Hung Up on Hadley (Red Maple Falls, #5)

by Theresa Paolo

  It wasn’t though, and it was a weird feeling—something he had never experienced before. He had been with many women over the years, but he never craved them for a second time. Never stayed up at night thinking about them and wondering what they were doing, but ever since he’d kissed Hadley, touched the soft skin between her legs, felt her muscles tighten around his cock, he’d become addicted to her. All he wanted was to be with her.

  He kept waiting for the moment when his desires would finally be satisfied, but the well was infinite, and no matter how many times he thrust into her silken center it was never enough.

  He took her hand from his chest and kissed her palm, needing to feel her skin against his mouth. His eyes scanned the store, looking for a place he could take her and quench the insatiable hunger consuming him.

  Before he could find a solution, Missy came out of the dressing room in a huff. Hadley pulled her hand from Sam’s and spun toward his sister. “No good?” she asked a sour Missy.

  Missy shook her head, crossing her arms over her chest.

  “What was wrong with them?” Sam asked.

  “Everything makes me look like a pole.”

  Sam had no idea what the hell Missy was talking about and shot a glance to Hadley, hoping she could figure it out.

  Hadley laughed. “You do not look like a pole.”

  “Really? Because I have no butt and no boobs. I’m a pole.”

  “You’re fourteen,” Sam mumbled, but Hadley pulled him back and flashed him a look that said I got this. He kept quiet even though he had a million things he wanted to say.

  “You have to learn to love you for you and embrace that.”

  “Easy for you to say. You have boobs.”

  Sam couldn’t argue there, but he continued to keep his mouth shut.

  An amused smile spread across Hadley’s face as she placed her hands on her chest. Sam shifted uncomfortably and averted his gaze. “These babies didn’t show up until I was almost eighteen, and they’re still small compared to my sister Kate’s. Then there’s my sister Daisy.”

  “I remember her.”

  “Then you remember those beautiful corkscrew curls she has.”

  Missy nodded.

  “I’ve always been jealous of them. I can’t even get a curl to stay in my hair when I use a curling iron. Yet Daisy used to hate her curls. She would blow dry them and flat iron them… anything to get them straight. Kate used to tape her boobs down when she was your age because she was embarrassed by them. My point is, you’re always going to want what you don’t have, but one day you’ll look back on it and wonder why you wasted so much time over something so silly. So why don’t we put these shirts back.” Hadley took the hangers from Missy’s hand and hung them on a rack. “And let’s get you more clothes to try on that are made for your body type.”

  Missy took a minute to think it over, and Sam waited with bated breath. Missy ran either hot or cold—he assumed it was the whole hormonal teenager thing—so he never knew how she would react.

  “Let’s do it.” Missy smiled, and Sam let out a sigh of relief.

  Hadley wrapped her arm around Missy’s shoulders. “Let’s go.”

  “Wait,” Sam called after them. “Does that mean we’re not done?”

  Hadley laughed. “Not even close.”

  ***

  “That was fun,” Hadley said as Sam pulled up to her house.

  “Loads.” He couldn’t help the sarcasm that crept into the word.

  “It was.” Hadley turned toward him as he put his truck in park, and she linked her arms around his neck. He looked up at her, so pretty in the shimmer of moonlight that peeked through the sunroof. “Missy finally found an outfit she loved, and you got to spend the whole day with her and with me.”

  “It was nice being in public with you,” he said as he nipped at her ear. “Every time you slipped your hand into mine or when Missy would go into the dressing room and you’d come over and sneak a kiss…I actually felt like a couple.”

  Her fingers ran through his hair, and he closed his eyes, absorbing the soothing sensations trickling down his neck.

  “Let’s go inside.” The hot touch of her breath against his skin sent desire spiraling to his core. It took all the strength he had to not jump out of the truck and race her to the bedroom. There were things on his mind he needed to get out, and the only way to do that was by staying where they were and avoiding temptation.

  “Let’s talk,” he said.

