The Weakness in Me (27 page)

“Yes,” she croaked as the fire he described worked its
way through her body at his words, igniting again below her belly. “Do you still want to do dinner and a movie at your place?” she asked.

“I want to stay right here, with you,” he responded.

“Good answer,” she said, the slow grin on her face returning. “Maybe in a few hours, we can think about ordering pizza?”

“A few hours?” he asked.
From the way she felt him stir against her, she could tell his interest had been piqued.

“Well, I did hurt my hip, and I thought a nice, long, hot bath with you might help make it feel better?” she suggested, her eyebrow quirked.

“Sounds fucking brilliant, Sammy,” the grin he returned was breathtaking, his cerulean eyes sparkling against the fading sun streaming through her bedroom windows.

“Well, then, let’s get to it,” she moved to leave her bed, but found herself pinned beneath Jason again.

“Why don’t we make sure it’s really sore before we head to that bath?”

“You’re right, it’s actually feeling slightly better, I’d hate to soothe it prematurely,” she said, moving her legs to cradle him between them again.

“I’ll go slower this time, make sure not to skip over any new territories,” he promised.

“We’ll see how long
that
lasts,” her teases turned into a low moan as he slid inside her again, inch by inch, and proceeded to slowly drive her out of her mind for a third and fourth time before carrying her to a lavender scented bath.

“HOLY SHIT JASON! RIGHT THERE!!!” Samantha called out, pushing her hips back to meet his behind her. “FUCK!” she screamed, feeling the rush of her impending orgasm stampeding through her. In the distance, she began to hear Jason’s cell phone ringing, again, for the second time in a row, breaking her concentration on the task at hand. “What the hell?!” she growled, looking over her shoulder at him.

“Just ignore it, baby,” he said, continuing to pump into her as the phone quieted again.

“Okay,” she answered, trying to find her rhythm again, but when the ringing started up a second time, she knew she wouldn’t be able to find it and would only end up even more frustrated by the effort. “Just fucking answer it,already” she growled, pulling away from him and stalking toward the bathroom. “It must be important to call three fucking times at midnight,” she finished slamming the door behind her.

“WHAT?!” she heard Jason yell into the phone.
“OH!” with the one word, his entire demeanor changed. “I’ll be right there, sit tight, don’t let him in! If he tries to get in, call the police, Missy,” he told the caller and she heard him rushing through their bedroom, dressing.

Samantha felt stricken that after what just happened between them
, he was about to rush out their door to rescue Missy again. Perched on the edge of their bathtub, she tried to keep her conflicting emotions in check. Anger, hurt, disgust, and the last gasps of her earlier arousal circled through her, as she worked to calm down before trying to return to their bedroom.

“SAMMY!”
Jason yelled, knocking on the door. “Some guy tried to attack Missy! I’m going to go pick her up. I’m sorry!” he told her through the door. “I’ll be back and we’ll finish what she interrupted, I promise, but she’s locked in his bathroom.”

“Yeah, that’s fine,” Samantha’s ire at Missy’s ability to find endless amounts of trouble that only Jason
could rescue her from bubbled inside.

“You know I wouldn’t go if it weren’t serious,” he sighed as she heard his head thump against the door.
“I’ll make it up to you, I promise.”

“I said it was fine, Jason,” she repeated, keeping her voice steady this time.

“I love you,” his voice came through the door as a plea rather than a declaration of love.

“I love you, too,” she whispered as she heard the front door of their apartment slam behind the only boy she’d ever
loved.

**

Jason rolled over the next morning, expecting everything that happened with Sammy last night to have been a dream. When his hard body found her softness still tucked in beside him, he nearly punched the air in victory. He
hadn’t
dreamed last night, she really was with him. They were together. Feeling her start to stir, he pulled her flush with his body, her back to his chest.

“Mmmm,” she moaned, pressing herself harder
to his nakedness. “I missed feeling a dick saying hello against my ass in the morning,” she laughed, wiggling her ass in greeting.

“How are you feeling this morning?” he asked, caressing her
outer thigh with his fingertips, hoping she didn’t have lingering doubts or regrets about their night together. He didn’t know what he’d do if she wanted to forget what had happened.

“I feel amazing, Jason,” she answered, turning in his arms to face him and throwing her leg over his hip.
Relief flooded through him at her words and the feel of her silky skin sliding across his hip. “But I think we could find a way for us both to feel even
more
amazing, don’t you think?” her words sounded husky from sleep and her suggestion.

“I’ve missed waking up like this with you.
I’ve thought of it every day we were apart,” he confessed, and he felt her stiffen against him. He was happy to note that even though the words seemed to make her uncomfortable, she made no move to retreat.

“Oh,” she said, seemingly startled by his confession.
“I can’t imagine why? I mean…” she trailed off and he knew that she was thinking about Missy.

“You said you trusted me,” he reminded.

“I do, but…”

“Come on, Sammy.
Aren’t I allowed to tell you how much I missed you and thought about you?” Jason whispered as he stared into her eyes, trying to show her how much pain being without her had caused him, and, in contrast, how happy being with her made him. “Didn’t you think about me at
all
those six years we were apart?”

“
Okay, I mean, well, yeah, for the first couple of years, of course I thought about you, but normally in it was in anger,” she admitted, giving him a look of unease, but he needed to know more. Jason just hoped she wouldn’t bolt and put an end to the conversation.

“That’s all?
Not even to miss our friendship?” he prodded.

“Why is that important?”
she asked, slightly defensive.

