by Marie Jermy
“Daniel?”
His name registered on a level that told him she might be repeating it. “Yeah? Sorry. What?”
“Where were you?” she asked with a curious smile.
“Oh, um…” In a classroom. And you’re smacking my ass with a ruler. “Never mind. What were we talking about? Oh, yes, you’ve got to go to work this morning.”
“Yeah, I’ve got a meeting. Most of my male colleagues are attending, too. It’s a starting point of easing my way back into life and working with men without fear. That’s why I look all conservative and business-like.”
He’d felt like a total shit for even mentioning her work, but Daniel still couldn’t stop what he said next. “Not to mention hot.” Luckily or unluckily, depending on which why he looked at it, Samantha misinterpreted his words.
“Yeah, I’m broiled,” she said, picking up his folded newspaper and fanning herself. “It’s going to be another scorcher. Anyway, I’m free this afternoon, so would you like a picnic and a swim at the lake?”
“Is this our date?” When she nodded, he said, “Well, as you said last night, ‘Love to.’”
“Great.” Samantha got to her feet. “Meet you outside CC’s at two?”
“I’ll be there.” His hunger pangs sounded noisily as he watched Samantha leave. She had one sweet ass. It looked like he was going to have to spend the rest of the morning holed up in the shower in his hotel room.
However, as Daniel ate the rest of his breakfast, he decided to do something else that was guaranteed to get rid of his hard-on. Matt didn’t like shopping, and neither did he, though they had different reasons. Never advertised so not to ruin their public image, some chain stores, including upmarket and expensive brands, still had their clothing made in sweatshops. And buying clothes knowing they were made by somebody earning just a dollar a day made him sick. Just thinking about it had him grimacing and his cock softening.
* * * *
Bang on two o’clock, Daniel arrived outside CC’s Coffee Shop just as Samantha emerged from inside. He coughed to cover his hunger pangs. Though her hair was still in the topknot, she had changed. She now wore a stylish, hip-length, cream, wraparound top and brick-red shorts that accentuated her trim, tanned legs. Her feet were encased in a brown pair of gladiator sandals, a gold anklet twinkling as she walked.
He took hold of the picnic basket she was holding and nearly dropped it. The thing weighed a ton. He lifted the lid, and his eyes bulged at the delectable goodies it held. “There must be enough food here to feed the five thousand.”
“No, just you. I remember you Ferris men have big stomachs.”
He laughed. “And don’t forget, hollow legs.”
On the way to the lake, they held hands and joked about the solitary meat pie within the basket that she had bought him. She complimented him on his newly acquired khaki combats and black T-shirt, which he’d bought from a charity store. He was all for helping people who needed it the most.
She also told him about her morning meeting and how, after her male colleagues stopped pussyfooting around her, everything had gone well. However, as soon as they reached the clearing where the picnic benches were, Daniel noticed Samantha’s mood swing from relaxed to edgy.
“Let’s go somewhere else,” he suggested, knowing her edginess was due to them standing at the very spot where Raven had attacked her. She gave him a grateful smile and led him down a well-trodden dirt path under the canopy of pine trees by the lakeside.
He frowned when she veered off the path and cut through a thick carpet of undergrowth. Not exactly the ideal spot for a picnic. Or a swim, for that matter, as it seemed she was leading him away from the lake. He was just about to ask where she was taking him when she turned and pointed to a clearing that was half surrounded by huge chunks of slate gray rock, the other half by dense bushes and towering pine trees.
“Okay,” he drawled, “so that’s where we eat. But where do we get wet?”
“On the other side of those rocks is a pool. You can’t see it because it’s in a dip.”
“No kidding. No, you’re definitely not kidding,” Daniel said when he rounded the rocks and saw the pool for himself. He scratched his head. “I don’t seem to remember this from before.”
“It was added a couple of years ago,” Samantha explained while Daniel set the picnic basket down and removed the blanket from within. “The water actually comes from the lake. You can’t see it because it’s underground, but running from the lake to here is a pump that maintains the water level.”
