by Anthology
“Allowing yourself to feel something for a woman isn’t a sign of weakness,” Dylan continued, either unaware of Trent’s internal struggle, or more likely, perfectly aware. “It’s a sign of strength. Dad was wrong to tell us otherwise.”
He couldn’t stand there and listen to any more. Still he didn’t turn around, but Trent shook his head hard in an effort to clear out his brother’s words and walked away. As he turned the corner down the path that would lead him up the hill to the natural springs, he heard his brother call out after him.
“You deserve to be happy, Trent. Don’t shut it off.”
Trent pushed on, determined to leave everything behind him, especially the growing feeling that his brother might be right. That was the part that scared the hell out of him.
CHAPTER 8
“We will put the bar over here, and the tables behind it will have to be kept stocked with glasses. Close enough, but not too close that they’ll be in the way.” Sam walked the perimeter of the field where, in less than forty-eight hours, hundreds of people would be standing, enjoying the solstice festival. There was still so much to do, and even though she was just a kid, Jules had been a fabulous assistant.
“Do you have enough glasses?” Jules took notes in her clipboard.
“Oh no.” Sam smiled. “Not real glasses. We’ll use plastic cups. There should be enough left over from last year in the storage room. I do not trust my glasses out here with all those people.”
“Of course.” Jules nodded solemnly and scratched something else on the paper.
She was a sweet kid, even if she wanted everyone to think she was strong and independent. She reminded Sam so much of herself when she was young. And heck, even as an adult. There were pros and cons to a personality like that, she thought. It could be exhausting.
“Hey,” Sam said. “You’ve been working really hard and I appreciate it so much, but don’t you think you could use a break?”
A look of horror crossed the girl’s face and she shook her head. “Oh no, Auntie Sam, I told Mr. Harrison I was going to do a job, and I’m going to do it.”
“I know, kiddo. But it’s okay to take a break.” She rubbed Jules’s shoulder. “I’ll deal with the big, bad Mr. Harrison if he gives you any trouble.” She tried to keep a straight face while Jules battled with herself.
“I don’t—”
The sound of laughter and kids playing coming from the beach, only a few yards away, caught her attention. Sam watched her turn to see a group of boys and girls running and splashing into the lake.
“Go,” Sam said.
Jules shook her head and looked down at her feet. “No. I don’t know them. It’s okay.”
Sam put her arm around her best friend’s daughter, a kid she loved like her own, and squeezed. “They’re good kids. Why don’t you go and introduce yourself, and offer them an ice cream. I have some treats in the kitchen.”
“Really?”
Sam nodded. “Go.” She waved her arm. “I’ve got this. And you can always help me later if you want.”
She seemed to think about it for another second before she nodded and smiled. “Thanks, Auntie Sam. You’re the best. Here.” She handed Sam the clipboard and headed across the lawn to the beach.
Before getting back to work, Sam watched her for a moment. Beth would be so proud to see her daughter introduce herself so fearlessly. It had to be hard to start over in a new town, but Jules was handling it pretty well. And she was a good kid, she’d be okay.
“Please tell me you didn’t fire her?”
Trent’s voice sent shivers down her spine and she couldn’t tell whether it was because he’d surprised her or whether it was simply his presence.
“Hardly.” She turned to see him walk toward her. Dressed in jeans, slung low on his hips, and a simple t-shirt, he looked even more gorgeous than when he was in his more professional work clothes, if it was even possible. She swallowed hard, remembering the hard, bare chest she knew was under that shirt. “I sent her on a break. She needs to be a kid. Besides, I can handle this.” She crossed her arms over her chest as he came to stand beside her.
“Is that right?”
“Absolutely.”
“It looks to me like you could use a little help.” His voice was low, suggestion laced through his words, and Sam’s body responded instantly.
She turned to face him and almost knocked into him, he was standing so close. His hands reached out to steady her, and the heat on her skin filled her.
“Careful.” His hands held her forearms, and he didn’t show any immediate signs of letting go. “Are you okay?”
Sam nodded, not trusting herself to speak. There was something about him. Whenever he was close to her, she had to work extra hard to keep her walls up so she could stay in complete control. But he’d caught her unprepared and her defenses were down. At that moment, with him standing only inches away from her, his hands on her, Sam had no desire to put those walls back up. Instead, all she could think of was the way his mouth felt on hers, the way her body melted into his and the unmistakable, completely consuming way she wanted him. And what was it Archer had said? Why does it need to be more complicated? Why indeed?
Before she could change her mind or listen to the voices in her head telling her to back away and get some distance, she closed the small space between them and kissed him. His lips felt just as good as she remembered. Better. And if he was surprised at her forwardness, it certainly didn’t take long for him to get over his shock.
Trent’s hands left her arms to slide into her hair. He tugged her head gently to one side, giving him access to her neck. A moan escaped her as he nibbled down the length of her neck and sucked softly on her collarbone before once again finding her lips.
The heat between them was unmistakable, and Sam wasn’t going to pretend she didn’t want him. Not when every fiber of her body screamed out for his touch, the pressure low in her belly building with every second that passed.
