Oceans Apart (Ocean Dreams Book 1) (8 page)

“Great idea,” Cam said with a wink. Annie just smiled and shook her head.

On their way to the elevators, they passed Will at the concierge desk who had a Cheshire Cat grin on his face. Annie knew he would be used to seeing all kinds of celebrities going in and out of the hotel, but she knew that he was a big fan of Cam’s. Annie waved back to Will and smiled.

“Friend of yours?” Cam asked with a questioning look on his face.

“Will’s been a wonderful help to me since I arrived. He knew just what I needed after my little beach mishap the other day,” Annie said as the elevator car arrived. The doors opened and they got in. Annie reached across in front of Cam and pressed the number for her floor.

As she moved back, Cam whispered in her ear, “Is that so? I bet I could have given you exactly what you needed.”

Annie stopped still and closed her eyes. Her breathing quickened. She could feel the heat intensify between them but didn’t want to turn around. She was scared but at the same time, so turned on. Her nipples hardened when she felt his warm breath in her ear.

“You’d like that, wouldn’t you, Annie?” he said slowly. Cam’s voice was deep and husky, not its usual fun and cheeky. He leaned down and started placing light kisses from her ear down her jawline. Annie let out a soft moan. She felt a warmth spread throughout her body. Why had no other man ever made her feel like this before? She hardly knew him, but she did know that his kisses had her insides doing somersaults.

Her moan spurred Cam on. He twisted her around to face him and pushed her up against the doors of the elevator while he leveled an all-out assault on her mouth. His kiss was fierce and intense. Passion got the better of them as their tongues tangled together. Cam lifted Annie’s hands above her head and held them in place while he pressed his growing erection into her. Annie pushed closer toward him, feeling like she could not get close enough. It was Cam’s turn to moan in appreciation. This quiet Southern girl was a little firecracker who was ready to explode against him.

Just as Cam released her hands, the bell sounded and the doors of the elevator opened. Annie squealed as she stumbled backwards into the hallway. Cam tried to grab her but just missed, and Annie fell flat onto her butt. She could feel her cheeks go red and they continued to get redder as Cam laughed. She just stared at him and narrowed her eyes.

“Well, aren’t you going to help me up?”

Cameron smiled and squatted beside her. “Yes, ma’am,” he replied. Cam leaned over and gave her a quick kiss on her forehead, put one hand behind her back and the other under her legs and then lifted her up. Annie let out a shriek of delight as she wrapped her arms around his neck. He held her like she weighed no more than a newborn baby.

“Where to. sweetheart?”

“The end of the hall, on the right,” Annie directed him.

Cam carried her to her door and placed her gently on the floor. Annie’s head was still spinning as she rummaged around in her bag and found the keycard. She unlocked the door and walked in, Cam right behind her. Annie thought she would be nervous having Cam in her room, but the butterflies she was expecting kept calm. She dumped her things on the coffee table, removed her flip-flops, and turned to see where Cam was but instead collided with a T-shirt covered wall of muscle. Cam grabbed her around the waist and pulled her in close to him. He wasn’t letting her go this time.

“So,” Annie said with a shy smile. She was unsure of what to say or do. Cam’s kiss had messed with her mind.

“So?” Cam leaned down toward Annie, their lips only a fraction apart. Cam wanted to take her right there but waited for Annie to make the next move. To Cam, Annie was most definitely a woman worth waiting for.

Annie sighed, pulled back, and straightened her back. “What do you want to drink?” she asked him as she walked over to the mini bar fridge.

“A beer would be great,” Cam replied. His hands were in his hair again, rubbing back and forth. He was feeling a little frustrated but also turned on. It had been a while since he had had to do the chasing with a woman. Being an international sports star had its perks. Women were one of the better ones.

Annie scanned the various drinks in the mini bar fridge. She took out two bottles of Corona, the only beer she recognized in there, found the bottle opener next to the fridge, and popped the tops off both. Remembering that you usually drank Corona with lime, she opened the fridge door and was pleasantly surprised to see freshly cut lime slices in a small bowl. She put a lime slice in each bottle and turned back to Cam, but he wasn’t there.

