by Amy Brent
“Sorry. It’s probably not what you’re used to.”
Faye looked around with a shrug, and I hated the hopeless slope to her shoulders.
“It’s great. Honestly. Thank you.”
That same dejection was in her voice, and I hated that too. I was moving before I even knew what I was doing. I just had to do something, anything, to wipe that sad look from her eyes and banish the fear that still clung to the lines of her face.
I reached for her. I pulled her close, and I had a single moment to see Faye’s eyes widened, and then I knew exactly what I was doing.
I leaned down and took her mouth with mine. I kissed her with everything I had inside me. Faye was frozen in surprise for a moment, but the next second she melted against me and kissed me back just as hard.
*
Faye
What am I doing? What am I doing? What the hell am I doing? The question repeated rapid-fire through my mind, but it was distant, like white noise from a television, there, but easily ignored.
I was able to ignore the thoughts in the back because all my attention was focused on the single point where Sam’s lips were pressed against mine.
My whole body was shaking, partly because of the threats that had shot me into a frantic nervous breakdown an hour ago but also because of the sudden need that welled up inside me from Sam’s kiss.
I needed him with something so deep and dark inside me that it frightened me nearly as badly as the anonymous threats left on my door. But the only escape I could find was in his arms. I needed to feel safe and protected, and for whatever reason, the only place I seemed to feel safe anymore was when I was held tightly in Sam’s arms.
After everything that had happened to me in the past week, it felt so good to sink into his embrace and have someone else take the weight off my shoulders for a little while. I hadn’t noticed how heavy the stress had gotten until Sam had taken it away.
I’d been relying on myself for so long that I’d nearly forgotten what it felt like to have a partner, a real partner. Bryce certainly hadn’t been one but, Sam was different. He never made me feel any pressure to be less, to be someone else, to be anyone but who and what I was.
I could always be myself around him, and right now, damn it, I needed that more than I needed anything else in the world.
Because right at that moment, with Sam kissing me and pressing me up against the door as he ravaged my mouth, the only thing I felt was sexy and wanton, wild and reckless. I wanted him. I was tired of being afraid, tired of the worry and panic and the frantic feeling of always looking over my shoulder. I wanted to forget my fear and feel only the desire that he kindled inside me. I wanted to burn with him.
I didn’t have any patience left. Not that I normally had a lot to go around, but I couldn’t stand to wait any longer, and I started pushing him toward the bedroom.
Sam stopped me with a rough, strained laugh, pressing his hands against my shoulders to slow me down. I nearly growled at him, but then I met his melting, dark and questioning gaze.
“Are…are you sure, Faye?” He let out another hoarse laugh, but it had more nervousness than humor in it. “I mean, I’m not complaining. I want…I mean, fuck. I don’t want to take advantage of you. This isn’t… It’s not why I brought you here.”
“I know exactly why you brought me here, Sam” I said, pushing him back toward the bedroom step by step. I didn’t think he was even aware we were still moving.
“You do?” he asked, his eyes opening wide in surprise. There was a flush of heat that rode along the sharp edge of his cheekbones.
“You brought me here because you are kind and thoughtful and loyal and you want to protect me,” I said seriously as I reached up to undo the row of tiny buttons that held my shirt together. “Now, are you going to just stand there all night or are you going to help me with this?”
Sam stared at me agape, his eyes still wide and his mouth hanging open, and suddenly I felt like giggling at his awestruck expression. All the while, though, I was still attacking the tiny buttons, but my trembling fingers slipped on the small disks.
I knew that later—maybe, probably, most likely—I would regret giving in to the desire that always raged like a wildfire between us. But for now, in this moment, it was exactly what I needed. The only thing I needed. And only Sam could give it to me.
“Well?” I tossed the question at him, half frustrated, half pleading, and he was by my side in an instant. He tore the buttons off my shirt to get it off and then ripped the lace of my bra in his haste to get to all of me.
“I’ll buy you a new one,” he whispered roughly against my neck as he spread tender sharp kisses and nips along the sensitive curve above my bare shoulder.
“I don’t care,” I said on a husky chuckle. And it was true. I didn’t care. I loved the wildness in him, the out-of-control way his hands were shaking just as badly as mine as he stripped off the rest of my clothes. It matched the wild and feral feeling that was burning just as out of control inside me.
As always, the chemistry between us was off the charts. Just like I remembered from our last time together, he knew exactly how I needed to be touched. He knew where to brush his fingertips in a feather-light tease and where to run his teeth against me in a sharper caress to have me gasping and shivering in his arms.
His arms were around me like a cage, and it was a good thing because they were the only thing keeping me standing up on legs that had suddenly turned to jelly beneath me. Somehow, though, I was able to get his T-shirt pulled over his head and, with his help, strip him of his jeans until he was standing in only his tight boxer briefs.
He was so goddamned sexy. The sight of him made my mouth water for a taste. Once the idea was in my head, I couldn’t seem to get it out, and I loved the rush of feminine power as I pushed him back onto the bed. Sam went without a protest.
As much as I wanted him, there was another need just as deep inside me. I wanted to be in control. My life had spiraled out of my grasp so quickly that I felt like I’d been left without any ground beneath my feet, but here I could regain some of that lost control. And Sam let me.
