Page 16 of Deluge

“So, you’re all alone?” she asks in a soft tone.

“Yeah, but it’s fine. I’m used to it,” I reply with a dismissive wave.

“I get how that feels,” Camille admits quietly. When I look at her with an arched eyebrow, she finishes her thought, “Being alone. I may have a mother and father, but sometimes it’s like I don’t exist, you know?”

“It’s tough,” I agree as I gently move her hand from my leg, “but we’ve survived so far, right?”

The laugh that escapes me is nervous and so unlike me that I’m not entirely sure what the hell is happening.

Not until Camille leans forward and kisses me gently on the lips.

ChapterThirteen

We stagger backwardto my bedroom, tangled in each other’s arms, stealing each other’s breaths with passionate kisses.

The same bedroom that’s been void of emotion and love of any kind ever since Hailey died.

Each flick of her tongue against mine, while a little clumsy, steals a piece of my soul.

Each fingernail that digs into my side rips away a piece of the hatred I’ve felt for myself.

The heat radiating from our bodies could start a fucking inferno right here and now, but I refuse to let us burn.

Not yet, not when I haven’t had the chance to taste her properly.

I reach back blindly and push the door open to my room, keeping a tight grip around her waist with my other arm.

Camille places her hands against my chest and pushes me away slightly, laughing quietly in gasping breaths.

“What? Do you not want to?” I ask, pushing her hair out of her eyes.

“It’s not that. I just need to breathe for a second,” she chides playfully.

“We can breathe later, I promise,” I say, pulling her tightly against me.

Camille falls against me and leans up on her tiptoes, taking my lower lip between her teeth and giving it a gentle tug.

My body feels like it’s on fucking fire.

I’ve never felt like this before, but then again, the only affection I’ve ever gotten from a woman in this manner, I paid for the couple of times I wanted to know what it felt like.

This, however, is so much different.

There’s passion, there’s lust, there’s everything I fucking knew it should be but never had the chance to experience.

Camille shoves me back onto my bed, then drops to her knees in front of me. She steals another kiss before she busies herself with the fly of my jeans. First, the button, then the zipper, then she pushes my legs apart and looks up at me.

I don’t know what’s in her eyes anymore.

They’re still soft.

Still kind.

Still passion-fueled, but there’s something else I can’t quite place.

And I’m not entirely sure that I care either.

“Have you been with a girl before?” she asks as she begins to tease the inside of my denim-covered thighs with gentle kisses.