BEG 1 (5 page)

Cam

By the time we can politely leave, I am so hard I’d had to remove my jacket and use it as a shield to hide the state of my arousal from the vultures that hadn’t stopped looking our way.

She’s gorgeous and exactly what I’d wanted in a woman, before I’d sworn off the creatures. She smells like wisteria and vanilla, and her cream is a shade just lighter than honey.

I’ve spent the last hour wondering if she’d taste as sweet and go down as smoothly as the golden syrup. And then I’d started thinking about what else I can lick from her and things had deteriorated from there.

She, of course, is blissfully ignorant of the state she’s reduced me to, and I find myself gritting my teeth and glaring at her the whole drive home while ignoring Mum’s narrowed eyes.

I want her. No, at this point, it is so far past want I have to be honest with myself and admit that I need her. So have her I will. Tonight.

“Cameron darling, did you see Kent? That lad has a real knack for causing a stir.” She chuckles with a tsk. “I hear wedding bells for dearest Molly in the foreseeable future, and I hope that mother of hers gets her comeuppance when dearest Millie steals her daughter and refuses to give her back.”

I grin at the thought of my Aunt Millie taking one look at Molly and going into raptures. The woman is a force of nature, and according to her, she can’t wait much longer for daughters and grandbabies.

Poor Molly will not only be overtaken by Kent and his dominant arse, but by her mother-in-law and a doting Uncle Arthur.

“True.”

“So how did you like Molly, Ducky dear?”

I see a dazzling smile curve her lips, and it startles me so much I have to clear my throat and shift to relieve the discomfort in my pants.

“She’s great and you know it. She’s got a running commentary about every plastic we met, and she’s so sweet. I really like her. We have plans to go shopping for her cousin, Belle’s baby shower.”

“Brilliant! I’ll come along, and we can get some more things for our little sprout.”

Mum grabs her phone and starts making one of her famous lists and misses the shadow that flits over her face. I don’t, and the thought of her not wanting to go shopping, especially for the baby makes my anger spark.

“You don’t want to buy things for the baby, but for yourself it’s fine?”

Curse my bloody tongue!
Mum stops what she’s doing and gives me a chiding look.

“Shaw told me I’ve bought way too much already so I fully understand her reasoning since I’m already storing some of the items in the extra cupboard. I, however, don’t care if it’s too much, I want more. And as for the clothes I purchased for her, she only wears them out when I insist on her company because she doesn’t want to embarrass me. The rest of the time she wears her own things. You’d know this if you spent even a bloody moment looking at her instead of seeing the past,” she says with a snarl. “Now hush up unless you intend to apologize or say something nice.”

Ah, Aunt Millie, I think Mum’s going to outpace you in the daughter-in-law department,
I muse, shaking my head silently.

Bloody females
.

                                     ***

Shaw

It’s two in the morning, and I can’t sleep. Again. Because of that damned idiot and his apology. After Marge gave him the mother of all set downs, we’d spent the drive silently staring out of the window, a state I far prefer to defending myself or others defending me.

He’d cornered me in the library and shocked me speechless with an apology that seemed dragged out of him but sincere enough that I’d felt almost giddy with joy.

Why that would be is so not worth examining because I’m quite frankly too afraid of looking too deeply into feelings I refuse to acknowledge.

And now I’m standing in the freaking kitchen, as usual, trying to calm my nerves by turning to food. Again.

“The chocolate biscuits aren’t in the fridge.”

I whirl around and almost topple over onto my ass, only to be saved by a pair of large, strong arms that circle my waist and stay put as he steers me to the cupboard and leans in to get the cookies.

The action pushes his front flush with my back, and I shiver when he shifts his hips, pushing his crotch into my ass. Oh, well goodness! Is that a—?

“Er, I was avoiding going for…the fattening stuff,” I say with a gasp, searching for somewhere to go when his hand settles just under my breast and squeezes subtly.

“You don’t need to eat carrot sticks here. This isn’t the Larson house,” he growls, and I release a sigh when he steps back and steers me to the table. “You can’t sleep?”

I shake my head and accept the cookies and milk he’s poured, feeling out of my depth and vulnerable, as he eats quietly, his eyes never leaving me.

“What was it about him that caught your fancy?”

The question startles me, as it breaks through the silence, and I swallow an unchewed piece of cookie, glugging milk to wash it down and stop my coughing fit.

“Sorry?”

“What was it about Rob that you liked?” he asks again, waiting patiently for my answer.

Oh God, how to answer this without setting him off?

“Er, I don’t really—”

“Just tell me.”

I nod and crumble the cookies as I collect my thoughts.

“It’s not that I liked him or even really would have been interested in him on a normal day. I dunno. I’d just finished college early, and I had a foot in the door on this great internship. I’d spent four years just keeping my head down and working my butt off.”

