I shake my head. “I fucking love the fuck out of you, Tiger. I want and need you inside me. Please make love to me.” His eyes close for a long moment and then he slides up my body. He covers me with his big frame, cocoons and cages me in his big, safe arms as he slides inside me. Our bodies are damp and slick with perspiration. We glisten as the light from the lamp catches us at the right angle, and as I look over his face when he looks over my body, I feel a sense of peace come over me. I’ve no idea what causes it. I don’t know if it’s because Cam has always had the ability to make me feel safe or if it’s just the fact that I feel so comfortable and at home with him. Either way, it feels good and it’s not something I want to lose, ever.

He slides and rocks his hips against mine, slowly at first, but as I respond and wrap my legs around him tighter, his thrusts grow with more urgency. I claw at his back and bum cheeks.

“Fuck, Kitten, I love watching your tits move as I fuck you.” He leans down and captures my right nipple in his teeth. I’ve never thought my nipples were that sensitive, but the sensation of his teeth and the little spear of pain are apparently enough to have me reaching for my orgasm, and once again, so many emotions come to the surface as I arch my back and cling on.

“Love me, Cam, please. Forgive me and just try and love me. Even though I don’t deserve you, I want you. I need you so much.” I throw my head back, making a loud “ahhhh” sound as I do, followed by another noise that comes from deep within my chest, possibly directly from my heart. I have no control over it. My limbs feel heavy, too heavy for my muscles and bone to hold up as my orgasm rolls through me, over and over again. My insides spasm as my internal muscles tighten around him. He pushes himself up on his arms and looks down at me.

“We’ve got this. We’ve got this, Kitten. We’ll make this work if it fucking kills us.” All I can do is nod, incapable of speech as I feel him throb and release inside me.

Chapter Nineteen

I wake to a dark bedroom and an empty bed. I stretch and look around for a clock so I can see what the time is. My body clock is all over the place still from the jet lag and I’ve no idea if it’s morning or night. I get up and head for the shower. I feel like I’ve spent a week working out at the gym, even my fingernails ache.

I wash as quickly as possible. The shower is where I usually do my thinking, and right now, I really don’t want to be thinking too much.

I’m in love. I’m in love with Cam and all I want to do is enjoy it. I don’t want to think and overthink the rights and the wrongs of our relationship. I don’t want to feel guilty for being in love. I want just a little bit of time off from feeling sad. I just don’t want to be sad, for a little while at least.

I find a clean T-shirt and a pair of boxers in Cam’s walk-in wardrobe and put them on. I find a comb and run it through my hair, and then put it up in a bun. It’s a mess and needs washing but I can’t take a chance with Cam’s shampoo. It’ll probably end up a frizzy mess if I use his blokey stuff. I once again clean my teeth with his toothbrush and head downstairs; I come to a halt halfway down when I see two women I don’t know in the kitchen, one is cooking, one is sitting at the breakfast bar, typing on a laptop computer.

I look them over as I try to work out who they could be. The woman cooking has her back to me. She has short blonde hair. I can’t tell any more than that. The woman sitting on the stool though, I have a clear view of. She’s also blonde. She looks a little younger than me. She’s dressed in business wear and it’s not cheap. I know for a fact her shoes are Louboutin and the handbag sitting on the floor next to her is from this year’s Fendi collection. I may have spent a year consumed with grief, but I still knew my fashion.

The woman turns around with what looks like a huge frying pan filled with scrambled eggs and her bright blue eyes immediately connect with mine. She looks across to the other woman who still hasn’t noticed me. I take the last few steps down the stairs as the older woman says, “Good morning. Cameron didn’t tell me he had a guest. I’m sorry if I woke you.” Her tone is friendly and her smile seems genuine. She looks about sixty and very attractive, in a no-nonsense sort of way.

I hate that I’m blushing so much. I feel like I’ve been caught red handed doing something I shouldn’t and I try not to dwell on that thought too much. I smile, probably looking a little sheepish, or just plain guilty as thoughts of what we did last night run through my dirty mind. God, that man can fuck.

Before I get another chance to speak, the younger woman says, “Cam didn’t tell me either. I’m sorry, but who are you exactly?” Her tone is entirely different and she stands up from the stool she was sitting on and folds her arms across her chest as she looks me up and down. She doesn’t like me. I know that instantly, women rarely do. It’s just something I learned to live with as Sean’s wife. Other women rarely gave me a chance. They just instantly disliked me, simply because they saw me as a threat or competition, which of course I wasn’t as they never stood a chance with my husband anyway.

I look her over, the same way she’s looking at me. I may be standing barefoot in a Duffer T-shirt that’s ten sizes too big and a pair of Calvin Klein boxers that I’ve rolled over three times at the top so I can keep them up, and she may be standing in her beautifully tailored Versace dress, but I refuse to be intimidated by her. She actually looks older than me, now that I can see her more clearly, and she has a lot of makeup on. Her striking green eyes are narrowed and on me. I turn and smile back at the older woman.

“I’m Georgia. No, you didn’t wake me up.” She tilts her head as I’m talking.

“Well, good morning, Georgia. I’m Marian and you are absolutely stunning, darling. Come and sit down. Would you like some coffee?”

“Thank you, and yes, I would love a coffee.”

I walk around the breakfast bar, refusing to feel self-conscious and take the stool furthest away from Ms Let’s-put-our-makeup-on-with-a-trowel-today, but I smile at her sweetly as I sit.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t catch your name,” I say politely.

“That would be because I didn’t give it.”

I shrug and smile. “Fair enough,” I reply, as Marian puts a coffee down in front of me. I thank her and turn towards the hallway that leads from the front door as I hear Cam’s voice approaching.

“She’s fine. She’s still sleeping. No, she doesn’t know. I’ll tell her when she’s awake.”

He steps into the room and his eyes are instantly on me. He looks me up and down, his tongue flicks out and over his top lip as he looks at my bare legs and I almost moan out loud. His eyes meet mine again, and he knows, he fucking knows what he’s just done to me and he winks; the fucker winks while I struggle not to combust.

“Gotta go,” he says into his phone and ends the call. He’s wearing shorts and a vest and he’s dripping in sweat, which for some reason is making my mouth water. He pauses for a moment, still looking at me.

“You woke up, Kitten.”

“Sure did, Tiger. All alone in that big ol’ bed of yours.” He walks towards me with a slight smile on his lips.

“Some of us have to work for a living. I had business to attend to and thought I’d have a run on the treadmill while I made some calls.” He leans in without touching me with anything but his lips and kisses me softly. “You’ve used my toothbrush again.”

“I have. Is that a problem?”

“Fuck no. I like that you want my… belongings in your mouth.”

Ohhhh, God.

“Eat some breakfast while I shower. Morning, Marian. Louise, why are you here? We didn’t have a meeting planned.”