Camden’s head dropped, and he pulled away from the warmth they appeared to be creating from the moment they stepped into this place.
Elijah must have noticed Camden’s retreat, because he tightened his hold on Camden’s hand and tugged him closer.
“I may not have had a choice in taking this case, Camden. But getting to know you over these last few days, figuring out that my radar wasn’t as wrong as I believed where you’re concerned, helped me in ways I didn’t know I needed.”
Elijah released Camden’s hand, letting his own travel slowly up Camden’s arm until his fingers caressed Camden’s jaw. The feel of them rubbing back and forth against the thin layer of stubble there made his breath catch in his throat. “I didn’t know I hadn’t been breathing since that night, holding my breath, waiting for what I was missing.” Elijah leaned in, punctuating his sentence with a ghost of a kiss to Camden’s angled jaw. The barely there touch made his skin buzz with anticipation of the next touch Elijah would gift him with.
“I didn’t know how desperately I wanted to be enough for you, Camden.” Elijah snaked his fingers through Camden’s hair, his fingernails grazing his scalp, making the skin warm beneath his touch. “When my ego kicked in and told me that your slight was meaningless, that I didn’t care anyway, I didn’t know there was a reason I was holding on to that night.” The tip of Elijah’s tongue tickled the curve of his earlobe. The touch was so light and yet his cock instantly responded, plumping up in anticipation of what Camden prayed would follow.
“And I wouldn’t have known how amazing it feels to connect with you again.” Elijah traced his tongue down the curve of Camden’s neck, eliciting a shiver that shook him to his core. Camden had been so busy trying to regain his composure that he hadn’t noticed they were now horizontal on the daybed. Elijah settled himself between Camden’s legs, leaning on one elbow as he looked down at Camden with a generous smile. “If I hadn’t been forced to take this case, I never would’ve known my instincts were right when they told me how special you were, and how I needed to do everything in my power to keep you near.”
Elijah tugged Camden into a deep kiss, their mouths moving in rhythmic harmony as they tasted each other. Elijah pulled away, leaving just enough space for their gazes to meet as they struggled to catch their breath. “I may have had no choice in taking this case, Cam. But I’m protecting you for my selfishness, because I’ve realized that being without you is too high a price for me to pay.”
Something broke inside him at the end of Elijah’s declaration. The dam he’d used to suppress this tangible thing that grew inside him for Elijah, rearranging the inner workings of his heart, was also breaking. He’d spent a majority of the last five years living in denial too. He’d told himself Elijah was nothing more than a one-night stand. A meaningless fling that had no place in his life. But lying beneath this man, having the chance to be pulled into the craziness that was the Stephenson family, revealed to Camden just how much he’d lost by walking away from Elijah.
“I want everything we never had the chance to have after that night. If you don’t want that too, then you’d better tell me now.”
Camden was hiding out in a quiet neighborhood in Westchester from deadly criminals who wanted his head on a platter. His parents, although aware of his current situation, were probably still planning his next political move and his marriage to the right man. But lying on this bed, enveloped in Elijah’s warmth and desire, Camden knew he couldn’t give one single damn about any of that.
He’d been numb all this time. After experiencing what real emotion was, how the beauty and pain of it were proof of living and not just existing, he couldn’t give that up for anyone. Not the Path, not for his parents, not for his father’s political aspirations for Camden. No, he wanted all the admissions Elijah offered him, and he was just selfish enough to reach out and take what he wanted this time.
“This won’t be as easy as me saying yes, Elijah. This business with the Path wanting me dead might complicate things. And my father will not be exactly happy about me being romantically linked to a blue-collar cop.”
Elijah maneuvered himself to the side of Camden and placed a firm kiss on his mouth before locking gazes with him. “This business with the Path will be over in a matter of days. My captain and my team will make sure of that. And as long as we’re inside these walls, you’re safe. As for your father, I’m not really all that concerned about what makes him happy. As long as you’re happy, that’s all that matters.”
Camden closed his eyes and chuckled before returning his gaze to Elijah’s. “You only say that because you’ve never met my father.”
“No, Camden, your father hasn’t met me.”
