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“I do not believe he can, but I’ve never ridden in the front to test the window’s merits. It would be unwise to take that risk.”
Andi’s wicked side surfaced, and she climbed onto the seat on her knees, straddling Sam’s thighs. “Why don’t we just hope for the best? Besides, you can always say you had something in your eye and I was trying to remove it.”
He braced his hands on her waist but didn’t attempt to move her out of the way. “I doubt that Rashid would buy such a weak excuse.”
“Considering this car’s owner, I’d just bet Rashid has probably seen it all.”
“What are you saying?”
“You and other women engaging in some hankypanky.”
“I use this car for business purposes and nothing more.”
She rimmed her tongue along the shell of his ear and whispered, “Then maybe we should get down to business.”
“Andrea, why are you so intent on pursuing this?”
Pulling back, she locked into his dark gaze, determined to have her say—and her way. “Because I have to know if I only imagined how wonderful you made me feel, or if it’s just the fact I had no one to compare you to.” She ran the tip of her tongue across the seam of his lips. “I want to know if you’re really all that great.”
Sam tightened his grip on her waist, and his eyes went almost black. “Are you saying that you wish to know how I compare to other men? Have there been so many, Andrea?”
There had been only one other man, a brief affair that had been more than disappointing, but revealing that fact wouldn’t help her cause. “I’m saying it was a long time ago and that maybe my recollections are incorrect.”
“Yet you have told me repeatedly you do not wish to resurrect the past.”
“I’m telling you now that I need you to refresh my memory.” She moved against him, immediately noting the slight swell beneath her bottom. “Is that a camel in your pocket, or are you just glad to see me?”
Sam’s grin surfaced. “You can be a very devious woman, Andrea.”
“You don’t know the half of it, but I’d be glad to show you.”
Indecision warred in his expression. Andi knew the moment he lost the battle when he released a strained breath. “Perhaps I should show you a few things.”
Sliding his hands to her hips, he pressed down until she could feel every glorious part of him. He nudged her forward then back ever so slightly against his erection, creating an amazingly erotic friction and a rush of damp heat where Andi’s body contacted his.
“I remember much about that night,” he said in a voice only a degree above a whisper, deep and grainy and sensual. “I remember the way you looked, trusting and innocent. I remember how your skin felt beneath my hands.”
He slipped his hands beneath her panties and stroked her bare bottom. “Do you remember me touching you this way, Andrea?” He asked the question while continuing to glide her hips back and forth against him in a steady rhythm.
She combed her hands through his dark hair then closed her eyes. “Maybe.”
Like some love-starved woman, she savored the feel of his mouth as he feathered a kiss across the rise of her breast, grazing his tongue over her nipple just enough to tease and entice. “I remember the soft sounds of pleasure you made when I kissed you this way, how you begged me to continue.”
Right now she was primed for some more begging if he dared to stop. “It’s beginning to come back to me, but I could use a little more detail.” In reality, she hadn’t forgotten one incredible detail.
He began to move his hips in sync with hers, increasing the contact of their bodies that fitted so perfectly together. “I remember how brave you were, how you ignored the pain.”
The pain had been nothing compared to the pleasure. And the pleasure was upon her now as Sam continued his erotic motion, rubbing cotton against silk, creating delicious sensation against the place that needed his attention the most. He undid two more buttons on her blouse and a cool draft of air streamed over her bare breasts.
Andi kept her eyes closed, lulled by the sound of his sensual voice. “I remember how you trembled beneath me. How warm and wet and soft your body was surrounding mine. I remember being totally lost to you at that moment.”
She remembered being lost, too. She was quickly losing her way once more, especially when he took her breast completely into his mouth and laved his tongue back and forth over her needy flesh. But it only lasted for a short time until he commanded, “Look at me, Andrea.”
She opened her eyes slowly to find him staring at her intently as he began to speak again. “Do you remember how it felt to be so close?”
He tilted his pelvis upward, causing her to gasp. “Yes, I remember,” she said with all the adamancy she could muster at such a moment.
“Do you remember what I told you?”
She could hardly breathe, much less think. “Tell me again, just in case I don’t.”
“I told you that I had never been so lacking in control. That I had never had such feelings or that I had never wanted a woman so badly.”
Coherent words escaped her, but Sam’s enticements came through loud and clear and compelling, his movements more insistent, bringing Andi to the brink, though he had yet to use his hands on her. And, oh, did she want him to do that very thing. But he continued his assault on her senses, touching her only with his words and heady movements. “I also recall that as I brought you to a release, you called my name.”
And that’s exactly what Andi did again as a searing climax overtook her. She literally saw stars this time, too, only they weren’t those found in the night sky above them.
