Life had a funny way of turning out.
He couldn't keep her. He knew that. She was leaving soon so he should take his hands off her. It'd only be that much harder to let her go when the time came. But he didn't want to stay away. He wanted to pull her close and cherish every last moment they had left.
So he did.
Lowering his face, he touched his lips to hers and closed his eyes as he drank softly from her lips. She moaned. Or maybe that was him. When he lifted his head a minute later, he was surprised to see that his simple little kiss had turned the features of her face into pure rapture. Her long lashes lifted and she looked at him as if he were her everything.
Growling out a sound of need, he dipped again. This time, he wasn't so soft or sweet. This time, he wanted her with every breath in his body. Though he wanted to race and hurry, Cameron took his time, unbuttoning each button on her new blouse with leisurely, unhurried strokes, making sure his knuckles grazed warm skin frequently. Without saying a word, Olivia reached up and pulled him back down, kissing him as he continued to undo the buttons on her shirt.
"All this talk about food," he murmured, "has made me suddenly ravenous."
Olivia chuckled. "Has it now?"
With her face tipped up, her dewy lips slightly parted and her eyes closed, she looked like a woman in love with the man touching her. It caused a ripple of pleasure and then a jolt of fear to pass through him. He wasn't going to try the love thing again. He hated himself for failing Sienna in the end. For not saving her. He didn't want to go through that again.
He knew he should stop. He should pull Olivia's blouse together and explain this thing between them wasn't going to go any further than sex. It couldn't. But he didn't want to stop. He wanted to bury himself inside her and forget the past. Just for a couple of hours.
Wrapping his hands around her hips, he picked her up and carried her to the couch. As soon as he sat her down, he lowered himself to his knees on the carpet in front of her and pushed up her skirt. Peeling away her panties next, he stripped them down her legs and turned the the brief piece of silk into a slingshot, snapping them into the air, not even bothering to watch where they landed.
Grinning, he wrapped his hands around her ankles and studied the strappy high-heeled sandals she wore. He was about to take them off when it struck him that it'd be a lot kinkier if she left them on. So, he lifted her thighs and draped them over his shoulders.
"You might want to hold onto something," he advised. "I'm a pretty intense cook."
And with no more warning than that, he dipped his head and plunged his tongue inside her. Olivia jerked and cried out his name. He closed his eyes and breathed in her heady, musky scent. God, he loved tasting her. Murmuring his delight, he stroked his tongue up between her folds and boldly caressed the entire area, causing her thighs to clamp around his face.
"Cam. Cam," she panted, unable to say much more than that except for a few garbled words that meant nothing to either of them.
After swirling his tongue around the outer rim, he plunged unexpectedly inside her again. She arched and screamed, coming in a rush and filling his mouth with her creamy flavor. He lavished her through the orgasm and continued licking until nearly a minute after she'd settled.
"Cameron," she sighed, reaching down to sift her fingers through his hair.
"Hmm?" he asked and lifted his face to send her an irritated look. "Woman, can't you see I'm taste testing the sauce here." He licked his lips and glanced at her swollen center. "God, you're delicious."
He moved as if to go back down for more. But Olivia laughed and caught his shoulders. "So, when is it time for my taste test?" she asked, reaching for his fly.
He was surprised to realize he was still fully dressed and watched in amusement as she leisurely stripped him. "How do you want it?" he asked huskily, realizing how close to the edge she was making him with her soft fingers.
"With you inside me, preferably."
"I can manage that," he rasped and suddenly grabbed her ankles, pulling her toward him until she slid down the cushiony sofa and collided with him, her legs on either side of his hips. "In fact," he murmured, leaning over her and nudging the head of his penis against her opening. "How about I fulfill that request right now?"
Without waiting for a response, he pushed his way home. She was so wet, he glided past her clenching muscles and straight up into her very core. They both moaned.
"Holy Lord," he gasped, leaning forward to rest his face on her breasts.
He was going to get carpet burn on his knees for this, but he so didn't care. Plunging forward and pushing her bodily back into the couch cushions, Cameron surged and withdrew, surged and withdrew. He had a perfect rhythm going, until suddenly, he came all the way out of her.
"Cameron!" she screamed in agony.
"No condom," he gritted out as he clutched himself with his fist and pumped furiously, needing release before he died.
"Wait," she said frantically, slipping down onto the floor in front of him.
Wait? He let out a frustrated growl and wiped at the sweat beading on his forehead with his forearm.
"Let me," Olivia instructed, pushing him back onto his butt and leaning down to take him in her mouth.
"Oh, God," he groaned, letting his head fall back and closing his eyes. "Livy."
Her tongue stroked him as her lips continued to hug and tug. Restraining himself from exploding in her mouth just yet, he started to move, repositioning his body on the carpet until he'd twisted around and found his face back between her thighs. He licked her nether lips and groaned as her mouth jerked around him.
