Next In Line

by Daws, Amy

  “Look, I don’t begrudge you for going after your relationship or for chasing after what you think is your happy ending. I respect it and am fucking impressed by it enough to help you out. I just know that it’s not what I want for my life. I didn’t grow up with a perfect family like you and Miles. Mine is far from perfect. And I know myself well enough to know that I’m better off making Tire Depot my passion…not some girl.”

  “Some girl,” Maggie repeats with a laugh, circling her hand on the surface of the water slowly. “It’s not some girl, Sam. It’s the girl. If you met the girl, you would be singing a very different tune.”

  I shake my head. “So you’re saying you are one hundred percent certain that your football player is the guy?”

  Maggie stops waving her hands around the water, and her brows knit together deep in thought. Her hesitation has me shocked. I would have thought she’d blurt out a resounding yes, but she’s actually thinking it over, which seems…mature. “I’m not one hundred percent certain, no. But I’m certain I want to try to win him back so I can find out.”

  “No matter what it takes.”

  “No matter what it takes,” she confirms and then squints her eyes shut. “Crap…I forgot my phone.”

  “Have someone you need to call right now?”

  “No…I just…need a picture of me in this hot spring to send to Sterling.”

  I have to fight back the urge to roll my eyes. Maggie has moments of maturity, moments when she’s wise beyond her years, but then she slips right back into that twenty-two-year-old college grad who has no clue what to do without a plan in front of her.

  “Maggie,” I state, my voice deep in warning. “Stop worrying about Sterling and live in this moment. We are in the middle of a hot spring, surrounded by rocks and mountains and snow and nature and…life. Your ex should be the last thing on your mind. You should be taking this all in.”

  “I am taking it all in,” she snaps back defensively.

  “But are you? Are you really?” I stare deep into her eyes, not in judgment but in understanding. “I know you have a plan, but sometimes plans need to be forgotten so you don’t miss out on life.”

  “Life? Like right now? With you?” she says the words slowly like each one is a sweet she’s tasting for the first time.

  “Hell, maybe,” I reply, my voice growing deeper from the darkened look in her eye. “You seem busy living for a fictional future. Maybe it’s time to stop turning the pages for a bit.”

  The corners of her lips twitch as she watches me for a breath. Her tongue darts out to wet her lips as she pulls her bottom one in with her teeth. She turns around to prop her arms on the rocks, her eyes taking in the scenery all around us. She exhales heavily and then turns to sit on her knees in front of me.

  My eyes take in that luscious body of hers, curvy in all the right places and smooth like velvet. Leaning in until her face is only inches from mine, she says, “Kiss me, Sam.”

  “What?” I ask with a laugh and pull away from her, assuming this must be her idea of a joke.

  She bites her lip and narrows her eyes with determination. “Kiss me.”

  “What are you doing?” I shift nervously in the water to put more space between us. I swear to God, the temperature of the water has just risen ten degrees.

  Lifting her shoulders, she replies, “I’m living life in the moment.”

  “But you want your ex back.” A fact she shouldn’t need to be reminded of.

  “I do…someday.” Her eyes wander down to my chest. “But he’s not here tonight. And you’re a short-term kind of guy, and I’m a temporarily single girl. So why don’t we live in the moment right now…together?”

  “You don’t want this,” I reply with a shake of the head, gulping down the contents of my glass in one swig. I set it down and hoist myself up on the edge of the rocks, needing some cool air to clear my head.

  “I think I do,” she replies, lifting her brows at me. “I know I do. I’ve wanted it since the day we met.”

  “Bullshit.”

  “It’s true. Why do you think I threw myself at you in your fishing hut, Sam?”

  My body roars to life at that memory, of her body close to mine, of feeling her in my arms and tasting her perfect lips. Maggie could kiss. Even in her haste, she knew how to kiss.

  Maggie moves closer to me like a tentative cub tracking its first prey. She kneels between my legs, and I tense when she runs her hands up the outside of my calves. “You’re a good guy, Sam. You may not be a long-term kind of guy, but that’s not what I’m looking for from you anyway.”

