He swallowed and stood a little taller, suddenly seeming bigger, greater, and more confident. The change was not subtle. As a matter of fact, it was so obvious she felt as though gentle Colin had suddenly left the building and a stranger now stood across from her.
Before she understood what he was doing he had her wrist again and tugged her down from the counter. The moment her feet hit the tile floor he spun her around to face the mirror. His hands glided down her arms and placed her palms on the edge of the counter. He gave her a little press as if that would keep them there.
“Don’t move.”
Perhaps she should’ve been worried about the change in his disposition, but she was too turned on and caught in the moment to process what she should and shouldn’t be feeling. He kicked her feet apart and her stance widened. Colin stepped close behind her and his length pressed against her back.
“You tell me if it’s no good, Sammy, and I’ll stop.”
She looked at him in the mirror, catching a glimpse of her own body braced before him, breasts full and swaying with tightly pulled tips, and nodded. His hands first touched her hips, massaging and feeling their way into a comfortable niche. Once he found his hold he tugged her against him with both hands. The clash of his body crashing against hers made her moan. She wanted him to do it again.
Soft lips found her shoulder and he kissed and nibbled her there. Her head lolled to the side and against his muscled chest. He continued to rub himself against her bottom as his hands slid over her hips and circled her belly. His mouth kissed a trail from one shoulder, across her back, and to the other then down her spine.
Sam’s knees quivered, ready to give out. Her panties were so wet the fabric buckled below her moist folds.
When he kissed his way back up her spine her body was so sensitized anything harder than a feather light caress would make her shatter. His hands glided up the front of her and cupped her breasts tightly, practically pressing them into her. The pressure was divine. He melded her to his form and held her body in place with his strong hands. She moaned, breathy and long. Strong fingers squeezed as he continued to kiss her neck.
His hands slowly released hers only to adjust so that his fingers could pinch and pluck at her nipples. Oddly, the firmer he grasped her sensitive tips, the more pleasure she derived from his touch. He rocked against her so much that her pelvis was now against the hard edge of the counter. She shamelessly began to use the edge to create friction where she needed it.
When Colin realized what she was doing he yanked her back against his hips cutting off all contact with the counter aside from where her hands still held. His sea colored eyes shot her a reproving look in the mirror and then his hand reached between her legs and gripped her sex over her khaki shorts.
It was too much. Her legs crumbled, but he banded an arm around her ribs and held her up. His hand massaged over the crease of her shorts. When the curve of his hard fingers pressed against her wet panties, separating her, and rubbed against her hard needy clit she cried out. He bit down on her shoulder and sucked at her flesh as she came.
When her body finished climaxing she was a quivering mess. Colin kissed her gently and turned her to face him. He held her close and kissed her on the mouth until her equilibrium was somewhat restored. When they pulled apart she was still seeing stars.
He gazed at her through thick lashes and whispered, “I always want you to see me as a man first, Samantha. When I’m with you, I can shamelessly think of nothing else.”
* * *
Sam waited in the kitchen for Colin and helped Maureen snap green beans for dinner. The woman never stopped. It was nice, sitting with her, idly chitchatting about everything and nothing at all.
“And what are you up to today, dear?”
“I was thinking about going to the lake,” Sam said as she tossed a few more snapped beans into a large faded plastic bowl.
“Oh, that should be nice. You didn’t want to go on the boat with the rest of them?”
“I’m not really a boat person.”
Maureen gave her a dubious smile and stage whispered, “Neither am I, but don’t tell Frank that. I much prefer to keep my feet on the land where my cheeks are rosy and not faded kelly-green.”
Sam chuckled and stifled her excitement when Colin walked into the room. His hair was wet from the shower he insisted he needed after their time in the bathroom earlier. He walked over to his mother and placed a smacking kiss on her cheek.
“Mum,” he greeted and she tapped two light smacks on his cheek before he could pull away.
“Yer awfully pleasant this morning, Colin dear.”
”And why shouldn’t I be? It’s a beautiful day and I’m off to the lake to relax and embrace the lazy days of summer.”
“Oh, Samantha’s heading there, too…” Her words faded off and she looked toward Colin. Sam thought she saw her fingers tremble as she continued to snap the beans. “Yer brother’ll be wantin’ to know where you’ve all gotten off to. I’ll be sure to let him know where you are when he returns.”
Sam looked at Colin, suddenly fearful that his mother had come to the true conclusion of what was happening between them. He didn’t notice her concern, or at least pretended not to.
He only smiled at his mother and said, “Good. I haven’t seen enough of Bray since I’ve been home. Tell him I said to come find us when he gets back.”
Maureen seemed to sag in relief, her shoulders deflating as some of the tension left her. “Of course, my dear. Now you two run along and have a good time. I’ll finish up here, Samantha.”
When they arrived at the lake all was quiet. Sam supposed that was the glory of owning your own private beach.
“Did your family make this lake or is it natural?”
