Cam stares down at me, a glimmer of mischief shining in his bright green eyes. With one hand planted on the wall beside my head, he brings the other to the side of my face. His palm warms my skin, his fingertips gently caressing my cheek. His lips lightly brush against mine and my eyelids flutter shut.
His mouth collides with mine, inhaling me in one swift breath. Reaching for him, my hands find his waist and I pull him closer as his tongue slides along the seam of my lips. Parting them, I let him in, his tongue tangling with mine as we’re caught up in the moment.
Cam slips his hands into my hair, holding me to him as he consumes me. His lips are soft, moving against mine as we toe the line of our friendship. None of that matters in this moment. The only thing that matters is feeling his firm body pressed against mine, like it’s exactly where he belongs.
My fingertips dig into his flesh and his cock is rock hard as he rolls his hips, pressing it into my stomach. With our height difference, my neck is straining and fully exposed with my head tipped back. Cam doesn’t stop, his touch gentle, and I taste a hint of beer on his tongue as it dances with mine.
I can’t breathe and I’m completely okay with that. I’ve never wanted to drown in someone as badly as I do right now and I’m ready to dive into his depths.
A door slams in the distance and someone snickers as they walk past us. The moment is ruined and my heart pounds erratically in my chest, knowing we’ve been seen.
Cam slowly pulls away, my lips parting as I suck in a shallow breath. He presses his forehead to mine, his chest rapidly rising and falling. We both come up for air and I’m not ready for it. I instantly feel his absence and I’m brought back to reality in a rush.
Shit. We crossed a line that wasn’t meant to be crossed.
Neither of us say a word as he slowly releases me and takes a step backward. A warmth creeps up my neck, spreading across my cheeks as I feel the mark he left on me. Lust runs rampant through my veins and I feel it pooling in the pit of my stomach. If we weren’t in public right now, I’m afraid to think about how far we would have really gone.
“I’m sorry,” I let out a rush of air, my words breathless. “I—” I pause, the words getting caught in my throat. I don’t even know what I’m really apologizing for here. For the jealousy I was feeling when I saw him with another girl? For challenging him when he said about us being friends?
“Aspen, stop,” he breathes, stepping back toward me as he cups the sides of my face. His eyes desperately search mine, laced with lust and guilt. “I was the one who made the move. You didn’t do anything wrong.”
Swallowing hard, I stare back at him. My heart violently thrashes in its cage. “Can we just forget about this and pretend it never happened?”
A chuckle vibrates in Cam’s chest and he raises an eyebrow at me. “If that’s what you want, babe.” He pauses for a moment, dropping his face down to mine. His breath is warm against my lips, but he doesn’t kiss me. “We can pretend, but I don’t think either of us can forget.”
My breath catches in my throat as he pulls away from me, his hands leaving the sides of my face as he tucks them in the front pockets of his pants. A storm brews in his eyes as he stares directly through me and a contradicting smirk plays on his lips.
“I’ll be waiting for you at the table.”
Standing with my back still against the wall, I nod, not fully trusting my voice. Cam gives me one last glance before he spins on his heel and strolls down the hallway, stepping back into the bar area. Letting out the breath I didn’t realize I was still holding, I head in the opposite direction, locking myself away in the bathroom as I get myself together.
After using the bathroom, I wash my hands and find myself lingering by the sink. My hands grip the countertop as I stare at myself in the mirror. My hair is slightly tousled, my lips plump and bright red from his against mine. Lifting my fingertips to my mouth, I press them against my flesh, still wanting to feel him against me.
I can’t let my mind go down this road. The last place that Cameron Sawyer is going to be is under my skin. We crossed a line and it’s not one that we can cross again. Friends don’t kiss friends like that. And I’ll be damned if I get involved with the playboy jock.
My face is still flushed, no doubt from the effect he has on me. I let thoughts of Kiara wander back into my head. I don’t want the jealousy from it, but I want the reminder—even if it is painful. I’m just as disposable to Cameron as the other girls before me were. And messing around with him goes against all of my standards.
