She breathed a sigh of relief and laved her tongue over his swollen glans, getting her first taste of him. His hand remained at the base as she toyed with his balls, licking them, feeling them tighten against her tongue. She felt his eyes burning into her as she dragged her tongue over the back of his hand to ride up his hard length. He pushed his shaft out toward her, and she took him in, pulling a delicious groan from somewhere deep inside him. She moved his hand, replacing it with her own, stroking his length as she sucked him to the back of her throat. Her cheeks hollowed as she withdrew, then took him in deep again. She didn’t want him to come, not yet. But she wanted to give him the same pleasure he’d given her. She wanted this intimacy for both of them.
Palming his length, she lowered herself back down to the bed, forcing herself to maintain eye contact with Sam.
“Condom,” he said.
She guided his cock over her pubis and pulled him down. “I want to feel you against me first.”
“God, baby,” he whispered as he wrapped his strong arms beneath her shoulders and cradled her head. “You’re testing every shred of my control.”
His mouth stole over hers, invading it with his tongue, pumping air from his lungs into hers. Her hands moved over his back, to his bare ass. She grabbed on to the firm globes, causing his hips to piston. He growled—growled!—into the kiss, and whatever resistance she’d had snapped.
“Condom,” she said, reaching to the side.
His lips tipped up at the edges as he laced his fingers with her searching hand and held her down, devouring her mouth again and driving her out of her mind.
“Sam!” she said between kisses. “Can’t take it.”
He deepened the kiss, then tore himself away, making her entire body shudder. His penetrating gaze bordered on predatory, but she saw right through all that thick desire to what he was really looking for, and it opened her heart to him even more.
“Make love to me, Sam. Now.”
He snagged a condom, tore it open with his teeth, and was sheathed and perched above her in seconds flat. Her knees fell open wider as he lowered himself down, chest to chest. He felt so good, so warm, so strong. She thought he’d slam into her, unable to hold back a second longer, but Sam never failed to surprise her.
He took her in a slow, scintillating kiss, sparking fire behind her knees, in the crook of her arms, places she never knew could spark. He entered her slowly, kissing her as her body stretched to accommodate his girth until he was buried inside her. Their eyes connected, the urgency quelled to a decadent, sensual hum as they began to move and found their rhythm. Sam moved with potent mastery, gripping her hips and angling her body just so, then driving in impossibly deeper, striking pleasure points inside her she’d never known existed. All that controlled strength bunched beneath her hands as he took her right up to the peak of another climax, holding her there, panting and desperate. Just when she thought she might explode, he quickened his efforts and spirals of ecstasy burst inside her.
“Sam,” she cried.
He lifted his face, a mask of tension and potent masculinity. “Again,” he said through gritted teeth.
He lifted her legs beneath her knees and wound them around his waist as he found that secret spot again and again. She couldn’t hold back the noises streaming from her as heat scorched through her, and every breath-sucking pulse made her body jerk and thrust. Sam reared up, his body stiff and tight, and with the next thrust he surrendered to his own intense release. His hot breath stroked over her slick skin as he gathered her in his arms.
“I’m so into you,” he said in a gravelly, sated voice. “You own me.”
“You’re not a man to be owned,” she told him, even though it, like everything he did and said, made her feel safe. “You’re a man to be experienced.”
“Rationalize it any way you want, but know in your heart that you own me.” He pressed a kiss to her forehead. “I am a happily branded man.”
Faith’s breath caught in her throat. Dare she let herself believe him?
They lay together for a long time. After a while Sam strode to the bathroom in all his bold, naked glory to ditch the condom. Faith had a fleeting thought that he might take one look in the mirror and remember the Sam everyone else knew him to be—and maybe even want to be that man again. Her heart ached at the thought, especially after everything he’d said, but she was trying to be real. She readied herself for the blow, sitting up and gathering the sheet over her chest.
Sam came out of the bathroom, and in one sweep of the gratified look on his face, the curve at the edges of his mouth, and the emotions playing in his eyes, she knew the only blow she needed to prepare for was what it really felt like to be Sam Braden’s girl.
