The Air I Breathe Read online

  As my head starts to think of a million other things that I shouldn’t, he turns to face me.

  “Cameo.” His voice forces me to turn my head to look at him.

  We are now sitting in the dark of his driveway, and the look on his face tells me everything I need to know.

  He doesn’t want me to leave.

  “Sager.”

  He reaches out to cup my cheek. “Please stay.” I’m nodding my head in answer before I can even think of the consequences or what I’m agreeing to.

  He leans across the center console, pulling my face into his. He kisses me softly before pulling back and opening his car door. I watch his dark shadow as he walks around to my side and opens the door, reaching a hand in to help me out.

  Just when I know I should say no and walk away, he does something sweet like this, and it pulls me back under the haze that I should stay far away from.

  “Let’s get you back to bed,” he whispers against the skin of my neck. I let him lead me toward the front door, and when he unlocks it, I push the door open and make my way to his room, remembering every step of the way.

  Slipping my heels off my feet, I move to my shirt next. Slowly pulling it up and over my head, I drop it to his bedroom floor before moving to my leggings. Once I’ve shed those, I move to his bed and crawl up to the pillows, making myself comfortable in the center of the giant bed.

  “You are so damn beautiful.” His compliment hits me right in the heart, and I have a hard time accepting it. Sager is probably the only one to ever tell me that I am beautiful and it makes me nervous. I know he’s just saying this so I continue to sleep with him, but he really doesn’t need to do it. I’m here already.

  “One day when I say it, you won’t shut down. You’ll believe every word of it.” I bite the inside of my cheek because I don’t think that will ever happen.

  When the shininess of this is gone, he won’t think twice about finding someone else. He’ll be saying the same things to that other woman, and I’ll be back to being a blip on his radar.

  “Come here.” He comes to stand at the edge of the bed, his shirt off and every inch of his tan skin is on display for me. As I crawl closer, my fingers itch to run over his skin. I want to feel his abs under my hands again, and I think he can see it in my eyes.

  “You can touch me anytime you want.”

  I grin at him as I come to a stop a few inches in front of him. I reach my hand out and let my fingers move across his skin.

  “Your friends don’t like me.”

  He sighs and tucks a strand of my hair behind my ear. “Jenner thinks I’ll just get hurt. He thinks he’s protecting me.”

  “What do you think?” I run my finger down the center of his chest.

  “I don’t care if I get hurt. Having you here even for one night is worth the pain it might leave me with when you leave.”

  “I don’t want to hurt you.” My voice breaks and he gives me a sad smile.

  “You may not want to, but I don’t think we will have a choice.” He reaches forward and gently smooths out the wrinkles on my forehead. “Don’t think about it right now. I have you now, and I don’t want to waste any time with you.”

  He wraps an arm around me and pulls me into his body, his lips crashing down onto mine. He picks me up and lays me back on the mattress, settling between my thighs. “He’ll never make you feel what I do.” He moves down the bed and kisses his way down my stomach, stopping at the top of my panties. His fingers slide under the elastic, and he slowly moves them down my thighs, kissing every inch of skin he uncovers.

  I suck in a breath when his mouth latches onto my clit. My hips buck, and my fingers dig into the blankets, fisting them as his tongue probes me. I don’t know exactly what he’s doing to me, but I definitely don’t hate it.

  One of his hands goes to my stomach, and he pushes me back down on the bed when all I want to do is cry out in pleasure. He continues to lick me down there. Closing my eyes, I move a hand to the top of his head, and when my body starts to clench, I try like heck to push his head away from me, but he doesn’t let up. He continues to torture me until my thighs are tightening around his head and I’m crying out his name as I come.

  When my body goes slack, and I’m breathing hard, he licks me a few more times before he kisses his way back up my body, his mouth stopping on mine. He kisses me deeply, and I can taste myself on his lips.