  “We talked all day. I don’t want to talk anymore.” Her lips came down on his, hot and insistent, and he allowed himself to get lost in the kiss for a moment before pulling back.

  “Soon,” he said then took a deep breath and rested into his seat. He ran a hand through his hair as if that would tame the beast that was ready to be unleashed inside him.

  “Okay, we’ll talk,” Hadley said, settling back in her own seat. “What’s going on?”

  He didn’t know how to put into words what he was feeling. They sat there in silence while he thought through the fog in his brain.

  “You don’t want to end this do you?” Hadley asked, and he twisted to face her with rapid speed, reaching out to her and wrapping his hand behind her head. He brought her forehead to his, holding on with all that he had.

  “God, no.”

  Hadley let out a breath of relief and laced her fingers through his. “Good. That’s good.”

  “But I don’t want to keep hiding. I want to be able to take you to the movies and for dinner and a beer at Calhoun’s. I want to tell the whole world about this amazing beautiful woman I’m with.”

  Hadley’s lip trembled, and she sucked in a sob. “I want that, too. But I’m scared. I’m scared once we let the outside in, it’ll ruin everything. I’ve waited so long for you, and I don’t want to lose you. Not yet.”

  “You won’t lose me.”

  “How do you know that? You’re the one who told me your friendship with Matt means everything to you. What if he doesn’t approve?”

  “You and I are adults now. It doesn’t matter what he thinks.”

  “But—”

  “Shhh.” Sam rested his finger against her lips. “If you think I’m letting you go so easily, then you don’t know me at all, and that kind of hurts because I thought you knew me better than anyone.”

  She pulled back, looking into his eyes and straight into his very soul. “I do,” she said.

  “That’s what I thought. So now I’m asking you to trust me.”

  Hadley was quiet for a moment, Sam’s heart jackhammered against his chest as he waited for her to speak.

  “I’ll always trust you.”

  “Then let’s tell your family.”

  She took a deep breath and nodded. “Okay, but can we wait till after the craziness of the holidays? Just in case things don’t go as well as we hope.”

  “I can do that.” He smiled. “Now get back over here so we can finish what you started.”

  She leaned forward and wrapped her hands around his neck. “So demanding.”

  “And you love it.” He nipped at her bottom lip, and she let out a sexy moan that was meant to entice. It worked. He reached across the console and grabbed her, pulling her over to his side of the truck.

  She let out a squeal, and they both laughed as he ran his hand down the curve of her breast. “I’ve wanted you all day,” he said.

  “Then you better not waste any more time.”

  He kissed her and managed to open the truck door, letting in a blast of cold air. “It feels like snow,” she said.

  “Smells like it, too.”

  He scooped her into his arms and kicked the truck door shut. “More reason to spend the rest of the evening in bed.” She held on tightly, placing feather kisses to his neck as he carried her to the front door.

  His hand found the knob, and he turned, knowing that Hadley—like most people of Red Maple Falls—didn’t lock her door. He pushed the door open and walked her into the living room whe
re Lady’s head popped up from the couch.

  As soon as she spotted Sam, she jumped up and hurried over to him. Sam placed Hadley on the adjacent chair and retrieved the dog treat he had slipped into his pocket. “Here you go, girl.” He bent down and scratched her behind the curls on her ears.

  “I knew you’d leave me for another girl, but I didn’t think you’d do it right in front of me,” Hadley joked, but her words cut deep to a place inside of him that harbored insecurities. He grew up with a single mother because his father didn’t think she was enough. Sam never wanted to be that guy. If he never led someone on, gave them false hope, then he wouldn’t become the man he despised more than the devil himself.

  It was why he was so resistant to Hadley at first and probably why he hadn’t noticed her way before she’d confessed her feelings to him. He didn’t want to ever hurt her. He watched the downward spiral his mother fell into, and he never wanted to carry that burden. Though he knew Hadley was much stronger than his mother ever was, the fear still lingered inside him.

  Once he decided he wanted in, there was no turning back. She needed to know that he wasn’t going anywhere.

  He left Lady to her treat and went to Hadley, kneeling down in front of her.

