“Yeah. We didn’t really date that long. Six months.” She shuddered as she looked up at Sam, the pain in her eyes almost tangible. “I was so lonely and I wanted to forget you.”
“And you haven’t tried again since then?” he asked, his voice gentler, curious.
Maddie shook her head. “No. I’ve dated casually, but there was…nothing.”
Sam reached out his hand and captured one of the tears on her cheek with his finger and brought it to his lips. “Jesus, Maddie. I can’t imagine any man letting you get away.”
“Except you.” She smiled sadly.
“You haven’t gotten away from me yet, and this time you won’t,” he answered harshly. “I want you to marry me. You never gave me an answer.
Sam looked at the agonized expression on her face and it nearly brought him to his knees. He needed her to say yes. Desperately. His sanity was beginning to depend on it.
“We don’t even know each other anymore. I don’t know what to say right now,” she told him honestly.
“Say yes.”
Oh, fuck yeah. Saying no was not an option. Sam moved her onto his lap. He needed to hold her right now, had to have her softness in his arms.
She squealed and tried to squirm away, but he didn’t let her. “Either sit quietly or I’ll have you on your back and moaning within a few seconds,” he warned her ominously. “I can’t handle much of that delicious ass squirming on my cock before I tear those sexy clothes from your body and taste every inch of you.”
She stilled immediately and wrapped her arms around his neck. “What happened to Kate?” she asked curiously, resting her head on his shoulder.
Sam shrugged. “I don’t know. I never saw her again after the investigation. She was married. Happily married with two kids. She had no desire to mess with me. I was a dumb kid to her. It was all a ruse that she executed to force me to cut things off with you.” He thrust a hand into her hair, massaging her scalp. “So, what’s your answer, Maddie?”
“Sam, I haven’t even digested the information you just told me. You can’t expect me to agree to marry you.” She pulled back and shot him a disgruntled look.
“If you don’t believe me, you can ask Simon. He doesn’t know about us, but he can verify everything else,” he told her, disappointed that she might not believe him after he had bared his soul to her.
“It isn’t that. I just need time.” She sighed. “It’s been years, Sam. We’ve changed. We don’t know each other now.”
“We’ve always known each other, Sunshine. My soul recognized yours the moment I saw you.” And it was the truth. It hadn’t taken him more than a moment to see her value, to know that she was special. “Fine, tell me yes tomorrow then.” He was feeling magnanimous now that he had her exactly where he wanted her.
Maddie snorted. “That’s very kind of you, but I think I may need a little longer than that.”
Tilting her face, he speared her with a possessive glance. “How much longer?”
“I don’t know,” she whispered, her eyes sad.
Dammit! He didn’t want her dejected. He wanted her to want him. No…he needed her to want him. “I’ll seduce you. Then I’ll fuck you until you don’t have the strength to say anything except yes. No one is planting their seed inside you except me.”
Maddie rolled her eyes. “Nobody has ever planted their seed inside me. Lance used a condom and I haven’t had anything but my vibrator since.”
Something raw and carnal nailed Sam in the gut, the thought of Maddie pleasuring herself making his already-rigid cock jump, feral instinct making him want to be the first to release himself into her womb. He had never had sex without a condom. In that way, Maddie would be his first, his only since he never planned on being with any other woman again. “And how’s the vibrator?” he choked out, barely able to form the words.
She shrugged, giving him a sweet smile. “Batteries are probably dead. It’s been a while.”
Christ! She was fucking killing him. “You won’t need it,” he rasped, burying his face in the silken skin of her neck.
She tilted her head, giving him better access as she murmured, “Is it true that you didn’t go to bed with all those women?”
“What I said is true. I know what the gossip columns say and what people think, but it’s not true. The women people see me with are nothing more than friends or acquaintances, women who want to attend the parties. I won’t claim to be a saint, Maddie. I’ve fucked. But none of them were you,” he answered, his voice husky against her skin.