Page 50 of Now Their Starlet

“Oh.” My breath punches out of my lungs at her whispered ‘please.’

“I’m—I’m so glad you’re here, Cameron. You apologizing just makes me feel like you don’t wanna be here.”

Her words are surprisingly coherent, considering how fragile she looked when I first laid eyes on her. Maybe this physical contact is helping her?

“Okay, no apologies then. For what it’s worth...” I swallow hard, trying to think of how to phrase the jumbled mess of emotions in my mind that’ve been festering from the sleepless nights and copious amounts of coffee consumed with the others, trying to get Andi to safety. “For what it’s worth, I’m glad I get to be the one to see you.”

“Really?” She pulls away from my chest once more, wiping at her cheeks. “I thought you hated me.”

“Nah, that’s ‘cause I was a fucking idiot before. Plus, even back then, I never hated you. Just... disliked who I thought you were.”

She lets out a soft snort. “Disliked who you thought I was, huh?”

“Yeah, idiot, remember? It’s obvious now that all the things I thought I hated about you were either shit I got over the moment I pulled my head out of my ass, or things your mom wanted the world to see.”

Her expression crumples at the mention of Gina. At the reminder that after this rendezvous in the bathroom of an event she was dragged to, she’ll have to go back to that prison.

Her hands fist into the fabric of my dark button-up, and she buries her face back into my chest.

“Where’s your scent?” she mumbles softly.

“What? Oh, I put on de-scenters so I wouldn’t leave any of my scent on you after you left. Just in case anyone on Gina’s team noticed or something.”

She lets out a soft hum, burying her face even further into my chest. It almost sounds... disappointed?

I feel a little bad. Almost like I’m taking advantage. She’s obviously in a vulnerable state. Would she really act like this around me if she weren’t practically starved of all the things she needs to survive as an omega?

I shake my head, reaching up and pressing my hand to the nape of her neck, my hand massaging the tense muscles there in the way I watch Eli do to Beck all the time when the male omega is stressed.

She lets out a soft noise, no hint of disappointment anywhere this time around.

I can debate the morality of my touching her like this later. There’s no point in wondering whether she’d welcome my affection if this hadn’t happened to her, because it has. She has been kept in solitary confinement, has been starved both physically and emotionally, has been kept prisoner by her own mother.

I’ll give her all the comfort I can.

“Okay,” she murmurs. “So you can’t leave your scent on me... but can I?”

“Can you what, Sweet Tea?” I ask, my brows drawing down as I blink at her.

“Can I scent mark you?” she huffs, as if that’s the most obvious conclusion from her words.

And maybe it is, but that certainly doesn't help with the feeling that I’m taking advantage of her.

“Please, Cameron?” Her voice goes so soft I can barely hear the tremble in it. Fuck, that tremble. I can’t say no. Especially when she asks me so nicely.

I’m not a saint.

She reaches up, running the blunt edges of her nails, ones that don’t suit her normal style at all, up the back of my neck. They run through the tight curls of my hair right at the base of my neck as she pulls me down towards her.

I move along with her direction until I’m low enough for her to rest her face in the crook of my neck. She presses her cheek against the sensitive skin there, practically nuzzling into me.

Then, she turns her head, and I feel the ghost of her lips against my skin.

Fuck.

“Hey,” I rasp, my hands resting against her hips. The sequins on the dress are rough against my fingertips. God, this must be miserable for her to wear.

“Hmmm?” she hums against my skin, her lips pressing against my neck.