Scornfully Hers (4 page)

“Come on, now! You fucked that up on your own by sleeping with Brody.” Cece looked shocked. “Yeah, I’m not blind. I’ve always known she’s in love with him. Since Brody hasn’t done anything out of line, I haven’t said anything. But you—what you did was messed up. No one’s at fault here, but you. You knew my sister and yet you decided to stab her where it hurts.”

“I wanted you to see what you’ve been missing out!”

“Trust me, Cece. I’m looking at you, hell—I’ve been looking at you for years, and let me tell you, I sure as hell am not missing out.”

“Emma’s not going to last, you know that, right? She’s too boring with her sweet smiles. You’ve got your fetishes, Carter, and she sure as fuck won’t give you that. I’ll be counting down the days.”

What the fuck? I snorted at her attempt to cause doubts in my head. Tipping the barman after he handed me my drinks, I went outside and joined the gang who were all seated on the outdoor seats. After placing the drinks on the table, I moved towards Emma, who looked deep in thought. “Want to go for a walk?”

She gave me a tight smile before getting up and taking my held out hand. We were walking in complete silence; all the while I was trying to figure out what had gone wrong. When we were out of prying eyes, I stopped walking. “Baby, come here.” I pulled her against my body, cupping her face before I kissed her passionately. My body responded to her on a sexual level that I hadn’t experienced before. All it took was just a kiss and I was up and ready.

When she pulled away, she immediately sought my eyes, questioning. “I saw you with Cece. You two looked cozy, so I didn’t interrupt.”

Ah, took her long enough to tell me. “We were talking about the past, that’s all. There’s nothing for you to worry about.” I kissed her nose before I gave her lips a few lingering ones.

Frowning, she gave me a sharp look. “You’ve slept with her before, right?”

Shit. “Yeah, I have, here and there. It was just physical, nothing more.”

Emma kept staring at me, blinking a couple times before looking away. “I know—I hear stories about you.”

Double shit. “Fuck, Em. What do you want me to do? I can’t undo my past and I sure as hell won’t apologize for it.”

“I don’t want you to. It’s just annoying that I have to hear about your sex life and what kind of crap you’re into. I’m just…” she paused and looked down before she bit her bottom lip. “I’m just sick of hearing about it. It’s exhausting.”

She had grounds to be bothered, but there was nothing I could do about it. Emma looked so serious that I only wanted to see her smile, but of course, I tried to do it differently. “You sound jealous
—”

“No!” she immediately denied, blushing.

“You look cute when you lie, my Emma.”

“Keep dreaming, Mason.”

“No need… I’m seeing you crystal clear and I’m saying it again, you’re lying.” I sat on the sand, grabbing hold of her hand before gently pulling her in between my legs.

Emma made a small, cute yawn before seeking my shoulder. “I’m sleepy,” she mumbled before giving another stifled yawn.

She definitely liked me, more than just sex, I was almost sure of it. I was grinning madly before I kissed her forehead. “Let me take you to bed, baby.”

Talk To Me

Things were great
; no, hell, maybe more than great for the first two months. I noticed the shift in Emma one night after having sex. She hadn’t said anything, but I knew something was going on.

“Baby, is everything okay?” I asked, coming up behind her, spooning her soft body against mine.

She murmured that she was okay, but her body was stiff against mine. “Em? You can tell me if something’s bothering you.”

I heard her sigh but she didn’t say anything.

Shit. That’s not a good sign right there.

“Goodnight,” she murmured.

“Emma, speak up before I go crazy here. You’re acting funny and I want to know what the fuck’s going on.” Okay, I sounded like a total dick, but I was getting frustrated. I didn’t do this whole thing well, but I wanted to know. I didn’t like seeing her sad. It affected me. Though, she might not know it.

“Fine. I just didn’t realize how many women throw
themselves at you. Cece, Amanda and her sidekicks are on the top of the list.”

She was getting jealous again. The way she said their names made me smile. Kissing the side of her jaw, I said, “You’re the one in my bed, Em. Not them.”

She snorted, pissy. “Well, Cece’s definitely been on yours. Probably on this bed, too, enjoying herself a great deal.”

Grinning wider at her cute ranting, I started to kiss her neck while my hand snaked inside her sleep shirt, cupping her breast, loving the supple heaviness in my hand. I slowly worked on her before rolling myself on top of her body. My cock twitched when it slid down her wet lips while my hands were attached to her breasts, my head lowering to meet her moist clit.

“Baby!” she groaned when I started to eat her with gusto. Moaning as I tasted her, I was enjoying the profound pleasure it was giving her. When she was about to come, I left her pussy and bit on her nipple. “Kiss me, Carter.” Those big blue eyes pleaded before I lowered my lips to devour hers.

“This is how much I want you, baby,” I grunted out before I slipped into her slick opening. “You always make me so fucking hard.”

Emotional talks were not a strong suit for me. I was better off with pleasuring and showing Emma that she was the only woman I wanted.

I sure as hell did show her, in and out of sleep, throughout the night.

Don’t Shut Me Out

Two weeks later, we were back to this odd place again.

“Em? Did I do something wrong?”

She pulled back, considering me. “Not that I know of. Why, do you have something to confess?”

Did I?
I thought for a minute, shaking my head in the process. “No.”

For the first time since we started dating, Emma announced she was going home to sleep in her bed. That was when the red flags erected in the back of my head.

There was no doubt anymore, something was going on. Was it Lewis? It had to be. No guy in school would dare take my woman away.

~
CM
~

As the weeks progressed, I was starting to get frustrated with Emma, but she wasn’t saying anything. I was pissed off when I realized I was feeling fear for the first time. Yeah, fear; it was there, sitting in my mind.

