Heaven and Hell (15 page)

Amongst other things.

Hmm.

I tiptoed to an armchair so my thin heels
wouldn’t sound on the tile and sat on it. Then I bent forward and
unstrapped my shoes, not believing I’d slept in them, much less my
fabulous gown, and trying to remember when I drifted off to sleep
hoping that I didn’t do it when Sam was talking as that would be
rude at the same time hoping I didn’t do it when I was talking
because that would be embarrassing and realizing, either way, I was
screwed.

I set the shoes aside and did another scan
of the room, seeing it had a huge, polished wardrobe and two doors.
One was the one we used to enter the room. The other, I hoped was a
bathroom.

Careful to be quiet, I made my way to the
door, opened it and discovered I was right. Then I slipped into it,
closed the door, turned on the light, did my business and then,
while washing my hands, I froze when I caught sight of myself in
the mirror.

Not because I was wearing last night’s
makeup, which, thankfully, didn’t look smudged and scary.

But because my hair was down and falling
around my shoulders in messy, curly waves and I remembered
something about last night that I forgot.

I remembered getting into telling Sam the
story of Kyle and his buddies taking me and Paula (who had been my
friend since high school) to our first kegger whereupon me and
Paula got totally hammered and when they brought us home, both
Paula and I hurled in Mom and Dad’s backyard, causing Kyle and his
buddies to tell us repeatedly, loudly and without any hope of
success to be quiet which resulted in Mom and Dad catching us. I
was giggling at this, Sam was smiling at it and throughout telling
him the story, his fingers were working in my hair, pulling out the
pins.

It felt nice then and, staring at myself in
the mirror, it felt nice remembering it.

But it was more.

After I finished that story by sharing with
Sam that Mom and Dad had forced Kyle and his buddies to apologize
in person to Paula’s parents and then mow their yard free for the
summer as penance, Sam shared with me the story of the first time
his brother called him when he was hammered to ask Sam to come pick
him up. Sam did but Ben hadn’t shared that it was not only Ben who
was hammered, his girlfriend and her three friends were with him
and also needed rides home. They were not hammered but completely
shitfaced and Sam unwisely loaded them all into his car whereupon
three of the four females
and
Ben hurled
in
his car
and he had to sell it because he could never get rid of the
smell.

And while he was telling me this and I was
giggling, he was running his fingers through my hair.

That felt nicer and, staring at myself in
the mirror, it settled in my soul how much nicer it felt not only
last night but right then, remembering it.

Okay. I was either seriously in trouble
or…

I was seriously
not.

I stared into my eyes in the mirror and as I
did I found my lips whispering, “Fearless.”

Then I pulled in a breath, turned from the
mirror, switched off the light and exited the bathroom, moving to
the double, arched, windowed doors with their gossamer curtains, my
eyes on a still sleeping, still beautiful Sam.

I got to the doors and opened them, stepping
out on the small, stone balcony, the curtain falling behind me and
I drank in the view.

Wherever you are, however you got there, if
it’s good, you’re meant to be there either because you earned it or
life led you there and you were smart enough to hold on.

Sam’s words came back to me and no longer
drunk on champagne or the beauty of being held in his arms, I
realized that Sampson Cooper was a great many things, nearly all of
them good but one of them was wise.

On this thought, two arms closed around me
from behind and I was pulled into a long, hard body as a stubbled
chin swept my hair from the side of my neck right before lips
whispered there, “Mornin’, baby.”

Those two words slid over my skin, coating
it, again giving me a glorious moment of feeling invincible.

Wherever you are, however you got there, if
it’s good, you’re meant to be there either because you earned it or
life led you there and you were smart enough to hold on.

I closed my eyes.

Then I whispered back, “Morning.”

Sam’s arms turned me to facing him, I opened
my eyes then his body pressed mine into the balustrade as I tipped
my head back to look at him and see his eyes were already moving
over me.

Then they came to mine and he whispered,
“Right now, honey, I’m gonna kiss you.”

My stomach clutched.

