Until You (2 page)

Singing the final part of the chorus, she danced around with her eyes closed.

She jumped when she heard someone clear their throat behind her. Startled, she spun around to see a man, a man that was hot as hell, sitting on the porch next door to her vacation condo.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," he quickly apologized, smiling. His smile was wide and bright. His eyes were as blue as the ocean.

He did startle her a little, but she wasn't about to admit that. Trina couldn't help but check him out. Typical surfer boy. Wavy, dirty-blond hair, tanned, and muscular. Her eyes wandered to his loosely hanging tank top. His biceps rippled as he nervo
usly rubbed his hands together.

Surfer boys were not her type, but damn he was smoking hot. His tanned, tight body made her mouth water and her long forgotten about naughty parts tingle. She forced her eyes back to his face and scolded herself for drooling. She was gawking like a teenager and this shit needed to stop. She really had to get herself a boyfriend.

"Scare me? Hell no." Shaking her head she waved off his concern. "You didn't scare me," she said with a little attitude. Her face filled with heat. Fighting her emotions she huffed, trying to hide any proof of him scaring her. "Pretty dog." She commented on the Siberian Husky sitting at his feet. The husky was beautiful, white and black with bright blue eyes. Trina leaned against the step that led to his porch.

"Thanks, this is Belle." Belle's head perked up at the sound of her name.

"Belle?" Kind of an unusual name for a dog, she thought.

"Yeah, Belle. You know, like the Disney Princess?" He tried to explain, but she
was still lost. "Beauty and the Beast?" That hint seemed to do it.

"Oh, right," she said, finally making the connection, laughing at a hunky surfer boy referencing Beauty and the Beast. "Belle. I get it. Um," she said, pausing, not sure if she would offend him by asking this, but what the hell, "You named your dog after a Disney Princess?"

Sam let out a hearty laugh. He smiled widely. "No. I mean, well, yeah she is named after a Disney Princess, but I didn't name her. My niece, Morgan did." His face lit up when he said his niece's name. "Morgan was so excited when I brought Belle home, and she was at that age where she was into princesses. I couldn't tell her
no
when she asked if we could name her Belle. So, Belle it is." He seemed to have a sense of pride about him when he talked about his niece.

"Oh, well that's cute. She has you wrapped around her little finger, doesn't she?" Trina said, laughing.

Hiding behind his smile he shrugged. "Yeah, I guess. Morgan is my pride and joy, she has been since the day she was born." Changing the subject, he asked, "And who's your friend?" He pointed to her dog, lying obediently at her feet.

"This is Toby." Realizing she hadn't introduced herself yet, she extended her hand to him. "And I'm Trina."

He stood up from his chair and took her hand; it looked so tiny in his. He studied the tattoos on her right arm; her whole upper arm was tattooed. He looked as if he was trying to decipher the flower pattern without staring. "Nice to meet you, Trina, and you too, Toby," he said, looking down at the golden dog. "I'm Sam." He held onto her hand longer than he should have. He slowly pulled away. His palms were sweaty, Sam started to nervously tug at his knuckles.

"Apparently you like T
names?" Sam held her hazel eyes hostage, as he continued to keep the conversation going.

Trina snickered. "Yeah, my brother, sister and I all have T names, so it only seemed right for my dog to have one too." She looked down at the ground for a moment. He was staring at her and she didn't know what else to do. His hands were large and strong. When they shook hands, hers disappeared inside of his.

She tilted her face to look up at him. Eager to keep her composure, she only smiled briefly. "Well, I don't want to keep you from your run," she said as she started to walk away. "It was nice to meet you, Sam. I'm sure we will see you around." Duh, he is staying right next door, of course she would see him around. She shook her head a little at her stupid ass comment. She patted her thigh for Toby to follow her and headed up onto her porch.

Sam just watched her. "Trina, you have a beautiful voice." He called to her, then flashed her a big grin. "It was very nice to meet you, and I hope that we do run into you again."

She could feel his eyes on her as she and Toby walked into her condo. Closing the door behind her, she ran to the window. Sam hopped off his porch and jogged down the boardwalk, but not before he took a look back at her condo.

She didn't know why she was acting like a schoolgirl with a crush. She was dizzy with excitement as she watched him disappear down the beach. She didn't typically go for surfer boy
s, but he made her mouth water.

Damn, those muscles!
Mmm
. Her body tingled as she thought about his muscles, she would love to feel those arms wrapped around her. In a daze, she sunk onto the couch and curled her legs up underneath her. She couldn't remember the last time a guy made her feel like this.

Sam hummed the song Trina has been singing as he jogged along the boardwalk. That girl was stuck in his head. Her hazel eyes and the way her hair fell down around her shoulders, flooded his thoughts. Her tattoos were hot. He liked a girl with ink, and her body was a beautiful canvas. The colorful flower designs swirled around in his mind, as his body ached to get close to her.

She had looked so relaxed and innocent before she knew she had an audience. Even her name, Trina, was unique; everything about her was unique. Simply thinking about her made his palms sweaty and his dick hard.

It had been a long time since had been in a relationship. Hockey kept him busy, and Morgan kept him even busier when he wasn't on the ice. He loved that little girl, and he was honored to help his sister, Amy raise her. He gave up his wild life for Morgan. He hated being teased in the locker room since the guys knew he wasn't going out with them after the games to pick up chicks. He always headed directly home to Morgan and Amy.

Sam had not always been like that. He had plenty of puck bunnies to choose from on a daily basis. They used to stand outside of the arena and wait for him with their Morris shirts on, dressed in tiny skirts and high heels. Odd outfits for the game, but they always wo
rked at catching his attention.

These days the puck bunnies were wasting their time; he had no intentions of spending a night with one of them. He was afraid to get too close to them after the incident at his beach house.