After that first night of her announcing that she was sleeping in her bed, she was pulling slowly away. I tried to calm her, make her smile, tell her not to worry about other women, but none of it worked. I hadn’t seen her for a day, but I was already freaked because I didn’t know what the fuck was wrong. Maybe I’d been too busy with soccer and she felt neglected? I didn’t know, fuck.

Not seeing her for a day was turning me into a clingy man, but I didn’t care anymore. I needed to see her, but when I dropped unannounced to her dorm, she wasn’t there. When I called her phone, she wasn’t picking up. Even my sister didn’t know what was going on, so I acted like we just had a small misunderstanding.

Going back to my house, I decided to wait until Emma came to me.

Tough luck.

I See Through Your Lies

Why the hell was she avoiding me? Had I done something wrong? So far, I couldn’t think of one thing. What the hell? Emma was pissing me the fuck off!

Okay, I knew I had to calm down. Maybe she truly was busy and I was over-reacting. So I comforted myself with that thought as I dialed her number.

Finally, Emma answered. “Hey.”

“Hey. I just saw Lindsey and she said you two had lunch. Why wasn’t I invited? I would have loved to dine with my two favorite girls,” I drawled, trying to sound easy.

“Yeah, she wanted to have some girl time. What’s up, Carter?”

What’s up?
A lot of things in fact. “Just wondering what you’re up to ‘cause I’m free for the rest of the afternoon. Feel like
coming over
to chill a bit?” I asked, knowing I wanted answers from her. No more hiding. I couldn’t go on another day feeling like something was the matter, but she was being stubborn and kept on avoiding me.

“Um, I don’t know about that, Carter,” she whispered.

Not again! I shut my eyes, trying to calm myself, but it was of no use. I grunted, frustrated at whatever was going on with her, with us. I missed her, couldn’t she tell? “I haven’t seen you in two days, Em. TWO DAYS! This is the longest I haven’t seen you.” I sounded like a petulant kid, pouting and stomping because I couldn’t get my way, but shit—it’s what I felt at the moment.

“I’ve been… busy,” she murmured, a little hesitant to emphasize what she’d been busy with.

Who was she kidding? She was outright lying to me. She was keeping something important from me, but she wasn’t going to tell me what. Was it Lewis? Would she give us up to be with Lewis? But… we were good together. I’ve never been so happy with a woman before. She couldn’t leave me… or could she? Shit. Emma. Shit.

“
Busy?
You’ve been busy? Get real, Em. We both know you haven’t been busy. Why don’t you come over? Maybe it’s high time we talk.”

She was silent on the other end
; possibly figuring out what I was thinking or what she was going to say to me. “I’ll see you in an hour.”

“In
an
hour and not a second longer, got it? If you keep hiding away from me, I will scour the entire campus to look for you,” I gritted out, my anger was heavily laced on each of the words I just spoke out.

“Got it,” she responded quickly and ended the call.

I sat back on the foot of the bed, head in between my legs, trying to breathe some sense into me. What if she left me? What would I do then? A part of me was saying to fight for her because we were awesome together, but the other was pushing me to end it. If Emma decided to bounce and call it quits, then I should do the same. After all, we were just having fun, right?

But in all honesty, I had never been more confused in my life. Suddenly, I was dreading the moment she walked through the door.

My gut was telling me that nothing good would come of her visit.

Meet The Old Me

My dark hair had droplets of water in it while I waited for her. After I’d showered, I hadn’t cared to towel my hair dry. I was that anxious to get this show started.

I was on the stair landing, impatiently waiting, when I heard a car door slam shut followed by the sound of her car alarm being turned on. I instantly got to my feet and started pacing.

Emma pushed the front door open, glancing around with a small frown on her pretty face.

“Good of you to finally show up!” I announced from atop of the landing, only wearing a pair of cargo shorts, showing off my physique, knowing that Emma loved my body. It was childish, but I intend to use every weapon I had until her game of hide and seek was over.

By the hungry heated notice she was giving my body, I knew it had worked to my advantage.

“I’m five minutes early. What more do you want?” Emma whispered, voice a little shaky as her eyes zeroed in on my abs.

Taking my time, I let her ogle me some more before I descended the stairs with no care to hurry the hell up. I continued my lazy saunter until I was right before her, standing a foot away as I studied her quietly. “What more do I
want
, Emma?” I reiterated succinctly. “I want you to be honest.”

She blinked back, looking like I had offended her.

What came next was something I wasn’t  prepared for.

“I don’t think I can do this with you anymore,” Emma managed to whisper before she found my penetrating gaze, hard and never leaving hers.

Was Emma toying with me? We were perfectly fine. So fine in fact, I was confident that I was beginning to think that she might be the woman who could cure me from my short-term commitment problem. “
Why
? What’s changed? You were fine the last time we were together. If I recall correctly, you were
more
than fine. You were insatiable and didn’t want me to leave your side–you even followed me into the shower. What was it that you said?
Oh right
, ‘because you missed me.’ So, you go from that type of adoration to ‘I don’t think I can do this anymore so quickly? Tell me,
what’s changed?
” I gritted out, trying my damnedest not to yell.

Her brows furrowed when she noticed the edge in my voice. With a shaky breath, she croaked out, “It’s just not working out, Carter.”

I shot her a look that said, I didn’t believe the crap that came out of her mouth. Emma was breaking up with me? To be with her ex?

I moved a little closer, my anger very much obvious. “That’s not really telling me much, Em. Do you just expect me to let you go—” I snapped my fingers right before her face “—just like that?”

“Sort of,” she uttered.

Not in the slightest convinced, I moved closer. Satisfaction came when I felt her body shaking.
You’re not going anywhere, Emma
, I thought possessively. Not until we’ve finished this—whatever this was between us.