“Do you want to- uh- come in for a bit? Can I get you a drink? Some water maybe?”
“No. I’m fine. I mean, yes, I’ll come in. No, I don’t need a drink.” She blinked, waiting. She didn’t move to lead the way and she didn’t try to say anything else. “I- I wanted to talk to you,” Sam finally said.
“Yeah, I gathered that.”
“I mean, really talk to you.”
Her insides started a mad dance while her heart kipped up the tempo again. “Talk to me? You could have just called. Or texted.”
“No. Not for this.”
“I think this really does call for a drink. Something stronger than water?”
“Alright.” Sam gave in way too easily.
She wondered if his palms were sweating as badly as hers were. “Okay. Come upstairs then? We can talk there?”
“Sure.”
She remembered the door was unlocked and dodged past Sam. She slid the bolt into place easily and rejoined him in the hallway. He remained quiet, pensive, waiting. She took the lead. He followed her, all the way to her living quarters. Having him there reminded her of the first time he’d been there, not the last time. Her body warmed painfully and she wondered if her face was as on fire as the rest of her felt.
Sam settled on the couch while she mixed up two gin and tonics. She didn’t ask if he wanted one. She didn’t have any beer in the place and she didn’t know what else to make.
“It’s okay if you don’t want to drink that,” she said as she set the short glass on the coffee table in front of Sam. “I don’t have anything else.”
He shrugged. His eyes followed her as she took up residence in the same chair she’d been in that night that Sam told her it was over. ‘It’ meaning the plan. Nothing else. Not them. There never was a them to be over. She couldn’t believe that just fake dating someone could be so painful.
“I’ll probably leave it,” Sam admitted. There was actually a hint of humor in his tone and she breathed a sigh that was half relief. “I’m not a big gin person.”
“More for me then.” Amy laughed and even she could hear the strain in it. She was nervous.
“So…” Sam folded his hands in his lap. He leaned forward. “I guess I’ll just get right to it, since there really isn’t any use beating around the bush. God, I hate that saying. It’s a stupid saying.”
“I don’t know who beats around bushes,” Amy agreed. “It is silly.”
“Anyway… I came here because I wanted to know if there was- uh- well any chance that you’d consider doing this for real. Dating each other I mean.”
Amy sucked in a breath. Sam looked so uncomfortable she could tell it had taken him a while to work up his courage to come there and ask her. She wished she could have done the same thing for him. She wished she could have told him the truth all those years ago, when they were still kids, when they had their whole life ahead of them.
“I… I think-”
“I mean, no one would have to know. We could just keep it a secret. We wouldn’t tell anyone in case it doesn’t work out. Our parents don’t have to know. It would be just between us this time.”
She closed her eyes and tried to imagine. Her. Sam. Actually together. For real. She couldn’t speak she was suddenly so choked up. Sam obviously took her silence the wrong way. When she opened her eyes he was standing, an odd, pained expression twisting his face.
“Where are you going?” she gasped.
“I- I’m going to leave because- well, that’s obviously better than staying and- and- never mind. I shouldn’t have come here. This was ridiculous. I don’t know where I had the idea that you would actually want to-”
“I was going to say yes!” She stood as well, just as abruptly. “I don’t want you to go. Please, sit down. Sit down and tell me what else you were going to say.” She waited, breath trapped in lungs that felt like they’d explode at any second.
Sam slowly sunk down. He stared at her, a little dazed, like he couldn’t quite believe she wasn’t telling him to march his ass out the door.
“I like that idea. I mean, not telling anyone. No pressure then.”
“Yeah…”
“Honestly, Sam, I’ve imagined it a hundred times. You asking me. I’ve dreamed about you every single night. I kept looking at the door, hoping you’d walk back through it. Wishing. I didn’t think it would ever be real.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Really. Not just these past few weeks either. I- well of course, after I left… Sam, did you know? Did you ever even suspect?”
“What?”
“That I wanted to be with you? That I actually wanted you? I didn’t know that I did, really, until it was me and your brother. And then I didn’t know what to do. It was a disaster. I knew we were all going to get hurt and it seemed like it was easier to leave than stay and try and undo all the damage I’d done.”
“I- I didn’t know. Not really. I knew how I felt about you, but of course I would never have said anything either. You were with my brother.”
“Really? You felt it too? I- I never really thought that you could have. I thought that we would have known, each other, if that was the case, but I guess that’s not always true either, is it?
“No. I had no idea how you felt. It seems so stupid, us sitting here saying this, a decade later. That we had feelings for each other and neither of us could do anything about it. You left and I could never, ever, tell anyone how I felt.”
“I wonder how it would have turned out? If we’d somehow known and got through it?”
Sam snorted. “Probably would have been a disaster. I think you’re right. It would have been a mess. My brother would have got hurt. My parents. Your parents. Probably both of us. We probably would have ended up hating each other. Maybe my mom and your mom wouldn’t even be friends right now.”
“Yeah, who knows. You’re probably right.”
“Maybe it’s best that we’re both here now. Two crazy people who have waited a decade to say how they really feel.”
