“You think you can handle it from here, or do you need me to stick around?” he asked once he finished washing the top of the truck.
Aubrey looked at his reflection in the SUV’s darkly tinted windows. The intensity in his whiskey brown eyes nearly scorched her. She held his gaze as her chest expanded with the deep breath she sucked in.
“You okay?” Sam whispered in her ear.
“Not particularly,” Aubrey replied. She was seconds away from bursting into flames.
“Maybe you need a break?” Sam tipped his head toward the narrow galvanized structure tucked into the far corner of the parking lot. “I was just about to get more cleaning supplies from that storage shed over there.”
“You don’t play fair,” Aubrey said.
“I never claimed to.” He tugged at the hem of her T-shirt.
There was no time for words once they entered the cluttered shed. The moment Sam closed the door, he pinned her against it and attacked her mouth with a demanding kiss, thrusting his tongue between her lips and licking his way inside. Aubrey melted against him, her legs struggling to support her as Sam did his best to drive her insane with his kiss.
This is what she’d been missing.
All these years. All those long, lonely nights. The dates she’d had over the years with guys who could never quite measure up. This is why they were never enough, because they weren’t Sam.
He wedged his strong thigh between her legs as he snaked one hand up her T-shirt and captured her breast. He whisked his thumb back and forth across her nipple, again and again, until the bud tightened in exquisite torture. Aubrey grabbed his head between her hands and held him in place as she gave his mouth all the attention their kiss warranted. She dipped her tongue in and out, teasingly lapping at him, playing her role in this sensual game.
She wanted him inside her. The ache between her legs begged for the kind of relief only he could give her. His erection hardened against her stomach, propelling her need.
“Do you know,” Sam started, then he stopped and kissed her. “How much.” Another kiss. “I want to take you up against this door.”
A mewl escaped her.
“We can’t,” Aubrey said. But, God, did she want to.
“I can make it quick,” Sam implored. But then he shook his head. “No, I can’t.” He pulled back slightly and looked her in the eyes. “When I finally make you mine again, it’s going to last all night.”
The darkly whispered promise made it hard for Aubrey to breathe. She was so tempted…
With one last kiss, Sam released her and stepped away. “Damn. Feels like high school again.”
Her gaze dropped to his lap. “Some things seem bigger.”
A wickedly sexy smile inched up the corner of his mouth. “Not much bigger, just really excited.”
He pressed another swift kiss to her lips. “We should probably get back out there before someone realizes we’re missing.” His sensual gaze locked onto hers. “We can pick up where we left off tonight.”
* * *
Aubrey wasn’t sure how she managed to keep her feet on the ground. She felt so light and free as she and Sam strolled along the brick sidewalk in the heart of downtown Gauthier, surely she was in danger of floating away.
White lights stretched from one side of Main Street to the other, hung in a crisscross pattern high above the crowd gathered there on this balmy summer night. Steel barricades barred traffic from Collins Street to Pine, turning a six block stretch of Main into a pedestrian-only throughway. Sam explained that it was something new the town had started just a few months ago, after the sidewalks could no longer contain the amount of people who flocked to the downtown area on the weekends.
Aubrey couldn’t get over the fact that this was the quaint little town that had always lived in the slightly bigger Maplesville’s shadow. Yet, despite the swarm of new visitors and new paint on the store fronts, it was still Gauthier.
She and Sam had arrived about two hours ago, beginning their date with dinner at Emile’s Restaurant, the epitome of fine dining in these parts. For generations people came to Emile’s to celebrate birthdays, anniversaries, and date nights. She learned that the owner still closed the restaurant to reservations on prom nights for Maplesville, Gauthier, and St. Pierre High Schools to insure that all prom-goers could get a table.
After dinner, which included Emile’s decadent signature white chocolate bread pudding, Sam had suggested they walk through Heritage Park, another quintessential part of Gauthier that endeared so many to the town. Aubrey could still remember coming to the Easter Egg Hunt here when she was a little girl. She hadn’t been able to contain her yelp when she saw that the old abandoned waterwheel had been restored.