He shook his head remembering that day. He had walked out the door with Morgan when she was smaller. They were going to spend the day at the beach and then do some shopping. That was when he saw a girl sitting there in the sand waiting for them. He waved at her and smiled politely. She was cute - curly blonde hair, and bright red lips.

He had offered to autograph something for he
r. They flirted a little. He noticed her bikini top exposed her large breasts. Boobs always made him go googly-eyed. If Morgan had not been there, he probably would have invited her inside at that point. None of this behavior was abnormal for the San Jose players. Living on the beach, the fans had easy access to the players' homes.

What happened next is what changed his mind about letting fans near his family.

Sam knew she had followed them down the street to the shops. That was his plan. He was going to invite her back to his place after he dropped Morgan off at home. Once at the gift shop, he had set Morgan down for just a minute while he paid for the sunglasses she wanted.

When he turned around, Morgan was gone. Panic ran through him as he frantically looked around for her. It felt like forever before he finally spotted Morgan outside. She was standing across the sidewalk at the ice cream cart with that girl he had been flirting with.

He rushed over to his niece and quickly scooped her up in his arms. Sam yelled at the young woman until she was in tears. He felt bad afterwards, but she had taken Morgan from his side and out of his sight to go get ice cream. What kind of person does something like that?

He never did find out if she was just trying to get his attention or if she was trying to kidnap Morgan, but it didn't matter to him. Either way he was done letting anyone close to his family. He was supposed to be helping raise Morgan. He was supposed to protect her. He needed to be a role model. Not some irresponsible gigolo. He never would've been able to forgive himself if anything had happened to Morgan.

After that incident, he had decided that Morgan was his first priority. She needed a father figure, not some slug who put pretty girls and his libido before her.

Fast forward to three years later, and he was still on his own. Morgan and Amy were his life. Usually, being alone didn't bother him.

However, Trina currently had his full attention, and she made him nervous. Nervous in a good way, like a seventh grade crush kind of way. He needed to know more about her. He had changed; he wasn't the old Sam anymore. He was more mature, and finally knew how to treat a woman. Trina didn't seem to recognize who he was, and he kind of liked that. It was a nice change from the puck bunnies.

He paused to catch his breath, but Belle didn't look tired at all. She stopped alongside him, looking at him with her head tilted to the side, as if she was wondering why he had stopped running. "Crazy mutt," he said, laughing through heavy breaths. His hands resting on his thighs, he bent over to take a breather. His hair flopped in his eyes as sweat dripped down his forehead.

That girl had him going in circles. She had beautiful eyes, and that tattoo on her arm was sexy as hell. He still wasn't sure what it was exactly; but it was colorful and he liked it. She had sass and he liked that too. His heart was racing as he wondered if it was her that intrigued him so much, or if it was the fact that it had been so long since he had gotten laid. Sure, he needed to get laid,
badly
. But it wasn't just her body he was after, however awesome she looked in that bikini top.

Belle took off down the boardwalk. Sam took that as a hint that he had rested enough. He jogged at an easy speed until he caught up with her. "Belle baby, aren't you tired yet?" She did love to run. Sam thought maybe he should run more; there wasn't much training he could do at the beach, so running at least kept him in shape. But he was tired and his head was clouded with sex
y thoughts of his new neighbor.

"Belle, you want a treat?" he said, cooing to the fluffy dog, coaxing her towards the shops that lined the boardwalk. "How bout a hot dog?" Belle follow
ed him to the counter.

"Hi," he greeted the cashier. "One hot dog please."

"Ketchup or mustard?" the woman asked.

"No thanks, just plain."

Sam paid the woman and turned away from the counter. Belle smelled the hot dog and was prancing around at his feet, hoping it was for her. Sam walked over to the side wall of the shops that faced the ocean. He broke the hot dog in half, tossing each to Belle. While she enjoyed her snack, he slid down the wall until he rested on his calves. Staring out at the waves, his mind drifted to Trina. He didn't even know her last name, and yet he still could not stop thinking about her.

Sighing, he ran his hand through his hair, he didn't understand his attraction to her. But she made his heart race and he was sure that he wasn't going to be able to sleep tonight.

****

Trina sat on the couch in her condo staring into space. The television was on, but she wasn't paying any attention to it. It was Sam. He was in her head. That blond surfer boy had her giddy as a schoolgirl. She hadn't felt this way in forever. Not since Marc. Mourning him was the easy part. The hard part was moving on. Sure, she had trust issues at first, and every couple she waited on at the restaurant brought tears to her eyes, and a rush of emotion. But she got through it, and was stronger for it.

Toby was still sound asleep in the living room. Trina stepped over him on her way to the kitchen and he didn't even flinch. Chasing birds had really worn him out.

She hadn't been here long and really didn't have much in the way of food. Tomorrow she would have to go to the store. She had no intentions of going out now, she wasn't ready to run into Sam. She needed some time to think. Trina grabbed a box of cereal and a bowl, that would have to do for now.

While she ate, she thought about Sam. Maybe she should just have some fun and see where it all leads? Not necessarily a one night stand, but damn that sounded awesome right about now. Her naughty parts agreed wholeheartedly. She was afraid if she didn't use her girly parts soon they would shrivel up. They have been out of action since losing Marc.

No one knew the secret pain that she went through. She felt like she deserved some fun. The thought of being impulsive with this guy intrigued her. This was the new and improved Trina. Being carefree again was the purpose of this little adventure to the
beach.

Surfer boy had her stomach all in knots and her pulse racing. She rinsed her bowl out and headed to the bedroom. She might as well settle in, even though her mind was on overdrive and she knew she wasn't going to get much sleep.