Cameron

The minute Maddie's hand drifts to the edge of the t-shirt around her body, I'm unable to take my eyes off of her. I'm so turned on that I can hardly breathe when she tugs that t-shirt over her head and tosses it to the side, her breasts bouncing free. Those pretty pink nipples are teasing the hell out of me, especially when she sets the phone down on the mattress, gets on all fours, and hovers them right into my line of view. "I bet you wish you were here right now, don't you?" She asks, giggling softly at the expression on my face. My jaw is clenched as I continue to stroke my cock.

"I would do anything to be beneath you right now," I say.

"Such as...?" She props the phone against a pillow and sits back on her knees, playing with her beautiful, luscious tits. I could watch her for the rest of my life and never get tired of it.

"Well, for starters, I'd suck on those pretty nipples of yours until you'd be writhing with pleasure. I'd make you so wet that you'd be begging me to fuck you, Mads."

She slips her hand into the band of her leggings, keeping one hand on her breast and using her free one to touch herself. I focus on her fingers' tiny circular motions, the scrap of fabric separating me from what I want to see driving me to the brink of utter insanity. "Fuck yeah, baby," I tell her sternly, growing harder by the second. Maddie is nothing but pure temptation, and she knows it. She's fully aware of the effect she has on me.

"I bet you want to see more, don't you?" She asks. I watch intently as she pulls her leggings and panties down to sit around her knees. She's glistening even through the camera, her evident arousal making me tug my cock harder. I remember when we were younger, how she was so shy and timid at first to experience new things, and now she's... God, she's a goddess. An actual goddess.

Is now really the right time to be doing this when her brother and best friend are in the next room over? Probably not, but Maddie's needs are ingrained in me at this point. Despite what she told me, her reaction to this news of Nina didn't make me feel any better about the situation. She's nervous, and I need her to understand that no one. Not Nina, not Katie, not anyone will replace her. She's the only one for me.

"Fuck, you're beautiful." And she truly is. Her blonde curly hair is piled up in a bun on top of her head, a few curls raining down around her perfectly round face. Her lips are wet, eyes lidded with pleasure, and if I could jump through a phone screen? I damn well would. "Finger that tight pussy, baby. Let me hear how wet that shit is."

The little whimper that escapes her mouth is torture, but she does as she's told, letting me hear how ready she is. My dick is painfully hard as I stroke it, hating that I can't be buried deep inside her.

"Cam," she pleads, squeezing her breast. Her head falls to the side, her mouth drops open, and her fingers pick up their speed. I'm entranced at watching the way she slides against her hand, bringing herself pleasure as her eyes stay locked on the camera. Locked on me as my hips tilt off the bed, rocking against my enclosed fist.

With a huff of defiance, Maddie lies down on her back, spreading her legs nice and wide for me. With the camera still propped up on the pillow, she gives me the perfect view of what I'm craving. The one thing I'd kill to drown myself in right about now.

A strangled groan escapes my throat when she uses two fingers to spread her lips open, revealing the gate to fucking heaven itself. "That's right," I encourage as she rubs her clit again. "Come for me."

Her back arches as her hips move frantically against those fingers. She's close, and before I finish, I always get her there first. It's my one rule.

"Imagine I was there, Mads. Imagine I'm right between your thighs, sticking my tongue right into your wet cunt."

She cries out, and at the sound, I grit my teeth, the veins popping out in my neck from the effort it's taking to hold myself back. "Don't you dare make a fucking sound," I warn. "You want your brother to walk in on this? Grab a pillow."

When she grabs one to the left of her and shoves it over her face to muffle her cries of pleasure, she rides her fingers again, hips bucking up to the damn ceiling. There's a tingling at the base of my spine, the tightening of my balls, but I withhold my release with every ounce of self-restraint I have left.

"Now you can fucking come," I tell her. "Ride those pretty little fingers for me and imagine they're my tongue. Fucking scream for me."

With a final jolt, I'd recognize her cry of release anywhere. A racking shudder takes over her body, and finally, the tether of my self-control snaps. I come hard and loud, grunting as the spurting ropes of my release stain my stomach and the comforter around me. Maddie is panting and breathing heavily as she tosses the pillow to the side with her free hand, sliding her fingers out with the other which are actually dripping wet.

Fucking hell.

"If I were there right now, I'd lick off your entire stomach," she says with a heated glare.

My cock twitches at the thought, still not getting the hint that it's time to settle down. "I have no doubts," I reply. "Thank you for that. I needed it."

I blink up at the ceiling, letting the emotions of the past week seep their way past the evaporating cloud of lust. Maddie slips the large t-shirt back over her head, propping her head up on a fist as she looks at me in that deciphering way of hers. "What are you thinking about?"

"Honestly? I haven't been able to shake the feeling of what a shitty brother-in-law and best friend I am."

"You're not a shitty best friend, Cam. You have a job that requires you to be there. That's not your fault."

"Still doesn't make me feel any better. Ethan was there for Izzy the second she was born. I know he's your brother, but he didn't have to step up and be the father figure I wasn't for the first year of her life."

"You didn't know she existed, Cameron. Stop beating yourself up about it."

"But I could have tried harder. I could have..." I sigh, resting an arm behind my head. "I think about it all the time. The minute you blocked my number, I should have flown out the first chance I got to beg for you on your doorstep. I should have fought for you, but I didn't want to overstep. I wanted to respect your decision because, at the end of the day, I chose to let Katie hold blackmail over us. I had just proposed to you only a few weeks earlier, and I destroyed it all by making one stupid decision—one that is still haunting us. And lately, I've been beating myself up about that choice because what was the point? The decision that I thought would help you is only coming back to bite us in the ass again. I lost time with my daughter for nothing. If only I had just—"

"Cam." She says my name softly, interrupting my thoughts in a way that has my heart slowing down to a normal pace. "I understand that you wish things could have been different. Trust me, I wish I had known the truth sooner, too, but we can't change the past, you know? Regardless of how we got here, all that matters is that we're here. Together. We can't keep reminiscing about the past on what could have or should have been. A lot of romance novels portray relationships to be perfect. The main characters have minor flaws, and the obstacles for them to get through in order to achieve happiness are uncomplicated and something easy to overcome.

"But we aren't robots," she continues. "The truth of reality is that people fuck up. Sometimes those mistakes are big, and sometimes those choices affect those we love. Some mistakes are hard to come back from, but our relationship has always been strong enough to overcome them. Time and time again, our love has proven to be able to weather the most ferocious of storms. At the end of the day, that is what love is. It's tested, but we've always persevered."

My eyes are burning as I attempt to hold my tears at bay. Never in my life did I think I'd ever be able to be the man Maddie deserved. Hell, I still don't feel that way at times, but every day, I try my best. It's moments like these I'm reminded why I try so hard. Maddie is worthy of everything good this world has to offer, and I can only hope I display a fraction of it.

"And the thing with Ethan? He understands your job. You know as well as I do that the first chance you can get away, you'll be here to meet Elias. Ethan knows that, too."

"How did I get so lucky?" I ask, letting a smile replace the tears of mine at bay.

"I thought we've been over this already. We're both lucky, remember? Pretty sure we settled on a tie."

We did settle on a tie, but it was only to appease her. The truth of the matter is that she has always been too good for me. In high school, when she thought I was out of her league? Boy, was she way off. I was out of hers by a long shot.

"You're right," I say, even though she's wrong. "It's a tie."