  Her hands roll over my quads, shooting a zinger right up my groin to my cock. I reach down and grip her hands harshly to stop their movement. “What are you looking for exactly, Maggie? Be very fucking specific.”

  Her long black lashes are wet from the steam as she looks up at me and quirks her brow as she replies. “I’m asking for no-strings fucking.”

  “Jesus Christ,” I growl and have to force myself to look away from her. She looks way too fucking hot right now in that little black bikini, her breasts pressing together from the position of her hands on my thighs, and her blue eyes wide and innocent. My dick develops its own heartbeat as it presses into my board shorts.

  How did this evening turn into Maggie seducing me? I’m fucking nine years older than her, for God’s sake. I should be the one seducing her. But all of a sudden, she’s the alluring bait dangling right in front of me, and I’m a fish who hasn’t eaten in weeks.

  I look at her with pleading eyes. “Your brother will kill me.”

  She smiles a sexy smile, that dimple in her cheek ever present. “Miles doesn’t need to know about my sex life.”

  I close my eyes, my head falling back as I look up into the stars and grapple with my conscience. I know I’m already lying to Miles, but it’s one thing to secretly help his sister out, and it’s another to secretly fuck her. “What if this gets complicated, Maggie?” I ask the sky.

  “You mean, what if I fall for you?”

  I look back down at her as she takes the words right out of my head.

  “I won’t,” she assures, her voice firm and steady. “I’m a very focused person when I want to be, Sam. And when I have an end goal in sight, nothing gets in my way.”

  I tilt my head curiously because damnit, I think she’s right. From the second I met Maggie, she’s been focused, headstrong, and fully committed to her goals. Hell, the girl was going to go silo ice climbing all on her own with a bunch of granola-eating potheads she’d just met.

  In the beginning, I thought it was naïvety. Now, I think Maggie Hudson might actually be fucking fierce.

  Inching a bit closer, she states in a deep, sultry voice, “Let’s consider this a short-term plan that could be another great adventure.”

  Lure The Best

  It’s not the wine that has me propositioning Sam. It’s him. Every second I spend with him, he gets hotter and hotter and hotter. From punching that asshole at Marv’s Bait and Tackle to telling me he’s passionate about his employees, he’s just so much…man. And it doesn’t help that Kate’s urging to make this trip about more than just getting Sterling back is echoing in my mind over and flipping over again.

  I glance down and can see the outline of Sam’s erection in his board shorts. It’s thick and long and pressing against the thin fabric like an animal that wants to be freed. He clearly wants this too, so what are we waiting for?

  Sam takes a deep, cleansing breath and releases my hands that he had pinned to his thighs. The act is seemingly innocent, but it feels like a resounding yes as I watch his entire body go taut with anticipation. I stand between his legs, and his eyes heat as they trail down my body.

  He lifts his chin to look up at me as he splays his rough hands around my waist, then over my butt and to the backs of my legs. In one quick move, he spreads me so I’m sitting astride him, and when his hard-on nudges my center, I have to bite back a moan threatening to crawl up my t
hroat.

  Something tells me that having sex with Sam will be a night and day difference from Sterling. Sam stokes the flames as he palms my ass and rocks me on his lap before running his hands up my sides. His thumbs steal under the fabric of my bathing suit top, and I arch into his touch just as his thumbs brush over my nipples.

  “This is your last chance to get out, sparky,” he states again, his voice deep with obvious lust.

  Is he crazy? His hands feel like freedom, and his dick feels like a mountain I can’t wait to climb. I don’t want anything to stop. I want it to go faster! Especially when he stares at my hardened nipples and bites his flipping lip!

  “I want you, Sam,” I pant and then move in to press my lips to him.

  He pulls back quickly, preventing my mouth from touching his. Shaking his head from side to side, he says, “You kissed me first last time. Now it’s my turn.”

  In one athletic maneuver, he stands, holding me up like I weigh nothing, and places me on the rock where he was just sitting. These rocks aren’t exactly comfortable, but I’m too busy listening to my roaring libido to care about comfort.