  He rested his palm against her cheek, running the pad of his thumb across her skin. “I would never,” he said, the words holding as much conviction behind them that he could manage.

  Hadley’s eyebrows turned down as she leaned forward, taking his face in her hands. “I know that. I was joking.”

  “Do you?” he asked, needing to hear her say it, needing confirmation that she understood that no woman could take him away from her. What they had was something so rare and he wasn’t dumb enough to let that go.

  She brushed her hand through the front of his hair and nodded. “I do.”

  “There’s no one else for me, Hads, and I need you to tell me that you understand. Tell me you understand.”

  She slid off the chair, straddling his lap and nodding against his head. “I understand.”

  His hand laced into her hair, and he held her close. “Good.” He captured her lips in one quick motion, pouring his heart into each stroke of his tongue. An erotic whimper rose in her throat as he slipped his hand beneath her shirt and pinched her nipple that was straining against her bra.

  “Take me to bed,” she said between kisses, arching her body into his touch.

  “You have to go walk Lady first. Once I get you in bed we’re not leaving.”

  “Mmm. I like the sound of that.”

  She kissed him one last time, lingering as she stood from his lap. “Come on, girl,” she said to Lady, patting her leg.

  “Hurry back,” Sam said, granting him a big smile.

  When the door opened and closed, Sam got off the floor and walked over to the fireplace. He grabbed a few pieces of wood and placed them inside. He wasn’t just good at putting fires out; he was also good at getting them started. He placed some kindling beneath the logs and lit them. Within seconds the flames rose and lapped at the edges of the wood until they were engulfed.

  The steady crackling of the wood and the warmth of the fire put Sam at ease. Hadley had told him she understood, that she knew there was no other woman for him, and while he thought that would help deter the voices deep in his head that told him he was his father’s son, it didn’t. The voices were still there… muffled a bit, but still there.

  He leaned against the couch and closed his eyes, forcing the voices to shut the hell up. Today had been perfect, and he didn’t want to ruin the night. With a deep breath, he opened his eyes and stood up. He grabbed the blanket off the couch and laid it down in front of the fireplace before disappearing into the kitchen and grabbing two bottles of beer out of the fridge.

  In most romance movies he’d had to endure over the years, the guy always had champagne flutes with some fancy champagne or wine, but he and Hadley weren’t fancy. They were beer drinking, flannel wearing people who couldn’t give two shits about what the movies thought. It was one of the many reasons why he loved her.

  Love.

  His entire body froze at the realization.

  Of course he loved Hadley. He’d loved her since the days when she’d worn pigtails and chased him around the farm. He always had her best interest in mind and looked out for her. It was what he did for the people he cared about.

  Just then, Hadley walked in, covered in snow, her lips upturned in the most beautiful smile. “We were right. It’s snowing.” She shook the snow from her hair and looked back at him, but her eyes stopped on the blanket on the floor.

  “Is someone trying to be romantic?” she asked, amusement in her tone.

  “I think trying is the keyword here.”

  She slipped out of her jacket and draped it over the chair. “Blanket, fire, beer… I’d say you nailed it.”

  “Where’s Lady?”

  “Chewing on her bone. She should be occupied for a while.”

  “Good,” he said and held his hand out to her. She moved toward him, slipping her hand in his and kneeling down on the blanket beside him.

  The fire amplified the heat running through his veins as he lifted his hands to Hadley’s hips and pulled her toward him. He didn’t waste a single second, pressing his lips beneath her shirt at the spot above her jeans. Her fingers clutched his hair holding on to the short strands as he swirled his tongue across the band.

  He unbuttoned her jeans and pushed them down, smiling at the seafoam green boyshorts that were lined with lace and had a tiny blue dog on her hipbone. They were sexy, yet still one hundred percent Hadley. He ran his finger over the tiny dog and kissed her stomach. She sat back, and he helped her pull her pants off, tossing them out of the way. She slipped out of her shirt and bra and added it to the pile.

