Best of Luck

by Jill Sanders

  His worn jeans hung low on his hips and she wanted to slide them off him so bad, but when she reached for him, he gripped her hands in his and moved them above her head.

  The material of her dress lay over her chest, just barely. His eyes roamed over her again.

  “You’ll have to show me someday, how you kept this over you long enough for dinner.”

  She smiled. “You don’t want to know.” Her chest rose and fell as his head dipped down. When she felt his mouth between her breasts, she moaned and relaxed into the bed.

  His knee rose slightly as his free hand once again hiked up her long skirt. This time, instead of playing with the lace, he pushed it aside. Touching her instead. When his finger dipped inside her, she cried out his name and arched for him.

  Her hands were still held down by his other hand above her head. Tugging, she wanted to touch him, but instead, he chuckled and told her no.

  “If you touch me, I won’t go slow,” he warned.

  “Good, release my hands,” she begged.

  “No,” he growled. “Not yet.” His mouth traveled down—his tongue pushed the soft material aside until she was fully exposed to his kisses. Once more, she arched up as he took her into his mouth. Sucking, kissing, until she felt herself building too fast. His other hand continued to push in and out of her soft skin.

  He dipped his tongue into her belly button, then moved lower under her skirt and settled his mouth where his hand had just been.

  This time she screamed his name as her hands were released. She buried her fingers into his hair and held on as his tongue lashed and lapped her up. His finger dipped just on the inside, causing her shoulders to arch from the mattress. She cried out his name when she felt the orgasm rock her.

  How could he have not remembered how beautiful she was in the middle of orgasm? Her soft blonde hair flowed around her shoulders. It was a little messed up from his hands as it framed her face. The material from the dress lay open, exposing her to his view. Her pale skin had turned pink, heated from his touch. Her lips were still swollen from his kisses.

  He moved up, pulling the thin material off her legs. Quickly yanking a condom out of the nightstand, he jerked his pants down and sheathed himself. Her eyes fluttered open when he pulled the sexy dress from her hips. Then she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and he hovered over her. His entire body vibrated with want.

  “Look at me,” he said, wanting her blue eyes to focus as he entered her slowly. “You’re so beautiful,” he said softly between kisses as he moved inside her.

  “Tom ...” She moaned softly, her nails digging slightly into his skin, making him want to move faster. There was something primeval about having her fingernails mark his skin.

  Pulling her leg up, he enjoyed how flexible she was. Her soft moans were some of the sexiest sounds he’d imagined.

  “I knew it would be like this,” she said, her fingers going to his hair, pulling him down until their lips met again. “I’ve dreamed about this for years.”

  “Me too,” he growled out, his hips moving on their own accord.

  He was just thinking how great he was doing, keeping himself in check until she could come again, but then she moved, slightly and slowly. Her hips doing this little rotating thing and he lost all control. Suddenly, his breathing was labored—his muscles screamed out as he moved harder, faster. Then he was flying and in the back of his mind, he registered her scream of release.

  When he surfaced again, their skin had cooled. The fire in the fireplace was dying since the room had chilled.

  Reaching down, he pulled the heavy blanket over Amber’s very naked, very glorious body, then shifted to get out of bed. Her hand reached for him, stopping him.

  “I’m just going to throw a few logs on the fire,” he said, running a hand over her hair and smiling down at her. It was almost too dark to see her face, and he knew he wanted to see her when he made love to her again.

  He tossed a few more logs onto the fire, and then shifted.

  “Mrs. Anderson made us apple pie,” he said after his stomach growled.

  “I could go for some of her apple pie.” Amber sat up, the blankets wrapped around her. “But I’m not sure I want to deal with the cold floor, or the three flights of stairs.”

  He chuckled. “I’ll bring it up.”

  “And some water?” she asked.

  “There’s some in the small fridge, behind the counter.” He nodded to a small bar area. “I put one in after your brother complained when he and Kristen stayed here last time.”

