Tangled (16 page)

“You're
welcome.” Her stomach bottomed out as he thumbed her moisture from his lips and
sucked the appendage dry. “Do you want to know how you taste? Like peaches,
sweet and ripe for the picking.” He drew close enough that she could smell
herself on his breath. “Too bad Cameron will never know the pleasure.”

Her
post coitus buzz sputtered out. “Or maybe he will,” she said abruptly, tired of
him dangling the threat over her head. She pulled her bottoms up and refastened
the garters. “Because you stand to lose more than I do, isn’t that right? What
was that, nineteen years of friendship over our meager three?” Ignoring his
flash of surprise, she maneuvered past him. “Be my guest.”

His
hand came down on the door before she could open it. “You won’t tell.” He
pressed his other hand low on her stomach. “You’re enjoying this too much.”

“Being
mauled at a moment’s notice? Hardly,” she said, even as the coal of truth
glowed hot.

“If
I wanted to, I could take you again, right now, and you’d let me.”

She
shivered, knowing he was right and hating him all the more for it. “Just
because you managed to get me off doesn’t mean I’d sleep with you again. You’re
crazy to think I’d want anything to do with you.”

Tess
jumped as his fist smashed against the door above her head. “Don’t call me
that!”

Warning
bells tolled. Tess didn’t reply until her voice steadied. “Then don’t give me a
reason to.” She tensed as he planted a lingering, chaste kiss on the curve of
her shoulder.

“Deny
it all you want. This is just the beginning.” He fed the words into her ear,
his breath heavy and soaked in want. “Next time, I’ll make you beg for it.”

And
as quickly as he’d appeared, he was gone.
 

Whiplashed,
it took Tess a second to reclaim her faculties. What the hell just happened?
Had he given her an orgasm of cataclysmic proportions and then turned on her
like a rabid dog?

She
didn’t understand his motivations. What was he trying to prove? Tess wouldn’t
be surprised if he’d staged the entire scene to expose her to Cameron.

Tension
cramping her stomach, Tess donned her wings, picked up the whiskey, and left
the bathroom on shaky legs, half-afraid of what awaited her.

But
no haranguing mob or Cameron laid in wait. In fact, no one seemed to care what
may or may have not taken place as a guy in meth-cooking gear shoved past her
into the bathroom with a muttered “finally”.

Before
relief could catch on her breath, Tess caught sight of him out on the other
side of the room. Adonis had attached himself to a lissome, spandex-clad
catwoman
. One hand wrapped around her waist and the other
caressing her backside, her face bloomed bright red as he whispered to her with
the mouth he used not so long ago on her.

Disgust,
and another emotion she didn’t deign to recognize, shriveled her skin. So much
for raising a stink over being rejected.

Tess
shouldn’t care. She didn’t care. In fact, she felt sorry for the poor girl. If
she wanted the deranged asshole, be her guest.

But
the reassurance did nothing to assuage the lump of emotion holed in her throat.

The
bastard. He’d done this to her on purpose. Made her feel used and dirty and
humiliated.

She
should’ve kneed him in the balls when she had the chance.

Tess
turned to sneak away unnoticed and collided head-on into a masculine chest. She
froze at the fury spinning in blue-green eyes.

So much for a clean getaway.

Chapter 8

“Are
you completely off your nut?”

Tess
tried her luck playing dumb. “What are you talking about?”

“I’m
talking about
him
,” Riley seethed,
jerking an angry thumb in Adonis’s direction.

Fear
steeped her backbone in ice. “You know?”

“Yes,
I know,” he bit out. “How could you shag that can of piss not once, but twice?”

Her
eyes darted around them nervously for onlookers. “It was an accident.”

“I’ll
have to be more careful
walkin
’ round here then.
Don’t want to slip and accidently fall on a cock,” he said and immediately
backpedaled when she recoiled from his touch. “Shit, I didn’t mean it like that.
I’m sorry, Tess.”

“It’s
a sad day when I can’t tell the difference between how he treats me and how my
friends do,” Tess said stonily. “At least with him I get off.”

He
winced. “I deserved that.”

“Yeah,
you did. How the hell did you find out?”

“He
all but came out and rubbed it in our face.”
  

Rage
flash-fired through her. It was official. She was going to kill him. “And Cam
didn’t catch on?”

His
lips flattened. “It’s Cam we’re talking about. He hears only what he wants to
hear.”

“It
doesn’t matter,” she muttered. “I was going to tell him tonight anyway.”

“Are
you and Adonis…
y’know
, an item?” he asked brusquely.

“What?
No! It was a mutually beneficially thing.” Well, for her this time around, a
fact with which she was still grappling.

Riley
massaged the back of his neck. “I’m sorry for
attackin
’
ya
. I just worry.”

“I
know what I’m doing.”

“I
hope so. You’re
playin
’ with fire.” He must’ve read her
apprehension because he tugged her hair. “
Cam’ll
understand.”

She
was betting on it. “I need more shots for this.”

He
relieved her of the handle of whiskey. “I’ll lead the way,” he muttered.

_______________

Tess
reappeared after a prolonged absence during a game of beer pong. Instead of
booting his current partner aside, a glitter-eyed fairy, and reclaiming her
usual place at his side, she skulked along the outskirts of the yard.

Drunk
as he was, Cameron knew something was amiss. But whenever he tried to work his
way to her, she dithered and dispersed, like some coy woodland nymph.

The
thought made him frown. A mental note he’d ticked off before the party got
underway brushed his consciousness.

A
guy. She was seeing a guy. She’d told him that her sort-of boyfriend wasn’t
going to make an appearance. Cameron knew better than to believe it.

