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Like he couldn’t believe I was real. I rested my hands on his shoulders, keeping myself perched above him.
He brought our foreheads together, and I didn’t miss how his body trembled underneath my touch. “I love you.”
My eyes flooded, heightened emotions running through me. “You love me?” I repeated, not because I doubted him. I’d heard every word he’d said to his father. But because I needed him tosay it again. Because the butterflies in my stomach were overflowing, threatening to take flight. Tears spilled from my eyes—happy ones—and Cam brushed them away before kissing each cheek.
“Ella,” he murmured, swallowing roughly, tracing over my cheeks, my jaw, his thumb rubbing over my bottom lip. “You’re all I think about. The only one that I want. I’ve been so out of my mind in love with you since I first laid eyes on you. Like my whole life, I was just waiting foryou.And I know now that I’d follow you anywhere, go anywhere you asked me to be. As long as I have you by my side, that’s all I need. Nothing matters to me but you. I want to keep you happy, and watch you chase your dreams. So yes, Ella Grace Ashford—Ilove you.”
“But, your father’s company?—”
Cameron shrugged. “It’ll still be there. In five, ten, fifteen years—it’s my legacy, sure.IfI choose to follow in his footsteps.” He tugged me closer. “But I meant what I said, too. I want to watch you accomplish everything your heart desires.”His lips pressed against my forehead. “And I know you’re going to.”
I opened my mouth, but he slid a finger over my lips. “You don’t have to say it now. I just needed you to know how I feel. I’ve known it for a while, but I didn’t want to say it. It was too soon, and then it wasn’t the right time, but?—”
“But I do,” I said, my lips parting as the words spilled out. “I love you, Cameron Arthur Edwards. You charmed your way into my heart and you never left. How could Inotlove you?”
He stilled, and I could practically feel his heart beating faster in his chest.
“I was so scared, Cam. Scared to let myself fall in love with you, and then have you walk away. I watched it happen to Audrey, and it broke my heart. So I wasn’t going to let it happen to me. I was going to run away instead of seeing where this went, because if I didn’t love you, then I wouldn’tlose you.But that wasn’t fair, not to either of us. And I know sometimes I’m quiet, that I don’t say what’s on my mind, but I’m going to bebetter. Sometimes you just have to be patient with me. Sometimes I need to shut the world out, but I promise not to shut you out. Not ever.”
He nuzzled my forehead as a few loose tears dripped from my eyes.
“You taught me what it was like to be loved. I might have thought I’d been in love before, but I know now that it wasn’t true. I’m grateful for that first night. For leaving my shoes in your room. Because it was my link to you. Even when I was scared and running, some part of me knew that I’d left a piece of myself with you. And it was my heart, too, I think. I didn’t realize it until later, after the winter break trip, that I was falling for you, but I was. I was just too stubborn to see it until later. You’ve shown me how good it is to be loved, and for that, I’m forever grateful. You’re the fairytale I’d always dreamed of but never thought I’d get. The love I’d hoped for.”
“Say it again,” he begged.
“I love you,” I breathed. Cam kissed my face. “I love you.” My lips. “I love you.” One admission for every kiss of his as he littered my skin with soft presses of his lips.
He smiled as our foreheads rested against each other’s, our mouths hopelessly close. “I love you,” he repeated. “So much.”
Lifting me up into his arms, I wound my legs around his waist as he carried me to the bed. Silently, he unzipped my dress, and I pulled on his tie, loosening it from around his neck.
“Ella,” he groaned, pushing the dress off my shoulders. Kissing the bare skin up to my neck.
“I know,” I whispered, unbuttoning his shirt.
And then, we didn’t need words. Clothes were shed, littering the floor, and our lips met—tongues intertwining. He hovered on top of me, interlacing our fingers as he held my gaze.
Pushed inside of me, inch by glorious inch, and he practically inhaled my gasps as he kept kissing me through it.
There was only us, andthis—letting ourselves go, succumbing to pleasure, feeling him with every thrust inside ofme. His grip tightened on my hands, the luxurious slide of his body against mine driving me higher and higher. It wasn’t hard and fast, or rough, and somehow I didn’t need any of that right now. Just the weight of his body on top of mine and the slow, sensuous way he built my body enough was enough to bring me right to the edge.
I was so close. Crying out words I couldn’t even decipher. I trembled as he brought his hand to my clit, rubbing it with his thumb.
“Love you,” he whispered in my ear, and my muscles contracted, tightening around his length.
“Cam,” I cried, letting my orgasm wash over me.
Feelingeverythingas we came together, again and again—knowing in my heart I never wanted this to end.
“I love you,” I murmured before my eyes shut, curled up on his chest.
Falling asleep on top of the man I loved. The man who lovedme.
The morning sunlight trickled in through the blinds, and I was greeted with my favorite sight in the world. A beautiful head of thick, dark hair and a gorgeous pair of brown eyes that crinkled at the edges as I opened mine.
“Hi,” Cam murmured, kissing the side of my head.
“Morning.” I yawned, stretching my arms. “We fell asleep, didn’t we?”