He nodded his approval as he glanced around the area. “Considering it’s man-made, it’s really natural-looking.” It’s also very private, he silently added. Another fantasy popped up, one consisting of Samantha and him having alfresco sex on the blanket he’d just laid out.
Ranked as high as his fantasy of licking edible sweet foodstuffs from a lover’s body, he’d always wanted alfresco sex. It was risqué, and the chance of getting caught only heightened its risk and appeal. And he had no doubts that having sex outside with Samantha would be as sultry as the humid, evergreen air.
With extreme effort, Daniel shoved the image of sweaty bodies, tangled limbs, and heady groans right out of his head and unbuttoned his pants. But then his hands stilled. He held his breath while he watched Samantha unwrap her top. If she wore a bikini underneath, then he was going to die of asphyxia. Her top unwrapped and laid on the blanket, he let out a huge sigh of relief when her shorts followed.
His sigh of relief lasted all of one second. Samantha’s swimsuit was black and modest, with a high front and back, and classically cut on the legs. Basically it didn’t show much off, but damn, fuck, and blast, it was the sexiest swimsuit he’d ever seen. He just couldn’t take his eyes off it, particularly the fabric stretched across the pair of perfectly-shaped breasts that needed to be introduced to his mouth.
Groaning under his breath, Daniel spun around to face the pool, hoping, or rather praying, that Samantha hadn’t noticed how hard his cock had become. Christ, his cock resembled an iron rod. He could surely break rocks with it.
The water was crystal clear, and he could just make out the stony bottom. “How deep is this water?” he asked, knowing water could be very deceiving when it came to its depth. What looked twenty meters deep might only be ten. If he dived in, he could crack his head wide open.
“I’m not sure. I think it’s deep enough for diving, though.”
Daniel frowned and glanced over his shoulder at her. “I don’t think I’ll risk it.” He jumped in. And gasped out loud in shock. The water was cold—ice-cold. There was a teasing glint in Samantha’s eyes as she stood on the rock ledge watching him freeze. Then, she threw her head back and shrieked with laughter.
He promptly decided she was a little minx. A minx who had known all along about the water’s temperature, but had thought it funny not to mention it to him. It was time for payback. He grabbed hold of Samantha’s ankles, making her wobble and lose her balance. He caught her when she splashed down beside him, panting and spluttering from the water’s iciness.
Treading water, Daniel’s body warmed considerably by the feel of the soft, lush body beneath his hands, even more so when his gaze dropped. She followed his line of sight. Beneath the waterline her nipples were as hard as his cock when he’d entered the water. He was still hard now. Rock hard.
The need to kiss this woman was as important as it was to breathe. But he didn’t just want to kiss her mouth. He wanted to kiss her neck, her shoulders, her breasts, and the pebbled points of her nipples, her stomach, and beyond. He wanted it so much and more.
All he needed was permission.
“Baby…”
* * * *
Daniel’s tone sounded strained. Samantha glanced back up at his face and nearly sank to the bottom of the pool when she forgot to tread water. The amber flecks within his blue eyes were glowing. Glowing with intent of kissing her. A split second later, his lips met with hers. First brushing over her
top lip, then nibbling on the lower one, making her moan when he flicked his tongue in the corners.
Extracts of the outdoors, bergamot and peppermint, a smell that was uniquely Daniel, enveloped her as she moved her hands from where they’d been on his incredibly toned and smooth pecs to around his neck, her fingers delving into the hair curled at his nape. Her eyes widened, hopefully sending him the message to kiss her more deeply. Message received and apparently understood, because he mashed his mouth to hers, his tongue diving between her teeth, seeking to mate with hers.
Samantha didn’t know how she got there, but the rock ledge pressed against her back and shoulders. She was surrounded by hardness. Hard rock to the back and Daniel to the front. His kiss was hard, too. But his hands were gentle and were going on a little journey. From her back, to her hips, around to her belly, and then up until they stopped on her ribcage just under her breasts.
“Baby,” he murmured against her mouth, “I’m going crazy here. And I know it’s a bit late to ask, but can I touch you?”
