by Marni Mann
My attention dragged right back to Samantha.
Fuck this.
“I’ll catch you guys in a little bit,” I said without waiting for their response, and I began moving toward the right side of the bar.
My cock hardened halfway there, the tip grinding into my suit pants.
This was what she did to me, and I was only staring at her from afar.
By the time I reached her, it was unbearable.
Goddamn it.
I needed it to soften.
I needed to stop imagining the warmth of her cunt.
I needed to push every thought of her out of my head, so I could stare at her lips while she spoke and not think of how soft and wet they were and how hard she had kissed me.
While she faced her sister, I slipped in behind her and pressed into the edge of the counter. “Samantha.”
Her body stiffened at the sound of my voice, her head quickly snapping in my direction.
Cinnamon.
I liked that her scent hadn’t changed.
“Jack,” she whispered.
Shelby leaned around Samantha and said, “Hey, Jack.”
I smiled at both women even though only one was returning the gesture. “You girls having a good time?”
“A fantastic time,” Shelby said. “My four kids are with a babysitter, I have a glass of wine in my hand, and my brother won the Super Bowl. It doesn’t get much better than that.”
I laughed.
Samantha didn’t. She stood frozen with her eyes locked on me.
“It’s nice that we were all able to attend,” Shelby added. “It’s just sad that I have to come to my brother’s championship game to catch up with this one.” She wrapped her arms around Samantha and shook her. “Miss I’m Too Busy to Call Anyone Back.”
And then the stare was broken, her face now pointed toward her sister. “Shelby…”
It sounded like a warning.
Shelby released her. “I’m going to go find Dad and make sure he’s behaving himself. I’ll see you two later.”
Samantha opened her mouth to say something, but Shelby walked away before she had a chance.
“Let’s get you a refill.” I raised my hand in the air, calling over one of the bartenders. When he greeted me, I pointed at Samantha’s glass. “Can you top that off?”
He lifted a bottle from behind the bar and held it in front of her, pouring several inches’ worth of white wine.
“I really didn’t need more,” she said once he finished.
“I disagree.”
She turned her whole body toward me and searched my eyes.
There was so much happening in hers. More so than I’d ever seen in another woman.
They didn’t just speak to me.
They questioned; they demanded.
The only thing I didn’t know was what they wanted.
I hoped to fucking hell it was my cock.
Jesus, this situation couldn’t get any messier because I still couldn’t be with my client’s sister.
“I need you to walk away, Jack.”
“Can I get you another drink?” the bartender asked.
I looked at him, handing him my empty glass. “Scotch.” Then, I glanced back at her. “Is that what you need, or is that what you want?”
6
Samantha
What I need?
Is he serious?
It didn’t matter how much wine was flowing through my body. Or how hard I’d attempted to focus on what my sister was saying a few minutes ago. Or how excited I was over my brother’s game. Or how much I’d tried to distract myself with emails from my clients and vendors.
Nothing had calmed me from the moment I saw Jack outside our suite.
Nothing had made this uneasy feeling go away.
And, now, it was only worse.
He was standing so close.
And he was ridiculously good-looking.
There was no way I could stay in this spot, holding this glass filled with something that only made me more vulnerable, and pretend like I was okay.
Because being around Jack made nothing okay.
I needed air.
Air that didn’t have him in it.
“Ladies’ room,” I blurted out.
I shouldn’t have said that. I just knew I had to quickly get away from him, and that was the first thing that had come to me.
I left my wine on the bar and went around the crowd. I had no idea where I was headed. But my eyes were focused on the neon sign that hung from the ceiling, the word EXIT shining in bright red.
I pushed myself forward until I reached the door, and then I slammed my palm onto the metal handle and opened it enough where I could slip outside. Before it even shut, I had my back pushed against the building and was sucking in as much air as my lungs could hold.
Jack Hunt was the only man who made it hard for me to breathe. Who made me question the thoughts in my head. Who made me want to shed the thick, hard layer that had grown over my skin even though he was the reason it’d surrounded me in the first place.
My feelings for him should have ended the morning he’d left.
They should have started fresh the moment I’d arrived back in Miami. I should have been crushing over the guys in my dorm, like every other nineteen-year-old in my position.
But Jack had made that impossible.
“Samantha.”
My body tightened as I heard his voice through a small crack in the door.
That was the second time he had spoken my name in less than ten minutes, and the emotions it stirred was as intense as when I’d heard it eight years ago.
He moved through the door and stopped in front of me. “Most women don’t go outside to use the restroom.”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “Why are you out here?”
He opened his mouth, his tongue touching the corner, rubbing the tip back and forth. “I want to talk to you.”
“So, you followed me?”
“Wouldn’t it have been worse if I’d followed you into the restroom?”
“It would have been better if you hadn’t followed me at all.”
My stare traveled down to his hand as it went into his pocket.
“Do you want me to leave, Samantha?”