“I don’t think—”
“Don’t think,” she quieted him.
“Yes ma’am.” Trent grinned wickedly, his green eyes darkening with passion. With a wink, he lifted her by the buttocks. Sam wrapped her legs around his waist, slid her hands up through his hair and pulled his mouth back on hers. Damn, she wanted those lips everywhere all at once. And there was way too much clothing between them. Never mind the fact that they were standing in the middle of the back field where anyone could come across them.
As if he read her mind, Trent walked, which couldn’t have been any easy feat with her legs wrapped around his waist. To help him out, Sam pulled herself away from his lips and concentrated on his neck instead. She left a trail of kisses and he shivered beneath her.
“You’re going to be the death of me, woman.”
“Or both of us, if you don’t watch where you’re walking.” She returned to her task.
He growled in a way that only made her want to tear his shirt off. Sam surprised herself with how bad she wanted him, and the completely uncharacteristic way she was showing him that. She pushed the feelings of doubt from her head. Archer was right. She was young and beautiful and why wouldn’t she have a little fun? Besides, sometimes sex was just that. Sex. There was no reason it had to be anything more.
She was so busy justifying her behavior while trying to control herself, she hadn’t noticed they’d stopped moving until her back bumped up roughly against a wall. Her feet found the ground reluctantly.
“Can we get in here?”
Breathless, Sam turned around in his arms to see he’d taken her to the boathouse. Technically, it belonged to the town and housed the various canoes and tiny sailboats they used for lessons, but because it was so close to the Grizzly Paw, Sam was unofficially in charge of keeping an eye on it, which meant she knew where the key was. She glanced over her shoulder at Trent, who waited for her answer, a look of pure lust on his face. She could think of a lot nicer places to do whatever it was they were about to do, but
none of them were handy. And if she was given too much time to think about it, there was no doubt she’d change her mind. His eyes bore into her, the passion in them unmistakable.
No. She was definitely not going to change her mind.
“I have a key,” she said after a moment. Sliding away from him, she bent down and aware of the view she was giving him, took a little more time than was necessary to pull the key out from under the brick next to the door.
“Get up here.” His voice was rough with need and his impatience made her grin to herself as he wrapped his hands around her waist and drew her up against him. There was no mistaking his need for her to get the door open, and feeling his hardness pressed up against her only fueled her own fire.
Sam slid the key into the lock and led the way into the musty building. It was dark, with only a stream of light coming in through a small high window. Not that it mattered. She had just enough light to see. And her eyes were very much on Trent and his broad shoulders.
“Nice place.” He crossed the floor and gestured to the pile of sails she was leaning up against. “I’ve always wanted to learn how to sail. I just never had the opportunity.”
“Is that right?”
“Maybe you can teach me sometime?”
“I don’t know.” She ran her hand along the top of a sail. “Do you think you’d be a good first mate?”
He ran his hand down her denim-clad leg and Sam had to work hard to control the shiver that threatened to overtake her. “I assumed I’d be the captain.”
She laughed. “Oh no, darling. I’d definitely be the captain. If you could handle it.”
He looked as if he was going to say something about that, but instead he changed tack. “Well, I’m certainly glad you had the key to this place.”
“I like to be prepared.” Her voice came out in a low, sexy timbre she didn’t recognize as her own. That’s what he did to her. What he’d done to her since the moment they’d met, but now…
“Do you?” He reached her and traced a finger down her neck, into the peak of cleavage her tight t-shirt afforded. The sparks his simple touch sent through her body threatened to consume her. “But are you prepared for this?”
~ ~
Her tongue darted out between her lips, moistening them, and Trent almost lost what little control he had left. From the moment he came upon her in the field, he knew something was different. There was a shift with her, almost a heat that was radiating from her. He’d known it was only a matter of time before their attraction came to a head. He’d worry about the consequences of his choice later, because for the moment, he was more than ready to see exactly what Samantha was hiding under those tight little t-shirts she liked to wear.
The only question that remained: was she ready?
He traced his finger along the swell of her breast, barely holding himself back from tearing the fabric away completely, and waited for her answer. She held his gaze, her chocolate eyes looking almost black in the dim light, or was it because she was turned on? It didn’t matter. They transfixed him either way.
“Absolutely.” She answered him after what seemed like forever. It was all he needed. Without wasting another moment, he slid his palms down her body, stopping to trail his fingers over her ripe, firm breasts. But the fabric was too much. A barrier he no longer had patience for.
With a quick tug, he eased it over her head to expose the sexiest purple lace bra he’d ever seen. Or maybe it was what the bra was containing. Regardless, the sight of Samantha standing in front of him half naked, her hair tousled, and her lips already looking deliciously bruised from their kissing was enough to undo him.
“Damn,” he muttered.
“My turn.” She reached for his shirt, but he beat her to it, pulling it over his head.
Her eyes racked over him, the hungry look turning him on even more, if it were even possible.
“No fair.” Samantha stuck out her lower lip in a very sexy pout. “It was my turn.”
“I thought I’d help. You don’t like what you see?”