Why
couldn’t he meet her best friend face to face like a real man? What was this
guy hiding? Why was she afraid of introducing them?

After
spending a brief period convincing Jade to care for Lance, who was on the verge
of puking up his liver beneath the deck, Cameron staggered back into the house.

At
the mention of free
jello
shots, the herd of
partygoers stampeded off to forage for more free alcohol. Only a few stragglers
lingered in the backyard. Inside, soggy decorations, trampled Solo cups, and crushed
beer cans littered the booze-slick floor. Someone had switched his playlist to
something mellower.
 

Eyeballs
aching, he went to cut off the music when he heard what sounded like crackling
plastic. He followed shuffling noise to the foyer.

Garbage
bag in hand, a barefoot and wingless Tess unsteadily collected trash from the
floor. He took a moment to drink in the sight. Her skin glowed in the dim
lighting like fresh cream. His eyes followed the smooth expanse of her exposed
back to the twin dimples resting just above her ass.

Cameron
felt the blood in brain surge to his groin. He didn’t understand how the guy
she was seeing could leave her alone. "You don't have to do that."

Jumping,
she spun and gracelessly teetered into the ancient coatrack. "Jesus, Cam.
Say something before sneaking up on a girl."

"Next
time I'll sound the trumpet." He smiled. “What’re you doing?”

“What
does it look like?” Tess sluggishly hauled up the bag. “I’m helping with clean
up. Now you can't say that I never contributed."

He
angled his head toward the soft strains of classic rock. "Dance with me.”

Her
eyes grew impossibly large. “What?”

Cameron
offered his hand like a gentleman waiting for his lady's favor. Like a skittish
colt, she reluctantly accepted. He led her to the empty living room and placed
his hands on her waist. Almost shyly, she looped her arms around his neck.

A
fresh, bright red mark marred her collarbone. Possessiveness blistered through
him. He caressed the abused skin. “He was here, wasn't he?” he asked softly.

"Yeah."
She fiddled with his collar and drew a breath. "Cam, there’s something you
should know about him.”

“I
don't care.”

“But
I thought you wanted to know,” she said, desperate.

“It
doesn't matter.” He drew her closer. "I don't have the right to ask you to
stop seeing him. But if he's someone who lurks in the corners for a chance
steal a hickey, then the tool’s not worth your time."

"You
have no idea,” Tess mumbled, her gaze falling.

Although
she tried to hide it, he read her shame. Rage ignited his gut. She had no idea of
her worth. And the fact that she allowed someone to call that into
question—to demoralize her—pissed him off to no end. Not when it'd
taken her so long to reclaim the lost parts of
herself
and build up her self-esteem.

And
all because of some moronic fuck who wasn’t fit to breathe the same air as her.

"Tess..."
he trailed off, emotion thickening in his throat.

She
picked up her head.

Cameron
inhaled a deep, heady breath, rich with her scent. Her eyes were an implosion
of earthy hazel, ringed by lush green. The depth of their earnestness and
unwavering trust steamrolled past his armored levees, eroded by alcohol and
instinct. For the life of him he couldn’t remember why he’d erected them in the
first place.

It
didn’t matter.

The
douche she was seeing may temporarily hold possession of her body, but he owned
her heart. Why deny her any longer? Why keep
himself
from this brave, wily, beautiful woman who wanted nothing more than to be with
him?

From
some far off region of his still sound mind, alarms jangled. It urged him that
this would be a bad idea—that if he continued down this path there’d be
no going back.

Maybe
it would.

Maybe
wouldn’t.

Wrong
and right interfaced and gridlocked. He wanted her so bad it hurt.

Suddenly
he couldn’t go another second without knowing.

__________________

Tess
couldn’t believe this was happening. She wanted to cement this moment in her
memory for the rest of her life. Riley had abandoned her early on, eager to snare
his girl toy of the night. Left to her own devices, she summoned up the courage
to face him.

But
every time Tess tried to approach Cam, she froze up, her wits hanging her out
to dry. So she started to clean to clear her mind, hoping the busywork and lack
of laughing spectators would bolster her confidence.

It
hadn’t.

And
here and now, faced with the unthinkable, Tess didn’t know how to react. She
watched as his head slanted lower. Oxygen became optional as his mouth rubbed
against hers hesitantly at first, then firmer.

Cameron’s
mouth was soft, pliant, and warm. Undemanding, he never took more than she was
willing to give. That alone was enough to squash her misgivings.

The
slow, sensual burn worked from her mouth down to the soles of her feet. Chills
puckered the gooseflesh along her body as his tongue parted her lips, hot and mobile.

And
then she hiccupped into the cavern of his mouth.

They
broke apart, a strangulated pause lingering in the aftermath. Her face blazed.

Cameron’s
lips were white as he pursed them together. But nothing could conceal the rumble
shaking his torso.

She
glared at him as he exploded into laughter and couldn’t help the twitch of her
lips. “That’s not-” she hiccupped again, “funny.”

“I’m
pretty amused,” he grinned. “Sit. I’ll be right back.”

She
sank onto the couch as he disappeared into the hallway, returning a second
later with a bottle of water. Twisting off the cap, Tess gulped it until the
hiccups abated.
 

Cameron
leaned forward and captured her mouth. Her toes curled and tried to keep
herself from falling headfirst into the kiss.

Tess
pulled away. “What are we doing? You only want me when you can’t have me?” she
asked bluntly.

His
eyes softened. He brushed the hair away from her face. “I’ve never not wanted
you.”

“So…what
are we?” she asked playing his collar.

“We’re
whatever you want us to be.”