  He held her gaze as he pulled her panties aside and slipped his index finger into her wetness. Her heated gaze locked on his as a moan rumbled up her throat. She rocked against his hand and gripped his shoulders, digging her nails into his skin.

  A wordless plea came out in a series of whimpers, and he couldn’t deny her. He knew exactly what she wanted. He pushed his pants down, grabbing the condom from his pocket and ripping the foil open. He sheathed himself and positioned himself at her hot, wet center.

  Her chest rose and fell with each breath, her nipples taut and straining for his touch. Unable to resist, he dipped his head taking a tight bead between his teeth then circling it with his tongue before moving to the next.

  “Oh Sam,” Hadley cried out, arching toward him and rubbing her slick folds against the head of his cock. “Please.”

  He looked down at her, the shadows from the fire dancing across her face, making her look even more beautiful, if that was even possible. He locked on the slate of her eyes and thrust inside her. A cry tore from her lips, her body bowed, and her hands dug into the woven blanket beneath them, but she didn’t once look away from him. She held his gaze with each pump of his hips, each caress of his hands and with each tremble that rocked her body until an orgasm consumed her, and her head flung back.

  His hand ran down the middle of her breasts and gripped her hips. He thrust one last time, fireworks exploding behind his eyes as he shuddered.

  She looked up at him through hooded lids, a satisfied smile on her pretty lips.

  The word love popped back in his head and sat on the tip of his tongue. Yes, he loved her, he knew he did, but this was different. It was more, so much more, and no matter how many ways he denied it, he couldn’t ignore it. He didn’t just love her; he was in love with her. Deep, scary, mind numbing love that wrapped around his heart and refused to let go.

  Chapter 18

  Christmas and New Year’s came and went, yet Hadley still wasn’t ready to tell her family about her and Sam. She wasn’t ready to deal with her grandmother’s questions about marriage and babies, because once she found out about them, it was inevitable. She didn’t want to have to face Matt when he found out his best fr
iend was sleeping with his baby sister, and she didn’t want to lose the life they had created for themselves over the past few months.

  She was being selfish, she knew that, but she felt she had every right to be, and to be honest she got a thrill from sneaking around. But Sam was growing impatient, which was why she agreed to finally come clean after her mother’s birthday party. To Sam, it was more about proving to her he was in this for the long run than about anything else, and she couldn’t deny him that.

  They’d parted ways earlier that morning and agreed to arrive at her parents’ house separately. He had a shift at the firehouse and then had to stop by Mrs. Kingston’s to hang a picture for her so he would be a little late, but he promised he would be there.

  She patted her leg for Lady to follow and adjusted the gift on her hip as she pushed the door open. The house was alive with chatter; gold and silver balloons floated above her tied to every available surface.

  She placed the gift on the table along with the rest and made her way to the kitchen where she knew she would find everyone.

  “Hadley’s here!” her grandmother exclaimed as she hurried over and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

  Hadley greeted everyone else and gave her mom a big hug, wishing her a happy birthday.

  Carol Hayes hugged her extra hard. “Thanks, kid. Now go get yourself a drink. Mason brought a few growlers to choose from. And I also have a baked clam dip, a spinach artichoke dip, some bruschetta, fresh mozzarella and basil, and stuffed mushrooms I made from a new recipe.”

  “You do realize it’s your birthday, right? Shouldn’t we be cooking for you?”

  Carol flashed an incredulous look. Hadley held her hands up and laughed. “Sorry I brought it up.”

  Cooking was more than preparing food to Carol; it was a way for her to unwind, to enjoy the satisfied smiles on her family’s face when they bit into something delicious she’d made. She would never give that up, especially not for her birthday.

  Hadley headed over to the table and grabbed a plate.

  “Where’s Sam?” Betty asked, and Hadley’s heart hammered against her chest. Did her grandmother know? Between her and Terry, they were the Queens of town gossip. If anyone had seen the two of them together, they would know. They planned on telling everyone tonight, figuring nobody would make a commotion at her mom’s birthday party, but Hadley wasn’t ready. Not without Sam by her side.