“Did you? Did you feel anything all these years? Did you think about me?”
Sam slowly nodded. “Of course. Of course I felt something for you. It wasn’t like I pined away all these years or like I couldn’t function, but I guess I never really moved on. I always knew that if I ever saw you again, it would screw me up pretty good.”
“And then I came back into your life in the worst possible way.”
“Why did you pick me for that plan, Amy? Truly?”
She pressed her lips together while her heart kicked up and her stomach rose right up into her throat. She knew she should be honest. That she probably owed it to him after everything. If they were going to have a fresh start, then he deserved the truth.
“Because for me, there never really was anyone else. I thought I could get over it. I thought that I could move away and forget you and just… that the past could be the past. But it didn’t work. I couldn’t move on. I couldn’t forget you. The past wasn’t the past. I tried to make it work with someone else. You know that. I thought I truly loved him when I married him. Now… it’s easy to look back and see what he did and think that was the reason the marriage failed. I want to think that I was always faithful, in my head and heart, but is that even possible when you were always still there?”
“I think your heart was in the right place, if you truly thought you could love him. If you married him, it must have meant something.”
“It did, but I never really forgot about you. Is that wrong?”
“Would you think of me? Fantasize about me?”
She knew she was blushing to the roots of her hair. “No. No, of course not. I never let things like that happen.”
“Did you sit around thinking of me?”
“No.”
“Paint me?”
“Certainly not!”
“Then you were probably just trying to move on. No one really ever forgets their first love, if that’s what I was, or your first crush or wh
atever. Best friends, even. No one really leaves their past behind. It’s always with us, even in the present. We always have those feelings buried somewhere. I don’t think you were using him or that you were just in it to get ahead.”
“Really? I thought you said that…”
“Forget what I said before. That was rude. I was just trying to get under your skin.”
“Dick.”
“Yeah.” Sam nodded emphatically. “I was being a dick. Because if I wasn’t, then I knew that you’d get right back into my heart and that would be it for me.”
“Really? You’re not just fucking around? This is actually, truly real? You really want to give this a shot?”
“Absolutely. I don’t know what else to do. I can’t move on. I can’t stop thinking about you. Even the guys at the shop have noticed that I’m working myself to death. They actually talked to me about it. They knew right away what the problem was. For a bunch of thick-skulled mechanics, they’re actually pretty smart.”
“Wow…” Amy had to blink back the tears that were fast gathering up in her eyes. “That’s really romantic, Sam. They really care about you.”
He finally cracked a smile. The serious expression was gone. “They told me to grow a set of balls and finally just ask you what you felt. So I’m here. I’m asking. I guess that means that maybe I have a set after all?”
“I hope so. I really, really fucking hope so.” She couldn’t stop the strangled laugh that tore from her throat. “Because I seriously think that after that- well- what we did- that little teaser… I’d like to know more. I’d like to get to experience those balls first hand.”
“So you’re actually into it? You actually want to do this thing for real?”
“Yes. I’ve wanted to for a very long time. You were the only person I could have asked to be a fake anything, because you were the only person I truly could see it working with. Although it was a bit of a disaster.”
“A bit!” Sam scoffed. “It was a total train wreck.”
He stood and came and actually knelt in front of her. He took her hand in his and chaffed it, as though she was cold. She wasn’t but she liked the way his hands felt gripping hers. God, she’d waited so long to find out what that would feel like.
“So if we’re together, for real, what makes you think it wouldn’t be the same thing?”
“Because it would just be us. No one else. No pressure. No fake shit. No friends, no family, at least not at first.”
“My friends all think we’re engaged.”
“You seriously need to find some new friends. Really. Clients are one thing. Friends are another. You should also find new clients, but I know that could take time.”
Amy blinked hard, but a few tears escaped anyway. They rolled down her cheeks before she could reach up to brush them away. She left her hand in Sam’s and used the other to swipe at them.
“I’ve been thinking the same thing actually. You made me realize that I need to have people who are actually there for me. That I shouldn’t have to try to fit in, that I shouldn’t have to fake it all the time. I want someone who just wants to hang out with me because I’m me.”
“I made you realize that?”
“Yeah. You did.”
His hand tightened over hers. “So are we going to give this thing a try then?”
All she could do was nod. She waited until the massive clog blocking up her throat went down a few notches. “I’m really tired of being tortured. I’m really tired of wondering… I want you. I think you want me. That’s really all there is to it, I guess.”
“That’s not quite all?” Sam looked up at her and the heat in his gaze stopped her heart.
“What then?” she gasped.
She found out real fast. He used the hand he was still holding to drag her down. She let out a squeak of surprise right before she landed, half on top of him. He caught her though and in the next instant his mouth slanted over hers, claiming, hot, demanding. She closed her eyes and finally, finally, yielded.
Chapter 19
Yielding
Sam
Too many clothes. There were way too many clothes between them. They were pretty much a tangle of limbs on the floor. As Amy fell on top of him and he wrapped her up in his arms and slammed their mouths together in a hungry blaze of passion. Their limbs were tangled together, his knee between her legs, their arms wrapped up anywhere they could reach. He’d waited a lifetime to be with her. For at least a good decade. It was too much. He instantly felt as out of control as he had the first time.
