Just One Night(61)

She leaned over to her nightstand, pulling out an unopened box.

He took it from her, lifting his eyebrows.

“Hey, I like to be prepared,” she said. “Although … do those things expire?”

He tilted the box to read as he opened it, checking the date. “We’re good.”

She tried to pay attention to the deft way he opened the package, but the wrapper

was on the floor and he was rolling the condom over himself in one easy motion

before she could get a proper lesson.

Next time.

Riley tensed for a half second as he settled over her, only to realize that the

weight of him felt right, and her palms ran up his back as her lips sought his and

pulled him in for another of those tongue-tangling kisses.

He placed hands on either side of her head, rising up so he could watch her face,

eyes questioning.

In response to his silent question, she opened her legs wider and licked her lips

coyly.

The corner of his mouth tilted up. “I should have known. Even as a rookie, you’re

a tease.”

Then he moved closer, positioning himself as he slid just the slightest bit inside

of her.

Riley had been fully prepared for this moment to feel strange and uncomfortable,

but the slight unfamiliarity of the sensation only made it more perfect.

“Okay?” he asked.

In response, she rocked her h*ps upward, taking him all the way in. She watched

as his eyes closed and his breath became more shallow. Sam lowered himself

from his palms to his elbows, cradling her head protectively as he began to move

in slow, shallow circles, giving her time to get used to him.

But Riley didn’t need the extra time.

It was as though she had been born for this moment, and every failed date, every

potential sexual encounter that had fizzled out had been building toward this

moment with this man.

Sam knew her perfectly. Knew she didn’t want to be treated like a delicate novice,

and took the pace from tentative to purposeful as she lifted to meet him in perfect

rhythm.

He nudged her knees slightly higher, widening her so that his movements ground

against her most sensitive spot, and Riley moaned her approval.

“Sam!”

And then, in one blistering moment, she finally realized the true gap between

writing about sex and experiencing it.

There was nothing—nothing—like experiencing an orgasm with Sam Compton

staring into your eyes.

And then there was a component of sex that even Riley had never considered:

that moment when you’re looking into his eyes as his body tenses. The moment

when he says your name like a prayer before burying his head in your shoulder

as he shakes and shudders and then collapses warmly on top of you.

This is what I should have been writing about.

But she didn’t want to share it.

Riley ran her palms over his sides, loving the crushing weight of him as their

heartbeats returned to normal.

Sam propped himself up on one elbow, brushing her damp hair off her face with

the other hand. “Well?”

She blinked up at him, relishing the unfamiliar sensation of postcoital bliss. “A

secure man wouldn’t have to ask.”

“He would if he were bedding a sex columnist.”

Riley squinted as though considering his rating.

Then she gave the only response that seemed fitting, pulling his mouth down to

hers, lightly nipping his bottom lip with her teeth. “Again.”

Sam groaned.

And complied.





Chapter Sixteen


Dinner parties.

Not something Sam Compton thought he’d enjoy. Ever. Particularly a dinner party

to celebrate an engagement.

But then he’d never gone to a dinner party with Riley. The result was

unexpectedly … nice? Was that the right word?

It helped that he’d always genuinely enjoyed Riley’s friends, and the more he got

to know them, the more he suspected that they could be his friends as well. Julie,

while at first meeting a little too bubbly for his tastes, had a sharp wit beneath her

chipper smiles, something her boyfriend, Mitchell, seemed to bring out in spades.

Grace too had made a good match in Jake. On the surface they should have

been one of those absurdly good-looking, too-perfect couples with their glossy

dark hair and classically attractive features. But Grace’s good manners disguised

a wicked sense of humor, and Sam quickly learned that Jake was no brainless

pretty boy but a smart guy’s guy he could easily see going to a game with.

The only one Jake wasn’t crazy about was Aaron, Emma’s date for the evening,

although if Sam was reading the signs correctly, nobody else seemed to be crazy

about Aaron either.

Including Emma.

“So, Grace, I’ve been thinking,” Riley said, pushing back the plate she’d