River of Love

by Melissa Foster

  Sam kissed Faith softly, then relaxed into his seat, still holding her hand. “Can I ask you something?”

  “Sure.”

  “Look around. Have you slept with anyone here?”

  “Me?” She laughed as she glanced around the restaurant. Her heart nearly stopped at the sight of Roger Waylin, a guy she’d dated a few months ago. Her eyes snapped back to Sam. Thankfully, she’d turned down Roger’s advances. “No. No one.”

  Sam turned, his eyes landing on Roger, sizing him up. Then those all-knowing eyes came back to her, and his mouth curved up in a satisfied smile. “Good to know.”

  He poured the wine and handed Faith a glass. “To us.”

  “The only people in the room.” She touched her glass to his.

  Sam stayed close throughout their meal, giving Faith his rapt attention, touching her thigh, her hand, her cheek. They fed each other from their own plates, and by the time they finished dinner, Faith couldn’t remember why she’d been so nervous in the first place. They drank and flirted, and Sam kissed her so many times he kissed the embarrassment right out of her.

  She leaned forward and brushed her mouth teasingly over his. “Want to get the check and go to my place to work on my communication skills?”

  Heat flared in his gorgeous eyes.

  Ten minutes later they were kissing their way through the parking lot, their bodies practically glued together as Sam fished out his keys.

  “Sammy!” a woman yelled from across the parking lot.

  Sam froze, his lips still on Faith’s, his eyes serious.

  “Sam! Hey, Sam! Let’s have a drink!” another woman hollered.

  Sam and Faith both looked in the direction of the sound of a group of women talking and giggling—and headed their way.

  “Think we can ditch them?” he asked with a coy smile.

  Yes! “Really?”

  “Unless you want to stand around and watch me tell them to bug off.”

  She trapped her lip and immediately let it free. “Hurry!”

  Chapter Eighteen

  SAM AND FAITH stumbled into her dark apartment in a tangle of limbs and lips, laughter and pleas. Faith walked backward down the short hallway toward her bedroom, lifting Sam’s shirt as they kissed, then leaning back just long enough for him to tug it over his head and drop it to the floor. She pulled her top off, and it puddled by their feet. He loved this confident side of her. With her eyes on Sam, she unhooked the front clasp of her bra, and the lace lingerie slipped to the floor. Her breasts were like incandescent moons against her tanned skin. She lowered her chin, looking up at him through her impossibly seductive lashes.

  Sam drew her into his arms, his voice hoarse with desire. “Just the sight of you takes me to my knees.”

  He sealed his mouth over hers in a merciless kiss, his rigid length growing even harder with the press of her nipples against his bare chest. He took the kiss deeper, delirious from the emotions coursing through him. Beats of pleasure pulsed through him, limb by limb, up his torso, burning in his chest, unleashing his last tethers of restraint.

  “Baby,” he said urgently against her lips, before taking her in another rough kiss, much rougher than he’d intended. He didn’t even know what he wanted to say. He just couldn’t hold anything back—not a sound, not a look, not a pleasure-filled groan, like the one streaming from his lungs into hers.

  He fisted his hands in her hair, deepening the kiss again, unwilling to relent before he got his fill. His hips jerked forward with the press of hers, shocking him back to the doorway where they stood. He gazed into her sultry, smoky eyes, hoping she was still with him.

  “Yes, Sam,” she said clear as day.

  Thank fucking God. Their mouths slammed together in another brutal kiss, like explosives held back for too long. They stroked and groped and plundered each other’s mouths, each struggling with the buttons on the other’s jeans. Sam grabbed his wallet from his back pocket as they stripped off their clothes, leaving a trail to the bed. He took out a few condoms and tossed them on the nightstand, still kissing Faith. Their mouths parted long enough for Sam to drink in every lush curve. When his gaze rose to hers, her eyes were locked on his eager cock and her tongue slicked across her lower lip.

  “Holy Christ you’re beautiful,” he said, bringing her eyes up to his.

  “So…so are you.”