Her hand crawled up his shirt, skin on skin. Her warm palm pressed against his hard muscle, fusing them together. His hand slid up and tangled in her long silky hair. He pulled back on the strands as he pressed forward, driving his tongue into her mouth. She let out a gasp of surprise at the rough onslaught, but moaned in pleasure a second later. He licked her tongue and she licked him back. He nipped her lip, sinking his top teeth into the soft rosy flesh. She went wild. She bucked against his knee, jean on jean material.
Sam felt the same way. That ache, seated deep inside, an ache that only she could banish. It wasn’t real that she was actually his, at least for the time. It was a hell of a lot more than she’d been the last time he was there. He’d acted aloof, in control, demanding. This time it was different. They both knew it.
Since the damn room was open concept, Amy’s bed was out in the open. All he’d have to do is pick her up and take her there. Take her there and banish the ache inside both of them.
As if she could read his mind, she pulled away and he let her break the kiss. “Bed… now…” she panted.
He opened his eyes in time to see a deep frown crease her brow. “What’s wrong.” His voice was equally as rough and shaky.
“I don’t… have protection… we shouldn’t start this if we can’t finish it.”
Sam laughed low and rough, a little wild sounding even to his own ears. He reached in his back pocket and produced a small packet. “I might have been hoping you’d say yes. I came prepared, just in case.”
“You just brought one?” She sounded so disappointed he nearly laughed again.
“No, of course not. I brought three.”
“It still doesn’t seem like enough.”
“Oh, there are lots of things that I can do that don’t involve needing these. Just because I brought three doesn’t limit us at all.”
“Is that right?” Amy’s eyes twinkled. “I think I’d like you to show me.”
“You think? You think? I think that’s not a firm enough answer. I think I need to take you to that bed, tear off your clothes, wrap your legs around me and teach you a lesson.”
“A lesson?” Amy shivered. “That sounds just like what I need.”
He bent his head, kissing her deeply, cutting off their air supply. He shifted so that he could wrap her up in his arms. He lifted her easily and she went willingly, pushing off the floor right along with him. He nipped at her mouth, licked at her lips, drove them both wild with desire. As if they weren’t wild with it already.
The walk to her bed was thankfully brief. He wasn’t sure if he liked open concept living, but now he knew that whoever came up with the theory had their shit right. His cock pulsed in his jeans. He honestly didn’t know if he could last, but he wanted it anyway. Her hands, her mouth, her gorgeous smooth pussy.
Sam set Amy down on the bed hard. She actually bounced off the quilt. Surprise flared in her eyes, but she recovered fast enough. She scrambled to her knees and was already working the button of his jeans before he could even blink.
“What are you doing?” He said roughly as she tugged his jeans and boxers down his leg. She wasn’t gentle. Those little hands held a shocking amount of strength.
“I want to take you in my mouth,” Amy said huskily. She stared up at him, eyes blazing with passion.
Lord, hearing those words was like another hard blow to the stomach. He nearly doubled over. His cock stood out in front of him, so fucki
ng hard it nearly folded back up against his stomach. He stared at her glistening swollen lips. They were red and bruised with his kiss. His cock throbbed, literally jumping between them at the thought of being between those glorious lips and into her wet warm mouth.
“Fuck,” he ground out.
“Is that a yes?”
“Of course it’s a yes.”
He reached out and tangled her silken hair in his hands, threading the strands through his knuckles. He brought her face forward roughly, but she expected it. One hand braced herself on his thigh and the other wrapped around the base of his cock.
He let out a loud exhale, more the sound of all the air rushing out of his lungs. He nearly died when she leaned forward and slid her perfect lips over the head of his cock.
A strangled noise came out of his throat. He watched her, watched her take him all the way into her mouth, inch by inch. She took his entire cock, right to the back of her throat before she pulled back. She suckled the tip, running her tongue over and over, teasing him with expert little flicks and swirls.
Fuck, he hadn’t realized she was a damn pro. His balls ached, no, fucking screamed, for release. He wanted to explode in her mouth and it had been less than a minute.
He balled his other hand into a fist and took deep, shaky breaths, trying to keep it under control. There was no way he was going to come in under a minute. He had some pride.
She moaned with his cock in her mouth and he felt the vibrations straight in the soles of his feet. She swirled her tongue over the tip again and he groaned wildly. Amy seemed to like that because she worked him harder, using her hand and her mouth in unison.
He pushed deeper into her mouth, needing her, needing to be all the way inside. She took him, every single inch. She stroked him with her tongue as he gripped the back of her head, guiding her. Fuck… her mouth. Her damn mouth is so incredible.
Just when he thought it couldn’t get any better, Amy reached up and cupped his balls with her other hand. He nearly rocketed out of his damn skin. She worked him hard with her hands, her mouth, her tongue… all of it in glorious unison.
Fake It: A Sizzling Hot Pretend Romance Page 11
