into her. I’d likely snap eventually, but for now, I wanted to feel her.
The dress she’d worn was soft, but it was nothing compared to her warm skin. I pulled it over her head, disheveling her hair. The length of it frothed over her shoulders, cascading over her bare breasts in the moonlight. I pushed the dark sheaves aside, and my mouth went dry at the generous swell of flesh.
“You’re beautiful,” I whispered hoarsely. I didn’t tell her that often enough. She was stunning, in clothes and out of clothes. It wasn’t just the dips and curves of her gorgeous body or her full, pouting lips or the damn hair that kept sliding back to obscure my view of her breasts. It was everything. The sweetness in her smile, the kindness in her eyes. They were half closed now, her breath coming unevenly through her parted lips. It was the mere fact that she had carried and borne my child.
I rubbed my thumb over her bottom lip, and she took it in her mouth, swirling her tongue around the digit. I pressed her back down against the cushions, following her down, covering her warm, naked body with mine. I was between her thighs, but I wasn’t ready to enter her yet. I knew it would be over too soon if I did.
Cami’s eyes were heavy-lidded with lust now, and her mouth fell open in a silent gasp when I slid my finger between her slippery folds. Her body arched against my hand as I began to pump in and out. Her muscles tightened and relaxed around my fingers, her breath coming faster and louder in my ear. She must have been as ready as I was, because she came quickly, her fingers forming claws in the small of my back, her mouth opening in a silent scream that she pressed into my shoulder to muffle.
We stayed locked around each other for several moments, her orgasm coursing through her, my own building even though I hadn’t even entered her yet.
Finally, her head fell back into the cloud of dark hair pooled on the couch. She smiled, lazy and content. “Well, time for bed,” she murmured, a throaty laugh in her voice.
“Not quite yet.”
I fought the urge to push into her and satisfy myself quickly, and nearly lost the battle. She was pliant beneath me, more than ready, but I wanted to lose myself in her without worrying about our daughter coming in. The errant thought of Emma was enough to get me off the couch. I pulled Cami with me, and half picked her up, walking her backward down the hall and through the bedroom door. I kept hold of her, our mouths fused together, until her knees hit the bed and we both tumbled down onto it.
In the tumble, Cami swung a long leg over me and rose above me. I reached for her, traced the curves of her waist up to the generous swell of her breasts. She rose up on her knees and teased the tip of my cock with her warm, wet opening. It took every ounce of discipline I had not to thrust upward and impale her. Cami’s eyes glowed, seeing the effort it cost me to control myself. With excruciating slowness, she lowered herself down, enveloping my shaft.
My hands lowered to her waist and tightened, waiting. She began to writhe above me, rising up and down with excruciating slowness. Every move she made sent shockwaves of pleasure through my body. I squeezed my eyes shut and clenched my jaw. If she kept torturing me like this, I was going to snap. And when I did, I didn’t know if I would take control or lose it.
Cami stroked my tense face with the back of her hand, then trailed it down over my chest, over my nipples. “Do you like this?” she teased.
“I think you’re killing me.”
She laughed and squeezed my cock again as her muscles tensed to slide up and down. Before she could, the last vestiges of my control snapped. I gripped her waist hard to keep her steady and began to slam up into her. Cami gasped, her breasts bouncing wildly with the force of my thrusts. Her nails scrabbled for purchase over the skin of my chest before I grabbed her hands and locked our fingers together.
My vision was blurring, but I could see that her head was thrown back. The ends of her long dark hair danced just over my thighs, the peaks of her breasts pointing to the ceiling. She was close, but she wasn’t there quite yet. Letting go of one of her hands, I reached down to where we joined and flicked her clit while I continued jackhammering up into her.
Cami jolted as the electrical current of her second orgasm exploded through her body. She cried out, unable to muffle the sound, then fell forward, her breasts dangling over my face. I moved one hand up her back to hold her close and took one in my mouth. I was distantly grateful that the wall my bed backed up to was the opposite side from Emma’s bedroom, because the headboard was thudding against the wall with the rhythm of our bodies as I neared my own climax.
Cami was boneless in my arms, her body shuddering with the forces of my thrusts. I slammed into her once, twice more, and then felt a powerful surge rip through me as I emptied myself into her.
As I did, I heard her murmuring something in my ear, over and over. I couldn’t make it out, the roaring in my ears was too loud. Afterward, I wrapped my arms around her, pulling her against me, and fell asleep.
In that hazy place between satisfaction and slumber, I heard it again.
I love you.