  “Faith, you have no idea what you do to me. Every word.” He brushed his thumb along her lips. “The way you look at me.” As he took her in a languid kiss, his insides went soft with emotion, while the rest of him grew harder. The clashing sensations sparked a surge of desire.

  He swept her into his arms and laid her on the bed. “The answer was no,” he said as he followed her down. Her brows knitted in confusion and her knees fell open as he settled between them. “In the restaurant. I didn’t see anyone I had slept with. I wanted you to know, but thank you for liking me enough not to pursue it.”

  She reached for him. “It’s behind me now. Even if you had, I would still be here.”

  It was all he could do to resist plunging deep inside her, to feel her heat swallow every inch of him and truly make her his. He kissed the corners of her mouth, her chin, and sucked on her luscious lower lip, relishing the eager noises coming from her as she writhed beneath him.

  She lifted her head and her eyes—God, her eyes said it all—I want you. I need you. Make love to me.

  “Tell me,” he coaxed.

  “I want you, Sam. Make love to me.”

  He knew how hard it was for her to say the words and had to take her in another mind-numbing kiss to keep from blurting out, Thank you for trusting me, which would only embarrass her more. Instead he cradled her face in his hands and said, “All night long, sweet girl.”

  She gripped his waist, lifting her hips against his hard length. Her wetness teased his sac, sending spikes of heat down his spine. He trailed kisses down her body, loving her breasts, grazing the sensitive nipples with his teeth, then sucking the way she loved, as his hands played over her hips. He kissed every rib, every inch of her belly, until she was panting. Moving lower, he dragged his tongue around her damp curls. The scent of her arousal drew him in. He spread his hands on her inner thighs, lowered his mouth, and feasted on her wet flesh. There was no holding back the urgency and longing that had been trapped inside him. He stroked and sucked and thrust his tongue deep inside her. She clutched at the sheet, arching against his mouth, groaning through clenched teeth, and he knew she was holding back. He plunged his fingers into her, crooking them to reach her pleasure point.

  “Come for me, baby. Let go,” he urged. “You taste so good, look so beautiful. Show me how much you want me.”

  Bringing his mouth to her again, he sucked that sensitive bundle of nerves until it was stiff and swollen, and her entire body arched as she shattered against his hand and mouth. Her inner muscles tightened and pulsed. His name left her lips like a prayer, followed by a string of indiscernible sounds of pleasure as she dissolved against him.

  **

  LUST COILED TIGHT and hot in Faith’s core as Sam claimed her oversensitive flesh again, expertly stroking and licking her toward oblivion. Orgasms had never felt like this before. They simmered and sparked with each slick of his tongue, mounting to near bursting with each stroke of his fingers. Her skin was wet with perspiration, electrically charged, sizzling, rocking, arching, reaching for release.

  When Sam’s mouth left her, she gasped, lifting her head with the shock of cold air washing between her legs. The look in his eyes as he hovered over her sex, still loving her with his fingers, was raw passion. Good Lord, the man was sex personified. He must have known that seeing him like that—so greedy for her, his mouth wet with her juices, his fingers stroking the secret spot inside her, would take her right up to the edge. His big, hot hand slid over her belly and trapped her nipple between his fingers. He squeezed, and she felt it right between her legs—lightning hot. His lips curved up seconds before his mouth cov
ered her sex again, and he plundered with his tongue and his fingers, squeezing her nipple and sending waves of pleasure radiating from her core, down her legs, her arms, all the way to the tips of her fingers and toes. His teeth grazed her flesh just rough and hard enough to spark the orgasm free. Violent pleasure tore through her body, crashing and convulsing with searing heat, peaking with the intensity of a tsunami. Then she was falling again, down, down, down, as Sam licked and kissed, staying there until the world came back into focus.

  Sam didn’t rush, didn’t plunge his eager cock into her. He went up on his knees, stroking his formidable erection, squeezing the base as a bead formed at the tip. She loved seeing him touch himself and knew he was trying not to come. The way he was looking at her, like she was the most exquisite creature on earth, made her feel bold—and greedy. On shaky arms she pushed up to a sitting position, hesitating as reality came crashing in.

  “Sam, have you…?” She had to ask. Needed to. For her safety.

