by Diana Gardin
When they walked inside, they headed straight back to the outdoor deck and to a large table in the far back corner. The tables were all round and wooden, with a worn-in appearance. The entire place was comfortable and laid-back. Neon beer signs adorned the walls around them, and servers were walking around in tight black polos and jeans or cutoffs. The relaxed atmosphere struck the right chord with Sam, and he sighed with relief.
He was able to take a deep breath for the first time since speaking with Hunter and Ever.
“Sam, meet the crew. Crew, this is Sam.” Reed gestured grandly around the table and back at Sam as they approached.
Sam scanned the table. Six seats were occupied. He picked out Aston’s boyfriend, Princeton, immediately. He sat with his chair facing backward and his elbows leaning on the table.
“Hey, Sam.” A lanky guy with brown hair curling around his ears held out a hand and shook Sam’s enthusiastically.
“I’m Finn. This is my girlfriend, Ashley.” He gestured toward the petite blonde sitting next to him. She smiled and waved at Sam.
“Yeah, and that’s Blaze, Tate, and Tamara. Tate and Tamara are twins.” Reed gestured toward the other half of the table while taking his seat.
The twins glanced over at Sam, Tamara’s eyes lingering longer than necessary. Sam thought it was obvious they were siblings: They both had red hair and their faces shared the same bone structure. Tate’s hair, of course, fell shorter than his sister’s, curling around his ears in a rare shade of coppery gold.
“Blaze?” Sam asked, looking at the burly guy with dark brown skin. He was huge. He could have played on the O-line on Sam’s high school football team, and probably one of the colleges around too.
“You play ball?”
Blaze grinned. His dark skin, tattooed arms, and giant’s build made him intimidating until he aimed that smile at anyone nearby. Then it was clear he was as dangerous as a teddy bear. Sam guessed that in spite of that, he still wasn’t someone to be crossed.
“Got that nickname back in school. They started calling me Blaze after they saw how I lit guys up on the field.” Sam returned Blaze’s wide grin.
Blaze was his kind of guy.
Sam aimed his gaze at Princeton. “We meet again.”
Princeton nodded in his direction. “Since when do y’all invite field hands to come and hang out with the crew?”
Aston shot him a glare, which piqued Sam’s curiosity. “Shut up, Prince. Sam will be working in our father’s offices soon.”
So maybe she wasn’t a fan of Sam joining the ranks of her father’s company. But she was quick to defend him.
Even against her boyfriend.
Princeton’s eyebrows shot toward the sky. “Oh, really? How’d you pull that off, Sam?”
Sam shrugged. “I didn’t. It was Mr. Hopewell’s idea.”
Princeton’s eyes narrowed.
Tamara got up from her seat and nudged Reed out of the way so she could have his spot. “Where you from, Sam? We’re all from boring old Nelson Island. We meet a lot of newbies over the summer, though. They’re always fun. You…you look like you’re gonna be a lot of fun.”
She pinched his cheek good-naturedly and tilted her mouth in a crooked smile.
“Down, girl,” admonished her brother, rolling his eyes. “The guy just sat down, Tam. Give him a second.”
Sam glanced around the table. “Nice to meet all of you. Let me buy the first round.”
A cheer went up, and everyone put in their beer orders.
As Tamara scooted her chair a little closer to Sam’s, he eyed her a little warily. Where he was from, girls weren’t so forward. Not to mention they all knew he belonged to Ever. So he’d never had to fight off a female, and he wasn’t looking forward to the task.
Reed must have seen Sam’s apprehensive expression, because he spoke up.
“Better back off, Tam,” he warned. “Sam’s girlfriend wouldn’t like you so close.”
Aston’s head snapped up. Her eyes burned into Sam’s. “Girlfriend?”
“Yeah, sis, you didn’t know? Our Sam here is spoken for.”
Sam met Aston’s eyes and instantly averted his gaze. The emotions swirling in her eyes, and in his own gut, were more than he wanted to consider.
“Where’s your girl?” Finn asked curiously.
