Page 40 of Single Glance

“Cam…” I moaned as he pressed against me. White spots filled my vision when his mouth found my clit and sucked. When I came, it was like a part of me unleashed, unable to hold back from the torrent of pleasure Cam provided. My body tensed and folded under its waves, and all I could do was hold on, especially when he kept licking and caressing me through my release.

When my vision started to re-align, he’d undressed, positioned himself at my entrance, and was pushing inside me inch by inch. Despite my orgasm, there was still a slight burn, but the pleasure that accompanied the pain was the most exquisite torture.

“Fuck, Hadley,” Cam ground out as he fully sheathed himself inside me. “This is going to be fast, baby. Hold on to that couch and don’t let go.”

I didas he said, not bothering to fight him. Not when he was promising me more of this pleasure, like I didn’t know where he ended and I began. Each thrust of his cock lit me up from the inside. His pace was rough, almost punishing, but I loved every second. Cam’s hand gripped my hips, his fingers digging into my sweat-soaked skin.

Despite the ruin surrounding us, I’d never felt more alive, never more at peace. It terrified me to let go, to allow someone to get close, in case they decided I wasn’t worth the effort. But it terrified me more that I’d almost missed out on this. Cam wrecked me, body and soul, until I was helpless to resist. My orgasm cascaded through my veins, building higher until I couldn’t hold back anymore.

But just as I was about to crash over the edge, Cam’s hand found my throat, gripping softly. Pulling me up, he pressed my back against his chest. His thumb stroked my pulse point. “Don’t you dare come yet, baby. You come when I say you do.”

“Cam, I can’t?—”

“Yes, you can. Just a little longer.”

I tried to hold back the current, to fight against the release my body needed. All I wanted was to let go, to defy Cam like I’d done so many times in my life. But there was another part, a much larger part, that loved to comply with his orders, knowing it would make the reward so much sweeter. Cam’s thrusts became harder, slamming into me with reckless abandon.

With his hand still gripping my neck, he nipped at my ear. “Now, Hadley. Come for me.”

My body didn’t hold back for one more second. My orgasm ripped through me, devastating every inch of my soul. If I didn’t belong to Cam before, Idefinitely did now. He had marked me as his completely, a fundamental shift right down to my core.

Cam roared his own release right after me, screaming my name like an oath. As he came down, he rolled to the side, shifting to look me over. His thumb grazed my neck where he’d held me. “Did I hurt you?”

“No.” I smiled up at him. “I loved every second of it.”

“God,” he muttered as he shook his head. “You’re fucking perfect, Hadley. Such a good fucking girl.”

I basked in his praise, letting him hold me close as our pulses slowed. As we sat on the couch in my ruined carriage house, I couldn’t help but think about what Cam declared. I’d never wanted to be claimed. I always thought it was akin to being caged. But knowing Cam and I belonged to each other had the opposite effect—it made me feel free.

THIRTY-TWO

After we came back down to Earth, Hadley and I dressed and carried her salvageable things up to the main house. She stayed behind as I grabbed Emilia, sorting through her remaining belongings. When we got back to the house, stacks of Hadley’s belongings covered the living room. Musty, damp boxes sat stacked against the far wall, some she had labeled for the trash and others for storage. Next to them was the laundry hamper stuffed full with clothes waiting to be cleaned and stripped of the residual dust and debris from the ceiling cave in.

When we returned home, I tried to help her, but Hadley was insistent she wanted to handle all this change on her own. Seeing her stuff destroyed was hard for me—I couldn’t imagine how she was holding up. Besides those few minutes in the carriage house, Hadley closed off all her emotions, back to hiding behind her practiced smile and insisting she was fine. It was on the tip of my tongue to offer to help replace what she’d lost, but Hadley was proud, and any offer of money right now would appear pitying.Still, I wanted to take care of her, wanted to erase that lost expression on her face.

I wanted to keep her safe in my arms for as long as she’d let me.

Unable to watch and not help, I headed into the kitchen, grabbing some groceries out of the refrigerator to make dinner. Through the chopping and dicing, I kept an ear out on the other room, wanting to stay close enough if Hadley needed me but far enough to give her space.

Emilia had no such concerns and made herself right at home in all the chaos. She prattled on about helping her aunt and uncle at their lodge while Hadley kept going through her things. Yet, despite her divided focus, Hadley followed along with all Emilia’s stories. When Hadley reached one box, piled high with photos and other mementos, Emilia dropped into her lap. Her little hands grabbed a photo album and scanned through the pages.

“Who’s this?” Emilia asked.

I tried to stay in the kitchen and give them some space, but my need to learn more about Hadley got the best of me. I knew Hadley as a person—her personality and her core values. Her past, however, was a mystery I hadn’t dared to ask about before.

“Fuck it,” I muttered, turning the burner down to simmer. When I walked into the living room, Hadley sat on the floor with Emilia in her lap, staring at the pictures with a soft smile. In between them laid the photo album, opened to a photo of a woman standing in front of a dilapidated home. The siding sagged, and mismatched shingles lined the roof—a poor attempt to patch some of the weaker spots, if I had to guess.

“That’s mymom,” Hadley answered.

“Really?” Emilia stared at the picture. “You look like her!”

“Thanks.” Hadley pressed a kiss to the top of my daughter’s head. Emotion clawed at my chest as I watched them, loving how comfortable my daughter felt around Hadley. When I’d dated women in the past, that was always the first question I asked myself. How would they do around Emilia? All too often, I couldn’t see it, unable to imagine my date meeting her, much less spending real time with her. After way too many first dates that led nowhere, I stopped trying, convinced I wasn’t supposed to have a partner.

Baseball and Emilia were all I needed.

But Hadley changed all that. With her, I saw it all. Quiet mornings, future sports events we’d have to drag ourselves out of bed to attend. Holidays with all of us together, celebrating with our own mismatched family. We worked, despite all our imperfections. She supported my career while also showing me there was more to life than the game, balancing me when I got in my head too much.

When Emilia spotted me approaching, she held up the album. “Daddy! This is Hadley’s mommy.”

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