by Lea Kinkade
As she went to move past him, Ryan grabbed her arm gently and pulled her into his embrace. “God, I love you.” Cupping her face in the palm of one hand, he bent down and gave her a sweet kiss. Samantha, sensing something more was going on, put her arms around his waist and pulled him in for a deeper kiss, opening her lips to let him in. Although she had no proof, she couldn’t shake the feeling that Ryan was saying good-bye to her in that kiss. As she moved away from his arms and toward the kitchen, her eyes teared up and she wondered if this was the end and Ryan was just figuring out a way to let her down easy.
Once in the kitchen, she fought back the tears and swiped away two that escaped before she could control them. Moving to the refrigerator to see what Ryan had set out for supper, she heard the sounds of her favorite CD coming from the family room where the stereo equipment was. It was Billy Currington, and she could hear him singing their song, “I Got A Feelin’.”
She knew she should just come out and ask him what was going on, but she decided if he was going to break things off with her she’d rather have just one more night in his arms to remember him by. Shaking her head, she tried to shake off her negative thoughts as she pulled out the chicken that had defrosted in the refrigerator.
Ryan came into the kitchen with a distracted smile on his face. Sitting down at the granite-covered island, he engaged her in conversation about her day. While Samantha diced the red onion and placed it in the bottom of the roasting pan, he asked her what Celia was up to. Measuring out the red wine and balsamic vinegar, Samantha answered him as she poured it over the chicken she had placed in the roasting pan on top of the sliced onion. She got out a few cloves of garlic and put them through her garlic press into a small bowl where she added Kosher salt and rosemary leaves. She stirred up the mixture and proceeded to spread it over and into the chicken in the roaster. Setting it to the side to marinate, she washed her hands with soap and hot water then dried them off on a dish towel.
“I should go in to the club for a couple of hours after supper. Do you want to come with me?” Ryan had cut back a lot on his late-night hours, and Samantha often accompanied him to the club when he planned on being back at a decent hour.
“I think I’ll stay home tonight, if you don’t mind. I have a slight headache, and I don’t want to be around all that noise when I feel like this.”
“I’m sorry, darlin’. Do you want some painkillers? Let me go get you some.”
As he moved to get off his seat she stopped him by saying, “No. I’m going to go upstairs and take some and then lie down. Can you put the chicken in the oven in an hour? It needs to go in for two hours at three hundred fifty degrees.”
“Can I come upstairs while the chicken is cooking and snuggle with you? I’m about done with the bills I was taking care of before Dad and the rest of them came over.”
“Sure. If I fall asleep, don’t let me sleep too long, okay? I’ll see you in a little while.” She went to him and gave him a quick peck on the lips and headed upstairs.
When she got upstairs, she went into the bathroom and shook out a couple of pain pills into the palm of her hand. She hadn’t been lying, she really did have a headache. Taking them with a sip of water, she slipped off her skirt and top and climbed onto the bed, reaching down to drag the quilt that lay at the foot of the bed up to cover her.
She lay there quietly, thinking about the conversation she had overheard and wondering what it could mean. They had been discussing her and something the press would be interested in. Some sort of scandal. Either this had to do with something Ryan had done or someone had found out her mother had been a prostitute and was threatening to leak it to the press.
The Chisholms already knew everything about her mother and father, so it wasn’t about keeping the information from the rest of the family. They had to be worried about something else. Maybe they were worried about how it would affect the Chisholm name if something about her family got printed in the papers. That wouldn’t be surprising. Brandon’s and J.T.’s families had been worried about that as well. In the end, they had been more worried about how the news would affect their family name than anything else. Maybe that was the problem. The Chisholms were more affluent and influential than either of Brandon’s or J.T.’s families. Perhaps they were worried that the news would affect their business interests or their social status.