“Deanna tried to explain how different things were in Gauthier, but nothing could have prepared me for this,” Aubrey said. “They really have made it into something special, haven’t they?”
“Wait until you see The Jazzy Bean. You’re going to love it,” Sam said. “The owner, Shayla Wright, knows what she’s doing. People drive in from as far as New Orleans and Baton Rouge.”
“To come to a coffee shop?” Aubrey asked.
“Just wait.”
They entered the building and Aubrey stopped short. “This is a coffee shop?”
It looked more like a bluesy jazz club than a coffee shop, with its exposed brick walls, stained concrete floor, and…wait? “Is that a stage back there?” Aubrey asked.
Sam nodded and pointed to a flyer tacked to a corkboard on the wall. “There’s a concert starting in twenty minutes.”
“I can’t believe there’s something like this in Gauthier, of all places. Amazing.”
“And you haven’t even tried the coffee yet,” Sam said.
Instead of coffee, they opted for hot chocolate with house-made marshmallows, which they brought outside, settling at one of the small wrought iron tables on the sidewalk.
Aubrey took a sip of her drink and sighed in satisfaction. “This place is fantastic. Better than any chain coffeehouse, and the fact that you can catch a concert here on the weekends too? It’s fabulous.”
“You should talk to Shayla about performing,” Sam said. “She’s really good when it comes to supporting local acts.”
Aubrey shook her head. “I don’t know if I can call myself an act when I only sing for weddings and funerals.”
“Your voice was made for more than just weddings and funerals.” Sam reached across the table and covered her hand with his. “When you have a gift like the one you were given, it should be shared with as many people as possible.”
Aubrey wasn’t even sure how to respond. It had been a long time since she’d heard Sam champion her singing career. He’d always been a supporter, but once she started talking about moving to California her music became a sore subject between the two of them. She’d assumed that’s how it always would be.
It was yet another sign of how much he’d grown over the years.
“Thank you,” she told him. “It means a lot to hear you say that, Sam.”
“It’s the truth. You should talk to Shayla. Once she hears you sing she’ll probably have you in here as a regular.”
Aubrey could feel herself blushing from his continued praise, but she shook her head.
“I don’t know if I’m ready to perform so close to Maplesville,” she said. She swirled the marshmallow around in her mug, glancing quickly over at Sam before bringing her eyes back to the milky concoction.
“Why not? You sang at that flagpole dedication earlier this week.”
She shrugged. “That’s different. That was one song and everyone joined in. But performing an entire set?” She shook her head. “One of the reasons I stayed away as long as I did is because I didn’t want to face the people here after the way I left.”
“No one cares about that video anymore, Aubrey. I did, but no one else does.”
“I’m not talking about just the scandal,” she said. How could she explain it to Sam
when she wasn’t sure how to explain it to herself? “I left here with all these huge dreams of making it big,” Aubrey said. “But my career didn’t turn out the way I thought it would. It stalled before it could ever really get started.”
“But you said you’re happier being a voice coach than you were when you were singing professionally.”
“I am,” she said.
“So who gives a fu—who cares what anyone else thinks?” Sam reached over and took her hand in his. “You shouldn’t care what anyone thinks, Aubrey. Even me.”
Aubrey sat up straight. She stared at him across the table, her heart beating strong and swift within her chest as Sam’s apologetic gaze bored into hers.
“I know I gave you a lot of shit when you first got back to town, but that was because of my hang-ups. You shouldn’t allow me or anyone else around here to stop you from doing what you love.” He brushed his thumb across her fingers. “You won’t get famous singing at The Jazzy Bean, but I can still remember how happy it used to make you when you performed. When you need a little bit of that joy, you can find it here.”
A warm glow spread throughout her at his words.
