A Bet with Benefits

by Karen Booth

  She wrapped one arm around his waist and, with her other hand, began to gently touch him through his boxer briefs. Her fingertips rode along his steely length, so tense she could feel how hard he was through the fabric. Sam groaned and closed his eyes, a mix of frustration and satisfaction crossing his face when she made it to the tip and rolled her thumb over the top, back and forth. She had no idea when this would happen again, if ever. There was too much standing between her and Sam. She wanted to enjoy every second of this.

  “I have to sit,” he mumbled. “You’re making me dizzy.” Sam slid onto the bed and leaned back on his elbows, his long body splayed out for her.

  Mindy followed his cue and slipped his boxers down his hips. He was so magnificent it was hard to know where to look first. So she let her eyes rove over the landscape of his chiseled body, the long and muscled legs, his perfect abs, his sculpted shoulders. She wanted nothing between them and there was still a big something—her dress.

  “I need to get out of this thing,” she said.

  “Yes, you do. I’ll watch.”

  “I can’t do the zipper on my own.”

  “Okay. Come here.” He sat up and scooted to the edge of the bed.

  She perched next to him and turned to provide access to the zipper. He first undid the clip in her hair and set it on the bedside table. He carefully uncoiled her hair from the twist, letting it fall down around her shoulders. She felt his presence, and not just his warmth, right behind her. His breaths were heavy, his heavenly smell swirling around her. He drew down the zipper, then peeled the dress away from her skin, blazing a trail of kisses along the channel of her naked back as he went. He had no idea what that did to her, the way it made the heat pool between her legs and the need double, then triple. She pulled the bodice forward and Sam reached around from behind, cupping her breasts in his hands, rolling her nipples between his fingers and pressing his chest against her back. She rolled her head to one side, relishing the jolts of electricity traveling between her breasts and her apex. It was as if her entire body had just come back to life. He kissed her neck with an open mouth, using his tongue, kneading her breasts and letting her get lost in the heavenly sensations. As amazing as it was, Mindy wanted more of him. She wanted to be able to see him. Kiss him.

  She twisted her torso, then lay back on the bed, her dress still covering her from the waist down. Sam rose to his knees, hovering over her, then lowered his head, drawing her nipple into his mouth, swirling his tongue perfectly. He switched to her other breast and it was just as mind-blowing, especially when he would stop every few seconds and blow cool air against her overheated skin. He kissed the flat plane between her breasts, then dragged his mouth along her centerline. When he reached her waist, she wished her dress could just disappear.

  Sam was on the case, though, standing and pulling the garment down her hips and tossing it away. He quickly kneeled on the floor in front of the bed and tugged her panties along the length of her legs, leaving her bare to him. He lifted one leg and placed it on his shoulder, then kissed his way along from the inside of her knee, down her inner thigh. Mindy’s head rolled back when his lips found her apex and his tongue flicked at her center, then rolled in firm and steady circles. Sam had an incredibly talented mouth and he knew exactly how to please a woman. She wasn’t sure if he was just good at reading her cues or if he just naturally knew what she liked. She only knew that he did.

  Her head rocked back and forth over the silky bedding while her fingers massaged his scalp and combed through his thick hair. She was already heading toward her peak when he slipped a finger inside her, curled into her most sensitive spot. He was careful with her, and precise, staying homed in on the place that brought her the most pleasure. Mindy’s mind was a blur of colors and blissful thoughts of Sam, and then the tension broke and she felt every muscle in her body go tight and let go, pulsing over and over again. He was unbelievable. And she intended to give him every bit of pleasure he’d just given to her.

  * * *

  Sam stretched out next to Mindy on the bed and kissed her softly. She quickly amped things up, hitching her leg over his hip and taking the kiss deeper, urging his tongue to coil with hers. He didn’t need a single word of praise from her. She was telling him everything he wanted to hear with her actions as she rolled him to his back, kneeled between his legs and took his erection into her mouth.

  That instant when her velvety tongue hit his skin made him lose all sense of time and place. How could one touch feel so impossibly good? She held him tightly between her lips, riding his length and rolling her tongue over the swollen head when she reached the tip. As good as it felt, he wasn’t going to last long if she kept this up. That was a simple fact.

  But he didn’t even need to express it because Mindy did it first. “I love making you happy, but I really need to have you inside me.”

  My sentiments, exactly.

  “I’m still on the pill, and I hate having to ask this question, but I need to know if you used a condom with any of the women you’ve dated since me.”

  “Believe it or not, it was only that one woman, and we didn’t have sex.”

  Mindy sat back on her haunches. “You. Didn’t have sex. With a woman.”

  He shook his head. “I swear.”

  Mindy cocked her head adorably, like one of those puppies with the big ears. Her gorgeous hair spilled over her shoulder. “I’m amazed.”

  He wasn’t. He’d been there. He could explain the whole thing if needed. “Can we stop talking? I want you.”

