Kissing in Kansas (6 page)

"You did?  Did you have a good time with Aunt Sami?"

One of the girls, Samara couldn't tell which one, said, "We love Aunt Sami!  We read books, and we helped cook, and she let us help with laundry, and we got to come home early from Grandma's."

"Wow.  Sounds like you had a great day," Henry said.  "I think we should keep Aunt Sami."

The girls squealed, yelling 'yes,' over and over.  Samara laughed and stepped into the living room.  "It's time for bed, silly girls.  Avy, you hurry ahead so you can pick out the first book of the night."

Avy took off up the stairs, running straight to the girls' bedroom, with Abby right on her heels.  "Those two are something else," Samara told Henry.

"They adore you," he told her.  "You're exactly what we all needed."

She shrugged.  "Exactly what the girls needed maybe."  She turned to go back upstairs, but he was on his feet in a flash, grabbing her arm. 

"Exactly what all of us needed.  I don't think I knew how much you were missing from my life until you showed up and filled the gap."  He turned her to him, kissing her gently.  "You're an incredible woman, Samara."

She simply shrugged, turning to go back up the stairs, leaving Henry frowning after her.

When she slipped into bed that night, Henry was lying on his side, facing the middle of the bed.  She wore a tee-shirt and panties again, because he obviously didn't care what she wore to bed.  She knew she wasn't a model or anything, but she'd always been told she was attractive.  Henry made her feel less than desirable.

She climbed into bed, moving to the middle and was surprised when he wrapped his arms around her, burying his face in her hair.  "I've been unfair to you," he said softly.

She looked up at him with surprise.  He
had
been unfair, but she'd never expected him to actually be able to see it.  "Why do you say that?"

"You came here, expecting to find a man with no children who wanted to spend his life with you.  Instead you got me, with two kids, constantly keeping you at arms' length.  I'm surprised you haven't left me by now."

Samara smiled. "Well, I signed a contract saying I'd stay.  Honestly, if that contract hadn't been signed, I'd have left after our little discussion in the bride's room at your church."

He sighed.  "I know.  I've been very rigid.  I was really trying to protect us both, but it fell really flat.  I didn't think anyone would stick around with the kind of work required with the girls."  He took a deep breath, looking into her eyes.  "Are you still willing to stay?  To be my wife?  Or are you planning on running in a year?"

"Are you going to give me reason to run?  I don't believe in divorce.  Unless you cheat or start hitting me, I'm sticking around."

He lowered his mouth to hers, kissing her passionately. His hands moved over her back, one of them pulling her closer while the other explored her bottom through her panties.  Her shirt wasn't large enough to be much of a barrier. 

Samara sank into his kiss, her arms wrapping around him.  She brought one leg up and around his calves in an effort to get closer.  He'd been covered when she got into bed, so it was then she noticed he was naked.  "Um, Henry?"

"Shut up and kiss me, Samara."

Her heart beat faster as she realized he wasn't going to stop.  Now she wished she'd worn her pretty nightgown from their wedding night.  She started to ask him if she could change, but she didn't want to affect the mood.  The man was finally willing to let her ride him like a cowgirl, and she wasn't about to complain. 

His kisses were almost frantic, his hands moving over her body with one purpose and one purpose only: to bring her to the same state of arousal he was obviously in.  He drew away, kneeling on the bed, and pulling her into a kneeling position as well.  Catching the hem of her shirt, he pulled it over her head, his eyes all but glazed with desire as he stared at her mostly naked state.

He reached out to cup her breasts in his hands, smiling.  "They fill my hands perfectly.  You were made for me, Sami.  Why didn't I see it the instant I saw you walking down the aisle toward me?"

"I don't know, because I did.  I knew before I heard you speak, but as soon as you spoke, I was weak in the knees.  I would have made love with you in the bride's room at the church without a single complaint."

He groaned.  "I'm an idiot for waiting this long."  He moved his hands into her panties, cupping her bottom.  "I want these off!"

She chuckled.  "Let's take them off then."  She pushed them down and shimmied out of them, naked in front of a man for the first time in her entire life.  She felt vulnerable for just a moment until he took her into his arms again, his mouth all but attacking hers. 

Before she knew what was happening, he had her on her back on the bed, and his hand was between her thighs, stroking her core.  "Are you ready for me, baby?"

