Page 4 of Pomegranate Kiss (Charmed in Charleston #2)
Chapter Four
C am got up at long last to put away her mother’s recipe of patla khichuri she cooked tonight, needing some dose of childhood and comfort after the day she had. The scent of turmeric and garam masala infused the air in her kitchen. On top of getting a burn on the side of her hand, she’d gotten reprimanded by Natalie Horntree for serving steak when the lady wanted chicken today. Save her from idiots. Besides, she’d been losing stitches with every passing day she worked this job, until she was ready to unravel.
Not to mention, Lex had delivered radio silence ever since their weird hang-out, which was the closest she’d come in a long time to enjoying a date—even if it hadn’t been one.
What drove her crazy was the curiosity, the breath of space between them, and the indefinable tension that settled into the air like a thunderstorm any time Lex entered the room.
The Tupperware clicked shut, the noise echoing in her empty apartment. As of late, the loneliness of this place threatened to devour her for Sunday dinner. More and more, she yearned for a future, a house, a family. She wanted to return home after a long day to fall into someone’s arms, to cook for someone other than herself, and for her house to be filled with sounds, not silence. Instead, she had Firefly to rewatch for the five thousandth time, enough food to feed one person for a month, and her lavender couch to lose herself in.
“I need to get a pet,” she mumbled.
Cam approached her couch, ready to collapse and zone the hell out.
Her phone buzzed. Lex, at last.
You up?
Cam began to text back when her doorbell rang.
No, it couldn’t be. She sucked in a breath to quash the surge of hope as she wound her way to the front door. It had to be Linda, the renter of the other side of this house, asking if she could catsit for Puffers again. At eleven at night, because that made sense. Her pulse sped as she approached the door, her body refusing to take cool-down cues from her mind. She ran her fingers through her hair, realizing she wore running shorts, an old T-shirt, and no makeup.
Still, her hand reached for the knob before she could stop herself.
Alexis Dukas stood on her doorstep looking like a fallen angel with her short black windswept hair and her thick eyeliner making her hazel eyes pop. Her shoulders heaved, her cheeks were flushed, and the formfitting black tank top and army cargoes she wore highlighted her muscular, lithe body. Cam swallowed hard and took two steps back even though her hand remained on her doorknob.
Lex was gorgeous, impulsive, and absolutely insane.
“What?” was all that came from Cam. The confusion stretched out in the silence between them.
“Sorry, just got off my bike from one hell of a fun drive,” Lex said, flashing a smile that showed teeth.
“How did you know where I lived?” Cam asked, an actual question emerging from her lips. The realization smacked her in the face.
“Danny,” Lex responded, taking a step into her house. Just like that, Lex brought the storm with her, the ozone sparking the air, making it harder to take a full breath. “I was at the club with her, Adrian, and Mitch, but I needed to do something.”
Cam’s brows drew together. This woman descended like a whirlwind, and yet every time she caught the scent of cloves and campfire, of the leather from her jacket and the sweat that slicked her skin, she couldn’t help but surrender to the breeze.
“By something, do you mean show up on my doorstep at an unreasonable hour?” Cam pursed her lips and crossed her arms.
“Yeah, that.” Lex licked her lips and took another step so she was inside Cam’s apartment. Lex clicked the door shut behind her, the sound echoing a thousandfold in the space between them. Cam couldn’t look away from those lips, a little chapped but supple. Lex’s gaze didn’t just skim over her, it devoured. Cam tugged on the ends of her hair and glanced to the ground.
“I feel like I need to get changed or something,” she muttered, the heat rising to her cheeks. When she left her house, she donned her pressed clothes and makeup like a weapon against the world. “Fuck, I smell like a spice rack too.”
“You smell fucking delicious,” Lex growled, taking another step to close the distance between them. “And you look so gorgeous right now I’m soaked. Stop worrying.”
Cam sucked in a sharp breath. The raw, sexual words in the air, the way Lex’s gaze coursed over her like molten steel—her entire body grew taut in anticipation. Even though a shade of vulnerability emerged that she hadn’t been prepared to offer, desire melted away any lingering doubts or fears. She’d be lying if she said she wasn’t turned on as hell right now. Every single thing this woman did made her burn hotter, as if they’d tuned to the same station without realizing it.