“Oh, yes.” She held her breath as he placed his hands over her breasts, and then let it out in a mad rush as he squeezed their fullness and thumbed her nipples, just like he had the night before. Her body warmed, and an ache of wanting more than his hands on her developed low in her belly. She twisted urgently against him, her words coming out on a throaty whimper. “Please, kiss them.”
“Oh, baby…Yes.”
His hands skimmed up her arms to her shoulders, his callused palms heating her body further. He began to twist the straps of her swimming costume around his fingers but then he froze. And it had nothing to do with the coldness of the water. His still-glowing eyes stared into hers, telling her he wanted her, wanted her bad. But perhaps knowing what Raven had done to her was stopping him from taking her. It was silly. Daniel didn’t have a bad bone in his body. He wouldn’t take advantage of her like Raven had done. And hadn’t she just given her consent for him to kiss her breasts? Maybe it would be a good idea to tell him how she felt.
“Daniel, my parents told me to ease my nightmares about Mark, I should go back to where they occurred and face them. I don’t want to be afraid anymore. I want to make some happy memories. Here. With you.”
Daniel expressed concern. “You have nightmares? I didn’t know that.”
A smile softly curled her lips. “Well, not so much since you came.”
He brought one hand up to cup her face and tenderly brushed his thumb over her lower lip. “I want nothing more than to make happy memories with you. But there’s no way I’m doing it in front of an audience.”
She gave him a puzzled look. “An audience? Whatever do you mean?”
“Matt! Why don’t you come out of hiding?”
The feelings that swept through Samantha when her brother appeared went from embarrassment, to shock, to anger. Especially anger. Though she knew Matt was only protecting her—not that she needed protecting from Daniel, for heaven’s sake!—this was an invasion of privacy. Hers and Daniel’s. She couldn’t believe her adorable, cheeky brother had seemingly become a perverted Peeping Tom.
She waited until Daniel helped her out of the pool before she turned on Matt. “I can’t believe you’ve been spying on us. How could you, Matt? What gives you the right? You’re as bad and as low as Mark. Maybe even lower.”
“Hang on a minute—”
Samantha ignored the stung look on her brother’s face. “No, you hang on a minute.” She stabbed her forefinger into Matt’s chest with each word to drive her point home. “Don’t. Spy. On. Us. Again. Got it?”
* * * *
Daniel couldn’t believe the transformation in Samantha. Only a minute ago her luminous green eyes had burned with desire. Now they raged like a volcano. Any second now he’d see lava and pyroclastic cloud belching from them. He knew Matt also possessed an equally volcanic temper, so he decided to stand in between them. He didn’t even like arguing with his own sister, Jessica. He certainly didn’t wish to watch Samantha and Matt do it.
“Whoa, go easy on him, Sammy,” he said quietly but firmly. “He’s only looking out for you. I would do exactly the same for Jessica if she had gone through what you have. You know I wouldn’t do anything to hurt her,” he then told Matt.
“Have you got a girlfriend?”
Daniel suppressed the urge to laugh at Matt’s question, a question he thought was a little on the absurd side. “No, unless…Sammy, will you be my girlfriend?”
“Yes,” she replied without hesitation.
He turned back to Matt. “Well, yeah, Matt, I do have a girlfriend.”
“Funny. Real funny.”
“Leave us alone, Matt,” Daniel said in a tone low enough to be considered as a warning, albeit a friendly one. Matt didn’t respond, but just grinned, turned on his heel, and left.
Daniel waited until he felt certain Matt had indeed gone and then dropped down onto the blanket beside Samantha. She immediately moved into his lap and straddled him with her thighs on either side of his. He silently groaned at the heat from her pussy filtering through his swim shorts. Her fingers doodled on his chest, and her hot breath teased his ear.
Any other time, he would have returned her sensual touching with some of his own, but Matt’s appearance had well and truly put him off. He pushed her back. Her hurt expression instantly made him feel like an asshole. She bent her head to stare at the blanket, but he tipped her face back up to him. Her eyes had lost the lava spark and instead shimmered with a watery light. No, forget about feeling like an asshole—he was an asshole. Period.
“I’m sorry, baby. I’m just not in the mood.” He grinned to further soften his rebuff. “But let me assure, when I am in the mood, I’m gonna blow you away.”
