I wake up slowly. I’m wrapped in someone’s arms, my head resting on someone’s shoulder.

Cameron’s arms. Cameron’s shoulder.

In his sleep, he looks relaxed, peaceful. Memories from last night slowly come creeping back. His father had glared at me all the way through dinner. His grandfather had barely spoken. Noah had been obviously bitter and angry about something.

Emily had done her best to ignore the stress in the room and carry on a conversation with me, but it hadn’t been enough. Halfway through dinner, dots of light started appearing in my vision, and I knew that a migraine was inevitable.

Cameron had taken such good care of me. His fingers had massaged my scalp until the blinding pain had receded. He’d poured me some tea and run me a bath, and when I got out of the steaming water, he’d toweled me dry.

Admit it, Maddie. You have feelings for this guy.

At the risk of sounding like a cliché, it’s always been Cam for me. There’s a reason I found it hard to date in Calgary, a reason I gave Jenna the business card of one of the richest men in Western Canada without a second thought.

You told him the only reason you’re here is for the money.

I bite my lip and stifle my sigh. It shouldn’t matter what Cameron thinks about me, but it does. I don’t want him to think that I’m interested in him for his money. His wealth has never mattered. Had it not been for my desperate need to make sure that Misti’s future is brighter than mine, I wouldn’t have accepted his offer.

Then tell him the truth, my conscience urges. Tell him why you wanted the cash. He deserves to know.

Cameron stirs, and a different memory jolts me awake. I didn’t want my pajamas last night. I’m naked, pressed against Cameron’s body. And he’s wearing a pair of boxers and nothing else.

Well, hello, morning wood.

My throat is dry. I’m having a hard time remembering the many good reasons I should resist Cameron’s sexual magnetism. I should disentangle myself, get up, get dressed, put some distance between us…

I stay exactly where I am, luxuriating in the blatantly masculine allure of his body. My eyes wander, feasting on his hard chest, on the six pack abs, on the tempting bulge that’s tenting his boxers.

“See anything you like?”

My eyes fly to his face. There’s a glimmer of amusement in his eyes, and a hunger that he doesn’t try to conceal.

It takes less than a second to make my decision. “Maybe,” I reply, my tone coy. “If you take off your boxers, I’ll be able to decide.”

He pushes me on my back and moves over me, a knee between my thighs, his weight resting on his hands on either side of me. His blue eyes bore into mine. “If I take off my boxers, I’m going to fuck you.”

I feel a rush of wetness in my pussy from his firm tone. “What are you waiting for?” I ask, my voice almost trembling with need. I reach for the waistband of his shorts, intent on getting rid of the offending garment.

He stops me with a shake of his head. “I don’t think so, Mads. I’ve waited for you too long to rush this. Put your hands behind your head.”

“Cam,” I pout. Knowing Cameron, he’ll keep me at the edge of orgasm for hours, reducing me to a trembling, quivering mess before he gives me what I want.

“Maddie.” He smirks at me, knowing I’m going to obey. “Would you prefer to be tied up?”

Yes. Yes, please.

I move my hands behind my head. “So bossy,” I complain.

“And you love it, baby.”

He kisses me, deep and long, one hand cupping my breast. His thumb grazes my nipple and I moan into his mouth. “Harder,” I beg. It takes all the control I possess to keep from reaching up and pulling him closer to me, to refrain from running my fingers through his dark hair.

“So bossy,” he rumbles, echoing my words. “You need to learn patience, Maddie.”

His thumb swipes over my nipple again, then he rubs it between his thumb and forefinger. Heated pleasure spirals through me. “Fuck patience,” I say through clenched teeth. “Do that again.”

He chuckles and repeats the motion and I whimper, writhing under his body. “Cam,” I beg.

“Yes, Maddie?” His teeth flash in a grin, then he pushes my breasts together, and nips them, each bite sending a sharp pinch of lust through me.

My pussy drips with every bite and I squirm restlessly, spreading my legs open, hoping he’ll get the hint. “Cameron,” I say warningly. “Stop teasing me. I want you now.”  

“Tsk, tsk.” He chuckles as he takes in my frustrated expression. “I thought you liked foreplay, Maddie.” He rains kisses over my body as he speaks, my neck, my throat, my erect nipples. With each kiss, his stubble scratches my skin, generating more heat, until I’m half-crazed with lust and desperate for more.

“There’s a time for foreplay,” I complain plaintively. “This isn’t it.”

He slides down my body, sending delicious friction sparkling through every nerve ending. “Spread your legs for me, Maddie,” he orders. His hands hold my thighs open and his tongue trails a slow path down my pussy. My breath catches. “Ah,” he groans, his fingers gripping my flesh, “the way you taste…”

I flush scarlet, but the embarrassment is quickly overtaken by heat. Cameron feasts on me as if he were a starving man at an all-you-can-eat buffet, his tongue circling my clitoris, his fingers pumping in and out of my pussy. I grip the pillowcase under my head and whimper for more.

Okay, I change my mind about foreplay. He can do this all day.

“You like this, don’t you, Maddie?” His words come out muffled. His thumb presses down on my bundle of nerves, and his tongue probes at my entrance, and I explode. My orgasm thunders through me, intense, overwhelming. I cling on to Cameron, my hands fisting in his hair, and I drown in wave after wave of heat and desire and pleasure.

