by Lee Kilraine
Chapter 14
Beckett
“What are you doing out here? It’s hotter than Hades.” Sam’s voice was cool as iced tea, and I’d be just fine with it pouring all over my body. Except I’d come outside to escape her. Well, not her so much as the fire in my gut that burned at me the more I was around her.
This 24/7 Sam and Beck creative power weekend was torture. My body wanted one thing, but my head had long ago made the rules. Relationships weren’t for me. I’d seen how soul-destroying it could be to let someone into your heart. To let someone have that much control over your life. Because it didn’t just destroy two people but had the potential to take out everyone in the vicinity.
“Until we get the new AC system in, it’s not much cooler inside.” I’d been overheated and sweating in the kitchen not thirty minutes ago. Of course, the fact that Sam was once again stripped down to short shorts and an athletic bra to combat the heat was a big part of that. She was killing me with those mile-long legs of smooth skin. And that didn’t even account for her sexy ass and her—dammit, I’d come outside to shut down my obsession with Sam’s body and here I was cataloguing every curve.
My hands squeezed around the pole of the net I was using to skim leaves and bugs from the pool. Idle hands are the devil’s playground and all that.
“I feel like you’re avoiding me so you don’t have to compromise on our design.”
“Newsflash—I don’t have to be the one to compromise. Have you ever thought you might be the one who’s being a little inflexible here?”
“Arrgh. I’ve dealt with men like you before.”
“Men like me?” I set the skimming net down and turned around to give her my undivided attention. “Please enlighten me… What am I like?”
“You’re a pushy Neanderthal who thinks women are below you.”
“I have no problem seeing women as my equal.” Where the hell did she get that from? She didn’t know me, so how the hell did she jump to judging me like that? “That still doesn’t mean I have to give in if I think I’m right. In fact, wouldn’t that be a sexist thing for me to do? Agree with you just because you’re a woman?”
“Are you trying to twist this around? Of course I don’t want that. I want you to agree because I’m right.”
“Look, I don’t know what kind of assholes you’ve worked with in the past, but the only reason I’m disagreeing is because I honestly believe my design is better.”
“So you’re just being stubborn.”
“It’s a possibility. My brothers have said it often enough.” Her delicate snort let me know she and my brothers were of the same mind. Hell, it’s not like I did it on purpose, but being stubborn was how I’d survived. “I admit it—which is why I prefer to work alone. I usually just do my job, then pass it off to one of my brothers.”
“You don’t trust me,” Sam said.
“I don’t trust anyone.”
“Welcome to adulthood, where we have to play and work nice with others.” She flashed me a brittle smile as she wiped a bead of sweat from her cheek. “Let’s go find a way to make this work, which means you’re going to have to listen to my ideas.”
Listen to her more? Hell, I’d had all I could take listening to her sexy voice, watching her lips move, seeing the passion on her face as she went into great detail about one of her designs all while covered in a light dusting of perspiration from this godawful heat. She looked like we’d just had a round of hot dirty sex, and before I knew it I’d lost track of what she was saying and was imagining stripping her out of her clothes. That was when I’d escaped to the heat outside.
“You say I’m stubborn; you’re like one of those gnats that shows up out of nowhere and then buzzes around a person’s face, annoying the crap out of them. Swat them away and they just come right back, more annoying than before. I came out here to get some space from you. Give me just ten damn minutes, okay?”
“Sounds like you need to cool off, Beckett Thorne.”
“Maybe I do.” Hadn’t I been saying that for the last five minutes? She just had to keep poking at me though.
“Well, then let me give you a hand.” She erased the distance between us in record time and pushed me. Pushed hard against my chest and caught me totally off guard.
Next thing I knew I was in the deep end of the pool. I had just enough time to catch my breath before the water rushed over my head. Let me just say, a guy doesn’t grow up in a family of six brothers and not have had this exact thing happen before. I resurfaced, coughing, my arms flailing frantically.
