mother is a teacher, and my dad is military—retired now. No siblings to speak of. Apparently I was a difficult child, and—”
“Imagine that.”
He continued without missing a beat. “They decided I was enough and didn’t have any more kids. We weren’t in one place for more than a few years, but they were a solid foundation while I was growing up. They’re good people.”
Trish had been born and raised in the same place as a long line of Livingstons had. Their roots went core deep in town, and she’d grown up knowing exactly what her place was, whether she wanted it or not. She couldn’t imagine switching schools every few years and having to face dealing with figuring out her place in the pecking order... Makes a lot more sense why he can be so damn standoffish. Easier not to play the game or get close to people when he’d just inevitably move on. “You met my brother in college.”
“More like he adopted me as his pet project in college,” Cameron grumbled. “We were lab partners and he decided I just needed a little more structure in my life. Look where that got him.”
“Mmm, yeah, terrible life you’re both living.” She laughed. “You’re rich as sin and running a successful company together, and for all of both of your bitching, you never actually fight. Must be terrible.” In truth, she envied them their friendship a bit. Trish had friends, but when it became clear she wasn’t going to follow the ascending path to her dream career within the corporate fashion industry like she’d always planned, she withdrew more and more. One friend had scored an internship with her dream clothing designer, a position destined to shoot her into greatness if she survived it. Another had secured a junior position in a prestigious law firm.
Trish?
Trish had failed to find even an entrance-level job in her field of choice, and mounting student loan bills had forced her to move back into her parents’ place to try to stem the hemorrhaging of her minuscule bank account. It turned out that her chosen field didn’t have much in the way of entrance-level jobs, and securing one in their competitive industry had turned into an impossible task.
“Where are you headed?”
She started, belatedly realizing she had dropped her sunny persona and he’d picked up on it. Damn it, she kept doing that more and more as time went on. She wished she could blame it on Cameron’s grumpiness rubbing off on her, but it wasn’t the truth. Life weighed her down. Or, rather, the truth about life weighed her down.
Not everyone got a happy ending, no matter how many stars they wished on.
Some people had to settle on the mediocre instead of aspiring for greatness.
She just never thought she’d be part of either group.
With a sigh, she tried to focus on Cameron. “I’m sorry, I missed that last bit.”
“In life.” They turned another corner, and she started to recognize shops from the next street up from their hotel. “I had reservations when Aaron decided to bring you in, but you’re good at handling people and situations.”
“Yeah, I’m a great glorified secretary.” Managing her mother’s moods had given her plenty of people skills, though they mostly meant she gave excellent customer service no matter what her personal level of frustration was.
“Trish.”
Oh no. She knew that tone of voice. It meant nothing good for the conversation. Cameron obviously wasn’t pleased with her blasé comment, and he just as obviously intended to sit her down and...
Well, she didn’t know what. A come-to-Jesus talk about knowing her worth? Or maybe one where he pointed out that she wasn’t a glorified anything—she was literally their secretary.
No matter which way he was headed, she wanted no part of it. They would have their talk when they got back to New York. It could sure as hell wait until then. If this was an escape, she wanted to get her money’s worth, so to speak.
Trish turned into him, grabbing the front of his jacket and leveraging herself up to take his mouth. His surprise only lasted a second, and then his hands were on her hips and he guided her several steps until her back hit the wall. Cameron dug his big hands into her hair and tilted her head back to get a better angle. He moved away long enough to say, “I know you’re trying to distract me.”
Of course he did. He wasn’t stupid. She forced an impish grin. “Are you complaining?”
“Not especially.” He reclaimed her mouth, but this time the pace slowed down. Cameron teased her with soft, barely there kisses until she growled in frustration, and only then did he set his teeth against her bottom lip and slip his tongue into her mouth.
The man kissed like a dream.
A really naughty one.
Give and take, advance and retreat. Over and over and over again, until she lost all comprehension of the other people on the street or the fact that they were most definitely in a public place with an audience.
Trish had only meant to keep him from his questions, from pulling her apart at the seams to satisfy his curiosity, from creating a foundation of trust that neither of them could follow through on.
It didn’t matter what she’d intended, only the end result.
And the result was that she wanted his hands all over her body, wanted him to stroke her just so, to send her hurtling over the edge. She wanted to take him into her body and ride him until they stopped worrying about the future, because the future was just a distant dream and they were here and now. That was the only thing that mattered.
He tore his mouth from hers. “Upstairs. Now.”
Incapable of words, she nodded. Cameron gave her a look like he wanted to throw her over his shoulder because she wouldn’t move fast enough on her own, but he settled with grabbing her hand and towing her behind him. The half a block back to the hotel passed in a blur, and she caught sight of the startled face of the front desk lady before the elevator doors closed between them and the lobby.
Cameron turned to her, but she was already moving. She hopped and he caught her just like she’d known he would. Her legs went around his waist and her back hit the wall as he took her mouth again.
Yes, this.
Yes, more.
He didn’t let her down as the elevator doors rattled open. Instead, Cameron walked them down the hallway. His dark eyes looked just as wild as she felt, as if he might take her right there in the hallway if they didn’t get through the door fast enough. Trying to anticipate, she dug into her purse for the hotel room key, barely getting it out before they reached the door. “Got it!”
He grabbed it out of her hand and then they were in the room. Cameron strode into the bedroom. “I need you.”
“Yes. Now. Hurry.” Making out on the street like a couple of teenagers had her so primed, she practically vibrated with it. He kept her pinned in place as she reached between them. Cameron used one hand to grab a condom and undid his pants. It didn’t take much to work them down his hips to free his cock, but even the two-second delay was too long without him inside her. “Hurry, hurry, hurry.”
He knocked
