His lips trail down my neck, sending shivers all over.
"I love looking at you," he breathes, brushing the hair off my shoulders. "Will you let me look at you?"
My heart hammers, a wild thing seeking his. "Yes."
So he does. And I feel it. For a long...
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C A M I L A
I'm somewhere in sleep, my cheek pressed against the worn fabric of the old library couch. I can vaguely feel the way my body has curled into itself, knees drawn up close, arms wrapped around my middle.
The library is quiet, the hum of the fluorescent lights overhead dulled by the thick silence. I've been here too long, and now it's dark. The lamps on the tables cast a warm, golden glow, but it only accentuates the shadows creeping in from the corners of the room.
Then, something warm and soft touches my face.
It's so gentle that for a moment, I think I might be dreaming. My eyelids flutter, heavy and reluctant, and I struggle to pull myself from the depths of that sleep-fog, my mind slow to catch up.
I blink, and the world comes into focus.
Noah.
He's kneeling before me, a hand on my face, fingers tracing the curve of my jaw. His eyes are dark and deep, filled with a warmth that's so achingly familiar, that my entire body slumps further into calm.
"Hey, Rocky," he murmurs, his voice as soft as his touch.
Why's he here? Why am I here? Why's everything feel so heavy?
"It's late," he says, his thumb brushing across my cheek in a slow, soothing motion. "You've been here for hours."
I frown, trying to remember how long I've been sitting in this spot. I was reading my...my work proposal.
I was supposed to go to their place tonight. I made a mistake. Now I'm alone, with Noah, in a library that's likely closed for the night.
Noah's eyes search mine, his brow furrowing slightly as he studies me. "Cam, baby," he says, his voice a little rougher now, like he's holding something back. "Talk to me."
I want to tell him that I'm fine, that I'm just tired, that I don't need anyone to worry about me. But the words get stuck in my throat, tangled up with everything else I've been trying so hard to ignore.
"What happened? Are you okay?" he asks.
"I don't know," I admit, my voice barely audible.
His hand slips from my cheek, moving down to cup my chin, his thumb brushing across my lower lip.
I close my eyes, trying to hold back the wave of emotion that's threatening to crash over me. Ugh, I've always been so good at keeping things locked away, at pretending like I've got everything under control.
With Noah, it's different.
With Noah, I have no lock anymore.
"Cam," he whispers.
"I lost my job," I whisper. It's admitting defeat. I've failed at something so fucking basic, and it hurts. "Leo fired me. They made me go." My lips wobble as my face heats up. "I can't go back. It's all gone."
