Page 89 of Effortless

But this was Camilla.

And she didn’t know anything different.

Camilla was still sitting on the counter and nursing her coffee when Tommaso came back into the kitchen. She hadn’t gotten down to grab her panties, or even bothered to fix her hair. She could still feel him hard between her thighs, and the stinging bite mark he had left on her lip.

At least he had the decency to fix his clothes, she guessed.

That made one of them.

Dangling from his hand was the duffle bag he’d come with. In his other hand, his phone. His gaze narrowed at the screen of his phone momentarily before he looked to Camilla.

“I’ve got to head out.”

Yeah, she figured.

Camilla waved a hand. “Give me a call, or something.”

Tommaso smirked, and shook his head. “So that’s it, then?”

“What else is there?”

Ripping that Band-Aid right off.

Tommaso nodded to himself. “All right, Cam. Just so we’re clear on this one thing before I leave this time around, I’ll get it out there for the both of us.”

She didn’t reply, simply waited him out.

Nursing her cold coffee all the while.

“I’m not disposable, Camilla.”

She hesitated on her next drink. “Excuse me?”

“I’m not some toy for you,” he said quietly. “I’m not something you get to play with and then dispose of when you’re bored, or had enough. I won’t be some new and shiny thing to keep your attention for a while before something else comes along to take my place. I’m not disposable. Just so that’s clear—you’re not to treat me that way, either.”

“I—”

“This little game you play was fun at first. I don’t mind a good cat and mouse chase when I know there’s something worth waiting for at the end of it all. Problem is, you haven’t shown me that there’s going to be anything at the end. Oh, you’re absolutely worth the fucking chase, sure, but you have to be there, too. I don’t think you’re going to be.”

Tommaso shrugged, adding, “So that’s where I stand, Cam. I think I could love you—fuck, maybe I already do, but you won’t give me the chance or time to figure it out—but love’s not a one-sided thing. Not for me. It can’t be.”

He kept staring at her, waiting.

She didn’t know what for.

Camilla looked away.

The coward’s way out presented itself once more. Only this time, she would really hurt him by using it. She knew it even before the words came out of her mouth.

“Have a good flight, Tom.”

“Have a good life, Camilla.”

She didn’t look away from the wall until she heard the door of her apartment click when it closed. She held it all together—kept all the hell inside—until she heard that one sound. She blinked, and the tears fell.

She cried, and drank cold coffee all the while. She let the pain out while she was alone, and no one was there to see it or help. The hollow space in her chest filled with the air from her sobs, and the ache it caused spread outward like an infection threatening to poison the rest of her.

She shouldn’t feel guilty.