She stood there in her pink dress, waiting for me to laugh and say I didn’t mean it. She would have stood there all night, outside that club with the lowest level of humanity waiting for a fix or attention they’d never deserve or need. But Sammy was better than those people drinking and drugging in that bar. She was better than me, doing my father’s business inside it. She always would be.
“I have something to tell you,” she said, wiping her face dry.
That was when Olivia McMurry approached the front entrance, and I took the woman for the opportunity she was. “Hey, baby,” I called to her, disgusted by her cheap perfume and the stiff texture of her hair from too much product that scratched against my neck when she hugged me.
“Hey, yourself,” she said, slipping her arms around my neck.
“Here ya go, kid,” I told Sammy, handing her a fifty, not bothering to look away from the overdone girl in my arms as I spoke. “Make sure you get a cab home.”
Of course, she hated me then. She’d gone on hating me for years. I couldn’t blame her. Even if I had a good reason, I’d still destroyed all the good we’d had together.
“You still haven’t forgiven me.” It wasn’t a question, and Sammy didn’t respond. I went on looking down at my hands, noticing nothing at all but the smell of her perfume and how I wanted to erase everything in the world but her and me and the feel of our bodies coming together.
“Please, Johnny,” she said, sounding exhausted. “This is what I need.”
“You need him to get his way?”
“I need peace.” She lowered her head, rubbing her neck before she exhaled and stood, taking a few slow steps away from the sectional.
“You…you never told me the third thing, Sammy.”
She paused, lowering her head, and for a second, I thought she might stop. I followed her, my steps increasing when she moved to the elevator and hit the button. “Tell me about the third reason you fell for me.”
“It doesn’t matter,” she said, hitting the button a second time before she glanced up at the numbers above the car.
“Because I can list a million why I fell for you.”
Sammy glanced over her shoulder, not quite staring at me but not looking away either. She rested a palm against the wall, still waiting for the elevator to return, and I didn’t bother to tell her it wouldn’t come without my key.
“One,” I started, taking a small half step, careful not to move too quickly. “The way you cry at the same parts of the same books you’ve read a dozen times.”
She turned farther, finally facing me, but stepped back.
“Two. How loyal you are to the people who mean the most to you, even the selfish assholes you can’t see are trying to control you. No one is as loyal as you are, Sammy.” I took another step.
She moved back, hitting the wall, her hand coming up to keep me at a distance.
“Three, four, and five. How devoted you are to your beliefs. How passionate you are about the things you love. How you show that passion with everything inside you.”
Sammy didn’t speak. She didn’t argue when I held her face, ready to devour her with one kiss.
“Six. How I know you love me as much as I love you. How I know when I kiss you, you’ll kiss me back because it’s what you want, and you’ll mean it because you don’t know how to do anything half-assed.”
She let me kiss her, mouth soft and open, compliant as I demanded. Sammy leaned into me, kissing me back, clinging to me as I took everything she offered. It only took a second for her to push away those self-constructed walls, forgetting whatever it was her uncle had said that brought her here. One kiss and another and I had my Sammy back, returning what I gave her, giving me what I wanted.
“There she is,” I said, slipping my fingers into her hair, mouth moving down her neck. “Are you back now?”
She released a long, breathless pant, like she was trying to control her breathing as she gripped my collar. “I’ve always been yours.” She sounded winded and a little drunk.
I didn’t care; I took what she offered and consumed every morsel. “Turn around.”
Something dark and wicked shifted in her eyes, and I grinned, liking that look on her face. The devil surfacing in the angel’s gaze before Sammy turned, leaning against me as I moved her hair away from her neck, holding it back in my fist before I kissed along her spine.
“This skin,” I said, gripping her hip, loving how she arched against me. How she knew to move with me just how I wanted. “This body…” Sammy bent her head back, leaning into the feeling of my mouth on her neck and my free hand over her stomach, pressing her tight against my hips. “Please, bella, don’t ever take this away from me.”
“I can’t…”
Whatever excuse she had ready, I didn’t want to hear. I only wanted her right now. Right here. And Sammy seemed to know it. She stopped speaking when I kissed her neck, curling my arms around her waist, moving my hands over her body like I needed to touch every inch of her.
“Don’t tell me no,” I said, brushing her hair away again to get at her zipper. “Not tonight.” Her expression was tense, as though she held her breath, needed to see what I’d do next before she could exhale. I lowered her zipper and pulled her dress down over her shoulders, pushing it to the floor, that tension evaporating. “You can’t say no, Sammy,” I told her, kissing her skin, licking her spine when I unfastened her bra and threw it to the floor. “Not when your body is so primed for me.” She shook against my fingers when I teased her nipples, letting loose a long, breathy moan as I pinched them between my fingers. “Not when I know you’re wet for me. You’re ready for me.” Sammy didn’t argue when I moved my right hand over her ribs, tickling her stomach, slipping my fingers under her thong to cup her, my dick getting thicker, harder when I felt the slippery wetness of her slick pussy. “That’s for me, bella? All that is just for me, si?”
She kept silent, breathing growing ragged until I slipped a finger inside her, making her arch against me. She reached up to grab my neck and pulled me down to kiss her. “Johnny…”
“You want me, bella? Say so.”
