Page 74 of Already At Risk
“I think you’re supposed to do that the night before cardio.” Her green eyes glittered. “Not a few minutes before. Don’t want to Michael Scott-it.”
A laugh burst through my lips. “I think you’ll be okay. I don’t have anything too strenuous planned for tonight.”
More curiosity danced across her face, but before she could ask too much, I lifted the fork.
“Open.”
Natalie lifted a brow but did as I directed, letting her lips part.
I stared at them a little too hard, remembering how good they had felt pressed to mine, before sliding the fork into her mouth. Natalie bit it off, humming her satisfaction and chewing. Her eyes watched me carefully, and once she swallowed, she said, “This is really good. But you know, I can feed myself.”
“I’m going to make you use your hands later,” I said, lifting the fork again once I’d refilled it. Natalie opened her mouth without me asking her to. “I thought I’d give them a rest for now. I bet they’ve been busy today.”
The corners of her mouth curved as she chewed, her interest and amusement shining through her expression even though she didn’t say anything.
“And I like it,” I said, carefully stabbing more penne. “Feeding you. Do you mind?”
A likely unnecessary question, considering Natalie had already unhinged her jaw for a third time in preparation for more pasta. She shook her head, and I tried to conceal my satisfaction as I slid the fork back into her mouth, watching her tongue dart out, licking it as she took another bite.
“Are you hungry?” she asked after she swallowed.
“Not for food,” I answered, and her entire expression lit up. Ravenous, this one.
Soon, baby.
“I’d like it if you shared more of what you’re looking for,” I continued. “I know you want to experiment with new things. Can you tell me if there’s anything specific you want or maybe something you’ve already done that you want to avoid?”
She shook her head, giving another rueful laugh. “I just want to do something that doesn’t involve getting bent over and used until someone else is satisfied.”
I froze, my hand hovering midair with another forkful of pasta.
“Excuse me?”
“Yeah.” Natalie shrugged, as though what she’d just said wasn’t a big deal. “And I always felt like he did it that way becausehe wanted to imagine it was…someone else? Like he didn’t want to see my face. Sometimes it even felt like that when I was on my back. He’d stare at me, but he wasn’t there.Iwasn’t there. I mean, of course it wasn’t like that at first. But then…well, things changed. You know.”
The fork clattered back into the bowl before I shoved it back onto the countertop.
“Fuck, Natalie.” I put both hands on the granite she sat on, framing her hips, needing to palm something. I hung my head for a second, not sure I wanted her to see how angry that made me. “God, I really hate him and how he treated you.”
“Me too.” She forced out a laugh that had no humor to it.
“And I hate that your bar is so low,” I said, raising my gaze to find hers avoiding me. I placed a finger beneath her chin, tipping it up so she was forced to see how sure I was that I could change that reality for her. She looked regretful, sad. Like sheknewher bar was that low but also didn’t want to lie about her reality or expectations. “Let’s raise it the fuck up, shall we?”
The spark returned to her face as she gave an eager nod.
“I’d like that.”
Correction: she was going toloveit.
I was going to make fucking sure of that.
CHAPTER TWENTY
natalie
AFTER PEPPERING ME WITH a few more questions and making me finish the entire bowl of pasta, Cameron carried me to his room and dropped me onto his bed without ceremony. His apartment passed by me in a blur, and I only got a glimpse of his orderly room before he covered me with his body, pressing my own down into his king-sized mattress.
He shook his head. “You looksofucking good in my sheets, Natalie.”