“I’ll think about it,” Aubrey conceded. “As much as I enjoy teaching, I’ll always love singing even more.” She squeezed the hand she still held. “Thank you, Sam. Thank you for still believing in me. For bringing me here tonight. For forgiving me.”
He brought her hand up to his lips. “Thank you for forgiving me.”
They remained hand-in-hand while they finished their hot chocolates, taking in the sights and sounds of the atmosphere around them. Instead of waning, as Aubrey had expected, the crowd on Main Street continued to swell, and when the jazz quartet from New Orleans began their set on the tiny stage in the back corner of The Jazzy Bean, even more people migrated to the coffeehouse. There were so many people clamoring to get in that they had to prop open the front door so that the music could drift out into the streets.
After people dancing to the music bumped their table for the third time, Sam stood. “I think this may be our cue to get out of here.”
Aubrey glanced down at her phone. “But it’s only nine o’clock.”
“I didn’t say we were going home.” A roguish grin played along the edges of his lips, while the naughty glint in his eyes sent a current of excitement through her.
Ten minutes later, they were on Highway 421, heading west back toward Maplesville. Aubrey thought maybe he was taking her to his condo, but when Sam slowed and took a right turn off the highway and onto a dirt road, she knew exactly where they were headed.
Ponderosa Pond.
Aubrey couldn’t help but smile. “Dinner at Emile’s was nice, but I think I’m going to like this even better.”
Sam parked his truck several yards from the water’s edge. He grabbed a couple of blankets from behind the seat and spread them out in the truck bed.
“You planned this?” Aubrey asked him, gesturing to the second blanket he rolled up as a pillow for them to share.
His eyes sparkled with amusement. “What if I say I did?”
“I’d say that you need to work on that overconfidence. We’re supposed to take this slow, remember?”
He chuckled. “Actually, these have been back here since the birthday party Ian threw for his little sister, Kimmie. It had a drive-in movie theme. He rented this big screen and the kids all piled into the back of trucks to watch the movies. I left the blankets in here. Figured they’d eventually come in handy.”
“Looks as if you were right,” she said with a cheeky grin. Aubrey could feel her skin heating as Sam’s eyes drifted the length of her body.
“Overconfidence, my ass,” he said as he helped her into the truck’s bed. Before joining her, Sam went back into the cab, coming out with two citronella candles. “It’s a good thing these were still in there too. We wouldn’t last five minutes out here with these bugs, especially you.”
She threw her head back with a laugh. Her dislike of bugs had been fodder for more practical jokes than she cared to remember.
Sam finally joined her in the truck bed, settling next to her and wordlessly taking her hand in his. He brushed a light kiss in the center of her palm then placed their clasped hands over his heart. Her breath caught in her throat. Was the gesture a message? She wanted his heart. Wanted it more than anything.
Aubrey lost track of time as they lay on their backs, staring up at the clear night sky.
“This brings back so many memories,” she murmured.
“Good memories, I hope.”
She looked over at him and smiled. “The best memories.”
It had been on a night like this one when, after dating for nearly a year, she and Sam lost their virginity to each other in the back of his dad’s old pickup. Aubrey’s stomach clenched with yearning as she remembered the beauty of that night. It had always been Sam, only him. Maybe that’s why she’d felt so miserable the first time she slept with someone else. And why there had been so few men since then.
Aubrey mentally pushed those thoughts away. She didn’t want to think about anyone else, not when she finally had Sam lying next to her again.
“You know what I miss the most?” she said. “The quiet. Everything was always so loud in L.A. I missed hearing the cicadas and the owls. Just to hear the wind rustling through the trees is a treat. You don’t learn to appreciate those things until you’ve gone without them.”
“What about that noise back in L.A.?” Sam asked. “Do you miss that at all?”
“I haven’t been away long enough to miss it,” she said.
“But you will.”
“Probably,” she said. Maybe.