  Mindy smiled and planted her hands on each side of his chest and her knees bracketed his hips. She leaned down into him, kissing him slowly. Softly. Like they were starting all over. It was a deliciously painful exercise in patience as her sumptuous lips glossed over his, and she put none of her body weight on him, hovering above him like a butterfly. From head to toe, he pulsed with need. Having only the softest brushes of her skin against his made it even more intense. Her breasts grazed his chest. Her nose nudged his cheek. Her knees squeezed his hips. His hands caressed the silky skin of her back, his fingers following the channel of her spine. But it wasn’t enough. He needed her in a way he couldn’t begin to describe.

  He pulled her firmly against his chest and rolled her to her back, her red tresses splaying against the white bedding. She responded with a more intense kiss, one born of recklessness. It was the perfect reflection of the idea that they did not fit well into each other’s lives, and yet they couldn’t stay away from each other, no matter how hard they tried. He positioned himself at Mindy’s entrance and drove inside, all while his mind spun out of control. Mindy gasped, then hummed with pleasure, a near mirror for everything going through his head. He hadn’t forgotten how incredible she felt, but he had forgotten the magnitude of the moment when everything felt right and he couldn’t have asked for another thing in the whole world.

  Their bodies tumbled into a steady rhythm that suited them both perfectly. Mindy coiled her legs around his hips, pulling him closer, and he obliged, driving as deep as he could with every pass. She curled her fingernails into his back, the sting keeping him in the moment and heightening every sensation. Every muscle below his waist was contracting and releasing in an unceasing pattern. More intense. Closer to the brink. He listened to Mindy’s breaths and moans, waiting for the moment when he got his body weight on just the right spot. Closer. And closer. And then he hit it. She tilted her hips and curled herself into him even more, holding on to him like she would never let go.

  “I’m so close,” Mindy mumbled into his neck. She kissed him fitfully, her mouth gaping.

  Sam was so close it felt as if he was being teased by his own body. His peak was a whisper away but he focused on Mindy, rocking against her center and staying deep inside her. Her body pulled on his tightly and in a sudden rush, Mindy’s head knocked back and she called out. Sam clamped his eyes shut and let his body ta
ke over, the climax rolling through him like a tsunami coming on shore. Over and over again, surges of warmth pushed him into contentment. A place where nothing else mattered but her.

  He collapsed when the final waves washed over him. He rolled onto his back, right next to Mindy. He clasped his fingers around hers and raised her hand to his lips. He wasn’t sure that this had been the smartest decision, but right now, he wasn’t worried about being wise. He was too exhausted.

  “Why does this always end up happening between us?” she asked.

  He knew it wasn’t a rhetorical question. It was real. And he also didn’t know the answer aside from the obvious. “Because you’re gorgeous and sexy and we have crazy chemistry?”

  Mindy rolled onto her side and swished her hand across his chest. Even that mostly innocent touch threatened to get him going all over again. “You’re sweet. I feel the same way about you. You’re too enticing. I can’t not kiss you. Which is sort of a problem, if you think about it.”

  Sam gave himself a minute to consider her answer. It didn’t have to be a problem at all if she would stop letting her family come between them. There was a nagging sense deep inside him that there could be more between them than just sex. But he wasn’t about to bring it up first. It had been hard enough to be rejected by her when she jettisoned him from her life. He was tough, but he wasn’t impervious to pain. Plus, her mother had flat out told him exactly what he had suspected all along about Mindy—she needed her free will. The minute she started to feel trapped or obligated, she got panicky.

  “Sam. I need to tell you something.”

  Sam couldn’t begin to imagine what was coming next, but he feared she was about to do the thing he most dreaded—tell him to put his clothes on and leave. “Yeah. What?” If that was what she was about to do, it was best to get it over with. Maybe he’d finally learn his lesson this time.

  “When I first told Sophie and Emma that I was bringing you to the wedding, they were concerned.”

  “They didn’t understand that we struck a deal and you wanted to buy the Mercer from me?” Sam looked right at her as she pressed her lips together, waiting to answer his question.

  “I didn’t tell them that part. I worried that Sophie would think it was uncool that I was essentially leveraging my plus-one to her wedding. Plus, I didn’t want her to question your motives. I figured it was good enough that they thought I had asked you because I was trying to keep Gerald away.”

  “Something tells me you would have had no problem dealing with him.”

  “Maybe. Probably. He was more of an annoyance than anything, but that’s not what I’m trying to tell you. I’m trying to tell you that Sophie and Emma were worried that I was going to fall under your spell.”

  Sam laughed. He couldn’t help it. “I have a spell? I had no idea.”

  “Oh, you do. You definitely do. You make me a little bit crazy, Sam.”

  He reached out and cupped her bare shoulder, trailing his fingers down her arm. “Mindy, sweetheart, I’m pretty sure you’re crazy on your own. It’s not my fault if I bring it out in you.”

  Mindy swatted his chest. “Hey. Let me finish.” She then closed her eyes tight and scrunched up her face. “This is so stupid. I’m not even sure I can say it out loud.”

  “What?”

  “My sisters and I made a bet. We made a bet that I won’t fall for you again. If I do, if I get involved with you, I have to stay at Eden’s for an extra year. Which obviously I don’t want to do.”

  There was a lot about this that Sam needed to unpack. It might take him hours to sort this out in his head. “Again? Does that mean you fell for me before?”