“It’s man made, but not from us. We’ve expanded over the years. Our property line’s slowly grown and we’ve accumulated quite a few of other people’s plots. This belonged to our neighbors. They headed farther north and gave us first dibs at their spread. We’d always swum here as children so it just seemed right that we own it. Who knew if other buyers would’ve let us continue to swim here?” He placed their chairs on the sand and leaned in to kiss her quickly on the mouth.
She pulled away and looked around. “Colin, someone might see.”
“There’s nobody here, Sammy. It’s just us.”
“But you told your mom to tell Braydon to come down when he returned.”
“Yes, and if I know my father and the rest of them, that won’t be until dinner. You can relax. No one will sneak up on us.”
She relented and spread her towel over her chair. Colin took off his shirt and sat in the chair beside hers. He spread lotion over his arms and shoulders. She was so mesmerized by his body, she may have stopped breathing for a moment. Feeling suddenly brazen, she pulled off her own t-shirt and dropped it into the bag.
“You better make sure you put some block on. The sun’s—” He stuttered when he looked up at her and Sam fought a smile at having such an effect on him. She held her hand out for the lotion and he handed it to her as if he were a wooden puppet with only his arm tied to a string. “I didn’t expect you to own a suit like that.”
She laughed. “I don’t own anything like this,” she said looking down at the narrow blue patches held together with floss. “This is Sheilagh’s.”
“I have to have a talk with that girl.”
She looked up from rubbing lotion on her chest. “Why? You don’t like it?”
“I like it very much. On you. On my baby sister…not so much.”
“Well, that’s a double standard.”
“If you knew what I was thinking right now you would understand.”
She smiled and then let the topic drop as she applied block to her legs and feet. They sat for a couple hours just talking. Every once in a while they’d simply sit in silence. Colin’s hand would find hers and their fingers would link between the arms of their chairs. It was silly to get such a rush from such simpl
e contact, but to Sam in was one of the most intimate experiences of her life.
When the sun became unbearably hot she considered suggesting they head back, but bit her tongue because she didn’t want the day to end. Once they were back at the house there’d be no holding hands or personal talk.
“Come on,” Colin said, standing from his chair. His skin glistened with perspiration.
She looked up at him and squinted. He was so tall his body faded into a silhouette blurring with the backdrop of the blazing white sun.
“Where are we going?”
“We’re going to walk down and put our feet in the water.”
* * *
Colin looked down at Sammy shading her eyes from his view and hoped he was doing the right thing. He didn’t want to push her too fast or too hard. They’d been at the lake for quite a while so she had some time to adjust. He hoped she was ready to take this step.
“Just our toes, Sammy. You don’t even have to get your ankles wet.”
He followed her gaze toward the lake. It was calm, mirroring the trees and mountains like a second escape into a beautiful underground world. He waited.
He knew she was warring with herself and her fears as well as her desire to not let him down, but this wasn’t about him. This was about her letting go of the pain associated with losing her sister Meghan.
He glanced around to try to see the world the way she saw it. To him, the land was beautiful, breathtaking, serene, but to her it was likely frightening, powerful, and superior in an intimidating way.
He pointed to a scrubby patch of trees forming a hedgerow at the edge of the beach. “Let’s walk over to those trees and back.”
She followed his finger to where he pointed, actually having to turn her head in the opposite direction of the water because the trees were that far from the bank. He saw the moment her flaccid confidence grew into unthreatened surety.
“Okay.”
He helped her up. Her skin was warm and slightly pinker then when they first arrived. They strolled along the beach with slow steps and watched as their feet kicked up little grains of sand.
“What classes do you have to take when you go back?” He could have asked about her parents or something more personal, but he wanted to keep things general and loose, all thoughts away from the past.
“Classroom Management and I need three more credits in Spanish.”
“You speak Spanish?”
She laughed. They were halfway to the grove. “Not really. I can decipher it enough to figure out the general message if it’s written down, but I’m awful at speaking it.”
“¿Y qué sucede cuando alguien habla español para usted?”
She stopped walking and grinned. “You speak Spanish?”
“Sí.” He reached for her hand, giving a soft tug for her to keep walking.
“Well, I have no idea what you just said.”
“Then you answered my question.”
Glancing sideways at him, she asked, “What did you say?”
“I asked if you could understand the language when someone speaks it aloud to you.”
She giggled. “No.”
They approached the thicket of trees and the sand became coarser with each step. He spotted a few bramble branches and burrs hidden in their path and decided they better not get any closer in bare feet. Colin casually turned them back toward the lake.
“What kind of stuff do you learn in Classroom Management?”
“Strategies and techniques for keeping students in line and not letting them run you out of the classroom.”
Colin tried to imagine Samantha in front of a schoolroom of young, boisterous teenagers. He couldn’t quite meld the soft image of her with a severe governess type persona he guessed she’d sometimes have to employ.
“Are you nervous?”
“Yes and no. I’ve already done my student teaching so a lot of my apprehension has been put to rest. I’m more concerned I won’t have time to find a job by September or not have the time to get my classroom together.”
They’d passed their chairs about twenty feet from the bank.
“Have you sent out resumes yet?”
