My Heart's Passion (5 page)

Caught off guard, Chloe took a moment for the words to sink in. “Excuse me?”

“Our deal, you said breakfasts and not during the days. That leaves the nights.”

Shocked by his audacity, Chloe didn’t know whether to laugh or throw a pan at the man.

“When I said you’d leave me alone the rest of the day, I meant you wouldn’t be back at all. Breakfast was only supposed to be today, after the hike.”

Samuel grinned down at her.

“Come on, love. You’re going to go on a hike tomorrow morning too, surely?”

Chloe frowned. “Maybe, but I certainly wasn’t planning on going with you. I don’t think I could get too lost around here.”

“Think of how much fun it will be. And as a reward for letting me tour you around the woods and small trails around here, you can help me try out this new game Dominic has found.”

“What new game?”

“I’ll bring it tonight. It’s a kind of card game.”

“I thought you had graduated from the high school mentality years ago. Surely don’t expect me to fall for the old strip poker thing?”

Samuel laughed. “I don’t think so, but there’s no telling with Dominic. Come on, give it a shot. If you get offended or it really upsets you, I promise I’ll leave when you order me away.”

Chloe tilted her head, considering. She wasn’t used to being totally alone. She enjoyed her freedom and having time to herself, but after a whole day of lazing around reading and thinking and going on much shorter hikes, she might enjoy the company.

It wasn’t as if Samuel was going to seduce her, she wouldn’t let him.

Anyway, it might be interesting to tease the beast and then send him away with a raging hard-on. “You swear you’ll leave when I tell you to? No cajoling like this, no sad puppy dog eyes and pleas.”

Samuel laughed. “I don’t beg. Ever.”

Chloe nodded. “Me either. You have a deal then. Come on over and we’ll try out this game of Dominic’s. I take it it’s an ‘adult game’?”

Samuel took Chloe’s outstretched hand and shook on it.

“They’re the only kind Dominic knows to my knowledge.”

“Well, at least this shouldn’t prove boring.”

Walking Samuel over to the door, she let him kiss her cheek again in farewell. She stood and watched him walk back into the brush. The sunlight shone down brightly, but not too hot. When he was out of view, Chloe stalled a minute longer.
Sha
king her head and muttering to herself, she reentered the cabin, keeping the door open for the warm breeze.

Curling up on the couch she opened her first book. Determined, she skimmed the previous page and caught up on the hero and heroine’s current predicament.

Ensnared, she began to read.

Chapter Six

Chloe opened the door that evening in the same jeans and bright sweater she had been in when he had left earlier that day. Samuel smiled, a bottle of red in one arm, a small box in his other hand.

“You don’t waste any time, do you?”

Samuel looked behind him, and the just-set sun. The sky still held traces of pink, red, and orange from the spectacular sunset.

“Sun’s set, hasn’t it?”

Grinning, he held the bottle of red out to her.

“You eaten yet?”

Rolling her eyes, Chloe grabbed the bottle from him and stepped back to let him enter the cabin.

“Let me guess, you’re one of those men who constantly eat? I did warn you I wouldn’t cook anything other than breakfast. You should have eaten before you came over.”

Chloe turned her cheek for Samuel’s kiss as he entered the cabin. She frowned when she realized she now expected the chaste greeting. Slowly, she closed the door and turned to face Samuel.

She had better be careful, she warned herself, next thing she’d know she would start taking other liberties for granted. Samuel seemed to be growing on her when she wasn’t paying attention.

Sha
king herself, she remembered she was the person in charge here, not Samuel. He had promised not to step over the line she drew, and she trusted him to honor that promise.

As she raised her eyes to meet his, she saw him pleading silently. She doubted the man could read her mind—so he obviously was begging for food, not sex. Then again, knowing Samuel as she did, she bet he wouldn’t turn down either if she offered.

She sighed. “I suppose I might have some cheese to go with this red. Let me check.” Feeding the man currently seemed like the lesser of two evils.

Instantly the pleading look vanished, and Samuel shone a bright smile on her. “I knew you wouldn’t let me starve. I brought the game. Here, I’ll grab the glasses, you get the cheese and a cutter.”

Chloe sighed, trying to hide her laughter, and headed into the kitchen. Digging into the fridge she found some cheese, way in the back. Silently heaping grateful blessing on Mary for the find, she found a sharp knife and a cutting board. As she headed back into the living room, Samuel had set the box on the coffee table and found two wineglasses.

Chloe eyed them, worried. “Weren’t those wedding gifts? Can’t we use something else? I’m much too likely to break them and that would really upset me.”

“Nah. These are old drinking glasses of Dom’s. It’s what he used to use to impress the ladies he brought back here. I left the really good stuff back in the cabinet. Mary would likely try to skin me if we broke one of her precious crystal goblets.”

Chloe nodded and sat down. Taking the smallish box from the table she opened it and looked through the cards as Samuel poured them both a glass of wine.

The cards seemed to be color-coded into three sections. Cards with a blue border each had the title
Beginner
:
Getting to know each other
, green borders held the title:
Medium
:
for a little more intimacy
, and red borders read
Advanced
:
for those who
dare
.

Flicking through them, not reading them in any depth, Chloe understood enough to gather that some of the cards held dares and others simply had questions written on them. Putting the box of cards back, she looked at the cover.

A dating, getting-to-know-you game for all levels
, the cover declared.

“So remind me again, why are we playing this game of Dominic’s?”

Samuel handed her the glass of wine and sat back in his own chair. Clearing his throat, he looked almost sheepish for a moment. “Uh, it’s not precisely Dominic’s.”

Chloe just sat back and waited for the rest of the explanation.

