River of Love(20)
After he ended the call he said, “You’re all set. Why don’t I pick you up after work Thursday, and we’ll go over together. You’ll love Brent. He’s a great guy.”
“Sounds good. Thank you.”
“No problem. You need business insurance, too. We’ll talk to Brent about that. Our buddy Phil D’Amato can make sure you get whatever coverage you need at a fair rate.” He searched her eyes, which were probably wide as hard-boiled eggs. “Are you okay? Am I being too pushy?”
“Pushy? No. Sam, you’re a force to be reckoned with, but in the very best way. You brought me lunch, and in twenty minutes you’ve got my business going in the right direction. I’m a little embarrassed that I didn’t think of all of this myself. I’m usually so good at making sure every box is checked and evaluated, and then you walk in and in mere minutes see that I’ve dropped the ball.”
He smiled and touched her face. “You didn’t drop the ball. You’re focused on the aspects you should be focused on, helping others. I have a lot of experience with businesses and the liabilities you face as an owner. Rough Riders is a different type of business, but the framework of every business begins with certain elements.”
“You should be my business manager.” She was only half kidding.
“This is all you, baby. Your business, your forum, your ideas. I’m just giving you a helping hand.”
“I just can’t believe how much you’re helping me.” She leaned in closer, feeling too far away.
He slid forward on his chair, so close she could kiss him if she leaned in an inch.
“Believe it, Faith. I’ve wanted to be close to you for so long, and once that barrier came down, it opened the floodgates. You’re stuck with all of me now, and if I overstep my bounds”—his eyes darkened seductively—“you’ll have to restrain me.”
His nearness, his words, and his piercing stare sent a rush of passion through her. He leaned so close she could see gold flecks in the center of his eyes. She would never make it through the rest of the day until their date later without one more kiss to hold her over. Her heart was pounding, her mind was begging, Kiss me, and her employee brain was losing the battle to remain in control. Sam’s tongue slicked over his lower lip, and she heard an embarrassingly needy sound stream from her lungs. What happened to the levelheaded woman she’d always been? She felt like an addict, wanting more of her best addiction.
“Kiss me quick, Sam, before someone comes i—”
Her last word was smothered as his mouth pressed roughly against hers, fierce and urgent. She clutched his shirt and held on for the scintillating ride. Just when she thought, This is so worth getting in trouble for, Sam slowed them down to a series of languid, mind-numbing kisses. She touched his scruffy cheek and pushed her fingers into his hair as they drew apart. She was dazed, her lips still tingling, like the rest of her overheated body.
“Sorry,” she said, slipping her hands from his hair. “I love your hair and I’ve wanted to do that for so long. I couldn’t help myself.”
He was looking at her as no one else ever had, as he seemed to do so often. Like he wanted to fall into her. Breathe, breathe, breathe.
“Don’t apologize for touching me,” he said warmly. “I want you to touch me.”
And boy do I ever want to touch you. She shook her head, trying to clear the dirty thoughts and focus on Sam. Despite everything he’d said, she needed him to know she didn’t expect him to keep doing so much for her.
“After everything you did last night, I feel kind of guilty. I hope you don’t feel like you have to keep doing more for me because I was afraid to go out with you. You’ve got me, Sam. You can stop doing all these things for me and just be yourself.”
He slid his hand to the nape of her neck and tugged her in closer. “I think for the first time in my life, that’s exactly who I am.”
Chapter Eleven
SAM CLIMBED THE steps to Faith’s apartment later that evening sporting a ridiculous grin. Their second date felt like a milestone, maybe because for him it was. He knew he was coming on strong, but he couldn’t help it. She really had opened up some sort of floodgates he never knew existed, and he was rolling with it. Just like he was rolling with coaxing sweet Faith out of her safety zone, and hopefully earning her trust, by showing her that he could have fun without debauchery. Although a little debauchery is always nice.
Faith answered the door, flashing the smile he loved so much, the one that instantly lit up her beautiful dark eyes and made her breathe a little harder. The one that made his heart take notice.