Somehow, he knew exactly what I needed, and even though it was a strain for me, he let me have it. He lay on his back, his entire body tense, wanting to flip me over and take me. He had to grip his hands tight around the sheets below him, and I could see the toll it took on him, laying there still, letting me do whatever I wanted to him. It added even more fuel to the fire to see this powerful man spread out before me like a willing sacrifice.
A sultry, sinful grin tilted up my kiss-swollen lips as I straddled his thighs. I took my time teasing him, running my mouth over his jaw to nibble at his earlobe and then down. I traveled the bridge of his collarbone and down his pecs to his tight abs.
He had more muscle than I remembered from our one steamy night together, but he still had the lean build of a swimmer—all broad shoulders and chest and tapered waist. But now his abs had rows of muscle that led to the lean cut of his hips. I spent extra time there as well, teasing, kissing. I gave him a swipe of my tongue and then a light breath, watching as his skin pebbled in reaction under my heated gaze.
I was still straddling him as I moved my way down his hard body. I reveled in the way his stomach muscles tightened and jumped as I grabbed the hem of his boxers and slid them down. I barely gave him a chance to draw in a breath before leaning down and sucking his thick cock into my mouth.
I loved the sweet and salty taste of him, and I loved even more the gruff growl that sounded from the back of his throat as I sucked and licked him like he was a lollipop and I had the worst sort of sweet tooth.
For him, I did. I craved the taste of him, the smell of him, all spicy and masculine and clean. I needed the feel of him in my mouth and under my hand as I cupped him and rubbed up and down in time to the suction of my mouth.
With every lick and lap of my tongue, I felt Sam’s cock jerk in anticipation and pleasure, and I coul
dn’t hold back the husky laugh at the powerful feeling of having him under my control. It was a rush that went straight to my head, and even though I knew he was holding back, I could tell he wouldn’t be able to hold back much longer. Well, neither could I.
All of a sudden, I was at the end of my patience. I was done with teasing him and with teasing myself. I needed more of him, so much more of him. I needed to feel him stretching my pussy as he filled me.
I rose up on my knees and went on a frantic search around Sam’s bedside table.
“Wh…what are you doing?” It took him several tries to get the words out, and he was staring at me with a lust-glazed gaze that made me want to giggle again. I yanked open the drawer and rummaged inside, biting my lip as I pulled out a silk blindfold.
I dangled it from one finger while shooting him a questioning look. He just shrugged, a sexy smile playing on his lips.
“We can use that later,” he said.
I shot him a look but tossed the fabric back in the drawer. “Ah, here we go!” I pulled out a small foil packet and ripped it open before moving over Sam once more. His eyes were still glazed, but they sharpened into focus as I slid the condom over his cock. He bit his lip at the pressure of my fingers playing over the sensitive tip.
“Damn, Faye. You’re killing me.”
“Not yet,” I whispered with a grin at his pained groan. And then I couldn’t wait anymore. I felt like I’d waited a lifetime for this moment, for this one perfect moment to be with him again like this, to feel this rush that was like a drug invading my system, making me drunk on him.
I guided the head of his erection to my honey slick center and slowly, inch by inch, took him inside my body, inside my heart and soul. It was like he crawled underneath my very skin. I felt as close to him as I’d ever felt to another person, including the man I had thought I was going to marry.
It was closer than I’d ever thought I’d feel with anyone at all. It felt so incredible and so goddamned right that I threw my head back on a gasp of pure pleasure.
The sensation that dragged through me from where he thrust deep inside me merged with the overwhelming surge of emotion and coiled somewhere deep and irrevocable inside me. Sam raised his hands, lifting the weight of each of my breasts, teasing each nipple as he hitched his hips up faster and faster to meet mine.
And then there was the look in his eyes: dark and mysterious and hot, burning like a brand and never leaving mine. He never once looked away, and I found my own gaze trapped by the intensity that raged in his.
I was trapped, body and soul, heart and mind. He had all of me so twisted up that I couldn’t hardly draw a breath. Even though I was the one on top, I was the one who was riding him to oblivion, I was the one who felt caught.
Faster and faster, I pounded down as he slammed his hips up, but it still wasn’t enough to have me coming, and I desperately needed to.
“Please, Sam. I need…I need…”
“Hush. I know exactly what you need,” he whispered a second before grasping my hips. In one smooth move, I was beneath him. He grabbed my legs, holding my thighs up so he could reach the perfect angle. The next stroke of his cock slamming inside me brushed every single nerve ending with fire.
Over and over again, Sam hitched his hips against mine, pushing deeper and deeper until I felt like there was nowhere else for him to go. Finally, on the next thrust he hit home, and like a trigger, I exploded.
All the pleasure and ecstasy and emotion inside me swept over me like a storm raging out of control, and all I could do was hang on by the tips of my fingernails as it scoured me bare.
It went on for an eternity as my body shook and trembled like a leaf blown by a wild wind. After a long moment, I felt Sam climax above me. He let out a hoarse growl of pleasure as he came inside me, triggering an aftershock of pleasure.
