Page 36 of Savage Lust

There were no friends to help pick me up off the ground. Those I’d had disappeared when Mom got sick—or maybe that had been my fault. I’d retreated, cared for her, felt sorry for myself.

Coming up here with Cam was out of character. I should have gone to a hotel. There was enough money. And yet…Iwantedto make the bad decision. If only partially to be like the two women I’d interrupted him with.

The bathroom door opened before I’d laid back down. I could ignore him, and that he’d went in there without other clothes. Or…I could turn and…

I did and was rewarded with Cam in only a towel, wet hair tousled across his forehead. Beads of water traveled from the center point of his collarbone, down his chest, past his navel, to gather in the line of blond hair that disappeared beneath the towel slung low on his hips.

Damn.

Half gaping at him, I jerked my chin up and met his eyes. Heavy lidded again, the way they did when he knew exactly what I was thinking. He pushed his hair back from his face and winked before grabbing a pair of boxer briefs from the dresser.

He held my gaze in the dresser mirror for a split second. His slow sexual grin spoke to parts of me that really liked it.

I looked away, my face and chest hot, as he dropped the towel. There was only so much I could take. I wasn’t prepared for that level of intimacy…not when I’d barely done more than make out with anyone.

And he had done so much more.

I dropped back to the bed with a huff, his chuckle teasing me. “Darlin, you keep it up and I’m going to test out this innocent act.”

What was he talking about? My gaze narrowed as I caught his. Pretty blue eyes, bloodshot and half opened as he approached the bed. Something lingered there that would be demanding andtake from me until I couldn’t give anything else. Damn, how I wanted it to.

That feeling shocked me enough I swallowed any reply as he pulled the sheets down and climbed in. The way his muscles bunched and moved drew my gaze, made my body tense. Simple movements shouldn’t be sexy. I looked away before I focused on the bulge at his groin.

I didn’t look at him until the bed stilled. When I peaked, I was thankful I’d pulled a throw blanket over me. I don’t think I could have handled being under the same sheet that covered his legs.

He lay sprawled on his back, much like he had on my bed. Only with one arm folded behind his head this time. The other was across his chest. Through the curtain of my lashes, I studied him.

Cam opened one eye and covered a yawn with the back of his hand. “Get some sleep, darlin.”

“I will.” And I pretended to for a while, before curiosity got the better of me.

His eyes were closed, his breathing steady and even, and with each rise of his bare chest, his body relaxed a little more. I didn’t shut my eyes completely until he rolled against my pillow wall and tucked one against his chest, snoring ever so gently.

Only then did the buzzing in my muscles stop. The rumble of motorcycles shocked me from the verge of sleep once when Puck and Jester came back. After that, I slept and dreamed of what a man who kissed like Cam Savage could do with the rest of his body.

fourteen

Cam

My entire life, my room was my sanctuary. The one place I wasn’t looking over my shoulder for the knife coming at my back. In my room I could lock out the endless string of junkie boyfriends my mom brought through. When I was older, with Archer, my room was the place I could shrug out of the cut and the responsibilities it carried.

Caught in that brief, fuzzy place between sleep and wakefulness, I panicked.

When I was a kid, I’d bolt upright, gasping and ready to fight. As an adult, I tempered that to a brief start—clenching my fists and waiting for the next bad thing to come at me. Even my sleep was a fight for survival.

But not this. The phone on my dresser bleeped an alarm. Two sharp tones and nothing more. This time, in that in between place, I burrowed into the inviting hum and stretched. My arm was heavy, pinned against something soft, pliant, warm.

Riley stretched against me, pressing into me so that her ass rubbed across my groin. I went from half mast, just waking up, to a raging hard on before she’d so much as mumbled in her sleep.

Damn.

Only a thin sheet separated us. I’d never woken up curled around a woman like this. Not even those I’d screwed. I’d never cared enough to stick around.Or to leave yourself vulnerable.

Choosing to ignore the voice in my head, I turned all my attention to Riley. In her sleep she’d rolled into me, the blanket she’d used thrown half over my legs. Her body was pliant against mine, teasing me.Fuck. I wanted her so bad.

I shouldn’t.

I knew better.

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