He bit lightly in order to keep a hold of her and that caused her to ignite. As she came, she took him deeper in her mouth and he couldn't hold back. His juices spewed out and she swallowed him whole, sucking him dry. Cameron clutched her hip and rode the waves. When she finally released him and pulled back, she let out a little laugh.
"Wow," she breathed in wonder.
Cameron wanted to know if she was okay. He'd never been with a swallower before. He wondered if she needed a drink or to go spit, but he was too exhausted to speak just yet, so he closed his eyes and pillowed his face on her thigh.
"Mmm-hmm," he murmured and closed his eyes.
He might've slept. He didn't know. Or maybe he only drifted on cloud nine for a couple of seconds.
But he still felt extreme relaxation when opened his eyes and glanced over to watch a moment of Emeril Live playing on the television.
"If you really want to learn how to cook," he finally mumbled. "You should talk to my mother. That's totally her forte."
When Olivia didn't answer, Cameron glanced down and was surprised to see that she'd fallen asleep, curled against him with her head nestled against the inside of his thigh. A wave of tenderness struck him and he wanted to wrap himself around her and hold her until everything in the world was perfect.
But he stopped himself, even as he reached for a stray hair caught between her lips. He pulled back, untangled himself from her arms and legs and stumbled to his feet. Then he went and sought a drink, hoping to drown out the sound of his wife's throaty cries from his memory, hoping it would keep him from feeling more toward her than he should.
~ * ~
The next evening, Olivia once again tried her hand at cooking. After watching two cooking shows, she felt more confident about her skills. Once again, however, she and Cam ended up ordering take-out and had sandwiches delivered from a nearby deli. Their meal had just arrived and the two of them were seated in the kitchen, unwrapping their goods, when Cameron's cell phone rang. Cameron checked the number.
"It's Boston," he said, glancing her way. "Sorry. I should take this." He waited until she nodded and waved him on. Then he answered. "Bos. What's up? Did you get that bid dropped...Good, good. I think we need to…"
Olivia sat there a moment, listening to him talk. Swallowing down the bite she'd been chewing, she forced her gaze away and continued eating. She d
idn't want to admit how touching it was to have him act worried about taking a call at dinner. Vivian had never worried about such a thing. She never apologized and never explained herself.
Cameron Banks was a hundred times the person Vivian could ever be. But soon, she had to leave Cameron too.
Something had changed between them though. Their lovemaking was becoming so—just that. Lovemaking. It wasn't merely them getting down and dirty. It was like their souls had meshed right along with their bodies. It was as if he might possibly love her as much as she loved him.
The ringing of the doorbell caught both her and Cam's attention. As she glanced at him, he mouthed, could you get that please?
Distinctly uncomfortable about answering his door, Olivia merely nodded and pushed to her feet. She stressed all the way to the entrance. What if it was some woman of his, come to give him a booty call? What if—she pulled open the door and froze.
It was worse.
His parents.
The couple standing on the other side of the threshold pulled back when they saw her. She knew exactly who they were from the pictures she'd seen of them. The pictures she was currently turning into a scrapbook.
Still lacking the ability to move, Olivia stared with wide eyes. The man and woman stared back a moment before Cameron's father smiled, a light flirtatious grin that reminded her of Cam at his best.
"Well, hello there," he greeted her pleasantly. "Is Cameron around?"
Olivia licked her lips and was embarrassed to discover a glob of mayonnaise on the corner of her mouth.
Face heating, she slapped her hand over the spot and wiped furiously. "Uh, yeah," she answered in a muffled voice as she stepped aside to let them enter. "He's, um, on the phone with Boston."
Though both parents nodded with understanding, neither seemed concerned about going to find him. They were far more preoccupied with studying her.
"We're his parents," the man said. "I'm Chuck Banks. And this lovely vision here is my wife, Allison."
He stepped toward her and cordially held out his hand. Olivia shook it and then turned to Allison Banks. Cameron's mother smiled shyly and offered her fingers.
Okay, this was surreal, Olivia decided. Meeting the in-laws. If only they knew who she was, they would in no way be so pleasant to her.
She wondered if she should introduce herself at this point, but what in the world would she say? Hi, I'm the woman that trapped your little boy into marriage. Yeah, that'd go over real well.
"It's nice to meet you," Allison said quietly, smiling at Olivia. "You're...a friend of Cameron's?"
Olivia paused. "Uh…" How to break it to them? "No, not quite. I'm…I'm…" Hmm.
From behind them, Cameron appeared. "This is Olivia," he said from the doorway.
Allison and Chuck turned back together to look at Cameron. Olivia frowned at him. He'd found some alcohol somewhere, she could tell it immediately by his smile. He only gave off that pleasantly content look when he had liquor in him. And he'd only been gone a few minutes. How had he found the time to talk to Boston and drink?