It was a long minute before either of us could move again and Sam fell bonelessly to the bed next to me, but he never let me go. Even now he was pulling my spent body close against his, curling his longer arms and legs around me so there was no space left between us.
“Does this mean you’re going to marry me?” Sam asked just as I was drifting off to sleep, but the question had my heart pounding with some emotion I didn’t want to look too closely at. Slowly, I nodded my head.
“I think it does. Yes. I think…I think we’re getting married.”
Chapter 9
Faye
I was running. Everywhere I looked were thick, dark shadows that seemed to ooze and multiply, to reach out and try to grab me with slick, oily tendrils. But I couldn’t stop. I couldn’t let the darkness slow me.
There were shadows everywhere and they were like living things, beasts made out of pure darkness that stalked and hunted me. No matter how fast I ran or where I turned, they were always there, waiting for me. I couldn’t escape them, but I couldn’t stop trying.
There was someone else chasing after me in the darkness. If they caught me, I would be hurt or worse. I didn’t let my mind dwell on the terrible images that the fear and panic caused. I just knew something horrific would happen to me.
But as hard as I pumped my legs, I couldn’t seem to move any faster. I was running in quicksand, stuck in a mire of dark water so dense that I couldn’t see through it, and there were terrible things in the water as well. Terrible things were all around me and I couldn’t move. They were going to get me, they were going to hurt me, and there wasn’t anything I could do about.
My lungs burned and my heart raced, but my legs were stuck and the harder I fought against the water, the tighter it grew around me. It trapped me, caging me. I couldn’t get away. Fuck. They were going to get me. Any second, I would be dead.
I woke up with a terrified gasp. My whole body was shaking and covered in sweat from head to toe, and my heartbeat pounded out a frantic rhythm in my chest.
I couldn’t stop trembling. I couldn’t draw in a breath. I didn’t know where I was. I looked around the strange room. The walls were painted a deep forest green. The curtains were gray and a warm cherry wood dresser was pressed haphazardly against the far wall, a shirt thrown carelessly on top of it.
I glanced up at the ceiling, tracking the slim ray of sunlight that stretched the flat white paint, announcing that morning was coming. With a crash, all the memories came rushing back in.
Going out with Alice and Lori the night before and then coming home to find another threatening message, another terrible photograph of myself. Calling Sam. Going home with Sam. Then—
With a sharp, drawn-in breath, I slowly turned my head to the side to confirm my worst suspicion.
There, next to me on the bed, was Sam.
In sleep, he looked almost harmless. His dark chestnut curls were spread out on the pillow, tousled and bed-ridden. His eyelashes made twin black semicircles against his cheeks, and this close I could even make out the freckles that were scattered across the strong bridge of his nose.
Doubt, overwhelming and consuming all the other emotions that ran through me, swamped my body. For the first time in a long time, I didn’t know what do to. I always knew what to do. I always knew the next step I needed to take to get me ahead, to get me where I wanted to go.
But suddenly, I found myself deep in unfamiliar territory. And I was scared.
As quietly as I could, I snuck out from under the covers and crept on my tiptoes out of the bedroom and to the bathroom.
I didn’t know what to do, but I did know I needed to be alone. I needed some time to think things through, and I couldn’t do that with Sam in the same room. I sure as hell couldn’t do that with Sam in the same bed. He had a habit of stealing my wits at the worst of times.
I held my breath until the bathroom door was shut behind me, and even then I tried to make as little noise as possible because I didn’t want to wake Sam. I couldn’t face him. Not yet. Not after…what had happened between us.
I caught my reflection in the mirror a
nd paused. I was surprised that I looked the same. There was the same oval-shaped face. The same big, dark brown eyes and expressive eyebrows. The same round cheeks, although they were slightly pinkened with a blush that wouldn’t go away. That was what happened every time I thought of Sam.
With a shake of my head, I turned away from the mirror and leaned down to grab the spigot, turning it until warm water sprayed from the showerhead.
I waited a few moments until I was sure any chill was gone before stepping under the spray and letting the water wash over me. The heat from the shower relaxed the tense muscles of my shoulders but did nothing to stop my thoughts from whirling like mad inside my head as memories slowly came back to me from the night before.
Heat followed with the memories as images of bodies entwined tightly together flashed in my head, but then I froze, choking on my sharp inhale as I remembered the last thing I had said before falling into a deep sleep.
Holy shit! Had I actually agreed to marry Sam?
Dread and doubt and a strange excitement all fluttered uneasily inside me. I was terribly afraid that I had.
*
Sam
My eyes shot wide open and I was instantly awake. And I instantly knew something was wrong. I felt out next to me, not surprised to find the bed empty, but I could still feel the warmth from where Faye had lain snuggled close to me in the night. And I could still smell her unique perfume, all sultry and floral, sexy and sweet at the same time.
I could remember every single detail about the night before, and I was sure Faye could too—which was why she was conspicuously absent from the bed this morning. A part of me was surprised she wasn’t there, laying out each and every rule for me regarding what would happen between us. But another part wondered if that tough-girl facade was just the mask she put on for the business aspects of her life.
