Page 39 of The Bachelor

I’d just been so wrapped up in my conversation with Camden. So curious to what his replies would be. So drawn to him in a way I hadn’t expected that I was being careless in front of my best friend.

“My dad,” I blurted out, my family the first excuse that had come to me since it was a conversation I’d had with my father several hours earlier. “He’s trying to buy a gift for my mom, and he needs my help.”

“A tennis bracelet. Done. Tell Dad you’re welcome.” She smiled, and then her lids narrowed again as she looked at Camden. “Back to Macon. Let’s pursue this and see what happens.”

“You’re not going to let it go, are you?” Camden asked.

“Unless you want to introduce Oaklyn to another one of your single friends. I mean, there’s also Cooper and Brady, if you think they’d be better fits.”

“Nah.”

“Whynah?” Hannah mocked.

Camden thumbed his screen for a few more seconds and tucked his phone under his arm. “They’re not right for her either.”

Camden

When I take your ass, I assure you, that’s something you won’t forget.

Me

Are you telling me that’ll be your first time doing that? That is what I requested.

“Why aren’t they right for her?” Hannah pushed. “It seems like whoever I suggest isn’t good enough for our Oaklyn. I need to understand your reasoning.”

Camden

I can’t tell you that.

Me

I figured.

Camden

But I can tell you that I’ll be gentle … and that’s not something I’ve done before.

Me

Isn’t that nice of you?

You know what? On second thought, I don’t need one of your firsts. This is about me. Not you. The man I fall in love with can give me one of his firsts. I need nothing more from you other than these lessons. And don’t worry, I’ll come up with something for the fourth one.

I slowly looked up at him.

His lips wet and parted, he took me in before he said to his sister, “Hannah, my friends aren’t the kind of guys you’re looking for. They’re all like me. Every one of them. Wild. Uncommitted. Fucking dominants who aren’t looking to be soft and tender with a virgin. Macon and I aren’t the only players of the group. They all are.”

Soft and tender. Camden’s favorite words when describing what I needed.

Yet the other night, hints of both had shown through.

He didn’t touch me, he didn’t even direct me, but he could have bitten my finger when he put it in his mouth to lick off my wetness, and he didn’t. He could have skipped straight to lesson five when I was straddling the cushions of his couch, and he didn’t do that either.

For a wild, dominant wolf of a player, he had certainly shown patience with me.

Except for tonight.

Tonight, he was living up to everything he had said he was.

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