Although, perhaps if we kept our feelings out of this, we wouldn’t necessarily be crossing a line. We can still be friends and fuck around without getting caught up in something more than that. Cam is using me to help him get through the rest of the year and bring his grades up. It’s only right that I get something in return.
Perhaps it’s time to take him up on that offer of repaying me.
And we could both benefit from this proposition… as long as we keep any feelings and emotions out of it. We could be friends with benefits and leave it at that. After the semester is over, we go our separate ways like none of this had ever happened. There’s no room for either of us in each other’s lives, since we both have our plans that we’re sticking to.
But in the meantime, Cam could help me pass the time.
As long as he doesn’t become a distraction, because then I would have to end everything between us. Our tutoring arrangement and friendship.
After collecting myself, I head back out of the bathroom. As I walk down the hall, part of me wishes that Kiara is back at the table. If Cam were still involved with her, it would be easier to separate myself and completely detach. Friends with benefits wouldn’t even be an option. But as I walk back to the table and find him by himself, I’m torn between an elated feeling and swirling disappointment.
Cam’s gaze meets mine, a ghost of a smile playing on his lips as I sit down in my seat. He lifts his beer to his lips and my eyes are instantly drawn to them, watching as he swallows down some of the amber-colored liquid. His eyes never leave mine, staring directly at me as he sets the glass back down.
“Where’s your little friend?” I ask him, keeping any emotion from my voice as I picture her hand on his shoulder again.
A soft chuckle slips from his lips as he tips his head toward the bar. “She found someone else to bother.”
Glancing over toward the bar, I see Kiara with another guy and it looks like she’s fully immersed in the conversation they’re having, completely forgetting about Cameron. It brings me a sense of peace it shouldn’t and my heart all but crawls into my throat.
Swallowing it back down, I grab my water and quickly gulp some of it down as I look back to Cam. Our server shows back up, setting our food in front of us, and I welcome the distraction. As I toy with my food on my plate, I can’t help but look at Cameron as he pops a fry into his mouth.
“You know how you said about paying me back for tutoring you?” I start, my voice sounding more confident than I actually feel. My stomach rolls with anxiety and my heart hammers against my rib cage. “I changed my mind. There is a way you can pay me back…”
Cam tilts his head to the side. “Oh yeah? What did you have in mind?”
“I don’t want to pretend like what happened in the hallway didn’t. I also still want to be friends with you and nothing more.”
“Hmm,” he muses, the corners of his lips lifting. “Well, it sounds like you’re caught in quite the predicament. Wanting to have your cake and eat it too.”
I swallow hard over the nervousness that builds inside. “I was hoping maybe you could help me with this problem. We’ve already crossed a line, but I think there may be a loophole when it comes to crossing it again.”
“Enlighten me, baby,” he breathes, a smirk on his lips as his bright eyes search mine.
“Friends with benefits. We don’t get any more involved than that and at the end of the semester, we go our separate ways.”
It feels like a weight has been lifted as soon as the words leave my lips, but I want the ground to open up and swallow me whole as I’m caught under Cam’s watchful eye.
“So, we get to cross the line as long as we keep it that we’re just friends?” There’s a lilt in his voice and a smile touches my lips. “No strings, no feelings.”
“Definitely no feelings,” I assure him, nodding as I spear my fork into my salad. “That way we’re not restricted and feeling guilty after something happens like in the hallway. We just roll with it, as long as neither of us get attached.”
Cam smirks with a sinister gleam in his eyes. “Trust me, babe. I don’t do feelings, so you don’t have to worry about any of that shit.”
“Do we have a deal?” I ask him, extending my arm for him to take my hand. “No feelings or attachments. Just friends with some added benefits.”
Cameron slips his hand into mine, his palm warming my skin as he wraps his fingers around my own, and we shake on it.
“Deal.”