No, thought Samantha. The Chisholms weren’t like that. Ryan wasn’t like that. He had proven his love and commitment to her over and over and had known about her mother and father since before they had moved in together. He knew it when he had proposed to her. Ryan deserved her unwavering trust, and she needed to trust him to tell her what was going on when he felt the time was right. Ryan was trying to protect her from something. Otherwise, he would have already told her the truth.
She would tell him what she had overheard when he got home from the club and ask him to tell her what was going on. They had promised to be totally honest with each other, so she knew by keeping what she had overheard to herself, she wasn’t living up to her promise. At the same time, she knew that he hadn’t been totally honest with her several months ago when he had heard the nasty stories going around about their engagement and had purposely not told her. She had not found out about all the nastiness until nearly two months after the news of their engagement had hit the rumor mill. He’d been trying to protect her, she knew. But the fact was that they were holding back things from each other and they shouldn’t. Decision made, she closed her eyes and let her mind drift in an attempt to get rid of her headache.
Samantha awoke when Ryan slid into bed with her. As he spooned his front to her back, she could feel he was totally naked. By the feel of his hard shaft pressing against her back, she could also tell he was highly aroused. As he pulled her near-nude body into his, her body responded as it always did when he was around. Quickly divesting her of her bra and panties, he continued to spoon her tightly against his body. Her nipples jutted out like pebbles and her pussy started to tighten and grow moist. His hands found her nipples and strummed them into diamond-like hardness. He kneaded her breasts and nipples until she moaned out his name. As one hand moved down caressing her ribs and stomach, he gently pushed her fully onto her back, spreading her thighs wide with his big body.
He moved both hands gently to her pussy and spread apart the swollen lips as he rested his head on her thigh just looking at this beautiful part of her. Samantha grew restless and embarrassed as Ryan lay between her thighs just looking at the most intimate part of her. She moved her hands down to cover herself up but halted when Ryan rasped, “Don’t, darlin’. I just want to look at you. You’re so beautiful down here. Just give me a minute to enjoy this sight.”
Keeping the lips of her pussy spread wide, he continued to look at her as she grew wetter and wetter under his gaze. When he bent his head down and licked her from back to front, she cried out his name. Continuing to lick her sweet juices from her pussy, Ryan studiously avoided touching her clit as he lapped up her creamy wetness. His hands moved away from the lips of her pussy and one of his fingers pushed into her slick opening as she bowed her back in pleasure. Withdrawing the finger, he used two as he began to pump his fingers in and out of her cunt, all the while continuing to lick her ravenously.
As her pleasure mounted, so did the tension in her lower back and pussy. She could feel her orgasm pulling the strings of her body tighter and tighter as she reached for the pleasure she knew awaited her. One touch to her clit would make her explode. He kept her waiting as he strummed her over and over with his lips and tongue. Finally, he took his hands away and spread her thighs even wider as he moved in closer. Bringing his tongue back to her pussy, he flicked her clit with his tongue once, twice, and she was falling over the waterfall into a deep abyss of pleasure. Screaming out his name, she grabbed his hair in her hands, holding his face to her pussy as she rode the aftershocks of her orgasm.
Breaking free of the hands in his hair, Ryan moved back up her body, ki
ssing and licking her stomach, ribs, and breasts. He continued up her body, kissing and licking her breasts then over her collarbone to the curve of her neck, over her cheek and to her lips. She could taste herself on his lips and tongue as he took her mouth in a ravenous kiss.
“How’s your headache, darlin’? Gone now?” He gently nuzzled into the curve of her neck.
“What headache? Did I say I had a headache?” Her headache was completely gone now, drowned out by the release of endorphins set free with that flaming orgasm.
“Glad to hear it’s all better. I have plans for you, and a headache would get in my way.” His eyes were filled with love as he looked at her.
“What sort of plans? Do they include me doing too much, because my legs and arms are sort of the consistency of Jell-O right now. I don’t know how much I can contribute.”