“You see, it
was
Dominic’s game, but he sort of gifted me with it after he married Mary.”

Chloe felt her stomach twist. “You mean he played this game with Mary? If this is something they did I’m not sure I really want to follow after them. The mental images won’t be pretty.”

Samuel started to blush, both worrying and amazing Chloe. “Uh…no…you don’t fully understand. Dominic…used…this game before he met your cousin.”

Blinking, Chloe finally fitted the pieces together. “Oh. I understand. It’s one of those pick-up games? Where forced intimacy and a sharing of confidences brings a couple together. Eventually one thing leads to another and the couple end up in bed screwing madly. How close am I?”

Samuel cleared his throat. “Uh, fairly close, I believe.”

Chloe nodded. “I’ll remind you of your promise to leave when I’ve had enough.”

Samuel nodded curtly.

Chloe shrugged. If Samuel was still willing to leave when she told him to, she didn’t mind prying into his psyche. She was prepared to let him into a little of her mind as well. Fair was fair after all.

Choosing a blue card, Chloe sat back to read it thoroughly. Absently, she checked with Samuel.

“We’re starting out on the blue ones, right? No sense in spoiling the fun and jumping the gun to the medium or advanced dares right away.”

A strangled grunt was the only reply she got. Looking up, she saw Samuel’s face scrunch as he sipped too much wine.

Shrugging, she returned to the card.
“What is your favorite sexual position
?”

Chloe turned the card over. The back was blue, the front white with the simple words written neatly. No indication was given as to whether Chloe answered the question herself or asked Samuel for his answer. Smiling, she figured with the lack of directions, she might as well make it up on the spot.

“So, Samuel,” she purred, enjoying playing the vixen for once, “tell me
all
about your favorite sexual position.”

Samuel took one more sip of his wine, then set the glass down on the coffee table. Sitting back, he removed his sneakers and relaxed his posture in the chair. Steepling his fingers to support his head, Samuel seemed to take the question very seriously.

“My
favorite
…hmmm…you certainly don’t pull any punches, love. I suppose if I simply had to cut it down to one favorite position, I’d prefer the woman on top. I love seeing a lady astride me, pumping away, taking her pleasure and giving me incredible pleasure in return.”

Chloe felt her mouth dry slightly at the mental images she found searing across her mind. Herself, astride Samuel, thrusting down upon him to make him reach deep, deep inside her. Licking her lips, she tried to drag her mind away from the heated images.

“Mmm…yeah…gotta admit a woman on top is probably my favorite position. What about you?”

“Pardon?”

“You, little girl. What’s
your
favorite sexual position?”

Determined to be just as blatant and casual, Chloe sat back in her own chair, tucking her legs up underneath her. Mentally she ran through the list. Missionary was too ordinary, and though she enjoyed it, she liked to be a bit wild. Doggy style was fun, but certainly not her favorite. She enjoyed being on top, but refused to copy Samuel and appear as if she were copping out.

“I’m not sure it’s my
favorite
favorite, but it certainly gets me hot and going every time. So I suppose in that sense it’s the best. There’s something about being backed into a wall that drives me crazy.”

She paused for a second, gauging the reaction this caused in Samuel. A fire sparked in his deep blue eyes, hot and molten. She noticed his breaths were coming slightly faster, and every inch of his attention was firmly focused on her. Taking confidence in his obvious attention, she continued.

“One of the first sexual encounters I had was in a shower. We were rather inexperienced still, so it was more a farce than a heated sexual odyssey. But being gently backed up against the wall, with the water streaming down around us, even though we fumbled and groped, and the tiles were uncomfortably cold…it still gets me hot every time I think about it. I suppose it’s got something to do with the fact that up against the wall has the naughty factor of a quickie, along with that ‘woman under submission’ thing without actually getting involved in all the bondage games.”

She shrugged, blushing slightly. Samuel was still staring intently at her, soaking up every word and nuance. It made her feel a bit odd, being under his undivided attention. Determined to turn the spotlight from herself, and feeling as if she had certainly answered her part of the question fully, she waved her hand at him.

“Well, go on. Pick a card.”

Samuel opened his mouth, but she glared at him and crossed her arms over her chest. She hadn’t exactly meant to give quite so much detail to him. But now that she had, she refused to enter into more conversation about it. With luck, the next card would be a little less personal.

Who was she kidding?
The voice inside her head silently mocked
. The game is designed to create intimacy
,
she reminded herself.
Remember your own mocking of enforced intimacy bringing up situations like this?

Chloe ignored her own doubts, and smiled brightly at Samuel, causing his eyes to narrow slightly. For a moment, she could swear he could hear the almost panicked fighting going on in her brain.

With a very small smile on his face, he leaned forward and picked up a blue- rimmed card at random. For a moment, he simply stared at it. Chloe stared at the black backing, wishing desperately that she too could read the card. She wasn’t the most patient person on earth, and the excited suspense was driving her insane as the seconds ticked by.

After what was probably only a minute or so, but felt like a small eternity, Samuel huskily said, “What’s you favorite time of day to do
it
?”

Chloe took a breath, unaware until then she had been holding it.
Her
favorite time? Did women have favorite times?

Thinking about it, Chloe realized she didn’t really have one at all. For the right man under the right circumstances any time was her favorite time. She didn’t, however, want to come across as a sex-craving maniac.

“Uh…well…assuming we’re talking about someone I’m sexually interested in, first thing in the morning is always nice. It sort of starts the day off right, you know?” At Samuel’s raised eyebrow, she continued. “And last thing at night is always nice. Relaxes you into a nice sleep with interesting dreams. Nothing wrong with having some nookie to complete a girl’s day.”