  His hands roam over my skin, and one of them squeezes my breast. He pulls the cup of my bra down, bearing my breast to him. His lips move from my mouth to my breast, and he sucks on my skin, nipping every few seconds with his teeth.

  Leaning to his right, he kicks off his jeans, and it doesn’t take him long before he’s filling me. My lips part and the breath is stolen from me. His mouth seals to mine, and he kisses me. Our bodies start to move in perfect sync, and it scares me how much I crave him. How much I like feeling his body on top of mine as he slowly thrusts in and out of me. How his lips feel against my skin as he takes his time covering every inch with his mouth.

  “Sager,” I moan as I come again.

  His hips slam into mine and his body tenses. He bites the side of my neck, and I can feel the bruise even before he releases my skin. Sager kisses me again before he lays his head on the pillow next to me, his body weight still holding me down.

  “You are going to leave a bruise.” I run my fingers over the spot he bit, and he pulls his head up long enough to look before dropping it again.

  “It’s my mark.” He waggles his eyebrows at me, and I push him to get him off of me. “Cam, don’t.” He holds me down so I can’t leave.

  “He’ll see it and then what?”

  “Then leave. Tell him to go fuck himself and come back to me.” Sager thinks he knows everything, but he doesn’t. I promised myself to someone else. I can’t just say that I’m leaving, especially to a man like Alec.

  “It’s not that easy.”

  He laughs and shakes his head. “Only if you don’t want to leave, it’s not that easy. Cameo, if you want me, I’m right here. I’m not leaving, but at some point, this isn’t going to be enough for me. I’ll want more. I’ll want every part of you.”

  “Sager.” I don’t know what else to say to him.

  “I know you aren’t ready for what I’m saying and that’s fine. I’ll wait for you to come back to my bed when he’s gone.”

  A tear falls from my eye, and he wipes it away from the side of my face. “I’ll fight for you, Cameo, if you let me.”

  I wrap my arms around his neck and pull him into me. We fall asleep in this position, neither of us moving or saying another word about Alec or what we are doing. It’s just the two of us, wrapped in each other’s arms.

  Waking up the next morning, my body is sore, and we have barely moved from our positions last night. When I roll over to move Sager off of me, he groans and wraps his arms around me tighter. Trying to escape from his grip, I finally almost get out of his arms but his hand catches my leg, and he pulls me on top of him.

  “No escaping,” he whispers, voice full of sleep.

  “I just have to pee.” I smirk, kissing his lips.

  “Mm. Then your ass better come back to bed. I have plans for you.” I giggle and move off the bed when he finally releases me. He still hasn’t even opened his eyes, so I’m not sure how he even grabbed me.

  Rushing into the bathroom, I shut the door and do my business. Once I get to the sink to wash my hands, I look in the mirror and see the bruise from Sager on the spot where my neck and shoulder meet. It isn’t super dark, but it’s noticeable. I’ll probably need to use cover-up when I get home, or maybe it will disappear before Alec even gets home on Tuesday.

  “Cam!”

  I can barely hear his muffled voice through the door, but I still grin. When I open the door, he’s still lying in bed. As I make my way over to the bed, he grabs me and pulls me on top of him. The sheets are covering his lower half, but I can still feel how hard he is.

&nbs
p; “Are you staying longer?”

  I lean down and kiss his lips.

  “Don’t you have to work?” He shrugs before rolling us over.

  “I can do whatever I want. If you want me to play hooky, I can.” He kisses a path from one side of my neck to the other, and when he sees the mark he left on me, I can feel the grin against my skin.

  My phone starts to ring from inside my bag, and my heart starts to race. It’s probably Alec.

  Scrambling out from under Sager, I rush to grab my phone from my bag, and when I look at the screen, I see his name. My heart drops into my stomach as I answer it.

  Twelve

  Sager

  I notice the look of fear on her face as she answers the phone. It’s him, I already know.

  “Alec,” she answers.