Andi collapsed against Sam’s broad chest and shuddered uncontrollably while he held her close to his heart, which pounded a steady rhythm against her cheek. When the world finally came back into focus, she felt a little foolish. She also realized he had his palm over her mouth.
“No doubt Rashid heard that,” he said, followed by a chuckle. “Do you feel inclined to shout again?”
She managed to shake her head no, still mute even after he dropped his hand from her mouth.
“Have I adequately jarred your memories?” he asked.
He’d done much more than that. “Every last one.”
“Good.” As if the interlude was an everyday occurrence, he set her aside and claimed the opposing seat.
Andi could only stare at him with mouth and shirt gaping until the shock subsided. “That’s it?”
He had the nerve to look surprised. “That was not enough?”
She refused to let him off the hook until she had exactly what she’d been seeking since that first day he’d reentered her life. “I want you to finish this, dammit.”
“It is finished, Andrea.”
“You mean to tell me that you’re willing to leave it at that? Even when you didn’t—”
“That should not matter to you.”
She sent a pointed glance at the obvious ridge beneath his shorts, proof positive that he still had issues he needed to settle. “It does matter to me. I want it all, and I’d bet all the hay in the barn that you want more, too.”
“You want more than I can give you.”
“I want sex, Sam. Hard, lusty limo sex. That’s not too much to ask.”
His eyes took on a solemn cast. “I want to leave knowing that I have done nothing to hurt you.”
This time Andi wanted to scream with frustration instead of passion. “If you’re worried about getting me pregnant, I’ve prepared for that.” She yanked her bag from the floor and opened the zippered pocket to show him the condoms she had purchased the day before.
He still seemed totally immovable as he eyed the foil packets. “That is a wise choice, Andrea, but have you considered how you will protect your heart?”
Anger impaled Andi soul deep, baring the wound that had festered like an inflamed blister for seven years. He still viewed her as that same girl who had hung on his every word, his every touch, too naive to know her own mind. That girl was long gone.
She gripped her open blouse with one hand and tossed the condoms back in the bag with the other. “You just don’t get it, Sam. I don’t want anything except a quick roll. That’s it. No promises of tomorrow. No I love yous. Heck, you don’t even have to sleep in the same bed with me.”
The lie sat like a rock in her belly, but she was too proud to admit that she did want more. She wanted everything, not just sex. She wanted to be with him the next day and the next. She wanted him to be a part of Chance’s life. But most of all she wanted his love, something she knew she would never have.
Chapter Six
He had sworn never to hurt Andrea again, yet that’s exactly what he had done by acting as though touching her had meant nothing. In reality it had meant everything.
On the return home the silence in the car had been stifling, and as soon as they pulled up in the drive, Andrea had gathered her belongings and exited the car without speaking. Only, she had not returned to the house. But Sam knew precisely where she had gone.
He could not let so much go unsaid between them. He would need to attempt once more to explain why he could promise her nothing. Perhaps he should tell her about his impending marriage to Maila so she would understand his resistance. Though the young woman meant nothing to him, he felt honor bound to his commitment. He doubted Andrea would understand, yet she needed to hear the truth.
As he set out on the path that led through the fields, the air was heavy with mist, almost stifling, and so were his thoughts as he silently rehearsed what he would say to Andrea. But when he came upon her seated on the blanket facing the pond, her elbows resting on bent knees and her beautiful face cast in the light of a half-moon, everything he had thought to say vanished.
Quietly he came up behind her and dropped to his knees, then circled his arms around her. “I knew I would find you here.”
When she shuddered, he wondered if he should let her go. Instead he held her tighter. “Are you cold?” he asked.
“No. I’m just having a strong sense of déjà vu.”
Sam moved around to face her and took her hands into his. He was uncertain where to begin but decided seven years ago would be an appropriate place to start. “I am sorry for leaving you without an explanation after Paul’s funeral. I feared that if you’d asked me to stay, I wouldn’t have been strong enough to deny you, and I knew that I must.”
She turned her face to the stars. “Let’s not go there tonight, Sam. You did what you thought you had to do.”
He drew in a sharp breath. “I do also wish to apologize for my behavior in the car. It was unfair to you.”
Inclining her head, she surveyed him a moment with soulful blue eyes. “You’ve told me all along that you don’t want me, so you have nothing to be sorry for.”
He released a frustrated sigh. “I do want you. I have never stopped wanting you.”
Her expression brightened somewhat, yet she still looked wounded. “You have a strange way of showing it.”
He attempted a smile. “I thought it was quite evident.”