Samara nodded, unable to speak for a moment.  It was all happening so fast, but it was what she'd been wanting, so she couldn't complain.  He moved over her, between her spread thighs.  She stroked his cheek as he lay poised above her, ready to make her a part of him. 

He turned and kissed the hand on his cheek, before leaning down and pressing his lips to hers, just as he thrust softly inside her.  Samara let out a low moan.  She'd known it would hurt, but somehow she'd forgotten in the heat of the moment.

Once he was inside her, he stilled, trying to give her time to adjust to him.  He wasn't sure how long he could wait though.  She was his, and he needed her.  His lips toyed with hers for just a moment before he pulled out and thrust back inside her.  "Please tell me it doesn't hurt too much," he mumbled against her lips.

It still hurt a bit, but Samara didn't care.  "It's fine."  She needed him to move inside her.  She needed this wanting to end.  His thrusts were slow and steady, and obviously very controlled.  She wanted so much more from him.  "More," she whispered, needing to reach that place all her girlfriends had talked about. 

Henry needed no further coaxing.  He moved quickly inside her, his hand reaching down between them to stroke her, hoping it would help her to catch up with him.  Her gasps told him it was the right thing to do.  Within moments, she was moaning her pleasure, burying her face in his neck so the twins wouldn't hear her from down the hall.

As soon as she let go, Henry did too, his neck arching in climax.  He rolled to her side, gathering her against him.  He panted in her ear, unable to say a word, so he simply clung to her.

Samara lay against him, her cheek pressed against his chest.  It was exactly as she'd known it would be from the moment they met.  The man overrode her senses and turned her into a writhing wanton woman.  She was so glad she'd found him.  She pressed a kiss to his shoulder, saying nothing else as her eyes drifted closed.

Henry stroked her back as he relived the last hour in his head.  His bride was everything he'd hoped she wouldn't be.  He didn't want to feel so much for the woman he'd married simply so his twins would have a mother-figure.  He was so glad he'd been wrong about everything.  Samara held his heart in the palm of her hand.  She was the perfect woman for him.  Dr. Lachele Simpson was a genius.

Chapter Six

Samara woke to Henry's hands on her, kissing her awake.  "Sami.  Time to wake up, sweetheart."

"Just five more minutes," she groaned.  She was sore in places no one should ever be sore. 

"We don't have five minutes.  I let you sleep a bit later than I should have already.  You promised the girls no more cereal." 

"I'm getting up."  She threw her legs over the side of the bed, feeling more than a bit grumpy.  "I hate mornings, you know."  Especially when they started so early.  The sun was never up when she had to wake.  "I'll be down in five minutes." 

Henry watched her pad to the bathroom with a grin on his face.  His sweet bride was beautiful.  And naked.  He wonder if she realized just how naked she was.

When Samara caught her own reflection in the bathroom mirror, she let out a gasp.  She'd forgotten she was naked.  Lovely.  Now Henry would think she was an absolutely shameless hussy.  A slow smile settled over her face as she thought about their night together.  He probably wasn't wrong.

*****

The things Samara had ordered online came on Tuesday, and she washed the girls' new clothes and put them in their drawers.  She found a large plastic container for the new bath toys and put them into the tub before going to pick up the girls in the afternoon. 

Hopefully with toys to play with, they would be less likely to get into mischief and she could read while they bathed. 

The girls were excited to see her, hugging her and acting as if they'd been apart for weeks instead of hours.  She wished there were a way to keep them home with her all day, but she wouldn't be able to get any work done.  She loved her job and really didn't want to quit to be a stay at home aunt.  Was a stay at home aunt even a thing?

She and the girls played some learning games at the table while supper cooked.  Candyland had never been a favorite, even when she was young, so she played a matching game with letters and numbers, trying to help the girls learn all their letters and numbers before starting Kindergarten.  They had a year, and she was determined that her girls would be the smartest in the class.

She heard the door open, indicating that Henry was home, and her heart started beating a bit faster.  Just as she was about to clean off the table to put dinner on, Avy asked, "Will you teach us to read, Aunt Sami?  Mama was working with us before she died, but we never got to learn.  Uncle Henry doesn't have time, and Grandma says she doesn't have the patience."

"Of course, I'll teach you to read!  Reading is one of the most wonderful things in the world.  If I'd known you two were interested, we'd have started already!"  Samara couldn't believe how excited she was at the prospect of teaching the girls to read.  Her degree was in business administration, but she'd wanted to be a teacher with everything inside her.  She'd been told over and over that the pay was too low for the hours, so she hadn't bothered.

