Elena stiffened.Wrong answer. “I don’t see it that way. She wants to help me get started in the restaurant business. The least I could do is listen to her, even if you don’t want to hear about it.”
“You want to open a restaurant?” Camden broke into a grin. “That’s awesome. You’d be amazing at it.”
“I…” Several emotions played across her face—surprise, wonder, happiness. “I think I do. Maybe not one to start. I don’t have that kind of money. But, maybe a food truck, or personal chef service, or a catering business. I don’t know.”
“I think you do know. Babe, I would be one-hundred percent behind you on that. Whatever I can do to help.”
Elena’s lips curved up into a teasing smile. “You just want free food.”
Camden tilted his head. “I’m that transparent, huh?”
She laughed. “Hardly. Unless it comes to food. Then I know just what you want.”
A wicked grin appeared on his face. “Only when it comes to food?”
Her eyes widened and her mouth opened in mock-shock. “I have no idea what you’re talking about, Camden Bains.”
He pulled her in close, framing her face with his hands. “Then let me show you.”
Fourteen
He started with her mouth, seizing her lower lip and pulling it between his. That sent heat straight between her legs. She moaned and squirmed in his arms, seeking to relieve the growing ache. It had been years since she’d felt this way, this burning need that sent her heart racing and shut down rational thought. Her lips moved to his throat, kissing him just under his ear. Camden leaned his head back, offering his throat up to her. As she kissed along his neck, he made the most delicious noises.I’m causing that? she thought in wonder. A thrill ran through her, a subtle feeling of power. It had been so long since she’d desired anyone, or made anyone desire her, she’d come to doubt that it would ever happen again. And yet, here was this amazing man reacting to her every touch.
Camden grabbed her around the waist and shifted her until she was straddling him. That felt incredibly good, incrediblyright. She looked down into his eyes, hazy and half-lidded with desire, the sexiest smile on his lips. He stroked her back, his hands sliding down to cup her bottom, pulling her in closer until she was pressed tightly against his hard cock straining against his jeans. She couldn’t help but rub against him as the pressure against her clit made her wet. His fingers slid under her skirt and found her soaked panties. He chuckled when an involuntary gasp escaped her as he swiped a finger over her swollen bud. God, she wanted him, wanted to satisfy the ache at her core with his body. She reached for his jeans to unbutton them, when he gently moved her hands away.
“I want this to be about you tonight, Elena. You said you wanted to go slowly.” His finger stroked her clit through her panties, teasing her.
I did? I do? “But I want to make you feel good, too,” she whispered.
“You do, Gorgeous. And you will. But for now, just enjoy.” He pulled her panties aside, adding fingers that slid along her lips and pressed on either side of her clit. “So wet for me, Baby.”
“All for you.” She moaned when he slid a finger inside of her, finding just the right spot to rub. Gasping and panting, she arched against his hand, feeling her orgasm build, her body become weightless. She bit her lower lip to keep from crying out as the first wave hit her, then the next, bigger and brighter and taking her higher than she’d ever gone. When she came back down, Camden was watching her with a look of absolute joy.
“That was beautiful. Utterly beautiful, watching you come for me. Thank you.”
Elena laughed quietly, still trying to catch her breath as she climbed back into her body. “Thankyou, Cam. It’s been so long since…well, sincethat.” She laid back down against his chest and felt his heart hammering against her cheek. “Are you sure I can’t return the favor?”
He growled as he ran his hand through her hair. “Another night, when we have more time. I want to enjoy you thoroughly, and I want to make you come so many times you can’t remember your name.”
He lifted her chin and their lips met. She was on the verge of asking him to spend the night when he stopped kissing her and looked deeply into her eyes.“ As much as I want to keep going, we both have early days tomorrow,” he told her. But something in his eyes made her think there was more to it.He was going to tell me something, she thought. She wondered if she should press him about it, but after that orgasm, she didn’t think she had quite the brain cells to process a deep conversation.
After Camden secured a leash to Toby’s collar (Tina would be so disappointed to find the dog gone in the morning) Elena walked him to the door half in a daze. Before letting him leave, she told him, “Next time, I’m not letting you go. There’s a lot I still need to learn about you.”
His eyes blazed. He answered her with another deep kiss.
* * *
Elena woke up the next morning alone in her bed. She reached across the sheets to touch the empty place where she wished Camden were. God, how she wanted to wake up in his arms, to smell his warm skin and run her fingers through his thick, curly hair to wake him up. She wondered how his morning kisses would taste—he had a full buffet of them. The spicy-hot forbidden kisses they’d shared in Bette’s library that left her skin tingling and her mouth on fire. The sweet one he’d given her in the kitchen as she was getting Tina ready for bed. And the kisses on the couch last night that made her hungry for more, which he happily gave her.
Elena could have spent the rest of the morning in bed thinking about Camden, but she needed to get Tina to school and herself to work. Luckily, her Pepita was in a cooperative mood and they got out the door way ahead of schedule, which meant Elena got to work early. On her chair was a photocopy of the page from the company manual outlining professional behavior, with a note from Julia asking Elena to please review the guidelines and take them to heart.
So much for small victories. She’d worked overtime the day before to make up for the longer lunch, and there’d been a couple days when she’d skipped lunch entirely. Julia had highlighted in yellow a line about treating clients respectfully. So was that it—she thought Elena wasn’t good enough to actually have a friend like Cici, that she was acting like some kind of fangirl?Ugh. She put her lunch cooler in her bottom drawer with a little pang—Camden had made it for her—deciding she would go out today after all. Two could play the passive-aggressive game.
Before turning her phone off, she sent a text to Lissa to see if she wanted to go with her to Delia’s for lunch. That would give her a chance to ask Delia in person about catering for Cici. Talking to Camden the night before filled her head with ideas about the appetizers she would serve and how she’d go about doing it, if the job was hers. Elena set those thoughts aside with a sigh. She’d taken Camden’s warning seriously, but she still wanted to help Cici and Camden both. What could be bothering her new friend? Maybe it was nothing, and Elena could put her at ease. On the other hand, if it was something big, wouldn’t it make Camden’s job easier and safer if he knew? The dilemma tied Elena’s stomach in knots all morning, as if her stomach weren’t upset enough from Julia’s behavior.
Lissa picked up on Elena’s tension on their walk to Delia’s. “What’s up? You look clucked.”
Elena glanced at her friend. “I look what? Like a chicken?”
