I brush my fingers across her furrowed brow, tracing down the side of her face to cup her jaw. I lean in, my voice husky. “I do. I always have.”

She smacks my chest again. “Then why won’t you take me upstairs?”

I roll my eyes. “Because I love you and I don’t want Lyle or Marcella or anyone else to twist it into something gross.”

“What if I don’t care?” she asks again, slowly bucking her hips against mine.

I groan even as my hands find her hips and hold her against me. “You should care. You’re lucky I do. I was ready to throw you over my shoulder and haul you off to the bathroom not more than twenty minutes ago.”

She smirks, her palms smoothing a path up my chest and around my shoulders. “Now that would have been a scandal.”

“I don’t want it to be like that between us. I mean,” I clarify. “I definitely do, but not publicly. I don’t care who knows that I’m in love with you. It’s not like I can hide it. But they don’t need to know when I take you to my bed.”

Shelby’s eyes are molten. “No one’s here now.”

“True.”

“Take me to your bed, Cam.”

I instantly harden at her whispered words.

“Please.”

18

SHELBY

UNTOUCHED

We ascend the back stairs to Cameron’s place a few minutes later, his large hand wrapped completely around mine, tugging me along. Owning me, if I’m honest. I almost laugh at how fast we went from me trying my damnedest to seduce him to him practically dragging me, caveman-style, up to his place.

I swallow the giddy feeling when he unlocks his door and swings it open, pulling me in and kicking the door shut with his boot. In a near-desperate flash, he spins me around and has me pressed against the door and oh.

Oh.

My eyes slip shut as if they understand they’re not needed right now. I only want to feel, feel, feel as he kisses me hard, his mouth, ruthless, and his tongue, caressing. I twine my fingers in his hair and yank slightly, causing him to groan, breathless against my lips. I’m starving for this man. My hips take over, shoving fiercely off the door in a slow, intentional grind, the friction making me dizzy with lust. His hot hands tease my waist before sliding along my curves and gripping at the edge of my dress, slipping underneath and clearing a searing path for his calloused palms against my skin, up and around, just brushing the sides of my breasts. I buck and feel his smile against my lips.

“In a hurry?”

“Planning on taking all night?” I retort.