Henry walked into the kitchen, ignoring the girls, and grabbed Samara dipping her over his arm and kissing her. The girls clapped excitedly.

"Do I have time to shower before dinner?"

"Of course. We'll get dinner on the table, and it'll be ready when you come back down." Samara liked being able to provide him with what he needed when he came in at the end of the day.

Henry took the stairs two at a time to go up to shower. When he walked into the bathroom, he stopped short. There was a big bucket of bath toys, including boats. When the girls had moved in with him, he had thrown all their boats away. He didn't want them remembering that it was a boat that had killed their parents. He carefully removed the boats from the bin, and left the rest of the toys there. He'd talk to Samara later and let her know why he had done it.

When he walked back into the kitchen a few minutes later, the girls were sitting at the table, their plates fixed. Samara was filling drinks for everyone. He took a seat at the table, and waited for Samara. Once she was seated, they all held hands, and he prayed for them.

Tonight's dinner was a simple casserole, but it was still so much better than he could've made, that he was thrilled to have her there.

While Samara was filling the tub for the girls a short while later, she noticed that all the boats had been taken out of the bath toys. She dumped the rest of the toys into the tub and then carefully lifted the girls in. She'd ask Henry about the boats later.

She read while the girls bathed, watching them out of the corner of her eye, but the toys kept them occupied.  They were obviously very excited to be able to play, and they took some of the small animal squirt toys she'd purchased and shot each other with them.  There was much squealing and excitement, but bath time went much better than it had the last couple of nights.

Once she'd read the girls their books, she went back into the room she shared with Henry, stifling a yawn.  He was waiting for her in bed, and she brushed her teeth before stripping down to nothing and climbing into bed with him.  What was the point in wearing something to bed when he'd just take it back off anyway?

"What happened to the boats?" she asked softly.

Henry shrugged, obviously embarrassed about something.  "The toy boats?"

"Yeah.  The girls told me they wanted bath toys, including boats so I bought them a bunch.  When I gave the girls a bath a little while ago, all of the boats were missing.  Why were the boats missing?"

"I don't want the girls to get upset by seeing the boats."

Samara blinked.  "You think seeing toy boats will upset them because their parents were killed in a boat?"

"Yeah.  Don't you?"

"No, I really don't.  I'm not a child psychologist, but I think if they play with toy boats, it will make things go more smoothly for them when they see real boats later in life.  I think if we completely remove them from their lives, they'll think that boats are somehow bad.  They're not.  What happened to their parents was bad."

"Maybe you're right."  Henry didn't know how to deal with young girls.  He'd never been around kids in his life.

"So I can put the boats back into the bathroom?" she asked.

He nodded. "Yeah.  I'm not trying to make them afraid of anything.  I just want to make sure they don't get upset over any silly things that I can prevent."

"So did you notice I came to bed naked?" she asked.

He laughed.  "You sure do know how to change a subject, wife."

"It's one of my skills.  Wanna see another one?" she asked.

He nodded.  "I'd love to."

She moved into his arms, kissing him.  "I've got skills that will knock your socks off."

"I'm not wearing any."

"Even better."

*****

The followings days fell into a pattern.  Samara got up early and cooked, got the twins ready, walked them next door, worked all day, picked up the girls, worked with them on their reading lessons while she cooked dinner, bathed them, read to them, and then she went back to her honeymoon suite, and she and Henry learned a lot together. 

By the time Saturday rolled around, she was exhausted and ready for the weekend.  Thankfully everyone slept a little later than usual.  It was seven when she woke up to the twins excitedly climbing into bed with her.  She wrapped the sheet tightly around herself, because she hadn't dressed yet. 

Henry brought her a cup of coffee in bed and handed it to her. 

"Thank you!"  She looked at the twins, wondering what they wanted from her. 

"Are we going to read today?" Avy asked with a grin.

"We can read for a while if you want."

Abby jumped up. "We do want.  I want to learn to read fast!"

Samara smiled, pulling to a sitting position with her back against a pillow on the headboard so she could sip her coffee.  "Why are you in a hurry?"

"We want to read all the time like you do!" Avy told her.

