Because I knew it wasn’t them. It was me.
She’d branded herself onto me.
Got inside me so deeply that I couldn’t shake her.
She’d ruined sex for me.
She’d ruined intimacy.
She’d ruined connection.
And now here she was. Pressed up against me, her dress on the floor and her hips grinding into mine. And I knew without a shred of doubt that I’d never want anyone else. Not the way I wanted her. Not even close.
Question was, did she want me like that too?
CHAPTER 42
The rain pelted down on us as we sprinted through it. Lightning was splitting the sky open with flashes so bright they were almost blinding. We reached the villa drenched and out of breath. I pushed the door open, having to wrestle the wind for it, before slamming it closed after us. And then we were alone. Standing opposite each other. Face to face.
Cam’s shirt hung open and his wet trousers clung to him like a second skin, outlining every single inch of him. My own clothes weren’t far behind; my dress was plastered to my body in such a way that I could feel my nipples straining against the thin wet fabric. We stood there staring at each other, chests rising and falling in sync. And when finally my breathing had calmed slightly, I pointed a finger at Cam.
‘You!’ I said, although I wasn’t really sure what exactly I was accusing him of.
‘Me what?’
I walked up to him and poked my finger into his chest, hard. And then my finger decided to go rogue and misbehave, and before I knew what it was doing, it was trailing down his chest towards his abs – so rock hard – and then hooking itself into his waistband. I pulled him towards me.
‘Me what?’ he asked again, this time with a smile.
‘You drive me mad!’ I said. It was the only thing I could think to say. ‘You irritate me and fucking drive me insane and I want to, I want to . . .’ I tugged harder.
‘Want to what?’
I let the waistband go and it snapped back hard against his abs with a sound like steel hitting steel.
‘Oh my God! Are you kidding me?’ I moaned. ‘And why, oh why, do you have to look like this. It’s infuriating. It’s . . . You’re . . . It’s . . .FUCK!’
‘Want to hurt me? Punish me?’ he asked, and then he caught hold of my hand and pressed it onto the not-so-subtle bulge that was pushing against the fabric of his trousers. He moaned the second I touched him.
I nodded. Because I did want to hurt him. And fuck him. And maybe fuck him while I was hurting him . . .
‘So hurt me,’ he said. ‘Do your worst with me.’ He stepped closer, flattening his body against mine, trapping my hand between us. He gripped the sides of my waist with his hands and ground into me.
‘Is that what you want?’ I asked, not sure if I would actually give it to him, or whether I would punish him bynotgiving it to him.
He laughed, as if he could read my mind. ‘That feels like a trick question.’
I shook my head and then moaned when he ground into me again. And that was all it took, all it took for Cam to slide his hands under my legs and pull me up onto his waist. I wrapped my legs around him and he started walking us across the room, fully in control of the moment.
Not any more.
I grabbed his hands and pulled them off my thighs, and then dropped back down to the ground. He looked at me for a moment, before a small, knowing smile spread across his lips.
‘You always were a feisty one, Lizzy Brown.’
‘Feisty?’ I said, glaring at him. ‘A chihuahua is feisty, Cam.’
He chuckled, then reached out and grabbed the fabric of my dress, yanking me towards him again.