Oh God.

Okay. Oh God. All right.

I was supposed to be fearless but right
then, I… was…
not.

“Sam –” I started but his head dropped until
his lips were light on mine and I shut up.

“No,” he said quietly, his lips moving
against my lips, my heart stopped beating and his voice dropped
super low, super rough, it was rich velvet when he went on. “No,
baby, you fell asleep before I could taste this mouth. I’m not
gonna miss another chance.”

Then he slanted his head and kissed me.

I instantly freaked out.

This was not because Sampson Cooper, my
fantasy man obsession was kissing me. Sam had become way more than
just that, he wasn’t even close to that anymore.

This was because, except for a couple of
guys in high school and some other guys who didn’t count during
spin the bottle at parties in junior high, I had kissed no one but
Cooter. I grew not to like the way he kissed then I grew not to
want him to kiss me and I learned quickly that if I didn’t kiss him
back in a way he’d like, he’d give up trying.

So I didn’t know if I even knew
how
to kiss. I’d forgotten or never really learned.

And I
needed
at that moment in my
life not only to be able to do it but to be able to do it really,
really well.

And needing it and freaking out about it, my
head filled with garbage and I blew it.

I knew it by feeling it and I knew it when
Sam’s mouth broke from mine, his head came up, I opened my eyes and
saw his, for the first time since I met him, were guarded.

Oh God.

Oh
God!

Sam had just kissed me, it was awful and it
was also all my fault.

God!

I was mortified. Total humiliation. So bad,
I couldn’t bear it.

So I didn’t.

I had to escape.

So I did.

I ducked my head, jerked sideways out of his
arms and skirted him, heading toward the bedroom, all the while
mumbling, “I need to find Luci and ask if I can use –”

I didn’t get to the bedroom and I didn’t
finish mumbling.

I found my hand caught in Sam’s firm grip
and my arm tugged, hard enough to change the direction I was going,
not hard enough to hurt. I flew backward and as my body moved, Sam
twisted my arm so my body twisted with it and my arm was held
behind me, my front slammed into his, his other hand came up, his
fingers sifting into my hair, then fisting gently to tilt it to the
side at the same time he pulled it back.

This shocked me, not in bad way. Oh no, not
bad at all.

It was
hot.

Then his mouth slammed down on mine.

Oh man.

That was hot too.

Then his tongue thrust into my mouth.

Oh
man.

That wasn’t hot.

That was scorching.

And it burned through me from mouth to toes
and even up into my hair, blistering. My belly plummeted, my
breasts swelled, my body melted into his, my arm wrapped around his
shoulders to hold on and my tongue tangled with his because I liked
what he was giving me but I wanted
more
.

When I did this, he growled into my mouth,
his fist in my hair twisted, his fingers laced in mine doing the
same, both I felt, not with pain, but with a fierce kind of
possession I liked, oh God, yes, I liked it a lot. So much, I felt
wet and heat flood between my legs, my hand glided up his neck to
cup the back of his head and hold him to me and I pressed deep,
returning the gift by moaning into his mouth.

When I did, he pressed forward, arching me
backward over our arms, deepening an already deep kiss, demanding
more and my moan turned to a whimper, not of fear, pain or
weakness, but open, unadulterated
need.

Sam tore his mouth from mine, my eyes flew
open and my lips immediately protested on a breathy plea of,
“Sam.”

But not a second later, his fist in my hair
was an arm behind my knees, his other hand released mine but held
on tight at my back, I was swept up in his arms and he made it to
the bed in two strides of his long legs. Then I was down on the
bed, the warmth and weight of Sam’s body was on mine, his mouth was
back to mine and this was better, way,
way
better because it
came with his hands on me, all over me, and it came with the
opportunity of my hands being all over him.

He felt good, God, so good. I was right. He
was hard everywhere. And I liked it.

He pressed his hips into mine, tight, deep,
I felt them, I liked what I felt and more heat rushed through
me.

God, yes,
yes.
I was right, he was
hard
everywhere.