  He cupped her cheek, his eyes warm and loving. “I don’t have unprotected sex, baby, and I’ve been tested twice a year. I didn’t commit, but I wasn’t stupid.”

  She breathed a sigh of relief and laved her tongue over his swollen glans, getting her first taste of him. His hand remained at the base as she toyed with his balls, licking them, feeling them tighten against her tongue. She felt his eyes burning into her as she dragged her tongue over the back of his hand to ride up his hard length. He pushed his shaft out toward her, and she took him in, pulling a delicious groan from somewhere deep inside him. She moved his hand, replacing it with her own, stroking his length as she sucked him to the back of her throat. Her cheeks hollowed as she withdrew, then took him in deep again. She didn’t want him to come, not yet. But she wanted to give him the same pleasure he’d given her. She wanted this intimacy for both of them.

  Palming his length, she lowered herself back down to the bed, forcing herself to maintain eye contact with Sam.

  “Condom,” he said.

  She guided his cock over her pubis and pulled him down. “I want to feel you against me first.”

  “God, baby,” he whispered as he wrapped his strong arms beneath her shoulders and cradled her head. “You’re testing every shred of my control.”

  His mouth stole over hers, invading it with his tongue, pumping air from his lungs into hers. Her hands moved over his back, to his bare ass. She grabbed on to the firm globes, causing his hips to piston. He growled—growled!—into the kiss, and whatever resistance she’d had snapped.

  “Condom,” she said, reaching to the side.

  His lips tipped up at the edges as he laced his fingers with her searching hand and held her down, devouring her mouth again and driving her out of her mind.

  “Sam!” she said between kisses. “Can’t take it.”

  He deepened the kiss, then tore himself away, making her entire body shudder. His penetrating gaze bordered on predatory, but she saw right through all that thick desire to what he was really looking for, and it opened her heart to him even more.

  “Make love to me, Sam. Now.”

  He snagged a condom, tore it open with his teeth, and was sheathed and perched above her in seconds flat. Her knees fell open wider as he lowered himself down, chest to chest. He felt so good, so warm, so strong. She thought he’d slam into her, unable to hold back a second longer, but Sam never failed to surprise her.

  He took her in a slow, scintillating kiss, sparking fire behind her knees, in the crook of her arms, places she never knew could spark. He entered her slowly, kissing her as her body stretched to accommodate his girth until he was buried inside her. Their eyes connected, the urgency quelled to a decadent, sensual hum as they began to move and found their rhythm. Sam moved with potent mastery, gripping her hips and angling her body just so, then driving in impossibly deeper, striking pleasure points inside her she’d never known existed. All that controlled strength bunched beneath her hands as he took her right up to the peak of another climax, holding her there, panting and desperate. Just when she thought she might explode, he quickened his efforts and spirals of ecstasy burst inside her.

  “Sam,” she cried.

  He lifted his face, a mask of tension and potent masculinity. “Again,” he said through gritted teeth.

  He lifted her legs beneath her knees and wound them around his waist as he found that secret spot again and again. She couldn’t hold back the noises streaming from her as heat scorched through her, and every breath-sucking pulse made her body jerk and thrust. Sam reared up, his body stiff and tight, and with the next thrust he surrendered to his own intense release. His hot breath stroked over her slick skin as he gathered her in his arms.

  “I’m so into you,” he said in a gravelly, sated voice. “You own me.”

  “You’re not a man to be owned,” she told him, even though it, like everything he did and said, made her feel safe. “You’re a man to be experienced.”

  “Rationalize it any way you want, but know in your heart that you own me.” He pressed a kiss to her forehead. “I am a happily branded man.”

  Faith’s breath caught in her throat. Dare she let herself believe him?

  They lay together for a long time. After a while Sam strode to the bathroom in all his bold, naked glory to ditch the condom. Faith had a fleeting thought that he might take one look in the mirror and remember the Sam everyone else knew him to be—and maybe even want to be that man again. Her heart ached at the thought, especially after everything he’d said, but she was trying to be real. She readied herself for the blow, sitting up and gathering the sheet over her chest.