He climbs off the bed and undresses, and his erection springs free. My mouth goes dry. I’ve forgotten how large Cameron is. I watch him with hungry eyes as he takes a condom out of his wallet and rolls it on. “Come here,” I whisper. “I want to touch you.”

His eyebrows rise. “Did you move your hands, baby?” His voice is silky.

I grin at him, wide, filled with pure happiness. “I did. Are you going to spank me for being bad?”

He laughs and lowers himself between my legs. “Later,” he says. His head nudges inside and I stop breathing, my entire body going still as I wait for his length to slide inside me. “Right now,” he murmurs, “I’m far too busy enjoying the way you feel.”

He thrusts his hips forward and enters me all the way. I groan as his thick shaft fills me completely. “Cameron,” I whisper, wrapping my hands around his neck and kissing him. “Please…”

“Please do this?” His voice is strained, his customary amusement absent, replaced by intensity. He withdraws from me, before slamming back into my pussy.

“Yes,” I sob as every nerve ending in my body comes alive. “Yes, please. More…”

He cups my breast and bends his head, licking and sucking at my nipple. I arch toward him, willing him to move faster.

He just grins down at me. “You’re in such a hurry, baby. What’s the rush?”

“Cameron,” I hiss out, clenching the muscles in my pussy around his cock. From his sharp intake of breath, I know he can feel me. Time to up the ante. I move my right hand toward my pussy. “Are you going to fuck me or do I have to pleasure myself?”

Heat blazes in his eyes. “You like to live on the edge, don’t you, baby?” Cam says, his tone smooth, sexy and oh-so-controlled. His palm comes into sharp contact against my ass. “Moving your hands without permission, sassing me, ordering me around.” His hand moves my wrists back into position as he flexes in me. “If you want to come again,” he says, “I suggest you start doing as you’re told.”

I have no desire to be controlled outside the bedroom. But here? When Cameron talks to me in that tone, telling me that I’ll obey or else, my pussy gushes in response, my nipples pebble and I want him more than ever.

Plus, I like it when he spanks me. I like it a lot.

And a perverse part of me wonders if he’ll spank me harder if I sass him more. “Shut up and fuck me,” I tell him, tightening my pussy once again.

He pushes my legs in the air. “Hold yourself open,” he orders, and I obediently lace my hands around my thighs, my knees doubling back over my shoulders. “You want to be fucked deep, baby? Well, you’re going to get fucked deep. Hang on.”

I hang on. He slams into me, hard, fast, and I feel him deep in my gut. He’s buried so deep. His balls slap against my ass as he thrusts, over and over again, his breathing harsh and uneven.

With each stroke, my insides tighten. Desire threatens to overflow as he pistons in and out, his palm spanking my exposed ass as he fucks me. “Such a bad girl,” he pants out. “Is this what you want, Maddie? You want to be taken hard? You want to be spanked until you come?”

“Yes,” I shout out, forgetting completely that someone is in the bedroom next to us. “Yes, please. Cam.” I can’t hold it back anymore. I want to prolong this orgasm, but I can’t. It’s too much. I’m coming apart with pleasure, my core suffused with red hot heat. “I’m coming,” I gasp out, my voice shaking, my entire body trembling.

His hands grip my thighs. “Fuck,” he says through clenched teeth. His forehead is furrowed. Lines of need are etched into his face. He redoubles the intensity of his thrusts, faster, harder, until he comes with a loud groan.

He slumps on top of me, sated. I wrap my arms around his waist and hold him.

Whatever happens between us, I never want to forget this moment. In this moment, there is nothing other than truth between us. We can’t lie about our need. We can’t pretend we don’t want each other.

“I probably should have asked you how your headache was before I jumped you.”

I stretch languidly, long-unused muscles protesting in response. “I think I jumped you, not the other way around.”

He pulls me into his arms with a smile. “Okay,” he says agreeably. “If you jumped me, you’ll have to let me even the score.”

More sex with Cameron? I know our relationship is fake, and I know that things are going to end after a month. Yet, I’m on board. Call me crazy, but either way, I’m going to get my heart broken. This way, at least I’ll have a month of amazing sex first. “Sounds good,” I reply, burrowing myself against him.

My conscience chooses this moment to intervene with an inconvenient reminder. You promised yourself you’d tell him the truth about the money.

“Cameron? There’s something I want to tell you.”

His lips press a soft kiss against my hair. “You want the bathroom first?” he asks, his voice teasing.

If only it were that simple. “No, that’s not it. I need to tell you about the money.”

He stiffens at my side. “What money?” he asks, his voice wary.

I take a deep breath and the words tumble out. Telling the truth is good for the soul, right? It better be. “The reason I agreed to our deal was because Misti lost her college scholarship.”

He turns on his side and props himself up by his elbow. “What are you talking about, Maddie?”

“You offered me five hundred thousand dollars to pretend to be engaged to you.” Cameron’s not usually obtuse. “I wouldn’t have done it if Misti hadn’t needed the money for college.” I give him an appealing look, hoping he’ll understand. “I want her to graduate from university, Cam. I want her to have better options than I did.”

His gaze softens. “You take good care of her,” he says. “Who takes care of you?”

You do, I want to reply, thinking of the way he looked after me last night. But I can’t rely on Cameron. Our time together is temporary. “I’m a grown-up,” I tell him stoutly. “I can take care of myself.”

But as I lie in his arms, I’m not sure if I can. It feels a little too good to be held by him. Sleeping with Cameron is dangerous for my heart.