Rough: Daunting Temptation (Coral Gables Series Book 1) (22 page)

"Well, I'm sorry, but I was sure that you'd never have found the courage to invite this young man here. And furthermore, I think you ought to appreciate that he made the journey, just to be with you," she shoots back, sounding angered, too.

I take a deep breath as I try not to explode, and then I get up. "Enjoy your meal," I say and march out of the kitchen.

"Cami, will you please stay here," she calls after me. "I am sorry; it's not like her to be this impolite."

"I fully understand her, Misses Brooks. She is still hurt and ... and I cannot blame her for feeling this way," Delsin says.

"Maybe you should follow her," my mom suggests.

I rush out of the house. I need some air to breathe, so I run to the brook. The sun is still high in the early evening sky, so I don't need a flashlight to find the way.

"Camille," I hear Delsin's voice behind me.

I run faster. I'm not ready for this; why does nobody seem to understand that?

Tears sting my eyes, because I never fight with my mom, and I never talk to her like I just have. She disappointed me, that's all there is to it. She should have accepted that I need more time. I lose my Stetson on the path, but I don't bother picking it up. If I do, Delsin is going to catch up with me, and I don't want that to happen.

A few minutes later I reach the brook. I can run well in my boots, but the slippery terrain makes it hard, so I am glad I have made it here without stumbling. I lean against the trunk of the old oak tree that still carries the carved initials of my parents in its bark. I wipe my tears away, careful not to smear my mascara.

"Camille, where are you?" Delsin calls.

Heavens, I am such a coward, hiding behind a tree!

"Please come out," he calls again when he reaches the riverbank.

I look at him from behind the tree. He is wearing jeans, the usual sneakers, and a white t-shirt with a short-sleeved black shirt on top of it. "Camille," he repeats, turning and peering into the foliage. He sees me, stares at me, and comes closer. I shake my head as if to stave him off, but he ignores the gesture and looks at me with worried, sad eyes. I avert my own eyes, because I don't want him to see my tears.

"I thought you knew I was coming," he says softly. Slowly, he raises his hand to my cheek. "I am sorry. I wouldn't have come if I had been aware of the fact that you didn't know."

My breathing comes labored and I close my eyes. "I need more time, Delsin."

"Time for what?"

"To think. I've been here for only five days, and you keep haunting me. Well, not you personally, but everyone keeps asking me to call you and trying to give me advice, trying to convince me that I need to get in touch with you again. Nobody respects what I want. What I might need," I cry.

"Do you want me to go?" he asks softly.

"Go where?" I breathe, raising my eyes to finally look at him again.

Delsin takes my face in his hands. "I'll go where you want me to go. You only have to tell me, and I'll stay or I'll go." His thumbs catch my tears and brush them away.

The situation takes my breath away and I feel oppressed. "It will destroy me ... You ... you're not good for me," I stammer.

"That's what it looks like, yes, but I want to change that. I haven't seen Cay since the party, but I got this text message ..." He pulls back his hand and takes his phone from his pocket. Then he types and scrolls, before he hands it to me. "Please read this, Camille."

I take the phone and look at the screen.
Thanks to me you got rid of your girlfriend. So when do we get together? XOXO Cay,
I read. And then I scroll down to Delsin's reply:
You damn bitch, thanks to you the only woman I love has vanished from my life!

My hands start to shake as Delsin pulls me into an embrace. "It happened exactly as I told you, but you didn't give me a single chance to prove it," he whispers.

I don't say anything. What am I supposed to say? That I was wrong and therefore forgive him? I don't know what to think as it sounds so unreal that he might really have become a different man. No womanizer anymore. These things don't happen in a day. Never.

His fingertips draw circles in my neck, which makes me shiver, but I don't stop him. Right now I am glad that someone is holding me. That's all.

"Should I stay or should I go, sweet Caramel?" He asks softly.

I utter a heavy, weary sigh, letting his words reverberate in my head.

"Your mom prepared a room for me. If you want me to go, tell me now, so Hailey can drive me to my dad's house when she goes," he murmurs and lets me go.

"Is everything okay, Cami?" Steve interrupts us. He seems to be on the way to the main house.

I look at him. "Yes, I'm fine. We ... I guess we need to go out tomorrow, or another day, though," I answer, trying not to sound too much like the cry-baby that I am.

"Okay," he nods and walks on.

I lower my eyes and look at our feet.

"Why don't you answer me?" he wants to know.

"Because I don't know what to answer," I admit sheepishly.

"You are unsure whether you want me to leave or not?" he prods, sitting down in the grass.

"Yes," I nod and lean back against the tree.

"Camille, I know it looked as if I was about to screw Cay, but that was not the case. I have been racking my brain how I can convince you of the truth, and I haven't come up with any idea. I can only repeat myself and tell you what really happened, over and over. You don't have to give me a chance if you don't want to, but you have to believe me, for I couldn't bear the thought of this standing between us forever," He explains in an urgent tone.

"It wouldn't," I whisper.

"Why not?"

"Because I applied to the University of Texas, to continue my studies there. I wouldn't return to Coral Gables anyway," I answer.

"Because of me," he states.

"Yes ... no, because I have been homesick, too. You were only the last straw that broke the camel's back, Delsin."

He holds out his hand. "Come sit with me."

I swallow hard, but then I nod and take his hand. I flop down next to him, which will lead to a sore backside tomorrow.

Delsin puts an arm around me. "You shouldn't run away because of me," he says softly.

"My homesickness is the largest part."

"You could overcome that, Caramel. Sometimes I feel like throwing it all away and running scared, too, but I don't yield to that impulse. I know I have friends who would be disappointed, who would not understand. If you stay here, Avery would be sad. Hailey and Thally would be disappointed. I don't want to blackmail you, but it hasn't been two weeks since you told me that it had been your dream, studying in Miami."