“There’s no ‘probably’ about it.” He turned onto his side and levered himself up on one arm. Looking down at her, he said, “I’m already mentally preparing myself for the day you get a call from some big time music executive who runs across your ah-maz-ing new website. Once it’s finished, of course.”
“So, you’re promising that it will be ah-maz-ing?” she teased.
“Damn right it’ll be amazing.” Sam’s eyes sparkled with humor, but then he sobered. He brought her hand up to his lips, kissing the crest of her fingers. “I know that you’ll eventually go back, Aubrey. You’ve always been a big city girl stuck in a small town.” He brushed his thumb along her jaw. “Who knows? Maybe I’ll follow you this time.”
“Oh, sure,” she said with a snort. “As if you would move to L.A.”
One shoulder lifted in a shrug. “What was it you used to tell me? There’s a great big world out there and you want to see it all? Maybe it’s time I get out of Maplesville and see what this great big world has to offer.”
Aubrey knew he was just saying what he thought she wanted to hear. She’d always longed to live beyond the borders of this small town, but Sam never had. At least not the Sam she knew ten years ago.
Aubrey cupped his jaw. “At the moment, I’m not thinking about moving anywhere else,” she said. “I’m content right where I am. But if I did move, it wouldn’t be to California.”
Sam stiffened. “It wouldn’t?”
She shook her head. “Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed L.A. well enough for most of the time that I was there, but it took its toll on me. There would have to be a damn good reason for me to go back there. Besides, it would be nice to live in another part of the country. Not New York, because the cost of living there is even more ridiculous than L.A. But maybe the Pacific Northwest or New Mexico.”
A sexy grin pulled at his lips. “Is there a huge demand for voice coaches in Albuquerque that I don’t know about?”
“You’d be surprised,” Aubrey answered with a grin of her own. “There are opportunities in just about every corner of the country. School districts or community theater programs like the one here. I could get work in dozens of places.”
“It sounds as if you’ve thought this through.”
She shrugged. “Better to think about all my options now tha
n to jump feet first into the unknown.”
“Just promise me one thing,” he said. His voice had dropped several octaves. “Wherever you find yourself, make sure there’s room for me. Even if we’re on completely opposite ends of the earth, I’ll find a way to get to wherever you are. If that’s something you want.”
She nodded, swallowing past the emotion lodged in her throat. “Yes. I want that too, Sam.”
“Good,” he whispered. “Because now that you’re back in my life, I’m not willing to let you go.”
Her breaths were reduced to shallow pants as Sam’s fingers skimmed the edge of her shirt. He bared her midriff, tracing his finger along her rapidly heating skin, moving closer and closer to the waistband of her skinny jeans. His eyes never left her face as he unsnapped her jeans and slowly drew the zipper down.
Aubrey sucked in her stomach as his knuckle brushed against the sensitive skin beneath her bellybutton. He moved his hand back up to her waist, spanning it, while he toyed with her hair with his other hand, gently caressing the straightened strands.
“You’re so beautiful,” Sam whispered. “You’ve always been so damn beautiful.”
“You’re one to talk.” Aubrey looked up into those eyes that were the color of expensive bourbon.
“I’m an ogre compared to you, but I’m not going to waste time debating. We have better ways to occupy our time.”
He lowered his head and claimed her lips in an intoxicatingly tender kiss. He moved slowly, gently gliding his tongue across her lips. He was unrushed, as if content to lay there all night and simply kiss her until dawn.
But Aubrey needed more. She needed him.
This was Sam. The man she’d dreamed about for ten long years, the man whose body she’d craved for over a decade. She wanted so much more than just his kisses.
She snaked her hand around his neck and pulled him down until his chest flattened against her breasts. With her free hand, she reached into his waistband and into his underwear, going right for what she wanted. Sam released a throaty moan as he dove for her neck, nuzzling along her collarbone, pulling her bra strap between his teeth.
Any Time You Need Me Page 11