“All you have to do is stay in the position I put you in, darlin’. I’ll do the rest.” He had a twinkle in his eyes that told her he wasn’t totally teasing her.
“I think I can do that. Where do you want me?”
Coming up to his knees, he stayed kneeling between her thighs as he drew her knees up to her chest then spread her thighs as wide as they would go. Testing her for her continued readiness she knew he would find that she was copiously wet and swollen. “Right there, darlin’. Can you hold that position? I want to fuck you hard.” His bold words were brought home as he guided his hard cock to her entrance.
Pushing his cock into her inch by inch, he groaned in pleasure as her body readily accepted his wide shaft. Once his hard length was all the way in, and his balls slapped against her ass, he grabbed onto her legs for leverage as he pulled his hard length almost all of the way out and then slammed back into her balls deep. He began the push and pull motion they both wanted as he tunneled in and out of her hot pussy. The tip of his cock brushed her cervix with each inward thrust and with each pull outward his girth brushed against her sweet spot, making her hitch her breath in pleasure. Finding his rhythm, he continued to pummel in and out of her pussy, and she knew she was getting close when her inner muscles started squeezing his cock coming and going.
“Let go, darlin’. Come for me.” Two more thrusts and she groaned out his name as her orgasm exploded over her. Ryan continued to thrust deeply into her pussy as his own orgasm yanked him under. He held himself still against her as his cock pulsed his seed deep into her body. Her inner muscles continue to stroke his hard cock as he rocked against her gently.
Ryan seemed to come back to himself as he pulled his semihard cock out of her moist heat and sat back on his knees. Gently moving her legs back down to the bed, he leaned over her body and gave her a sweet kiss on the lips. Moving to her side, he pulled her body into his so that her head rested on his chest. She caressed his solid abs with her hand and rained kisses over his rock-hard chest as she murmured love words to him.
Deciding not to wait until after he came home from the club, Samantha laid her head back on his chest. “When I walked into the house this afternoon, I overheard you and the others talking about me.” She felt him take a deep breath and looked up at his face. “I heard what your father said about some scandal being all over the newspapers soon. Did someone find out about my mother being a prostitute? Are they threatening to go to the press? Will it hurt your family’s business if people find out?”
He looked down into her face, and she could see pain for her in his eyes. “Oh, darlin’. Is that why you were so quiet earlier?” When she nodded her head, he sighed deeply and tipped his head back up so that he was staring at the ceiling for a few moments before looking back into her eyes. “My family isn’t worried about how that kind of story would affect us. We’re worried about how it will affect you. I don’t want this pain dredged up for you again.” She could see the pain he felt for her in his eyes.
“Who is it? Some tabloid?”
“No, not a tabloid. Someone a little closer to home.” She could tell it was killing him inside to tell her this.
“I don’t understand. It’s someone we know? Who would do that? The only people who know are members of your family. They’d never do something like that. What would anyone gain by doing this? I don’t understand, Ryan.” She couldn’t think of anyone who disliked her enough to do something like this.
“Do you remember back when we did the engagement portrait and Mom sent it out to the papers for the announcement?”
“Yes. She said she was sending it to the local newspapers. I don’t understand. What’s our engagement announcement got to do with anything?”
“She didn’t mean any harm, darlin’. Please believe that. If she’d had any idea that something like this would happen, she wouldn’t have sent the announcement.”
“What happened, Ryan? Just tell me.”
“Mom sent the announcement to the papers in Austin, San Antonio, and…”
“Just spit it out, Ryan.” She needed him to say it, but she could feel a sinking sensation in the pit of her stomach.
“She also sent the announcement to the paper in Corpus Christi. Someone who knows you saw it and is threatening to go to the tabloids with the story about your parents.”
“I don’t understand. The only people who know about my mom were the state authorities. They’re bound by confidentiality. They can’t say anything or they’ll get in trouble.”