I sighed. “You obviously want something from me, Jack, so why don’t you just tell me what it is?”
He smiled.
It was so sexy, I wanted to scream.
“That’s where you’re wrong.” He took a step closer, and then he leaned his side into the building. “I want nothing from you. I just want to be around you.”
I pushed harder against the siding, so I wouldn’t fall. “Why?”
“Why?” A bit of surprise washed over his face. “Because you’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.”
“Stop.”
“It’s the truth.”
His gaze was too intense, so I shifted my focus to a spot behind him. “You’re being ridiculous.”
“Look at me, Samantha.” He waited until our eyes connected before he said, “I don’t lie. I don’t have to. You can trust whatever comes out of my mouth. So, when I say you’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen, I fucking mean it.” He brought the glass up to his lips, and he swallowed a sip.
I didn’t see him move, but suddenly, it felt like he was on top of me.
I held my breath as he stretched his arm over his head, the back of it now resting in the space between us. I felt the breeze it made; I smelled the spiciness of his cologne. He looked down at me where I stood several inches below. Then, he took his fingers out of his pocket and used them to pull a piece of hair off my cheek.
Goddamn it.
Just that little touch sent my body into turmoil, every nerve ending flaring like they were all on fire.
It was his hands.
I remembered how they’d waited for me on the comforter, how several flicks of his finger could almost make me come.
No other hands
had made me feel that way since.
But I couldn’t let Jack touch me like that again.
I had to stay strong.
I didn’t trust myself around him—not my mouth, not my fingers, not my words.
Therefore, I had to get out of here.
“You got what you wanted, and now—”
His eyes turned feral. “I haven’t gotten what I wanted. Not even close.”
My chest was so tight, the pressure was starting to climb into my throat. “I have to go.”
When I tried to take a step away, his hand clasped my cheek, and he dived in closer, his mouth immediately pressing against mine. I took a breath, and I felt his tongue.
My second breath came out as a moan.
And, by the third breath, the memories that involved his lips all came slamming back to me.
He was holding me with so much force and passion that a dampness began to pool between my legs. My body was melting. My skin was begging for his fingers.
But my mind was fighting him.
I couldn’t do this.
I had to make him stop.
I pressed my hand to his chest and pushed until he freed me. “How dare you do this now.” I was surprised at how emotional I sounded. “You had your chance eight years ago; you’re not getting another.”
If I said any more, every thought would come pouring out, and I couldn’t let that happen.
I also couldn’t keep staring at him because the longer I did, the weaker I felt.
“Samantha—”
I put my hand in the air and said, “Jack, don’t.”
The door was only a few steps behind me, so I rushed toward it and went back inside the bar in search of my sisters to tell them I was going home. Once I did, I would get in the back seat of one of the SUVs my brother had rented for the night, and I would text my best friend, Anna, during the ride home.
Darting around all the groups of people, I found my sisters in the middle of the room, and I saw that they were standing with Shawn.
“There you are,” my brother said, resting his arm over my shoulders, dragging me closer to their small circle. “We’re doing shots.”
I shook my head. “I’m leaving.”
He laughed. “No, you’re not.” He stared at my face as though he were examining me. “You’re going to drink; you’re way too sober.”
“She’s waaay too sober,” my sister, Stacey, slurred. “Open up, little sis. You’re getting vodka. Or tequila.” She hiccuped. “Or maybe both.”
“I definitely don’t need both. Or either.”
“Shawn, she needs to loosen up,” Sara, one of my middle siblings, said.
“Are you guys insane?” I snapped. “I don’t need a shot.”
Suddenly, there was a bottle dangling over my face, and the metal spout was getting near my lips.
“Shawn, no, I—”
“Have to go?” he said, cutting me off. “You have nowhere to go. I won the fucking Super Bowl today, Sam. Our whole family is here, partying. So, you’re going to take a shot with us, and then we’re going to have some fun.”
I owed him so much for my absence. Taking a shot was the least I could do.
It would probably make me feel a little better and ease some of my anxiety even though I knew Jack was still somewhere inside this bar.
“Sam,” Shawn said, “stop thinking, and open your mouth.”
When my lips parted, my sisters shouted in celebration.
Shawn tilted the tip of the bottle, and the vodka burned all the way down my throat. But, after the third swallow from a continuous stream of booze that Shawn kept pouring onto my tongue, the knot in my chest began to loosen. Fog filled my head. My limbs turned numb.
But there was one thing I still felt.
One voice I still heard.
One face I still saw in my mind.
No amount of alcohol could ever take that away.
7
Samantha
Anna: You’d better be having a blast right now at the after-party.
Me: Just left. I think I’m drunk.
Anna: Yasss. I want you so hungover tomorrow, you’ll be begging me to come over with coffee and five Egg McMuffins.
Me: The thought makes me want to gag.
Anna: Did you have fun?
