“I know you just got back from a long stint of volunteer work. Are you planning on staying here long-term?”
Surprised at the amount of information he knew about her, she raised her brows and nodded. “I am. My five years are over. That was my goal and promise to Ginny. I achieved it; I’m done. My goal was to do something to give back before I came home to teach locally. I’m here to stay.”
“Have you had any problems with anyone that would cause them to leave that kind of surprise by your door?”
She thought of her relatives. At any other time she’d take their attitude as the norm, but since he was asking. “Well…”
“What?” He pressed, the smile sliding off his handsome face. “Anything you can think of is important to finding out who did it.”
“When they did the reading of Ginny’s will, I was named the sole inheritor, and it created some tension among my other relatives.” She bit her lip and rubbed her hands over her robed knees. “They’re not very happy with me right now. Let me rephrase that, they’ve never been happy with me, only right now it seems they hate my guts more than usual.” She almost jumped out of her skin when he growled.
His voice turned raspy and so deep it was hard to make out what he said. “Have any of them threatened you?”
Sam shook her head. The need to pacify him blossomed inside her. He sat stock-still, but angry energy vibrated off him, seeping into her pores and turning up her anxiety. It didn’t feel right. She wanted him laughing again. “No. No one threatened me. They were more upset that they didn’t get more money, but no one made any remarks to make me feel like my life was hanging by thread. Besides, I can take care of myself.”
He slid to the edge of his seat and curled one of his hands over hers. “I won’t let anything happen to you. You don’t have to worry. No one will hurt you.” The conviction in his voice made something soft work its way into her heart.
“Thank you. I don’t really think anyone means me harm. It’s probably just a prank. I’ve been gone for a while, but I know there are still teenagers all over this town. They love doing things like this.”
“They do not love dismembering dogs, Sam.”
“Yeah, OK. But I still say it was just a one-time prank.” Saying the words and believing them were two different things. But this was her family. They had been jerks to her forever, but no one had ever done anything to make her think they wanted her dead. Though now they had billions of reasons to want her dead.
He drew circles over her palm with the tip of his finger. A low heat gathered in her stomach, growing with every little twirl, and pooled at her core. Oh god. Not now. His eyes darkened to a molten gold. She’d never seen anything as beautiful. Her breath hitched. She stared at his dilating pupils, until there was only a small rim of gold visible. The fire in her veins roared. Her gaze slid down until it fastened on his lips. She darted her tongue over her dry lips, glanced up, and caught him staring at her action with unwavering interest.
“Sam…” His gravelly voice sent shards of electricity straight to her nipples. The buds tightened into hard little nubs begging for his touch.
She felt as if an invisible pull existed between them, so thick and strong she could almost touch it. “I don’t…know what you’re doing to me…”
She blinked. In the time it took her to take a breath, he tugged her out of her seat and placed her sideways over his lap. His cock was long, hard steel under her butt, rubbing and poking her between her thighs. He wanted her. Lust skittered down her spine and settled in her pussy.
“I need you, Sam. I’ve been waiting so long for you.”
Emotions expanded inside her heart, emotions of belonging and yearning she wasn’t familiar with. Words she never expected to say rolled off her tongue. “I want you.”
Excited butterflies took flight in her chest, dipping and diving at the look of pure possession in his eyes.
He cupped her face, caressed her cheek, and pressed his lips over hers hard, devouring her with the intensity of his kiss. So much passion came through when their lips met it made oxygen vanish from her lungs. He stroked her jaw and pulled her closer into him. Every swipe of his tongue ratcheted up the inferno in her blood. Her pussy clenched, and her shorts drenched with her need. She whimpered in the back of her throat, ran her nails into the short spikes of his hair, and fisted tight. Arousal coursed through her and urged her to get him naked.
Everything ceased to exist but the amazing things he was doing to her. She rocked her hips over his cock and moaned when he rubbed her swollen folds. He slid a hand under her robe and up her shorts. Her breath reeled in her chest, squeezing its way into her lungs. One quick moan and he was spreading her pussy lips with his fingers and gliding two digits into her sex.