The fire that burned inside the depths of his obsidian gaze scorched Camden’s fears and filled him with a warmth that called to the deepest parts of his soul. The man had hardly touched him, and his body was so on edge, Camden wasn’t certain he could control himself for much longer.
“Elijah, do me a favor?” Elijah narrowed his eyes and nodded his head. “Could we stop talking about my father and the crazy people trying to kill me, so you can fuck me?”
One corner of Elijah’s mouth rose in a half smile, making Camden’s entire body tingle at the sight. “Oh yes.” The playful, decadent tone of Elijah’s voice made Camden ache with want. “We can most definitely do that.”
Chapter Eighteen
ELIJAHkept that sexy-as-sin half smile on his face as he pulled his gaze down the length of Camden’s body. He sat up, then lifted Camden up with him. When Camden tried to sit beside Elijah, he shook his head.
“Nah, that’s not your seat.”
Camden didn’t exactly follow his meaning until he smoothed a large palm over the top of his clothed cock. The gesture was both an invitation and a command, one Camden had no intention of turning away. Eager to fulfill Elijah’s request, Camden stripped his shirt off and quickly disposed of his sweatpants and boxer briefs a second later. He figured they’d need to come off soon enough, no sense in wasting time doing it later.
As he straddled Elijah’s lap, the spread of his full lips into a broad smile told Camden his assumption was right. Naked Camden was what they both wanted. Now, if Camden could just get Elijah to divest himself of his clothing too so Camden could get to that delicious flesh beneath, everything would be perfect in his world.
Camden reached for the hem of Elijah’s T-shirt and was disappointed when Elijah placed his hands on top of Camden’s and shook his head. He was about to protest, but then Elijah moved his hands to Camden’s flanks, then around his back, until they traveled to his shoulders. Elijah’s movements were tender, gentle, and so slow, painstakingly slow—the simple slide of his flesh over Camden’s building his need and frustration with little effort. Except for Camden sitting in his lap naked, they’d barely made it to a place where Camden would call this intimate or overtly sexual. But being near Elijah like this, feeling his heat, his desire—it made every touch, every look, every sound seem so arousing, Camden could hardly stand it.
Elijah placed a firm grip at the back of Camden’s neck, pulling him forward until their lips met in a hard press. From that moment on, the gentleness Elijah seemed determined to exact on Camden fell away and was replaced by burning desperation. Teeth clicked, tongues tangled as they struggled to taste each other, and Camden’s lungs burned from their need to breathe. But when the decision was his next breath or breaking away from the pleasure of Elijah’s kiss, he’d gladly suffocate.
Elijah kept one hand pressed against Camden’s neck, holding Camden’s lips right where he wanted them, while he moved the other to Camden’s straining length. The tight fist around his cock, coupled with the stroke of Elijah’s thumb across the straining domed cap, forced Camden to take a breath. But when he tried to pull away from Elijah’s lips, the firm press of his hand at Camden’s neck kept him locked in a torturous kiss.
Camden’s hips moved of their own accord as his cock chased the warmth and friction Elijah’s closed palm provided. Camden didn’t care that Elijah’s grip was dry; he didn’t care he would probably end up with some kind of abrasion on his cock if he fucked Elijah’s hand the way his body desperately needed him to. Thankfully, Elijah had better sense than he did, because he released Camden’s cock without warning.
Before Camden could lament the loss of Elijah’s hand or the glorious way it gripped his leaking cock, Elijah broke their kiss and moved his mouth to Camden’s ear to whisper, “Feed me.”
Camden groaned as he closed his eyes and let his head drift back. He shivered at the almost painful weight of his heavy balls while the image of Elijah swallowing his cock whole danced behind his closed lids. “Dammit, Elijah.” Camden shifted, restless in Elijah’s lap, tugging at his sensitive sac to stave off the orgasm that was already building. “You can’t say shit like that and not expect me to lose my load.”
The tip of Elijah’s tongue caressed his earlobe. The electric sensation sent tiny shocks through his system, making him tremble with need. “I thought the point of this entire exercise was for both of us to lose our loads?”
