Chapter 1
Camden
My back hit the metal shelf behind me and I cringed.
“David.” I gripped his shoulders tighter. His hands squeezed my backside as he moved us.
“Fuck, sorry.” In the darkness it was almost impossible to see, but our eyes slowly adjusted as he pushed aside a stack of tablecloths and placed me on a table. “Better?”
His hand gently brushed down my cheek, and goosebumps popped up on my arms.
What was I doing?
The salty Jamaican air had scrambled my senses.
Or, I was tired of being alone. Tired of being the outsider among all my friends who had recently found the loves of their lives. I was thrilled for them, especially Tyson and Blue, whose marriage we had celebrated earlier on the beach of a Jamaican resort. In the last year, I’d watched three of my closest friends fall in love and find the men of their dreams, along with their happily ever afters. I was genuinely thrilled for them, but I was also tired of being the one who always went home alone.
This…whatever it was with David…gave me a break, if only for a moment.
“Please,” I whispered, and leaned into the palm now cupping my cheek. His hands were strong, with long, tanned fingers that had been making me think of naughty things like this for months.
In the darkness, I saw a flash of his white teeth. “I like it when you beg. When you need me.”
Tonight’s need was selfish. A moment to forget the loneliness. A moment to take what I’d been too chicken to go after for months even though it was right in front of me.
He’d been right before my eyes, flirting relentlessly and trying to break me down. Tonight, I was tired of fighting the pull I’d felt for him despite how wrong I knew he was for me. This was one night. A moment of wildness I didn’t usually indulge in, but who didn’t enjoy getting laid at a friend’s wedding? It was almost a requirement.
His hands dropped to my knees, spreading them wide so he could step in between them.
His fingers teased my thighs, running up and down my bare flesh until I shivered from the softness of his touch.
My eyes were half-lidded when I forced myself to look at him. I saw only his lust for me, and my heart rioted against my rib cage.
Damn…he wanted me. It was as thrilling as it was terrifying.
One of his hands left my leg and cupped the back of my neck. He pulled me to him until our foreheads touched.
“I want this,” he said, his voice thick and gruff. “Tell me you want this.”
“I want it.”
“Tell me you want me.”
I couldn’t. A long time ago I’d sworn to myself I’d never be vulnerable again. I certainly wasn’t about to make that admission when all I wanted now was a night of pretending and forgetting.
“Camden, I want you to know that when I sink into you, when I push your panties to the side and run my fingers through your wetness, this isn’t a onetime thing for us. This
is the beginning.”
I shivered again. From his words, his promise—something I so desperately craved but was too terrified to take hold of.
I shifted my hips, pulling him to me until his erection brushed against my center.
“Tonight,” I gasped as he rubbed against me in the perfect spot. “It’s all I can promise.”
He chuckled, moving his mouth against my cheek, down to my jaw and my throat. “We’ll see about that.”
—