“Oh, my,” she said, putting her hands to her chest and laughing, “that’s the loudest trumpet I’ve ever heard.”
He chuckled and poked his nose into the picnic basket. “I’m starving, and there’s a meat pie in here with my name on. Oh, meat pie, where art thou? Come to papa…”
Daniel trailed off when he clapped eyes on the jar of chocolate spread. Holding it in his hand, he blinked and swallowed the hard lump in his throat. Oh, Christ. Two fantasies within touching and licking distance? “If you’re a veggie,” he began with a croak. He cleared his throat and tried again. “If you’re a veggie, should you be eating chocolate spread? I’m sure there’s some sort of animal fats in it.”
“Nope, this one’s for veggies,” she said, taking the jar from him and unscrewing the lid. She stuck a finger in and, holding it aloft, licked the thick, brown gooeyness clean off. He felt sure she hadn’t done it to arouse him or elicit any sort of response from him, but it had, and in more ways than one.
He hadn’t been in the mood a minute ago, but he sure was now. Before Samantha could blink, Daniel snatched the jar of chocolate spread from her hands and rolled her body beneath his, her hips cradling his cock as though she’d been specifically made for him. His hands reaching for hers, he lowered his face into the crook of her neck. She squirmed as he traced his lips against the soft flesh, still chilled from their dip in the pool.
Heat knifed through him as her subtle flowery scent infused his desire for her. Christ, she was so beautiful. So soft. So sexy. So stiff…Stiff? What the fuck? He looked up. The first thing he noticed was her face rigid with fear. The second was where his hands were—wrapped around her wrists, held above her head, pinned to the ground.
Immediately, Daniel released her hands and jumped to his feet, horrified and disgusted with himself. If he was trying to erase memories of Raven’s assault from her mind, he was going the wrong fucking way about it. “Omigod! Sammy, I’m sorry, so sorry. Please forgive me?”
Even as he said it, he knew he’d blown his chances. He was such an asshole, always in a rush. He wanted Samantha real bad. He wanted her relaxed and comfortable, and utterly boneless for him. Until she was crying out for him to plant his rock-hard cock between her legs and give her the fucking
ride of her life. To have his name on her lips when she came would be better than his own climax.
However, following that performance, Daniel knew there wasn’t a fucking snowball’s chance in hell of that happening. Nor did he deserve Samantha’s forgiveness. He also wouldn’t blame Matt if he sliced and diced him. In fact, he would sharpen the knives for him. Stick them in, too. And then when he was done, he’d hand the knives to Matt so he could finish the job.
Chapter 4
Samantha stood just outside the glazed double set of doors. Filled with the delicious aroma of Danish pastries and freshly-brewed coffee, and the not-so-delicious smells of bacon and sausages, the dining room of the Silver Creek B and B was buzzing with tourists—couples, families, activity groups—all enjoying the hearty breakfast on offer and planning their day ahead.
However, her focus was on the lone blond-haired man dressed in the open-necked, gray, military-style, short-sleeved shirt seated at the table in the far corner. Knife and fork positioned as if to eat, Daniel stared down at the food on his plate not really seeing it, his expression thoughtful and just a little bit lost.
It really was a heartwarming sight. Overnight, she’d thought long and hard about what had happened the day before, concluding she could forgive Daniel because he had the decency to know right from wrong, unlike Mark Raven. There was another reason for her decision. What with thinking too hard and with the previous day’s events whizzing around in her head, she’d forgotten to take her sleeping pills. She hadn’t needed them. Not only had she slept like a log, but she hadn’t had a nightmare about Raven. She had Daniel to thank for that.
But even so, doubts had crept in. Oh, not doubts about wanting a relationship with Daniel—she still wanted that—but there was something about Daniel that she couldn’t quite put her finger on. She didn’t know whether it was his looks—the way he grinned at times, like the cat that had gotten the cream, or the way those jeweled amber flecks in his blue eyes lit up with heat and desire—but there was something very, very familiar about him. As though all her life, she’d subconsciously known him as another man.