Making his way out onto one of the suite’s balconies, Cam absorbed the magnificent view before him. He had seen it numerous times and it was as beautiful as ever. He began to wonder what on earth he was doing with Annie. He had never been so unsure when it came to women. Cam was the type of guy to take whatever the girl was willing to give. He always made sure he was a gentleman in and out of the bedroom, as well as making sure they knew it wasn’t going to be a regular occurrence. This was one of the biggest benefits to traveling for a living. Annie had him thinking of something else. Something…more. It had been years since ‘something more’ had even entered his head. What is so special about this woman; a woman I’ve known only a week, that I am thinking about the future?

Before Cam could answer his own question, Annie stepped out onto the balcony with the cold beers. She smiled as she handed him one.

He raised it up and said, “Cheers.”

“Cheers,” Annie replied as they knocked the bottlenecks together. Both took large gulps of their beer. Annie settled down onto one of the outdoor lounge chairs while Cam leaned against the clear glass balcony railing.

Neither one said anything for a minute or two. Annie was getting curious about this man. He had kissed her twice with such passion that she was more than a little eager to know more about him.

“We’ve spent most of this week together,” Annie started, “and I still know very little about you.”

“What do you want to know?” Cam asked directly and maybe with a hint of vexation in his tone.

“Umm, gosh! I’m not sure exactly,” Annie sputtered.

“Okay. I will give you 20 questions. Ask me anything and I will tell you the truth,” he told her.

Annie smiled, accepting his terms. “Do you have other family besides your father?”

“Yeah. Like I told you the other day, my parents live two hours north of Sydney and so do my brother and his family and my younger sister.”

“Wow!” Annie didn’t know why she was surprised he had family, but she was. “Are you close with them?”

“Absolutely. Chris, he’s my best mate. We pretty much did everything together growing up. Chelsea is a pain in the butt, but she is as tough as they come. She always followed Chris and I around and can surf with the best. Mum and Dad managed my surfing career until recently. So yeah, we’re a tight -knit bunch,” Cam told her. She could tell by the way he spoke that he was proud they were his family.

“You’re lucky,” Annie said with dismay. “I was never close with my mother or my older sister. My daddy tried sometimes but mother would then tell him something to do with my sister, Tracey, and his attention was back on her.”

“She was their favorite?”

Annie sighed. “She would have been their only if my mother had her way.”

Cam was a little taken aback by her response. How could someone not like, or love, this beautiful girl in front of him? She didn’t seem like a difficult person. Cam needed to know more.

“Really? Why do you think that?”

“I don’t think it, I know it. Mother told me to my face. Tracey was supposed to be the only child my parents had. Mother was grooming her for the stage before Tracey could even talk. When mother found out she was expecting me, she wanted to get rid of me. My father wouldn’t let her, in hope that I would be a boy.” Annie took a deep breath and then exhaled. “I disappointed them right from the start, without even knowing it.”

“That wasn’t your fault,” Cam said indignantly.

“No, but according to my mother, I was always in the way. I was never as beautiful as Tracey was, nor as talented as her. She was going to be the star my mother never was, so whatever Tracey wanted and needed, is what Tracey got.” Annie turned her head and looked off into the distance. Thinking about it just made her heart break for what might have been.

Cam noticed that she wasn’t quite with him. He took a swig of his beer and then placed it on the outdoor side table. He crouched down beside Annie’s seat. Placing a gentle hand on the side of her face, he turned her to face him.

“Why so sad, Nashville?” He was genuinely concerned. Annie looked as if the whole world was about to fall apart.

“Tracey did get whatever she wanted. She’s a big star on Broadway now. I always wanted to tell my parents exactly how they had made me feel while I was growing up. The day I decided to do it, was the day they were flying home from seeing Tracey debut in a new show.” Annie swallowed back the emotions that were trying to surface. “I had it all planned. I knew exactly what I wanted to say to them. Then, just as I was expecting them to call me, I got a phone call telling me my parents’ private plane had crashed, just out of Nashville.”

Cam was stunned. He continued to look long and hard at Annie, waiting for her to say more.

“There were no survivors,” she whispered.

“Annie, I’m so sorry.” Cam meant it too. He would be shattered if anything similar would happen to his parents.