"Well, I don't read all the time."  What she needed more than anything was the time to read a full book beginning to end.  She couldn't help but wonder if Henry would be able to make that happen for her.  Looking at Henry, she asked, "Would you be willing to watch the girls while I hit the grocery store today?  I could make better meals if I could pick stuff out for myself."  She frowned.  "I'm going to assume there's no grocery delivery in Teaville."

He laughed.  "There's barely pizza delivery in Teaville!"

"Well, then I'd better go.  You'll watch the girls?"

"Of course, I will.  You run away and get groceries.  Will you fix us breakfast first?"

Samara laughed.  "I'm not going to let my favorite girls starve!"

Henry frowned.  "What about me?"

"Maybe the girls will let you eat scraps from their plates!"

"Nice to see where I rank..." 

"Let me shower, and I'll run down and fix breakfast.  I'll go to the grocery store right after we eat."

He nodded.  "I'm going to need to do a bit of paperwork today, but it shouldn't take more than forty minutes or so."

"That's fine.  I'm going to need to lounge in my bed and read an entire book today. That shouldn't take more than three or four hours."

He frowned.  "Seriously?"

"If I can make it happen, it would make me happier than anything else in the world."

"Then we'll make sure you get to do some reading."  He leaned over the bed and kissed her softly.  "I want to keep my wife happy."

"That's because you're a very smart man.  Now if you three will just skedaddle, I'll shower so I can make breakfast happen."

Henry picked up both girls, carrying them from the room, and shutting the door behind him.  "See you later!"

Twenty minutes later, Samara was downstairs, and all three of them were sitting at the table waiting for her to cook something for them.  They really needed to learn to feed themselves.  "What do you want to eat this morning?"

"We voted while you were showering.  We want scrambled eggs, sausage, and toast."

"With orange juice," Avy added.

"All right. I can do that."  Samara quickly set to work on breakfast while the other three continued to talk. 

Thirty minutes later, Henry promised that he and the girls would do the breakfast dishes, and she hurried out the door to go to the store.  Really, it wasn't so much of a hurry to shop as a hurry to be alone and do what she wanted for a short while.  She hadn't yet taken time to get to know the new town she lived in.  She felt like she was starting to lose Samara under all of the duties of being a new wife and aunt. 

Once she reached the store, she got a cart, determined to walk up and down every single aisle in the store.  It was a small town, and people would stop and talk constantly, blocking the aisles to others.  It was obviously the place to be on a Saturday morning in Teaville.

A couple of people recognized her from her wedding, which was a surprise to her.  She definitely didn't have her hair fixed as nicely as she had that day.  She never recognized someone from one minute to the next unless she'd had a significant conversation with them, and then she still sometimes didn't recognize them!

"Oh, you married Henry Crider!  His two nieces are just beautiful girls.  Will you keep them and mother them?"

Samara blinked at the older woman who had asked the question. "What else would I do with them?  They're part of the package, and I already love them as if they were my own."

"You can say that, but you don't have any of your own, do you?  When you and Henry do have your own, you'll want to find some place to ship them off to.  There must be a boarding school somewhere that would take the little hellions."  The woman had white hair and blue eyes, and Samara wanted nothing more than to stab her with a fork.

"How dare you say that to me!  I will always love those girls, and they will definitely not be shipped off somewhere, to a boarding school or anywhere else."

The woman shrugged.  "I'd certainly be shipping them off.  No one should be burdened with other people's children as newlyweds."  She walked off, obviously sensing Samara's anger.  Stabbing that woman in the eye with a fork would be too good for her.  Maybe she should be boiled in acid.

She was stopped five minutes later.  "Oh, you're Henry's new wife."  This woman was more her age.  "None of us ever thought he'd marry, and he probably wouldn't have if it hadn't been for the twins.  Adorable girls, but no one wants to have to deal with them all the time."

"Why do you say that?  I love his girls!"

"Yeah, but you don't really want to raise other people's kids.  I feel bad for you being stuck with them."

"I don't feel stuck," Samara told her.  "I truly care about them, and I don't care who gave birth to them."

"I bet you'll feel differently when you have children of your own." 

Samara was glad to see her walk off.  Why did no one seem to think she could just care for the girls for themselves?  Many people around the world adopted children.  Was this really different?

Fortunately, she was able to complete her shopping with no more run-ins with busy-bodied women.  When it was that bad in the grocery store, she was not looking forward to church the next day.  Every woman there would be giving her advice and telling her how to be a better 'mother' to the girls.  She was a Christian, but meddling women sometimes made her want to avoid church entirely.