“Oh, there’s no question about that.” For emphasis, she trailed her fingers over his broad chest and down to his belt buckle, where they paused. “But I don’t like getting robbed out of what’s mine.”
“Is that right?”
She seemed to contemplate the situation for a moment before a wicked glint flashed in her eyes. Before Trent even realized he’d lost control over the situation, her fingers were deftly flicking open his belt buckle, and easing the leather aside. She paused before pushing the button of his jeans through the denim hole, and in that moment when Samantha looked up at him, her tongue darting out from between her lips in a move that was so unwittingly sexy, Trent knew he was in trouble.
The feisty beauty had gotten under his skin and he knew it, even if he had been trying to deny it. But he didn’t have time for that. He didn’t have time for a woman, not even Samantha, with her sharp edge and strong will that was just begging for the opportunity to be vulnerable.
Dammit. Not only did he want to spar with her, he wanted to take care of her, all at the same time. He was in unfamiliar territory with her. And that was a dangerous place to be. Especially for a man who was used to keeping his personal conquests distinctly separate from every other part of his life.
Samantha eased his jeans and boxers down over his hips in one incredibly sexy and sensual move. He drew in a gasp when her mouth found him. He laced his hands through her hair and gave himself over to the feeling of her warm mouth on him and let his body take over when his brain could no longer capable to make the decisions.
Just this one time. That was it, he told himself as a groan escaped his lips. Just enough to scratch the itch that had been festering from the moment he’d walked into the bar and laid eyes on her. One time, he promised himself. That was it. Then he would have to get this woman out of his head.
Done thinking for the time being, he knew he had to regain control over the situation, and soon. Trent reached down, and pulled Samantha to her feet. The satisfied grin on her face told him she knew exactly what she did to him. But the heave in her chest and the way her breasts rose up and down with the passion she herself was barely containing told Trent he had the exact same effect.
~ ~
Samantha could hardly believe herself. Never before had she behaved so wantonly, not even with Preston. Trent did something to her that she couldn’t even begin to explain. Just being in his presence, never mind in all his naked magnificence—and it was magnificent—caused her to behave in ways she couldn’t wrap her head around. She was way too in control and responsible to have a quickie in the boathouse.
But at that moment, looking at him in the dim light, the need in his eyes more than evident, she didn’t need an explanation. She simply needed him.
Thankfully, Trent must have felt the exact same way as he reached for her. He slid a finger into the waistband of her jeans and tugged her toward him before quickly gaining access into the jeans. He slipped them down, his palms taking their time as they caressed her curves all the way down her legs.
Sam stepped out of her pants and in the next moment, Trent lifted her and as if she weighed absolutely nothing, he placed her on the pile of folded sails and climbed over her, shielding her entirely with his body. A shiver ran through her, as she stared up at him, but not because she was cold. Far from it. Her body felt as if it was going to explode from the heat coming off her.
“You’re so beautiful,” Trent said. “I just want to look at you.” His eyes drank in her body as his fingers began their journey under the lace of her bra, pushing it down to reveal her breasts. Her nipples immediately hardened, yearning for his touch.
But instead of giving her the relief she craved, Trent continued his torturous travel, across the plane of her belly, to the waistband of her panties. For one terrible moment, she thought he might move right past, but no.
Mercifully, his fingers slipped under her panties, pushing the lacy fabric down over her
hips. His fingers found the wet heat between her legs at the same time his lips crushed hers, swallowing her cry of pleasure. It took all her concentration to keep control as he explored her with one hand, causing the pressure in her core to build to an almost intolerable peak.
“Trent.” She pulled her mouth away from his. “I…I…”
“I know.” His voice matched hers. When he removed his touch, she didn’t know whether to cry out in frustration or relief. What she did know was the time for messing around was through. She needed him. Now.
He leaned over the side of the sails, rustling in his jeans before producing a condom from his pocket. All Sam heard was the tearing of the foil. She squeezed her eyes in the anticipation, and she didn’t have to wait long before he was there, stretching her and filling her—and it felt oh so good. A moan escaped her mouth and she wrapped her legs around his waist, drawing him in further.
He felt good. Better than good.
Every motion hit all her buttons, and it wasn’t long before she felt the familiar build in her belly, stronger this time, demanding release.
Samantha ran her hands down his smooth, hard back, gripping his buttocks, urging him on. A call he answered readily. He felt so good, she never wanted the moment to end, but at the same time, her body had other ideas as it yearned and reached for the orgasm that Sam knew was right there.
There might have been a chance to ward it off a bit longer, but when Trent lifted his head, looked straight into her eyes and said, “God, you feel fantastic,” and lowered his mouth to hers and kissed her with a heat and tenderness that belied the passion being created by their bodies, Sam’s muscles tightened around him and she completely lost herself as she came undone around him.
~ ~
When she’d let herself go completely, Trent almost lost it on the spot. Using all the restraint he could muster, he held off on his own release only long enough to watch her beautiful face as she gave herself up to ecstasy. Her expression and total giving of herself was enough to set him off, and he joined her in his own shattering orgasm.