Annie looked up and gave him a sad smile. His hand was still on the side of her face, his thumb lightly rubbing her cheek. He was waiting for tears to roll but they never did.

“Girlfriends?” Annie surprised him with her statement.

Cam took a step back and sat on the other lounge chair. “What about them?” he questioned.

“Have you had any?” said Annie.

“Only two that were serious,” he said. “The first was my high school sweetheart. First love and all that. The second was a girl I met on the tour. She worked for one of the sponsors so I saw her more often.”

“Was it serious?” she asked him.

Cam shrugged his shoulders. “More serious for her than it was for me. Ultimately, that was the reason we broke up. I’m not one for commitment. The travel is a killer.”

Annie looked from Cam down to her drink. She didn’t know what to think of his statement or why she even cared that he wasn’t looking for commitment.

“What about you? Any significant others I should know about?” Cam asked with a smirk. He was being a cocky S.O.B, but he needed to know what or whom he was up against.

“No. No one at all. Not now anyway,” Annie replied.

“But, there has been someone?”

“Of course there has been someone. Just no one who thought I was his first choice. And absolutely no one who has rocked my world enough for me to want the happily ever after with them.”

“That’s what you want? The happily ever after?”

Annie stopped and thought for a moment, then looked up at Cam lounging back in the seat opposite her. She got up, walked over, and stood in front of him, never breaking eye contact. Taking a deep breath, she moved and straddled her legs either side of his and sat on his lap, face to face with the famous surfer. Cam inhaled sharply and shifted a little in his seat. He could feel himself getting hard already.

“Of course I want the happily ever after,” she said with all seriousness.

Cam’s expression remained neutral. He didn’t believe he had the capacity to do ‘forever’. He also didn’t want to scare Annie away, especially now, as she was right where he wanted her.

“But….” she started.

“But…?” Cam asked her.

“I’m ready for my world to be well and truly rocked.” Annie smiled at him and bit her bottom lip with her front teeth. Cam had reached around her waist and pulled her in to him. Noses nearly touching, Annie nervously giggled and bit her lip in anticipation.

“Now, that is something I know I can help with,” Cam said while looking directly into her deep brown eyes. His hand slowly swept up her back and to Annie’s ponytail. He slowly pulled out the hair tie holding back her golden curls and threw it on the ground.

Cam’s hand returned to the back of her head. He stared into Annie’s eyes and before she realized what he was doing, Cam had taken her mouth with his. Full, hard, and holding nothing back. Annie took on the assault and matched him. Their tongues mated together furiously, not being able to get enough of the other. Cam placed his hands under her ass and lifted her up. Annie wrapped her legs tightly around his waist as he moved back inside the hotel suite and in the direction of the bedroom.

Cam lay her in the middle of the massive king size bed. He kicked off his flip-flops, reached behind, and pulled his T-shirt over his head, throwing it on the floor. Her mouth went dry when she saw the beautifully tanned and sculpted body in front of her. Annie scooted back toward the head of the bed but Cam grabbed her ankles and pulled her back. He leaned over her, placing a hand either side of her shoulders. Cam lowered his lips slowly to her ear and whispered, “Get ready to have your world rocked, Nashville. I’m going to love your body from top to toe and everything in between.” Annie could feel her heart rate increasing. “You’ll be screaming my name so loud, baby; they will hear you across the harbor.”

Annie closed her eyes as Cam started nibbling at her ear. Her body felt like fireworks were shooting in every direction through it, but all exploding in her panties. She hardly knew him but he was making her feel so alive, so turned on. No man had ever made her feel like this before and she loved every minute of it.

Cam kissed his way down her neck to her cleavage. He stood and pulled Annie’s tank top up and over her head. Annie started to unbutton her denim shorts when his hand stopped hers. Their eyes didn’t sway from each other’s. She moved her hands away and let Cam unbutton them and slowly drag them down and off her toned legs. He gently lifted a foot to his mouth and sucked on her big toe. Annie moaned and wriggled at the sensation that shot all the way up to her core. Cam kissed his way up her leg. Her skin tasted like the sea they had swam in. He stopped at the top of her thigh when he realized Annie was still wearing the tiny purple string bikini.