The man held up a paper bag. “Madam Winters sent his things.”
I felt silly, but before I could step forward to take the bag, Camden had rushed past me to do it, glaring all the while. He passed me the bag while high-key posturing at the man, and I nearly rolled my eyes. But I was excited to dig around and snag my phone out of the mess of dirty clothes. I almost cried when I saw the battery wasn’t dead yet. I kissed the phone and felt like it was a reasonable substitute for Wayland. I wasn’t totally fucked.
“Tell Ms. Winters that we’re done. She had her laugh, and I’m not in any position to do anything about it.” Some of the fear from last night rushed around in my belly, but in the light of day, with Camden standing in front of me like a guard dog, most of it faded.
The man gave me a craggy smile. “I make deliveries. I’m not a messenger. All I can tell you is that the madam didn’t ask me to toss you over the back of my bike.”
I dropped my phone into the bag. “You tell that woman she can—”
“Whoa, firecracker,” Camden said and turned to shake his head at me. “Didn’t you piss her off once? Isn’t that what got you in trouble?”
I gritted my teeth. “I’m leaving, if that’s all.”
Camden’s face fell. “But—”
“Nice to meet you.”
“You too,” Olivia said faintly. I could tell this wasn’t what she’d thought would be happening, and perhaps she was confused, but I wasn’t Camden’s new boyfriend ready to step in and play Daddy-lite with her kids. I owed her no explanations, and I wasn’t anyone to them.
My foot was aching already as I walked determinedly past Ms. Winters’ man to the front lawn. For some reason, with Camden so close, he didn’t seem half as scary as he had a few minutes ago. In the front there was a tall, decorative wooden fence, with a gate that currently hung open, high enough that someone would really have to try to see inside. The damned thing was literally painted white, to match the house. It didn’t get more family friendly than that. I could see why he hadn’t worried about me being out here in the robe, however. He could do all sorts of things on his lawn without abusing his neighbors’ eyes.
That had me thinking about last night again, and my belly heated. What did he do outside?
Camden caught up to me and drew me aside as the other man left through the gate, but he didn’t bother closing it behind him. Olivia was nowhere to be seen, so I assumed she was off taking care of the kids.
“What are you doing?” he asked, leaning down so he could look into my eyes. I didn’t like it because it made me dizzy. “Are you really walking home in my robe?” His lips twitched.
I set my jaw and went to go toward the gate, but he held my arm tight, and I didn’t fight him.
“Didn’t you have a good time last night?”
“How can that be the point in all this?” He let go when I gave a pitiful yank on my arm. “I don’t do things like what happened last night. I just don’t.”
“How is the fun you had not the point? What else is sex about? I want to see you again.” He surprised me when he gripped my shoulders and dragged me a few steps to our right. The fence was hard at my back when he crowded me against it. I was trapped—again.
I gulped and couldn’t even pretend I hated it.
“You like running from me.” There was a light in his eyes that gave me scared shivers and excited me in other ways. At this moment he wasn’t the family man laughing over the hijinks of his kids; he was a beast waiting to fuck me.
And hell, I wanted it again. I sucked in a breath and berated my dick for pushing up against the soft fabric of the robe. Everything just felt so fucking good with his body heat warming my front and his hard hands on my hips…. When had they gotten there?
I tried to shove Camden off because no good would come of any of this, but he only tightened his hold. “Your family is back there.”
“They are.”
Okay, he didn’t seem to care if anyone saw us in an intimate situation.Fuck.“What could you possibly want with me in the real world?”
“I want to mate you,” he said, then darted forward and nipped at my earlobe like he hadn’t just said something outrageous.
“That’s….” I drew in a deep breath as he sucked away the pain and pleasure shivered through my insides. The thought of him holding me down to fuck me, especially now that I knew how good he was at it, had my body going nearly numb from delight. “What?”
His guttural laugh, nearly feral in timbre, had my stomach clenching in a good way. “I want to make you scream like an animal. My animal. Have you bite and scratch and do whatever makes you feel good while you come on my cock. I want you to let go.”
“Are you out of your damned mind? Me? Let go? Clearly we haven’t met. I’m leaving now. All of this is a nightmare.” I could say all that, but I couldn’t control the huskiness in my voice or stop my dick from pushing at the cloth of the robe even more. He crowded closer to me and slipped his hand between us, parting the fabric to cup my cock. I gasped. There truly hadn’t been much between me and the world.
“You really think so?” he murmured into my ear. Need had me holding my breath, and a frantic desire to shove him back in the house and up to his bedroom nearly had me doing it. The only thing that stopped me was the feeling of being wild and out ofcontrol—the very thing I’d always valued about myself.
“I have to leave right now.” I’d never known anything with more certainty in my life. I had to get my act together before work tomorrow. I had to eat. I had to sit in a corner and rock for a while until I could come to terms with all the things I’d done and enjoyed in his bed—and beside the lake. “I suppose if you were able to track me down, I might consider a repeat. Since you like chasing me.” Yes, this was definitely Stockholm syndrome. That was all I could blame the horribly chosen words spilling out of my mouth on. I thumped my head back against the fence.