"It has become a nightmare. I barely made my credit score, the semester was everything but great, and the end was a disaster."

His warm fingertips touch my cool skin. At first it feels like the pricking of tiny needles, but then I relax and it turns into a pleasant sensation.

"My only complaint is the ending. The end between you and me, I mean," Delsin murmurs.

I stare at the oak tree. The heart with my parents' initials seems to laugh at me. "As a kid, I used to sit in front of this tree and wonder when my initials would be carved into the bark," I whisper. It's a shady attempt at changing the subject, but maybe it'll work.

Delsin studies the bark. "If you gave me another chance, I'd spend the night carving ours deep into the tree."

"You're all putting a lot of pressure on me."

He sighs. "I know, and it's the last thing I want to do. I'm going to back off and leave you alone, for as long as you need it, okay?"

"Okay," I say and look at him.

His eyes are still sad, and I feel the rising urge to kiss him, but I don't want to raise his hopes. It is impossible to simply forget it all.

"Don't look at me like that. You know it makes me want to kiss you," he whispers.

I lower my eyes for a moment, but then I look at him again. "Try to resist," I say with a shy smile.

"After having tasted your lips, I don't want to resist, Caramel." His eyelids lower and his face comes closer, so I pull back a little and lie down in the grass. That will give me time.

Delsin lies down next to me. "That hat suits you, by the way. When I saw you with it, I couldn't help thinking that you are one damn hot cowgirl."

"The sun is hot, so it's better to wear a hat," is all I can say in reply.

"No. You look really good in those clothes. Pretty. No, beautiful. I wouldn't have thought they suited you until I saw you with my own eyes. After all, I've only ever seen you as a rather stylish college girl," he explains with a smile.

I look at him pensively. "What did you do before you came here?"

He turns over and lies on his stomach, leans on his elbows and looks at me. "Five of the seven days since you left, I was sitting in my apartment, staring at the walls and repeatedly asking Avery whether you called. The last two days, I was in the car with your crazy friends. Two girls who have problems I didn't know one could have. Is it really that important which razor you use to shave your legs? Or how large ... a man's package is? Honestly, Camille, I was worried I would grow tits and my dick would fall off, merely because I had to listen to those conversations for more than twenty-four hours," he tells me, half serious, half joking.

I put my hand before my mouth, but it doesn't help. I laugh out loud and cannot stop.

"I was so relieved when we stopped half-way. They nearly drove me insane, and of course they teased me with all the old stories. Hailey and Thally can be real monsters if they want to, but ... they also really listened to my concerns, and I am thankful for that."

I try to calm down, but I am still laughing about his statement about tits.

"Yeah, go ahead and laugh at me," he grins.

Minutes pass, until my stomach hurts and I am back to my sober self again. "I'm sorry, but the image of you as a woman was just too weird."

"Yeah," he nods, smiling. "I can see myself turning into the butt of all jokes here."

"Oh, only when you ride the way I skate," I grin.

"Speaking of that ... why did you give Ave the board?" he asks, all serious again.

I stare up at the sky and take a deep breath. "Because it was too expensive and I would have felt uncomfortable with keeping it."

"You wanted to erase me from your life."

I give a curt nod.

"And all because of this scheming bitch," he murmurs.

"No, because it hurt to think of you, and when I looked at the skateboard, I had to think of you. Every night I was dreaming of you, of the things you told me, and ... of the sex we had," I admit.
I just admitted that I have wet dreams,
I realize and blush.

"Are you blushing because you are being honest with me?" Delsin asks, sounding curious.

"Yes," I breathe.

He strokes my cheek and leans over me. He does not kiss me, but puts his head in the crook of my neck. His warm breath tickles my skin and sends shivers down my spine. "I like it when you're being honest. And I have reveled in the way you moaned, the way you moaned because of me, of what I was doing to you," he murmurs, kissing the sensitive skin of my neck.

I close my eyes and utter a soft sigh. "Delsin ..."

"Do you want me to stop? I can't stop, sweet Caramel, you simply smell too enticing," he whispers. The tip of his nose strokes my neck, moves upwards to my ear. He breathes softly into it and then nibbles at my earlobe.

"Delsin," I gasp.

"Tell me to stop," he demands in a soft voice.

"I can't." Why am I unable to tell him to stop? The words have left my lips before I could think them through.

"Why not?"

"Because it feels too good," I admit.

"May I kiss you, Caramel?" he asks, still in a whisper, and then he traces little kisses from the sensitive spot under my ear across my jaw, to the corner of my mouth.

I don't answer, waiting to see if he will do it without my consent instead. But he stops, hovering over my mouth. I am the one to bridge the gap and kiss him. Delsin utters a soft growl when I nibble his lower lip, the way he used to do with me, and then he pulls back a little. He kisses me softly, carefully, as if he was trying not to overwhelm me. He strokes my cheek as we lose ourselves in the lengthening kiss. Slowly, he glides over me. His knee pushes my legs apart, my skirt rides up my legs, and I moan when the rough denim of his jeans rub across my panties.

My fingers roam his hair, unkempt and soft to the touch, and I grab a handful. Delsin hisses when I pull his hair, and then he growls into my mouth. His tongue pushes against the tip of mine, and I can feel the passion override his consideration. I allow it to happen and revel in the sensations. I rub myself against the swell in his jeans and utter soft little moans. I think I may be close to sleeping with him, out here in the open.

Suddenly he pulls away abruptly, rolling over on his side. My breath comes heavy as I look at him, slightly confused. "I'm sorry, but if we go on now, I cannot stop myself anymore," he apologizes.