River of Love Page 18

  “I love the way your breathing changes when I touch you.” He reached lower, sliding one finger between her legs and dragging it up over her clit. She sucked in a breath, and he repeated the rhythm again and again. She rocked her hips forward, but he didn’t take the bait. He settled his mouth over the curve of her neck, teasing her swollen sex with one slow stroke after another. With his other hand he tugged her top down on one side, freeing her beautiful breast.

  “When I tease your nipple, you feel it here”—he pressed his fingers between her legs—“don’t you, baby?”

  “Yes,” she said in a trembling whisper.

  “Let’s see if I can make you come without entering your sweet body.”

  A mewling sound escaped her, spurring him on.

  She’d told him last night she wanted to be taken, and that played in his mind like a melody. He licked around her nipple, bringing it to a taut, needy peak, and pressed his thumb to the sensitive bundle of nerves between her legs. She gripped his biceps, urging his hand lower, but he resisted dipping inside her.

  “No, baby. Trust me. Let yourself go.”

  Her head tipped back, breathing hard. He took her nipple between his fingers and squeezed. She went up on her toes, bringing his fingers lower, between her wet folds again. He stroked and rubbed and sucked and squeezed until she was a panting, wet, trembling bundle of nerves on the verge of climax. Her nails cut into the backs of his arms, and he claimed her in a punishingly intense kiss that spiraled through his very core. His desire built, pounding for release as she cried out his name. Her sex pulsed against his hand, begging for him to delve inside, but he continued his relentless pursuit of her pleasure.

  “That’s it, baby.” He sank down to his knees, held her trembling hips against the wall, and brought his mouth to her quivering sex.

  She fisted her hands in his hair, going up on her toes as she came again, hard and loud. As she came down from the crest, she panted out his name.

  “Sam. I need you inside me,” she begged, trying to push his board shorts down with shaking hands.

  He laced his fingers with hers, kissed her again, nearly coming at the thought of her tasting herself on his tongue, his lips, his breath. It took all his willpower not to bury himself deep inside her, but he wanted so much more with Faith. He wanted her to know that what he felt for her went so far beyond the physical she’d never question it again.

  “We have a date.”

  She kissed him again, then tore her mouth away. “Wait, what?”

  The sound of her voice chipped away at his resolve. “Our date?”

  Her eyes filled with determination. “You are not leaving me like this. Take me Sam. Now.”

  The world spun away as he pulled a condom from his wallet, pushed down his shorts, and sheathed himself. In one hard thrust he was buried deep. They both stilled at the intensity of their joining. She felt so good, so tight, so eager. Passion raged through them with every thrust, every animalistic noise, as he pounded into her. They ate at each other’s mouths, shoulders, arms, chests, everywhere they could grasp. The sounds of their frantic lovemaking filled the small apartment. His thoughts fragmented until only one thought held firm. Faith. Faith. Faith. Heat pooled at the base of his spine as he neared release. He lifted her into his arms, taking her deeper.

  Her head tipped back. “Oh God. I’m gonna come.”

  He cupped the back of her head in a raw act of possession and brought her mouth back to his again, wanting to feel the surge of emotions as her climax hit. Her sex tightened around his cock, milking the come right out of him. Every hot jet took him higher, brought them closer together.

  As they came down from their high, he was lost in her. Faith gazed into his eyes and ran her fingers along his cheek. “You’re everything I never thought you were.”

  Still caught up in her and his all-consuming emotions, his answer took no thought. “You’re everything I always knew you were.”

  **

  AFTER WASHING UP, kissing and teasing as they dressed, and finally making it down to Sam’s truck, they were on their way to their clandestine destination. As they drove down tree-lined roads, with Faith tucked possessively against Sam’s side, his arm lazily draped over her shoulder, she felt more relaxed than she had in ages. Maybe sex should always come before a date. Maybe I should come before each date. She laughed softly at the thought.

  “What’s funny?” he asked.