“Sam,” she said dreamily.
Her voice, along with her smiling eyes, brought him silently closer. They’d just seen each other a few hours ago, and already he was starved for her. His arm circled her waist, and in the seconds before their mouths came together, her eyes fluttered closed. He loved those unguarded seconds, when he could see she wasn’t thinking about his past and how it fit into his present, but of how much she wanted to be with him. He drank in the sweetness of their kiss, fighting the urge to take it deeper, to let her feel everything he was holding back. It was a kiss of divine ecstasy, a kiss full of promises of what was to come—trust, he hoped, and more. He needed to put space between them to keep from going further, but his body pressed forward. Everything about him had been moving forward since he’d given in to his feelings for Faith, which was a huge change for the man who moved from one woman to another, always on the same level, in the same realm, year after year.
His tongue swept over hers, her touch searing into his skin.
Moving forward with Faith was a million times better than anything he could have imagined. He felt alive, focused, driven. As their lips parted—his aching, burning, for more—he gazed into her eyes and somehow knew that only Faith could have this effect on him.
“Hey, sweet one,” he said as her eyes came open. “How are you?”
“Better now.” Her fisted hands trembled against his chest, and he covered one with his own.
Her eyes dropped to their hands and she whispered, “Sorry,” as she unfurled her fingers.
He kissed her again, tenderly this time. “No apologies for touching, remember?” He raked his eyes down her body, noticing that she’d worn the Rough Riders hoodie he’d given her over a clingy white V-neck shirt. She shivered against him. “Cold?”
“Hot. Hot, hot, hot,” she whispered.
He laughed. “I’ll take that as a compliment. You look really sexy.”
She looked down at her outfit, fidgeting with the long necklace dangling between her breasts. “You sure this is okay? I wasn’t sure, but you said to wear jeans and dress comfortably.”
“I’m sure.” He gave her another quick kiss. “Ready to go?”
She cleared her throat and looked down at his hand, which was still wrapped possessively around her waist.
“Guess I need to let you go. Damn, I hate that.”
She laughed and playfully pushed at his stomach. After another quick kiss he reluctantly released her. As she grabbed her purse from a table by the door, he glanced around her living room. It was exactly as he’d pictured it, neat and feminine, with floral pillows on the sofa, a bookshelf full of medical and fiction books, for your smart, sexy brain, and a few leafy green plants in front of the balcony doors.
“Okay, ready.” She put her purse strap crosswise over her body, which pressed her shirt down between her breasts.
“I like that purse,” he teased.
She rolled her eyes as they walked out the door. “Such a man.” His hand circled her waist and she said, “Afraid I’ll disappear?”
“Staking my claim. You’re the one who wanted exclusivity. Rethinking that now?”
“Not on your life, Mr. Braden, but fair’s fair.” She slipped her arm around his waist as they descended the stairs. “You showed up at my work twice. Now you have to deal with the fallout when your brother comes home and fires me for fraternizing with his sibling.”
“I’m pretty sure that’s not an appropriate reason to be fired.”
“We’ll see.”
“I already sent him a text telling him that we needed to talk when he returns. Don’t worry. I’ll always have your back.”
She gazed up at him with a curious look in her eyes as they walked toward the parking lot. “Even if I dump you? Or will you ask him to fire me just to get back at me?”
“If you dump me?” He leaned down for another quick taste of her luscious lips. “All of the above.”
“You’re impossible. Where are we going?”
“You’ll see. On my ‘things I’ve never done with a woman’ list is going for a ride on my bike.” He nodded to his motorcycle.
“We’re taking your motorcycle?” She took a step backward. “Sam, I’ve never ridden one.”
He drew her against him again. “Not to worry. You’ll just have to hold on to me.”
“What if I let go?”
“Why would you ever want to do that?” He grabbed a helmet from the back of the bike and slid it over her head. “Jesus, Faith. You just got even hotter.”