“Sam!” I beat at the water trying to stay afloat, before sinking under, only to drag myself back out. Again I hauled in a breath, able to keep myself above water long enough to notice Sam’s grin had disappeared. Her eyes went wide and frantic.
“Can’t swim! Can’t—” I thrashed my arms, barely keeping afloat. I drifted down, watching the bubbles rise over my head. I waited until I saw the explosion of water—Sam jumping in—before I dove down and swam the full length of the pool underwater. When I touched the other side of the lap pool, I hoisted myself to sit on the edge and waited for Samantha to resurface.
She popped up like a cork, bobbing around with her arms smacking the surface, pushing the water around still searching for me. When she realized I wasn’t there, she lifted her head, spinning around until she found me.
I smiled at her and shrugged. “Looks like we both needed to cool off.”
“You are such a jerk.” Her green eyes narrowed dangerously, and then she spun around and breast stroked to the opposite end. After lifting herself out of the pool, she sloshed and stomped her way back toward the house.
“Come on, Sam.” I followed behind her, knowing I needed to fix this, since we still had another day and a half to get through together. “It’s one hundred degrees outside; a dip in the pool wasn’t that bad.”
She sloshed her way upstairs, her chin held high and stiff the whole way. I was close on her tail, unable to avoid noticing the way her wet shorts hugged her most amazing ass as she climbed up the stairs in front of me.
“Let’s not forget you pushed me in first.”
“True.” She’d reached the bathroom. After stepping inside, she turned back to me with her hand on the doorknob. “But I did not pretend to drown.”
And then she slammed the door in my face.
I stood frozen until the shower turned on, and I felt like a creeper waiting to talk to her. To avoid standing there imagining the water sliding down over her body, I did an about face and left to take a shower in a bathroom down the hall. It was only standing under the cool water that I could pull away the layer of anger in Sam’s voice and hear the underlying fear. I’d really scared her and that made me feel like the jerk she said I was. That I needed to fix.
I dried off and threw on a clean T-shirt and pair of jeans before going back down to Sam’s bathroom and planting my ass up against the wall outside to wait. A few minutes after the shower shut off, her blow dryer went on. I worked out a nice apology in my head until the dryer shut off and Sam emerged.
“Hey. I’m sorry I pretended I couldn’t swim. I didn’t mean to scare you. You’re right; I am a jerk, and I’m sorry.”
“It’s not your fault. I overreacted.” She sighed and shook her head. “My little sister almost drowned once when my stepbrothers wouldn’t stop dunking her. They were too busy laughing to realize she was in trouble. I jumped in, dragged her to the edge, and smacked her on the back hard enough to leave bruises until she finally began coughing up water. I’ve never been so scared.”
Well fuck. Her hands were still shaking, and no wonder, since I’d made her relive the whole damn incident. I pushed away from the wall and eliminated the distance between us in three strides. I wrapped my arms around her carefully, wanting to offer her comfort but giving her the opportunity of opting out.
She snu
ggled tight in my arms, her hands fisting in my T-shirt, and burrowed her face into my neck. “I’m old enough to take a joke. Especially since you’re right—I started it.”
“No. I shouldn’t have done it.” I pulled her tight up against me, tucking her head under my chin and running one hand through the long, lustrous waves of her hair to where they fell halfway down her back. I was doing my best to make up for what I’d put her through, only my dick noticed that Sam was in my arms, smelling like heaven and wearing a robe. Damn thing perked right up. I cleared my throat. “Sorry about that. Just ignore that. I’m trying to offer comfort, it’s just that my dick is being, well, a dick.”
Sam laughed into my neck and I got harder. When she stopped laughing, she pulled back enough to look up at me, her eyes no longer shadowed with fear. She ran her hands up from my shirt, up over my chest, spearing one hand into the back of my hair and the other along my jaw.
“Here’s what I propose…. Let’s just do this. Let’s give in to this crazy attraction so we can both move beyond it.”
“Give in?”