  “Nothing. Just thinking about things.”

  He kissed her temple and his eyes went serious. “Things as in us?”

  Did his mind ever relax? Would it ever? Or would he always want to be right there with her, emotionally and physically? That, she realized, was the most wonderful worry of all.

  “Nosy tonight, aren’t you?” She couldn’t tell him what she was thinking about. It was bad enough that she’d demanded that he take her. She’d turned into a vamp. A vixen. A monogamous slut. She laughed again. Oh crap!

  He looked at her out of the corner of his eyes. “You’re having a party and I’m not invited?”

  “Believe me, you don’t want to know what I was thinking.” She knew that was a fib. He would love knowing she was thinking about how much she loved what they’d done, but that would also lead to more playtime, and she was curious about the date he’d planned.

  He turned onto a dirt road. The sun hung low in the sky, casting a romantic glow over the river. Sam parked between two tall trees and turned toward Faith. His eyes were so warm, so loving her thoughts stumbled. He brushed his thumb over her lips.

  “You couldn’t be more wrong. When you smile, it makes my whole world brighter. I want to know what makes you laugh as much as I want to know what sparks that minx inside you.” He took her in a sensual kiss.

  “How do you do this to me?” She trapped her lip between her teeth and immediately released it. Sheesh. He affected her so strongly, in the very best of ways.

  “What’s that exactly?”

  “Make me feel like I can tell you anything? Like I want to tell you everything?”

  He held her gaze, the pull she’d come to expect between them stronger than ever.

  “The same way you make me want to be a better man.”

  “Sam.” She didn’t care how dreamy her voice sounded. She felt dreamy. He was dreamy. “Were you always this honest with other women? It’s disarming.”

  “I told you my filter was set to honest. Come on.” He led her out of the truck and grabbed two inner tubes from the back.

  How did I miss those? She knew the answer. She’d been captivated by a certain tall, dark, enticingly honest and hot man. He handed her a cooler, then tossed a blanket over his shoulder and carried two towels under his arm.

  “We’re going tubing?” she asked with an excited smile. She hadn’t been tubing since she’d first moved to Peaceful Harbor.

  “Is that okay?”

  “More than okay. But where are we? I’ve never seen this part of the lake.”

  “Because it’s on my private property.” He nodded across the water, where the tip of a roof was visible over the trees.

  “You live here? On the water? I had no idea.” It made sense, with how much he loved his business. She could see him living out here in the woods with the lake at his back. It was a very Sam setting.

  “I own a couple of acres. Nate and Jewel live around the bend, not far from my place. But you’re sworn to secrecy about Paradise Cove.” He led her through the trees toward the water’s edge.

  She smiled at the name. “Paradise Cove?”

  “Don’t poke fun. My cove, my name.”

  Sam dropped the inner tubes by the edge of the water and spread the blanket out on the sandy shore. He set their things down, placed his hands on his hips, and raked his eyes down Faith’s body, leaving a trail of heat in their wake. “Time to strip.” He raised his brows in quick succession.

  “You’re such a man.” She teasingly rolled her eyes. “We just did it back at my apartment.”
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br />   “I didn’t mean so we can fool around, but…” He took off his shirt and tossed it onto the blanket. “Baby, that was an appetizer. Quick and dirty.” His eyes turned sinful as he closed the gap between them and embraced her. “You haven’t been loved properly today, and we have years to make up for.” He kissed her neck, her ear, her cheeks, her nose.

  She laughed at his playfulness. “Years, huh?”

  “Ages,” he said, coming in for a full-on assault of her mouth.

  Good Lord, he could kiss. His mouth was hypnotizing, hard and fast, then soft and sensual, without ever breaking their connection. And the way he held her, like he never wanted to let her go, made her insides tight and hot. She went up on her toes and realized she was practically humping him, gyrating her hips, clawing at his back. Holy moly, she was already damp again. He was, without a doubt, the very best kind of addiction, and she wanted no part of a twelve-step anti-Sam program.