He put his arm casually around Ashley, pushing a strand of her hair back behind one ear.
“She’s back home,” Sam explained. “She had to stay behind to take care of some, uh, business.”
“Business, huh?” Princeton smirked from across the table. “Know what it sounds like to me, country boy? Sounds like you’re hiding something. What town did you say you were from?”
“I didn’t.” Sam kept his tone cool and hard, but his stomach was sinking fast. “I might be country, but it doesn’t mean I can’t still knock the shit out of someone if I have to. Especially someone getting into my personal business.”
He stood and walked away from the table, headed for the bar.
“I know it’s hard for you, Prince, but try not to be such an ass tonight, would you?” Reed glared at Princeton as Sam walked away.
Sam leaned against the bar with both palms flat against the smooth wood, breathing deeply. He wasn’t trying to make any enemies here. He was trying to lie low. Why was that so hard?
“Another Michelob, please,” he told the pretty female bartender.
She nodded and slid the brown bottle over the wooden surface until it reached him. He wrapped his fist around the chilled glass and took a long swig, swishing the lager around in his mouth before swallowing. He turned around and looked out over the bar. He wasn’t sure if he was going to be able to sit at a table with Princeton tonight. Maybe he’d hang out here until it was time to go home.
Home.
He was nine hours away from his real home. His gut twisted as he thought of Ever and Hunter. But he didn’t miss Duck Creek. The town had served as a prison for him his entire childhood, and he finally felt free of it for the first time in his life.
Thinking about Duck Creek forced Sam’s thoughts to wander back to his girlfriend. He only hoped the police weren’t giving Ever too hard of a time, hounding her about where he had run off to. Everyone in Duck Creek knew they were a package deal. Since childhood, they’d never been separated. If Sam was buying candy and soda at the convenience store on Route 8, Ever would be waiting on a bench outside. And Hunter was never far away either. That was the way things had always been. So the sheriff’s department had to be questioning them pretty hard.
Nelson Island was comfortable for him with its rolling green pastures and long, winding back roads that reminded him of home. But the fresh sea air with a hint of salt and the ability to squish sand between his toes if he had the inclination was new and kind of wonderful.
Maybe this could be his home.
If he weren’t hiding the blackest secret he’d ever known from everyone he met here.
“Princeton’s always been a jackass.” Tamara’s tone was dry as she sidled up to him at the bar. “We only tolerate him ’cause he’s always been one of us. Ignore him and come on back to the table. I won’t bite.”
He looked down at her and sighed. It was time to set the record straight with Tamara and avoid an uncomfortable situation. “I will come back, on one condition.”
“Name it, sweetness.”
“You have to stop flirting with me, Tamara. I really am taken.”
She frowned. Her dark red lips, so close to her hair color, made an exaggerated pout.
“Look, Sam, I’m a flirty girl. I can’t stop being who I am, can I? But I understand you’re off-limits. We can be friends, though, can’t we?” She looked up at him through long lashes and tossed her long, straight hair over her shoulder.
She really was cute with a flirty, sultry flair. She reminded Sam of home, too.
He chuckled and put an arm around her neck, already feeling brotherly love for the girl. “Nope, guess you can’t. I sur
e as hell keep trying. It’s not working out so well for me, either. We’re friends, sure.”
She smiled and led him back to their seats at the table. He was able to continue drinking his beer, staying away from conversation with Princeton while joining in with the others.
But he found his gaze wandering back to Princeton and Aston often. He waited for them to get all close and cuddly like the other couple at the table, Finn and Ashley. They never did.
Sam watched Aston’s hands as if they called to him. He couldn’t shake the vision of those slender fingers twisting the lug nuts to loosen her flat tire.
And he watched, her hands balled into fists on top of the table.
He quickly glanced to her face, and she was gazing at Finn and Ashley with an unreadable expression. Then her glance slid to Princeton, who still sat backward on his chair with both hands cupped around his frosty mug of imported beer. Awareness dawned on Sam, a blazing sunrise in an area of his consciousness that had previously been dark with night.