“Because,” he took a deep breath and met her questioning gaze
, brushing her hair from her eyes again and watching the chocolate brown bangs flutter against his fingertips. “No one wants to be Mr. Irrelevant, Sammy.” Letting her see the longing in his eyes briefly, before adding, “Except maybe in the NFL draft. I mean, after all,
that
guy gets a trip to Hawaii or something,” he chuckled, nervously, hoping to lighten the mood again.

Sammy laughed a few minutes before clearing her throat, a serious look settled onto her face.
“I thought of calling you more than a few times,” she started, “but after I met Caleb, it was in a strictly friends capacity, Jason. So rest assured… you’ve never been irrelevant. I was just a girl without her best friend. And I’ve missed my best friend every day.”

He
released the breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding at her words. “Oh, thank God!” he exclaimed before pulling her on top of him and impaling her, letting himself get lost in her body again. He was more than grateful that she seemed to be lost in his, as well.

**

“What’s the plan for today?” Samantha asked, lying back against her pillow trying to catch her breath again.

“I thought that was obvious,” he grinned, indicating their bodies.

“Yes, but it’s after ten on a Monday and I need to call my mom about Corigan and spend some time in the office,” she chuckled but wishing that she really did have all day to spend in bed with Jason. “Plus, I’m starving! We never got around to ordering that pizza last night,” she reminded.

“Yes, but oddly, I still feel like I got fed,” he told her, his eyes smoldering.

“I’m sure you do,” she averted her eyes from his, blushing at his words. How did he have the ability to say something so suggestive and make it sound hot and not cheesy?

“Fine,” he accepted as the rumble of her stomach brought them both back to their conversation.
“We’ll have lunch, you’ll go into the office for the afternoon, I’ll go home and change, then pick up Corigan from your mom, and we’ll all meet back here for dinner?” he suggested.

She smiled at the thought of coming home to him and her daughter.
She didn’t know when it was that she started looking forward to coming home to them at the end of the day, and how much she missed it when he was working and wasn’t there. “Perfect,” she said. “Why don’t you bring a change of clothes for yourself for tomorrow, too?” she whispered, feeling slightly embarrassed by her presumption that he’d want to sleep over again.

“What about some pajamas?” he asked, lifting an eyebrow slyly.

“Um,” she started, clearing her throat. “I’m not so sure those are going to be necessary,” she finished, her eyes settling on Jason’s abs. Reaching out, she absently traced the ripples of each one, her finger coming to rest at the start of the light path of hair leading from his belly button.

“You’re insatiable,” he laughed, pulling her to him.
“But, I believe your stomach would protest another go this morning, don’t you think?”

“Stupid need for nourishment,” she pulled her face into a disappointed frown.

“I know,” he pulled the lip she’d stuck out in her pout with his fingers before replacing them with his mouth. As the soft kiss started to turn ravenous again, he lifted his head. “You have to stop doing that for now, you need food!” he smirked. “How about we head to that diner you love for some biscuits and gravy? I know it’s nearly lunch, but breakfast
is
the most important meal of the day.”

“Oh hell yeah!” she agreed, pushing him away from her and
swinging her legs from the bed, in an effort to ready herself for their lunch plans.

“Oh, I see where I rate now!” he teased.
“Above pizza, but below the promise of biscuits and gravy.”

“When
you taste them, you’ll understand how I can push you aside for them. They are the most amazing thing I’ve ever had in my mouth,” she said, somehow holding a straight face at her words. She shot him a smirk as she pulled a clean pair of jeans from her dresser and stepped into them.

“Thanks, that makes me feel really special,” he mocked, grabbing his long discarded clothing from the floor.
“And did you just put those pants on without underwear?”

“Um, yeah?
They seem like they would be a waste of time today, not to mention, they’d just get in the way,” she blinked at him, giving him her most innocent look before sliding into a cream button down blouse.

“Great,” he groaned.
“Now I have to spend the whole day knowing that there is nothing between us but a thin layer of denim.”

“Behave,” she winked at him before disappearing behind her bathroom door to finish her morning hygiene.
Although she enjoyed getting him all worked up, she knew that she was going to have a difficult time getting through the day, too. With the promise of what their night would have in store for them again, she wanted nothing more than to tear off the clothes she’d just dressed in and start right now. The answering protest from her stomach when her thoughts derailed again reminded her that she needed food so she’d have the energy to keep up with her body’s current demands.

“Ready?” he asked when she reemerged from the bathroom.

“Absolutely!” she followed him to the door and handed him the keys to her car. “I was thinking of calling it early today, maybe only go in to run the weekly staff meeting,” she told him, her eyes drinking in the power of his body as it moved to open the passenger door for her.

“That sounds like a great idea,” he approved, closing the door behind her and slipping in behind the wheel.
“That’ll give me just enough time to pick up Corigan before I come back to your office for you.”

“Perfect,” she settled.
“Now, let’s go get my traitorous stomach some biscuits and gravy.” Laying her head against the rest behind her, she reveled in the feel of his fingers entwined with her as he drove, the jolts of electricity from their reconnection skittering through her body.

**

As Missy watched Jason and Samantha drive away from the house, her heart sank. When he hadn’t come home last night, she knew why, but she’d hoped that it wasn’t true. They were back together in every sense of the phrase. Jamie would not be happy with this turn of events, and she didn’t know how to break the news to the woman. It would be nearly impossible to get between them now.

“Mrs. Wright?” Missy said when she heard the click on the other end of the line.