me into dust.”
The difference between his people and hers. Sam went free, while she stood falsely accused and no one believed her.
Except Sam.
Silence danced in the air, broken by leaves rustling in the wind.
“Sometimes I miss them so much, I can’t bear it,” he said finally.
Kelly’s throat squeezed tight. “Me, either,” she whispered.
She ducked out of his embrace, picked up her cup and headed inside to take a shower. The downstairs shower was big enough to host a dance party. Twin jets sprayed her with soothing hot water. Kelly picked up the soap with trembling hands.
Sam was right. Rescuing abducted Mage children and reuniting them with their overjoyed families assuaged her guilt and grief.
Tears rose in her throat. Splaying her hands against the cold tile wall, she surrendered to them. She’d failed those she’d promised to keep safe. Failed saving Sam’s family. So much failure, too many lives lost.
The shower door opened. Naked, Sam stepped inside. He reached for her, but she pulled away, scrubbing her cheeks. Pretending everything was normal.
With gentle persistence, he pulled her against his broad chest, his hands tunneling through her soaked hair. Saying nothing, only letting her cry, loaning his strength and support as she wept.
And then she felt him tremble, felt his broad shoulder shake beneath her cheek. Kelly looked up.
Tears ran down Sam’s cheeks.
He leaned his forehead against hers, cupping her face in his hands, and kissed her. The salt of their tears mingled together, washed away by the shower. Kelly opened her mouth beneath his as his tongue slid into her mouth, stealing away her breath. His kiss was demanding and yet gentle, urgent and desperate.
Then he pulled away, reached for the bar of soap and began to wash her.
Symbolic and soothing, his actions roused her desire as he slid the soap over her arms, the slope of her neck. Droplets clung to his thick brown hair and sparkled in his long lashes. Water cascaded down his strong, muscled neck, beaded in the dark hairs of his chest and slid lower.
He looked beautiful and sexy and intent, and it took her breath away.
His heated gaze remained affixed to hers as he stroked the soap over her wet, glistening skin. Sam brushed kisses alongside her jaw, sweet and tender as when they’d first made love. His hands cupped the rounded curve of her hips, pulling her tight against him.
“Turn around,” he said, his voice thick.
Kelly closed her eyes as he stood behind her, lathering her breasts, cupping them and gently teasing the hardened nipples with gentle strokes of his thumbs. Massaging gently, he molded his body against hers, his erection rubbing against her bottom. Each languid stroke aroused her senses, chasing away sorrow and regrets and replacing them with sensual awareness.
Cleansing them both, Sam washed away the past, replacing it with new and fresh feelings of heightened desire.
“Slippery when wet,” he whispered. Taking the lobe of her ear between his teeth, he gently bit.
She moaned as he turned her around.
His mouth went from her ear to her throat, nuzzling down to her bare collarbone. He suckled her breasts, his tongue flicking over each crested peak, creating new, aching need inside her. Kelly sagged bonelessly against him, pushing her hot skin against his questing mouth. More. More. Sensation speared her, so fresh and tantalizing, it was as if she were a virgin once more. A girl who had never experienced passion, felt desire or the tender touch of a lover’s strong, skilled hands.
Sam’s hands.
Sam’s hands...were sliding down her front. He slid the soap down her belly, dipping a finger into her navel, and then he skirted around her and dropped to his knees. Sam squeezed her bottom.
“Man, I love your ass. I’ve dreamed about doing this to you. Bend over, sweetheart,” he said hoarsely.
As she did, he spread her cheeks wide and stroked the soap between them. Sam washed her front, slicking her folds as she gasped, her passage growing wet and ready for him. Then she felt the delicious roughness of his tongue delve between her cheeks as he gently massaged her clit.
A nearly unbearable ache filled her lower belly as he kissed and licked her, all the while stroking her. Water streamed down her body, mingling with her natural moisture. Kelly splayed her hands against the tile as he grasped her hips.
“I’m going to make love to you now,” he rasped. “Send you into oblivion until you can’t take it anymore. Until we both come, together. And then I’m going to start all over.”
She felt the insistent push of his cock nudge at her slick folds and then push slightly inside her. He entered her slowly, stretching and penetrating her deeply, and deeper still. Kelly made a little pleading cry as he sank inside her to the hilt and remained still, his fingers gripping her hips.
“Sam, please,” she whispered.
“Not until I say what I must.”
Sam bent over her, his body firmly lodged inside hers, the crisp hair on his chest against her back. He flung aside her wet hair as the water pattered upon them and kissed her nape.
“Back in Honduras, I couldn’t say how I really felt. It was too intense, and there was too much between us. I’m telling you now, Kelly, I do care. You drive me crazy with need.” His voice dropped to a husky whisper. “All I can think about is getting inside you, keeping you in my bed for good.”
“I just want this moment, with you, to last forever. I wish it could,” she whispered.
Slowly he withdrew and then thrust back inside. She reached back, felt his hand, felt their fingers entwine and then release. With a groan, he began to surge heavily into her, teasing her clit with his finger. Her breasts swayed as his flesh slapped against hers, nearly suffocating her with incredible erotic pleasure. It had always been good with him before, but now it was exquisite. Sam murmured praises of her body, how sweet and tight she felt, how beautiful she was. Each demanding stroke raised her higher and higher until the raw, stunning sensation shimmered, the pressure built in her loins.
“Now,” he cried out as she squeezed him tight. “Come with me, Kel!”
Crying out, she surged and soared upward as the orgasm crested over her, feeling him pump deep inside her.
In sated exhaustion, she sagged against the wall as he slowly withdrew. Kelly turned around to see the husky glint of satisfaction in his gaze. Then Sam reached past her and turned the knob to shut off the shower. He glanced down.
“I’ll be damned,” he muttered, staring at his penis. “I didn’t use a condom.”
A glint ignited his gaze as he glanced up. “If you get pregnant, we’ll get married.”
Crazy hope fluttered inside her breast and then died. Sam wouldn’t marry for love, only duty. “I won’t get pregnant. I’m on the Pill.”
Was that stark relief in his gaze, or mild disappointment? Hard to tell.
She wanted all of him, including his heart. But that organ still seemed locked deep inside despite the blaze of passion they’d shared.
She didn’t want to think about that as he dried them both off and then carried her back to the bed.
For a long time they lay together, entangled in each other’s arms. Kelly stroked his damp chest hairs and traced the hard brown circle of his nipple. She badly wanted to confess her feelings. But his previous attitude gave her caution. A soft purr came from the cell phone on the nightstand. Sam rolled over and pushed a hand through his hair.
“Yeah?”
His languid expression became intense. Instantly he sat up, a steel core shoved in his spine. Kelly fisted her hands in the sheets.
Thumbing off the cell, he tossed it on the bed with a soft curse. Sam stared out the window.
“The council found out you’re back in the country,” she guessed.
He nodded. “Gibson, the executive secretary. Curt told them and now he’s ordered me to bring you in.”