  Kneeling between my legs, he leans in close to my mouth to whisper, “But I’m not going to kiss you here.”

  I stare down at his beautiful mouth, my own hanging open like a dog after a run. He brushes his nose softly along my cheek, nuzzling all the way down my neck and causing a riot of goose bumps to erupt all over my body, and not just from the cool air around us.

  Because it’s not cold right now. It’s steaming hot, and I want nothing more than to be slick and sweaty with Sam O’Connor. He begins a trail of featherlight kisses down my neck, over the swells of my breasts, and to my belly just below my navel.

  “I’m going to kiss you down here,” he husks against the mound of my pussy.

  I cry out loudly because I can’t remember the last time a man kissed me down there. Not properly anyway. My high school boyfriend was the only one, and that idiot never knew what he was doing. Sadly, Sterling never wanted to. He says it’s not his thing, and God, I’ve yearned for it like crazy.

  “Oh my god,” I cry when Sam’s fingers slip past the fabric of my suit bottoms and brush along my slit. He pushes his thumb deep inside me while his forefinger teases my clit. I feel a sudden rush of pressure down below, and I worry I’m going to have a weird female premature orgasm.

  “Is this where you like me, sparky?” he asks, watching my body twitch as he adjusts his hand and pushes two long fingers inside me.

  I groan out a frustrated sound from both his use of that nickname and because I’m scared he’s not going to do what I really want him to do. “Don’t call me sparky,” I state because I can’t say what I really want to say.

  He chuckles and drops a chaste kiss on my inner thigh. “Why not?”

  My eyes lock on his. “Because when you first called me that, it was not one of my favorite moments.”

  His eyes twinkle with mirth. “That’s too bad because it was one of mine.”

  I smile at that response, but my amusement is completely cut off when he unceremoniously buries his face between my legs. His right hand holds my bikini bottoms to the side as his left hand grips my other thigh to spread me wide. He flattens his tongue on my sex and licks me from back to front in one long, luxurious sweep, stopping at my clit to suck fiercely.

  A cry rips its way out of my throat as my hand combs into his hair, fisting it anxiously as my body struggles with sensory overload. The air is too cold, the water is too hot, and Sam’s mouth is unrelenting. He seems encouraged by my hair pulling and quickly moves to hook my right leg up on his shoulder so he can grab my lower back and pull me against his face even deeper. He continues to tongue lash me over and over with a variety of lips, nips, and sucks that feel like a goddamn nightmare and dream all rolled into one. The pressure in my lower belly is so intense, I feel like I’m going to split right up the middle.

  My hips develop a mind of their own as they buck forward, riding his face like a prized bronc at a rodeo. Everything he is doing is too much, yet somehow not enough. I’m losing my mind as the desire to feel his tongue thrust deeper overwhelms me.

  Sam utters a low, satisfying moan when he feels my legs begin to tense up, and the sound only pushes me higher. My body locks up, preparing for the explosion that’s sure to come. Sam must know what’s about to happen because when he starts rapid-fire flicks across my clit, he forces an orgasm so strong, my screams are probably heard on the other side of the mountain.

  In the background, I think Sam moves from between my legs, but my eyes are so starry-eyed, I can’t see anything. I can’t feel anything either. My body is like numb Jell-O as I attempt to catch my breath and re-center myself back on this planet.

  I finally turn my eyes to Sam. He’s moved back into the hot spring and is staring at me like I’m some work of art on a wall he’s admiring. The heat and energy in his eyes are everything I want more of. More hotness, more adventure…more Sam.

  I shake my head at him in amazement. “I don’t know why I’m surprised to discover you’re good at that because you’re good at basically everything.”

  Sam’s lips twitch with amusement as he rubs his hands over his face and through his short hair. “I’m a man of many talents.”

  My brows arch curiously at that. “Apparently.”

  “But you know what, sparky? Somehow I don’t think you’re as innocent as you look.”