  She smiled. “I’ll get the water; you get the pie.”

  He nodded, then started down the stairs.

  “Tom?” she said. He turned back to her, his eyebrows going up in question. “Are you going to walk around the house—like that?” She nodded to him.

  Glancing down, he chuckled. “The nearest neighbor is about five miles away, and I happen to know they are in Vail for the weekend.”

  “Still, it’s pretty chilly in here.” She tilted her head.

  He smiled and then grabbed a bathrobe from the hook on the back of the bathroom door.

  “Better?” he asked.

  “What about slippers? Aren’t your feet going to freeze?”

  Strolling over to the closet, he pulled out a pair of his grandfather’s slippers and put them on. They were a little too small, but since the back of the heel was open, he figured they would do.

  “Don’t forget the ice cream,” she said as he started heading down the stairs.

  “How do you know there’s ice cream?” he called back up.

  “Mrs. Anderson always has vanilla bean ice cream with her apple pie,” she called down.

  He smiled when he saw the gallon of vanilla bean sitting in his freezer with another note that read, “Enjoy.”

  It took him a while to figure out how he was going to carry everything upstairs, but decided at the last minute to use the large wood tray that sat on the ottoman in the living room. He balanced everything on it and carted it up the flights of stairs. The fire had heated the room enough that it was very comfortable now. The snow was falling faster outside and he had noticed that the white stuff had stuck to the back deck.

  “Looks like the weatherman was wrong,” he said, setting the tray down on the bench that sat along the base of the massive bed.

  “Oh?” She shifted, and he noticed that she’d pulled on a silky nighty the same pink color of her toenails.

  “The white stuff is coming down much faster.” He shifted to sit next to her.

  “That’s okay. I have no place to be until Sunday evening.”

  “Family dinner?” He glanced over at her as she rolled her hair and tossed it over her shoulder. She’d done some sort of braid thing to it and it looked like someone with skills had worked on it for a few hours.

  “Yes”—she smiled over at him— “they still invite you?”

  He nodded, feeling the knot in his throat as he did every time he thought of how her family had adopted him from an early age. It wasn’t as if his grandfather or father had been bad parents. Just absent. His mother had left long ago. He could barely remember her face. Ann filled that place in his life shortly after his parents had divorced and his mother had moved to Arizona to start over with a new family.

  The last time he’d seen her, he’d been six, shortly before Amber came into his life.

  He glanced over at her quickly as he handed her a plate with the warm apple pie and a scoop of ice cream on top.

  “Does it bother you?” he asked.

  “What?” She took a scoop and moaned with delight.

  “The differences between us.” He took a bite of his own.

  She turned slightly, a frown on her lips. “What differences?”

  “Age, for one.” He shoveled more dessert into his mouth.

  “That’s the least of my worries.”

  His eyebrows rose. “What’s the foremost?”

  “Seriously?” She shifted closer.r />
  He nodded, “Yeah, I mean, for me, it was being killed by your brother, then the almost seven years’ difference in age.”

  She chuckled and took another bite. “Aiden wouldn’t kill you.”

  “Just maim me.” He reached up and wiggled his jaw, remembering the bruise that had finally disappeared.

  “Well, that had more to do with friendship, than us.” She set her plate aside and sighed, then rubbed her flat stomach. “I’m stuffed.”

  “You’re trying to change the subject.” He set his own plate aside. When she just looked at him, he nudged her. “Biggest worry.”

  She sighed and crossed her arms over her chest in a nervous gesture he easily recognized. Taking her hand in his, he tugged until they lay side by side. Looking into each other’s eyes. He brushed a strand of her hair aside.

  “You’ll think it’s silly.” He watched her bottom lip pout out and wished he could kiss it again, but wanted to hear her out more.

  “No, I won’t.”

  “Fine”—she rolled her eyes— “that I won’t be ... what you want.” Her eyes avoided his, until he used a finger to pull her chin up to meet his eyes.

