Page 8 of Pomegranate Kiss

One thing was sure though. This fire in her veins meant something was going to burn.

Chapter Four

Cam got up at long last to put away her mother’s recipe of patla khichuri she cooked tonight, needing some dose of childhood and comfort after the day she had. The scent of turmeric and garam masala infused the air in her kitchen. On top of getting a burn on the side of her hand, she’d gotten reprimanded by Natalie Horntree for serving steak when the lady wanted chicken today. Save her from idiots. Besides, she’d been losing stitches with every passing day she worked this job, until she was ready to unravel.

Not to mention, Lex had delivered radio silence ever since their weird hang-out, which was the closest she’d come in a long time to enjoying a date—even if it hadn’t been one.

What drove her crazy was the curiosity, the breath of space between them, and the indefinable tension that settled into the air like a thunderstorm any time Lex entered the room.

The Tupperware clicked shut, the noise echoing in her empty apartment. As of late, the loneliness of this place threatened todevour her for Sunday dinner. More and more, she yearned for a future, a house, a family. She wanted to return home after a long day to fall into someone’s arms, to cook for someone other than herself, and for her house to be filled with sounds, not silence. Instead, she hadFireflyto rewatch for the five thousandth time, enough food to feed one person for a month, and her lavender couch to lose herself in.

“I need to get a pet,” she mumbled.

Cam approached her couch, ready to collapse and zone the hell out.

Her phone buzzed. Lex, at last.

You up?

Cam began to text back when her doorbell rang.

No, it couldn’t be. She sucked in a breath to quash the surge of hope as she wound her way to the front door. It had to be Linda, the renter of the other side of this house, asking if she could catsit for Puffers again. At eleven at night, because that made sense. Her pulse sped as she approached the door, her body refusing to take cool-down cues from her mind. She ran her fingers through her hair, realizing she wore running shorts, an old T-shirt, and no makeup.

Still, her hand reached for the knob before she could stop herself.

Alexis Dukas stood on her doorstep looking like a fallen angel with her short black windswept hair and her thick eyeliner making her hazel eyes pop. Her shoulders heaved, her cheeks were flushed, and the formfitting black tank top and army cargoes she wore highlighted her muscular, lithe body. Cam swallowed hard and took two steps back even though her hand remained on her doorknob.

Lex was gorgeous, impulsive, and absolutely insane.

“What?” was all that came from Cam. The confusion stretched out in the silence between them.

“Sorry, just got off my bike from one hell of a fun drive,” Lex said, flashing a smile that showed teeth.

“How did you know where I lived?” Cam asked, an actual question emerging from her lips. The realization smacked her in the face.

“Danny,” Lex responded, taking a step into her house. Just like that, Lex brought the storm with her, the ozone sparking the air, making it harder to take a full breath. “I was at the club with her, Adrian, and Mitch, but I needed to do something.”

Cam’s brows drew together. This woman descended like a whirlwind, and yet every time she caught the scent of cloves and campfire, of the leather from her jacket and the sweat that slicked her skin, she couldn’t help but surrender to the breeze.

“By something, do you mean show up on my doorstep at an unreasonable hour?” Cam pursed her lips and crossed her arms.

“Yeah, that.” Lex licked her lips and took another step so she was inside Cam’s apartment. Lex clicked the door shut behind her, the sound echoing a thousandfold in the space between them. Cam couldn’t look away from those lips, a little chapped but supple. Lex’s gaze didn’t just skim over her, it devoured. Cam tugged on the ends of her hair and glanced to the ground.

“I feel like I need to get changed or something,” she muttered, the heat rising to her cheeks. When she left her house, she donned her pressed clothes and makeup like a weapon against the world. “Fuck, I smell like a spice rack too.”

“You smell fucking delicious,” Lex growled, taking another step to close the distance between them. “And you look so gorgeous right now I’m soaked. Stop worrying.”

Cam sucked in a sharp breath. The raw, sexual words in the air, the way Lex’s gaze coursed over her like molten steel—her entire body grew taut in anticipation. Even though a shade of vulnerability emerged that she hadn’t been prepared to offer, desire melted away any lingering doubts or fears. She’d be lyingif she said she wasn’t turned on as hell right now. Every single thing this woman did made her burn hotter, as if they’d tuned to the same station without realizing it.

Lex’s hand settled on her waist, the heat of her palm making her flush with awareness. Cam drank her in, the angular chin, the same olive skin as the rest of her family, and those arrogant Greek features that made her more gorgeous than a Degas. The dim lighting spilling in from the other room highlighted the metal of her septum ring and the piercings along her brows. However, her gaze paused on Lex’s lips, desperate to taste.

“I came here to kiss you,” Lex’s voice grew low, husky with the same longing that coursed through her. Cam swallowed, hard. She managed a nod, because the words wouldn’t leave her lips with how badly she wanted.

Lex slid her hand along the nape of Cam’s neck, until her fingertips curled into her tousled strands. Before Cam could register the shock of pleasure from the gentle tug, Lex’s mouth descended on hers.

The kiss was softer than she expected, a brush of the lips with a surprising tentativeness from the brimstone woman who approached everything with the command of a tempest. This was the first stroke of watercolor across paper, and all too fast the colors deepened. Lex kissed with a slow seduction that simmered, so different from the first time they’d clashed together. Lex’s lips coaxed desperate breaths from her, and as she slipped her tongue into her mouth, a moan escaped.

Lex bit down on her lower lip, the sting keeping her in the present. Cam felt everything, from the scrape of her nipples against the rough fabric of her shirt to Lex’s hands on her hips, drawing their bodies flush together. This was what had her nerves taut like fresh canvas all week, the need for this connection, this secret addiction.

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