“I…want you. I want you now.”
“Good,” I told her, turning her, holding her close as I walked us both back to the sectional. “Because I want you so much, I can’t see straight.” Cupping one breast, I kissed Sammy, slipping my tongue deep, holding her thigh on my hip as she moved against me.
She paused when I pulled away from her, a small frown on her face breaking through the lust and heat as I let her leg fall from my hand. It didn’t stay there long.
“Turn around, Sammy, and bend over.”
It took her a second to think about what I said before she moved, hurrying to situate herself over the arm of the sectional and pull down her thong as I tore off my jacket and tie, untucking my shirt to pull myself from my shorts and pants.
We hurried like two kids. Her leaning forward, waiting, ready; me holding myself and her hip as I angled to meet her from behind until we were together and I slipped inside her, moving slowly, groaning against the sensation of all that heat and tightness I sank into.
“Holy hell…” I muttered, overwhelmed by feeling as I moved. I wanted this to last all night. I wanted nothing more than to be inside Sammy and stay there forever. But I had to move, had to make sure she felt as good as I did. So, I bent her forward, thrusting deep as I slipped my hand around to cup her, teasing her clit, grunting against the feel of her tightening around me and wetting my fingers at the same time.
“Johnny…ah… That’s good…so good…”
I could have died right there, deep inside this woman, buried in her, with the smell of her around me, touching her, wanting nothing more than to keep this sensation from never ending. Maybe I would have, as long as she’d have me. Sammy rocked back, and I hurried at the sound of her breathing, the little noises she made after just a few minutes telling me she was close.
“This?” I asked her, loving how she nodded as
though speech weren’t possible. And I moved faster, with my hips, with my hands, gripping her sweet ass, pounding into her, teasing her clit, until wetness covered my fingers and my dick, and Sammy cried out, my name from her lips like a surrender she probably didn’t realize she made.
She went limp against the arm of the sectional, and I held her shoulders, angling deep until she arched back, the sensation not complete until Sammy tightened around me, squeezing me. I felt the rise of my climax shoot through me like an electric current.
We staggered away from each other and then back again, curling onto the sofa, naked, exhausted, with Sammy against my chest, her soft, warm breath tickling my chest. I’d never felt more at peace or more worried about what would come later.
The room had gone quiet as our breathing returned to normal, and the only sound I could make out was the low hum coming from the fridge at the back of the room. My entire consciousness was filled with Sammy—the smell of her sweet perfume and the delicious tang of her skin, the warming pant of her breath and the slow tickle of her nails as she ran circles along my ribs. We said nothing. Did nothing but lie there and let the moment take us. It had been ten years since we’d been this way, since we’d been together, and the tingle of the afterglow felt like a high we couldn’t get enough of.
“Did I hear you right earlier?” she asked, her soft voice breaking the silence like the rhythm of a tree branch thumping against the ground in a storm. “Did you say you…love me?”
She’d stopped moving her finger over my skin as she waited for me to answer, likely nervous what I’d say. The thought had me grinning. Samantha Nicola, the most beautiful woman on the planet, was scared of rejection. Fucking ridiculous.
“I said I knew you loved me as much as I love you. So, yeah, bella. I suppose I did say that.”
“Oh.” She moved her finger to tease my rib again, a lazy, soothing motion. “Since when?”
Sammy was a smart woman. She’d been a smart girl. I’d spent a lot of years hoping she hadn’t been. From the first kiss, she would have known the effect she had on me. Each touch did something to me. Every look, every stolen promise, changed me. I’d wrecked it all, but she was smart. She could see through my lies. It had to be the reason it had taken her so long to let go.
She didn’t complain when I turned, positioning her on her back, or when I moved on top of her, needing to see her expression when I made my confession. “Since that first kiss, bella, and every kiss after that.”
“But you told me…”
“And every day from that first day,” I said, covering her mouth with a kiss when she tried to interrupt me. She let me silence her again, taking my tongue until the questions and confusion became too much and she pushed me away.
“You told me you never… You said…”
“I lied. Every single time I told you that, I lied, and I’m sorry, Samantha. I loved you. I still love you. I’ve always loved you.”
Eyes wide, Sammy rubbed the moisture from her lashes, fighting hard to keep herself from crying.
I moved closer, kissing away each tear when it fell. “I’m sorry,” I told her, kissing her cheek, tasting the salt from her tears. “I’m so sorry, amore mia.” I took her mouth, my thumb stroking over her cheekbone as I stared down at her. “I’ll go to my grave protecting you. I’ll spend the rest of my life making sure you know how sorry I am that I ever lied to you.”
Maybe it was the time we’d spent apart or the lies I’d told that kept us apart. Maybe it was the happiness in that moment of what we might find in the future. But right then, Sammy’s tears came quicker, streaming down her face as if from a faucet. She didn’t tell me to stop kissing her, and I didn’t ask her why she cried. I just leaned over her, taking her mouth, doing my best to show her with my lips and tongue, with every part of my body, that I was hers and I’d never let anything or anyone ever change that again.