  She nervously looks over at me, and I try to steel my emotions. I won’t let her see how much it pisses me off.

  “No, I can make something. I thought you wouldn’t be home until Tuesday.” She pauses and looks away from me. “Okay. I love you too.”

  It’s like a sucker punch to the gut. Those three words that she can still say to him even after we fucked twice last night. She ends her call and drops her phone into her bag. I shouldn’t take it out on her, but I do.

  She was in my bed last night, and now she’ll be back in his tonight.

  Getting out of bed, I head past her to the bathroom and start the shower. I already know that she’s going to leave, so it doesn’t matter anymore.

  Her hand touches my back, and when I turn to face her, I see the uncertainty in her eyes again.

  “You don’t have to explain yourself. He’s your fiancé, and I’m just the guy you fuck when he’s out of town. Call me when you need me to fuck you again.”

  I don’t bother looking at her expression as I get in the shower, shutting the curtain so I don’t have to watch her walk out of my house.

  Closing my eyes, I stand under the stream of water, turning it as hot as I can stand it. After a few minutes, I soap up and wash it all down the drain before I wash my hair and shut the water off. When I get out of the shower, the house is quiet.

  I walk into my bedroom, drying my hair with a towel and nothing of hers is left behind. She left just like I knew she would. He called, and she went running back to him, to a life of fake love and status.

  Getting dressed, I pull on a t-shirt and a pair of sweats. I grab my running shoes and put them on before grabbing my wallet and phone, shoving them into my pocket.

  Just as I’m about to head out the door, I get a message from Jenner.

  Jenner: I’m sorry about what I said about her. I just don’t want to see her ruin you.

  I sigh as I send him a message back.

  Me: I know. She already left when he called.

  Jenner: Sorry brother. I know you got a thing for her.

  Jenner: I got invited to some high society thing if you want to be my man date. Find a new rich princess to fuck.

  I laugh at that. Jenner hates the high society shit just as much as I do. He isn’t one for going to those mixer bullshit things unless his father forces him to.

  Me: What, you can’t get your own date? Haha

  Jenner: Why take sand to the beach?

  Me: Fine, I’ll be your man date so you don’t have to suffer alone. Maybe I’ll get a chance to toss crab cake at my old man while we’re there.

  Jenner tells me the date and time, and I respond with ‘I’ll pick you up at six, babe. Don’t be late.’

  When I finally get to the gym, it’s practically dead. I check in with Mandy before I head to my office to work on some reports that I was supposed to have done a week ago. Cameo had taken over every inch of my brain last week, and I didn’t get half the shit I needed to get done, done.

  I even take Jenner’s client a few hours later when he calls to say he has to get something done for his father.

  That’s the difference between us. Jenner still tries to make his father proud, where I could care less what that dickhead father of mine thinks. He wanted me to be something I wasn’t, and when I wouldn’t conform, I was no longer part of the family. Just like that, he cut ties with me and could care less what I had going on in my life.

  Jenner still tries to please his father even though it’s almost useless. Markel Anthony made his millions the same way my father did, on the backs of others. Jenner is nothing like his father Markel, so I don’t see why he continues to try and follow in his footsteps.

  Once I finish with his client, I head back to my office and prepare all the paperwork for the quarterly reports and my accountant. Shoving everything into a manila envelope, I leave it up front with Mandy and tell her that Grimes will be stopping by to pick it up on his way to his office.

  She doesn’t say anything about Cameo, and I have a feeling that Jenner already told her what happened. One thing about my friends is that they all have big mouths and always gossip about anything and everything.

  Making my way to my car, I think about Cameo, but I don’t send her a message like I normally would. Instead, I just head home.

  ---

  One week later

  Looking around the room, I take in all the rich people in the expensive clothes that they will probably only wear once before they toss it out. Jenner and I are both dressed in tuxes, and it’s only because he forced me to. I wanted to just come in a pair of slacks and a dress shirt, but he refused to let me leave his house until I changed, so here I am in this damn thing that’s a little snug around my waist.