“You’re going to make me say it, aren’t you?” Her gaze moved away, floating somewhere over my chest, looking unsure before she lifted her chin sharply and her eyes hit mine.
“I’m afraid so, yes.” Any other time, I’d have Sam naked and flat in ten seconds. “You just had a scare. I don’t want to take advantage of that. Besides, how am I going to train my dick to stand down when I’m on a comfort-only mission if we let him win in this situation? It’s like giving a dog a scrap of food when you’re trying to teach him not to beg.”
Her eyes sparkled up at me.
“Seriously, though, I want both of us to be sure about what you want.” I wasn’t trying to be a jerk about this, but no way was I going to make a move without knowing exactly what she was asking for. “What do you want, Sam?”
“I want…I… Did you know sex keeps your brain sharp? It increases blood circulation to the hypothalamus.” She bit her bottom lip and blinked her eyelashes at me. “An orgasm is better for your brain than working a crossword puzzle. And they decrease stress.”
“Are you asking me to have sex?”
“Yes. I’m trying to seduce you, only I’m not very good at it.”
“Keep going. Seduce away.” Apparently this woman only had to breathe to seduce me. “I’m very interested. In fact, if it helps, I can guarantee my answer will be yes. If seduction isn’t working, I’m fine with the straightforward approach too.”
She stared at me for a second and then slid open her robe, letting it flutter down and off her body, leaving her in barely-there lingerie. The pale peach bra barely covered her extremely gorgeous breasts. I could see the dark pink of her pebbled nipples pointing right at me. And she accused me of promising things.
“Is this direct enough?” she asked, lifting her chin in challenge.
I stood frozen, hesitating because this was fast turning into a reoccurring dream I’d been having.
“It is. Unless you want me to do your laundry.”
“I want you to do me.”
If I hadn’t gone hard the minute Sam had stripped down to lingerie, that would have done it. I want you to do me. I closed my eyes to get my body under control because my instinct was to back her up against the wall and take her hard.
That wouldn’t do. Letting go with Sam felt like it would be giving up too much. Much more than I could afford. Especially now that this job was so vitally important.
Yet I looked into her green eyes, bright with need, the same need that burned in my gut, and couldn’t resist. Maybe I couldn’t let go, but it would be a damn pleasure helping Samantha get off.
“Unless you don’t want to.” Her voice wavered. “You said you did, but maybe you changed your mind. Which is totally within your right.”
“Oh, I want.” I pulled my own shirt off and reached for her. Her skin, warm and soft under my palms. “I want to run my hands over every part of you. I want to stretch you out across my bed and explore what turns you on for a week.”
“I’m only thinking about right now.”
“Music to my ears. You’re saying you want to be fucked.” Sam didn’t want any more from me than a fast fuck. Like I had anything else to give anyway. No. I wouldn’t lose myself in her softness. I wouldn’t wrap my body around her and feel sated.
“That’s what I’m saying. You up for it?”
Hell yes I was. Up and hard was apparently my natural state around Sam.
She slapped her hands against my chest and backed me down the hall and into the bedroom with the mattress.
“Crap, I don’t have a condom with me.”
“I brought a whole box.”
“Samantha Devine, were you planning on taking advantage of me?”
“What if I was?” She pressed up against me and ran her tongue up my neck, and it sent an electric shot right to my cock. “What if I am?”
“I’m going to let you.” I pulled her in closer, swinging her body around and running my hands along her sweet, sweet curves. “But I’m a firm believer in ladies first.”
“No lingering. No cuddling. Just mutual satisfaction,” Sam said.
“Get in, get off, and get out. Got it.”
“Exactly. No more messing around. Let’s do this.”
“As soon as you’re done talking—”
She jumped me. She pushed me up against the wall and had her legs wrapped around me before I could blink. Fuck, it was hot. Like a perfect wet dream. Except I needed to be in charge. I grabbed her sweet ass and spun us around until her back was up against the wall. Everything about this woman got to me: her scent, her touch, her lips. My lips tasted the sweet honey of hers.