~ * ~
Cameron jammed his hands into his pockets. He'd been hoping to hold off this little scene for a while longer. But now that Mom and Dad were here, there was no getting around it. Olivia looked as if she'd just swallowed a bowling pin. She kept glancing at him as if searching for some kind of silent command from him on what to do.
He turned to his parents and announced, "She's my wife."
Olivia's face turned bright red as Allison and Chuck both whirled back around to blink at her.
"But don't worry," Cameron went on to explain. "It won't last long. The marriage was a mistake."
Allison gasped. "Cameron," she whispered in horror, looking worriedly toward Olivia.
Cameron flushed. "Sorry, Livy. You know I didn't mean it that way. I meant, it was an accident." He glanced at his parents. "We didn't mean to marry each other."
"An accident," Allison repeated in perplexity. "But how in the world could you accidentally marry someone unless…" Then she realized.
"You were drunk," Chuck finished flatly, disappointment thick in his voice.
Allison pressed a hand to her mouth. When tears immediately filled her lashes, Cameron shoved his hands in his pockets and turned uneasily away. "It's okay," he assured. "Boston's going to work out the papers, and we'll be annulled in no time."
But Allison shook her head, still looking like she was going to fall to her knees and start weeping uncontrollably. "I thought you had recovered," she insisted. "You went to all those AA classes."
"It was just one relapse," Cameron said. He could shrug off anyone else, but seeing his mother hurt by him was more than he could handle. "I haven't—"
"Don't," Chuck snapped, glaring. "Don't you dare lie to your mother. I don't care if you're thirty or eighty. You're still my son, and I will not let you lie to my wife."
"Look, I'm not like I used to be," Cameron argued. "I promise you I'm better. Alcohol doesn't rule my life. It doesn't affect me like it did. I can stop. I have stopped."
"Except you haven't," Chuck cocked back. "And it obviously does rule your life since it made you marry a perfectly innocent young woman."
Cameron's jaw set. "We're going to fix that."
Allison couldn't take it anymore. She wiped at her eyes and then hoarsely said, "Excuse me. I-I'm sorry, I have to…" She hurried from the room before finishing her sentence.
Cameron cursed under his breath, slumped onto the sofa, and buried his face in his hands.
~ * ~
Olivia watched Cameron's torn father glance after his departed wife and then toward his son. His eyes narrowed slightly when they settled on Cameron. Then he started to turn away as if it were too painful to look at his boy.
When he caught her watching him, he paused, his gaze warming. Instinctively, she knew he didn't blame her for any of this, and it made her feel a guilty. Yes, Cameron had been drunk that night, but she'd been the one to press their nuptials.
"You're his mistake, hmm?" Chuck murmured. Then he grinned and winked. "Well, you sure are a pretty mistake."
His smile faded a little as he glanced at the empty doorway through which his wife had fled. Then he nodded quietly to Olivia and hurried after Allison, calling her name.
Olivia looked at Cameron and was about to scold him for letting them down that way. But she saw the misery on every tense muscle in his body and quietly left him alone.
Fourteen
Olivia had been planning on slinking unnoticed up to her room and hiding until the whole family scene played itself out. But as soon as she stepped into the next parlor and started for the steps, she skidded to a stop.
Cameron's parents stood huddled together, hugging, in her path.
They lifted their faces, and she knew she was trapped. Great. Here came the accusations and dirty names.
But Allison Banks merely sent her a bashful smile as she stepped away from her husband and reached for Olivia's hand. "Please excuse my behavior," she gushed. "I didn't mean to walk out without—"
"Don't worry about it," Olivia cut in. "You don't have to explain or apologize to me," she added hastily. She should be the one apologizing for trapping their son into an unwanted marriage.
"It's just that Cameron went through such a hard time after...after…"
"After Sienna killed herself," Olivia finished bluntly.
Both Allison and Chuck lifted their eyebrows, startled. "He told you about that?"
Olivia frowned, not understanding why they seemed so surprised. "A little," she answered evasively. She wasn't ready for them to know how Vivian had researched him.
Looking anxious, Cameron's mother stepped closer. "Please. What did he say?"
"Just…" she shrugged, looking confused. "Just that he feels guilty about her death, like he should've done more."
Chuck closed his eyes and cursed under his breath. His wife took his arm and squeezed comfortingly, but she continued to eye O
livia as she spoke. "Having someone close to you commit suicide affects everyone differently," she murmured quietly. Cameron's father slipped a comforting arm around his wife's shoulders and pulled her close. As he kissed her hair, Allison lifted her face and sent Olivia a sad smile. "I cooked."
A strange pressure filled Olivia's chest. She ached for Cameron's mother with a sympathy that made her want to cry. A cold chill passed over her arms, but Olivia didn't shiver. Frowning, she realized Roger Donovan's death had turned her meek and passive. While seeing her husband kill himself had made Vivian become more aggressive and ruthless, Olivia had shied into a shell and let her mother control her.