  A waitress comes by with glasses of champagne, and just as I grab one, I see Cameo.

  She’s wearing a strapless black cocktail dress that fits every inch of her body flawlessly. Just as I start to move toward her, I see that bastard put his hand on her lower back, ushering her through the crowd.

  “Fuck. That’s her, isn’t it?”

  Instead of answering, I down my drink and grab Jenner’s, downing it too. He motions to the waitress, and she brings us new drinks that I down again. I could care less about me making a scene if I was hammered. Not saying that I’m not above taking her into a bathroom and fucking her hard against the counter while he’s out here schmoozing these rich dicks.

  Grabbing my phone, I send her a message.

  Me: And I thought you looked best in just a pair of panties and a bra. It has nothing on this look.

  When she notices her phone, she looks at the screen and puts it away before he can see it. Not that he is even paying attention to her anyway. He’s too busy talking to my father to even care that she’s now staring at me.

  I tip my glass in cheers, and she goes pale. She thinks I’ll make a scene and tell the whole room our dirty little secret. What she doesn’t know about me is that I would never out her just because I was pissed she went right back to him the moment he got back in town.

  I send her another message and head toward the bathrooms. Leaning against the wall outside the bathroom, I wait for her to show. The seconds tick by slowly and just as I’m about to make my way back toward the party, I hear heels click down the hallway.

  Pushing away from the wall, I wait for her to come around the corner. As she gets closer, the clicking of her heels gets louder, and when she comes around the corner, I suck in a breath. She’s even more beautiful up close.

  As she gets closer, I see her start to wring her hands together in that cute way she’s done before.

  “What are you doing here?” Her eyes burn into me, and I don’t even care if I piss her off with my next move. I can’t help myself. I reach out grabbing her around the waist and pulling her into me. My lips press against hers, and all is right in the world again.

  Her body melts into mine, and when I hear someone coming, I drag her into the bathroom with me.

  “Why are you here?” she whispers when I pull her into a stall, locking the door behind me. The nice thing about a place like this is that the stalls are actually pretty private. You don’t see under the sides of the stal
l, but you can see under the front of them.

  “I was invited.” Instead of letting her ask me another question, I back her up against the door and box her in. “Now kiss me.” When she doesn’t make a move for me, I grab her hip and close the distance that’s left between us.

  “Ca –” before I can finish saying her name, she’s slamming her mouth to mine, shutting me up. She doesn’t want me to say her name out loud, and that’s fine with me if I get what I want.

  My hands grip her ass as I pull her hips to mine and I grind against her. I want to strip her out of her panties and fill her cunt with my dick. I slide the back of her dress up and slip my fingers into the thong she’s wearing.

  I bet it’s going to match the strapless bra she’s wearing right now. Every time I’ve stripped her down, she’s had matching underwear.

  Pulling them down her thighs, I get them off her feet and shove them into my pants pocket. I’m keeping these for the nights that I don’t have her in my bed. I’ll remember this moment.

  I turn her around to face the stall door and force her to put her hands on the door to brace herself. My hand slides over her sweet ass as I undo my pants and pull my dick out. Stroking myself with one hand, I use my other hand to slide my fingers along her pussy. I can already feel how wet she is and I haven’t even gotten inside of her yet.

  “So wet,” I murmur against her ear.

  Pressing the head of my dick to her opening, I slide it against her clit a few times before slamming into her. My arm wraps around her waist to keep her from running into the stall door, and she lets out a breathy sigh.

  I pull out of her slightly before pressing back into her roughly. Every thrust of my hips feels fucking amazing, and the sounds coming from her are going to get us caught in here. I place my hand over her mouth as I fuck her harder. The sounds of our skin slapping together fills the room, and when someone comes into the bathroom, I switch our positions so they see the backs of my legs if they look under the stall door.