She wanted him to touch her. It was as clear as day to Sam, but apparently Princeton didn’t have a clue.
The men in Aston’s life clearly treated her like the strong, capable woman she was. She wanted that, she demanded that.
But there was so much more to her than that. How long had she gone without any of them realizing it?
Aston bit down on her tongue as Princeton pounded his sixth tequila shot of the night with Blaze and Tate. She rolled her eyes and glanced over at Ashley, who gave Aston a sympathetic shake of her head. She extracted herself from Finn’s arm and came to sit next to her friend.
“He’s hitting it pretty hard, huh?” she asked in a low voice.
“Is that new?” Aston asked, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
Ashley clearly had a better leash on her man, but then it had always been that way. Ashley and Finn had been together about as long as Aston and Princeton, since junior year of high school. They’d been through all the ups and downs together. Aston knew Finn and Ashley had the ability to make it for the long haul. They were it for each other. It was obvious every time Finn looked at Ashley and that dumb, dopey expression appeared in his eyes. Every time Ashley absently placed her hand in Finn’s, Aston felt reality jab her in the gut.
She had no illusions about her relationship with Princeton. She’d been enamored with him in high school, but since graduation when she’d gone to Xavier and he’d stayed behind at the University of Charleston, she’d known they weren’t going to make it to marriage. She didn’t think Princeton knew that, though. She stayed with him because they’d been together so long, the relationship was like an old, comfortable quilt she could pull on to shield her from chilly nights. But now, at this point in her life, it felt like the quilt was heavy on her limbs in the middle of a hot, steamy summer. They didn’t have the connection that Finn and Ashley had.
Maybe they’d never had it.
It was glaringly obvious on nights like this when the whole gang was together, and Finn and Ashley were right there, acting like they were already married.
“And Reed is still Reed,” Ashley said with a giggle. She was staring in fascination as Reed wound his fingers through the bra strap of the giggling blonde sitting in his lap. He let it snap back down on her exposed shoulder and she gasped, batting her lashes at him.
Reed found a new girl to occupy his lap every time they went out. He didn’t do commitments.
“You barely came home this year, Aston.” Ashley’s expression was sad. “I miss you.”
“I miss you too, Ash.” Aston sighed. “I just didn’t feel like coming home and watching my dad fawn all over my mom like she never cheated on him. It makes me sick. They healed, but Reed and I didn’t. I love being at school, away from all the N.I. drama.”
What she didn’t say was that now that she was home again, every time she looked at Sam she felt like she was doing the same thing to Princeton her mother had done to her dad.
“I have no idea what that would be like.” Ashley nodded sympathetically. Ashley and Finn both attended Charleston like Princeton. “Going to U of C is just like being in N.I. Only a bigger version of it.” She presented Aston with a wry expression.
Aston smiled at her friend. She and Ashley had known each other since they walked into kindergarten and found they had matching Barbie backpacks. She considered her a best friend, and she was sad she’d seen a lot less of her over the past three years.
She reached over and squeezed Ashley’s hand. “We’ll just have to spend a lot of time together this summer to make up for it.”
“Done.” Ashley grinned and smoothed a hand over her short blond bob. “Tamara’s laying it on thick with Sam tonight, huh? I think she really likes him. I can see why. He’s sweet as pie.”
Aston glanced over at Tamara and frowned. “We told her he had a girlfriend. Why is she still after him? She looks like an idiot.”
Ashley turned surprised eyes on Aston. “Easy. She’s just being Tamara. She’s always like that around new guys. Especially new guys who look like Sam. I mean, damn. The boy is gorgeous.”
And he was. Aston couldn’t deny it. She actually had a chance to look at him tonight, really look at him without being obvious. His dark wash jeans fit him just right. She could see how tight his ass was beneath them, and she couldn’t help wondering what it would feel like to reach out and pinch it. The fact that Sam was such a sweet guy made her want to do not-so-sweet things to him.
Ugh! The temptation to think about him in ways she shouldn’t was overwhelming. Sam was working for her father. He wasn’t from around here, which meant he’d eventually leave like all the summer people did. He was also, as she’d found out tonight, taken. And so was she.
