Staying On Top(61)

Sudden shyness overtook me, I’d suspected as much about the tournament invitation, but had been involved with Flynn at the time and, honestly, a little irritated that Sam couldn’t take a hint. I wasn’t looking for anything more than easy and free, and a guy who didn’t ask too many questions. Flynn had fit the bill perfectly. I could admit now that even the prospect of Sam had scared me.

I took a deep breath, thought through the string of consequences, then decided to ignore them. I was so tired of trying to figure out how one misstep could ruin a con down the road. “I did feel something more, and that’s exactly why I blew you off. I just told you that no one knows about me, about my dad and my life. How could I date someone seriously and expect to be able to keep that kind of distance? And you? You make me want more.”

He froze, then broke into the grin that charmed women around the world. “I do?”

“Yes, you idiot. Everything I normally play close to the vest comes spilling out around you, and it makes me crazy. But you’re still here anyway.” For now.

We watched each other, emotions flashing through his honey eyes as fast as they skittered through my heart. Fear. Wonder. Excitement. Distrust, even after everything, that came from not knowing each other as well as we’d like to, a fact that left us vulnerable.

All of the little tidbits that we had shared added up to something, enough to hurt if they were rejected, and that was the root of my fear. That I had finally found a friend, someone to open up to, someone to show myself to, and would be forced to watch him walk away.

“You know, I never think about the future, Blair. My family, the way they are, it doesn’t inspire much faith in the validity of long-term commitments.”

The piece of information confused me. Not because it didn’t make sense, but because I wasn’t quite sure why he was telling me. “I’m not thinking about next year, Sam. Hell, I’m not even thinking about next week. I’m just . . . ready to live in the moment. With you.”

I’d spoken the truth, but it hurt in unexpected places to agree that we had no future.

Sam stood up, then held a hand out to me. “Grab that bottle of wine. Let’s take a walk.”

“A walk?” I felt as though my lips weren’t attached to my brain.

“Yes.” He glanced up toward the resort, which wasn’t full this time of year but wasn’t empty, either. Its lights reached toward us on the empty beach. “I saw someplace on our way to the restaurant that might be better for spending the night. Less out in the open.”

My heart raced at the suggestion. All of me trembled with desire, even ones that were usually slow to wake, and when my palm slid against his, a shock of anticipation moved through me. Sam held one of my hands and my other gripped the bottle of wine. He grabbed our blankets and led me away from the resort, toward the part of the beach that would be crammed with tourists and vacationers in the summer months, but tonight waited, empty, for the two of us.

A thousand yards or so away there was a blue-painted wooden rowboat next to an outcropping of jagged rock. It looked like a painting under the moonlight, with one bench and a pair of oars near the bow, the rest hollowed out—a fishing boat.

I dropped the wine in the sand as Sam stopped next to the hull. He turned, pulling me into his arms and capturing my lips with his in one smooth movement. Our tongues twisted together, hands everywhere, until we were both breathing hard and I was wondering how feasible it would be to have sex standing up.

“Hand me your sweater,” he panted.

This had been so long coming that it didn’t occur to me to argue or ask why. My sweater landed next to his sweatshirt in the bottom of the boat, and the sweatshirt hoodies we bought at the gift shop went next. I shivered in the breeze that wafted off the water; it wasn’t freezing, but the temperature probably hovered somewhere in the mid-sixties.

Sam caught sight of my shudder as he spread one of our fleece blankets over the clothes. “I promise to warm you up in sec.”

“You’d better.”

He puddled the second blanket at one end of the makeshift mattress, then bowed slightly, gesturing to his creation. “M’lady. After you.”

I took his hand as I stepped into the boat, settling on the bottom. He followed a moment later. It was a tight fit with both of us, but it would be more than enough room.

The light touch of his fingers on my belly drew a gasp from deep inside me. I held my breath, then blew it out my nose as Sam lifted my tank top over my head. I returned the favor, ridding him of his T-shirt and taking a moment to stare at the hard landscape of his chest and stomach in the Greek moonlight.