  Mindy unleashed a groan. “Well, yeah, but you had to have known that.”

  Sam shrugged. “How could I have possibly known that?”

  “Don’t guys always know when a woman is gaga over him?”

  “Gaga? No. I knew you liked me enough to sleep with me. That was about it.”

  “Well, it’s not like I even had the slightest idea how you felt about me. Everything always felt so temporary. You were always coming into town, then leaving again. It was hard to watch you go.”

  If she thought it was hard to watch him go, she needed to know what it felt like to be asked to leave. Sam realized just how little time he and Mindy had spent talking about anything of substance when they’d been together before. They’d given in to the physical side of their attraction, but they hadn’t bothered to explore anything deeper. He’d always assumed that was what Mindy wanted. Now he was starting to wonder if he’d been wrong. Under any other circumstances, this revelation could have made this the perfect time to wade into those deeper waters, but the bet with her sisters made everything infinitely more complicated.

  “How serious do you think Sophie and Emma are about the bet?”

  “Dead serious. They don’t want me to get hurt and they don’t want me to leave the store.”

  “So why did you take it in the first place?”

  Mindy sat up and pushed away, distancing herself from him and resting her back against the headboard. “It was supposed to be insurance. I was trying to protect myself.”

  “From me?” He knew he’d done things that had been construed as bad, but he’d never had anything less than Mindy’s best interests at heart.

  “More like from my weakness for you.”

  Six

  In the breaking light of day, Mindy felt Sam’s presence in her hotel room, and with that came the worry. Had she made a mistake? Had last night been a grave error? She didn’t want to think so. She and Sam worked well together, at least for short stretches. Last night had been an amazing one and her thirst for him wasn’t nearly quenched.

  From the other side of the bed, he stirred. He’d be awake soon, which meant he’d be leaving. He never stayed for long. Her sister Sophie was off to the airport for her honeymoon in Bali later that day. Her sister Emma was also about to embark on a romantic getaway—a trip to England to visit Daniel’s parents. Mindy, however, would be returning to work. Yes, she loved staying busy and being productive, but where was her fun? Why couldn’t she have a love life like her sisters did?

  It would be easy to blame her drive and determination. She’d always had a need to succeed, and that had gotten in the way of love many times. Had it gotten in the way with Sam? If so, the bet made things even messier. If she lost the bet, she would be stuck at Eden’s for an extra year. Sophie would never let her off the hook, in part because she was so set on having Mindy on board at the store forever.

  Sam wrapped his arm around Mindy’s waist. He pressed his long body against hers, his heat pouring into her. She loved these moments together, when it was just the two of them, and all in their world was relatively calm. When everyone else wasn’t weighing in on her choices. Sam nuzzled the back of her neck with his nose and pressed a soft kiss against her nape. She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, relishing every second of this moment. It would be gone soon. Quite possibly gone forever. However complicated, Sam was an amazing man. There were only so many times she could shoo him away before some smart woman, somewhere, would keep him around.

  But maybe Mindy could have some more of this blissful feeling with Sam, at least for another week, while her sisters and their watchful eyes were away.

  Mindy rolled to her other side and faced Sam. “Hey, handsome. You awake?” she whispered.

  He nodded, his eyes still closed. “Getting there.”

  “Can I ask you a question?”

  “You just did.”

  “Okay, fine, funny guy. What do you have going on this week?”

  He cleared his throat and their bodies pressed against each other again. “The usual. There’s a bullheaded woman who wants to buy a building from me. I guess I need to follow through on that one, huh?”

  Mindy smiled and settled her face in his neck.
“I do plan on holding you to that. I wasn’t kidding when I said I wanted that building.”

  “Oh, believe me. I know. Any time I know what you want, I don’t let it go. You can be very difficult to figure out.”

  Mindy didn’t see herself that way at all. “I’m so easy to figure out, it’s ridiculous.”

  “Then I must be spectacularly stupid.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “Any time I ever think I’m doing right by you, I end up falling flat on my face. I ended up kicked out of your life.”

  “But we’re talking about big missteps, Sam. Interfering with Eden’s. Leaking information about Emma to the press.”

  “Both done at times when you were deeply unhappy and I was trying to find a way to turn that around.”

  Had his actions really been so secretly benevolent? Mindy still had her doubts.

  “Sam, what happened with you and Jake?”

  He drew a deep breath through his nose. “I’d call it a misunderstanding. He thought we were full partners, but I didn’t see us that way. I felt that we were helping each other out. It’s just something people do to get by, right? Especially when you’re starting out?”

  “I don’t understand why he would feel so betrayed by that. He’s clearly still holding a major grudge.”

  “I made a lot of money with the deal he thought I’d cut him in on. Money makes grudges stick.”

  “So why didn’t you include him?”

  Sam took another breath and rolled to his back, away from her. She missed him the instant he was gone, in part because she sensed his anger bubbling to the surface. “I needed the money. Not for myself, but for someone else. And for a good reason. So I did it. If I had cut Jake into the deal, I wouldn’t have made enough money to take care of the problem.”