And she couldn’t stand the guy! There were times when he acted like he could see straight through her, to parts of herself she kept locked away deep inside. And that drove her crazy in ways she’d never been driven.
So why did she melt a little inside when those tawny-colored eyes locked onto hers? And why did her stomach clench when he spoke her name with that adorable drawl of his? And why the hell did she have to cross her legs and clench her muscles on the rare occasions when he touched her?
She barely knew Sam Waters. But she knew that something sizzled between them in a way she’d never felt. And it was so good, so tempting, that she almost wanted to throw everything else she knew out the window and straddle his lap.
But she couldn’t afford to think that way. She had to be on her guard with Sam, or he would end up taking advantage of her father. She knew the look her father got in his eyes when he was talking with Sam. He saw potential in him, and he would pull Sam up by his bootstraps until he became everything Gregory Hopewell wanted him to be.
“Come here, baby,” Princeton slurred as he pulled her roughly against him. Aston had to rise part of the way out of her chair in order to keep her arm in its socket.
“Hey, Prince,” Ashley warned. “Be easy. You’re hurting Aston’s arm.”
Sam’s head snapped around at Ashley’s declaration. His gaze locked on Aston’s arm where Princeton’s hand squeezed. Sam’s eyes narrowed and he glanced at her face. She deciphered the look in his eye almost as if she’d known him all her life and could read his mind. He was asking her if she was okay.
No one ever checked with her to see if she was okay. Everyone just always assumed that she was. A strange heat saturated her chest cavity, squeezing her heart so hard in its cage that she winced against the ache.
She nodded, just a slight tilt, hoping he understood it meant to stay where he was. He scrutinized her and Princeton, his body tense. But he didn’t come toward them.
“Get off me, Prince,” she said. She grabbed Princeton’s hand and pried his fingers off her arm. He only replaced it with his entire right arm draped across her shoulders. He pulled her face toward his with his left hand.
“You’re so fucking gorgeous,” he said. “Kiss me.”
“No!” Aston exclaime
d. “You’re trashed, Prince. Get off. I think you’re done for the night.”
Sam stood up quickly, causing panic to course through Aston. Part of her, the part way deep down inside that she tried to keep hidden, glowed at the prospect of Sam inserting himself in the middle of her and Princeton. But the rational part of her won.
It always did.
She shook her head firmly at Sam.
“No,” she mouthed. He hesitated, standing in front of his seat but still glaring at Princeton.
Reed finally noticed the silent standoff between Sam and his sister and stepped in. He shoved Sam back into his seat, and stepped around Aston to grab Princeton by the shoulders. “Come on, Prince. I’ll buy your drunk ass another.”
“Reed!” Aston’s tone was sharp.
“Hey,” he tossed over his shoulder as he walked toward the bar with a weaving Princeton. “I’m getting him away from you, aren’t I?”
Sam watched them go, his mouth hanging open. Then he looked at Aston.
“Is he always like that?” His tone was accusing.
Blaze let out a booming guffaw. “That’s our Princeton. Charming, ain’t he? We cut him off at a certain point, and then we take his keys and someone always gets his drunk ass home.”
Sam didn’t look amused. “He’s an ass. And you guys shouldn’t keep putting up with it.” His eyes never left Aston’s. His disappointment echoed a hard line deep in her soul. She didn’t like it.
Tamara looked first at Aston, and then at Sam. She slid up to Sam’s side.
“Oh, don’t worry about her, Sam. She’s a hell of a lot tougher than she looks. If anybody can handle a drunk Princeton, Aston can.”
“Yeah? Well I’m no stranger to men acting badly when they drink. And no one can handle that. No matter how strong they are.”
Aston’s body tensed as Sam pushed back from the table and stormed away toward the parking lot. Everyone’s heads followed his exit.
“I think I love that guy.” Blaze chuckled.
“It’s about time someone stuck up for you, Aston,” Finn agreed. “You’d never catch me treating Ash that way, or getting trashed like that in front of her.”