  “Seriously?” he asked, feeling his heart skip a beat when her blue eyes watered up slightly. “Amber, I can’t remember a time when I didn’t want you. Even before I understood what girls did to my body, you were there, in my mind.” He watched her face flush, and his body responded to the heat in her eyes. “You’re the first one I dreamed about, even though I was pretty sure I was going to hell for thinking thoughts like that about my best friend’s sister.”

  Her smile grew and she shifted closer to him. “Really? What kind of thoughts?” Her fingers ran up his chest slowly.

  “Well, for starters, I wanted to see you in a swimsuit.” When she balked, he laughed. “Remember, I was a lot older than you. It was the summer I went to the lake with your family. You came out, and you were wearing this very tiny red bikini. You didn’t look like any thirteen-year-old I knew.” He sighed. “I thought for sure I was a pervert for just enjoying the way it rode up ... in the back.” He wiggled his eyebrows.

  “I bought it with you in mind,” she said. “Isn’t it funny? Back then, age was such a huge thing. Now”—she leaned over until she had him pinned to the mattress, her long hair flowing down onto his chest— “it’s not.” Her lips covered his softly, as her hips ground into his hardness. This time it was her mouth that moved over him slowly. Until he was panting. His hands dug into her hair as she moved lower. When she opened his robe, she sighed with delight, then took him into her mouth completely.

  His hands tightened slightly in her hair as he enjoyed the feeling of her pleasing him.

  When he was pretty sure he was about to burst, he flipped her over and reached for a condom, then entered her slowly. Twin moans echoed in the still night as the snow continued to fall outside.

  Chapter 7

  Amber woke slowly. Her hair was plastered to her face, and she’d forgotten to remove the heaps of makeup she’d worn to the party, so her eyelashes were stuck together. She was pretty sure she was going to resemble a character from The Walking Dead if she didn’t have a chance to sneak into the bathroom before Tom saw her.

  Rolling slowly, she managed to touch one foot on the floor, before she squealed and woke up Tom.

  “What?” He jerked to a full sitting position, his eyes moving everywhere.

  She’d clamped a hand over her mouth to stop the noise, but it was too late. Tom was awake and looking at her.

  Closing her eyes, she moaned. “The floor. It’s freezing.”

  He chuckled and lay back down. “Then stay in bed with me.” He held up the blanket and it was so tempting to crawl back into with him. In the warmth. Next to his naked body.

  “I have to”—she nodded towards the bathroom.

  He nodded quickly, then leaned down and handed her a pair of very worn slippers. “They were my grandfather’s. But, they’ll keep your toes off the cold floor.” He handed her the robe he’d worn. “This too.”

  She tucked the thick robe around her shoulders and sighed. It had been lying over them all night and was still warm from their body heat. The slippers, however, were chilled, but not as cold as the hardwood floor.

  She disappeared into the bathroom and took her time making herself more presentable. She thought about crawling into the huge glass shower, but then decided she wanted food first. Okay, so the hopes of taking a long bath with Tom had crossed her mind. Smiling at her reflection, she walked out to see him hunched over the fireplace, wearing his worn jeans low on his hips.

  She couldn’t stop her heart from melting at the sight. Here was the man of every dream she’d ever had. Starting in first grade. Sure, there were almost seven years’ difference, but that had never, ever been an issue with her. She supposed, looking at things from his angle, she could have seen why he’d struggled with it. But she’d been one of the lucky girls to mature early. By the time she was eleven, she had filled out a B cup completely. Her sister on the other hand, hadn’t been so lucky.

  “You keep looking at me like that and we’ll spend the entire day in that bed,” he said, standing up and walking towards her.

  “Good.” Her chin rose as she watched him.

  “A man’s gotta eat. And we’ll need more firewood brought in later.” He wrapped his arms around her waist. “But, I suppose I could hold out”—he removed the tie from the robe and pulled it open, exposing her— “until after.” He pressed his naked skin against hers, and thoughts of food and warmth fled her mind completely.