Lex’s hand settled on her waist, the heat of her palm making her flush with awareness. Cam drank her in, the angular chin, the same olive skin as the rest of her family, and those arrogant Greek features that made her more gorgeous than a Degas. The dim lighting spilling in from the other room highlighted the metal of her septum ring and the piercings along her brows. However, her gaze paused on Lex’s lips, desperate to taste.
“I came here to kiss you,” Lex’s voice grew low, husky with the same longing that coursed through her. Cam swallowed, hard. She managed a nod, because the words wouldn’t leave her lips with how badly she wanted.
Lex slid her hand along the nape of Cam’s neck, until her fingertips curled into her tousled strands. Before Cam could register the shock of pleasure from the gentle tug, Lex’s mouth descended on hers.
The kiss was softer than she expected, a brush of the lips with a surprising tentativeness from the brimstone woman who approached everything with the command of a tempest. This was the first stroke of watercolor across paper, and all too fast the colors deepened. Lex kissed with a slow seduction that simmered, so different from the first time they’d clashed together. Lex’s lips coaxed desperate breaths from her, and as she slipped her tongue into her mouth, a moan escaped.
Lex bit down on her lower lip, the sting keeping her in the present. Cam felt everything, from the scrape of her nipples against the rough fabric of her shirt to Lex’s hands on her hips, drawing their bodies flush together. This was what had her nerves taut like fresh canvas all week, the need for this connection, this secret addiction.
Cam ran her palms along Lex’s curves, slimmer than her own but toned with muscle. Everything about her was sexy as sin, and when she wasn’t busy lying to herself, she’d fantasized about what tattoos hid beneath Lex’s clothes. She tasted sweet and dark, and Cam twined her arms around Lex’s neck, sinking into each kiss. Lex teased with playful nips followed by deeper kisses, the stroke of her tongue sending a thrill up Cam’s spine.
Lex tapped the side of Cam’s neck, and she pulled away. “I only came for a kiss tonight,” she murmured. “I’m planning on drawing this out until you can’t deny your attraction to me anymore.”
Their lips were a breath apart, and Cam bit back a growl of frustration. She’d be spending a lot of time with her vibrator in the near future. She smoothed her hair, trying to regain some composure after the kiss spun her head like too many glasses of wine.
Lex didn’t make a motion to storm out the way she’d stormed in, and Cam’s brows drew together. Instead, the woman slung an arm around her shoulders, that damned grin sparking her eyes.
“So, what are you watching? Anything good?” Lex asked before she took several steps past her to enter the living room. In seconds, the woman plopped onto her couch in front of the TV and looked expectantly at her. Cam had never felt more like she’d been spat out by a hurricane.
“What are you, a puppy?” Cam asked, shaking her head. A grin lifted her lips—she couldn’t help it. Somehow, the night didn’t seem so aching any longer, and Lex’s loud, vibrant presence filled in all the cracks and spaces.
“A little, yeah,” she responded with a goofy grin that Cam had never seen on the woman’s face before, something a little softer around the edges. Cam sank into the couch beside her, their legs touching but nothing more as she reached for the remote.
“Hope you like Firefly , because that’s a dealbreaker for me,” Cam mentioned as she turned on the episode.
“Big damn heroes,” Lex shot back as she kicked off her boots, making herself at home like she’d been here for years and not minutes. “Let’s watch some Browncoats.”
Cam settled back in her couch, feeling the buzz of Lex’s nearness. Awareness sparked across her skin even as they watched the show together. One kiss should’ve stamped out the flames threatening to devour her, but instead, she blazed hotter. Whatever this weird arrangement of theirs was, she’d bask in these feelings while they lasted. Because when the morning came, the feelings of shame would descend again, the slurs her father used, the way her mother’s lips pinched tight at the sight of same sex couples in public.
No, this wasn’t any sort of dream to latch onto.