“Same here.” Camden brushed her hair away from her face. “I like seeing you in action—you’re delightfully vicious, which pleases my cat immensely by the way. But I don’t like seeing you harmed at all, even when it’s clear you’re winning a fight.” He pressed a kiss to her shoulder and returned to mapping and stroking her back.
Aspen felt her eyes drift shut. They’d always been relatively tactile with each other, but never like this. She liked it. And she’d miss it when the new “benefits” to their friendship came to an end.
In the past, whenever she’d found herself wishing for moments like these, she’d told herself not to be silly; that realistically, it would feel weird and awkward to have her best friend touch her this way.
Oh, it never felt weird. Never felt awkward. It felt … perfect.
No one else had ever touched her as he did—reverent. Greedy. Possessive. Sure of his right to touch her as and when he pleased. It was new and heady and made her all tingly.
So, yeah, she’d miss it. Her bearcat would miss it too. But Aspen wasn’t going to spend time dwelling over it. She’d make the most of what time they had while they had it.
Opening her eyes, she found that his own were following the path of his hand. “So, no work today,” she said.
His gaze flew to hers and warmed. “Whatever shall we do with ourselves?”
She felt her mouth curve. “I’m pretty certain your plans involve keeping me here by whatever means necessary.” Because he was an overprotective fucker.
He shrugged one shoulder, unapologetic. “I like knowing you’re safe. Nothing can touch you here. Except me,” he added, palming her ass.
“I’ll only stay inside all day if we have a movie marathon.”
His eyes narrowed. “What movies did you have in mind?”
“I think you can guess.”
He groaned. “There’s no way I’m having a zombie-filled day. I get to at least pick one movie.”
“Fine. But let it be something different than your usual choices. We’ve seen No One Lives too many times to count. No, don’t tell me you weren’t going to suggest that movie. You totally were.”
“Yeah, I was,” Camden easily admitted as he lightly squeezed her ass, remembering how pretty it had looked last night with his handprints on it. She truly had a sensational ass—round and curvy and tight. No man would be able to look at it without wanting to bend her over the closest available surface. Which was why his blood pressure tended to rise when he caught guys staring at it. Something that happened far too often for his liking.
“I’m not watching Devil’s Advocate again either, before you suggest it,” she said.
He had been about to suggest it. “Don’t think if you keep vetoing my ideas I’ll throw up my hands and leave you to choose—that won’t happen. At least one movie will have to be non-zombie related. You can stop with the puppy dog eyes, I’m not budging on this. One or more have to be another genre. And we should watch them all right here. In bed. While we’re both naked.”
“Naked, huh?”
“Yes. I want full, easy access to your body. Then I can do things like this.” He dipped his hand between her legs and skimmed the tips of his fingers over her pussy.
That was when her phone rang.
“Dammit, hold that thought,” she told him, grabbing her cell. “It’s Havana.” She swiped her thumb over the screen and answered, “Morning.” Her body tensed. “And?” There was a long pause. “Interesting … Okay … We’ll be ready … Yeah, see you soon.” Aspen ended the call. “We may know where Wayland is.”
Camden squinted, and his tiger went from drowsy to alert in a split second. “Where?”
“Well, River says that Wayland inherited an old house from his great-grandmother. Get this: it’s only an hour’s drive from here.”
“Is that so?”
Aspen nodded, her eyes bright with anticipation. “Havana wants a bunch of us to head up there to scope it out, including you and me. We need to be ready to leave in twenty minutes. She’ll be picking us up then.”
“Twenty minutes,” he echoed. “That gives me enough time.”
“For what?”
He rolled her onto her back. “To do this.” He spread her thighs, settled himself between them, and set about making her come with his mouth.
As Aspen and Camden crossed to the nine-seater SUV parked outside their complex, he looked at the driver. “It’s been checked for bombs, right?” He’d taken the words right out of Aspen’s mouth.
Luke nodded. “Every car outside all the pride-owned buildings are now regularly checked, as well as the vehicles in Tate’s cul-de-sac.”
“Wise precaution,” said Aspen.
“I don’t believe in taking chances with people’s safety.”
Aspen pulled open the sliding side door and hopped inside. She inclined her head at Tate, who was riding shotgun. Camden followed her into the vehicle and closed the door.