God, Shaw, don’t give the guy your whole life story! Stick to the basics.

“Anyway, my roommate made me go clubbing with her and her friends, and I was…he came up to me and gave me a line. I was going to turn him down when Linda came over and made a smart-ass comment. He gave her the brush off and got me out of there and well…I’d never just done something for the sake of doing it before. And he could be kinda sweet.”

“So he seduced you? That first night?” he asks, and for some reason he seems angry, as if he’s casting his brother in the villain role before I’ve even finished my story.

“No. I told him I wasn’t into one-night stands, and he understood. He took me out and called me that whole next week, and by then, I’d decided that I could do a lot worse for a first time. We, uh, we were together once, and when I woke up the next morning, he was gone.”

He nods, and his shoulders droop, almost like a deflating balloon.

“Rob was—”

“Human.” I cut in, smiling slightly. “I was so angry at him for leaving like that. I mean, I didn’t think we were destined for love or marriage or anything, but he was a good friend, and it hurt to realize that he’d used me so callously.”

“You didn’t love him?” he asks, his face a blank mask that gives nothing away.

Gosh, if I say no will he get all angry and start insulting me? But what’s the alternative. I can’t lie, not even to make my life easier.

“No. I was too focused on work and keeping my position. I didn’t want anything interfering in my goals, and I told him so that first night. Guess he took it literally.”

We are quiet for a while, both of us lost in thought before he looks up at me and grins. “Come with me?”

“What? Where?” I ask, squeaking when he pulls me up and starts towing me towards the stairs.

“You’ll see.”

I keep my mouth shut and tipto
e
—
even though we’re going in the opposite direction of the family wing and Marge and Vic are probably conked out in their room.

When we get to a set of double doors at the end of the long corridor, he pulls me in and closes the door. The lock turns and I gulp, looking around at what is obviously his room, well, suite really.

It’s decorated in browns and blues with a huge bed dominating the center of the wall to my left and a lit fireplace to the right.

“Er, what—?”

I don’t get anything else out before he twists me around, pulls me up and into his body, and seals his mouth over mine. The contact is explosive, and I moan at the heat, my mouth gaping wide to admit his tongue. He tastes me with a desperation I’ve never known and runs his hands down my back to cup my ass and jerk me closer.

My belly is too big to allow for contact, but he’s not stopping there, and I feel a hand travel down to cup me from behind, his fingers delving and spreading, rubbing at the seam of my sex through the soft silk.

“Christ, you’re so warm.”

Oh God. Is that a finger going beneath my underwear?

I groan and go to my toes when he thrusts a finger into me and starts curling it inside in a beckoning manner that makes my sex fire to life and moisten in a rush.

“I want you, Shaw. I want you so badly I walk around hard and aching, hungry for you.” He growls, licking at my lips. “Tell me I can have you. Please.”

“But?” I gasp when his finger goes deeper and step to my toes, but there’s nowhere to go to escape the sensation of his hand, of those knowing fingers. “You don’t even like me. I don’t like you.”

I don’t care. I don’t care. Right now, I want what he’s giving me and so much more. I had sex once, and while it was good, it was nowhere near the sensations I feel now, and we’re not even down to the good stuff yet.

“We can give each other mutual satisfaction, Shaw. I know you’re in need with your body changing. I saw your face when Kent kissed Molly. You need a body on yours, skin heating you and providing the closeness you haven’t had. You need someone who will tell you how desirable your ripe body is. Let me. I swear I’ll give you so much pleasure nothing else will matter.”

I’ve been here before. Only once before have I told myself to let go and just give in to the flow, and I’d lost everything because of it. I should say “no” now, knowing how bad my judgement has been, but I don’t because—fuck it, I’m already screwed, I may as well get some pleasure out of it.

“Don’t insult me. Please. If we do this, you don’t walk around insulting me at every turn. It’s hurtful, and I can’t take it if we get intimate.” I warn.

He smiles and pulls his finger out of me, releasing me and pushing me back.

“Strip.”

I shiver at the command and go liquid when he sucks his finger into his mouth and groans.

“Hurry, Shaw.”

God, this is a bad idea.

Cam

God, she’s so beautiful as she blushes and nibbles at her lips indecisively before gathering her gown and pulling it up. It catches on her belly for a breath before tugging free and whipping over her head.

She’s not wearing any pants and the sight of her large, swollen body is enough to bring me to my knees. She’s more than I imagined, so much more, and it arouses me to the point of pain. Her breasts are large with peach-pink nipples that are hard and tight with need.

Her belly is a round ball that almost hides her sex from view, so large that her navel is distended with her girth.