I could totally handle it. Except when Sam closed her eyes, some perverse part of me wanted her to see me. I didn’t want to be some faceless human vibrator. I reached out, running my fingers lightly along her jaw, down her slim neck where her pulse fluttered, and along her collarbone. I drew my other hand along the edge of her panties. A teasing, tantalizing touch that had her holding her breath.
I slid my hand around her waist, then down over her ass. It was a firm handful I was tempted to squeeze. I refrained, keeping my hand moving back up and along her ribcage until I stopped under the swell of her breast.
When the air between us grew thick and stifling, I got bossy. “Samantha, open your eyes.”
She opened them and threw a look at me with enough lust and annoyance to knock me back. I knew exactly how she felt. Lust this powerful was damn annoying. So annoying I made a quick change of plans.
Suddenly, drawing this out seemed dangerous and unwise. Like a self-inflicted wound. I also was pretty sure my willpower wouldn’t hold out much longer, but I couldn’t afford to lose myself in her either. I needed to end this quickly.
“Turn around and place your hands on the wall.” Even to my own ears my voice sounded strained and bordering on desperate.
“What? Why?” Her green eyes flashed up at me, hot and anxious.
I spun her and slapped her hands on the wall over her head the same moment I leaned down and sunk my teeth lightly in the sweet spot where her neck and shoulder joined.
Sam hissed air between her lips before releasing a groan. I filled my hands with her breasts. Good lord she felt good in my hands. Hotter even than I’d remembered. I caressed her, feeling her nipples tighten into sharp points against my palms. I slid one hand down her ribs, over her soft, sexy belly, and down into her silk panties where she was warm and wet.
I pushed my rock-hard cock against her ass, seeking the smallest bit of relief as I slid a finger inside her satin sheath. Firm strokes into her honeyed warmth while Samantha panted out tight staccato breaths.
I pressed my thumb against her clit in a firm circular motion, stroking her deep while I used my other hand to lightly pinch her nipple.<
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She cried out, and her hips jerked back against me before she dropped her forehead against the wall as a shudder wracked her whole body. I had to clench my jaw and tighten my abdominal muscles to keep from going over the edge with her.
My own breath sounded like I’d been racing a train. My hard-on rubbed painfully against my zipper. But instinct for self-preservation wouldn’t let me let go. Not with Sam. It had felt like too big of a risk.
Sam leaned against the wall, her cheek pressed against it while she recovered.
I retreated a few steps, and Sam turned around with her back against the wall. She stood there, naked except for her panties. With her long legs, rounded hips, and gorgeous tits, she could be a pin-up. I figured she’d be decorating the insides of my eyelids all night while I attempted to sleep.
Her eyes searched mine, looking bruised and unsure. Disconcerted over the way it had played out. I could kick myself for putting that look in her eyes, but how could I explain that sometimes the smallest touch of heaven only reminded me of the gaping hole inside me. I couldn’t.
Instead I snagged her robe from the floor at our feet and handed it to her. She slipped it on and pulled the belt tight.
“You okay?” I asked.
“Yeah.” And just when thought I couldn’t take her bruised eyes for one more second, I watched her transform. She shook her head, pulled herself up tall, and jutted her chin out. “Actually, no. I’m not okay. You cheated.”
“Excuse me?”
“You heard me. That wasn’t sex, that was servicing. I want a do-over. Right now.”
Fuck. No way I could hold back a second time. Did I even want to?
“Make love to me, Beck.”
Chapter 15
Samantha
Beck’s light blue eyes were locked on mine, gleaming, heated, and fierce. He might shoot me up over the moon again with that look alone. I felt that look tug at me.
“Please, Beck,” I breathed, stepping forward and wrapping my arms tight around him, one hand sliding through his thick, dark blond hair. He locked his gaze with mine, and I felt the shock from his light blue eyes deep inside, like a surge through me.