  She pushed away, smiling at their intense connection. “You’re turning me into a sex maniac.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with wanting your man.” He reached for her again and sank his teeth into her neck.

  “Ohmygod. Sam!” Laughing and panting, she wrenched free from his grip. “There is when every kiss makes me want to do dirty things no matter where we are.” She grabbed an inner tube and strutted off to the water.

  Suddenly his arm swooped around her waist. She shrieked and kicked as he carried her into the water under one arm, his tube in the other.

  “Sam!” She wrapped one arm around his neck and her legs around his waist, struggling to keep hold of her inner tube. “This was your plan, wasn’t it? To get me hot and bothered and then get me to cling to you like a monkey?”

  “I wish I was that creative, but the truth is, you looked hot strutting into the water, and I just couldn’t resist picking you up.”

  Wow, she loved hearing that.

  He kissed her quickly and she dropped her inner tube, then lifted her under her arms and set her on it. “Now stop trying to get into my bathing suit and let’s enjoy the water before it’s pitch-dark.”

  “You’re a pain.”

  He hopped onto his inner tube and reached for her hand. “Never said I was easy.”

  She laid her head back and closed her eyes as they drifted around the cove. “Everyone knows Sam Braden is easy.” She opened one eye, peering at his suddenly clenched jaw, and chided herself for the comment. “But I know the real Sam, and he’s more complicated than a Rubik’s Cube.”

  Chapter Twenty

  SAM AND FAITH floated around the cove, warmed by what was left of the retreating sun. Their voices were joined by the peaceful sounds of leaves rustling as the evening breeze swept over them and the water lapping at their inner tubes. Sam’s eyes were closed, and he looked more at home on the water than he did on land.

  Faith squeezed his hand, bringing his eyes to hers. “How did you end up with Rough Riders? Did you always know you wanted to do that kind of work?”

  “I’ve always loved the water, rock climbing, skydiving. Just about any high-adventure sports. In college I studied geology and environmental engineering, trying to figure out what I wanted to do, and appeasing my parents with a degree, of course.”

  “Your parents seem really nice, though I don’t know them that well.”

  “You will,” he said easily, warming her from head to toe. “My dad’s ex-military, and, well, my mom is anything but. Dad was steadfast about each of us earning degrees, and he really wanted us to follow in his military-career steps, but I knew that wasn’t for me. I’m too rebellious, too restless. Nate”—his tone turned thoughtful and slightly pained—“was the only one who was wired for that type of life.”

  She knew about Jewel’s brother being killed overseas, and she’d heard that Nate blamed himself, though she didn’t know the whole story.

  “Anyway, I tried internships in both geology and engineering, but I wanted more. As childish as it sounds, I didn’t want someone else directing my days.”

  “That’s not childish. It sounds like you knew yourself well enough even then to know what would make you happy.”

  “I wasn’t as focused as I could have been. I spent a year after college going on as many treks as I could, backpacking, staying at hostels, camping out. I was hiking the Colorado Mountains with my cousin Wes, who lives out that way, and he was the one who suggested I look into adventure companies. At that time Rough Riders was just a boat rental business with five kayaks. Not much to it.”

  He pulled her inner tube against his. “You felt too far away.” Smiling as he held their inner tubes together, he said, “I met with the guy who owned the place, and he was looking to retire. He didn’t want much for the business, because it barely earned anything.”

  “Weren’t you afraid of failing? Of risking your money?”

  He shook his head. “Fear never entered the picture. I was ecstatic. I couldn’t wait to dive in and make it my own. Ty was nineteen or so at that point, but he’d been climbing for years, and he and I had spent summers together going on excursions from the time he was a teenager. He helped me tremendously when I first started, outlining what type of adventures to offer, where to go, what to accept, where to draw my lines. Even back then he was like an encyclopedia of knowledge. He’s so freaking smart he blows my mind.”

