She braved it and Sam allowed it, also smiling (though not sharing) to hide his acute attention to Luci.
Celeste and Luci left late, Maris handed out cheek kisses and went up and Hap, Sam and I shared one last drink before I went up, leaving Sam downstairs.
I was hoping he would follow me.
I got my wish. While brushing my teeth, I heard him in the bedroom.
And now I had to decide how to play it. Try to talk to him and risk being rebuffed or wimp out, risk nothing but also give nothing and gain nothing.
“Fearless,” I whispered to myself, turned from the mirror, moved to the door, opened it and exited, hitting the light on the way out.
Sam was only in jeans when I got into the room. His eyes came to me, they warmed then he moved to me, sliding his hand along my belly as he passed me and went into the bathroom, closing the door.
Memphis was lying at the foot of the bed, panting at me.
I bent over her, giving her a cuddle then I got in bed and sat cross-legged with the covers pulled up to my waist, waiting.
Sam came out, rounded the bed and when he was at his side, undoing his fly, I started.
“Can I ask you a favor?”
His eyes came to me and, like last night, he kept working his fly even as they locked on mine.
But this time they were guarded.
Not good.
“Yeah,” he answered.
“I know you don’t have a lot of room, I mean, you do just not a lot of rooms but maybe we can get an air mattress for your office or something but I’d really like to ask Mom and Dad and Kyle and Gitte out here. They’d love it.”
The guard came down and his face got soft when he whispered, “Whenever you want, baby.”
He tugged off his jeans then slid in bed beside me.
I uncrossed my legs and slid in beside him. The minute my body touched his, his arms closed around me and he pulled me on top.
I looked down at him, letting my eyes move over his handsome face then I lifted a hand, placed it against the side of his head then I let my thumb move over his handsome face.
“Kia?” he called, I stopped watching my thumb glide over his cheekbone and I looked into his eyes.
“Yeah?”
“You okay?”
“Can I tell you something?”
His arms gave me a squeeze and he whispered, “Anything.”
I shifted my thumb to his lips and whispered back, “You might freak out that it’s too soon but I know what I know. And when I say that, I know what I know. And you don’t have to feel anything but what you feel. But life is short and someone really smart who I admire told me to be fearless so here goes.” I sucked in breath, closed my eyes, opened them and kept whispering when I told him, “I’ve fallen in love with you, Sam Cooper.”
His body went solid under mine.
Oh no.
Oh shit.
Shit!
I didn’t know what I expected but that was not the response I was hoping for.
“You don’t have to say it back. You don’t have to pretend to feel it,” I said quickly moving my hand from his face to his shoulder. “I just wanted you to know –”
“Shut up,” he growled and I blinked.
“Sorry?”
He rolled so I was on my back, he was on top and he repeated, “Shut up.”
“Sam, I –”
His mouth hit mine. “Shut… up.”
Then he kissed me, hard, wet and demanding. Then I didn’t have my nightie or panties, all I had was Sam, his lips, his tongue, his hands all over me. Then, when I was whimpering into his mouth, my legs wrapped around his waist, arms clutching his back, his arm wrapped around the top of my hips, his finger building heaven between my legs and my whimpers got desperate with need, Sam felt it, heard it, knew it and being Sam, he gave it to me.
His arm around me tightened as he lifted up to his knees, taking me with him. He fell back to his calves, holding me suspended, one arm still around my hips, the other arm slanted across my upper back, fingers curled at my neck, tipping my head down. Then he drove his c**k up inside me, hard and deep as he drove me down on it, impaling me. Keeping my mouth to his, he kept powering deep at the same town he yanked me down and I gasped against his lips each beautiful time I took him.
Suddenly he stopped, grinding deep, mouth moving on mine, and asked, “You feel that?”
Oh yeah, I felt it. Definitely.
“Yes, baby.”
“That feel real?”
“Yes,” I whispered.
“Open your eyes, Kia,” he ordered, voice thick and I opened my eyes, looking into his so close, they felt like they were a part of me. Then he said, “I’m not pretending to feel anything.”
I felt my eyes get wider.
Ohmigod!
Did that mean –?
“I told you you have me and, Kia, honey, you have me.”
It did.
He loved me.
My limbs tightened around him, I opened my mouth to speak but he slanted his head and kissed me. Then he f**ked me. Then he made me come. Then he came.
And it was the best ever not because it was the best ever.
But because for the first time in my twenty-eight years I had fabulous sex with the man I loved…
The man who loved me.
* * * * *
Almost to dreamland, tucked close to Sam, feeling freaking phenomenal, Memphis sprawled on her side of the bed, in a voice gruff with oncoming sleep, Sam muttered, “It’s good you didn’t find a place in Heartmeadow, baby. Now you got nothin’ to sort back there and you’re just plain home.”
My eyes shot open.
Sam fell asleep.
Oh man.
Chapter Twenty-Three
You’ll Do
Two days later…
I stood at the bathroom basin brushing my teeth while Sam showered wondering how I got myself in my current mess.
This was to say, Sam thinking my declaration of love meant I was moving to North Carolina and then him telling everyone I was moving to North Carolina.
And I mean everyone.
Yesterday morning, I went downstairs only to be greeted by an excited Maris who pulled my surprised, uncomprehending body in her arms and cried, “How exciting for the both of you! Setting up house!”
Yes. That was what happened. My wide eyes moved over Maris’s shoulder and I saw Sam, who had been downstairs three whole minutes longer than me, was leaning against the counter, sipping coffee and grinning at us indulgently and he’d obviously shared this news right off the bat.
Maris’s embrace was followed by Hap wrapping his arms around me, picking me up off the floor, shaking me half a dozen times and stating, “I hang down here a lot, babe, so I hope you can cook.”