Finally Andrea’s smile returned, a smile that had stayed with him over many days. Would stay with him always. “Okay, so maybe it was a little obvious.” Her features went solemn once again. “But that’s just a physical reaction, Sam. It doesn’t really mean anything.”
Framing her face in his palms, he said, “You have no idea how much you mean to me. How much you have always meant to me. But I cannot promise you anything.”
“I told you I don’t expect any promises.” She pulled his hand away and held it against her breast. “Life is so very short. No one can predict what will happen tomorrow. We both know that. I’m only asking for here and now. I just want to be with you. And when it’s over, then we’ll both move on with our lives knowing that we’ve found some joy in each other one more time.”
Sam considered what she was saying and then considered his marriage contract. Arrangement, he corrected. Only verbal to this point. His father had called because of that impending contract. Maila’s father was growing impatient with his absence, a greedy man willing to sell his daughter into a union for the sake of finances.
Maila was several years younger and a virtual stranger to Sam. The two times they had met, she had barely spoken to him and only then to give her vow that she would try to produce a son although he sensed that prospect wasn’t all that appealing to her. But Sam already had a son—a cherished child mothered by a woman for whom he cared deeply. A woman who now offered herself to him without condition. At the moment all he could consider was forgetting his obligations and turning his attention to that woman one last time.
“Are you certain you want this, Andrea?”
“Are you saying you’re willing to consider it?”
“As I told you before, I fear hurting you.”
“You’ll only hurt me if you keep acting as if there’s nothing going on between us, if you deny me this opportunity to be with you again in every way.”
“Are you not worried that I will disappoint you?”
Rising from the blanket, she began once more to undo her blouse and slipped it completely away. She then removed her shorts and panties, leaving her cloaked only by the night. “Do I look worried to you?”
“No. You look exquisite.” And she did, more captivating than he remembered. Priceless perfection. All his, if he so chose.
Heat surged through him and settled in his groin. A deep, abiding heat that made him hard and desperate to be inside her once more. That frantic need forced all consideration of the consequences from his brain. He only knew that he could no longer resist her.
Coming to his feet, he stood before her and tugged his shirt over his head. When he reached for the snap on his fly, Andrea stopped him with a gentle hand. “Let me do it. You didn’t give me the opportunity last time. In fact, I recall we didn’t completely remove our clothes.”
“True, but we were in a hurry.”
She slid his zipper down slowly. “Not tonight.”
When she had him completely undressed, they continued to stare at each other in the muted light until Sam could stand it no longer. He reached for her and she moved easily into his embrace. He held her a long while, relishing the soft feel of her bare skin against his raging body. Then he kissed her with all the yearning he felt in his soul, with all the need he had harbored since that final moment they were together seven years ago.
The kiss born of emotion soon turned to a kiss of sheer desire. Andrea pressed harder against him, meeting his tongue thrust for blessed thrust. Determined to show her more pleasure, he broke the kiss and settled his lips on her delicate throat then worked his way downward.
She sighed as he plied her breasts with tender kisses. She whimpered as he bent and traced a damp path down her belly with his tongue. She moaned as he fell to his knees and took her with his mouth.
With her hands gripped tightly in his hair, she swayed slightly as he explored the soft folds with his tongue, holding fast to her hips to steady her. But with every sound that escaped her lips, every tremor that ran through her body, he, too, began to feel unsteady. When she tensed and her breathing halted, Sam slipped a finger inside her to prolong her climax, to experience with his own hands the pleasure she now enjoyed.
As her knees began to buckle, he pulled her down onto the blanket and rocked her gently until she seemed to calm.
“That was—” she drew in a broken breath “—remarkable.”
He stroked her hair and pressed a kiss against her forehead. “I very much wanted to do that the first time we were together.”
“Why didn’t you?” she asked, her words muffled against his shoulder.
“I did not want to overwhelm you.”
She laughed softly. “I would have definitely been overwhelmed.” Pulling away from him, she nudged his chest. “Lie back.”
He complied, no longer able to withstand even her slightest command. She set a course down his body with her warm lips, driving him insane with desire when he realized what she intended.
As she reached the plane of his belly below his navel, he laid a hand on her silky hair. “This is not necessary, Andrea.”
She raised her head and showed him a determined look. “For me it is. But just so you know, I’ve never done this before, so you’ll have to be patient.”
That pleased Sam, knowing she had not had such intimacy with another man. It also forced every thought from his mind when she took him into the silken heat of her mouth and tested its limits. Perhaps she had no experience, but Sam would be hard-pressed to believe that at the moment. She was handling the challenge quite well. He only wished he could say the same for himself.