Chapter Nineteen
LEAVING FAITH LAST night had been near impossible. Sam hadn’t been prepared for the emotions that had consumed him when they were making love. He’d not only wanted to stay, but he’d wanted to claim a drawer and set his toothbrush beside hers on the sink. For a guy who, as a rule before going out with Faith, rarely exchanged phone numbers, much less spent the night with a woman, this was bordering on ridiculous. It was crazy. Insane. And what was worse was that he’d wanted it so badly, he worried he’d smother her, take too much of her time, invade her space, and push her away. He scoffed at that thought now. Women loved attention, didn’t they? But she hadn’t asked him to stay, so maybe he was right to worry. The truth was, he hadn’t thought this much about a woman…ever. Whoever said absence makes the heart grow fonder had been spot-on. Here he was more than fifteen hours later, after a long day of work, driving over to pick up Faith for their date and still kicking himself in the ass for not staying over.
Instead of sleeping with her in his arms, he’d gone home and texted Cole again, asking him to call him the minute he got back in town next Saturday morning. Sam didn’t want to take a chance of his brother hearing about him and Faith from anyone else. He knew Cole had turned off his phone, and he’d given their family the number at the resort in case of an emergency. Sam debated using that number now, but easing Faith’s mind wasn’t an emergency to Cole.
Taking the steps to her apartment two at a time, Sam’s heart raced with anticipation. They’d texted a few times during the day, but that was nothing compared to holding Faith in his arms. How could a few hours apart feel like a lifetime?
He knocked and barely had time to blink before Faith answered the door wearing a pair of barely there shorts and a bikini top that showed off every lush curve beneath her open Rough Riders sweatshirt. He couldn’t resist drinking her in, from her gorgeous face all the way down to her long legs, which he could still feel wrapped around his waist, squeezing him as she came.
She smiled up at him with more than a hint of wickedness in her eyes. “I guess this is okay, then?”
“You look positively sinful.” He’d asked her to dress in a bathing suit, but now he was questioning the date he’d planned. How would he make it through the evening without devouring her? He stepped inside and slid his hands around her waist, beneath the sweatshirt, to her incredibly soft skin. The door clicked shut behind him.
Her arms circled his neck, and she went up on her toes. “I think you need to kiss me now.”
“I do like it when you communicate.”
His mouth covered hers hungrily, arousing all of his best places. She pressed her soft curves against him, and he couldn’t resist taking hold of her perfect ass. She moaned at the intimate touch.
“Missed you, baby.” He kissed her again, her body melting against him as he trailed kisses along her neck to the sensitive flesh just beneath her ear.
“I thought about you all day.” She went up on her toes again, her hands clutching the back of his neck. “You know that drives me crazy.”
“Yeah. I do.”
She tipped her head back, giving him better access and writhing against him, making those sweet, seductive sounds in her throat. An invitation too hard to resist. He slid one hand along the edge of her bikini bottom and slipped a finger beneath, dipping into her wetness.
“Mm. Knowing you’re wet for me drives me crazy.”
“God, Sam.” Her voice was barely a whisper.
He drew back and kissed her, searching her heavily lidded eyes, and swore she was right there with him, but he needed reassurance. “Can we play, baby?”
“From now on you have a blanket ‘yes’ to touch me unless I specifically tell you to stop.” She crashed her mouth over his, her tongue sweeping, searching, taking.
Sam hooked his hands in the waistband of her shorts and tore them down, bathing suit and all, and backed her up against the wall. Her cheeks flamed as he nudged her legs open wide before taking her in another urgent kiss.
“Close your eyes,” he coaxed, running his hands up and down her thighs. When she closed her eyes, he slid one palm down the center of her body, loving the flush of her skin, her heated, anticipatory breaths. He kissed her neck, light, whispery kisses, trailing his fingers just below her belly button.
“I love the way your breathing changes when I touch you.” He reached lower, sliding one finger between her legs and dragging it up over her clit. She sucked in a breath, and he repeated the rhythm again and again. She rocked her hips forward, but he didn’t take the bait. He settled his mouth over the curve of her neck, teasing her swollen sex with one slow stroke after another. With his other hand he tugged her top down on one side, freeing her beautiful breast.