10
Sammy
Fairy tales weren’t real.
There were no dragons.
No knights coming to rescue the damsel.
I was fine with that. I’d never needed a rescue.
On the day Betta was born, I promised her we’d rescue each other. And we had. Uncle Pat had done what he could, but I had disappointed him. I had shattered all the plans we’d made for my life since I was a little girl because I fell in love and in bed with Johnny Carelli.
But for once, for the smallest moment, I wanted to pretend that the fairy tale could be mine.
Johnny took me to the Hamptons, a magical place meant for only the fantastically wealthy or the fantastically well connected. I’d never been either of those things. Johnny was both.
His family owned a mansion with an oceanfront view, miles from the common tourist traps, with exclusive beach access that promised no one would bother us. There, we would be alone and pretend there wasn’t a life and the weight of too much responsibility waiting for us in Manhattan.
At least for a few days.
“Here, there’s more pineapple.”
“I’m stuffed,” I told him, warding off the last few decadent slices of fresh fruit he shoved in my face. He’d spent most of the past hour grilling asparagus and salmon out on the deck while feeding me fruits I’d only seen in magazines and heard about on cable cooking shows.
“Where’d all this come from?” I asked.
He knelt in front of me, lifting the last pineapple chunk in front of my mouth.
I opened wide, laughing when Johnny licked the trickle of juice that slipped down my chin. “Hmm…”
“You’d be surprised…” he started, abandoning the food to inch closer to me. His mouth drifted from my chin and down my neck. “…what you can have ordered last-minute…”
I stifled a moan, still not convinced we were completely alone in this massive home, or utterly secluded from the world despite the private beach being empty.
“…when you’ve got enough cash.”
“Oh.”
When Johnny circled my bare nipple with his mouth, I stopped caring about where all the food came from or how private this mansion was and let him divest me of the terry cloth robe. My skin was still pink from a day in the ocean. I was pretty sure I’d never be completely free of sand from between my toes, but Johnny’s mouth and tongue and clever, talented fingers were distraction enough that I didn’t care about anything but how he made me feel and the small fairy tale we were creating underneath the stars.
* * *
It was after midnight when my cell phone rang, and I grabbed it, the fear over Betta gripping me before I realized where I was or who lay next to me naked in this massive bed.
“Hello?”
“Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, Samantha. I’ve been calling you for two days!”
My skin chilled, and I slipped from the covers, grabbing Johnny’s button-up to wrap around my body before I stepped out onto the balcony, not wanting him to hear my uncle screaming at me in the dead of night.
“Uncle Pat,” I said once I walked out of the room, realizing the ocean’s waves wouldn’t do anything to calm me. “Why are you calling so late?”
“Because you damn well wouldn’t return my calls. Where the hell are you? Did you give Johnny the check? Have you severed ties with him?”
“Listen…” I started, wincing when I heard the old man’s amazed cursing under his breath.
“Have you lost hold of your senses? Dear God, you haven’t—” He stopped speaking.
I glanced over my shoulder, frowning when I spotted Johnny sitting up in bed, his arms on his knees as he watched me.
On the other end of the phone, my uncle muttered low, rapid-fire prayers to himself, as though he needed some divine intervention to keep from losing even the smallest grip on his patience. “Did you tell him about the child?”
“What? No, of course not,” I said, turning back around and away from Johnny as though he could hear my uncle’s question. “You have to let me handle this in my own way and in my own time. John
ny wouldn’t take the check. I couldn’t force him, and you can’t make him sell you the building. It’s not that simple.”
“Then you’ll have to choose another building.” Pat’s voice was firm and final, as though he’d spoken all he would of the situation and expected me not to argue.
“No,” I said finally, ignoring his grunting sigh. “I’m not discussing this with you right now. It’s after midnight, and we both need to rest. Stop drinking that whiskey and go to sleep.”
“I am not…”
“Priests shouldn’t lie, Uncle. Now go to sleep.”
I hung up before he could continue arguing, but I couldn’t move. Instead, I stared down at the screen, squeezing my phone between my fingers as though that might help relieve some of my anger. It didn’t work, and neither did looking out into that low-tide moon. There were too many obstacles laid out before me. Too many hurdles that kept being set higher and higher, and I knew I’d never be able to clear them.
It was all so overwhelming.
Then the balcony door opened, and Johnny slipped out behind me, pulling me to his chest with his chin on the top of my head.
“He’s always going to hate me, isn’t he?”
“I’m afraid so,” I said, figuring there was no reason to sugarcoat anything.
“I’ll speak to him when we get back.”
I turned, leaning against the railing because I wanted to see his laugh when it came. But Johnny wasn’t making a joke.
“What’s that look?” he asked, angling his head to the side when I continued to stare at him blankly.
“That would be an exceedingly bad idea.”
“Because he hates me?”
I nodded.
Johnny shrugged. “Not for nothing, bella, but I think I can handle an old man screaming at me.”
“You want to get on his good side? Then stay the hell away from him.”
Johnny drew his eyebrows together and tightened his mouth, bringing his lips into a hard line. “I can’t do that, Sammy.”
“Why?”
Nailed Down: The Complete Series Page 60