“It’s not someone from the state. Darlin’, I…it…it’s your mother. She saw the engagement announcement in the Corpus Christi society section and recognized you. When she couldn’t track down a number for you, she called the corporate office for Chisholm Ranch Enterprises and demanded to speak with someone in charge. She said she had information that would damage the family and business and that if she didn’t talk to someone in charge, she’d take the information to the media. Xander took her call. After he was done talking to her the first time, he called me to let me know and we both talked to dad and Uncle Marcus about the best way to handle the situation. I didn’t want to tell you until we had more information.”
“My mother?” Samantha asked incredulously. “My mother. I thought she would be dead by now, what with the drugs and everything.” She rolled off the bed and pulled on her robe. She couldn’t process this.
“I still don’t understand. What does she want? What will she get out of it if she goes to the media? She tells the world that she’s a prostitute and a drug addict? How does that benefit her?” She started working through the possibilities in her mind as she paced back and forth. What could her mother hope to gain by threatening her like this?
Ryan leaned over the side of the bed and grabbed the jeans he had shucked off earlier in his haste to get into bed with her. Pulling them on and zipping them, he walked to her and tried to pull her into his arms. She resisted his efforts and continued her pacing. He sat on the side of the bed looking like he wished she had never had to know about this.
“She wants money, Samantha. She wants hush money. She thinks the Chisholms will pay her to keep her mouth shut. At first, Xander didn’t let on that he knew anything about her, and she offered to tell him ‘the truth’ about your parents for money. Once Xander told her he already knew about her, she changed her tune and threatened to tell the media if we didn’t come up with money to pay her off.” She knew he could see the stark pain in her eyes.
“How much?” she asked hoarsely. “How much is fucking me over worth to her?” She didn’t know if she’d ever felt more hurt in her life. Her own mother was trying to extort money from the man she loved.
“She’s asked for half a million dollars.”
“Half a mil…My God! At least she set her sights high, didn’t she?” The hurt she had felt was fast fading as anger took over that her mother would attempt to hurt her more than she already had.
“I’m sorry, darlin’. I really am. I know it can’t be easy to think your own mother would do something like this to you. That she could hurt you like this.”
“What have your investigators learned ab
out her? Is she still a prostitute? Is she still a drug addict?” Her voice grew cold as she let the rage take over.
“How did you know…?”
“I know your family. They would have learned everything they could about her the minute she became a threat to any member of this family.”
“That family now includes you, you know? My family doesn’t give a rat’s ass about any perceived threat to our business or reputations. Our only concern is for you and making sure she can’t hurt you again.”
At her raised brow, he finally answered her questions. “Yes, to both questions. She’s a step away from living on the streets. The years have not been kind to her and…” His voice drifted off as he visibly stopped himself from telling her the rest.
“And she can’t get as much money for her services anymore. Is that what you were going to say?” Samantha had lived with her mother long enough to know how much money meant to the woman. Tonya Michaels had been a high-priced call girl when Samantha lived with her. Samantha wasn’t so young that she didn’t figure out what was going on. Besides, her mother never tried to hide her activities from her impressionable young daughter. Samantha looked a lot like her and she knew men had thought her mother was beautiful.
“Yeah.” He got up from the bed and stepped in front of her as she continued to pace. As he put his arms around her, she let her body sink into his for a few minutes before she straightened back up, thinking about this new development.
“Isn’t what she’s doing against the law? Isn’t it blackmail or extortion or something?” At one time, she had thought that her mother might have let her go because she thought it would be best for her little girl. Now, she knew better. Her biological mother, that’s the only way she could think of the woman who had given her life but little else, was a horrible woman. She was a criminal and was trying to hurt people who had shown Samantha nothing but kindness and love. Cassie Chisholm had been more of a mother to Samantha than Tonya Michaels had ever been. Samantha finally realized that the stigma of what her mother was belonged solely to Tonya Michaels. She had been an innocent child and was not to blame for who and what her parents were.