  She knew he and Ty were close, but she’d had no idea how deep their friendship went. “So you just dove in? Your parents didn’t try to talk you out of it?”

  “Pretty much. I don’t think my dad was thrilled with my choice, but he knew me well enough to realize if he tried to talk me out of it, it would only make me want it more. He told me what to expect as a business owner. Who knows? Maybe that was his way of trying to talk me out of doing it, or maybe he was just laying the truth out for me. I expect it was the latter. He gave me all sorts of resources and networks to learn about seasonal businesses and the impact of recessions on companies like mine. It was all very valuable information, and it helped me circumvent many of the pitfalls.”

  “And your mom?” Maisy Braden had stolen Faith’s heart when she’d lain her own on the line. Please don’t break my boy’s heart. He’s tough as nails, but he’s also sweet as sugar.

  Sam turned his face up toward the sky with a sigh. “My mom has always told us that no matter what we do, we have to love it. As focused as my dad is on career stability, my mom’s focus is on personal happiness. They complement each other well.”

  When he turned his warm eyes back to Faith, they were filled with emotion. She didn’t want to go a day without seeing that look in his eyes.

  “Tell me about the adventure side of the business,” she said, realizing she knew almost nothing about what his business entailed beyond boating.

  “I host all sorts of expeditions, mostly on the off-season. Mountain treks, climbs, camping trips, rafting excursions.”

  “So, you travel a lot?”

  “Some months more than others.”

  She nodded, feeling her heart crack open at the thought of missing him while he was away.

  “Hey.” His voice turned thoughtful. “We’ll figure this out. It’s not like I’m gone all the time. Sometimes just two or three nights. I’ve got a buddy, Cal, who helps me with the trips out West, and now that Tex is on board, I don’t have to go on every trip.”

  “I don’t want to change your business, Sam. I can deal with you being away. I’ll stock up on ice cream and try not to think about you out on some mountain, or river, with damsels in distress vying for your attention.” She shifted her eyes away, her stomach clenching at the thought.

  “Hey, Braden’s Girl,” he said with such a loving tone, it drew her attention.

  The look in his eyes filled the crack in her heart. Every time she doubted him, one look into his honest eyes told her it was a wasted emotion.

  “This shouldn’t be a deal breaker, Faith. I want this to work between us, and I’ll do whatever it takes. And as far as girls go
, I don’t mix that type of pleasure with those trips. I never have, and you can thank Cole for that. He pounded that into my head when I first bought Rough Riders.”

  She imagined her boss—smart, professional, caring Dr. Braden—giving Sam life lessons on business and sex. It was a strange thing to imagine, but what was even odder was the thought that Sam would have listened to anyone where women and his very active sex life were concerned. That told her how much Sam respected Cole and that he’d never put his business at risk, and there was no way she’d ever ask him to.

  He sat up, expertly balancing on the inner tube as he leaned in so close she could kiss him if she tried. It was the intense look in his eyes that stopped her from trying.

  “I’ve never had a reason to think outside of my original business plans, but that doesn’t mean I can’t or won’t do it. I told you I’d never let you down, and I meant it. There’s never been anything tying me to this area in the off-seasons.” He reached for her hand. “Until now.”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  SETTLED ON THE blanket as the sun dipped from the sky, Sam poured them each a glass of wine and began unpacking the dinner he’d prepared. He couldn’t stop thinking about his off-season adventure trips and how to make it work now that he and Faith were together. He didn’t want to be away from her for long spans of time, but he didn’t have the answers. Not yet, at least.

  “Let’s see. We’ve got summer orzo with shrimp, mixed with vegetables, because food needs color to taste good.” He winked. “Watermelon-cucumber salad, snap peas, radish salad, grown from Tempest’s garden, and French bread. It’s not much, but it’s light and should taste pretty good. And for dessert—” He tossed a pack of Skittles onto the blanket.

  “You really do like them?”

  He took great pride in saying, “Filter set to honest, as I said.”