Reclaim - Aly Martinez Page 0,100
have a soon-to-be very empty rainy-day-slash-Louboutin fund, and I am out on bail with pending drug charges. So, congratulations.”
He chuckled. “If it means I’m lucky enough to keep you, I’ll take my chances.”
But as I lay there staring at him, sated and languid, my heart so full of love, I didn’t know if I’d ever be able to process it all, because he was wrong.
I was the lucky one.
“Come on, Nora. You’ve gotta have a preference,” he said, standing in my bedroom, a towel wrapped around his hips, his glorious abs on display, little droplets of water dripping from his hair. Plus, he had this irresistible glimmer in his bright-blue eyes.
It was early morning and I still hadn’t mustered the strength to get out of bed, though Camden in a towel was sparking some energy for other things.
After Camden had made love to me, we’d spent the day in bed—talking and laughing, kissing and touching. We never made it to get my drug test or to the brunch he’d promised me, but as the sun sank beneath the horizon and Camden’s mouth trailed down my body for the third time, I couldn’t bring myself to be concerned with anything else.
We were ravenous by dinner time, so we had pizza delivered and ate it around my coffee table in various degrees of undress. After that, we shifted to the sofa to cuddle for a change of pace. I laid my head on his shoulder and trailed my fingertips up and down his naked torso while he played with a strand of my hair. Every so often, he’d dip his head, press his lips to mine, and murmur, “We’re finally gonna to do this, right? Me and you?”
Every single time, I answered, “Forever, Cam.”
I hated how he still had doubts, but I understood. In the past, our times together were always punctuated with long goodbyes. He wasn’t wrong. I did think there was a physical and emotional destination. Like maybe I'd wake up one morning and everything would finally feel right. The brick wall of my past would melt away to reveal Camden and a golden path to our future.
But too much time had already been wasted.
I’d always been such a burden on the people who loved me. I didn’t want to put that on Camden’s shoulders too. I’d dreamed of being whole and having the ability to offer him something more than trouble for once.
But maybe the things I wanted to offer him weren’t the things he needed.
Choices. Everyone makes them.
But not all of them should be yours to make alone.
Which was exactly why, as I stared at him in that towel, the bright morning sun illuminating the room, as he impatiently waited for me to give him feedback on where we would be settling as a couple, I replied, “You are my preference, Cam. Where do you want to live?”
He prowled over to me, putting his knee to the bed before bending over for an entirely too chaste kiss. “I don’t know if you’d even like New York. We could always move out of the city, but even the suburbs are a whole different world than Clovert.”
I circled my arms around his neck and dragged him down for a lingering kiss. My body was sore from his constant attention the night before but it began to hum back to life. “You’re in New York though.”
He settled on his side and cradled his head in his hand, his elbow on the bed, and slid the blanket back to reveal my breasts. Tracing his finger around my nipple, he replied, “I am right now, but I only have a tiny studio apartment and it doesn’t even have a stove.”
After gliding my palm down his stomach, I tugged at the tucked fabric on his towel, popping it open. “I don’t need a stove. I need you.”
Smiling, he grabbed my wrist. “You’re not going to distract me from this conversation. We need to figure it out. Assuming we can get things settled this week with your case, I’ll need to get back to the city. Now, whether it’s to put in my notice and pack my stuff or to take a few days to scope out a house for us before you follow me is up to you. But I’m not leaving until we have a plan of action.”
“Then hurry up and make a plan so I can”—there was a damn blanket dividing us, but I scooted closer and rolled my hip, not surprisingly