“Elora ?” I ask when Dante puts her on the phone.
“Kendall! God, it’s so good to hear your voice,” Elora says, almost in a high-pitched squeal.
I wince and move the phone from my face, laughing a little. “It has been a while,” I say.
“Are you dying having to hang out with my boring, stupid brother all this time?” she asks.
I think about the night before, Camden biting my neck as he thrust into me, and I blush. “He’s not so bad.”
Elora scoffs. “You don’t have to lie to me. All he talks about is pussy and crime. It’s annoying.”
I swallow hard at her words. Camden hasn’t said anything to me about other women, but I know his reputation. Is it possible that he’s still in contact with some of these women? Surely not, right?
“Does he have a girlfriend?” I ask, looking around for Camden. He’s trailed inside, so I can speak freely.
Elora snorts. “A girlfriend? Are you crazy? Camden wouldn’t be caught dead in any kind of real commitment.”
“Ah,” I say dumbly, not knowing how to respond. I don’t want Elora to know that Camden and I have been hooking up. It’s just… weird. Especially when I don’t know where we stand. Or better yet, I do know, but I don’t really want to dwell on the fact that this is just all happening in this bubble in time and space. That all of this will end just as soon as we get in the car to get back to our lives. To reality.
“He’s got about a dozen girlfriends, I guess, if you want to think of one-night stands as girlfriends,” Elora says.
I hate listening to her talk about Camden like this. I don’t want to think of him with anyone else. I want him to be mine alone, however impossible that may be. So, I change the subject.
“What’s it like at Dante’s?”
“The mansion is amazing, Kendall,” she gushes. “You wouldn’t believe it. Even the guest rooms have king-sized beds, and the food is wonderful. They have this chef, Marisa, and she’s unbelievable, all the Italian dishes she makes. It’s just like when Mama used to cook.”
I smile. I’m glad that Elora doesn’t seem too traumatized by everything. I know that I have nightmares, but I’m glad she seems to be taking it well.
“And the pool?”
“Salt water,” she says. “Heated. It’s ridiculous, Kendall.”
I laugh. “Wish I could see it.”
“Why don’t you? Camden could just bring you here, and you could hide out with me.”
I pause, thinking. I don’t want to go back to Dante’s because I want to stay with Camden, but I can’t tell her that.
“Camden says it’s dangerous to keep moving around. He says Marco must be on the road.”
“Yeah, I guess so,” Elora says, sounding like she’s pouting a little. “Don’t worry. Dante’s working on catching Marco and he’ll be dead in no time.”
I blink, a little taken aback. “You want Marco to be killed?”
“Of course I do. Bruno was the one I really loved, you know? He really cared about me. Marco just saw me as a possession.” Her voice shakes a little. “I don’t know if I’ll ever love someone the way I loved Bruno.”
“I’m sorry, Elora ,” I say softly, and she sniffles.
“It is what it is,” she says flippantly, although I’m sure she’s grieving more than she lets on. “It’s the life we lead, right?”
“Right,” I say flatly. I don’t always like the life we lead, but she’s right. It is what it is.
“Maybe I’ll never love again.” Elora pauses. “Or maybe I’ll make out with Angelo this weekend.”
I snort out a laugh. Nothing really gets Elora down. “Nice to see that you’re still the same old Elora .”
“Better believe it, baby,” she teases. “Call me more often, will you? I know you have to be bored out of your mind.”
I glance over at Camden who’s now lying out on the lawn chair in a pair of trunks. His abs glisten with the sun oil he’s put on his body.
“So bored,” I say dryly.
We hang up and I walk over to hand the phone back to Camden. He places it on the ground, looking up at me from under the rims of his sunglasses.
“You feel better?” he asks.
I smile. “Much. Elora seems to be taking things well.”
Camden snorts. “Nothing bothers that girl. Everything just rolls right off her back.”
“That’s a good quality to have,” I comment, and Camden shrugs. “I wish I was like that,” I say softly, and Camden frowns, reaching up to grab my hand and tug me down into his lap.
I don’t realize that I’m trembling until he runs his hands over my arms. It’s warm outside, but I have goosebumps.
“Hey,” he says softly. “You’re one of the strongest women I’ve ever met.”