I forced a leg out from under him and
wrapped it around the back of his thigh, reciprocating the gesture,
lifting my hips to fit them to his, his lips left mine to trail
down my cheek to my ear where he whispered, “Fuck, baby.”

I liked that too.

A lot.

So much I arched my back, turned my head and
ran my tongue up his neck to his ear.

God, he tasted as beautiful as he just
was.

“Fuck,” he whispered then his teeth nipped
my ear and I trembled instantly, top-to-toe.

Then, no joke, no
freaking
joke, I
heard the creak of a door swinging open and a sultry voice crying,
“
Buongiorno!
”

Sam’s head shot up and his neck twisted.

Seeing as my head was to the bed, just my
neck twisted.

And there was Luci, wearing a fabulous
outfit, looking stunning, holding a stack of fluffy folded towels
and grinning at us unrepentantly.

This went on awhile, Sam and I tangled in a
carnal clench on the bed staring at Luci, Luci standing a step
inside the doorway gazing at us with a huge grin and not
moving.

Finally, Sam asked on a growl that was
clearly frustrated, clearly impatient and clearly angry so it was
also clearly very scary, “Are you serious?”

“You’re in luck,” she announced. “I have
exactly two unused toothbrushes.”

I blinked.

Sam growled again but this one was
unintelligibly.

“Sam,
caro,
” Luci said, striding in
(yes, striding in!), “Kia can see the lake from that bed but she’ll
see more of it from the boat.”

Was
she serious?

And, was this happening?

And, if it was,
why?

I didn’t ask these questions. Instead I
stayed silent as Sam rolled off and sat up, pulling me with him so
I was sitting up too, but close and he settled us with my back to
his chest and one of his arms wrapped around my belly.

He did this saying, “Woman, you know I’m
trained to kill.”

She smiled at him then ignored him and
looked to me.

“And Kia,
cara,
” she dropped the
towels on the foot of the bed and two toothbrushes in their plastic
wrappers and a tube of toothpaste bounced off the top of the pile
and onto the bed, “it’s morning and you have something to look up
on my computer.”

I stared up at her having experienced all of
this still snug in the warmth of heated, brilliant foreplay the
like I’d not only never experienced at the hands of a (now I knew)
seriously not very talented Cooter but also the like I didn’t even
know
existed
and the mistaken belief that, in short order, I
would return to that.

Suddenly that disbursed, what was happening
intruded and, what could I say?

It was admittedly a little weird and it was
definitely crazy.

But it was also hilarious.

So I burst out laughing.

Luci’s sexy chuckle joined my laughter and,
honest to God, it actually sounded like it was accented with
Italian which was way cool.

Sam dragged my laughing body across his lap
and both his arms clamped around me as he declared, “Just to be
clear, I’m not finding anything funny right now.”

This made me sober but I did this
unfortunately with my eyes on Luci. Then the sultry, sexy, smack
you back beautiful Luci
snorted.

That’s right! I saw and heard a famous model
snort!

I burst into giggles this time and Luci was
right with me.

“Fuck me,” Sam muttered.

I giggled harder.

So did Luci.

Sam allowed this.

For approximately two point five
seconds.

Then he clipped, “You came, you interrupted,
you annoyed now you wanna get out?”

I swallowed my laughter, slapped a hand on
his chest and cried, “Sam!”

Sam didn’t even look at me. He kept scowling
at Luci.

“
Certamente,
” she muttered.

“Well?” Sam instantly countered when she
didn’t immediately vanish in a puff of smoke.

I pressed my lips together.

Luci planted her hands on her hips.
“Breakfast is in half an hour, Sam, you need to get back to your
hotel and sort yourself out. I’ll sort Kia out. Then you can enjoy
your day together.”

“We were enjoying it before you walked in,”
Sam shot back, I smacked his chest again but this time snapped,
“Sam!”

He looked at me. “What?”

“What?” I returned.

“Baby,
she walked in on us.
She’s got
eyes, she didn’t miss it.”