When all I do is stare, she flushes and brings her hands up self-consciously, trying to hide herself from me. I can’t have that. I won’t. For this one moment, she is mine, and I will have everything I need from her and more.

I’ll give her so much pleasure she won’t even remember the one that came before. She’ll be so full of me her skin will tingle just hearing my voice.

The possessive thoughts are shocking, but I don’t stop to examine them.

“You’re so beautiful. There’s nothing more arousing than a woman ready to bring a life into this world. See how sexy you are?”

I drop my sleeping pants and palm my erection, letting her see the extent of my desire.

“I walk around like this constantly,” I say, taking her hand to wrap it around me. “Feel that. I’m so hard it hurts.”

Those purple-blue eyes are bright when she squeezes her hand around me and starts exploring my length as if she’s never seen a dick before.

“Ah, yes, harder,” I moan, helping her start a rhythm that makes me tingle from the base of my spine to where she’s gripping me.

She obeys, and I revel in the feeling for as long as I can before removing her hand and leading her to the bed. I’m not quite sure how to do this and keep her comfortable at the same time, but she solves that for me by lying down on the bed and spreading her legs, her eyes beckoning, her hips writhing in a rhythm that assures me she’s as needy for me as I am for her.

But first, a taste.

She stiffens when I bend my head and settle between her legs. The first swipe of my tongue has her choking on a scream while I groan and my eyes roll back in my head.

She’s so wet and responsive, everything I could ask for, and soon even the taste of her isn’t enough to satisfy my thirst. I rear up just as her muscles start tensing and fill her in one motion, her body tightening up too late to stop my momentum.

When I’m completely in, we both sigh, and I lean back on my haunches to keep my weight off her smaller form.

“So perfect.”

Her body is heaven as I start plunging in and out, my hips working against my better judgement and going full steam ahead even as my mind screams at me to slow.

I don’t want to hurt her—

“Harder. Oh God, that feels so good,” she moans, digging her nails into my arms where my hands are gripping her hips.

Her urging spurs me on, and I let go, battering her with my lust. The sensations of heat and tightness are too much, and I angle deeper, searching for that spot that will set her off.

Ladies first after all.

That does the trick, and I feel her tense and the tremors deep within and let go, spilling inside her in a long stream of mind numbing pleasure that goes on for long minutes before I collapse to the side, wrung out and so blissed out my eyes won’t stay open.

“You’re bloody amazing.”

When I get no response, I turn my head only to huff out a laugh when I see her fast asleep, her body sprawled across the sheets in abandon.

Shit
. I definitely need more before I can give her up and walk away. This has easily been one of the best sexual experiences of my life, and believe me, that’s a bloody compliment because while I’m not a glory hound like Rob, I have and can equal his score if not top it.

I’m a highly sexed man, and when I’m not busy keeping things running smoothly, I’m indulging my sex drive.

The fact that I’d been going without—besides that empty coupling with Sophie, that had in no way diminished my lust—tells me that I am in deep with Shaw Mallory.

Do I want her? Yes. Do I want to want her? The answer is—most emphatically—a no and if I could have slaked my lust with another, I would most definitely never have laid a finger on her.

But it seems my dick has become more discerning in recent months, and I’ve finally given in. Now I just need to find a way to get what I need from her without my parents knowing and without putting more in than I am willing to give.

“Stop thinking so hard. I’m not gonna run out and start scouting rings,” she mumbles from her pillow, her mouth curved in a rueful smile.

“No?”

Why am I offended by that rejection?

“Nope. That was good sex, but I’m not dumb enough to see it as more than it is, so you can chill out. Oh God, I need to go back to my room, but I’m not sure my legs agree with me.” She groans, struggling to a seated position on the side of the bed. “Could I ask you to get my gown? Please? I can’t bend that low without embarrassing myself.”

I do as she asks, stifling my disappointment that she’s leaving me to sleep alone. Surely she can stay for a while? Enjoy the afterglow and maybe another round.

“You should stay a little longer.”

“Look out the window, Cameron. It’ll be dawn soon, and I doubt you want your mom finding me sneaking out of here.”

I look to my left and curse when I see that the sky is indeed just starting to turn a lighter shade than pitch black.

“Oh, you’re right. Should I walk you?”

“No. Thanks. I’m good.”

When she walks to the door and pauses, I prepare for histrionics.

“You know, I never wanted anything more out of life than to have a good job that I worked for and maybe an apartment in a good side of town. I don’t want or need your money for me. This baby may not be planned, but I love him enough to shame myself if it means giving him the best that I possibly can.”

She’s gone before I can say a word, and I feel the euphoria I’d been nursing slip away to leave a bitter regret behind.

I want to believe her, and that is perhaps more dangerous than wanting her body because it means that I could want something more, and more, I don’t do.

Ever.