  Sam came out of the bathroom, and in one sweep of the gratified look on his face, the curve at the edges of his mouth, and the emotions playing in his eyes, she knew the only blow she needed to prepare for was what it really felt like to be Sam Braden’s girl.

  Chapter Nineteen

  LEAVING FAITH LAST night had been near impossible. Sam hadn’t been prepared for the emotions that had consumed him when they were making love. He’d not only wanted to stay, but he’d wanted to claim a drawer and set his toothbrush beside hers on the sink. For a guy who, as a rule before going out with Faith, rarely exchanged phone numbers, much less spent the night with a woman, this was bordering on ridiculous. It was crazy. Insane. And what was worse was that he’d wanted it so badly, he worried he’d smother her, take too much of her time, invade her space, and push her away. He scoffed at that thought now. Women loved attention, didn’t they? But she hadn’t asked him to stay, so maybe he was right to worry. The truth was, he hadn’t thought this much about a woman…ever. Whoever said absence makes the heart grow fonder had been spot-on. Here he was more than fifteen hours later, after a long day of work, driving over to pick up Faith for their date and still kicking himself in the ass for not staying over.

  Instead of sleeping with her in his arms, he’d gone home and texted Cole again, asking him to call him the minute he got back in town next Saturday morning. Sam didn’t want to take a chance of his brother hearing about him and Faith from anyone else. He knew Cole had turned off his phone, and he’d given their family the number at the resort in case of an emergency. Sam debated using that number now, but easing Faith’s mind wasn’t an emergency to Cole.

  Taking the steps to her apartment two at a time, Sam’s heart raced with anticipation. They’d texted a few times during the day, but that was nothing compared to holding Faith in his arms. How could a few hours apart feel like a lifetime?

  He knocked and barely had time to blink before Faith answered the door wearing a pair of barely there shorts and a bikini top that showed off every lush curve beneath her open Rough Riders sweatshirt. He couldn’t resist drinking her in, from her gorgeous face all the way down to her long legs, which he could still feel wrapped around his waist, squeezing him as she came.

  She smiled up at him with more than a hint of wickedness in her eyes. “I guess this is okay, then?”

  “You look positively
sinful.” He’d asked her to dress in a bathing suit, but now he was questioning the date he’d planned. How would he make it through the evening without devouring her? He stepped inside and slid his hands around her waist, beneath the sweatshirt, to her incredibly soft skin. The door clicked shut behind him.

  Her arms circled his neck, and she went up on her toes. “I think you need to kiss me now.”

  “I do like it when you communicate.”

  His mouth covered hers hungrily, arousing all of his best places. She pressed her soft curves against him, and he couldn’t resist taking hold of her perfect ass. She moaned at the intimate touch.

  “Missed you, baby.” He kissed her again, her body melting against him as he trailed kisses along her neck to the sensitive flesh just beneath her ear.

  “I thought about you all day.” She went up on her toes again, her hands clutching the back of his neck. “You know that drives me crazy.”

  “Yeah. I do.”

  She tipped her head back, giving him better access and writhing against him, making those sweet, seductive sounds in her throat. An invitation too hard to resist. He slid one hand along the edge of her bikini bottom and slipped a finger beneath, dipping into her wetness.

  “Mm. Knowing you’re wet for me drives me crazy.”

  “God, Sam.” Her voice was barely a whisper.

  He drew back and kissed her, searching her heavily lidded eyes, and swore she was right there with him, but he needed reassurance. “Can we play, baby?”

  “From now on you have a blanket ‘yes’ to touch me unless I specifically tell you to stop.” She crashed her mouth over his, her tongue sweeping, searching, taking.

  Sam hooked his hands in the waistband of her shorts and tore them down, bathing suit and all, and backed her up against the wall. Her cheeks flamed as he nudged her legs open wide before taking her in another urgent kiss.

  “Close your eyes,” he coaxed, running his hands up and down her thighs. When she closed her eyes, he slid one palm down the center of her body, loving the flush of her skin, her heated, anticipatory breaths. He kissed her neck, light, whispery kisses, trailing his fingers just below her belly button.