“Yes. When you get a degree in education you have to keep a portfolio. It’s this big book of all your philosophies and samples and pictures from your experiences as well as all your transcripts. I have that done, which is good, because I actually have a few interviews lined up for July.”
“Are they in the city or closer to home?”
“For now they’re closer to home. I’ll have to give up my apartment because it’s considered student housing. I really don’t want to look for a place to live and start a new career at the same time, so I figured staying with my parents until I get my feet on the ground is better.”
She gasped. Speaking of feet, theirs just touched the water.
The cool water skimmed his arches. He wanted to keep her distracted.
“Do you think you’ll miss the city?”
“Yes and no.”
He pulled her close and wrapped his arms around her waist so that her back was to his chest and his chin rested on her warm, soft hair. They simply swayed together and he gloried in how wonderfully she filled his arms.
“There are a lot of things I despise about the city.”
“Like?”
“The noise, the pollution, the people who are perpetually rude like it’s their birth right.”
He chuckled and moved them forward a smidge. Her shoulders tensed, but he didn’t acknowledge her apprehension. His arms crossed over her bare belly, his left hand resting on her right hip and vise-versa. He massaged her skin lightly.
“Was the school you student taught at in the city?”
“Um…” She answered as if it were a difficult question, likely she was having a hard time with their position. The water crested their feet and was now just below mid-calf. “I…what?”
“The school you did your student teaching at, was it in the city?”
“Oh. Yes.”
“Where about?”
Her breathing became slightly labored but nothing like the other day when she suffered a panic attack. With every brush of his fingertips along her skin, her body seemed to relax into his by small degrees.
“With traffic it was about twenty minutes from campus.”
“And how far is campus from home?”
“About forty minutes. It’s mostly highway, but then you get into the city and it takes forever.”
He nudged her forward a step and asked, “Are you considering applying to that school?”
“Yes. They already have my resume and I have a good rapport with the faculty there.”
“How far would a commute be from there to home?”
“Probably about thirty minutes, because it’s not as ensconced in the city as my apartment.”
A light breeze danced across the surface. Branches swayed slowly and he was mesmerized by the way Samantha’s skin prickled from her shoulders to her neck leaving a dusting of goose bumps. The water was warmer than most times of the year, but still cool over their skin. He kissed the side of her neck.
“I think you’ll be a wonderful teacher.”
She grew quiet and he wondered what she was thinking about.
Finally she said, “And you’ll be a great priest.”
His mouth opened and he hesitated. Shutting his eyes, he said, “I hope so.”
“You will. You have this calming quality about you. It’s enchanting. Between that and your looks I imagine your female parishioners will be so up in arms it’ll be worse than the tales of Father Ralph de Bricassart from the Thorn Birds.”
“And are you to be my Meggie? The woman that haunts my dreams and owns a piece of me God will never have?”
She stepped out of his embrace and turned to face him. “No, Colin. Meggie led a tragic life and I won’t sentence myself to such a fate. She was the thorn bird that sang only once then bludgeoned her heart as a price for that short song. W
hen you give yourself to the church, give all of you. It’s torture to emotionally be in two places at once. True love is a complete surrender without regret or ever looking back. You’ll be marrying the church and that’s where your heart must lie, same as I’ll someday give my heart over to my husband without reserve. I’ll never forget our time here, but I plan to work damn hard to. I can’t put myself through a lifetime of wanting what I’ll never have. I will not ‘pierce my breast for the glory of one song’ that’ll never be sung back to me.”
He brushed a wisp of hair away from her face. She was so reasonable yet somehow had an incredibly romantic soul.
“I’ll always envy the man that marries you, Sammy. I’ll confess it first among all sins until the day I die. I know I shouldn’t, but the heart is a muscle with reflexes of its own that we have no control over. You will always be my one thing left unfinished, the masterpiece that slipped away.”
She gazed up at him with slightly trembling shoulders. He wondered if she shook, not because of her fear of the water, but because the reality of his words. He hadn’t lied. He’d never forget her. She was the first and only woman he had ever cared for to such a degree. He needed her then in such a way it shook him to his core.
Slowly leaning down, so not to break the emotionally laden moment, he pressed his mouth to hers. Their bodies touched only at their lips as he sipped from her. Her small tongue skated over his lower lip and he smiled. He had never imagined kissing to be so intoxicating.
Slowly, she took a small step closer to him and her breasts pressed into his chest. Under the inconsequential scraps of fabric, her pebbled nipples gently stabbed into his skin. His arms wrapped tightly around her and the kiss intensified, picking up speed and overflowing with need.
Her body tipped back as he deepened the kiss. He somehow managed to lower her to the ground and settled himself on top of her. She gasped. Cool water crossed their sun kissed thighs and electrified his senses. Her shorts became wet, forming a film over her skin, and sand clumped to their flesh like grits of glue. They were only at the bank, sitting upon the water’s edge, so when he eased her back the ripples of the lake lapped at her hips, but left her shoulders dry.
Take Me to Bed: A Collection of Naughty Bedtime Stories Page 28