“I am?” I’m uncertain that’s true. I’m shaky right now, just thinking about what I’ve seen, about the nightmares I keep having.
“Yeah,” he agrees, kissing along my shoulder blade. It makes me shiver for completely different reasons. “You went through so much, and you’re still standing.”
I give him a weak smile. “Thank you, Camden.”
“I meant it,” he insists, and shifts me around to face him, kissing along the side of my face, little open-mouth kisses.
I lean closer to him, putting my hands on his shoulders as he trails his hands from my hips up to the outsides of my breasts. I’m just wearing my bikini, and he deftly unties the back of my top, letting my breasts bounce free.
Camden hums and darts forward to take a nipple into his mouth, running his tongue around the peak slowly, almost torturously. I moan, rocking my hips forward against him hardening beneath me.
He pulls away, looking into my eyes. “You’re beautiful, principessa. You know that?”
I don’t know that, but I don’t dare contradict him, not when he’s looking at me with those intense sea-green eyes, not when he moves his hands to my ass, rolling his hips up beneath me. His erection presses against my hot sex and I can feel myself getting slick beneath the fabric of my bikini bottoms.
Camden grunts and shifts sideways, flipping me over onto my back, the lawn chair groaning with the weight of us both.
I wonder for a panicked moment if it’s going to break, but it doesn’t. It’s one of those expensive ones, so I shouldn’t have worried.
I untie the bottoms of my bikini myself, impatient, and toss the fabric to the ground. I’ve gotten a lot of use out of this bikini over the past few week, and I’m grateful for it. It must be magic if it makes Camden want me this much.
Camden doesn’t waste time, sliding into me, and the glide is easier because I’m so wet, so ready for him.
“Fuck, principessa, were you always this tight?”
I groan loudly, arching my back, clenching my inner muscles around him until he hisses.
Camden leans down and kisses me hard, sliding his tongue into my mouth as if searching it.
He rolls his hips into me, his chest brushing across my nipples, and I moan into his mouth, dragging my nails down his shoulders. I can’t seem to help myself, and Camden doesn’t seem to mind.
He’s got scratches from a couple of nights ago already on his back from me leaving them the last time we were in this position.
“You’re such a dirty girl,” he grunts. “Always dripping and ready for me, aren’t you?”
“Yes, Camden,” I moan. “Only for you. Only want you.”
“That’s right,” he croons, rolling his hips slower, dragging his dick along my g-spot until I’m breathless. “Only me, principessa. Remember that.”
How can I forget? Camden’s the only man who’s ever wanted me like this, he may be older, my best friend’s brother and someone I should even develop feelings for, but only he ever made me feel this way.
He’s looking at me so intently, down into my eyes instead of my breasts, instead of my body, instead of where we’re joined together. “Gorgeous girl,” he says. “My strong, beautiful girl.”
Pleasure jolts through me when he calls me his, and I’m coming around him in moments, rolling my hips up into his thrusts.
Camden kisses me again, nipping my lower lip, when he comes inside me, and then he breaks away to kiss where he bit me.
“Sorry, principessa. You get me all riled up,” he mumbles, and I giggle.
“I love that I get you all riled up,” I admit.
Camden looks at me, raising an eyebrow and propping himself up on his forearms, his body still pressed against mine, still pulsing inside of me.
“Of course you do,” he says. “Look at you.” He trails his hands across my breasts, flicking along my nipples until my inner muscles contract around him again weakly. He chuckles and kisses my mouth softly, almost chastely.
“I’m not much to look at,” I argue, and I’m not sure why I suddenly feel so self-conscious. I don’t mean to fish for compliments but it’s like I’m starved to hear them from Camden’s lips.
“You’re crazy,” he mutters. “You’re gorgeous, built in all the right ways.” He gives me a hard look. “And don’t tell me you think you’re ugly or something.”
I blush, looking away. “I mean, sometimes I do,” I admit.
Camden scoffs. “Crazy,” he repeats again, putting a hand on my cheek and kissing my nose before he pulls out of me, shifting to pull his trunks back up where he’d shoved them down. He stands up and holds out a hand to help me, and I stand up, naked, my skin warm in the sunlight.
He leads me into the living room and I put my head in his lap, watching television. Elora may think that my stay at the safehouse is boring, but wild horses couldn’t drag me away.