  He eyes me with a sexy smolder that brings a smile to my face. “Let’s put our talents to the test,” I state, moving down into the water and making my way toward him.

  Sam’s face falls, and he draws back from me with a somber look on his face. “We have a slight problem.”

  “What?”

  He clears his throat. “I didn’t bring any condoms.”

  “Oh…shit.”

  “Yeah.” He exhales heavily and ruffles the water beading in his hair. “And with all the snow that came down tonight, I think I’ll probably need to wait until daylight to run to town and get them.”

  “Tomorrow?” I ask with a pout, and then my gaze drops down to Sam’s groin under the water. The groin that I felt the full thickness of only moments ago when I was on his lap. The groin that is probably in some serious need of release.

  I swallow nervously, my body tensing up as Sam watches me curiously. I know what he wants me to do right now. I know what every man in America would want done in this situation.

  But I can’t.

  Just the idea of it makes my entire body prickle with anxiety, and before I can change the subject, a flashback hits me hard and fast.

  Sterling and I had been together about a month when it happened. It was homecoming week, and Sterling had just quarterbacked an incredible game. We were at a party celebrating, and I was more tipsy than I cared to admit when I tried to impress Sterling by yanking him into the bathroom for a quickie. One second, we’re kissing, and then the next, he’s pushing my head down toward his dick. I was totally okay with this, so I licked my lips and eagerly got to work. But just as I was getting into it, Sterling grabbed my hair and thrust his dick so deep into my throat, I gagged. He didn’t seem to notice my reaction and kept pushing himself down my throat over and over again. Tears pricked my eyes as my nails clawed into his hips in a silent plea to calm the fuck down. But he didn’t notice. He just kept thrusting and thrusting until finally…

  I vomited.

  Like…on his dick.

  Well, maybe not exactly on his dick, more so on his lap because I managed to extract my mouth from his dick just as another retch reared its ugly head.

  Only this wasn’t a dry heave.

  It was a sputtering spray of the jungle juice I’d been drinking like Gatorade.

  Sterling freaked out and nearly tossed me to the ground in his attempt to get away from my upchuck. I was frozen on my knees, head hanging down with puke in my hair as I tried to catch my breath.

  It. Was. Mortifying.

  I
thought for sure he was going to dump me. I thought for sure I’d humiliated myself beyond repair to the man I wanted to marry and that my life was over.

  But Sterling didn’t dump me. He actually apologized for being overeager and handed me a random toothbrush from the cupboard.

  Sam’s eyes are on me with a curiosity that I don’t want to address. It’s one thing to puke on your boyfriend’s dick, but it’s another thing to puke on a fuck buddy. Not to mention, something tells me Sam is used to experienced women.

  “Uhhh, let’s head back, shall we?” I state, my voice high pitched and clipped as I quickly stand in the hot spring, my sex drive shriveled up like an old lady after that walk down memory lane. “It’s getting late, and we have a big day of snowboarding tomorrow.”

  “Oookay,” Sam replies slowly, his brow furrowed in confusion.

  I quickly slide my wet feet into my boots and don’t even bother toweling off before grabbing my coat and hustling my ass back down the path to the cabin and away from Sam’s very likely throat-choking dick.

  The next day, I wake up prepared to talk it out with Sam. I should apologize for my behavior so the day isn’t full of awkwardness or resentment…but I don’t get the chance.

  “Hi,” I state sleepily as I pad my way into the kitchen where I find Sam frying bacon and eggs at the stove.

  “Morning!” he says cheerily and looks over to eye my plaid pajamas before returning his attention back to the stove.

  I take in his gray lounge pants and a white T-shirt that hugs his very large arms nicely. “You’re up early.”

  He nods knowingly. “Early bird catches the worm. Plus, we’ll want to get going early today before it gets busy. It’s easier to teach without a bunch of teenage assholes swinging by and spraying us all day.”

  “Spraying us?” I ask with a frown.

  With a half-smile, he says, “Yeah, they ski really fast straight at you and then stop and kick their heels out, resulting in a spray of snow. They always do it to newbies.”