  A little over an hour later, they climbed into the shower and rinsed off under the hot spray. “I’m starved,” she complained, then shivered as his fingers ran down her spine.

  “Still ticklish here.” He did it again, causing her to giggle and jerk away from his reach.

  “Careful, they say that most home accidents happen in the shower,” she warned.

  “So do most pleasures.” He moved over and pinned her against the cool tile wall.

  It took them another twenty minutes before they finally headed downstairs. He worked on building a fire down there while she pulled out the cast iron skillets and cracked open a few eggs and slid some bacon into the oven.

  He pulled on a thick coat and boots and went out to get more firewood. She walked over and nudged the thermostat up a few notches. She didn’t know why he wasn’t using it.

  When he walked in, he frowned. “Did you turn on the heater?” he asked.

  She laughed and nodded. “It’ll take at least half an hour for the fire to heat it up in here. Then I’ll turn it down.”

  He rolled his eyes. “That’s not how you’re supposed to do it in the mountains.”

  She leaned against the counter and looked at him. “Don’t try and play mountain man with me.”

  His smile grew. “We can play pioneer later, if you want.” His eyebrows wiggled up and down as his eyes roamed over her sweatshirt and jeans.

  Her face heated, and suddenly, it was too warm in the place for her. She flipped the heater off and moved back to the kitchen to get a drink of water to cool herself down.

  “What’s the plan for today?” she asked over the bacon, eggs, and toast and coffee.

  “I was thinking we could go for a hike.” He nodded out to the fresh snow on the ground. The sky was clear and blue and she knew it wouldn’t be too long before the beauty of the snow-covered hills were replaced with mud.

  “Is my sister’s snow gear still in the garage?”

  He shrugged. “We can find out. If not, I think your brother still has some stuff here.”

  She was thankful to find Ashley’s snowsuit hanging up in the laundry room. Her boots were a little too large, so she wore two pairs of wool socks.

  They set off up the hill less than an hour after breakfast. By noon, they had reached a small summit behind his house.

  “It’s so beautiful here,” she said, settling on a large rock, cleared of
snow. The snow was already melting, making their trip a muddy mess, but she didn’t mind. Farther up the mountains, the snow was thicker and still looked beautiful.

  “I’d hoped to be living here full-time by now,” he said, sitting next to her.

  “Really? In the mountains?” She glanced at him.

  He nodded. “Yeah, my goal was to get out of the city by my thirtieth birthday.” He sighed.

  “I thought you liked living in the city.” She wrapped her arms around her knees, hugging them to her chest.

  “Sure, I mean, part-time. But”—he glanced around, then waved his hand— “this is where I want to spend most of my time.”

  She thought about how living away from the city lights, away from people, would affect her. And her heart sank a little.

  In every fantasy of her and Tom together, they were what her mind desired. A large condo in the city. Dinner parties, movie premiers, and everything else that came along with city life.

  Not once had she thought about his wishes. Leaning slightly, she glanced over at him. “What about your family’s business?”

  “Oh, I’ll still run it, but from here for the most part. That’s why I’ve opened a few more stores.” He turned to her. “I plan on franchising the stores.”

  Her chin almost dropped. “Like, letting others open Albert’s all over the country?”

  He nodded and chuckled. “How do you think all the other big businesses got started? One flagship, then another, and another, until finally ...” He shrugged. “Investors have been asking about it for a few months now.” He sighed and wrapped his arm around her. “Each store’s buy-in would be enough to allow me to settle back and enjoy this.” He motioned once again to the snow-covered hills.

  They sat in silence for a while. How could she ask where she fit into his plans? Did she?

  When she heard his stomach growl, he pulled her up from the cold rock and they started making their way back down the hill. It was slower going, since now there was a trail of muddy mess they had to wade through. He caught her several times, as she almost slipped down the hill on her backside.