Page 71 of Effortless

Camilla’s tires spun on the wet pavement when she pulled out of the parking lot. Familiar city streets passed her by as she made the thirty minute drive to her apartment. Inside her place, she turned on some music to bleed the lecture and group work she had participated in out of her damn head. She took a quick shower, pulled on dark-wash skinny jeans and a silk blouse, and fixed her makeup.

By the time she had pulled on the knee-high suede boots, she heard the faint hum of a ringtone filtering through the rock song blaring in her apartment. She darted out of the walk-in closet to find her phone had gotten buried beneath her bag and coat.

“Shit,” Camilla said as she saw the name on the screen.

The missed call taunted her, and teased her. All at the same time. Her month had been crazy busy. She hadn’t been able to talk to Tommaso a lot after their Skype call because of it. Once or twice, but it was always short and to the point. It kind of felt like he had been busy doing whatever he did in Chicago, too.

He never complained, though.

He never asked for more from Camilla.

She could see he had called twice while she was in the shower, and then the third time that she had heard, but missed.

Tommaso’s number instantly lit up the phone again, and she picked it up before the first ring even finished. “Hello?”

“Hey, babe.”

Her grin grew wide damn near instantly. “Hey, you.”

“You busy right now?” he asked.

“Not right now. I’ve got a few minutes to chat.”

“I’m not actually interested in talking at the moment, Cam.”

“Why would you call, then?”

What the hell else did people do on the phone?

Tommaso’s laughter echoed through the speakers. All dark, rich, and dangerous at the same time. A deep bass that rumbled through the phone, and vibrated into Camilla’s bones without even trying.

She didn’t know what it was about this man, but he had some kind of hold on her like nothing and nobody else. She wasn’t sure how to get him out from under her skin, or if she even wanted to.

“Are you going to come get me, or what?” Tommaso asked.

Camilla stared dumbly at her reflection in the mirror of her vanity, unsure if she had heard him correctly. “What?”

“My flight landed at LaGuardia thirty minutes ago. I need a ride.”

“You didn’t think to let me know ahead of time that you were coming into the city? I would have already been there waiting for you when you landed.”

Six long months had already passed since he had been in New York. Of course, she would have jumped at the chance to pick him up had he told her.

Camilla briefly wondered if her brother had known about any of this, but figured it didn’t really matter.

Tommaso was back in New York.

That was all she wanted.

Now, he was just waiting for her …

“I was thinking you might like a surprise, actually,” Tommaso said, chuckling. “Are you going to come get me, Camilla, or what?”

It took her all of one second to answer him that time around.

“Don’t move a damn muscle, Tom.”

Camilla’s heart thundered as Tommaso strolled her way at a leisurely pace. His lips curved into one hell of a smirk that probably ruined her panties. The glint in his gaze as his stare drifted down her body had her blood heating, and her skin tingling. He wasn’t the least bit ashamed to be checking her out like he was. He wasn’t even close enough to touch yet, and she was already on fire with her want for him.