Me: Jack was there.
Anna: That’s no surprise. He told you at the game that he was going to be there.
Me: We talked.
Anna: As in talked, talked? Or just talked?
Me: Don’t get crazy.
Anna: How did it go?
Me: It went. He kissed me. It won’t happen again.
Anna: Wait, WHAT?
Me: Yeah…
Anna: Hello? You can’t just say something like that and not give me any details.
Me: It happened outside, behind the bar. That’s where I’d stormed off after he tried to talk to me the first time.
Anna: I’m confused.
Me: Me, too.
Anna: I take it, this reminded you of how much you’d liked him?
Me: It reminded me of how much he’d hurt me. Now that it’s fresh in my mind again, I can wake up tomorrow morning and pretend like today never happened.
Anna: We both know tomorrow isn’t going to go down that way. Maybe I need to bring double the amount of Egg McMuffins and some chocolate cake.
Me: This is why I love you.
Anna: See you at nine.
Me: Ten.
Anna: Oh, please, Lucy isn’t going to let you sleep that late.
Me: I’ll see you at nine.
Anna: Hey, Sam…
Me: Yeah?
Anna: I’m proud of you.
Me: Shut it. XO
“Hi, Sam,” Grace, one of the teenagers who lived in the building, said as I walked in the door to my condo.
I reached inside my bag, getting the cash I had stashed in there, and placed it in her hand. “Everything go okay?” I moved back toward the door to walk her out.
“Yep, it went great. If you need me again, call anytime.”
I thanked her, locking up after her, and then I switched off most of the lights. As I made my way across the condo, I stopped outside Lucy’s door.
She was lying on her stomach in the middle of the bed, knees bent at her sides, her face tucked in somewhere in between. I called it the frog—a position she’d slept in since she was born.
Gently, I ran my fingers through her hair, brushing away the strands from her face. “I love you, baby,” I whispered. “I’ll see you in the morning. Please let me sleep in.”
She stirred and groaned.
I carefully kissed her forehead, making sure not to wake her, and I shut the door behind me, going straight to my room. In my closet, I tossed my jewelry in a drawer and dropped my clothes onto the floor.
I’d deal with it all tomorrow.
Tonight, I needed to be swallowed in a cloud of extra-soft cotton sheets and wrapped in a room full of darkness.
I needed to forget.
But I knew there was no way that could happen.
Even though Jack had never stepped foot in here, this space wasn’t free of him.
I felt his presence everywhere.
And, as I climbed into bed, my phone vibrating on the nightstand, I saw his name.
My pulse increased so fast, I felt it pounding in my temples.
It had been eight years since I saw his name on my phone.
Now, five words were written beneath it.
Did you get home safely?
I wondered if he’d kept my number or if he’d asked someone for it. Either way, he had it, and now, I knew his hadn’t changed. I was sure he’d switched to a local area code after he moved from LA to Miami. At least that was what I’d told myself, so I never texted him when I was drunk.
It turned out, I was wrong, and I’d had his number all along.
That changed nothing.
Because, no matter what, I never would have reached out.
Bu
t that didn’t help with the position I was in now.
I pulled the blanket over my head and held my phone a few inches from my face.
Responding to him would mean nothing. It would just be words that assured my safety.
It wouldn’t be goading him, and it wouldn’t imply anything.
Just to be sure, I kept it short.
Yes.
As I stared at what I’d typed, I tried to figure out why I’d never deleted his number. If a part of me had wished he’d reach out at some point. If it was the last thing I had to hold on to, and I just couldn’t let him go. If every time I scrolled through my Contacts, I needed to be reminded of the lesson he’d taught me.
I didn’t have an answer.
But I knew there was no reason to keep it.
All it would do was tempt me.
And temptation wasn’t a good thing when you had a history like ours. When just the tips of his fingers could evoke the most intense passion I’d ever felt. When the scent of him brought back every emotion, every thought, every fear.
So, I went to his Contact page, I clicked Edit, and I scrolled to Delete.
Before I pressed the button, another text from Jack came onto my screen.
It was really good to see you tonight, gorgeous. You tasted as good as I remembered.
I dropped the phone next to me and rolled in the opposite direction.
All the booze in my body should bring me right to sleep.
But I knew there was no way that would ever happen.
8
Jack
I stared at my phone, waiting for Samantha’s response to come through.
I knew I shouldn’t have sent that fucking message, telling her she was gorgeous and how good she’d tasted, but I couldn’t help myself. That was how she’d looked tonight, especially after she had some shots with her family and the liquor caused her body to loosen up.
At one point, I’d watched her head tilt back, and a smile filled her face as she laughed. Really laughed, not that fake shit I saw some girls do.
It was almost a relief to see it. Because, whenever I had been close to her, standing next to her at the bar or outside, she was so goddamn uptight, uneasiness covering that beautiful face, tension forcing her body to stiffen.
