Worth the Risk (9 page)

“I wasn’t with anybody during law school.”

This completely derailed him. “Tall, black hair, big build, wearing an old Cubs sweatshirt and had his arm around you in a very intimate way.”

Sam pushed him in the arm. “You big idiot! That was my
cousin
. He was a year ahead of me and probably consoling me over a class. Or you. Those first few months are sort of a blur.”

Dean rubbed a hand across his jaw. “Me?” Regret flooded him. He’d been too cocky to approach her that night. He’d wanted her to continue thinking she didn’t matter to him, when the complete opposite was true. What an idiot he was.

She stared at him like he’d just asked if bears had fur.

“You didn’t exactly tell me how you felt either, you know.” Dean wondered deep down if she’d loved him. But wasn’t that part of the reason he’d fled? He’d never been a coward until that day at the airport. Afraid of the depth to which they’d connected and how that might affect his future.

Rather than argue with him, she said, “I guess we both could have done things differently.”

“Yeah.”

Silence splintered the confessions between them. There was nothing else to say, really. They couldn’t change the past. Dean slipped his seatbelt back on and turned the key in the ignition.

Samantha leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. “Thank you,” she whispered. “Today was great.”

He appreciated the way she focused on the present and let their misunderstanding from five years ago fall away. “You’re welcome.”

She leaned back in her seat and put her feet up on the dashboard. “Once again, Mr. Malloy, you’ve succeeded in expanding my horizons. We’d conquered the earth, and now the skies. What do you have in store for me next?”

Her words and posture were casual, but if he didn’t say what was on his mind, he knew he’d regret it. “If it’s okay with you, I’d like to see the inside of your hotel room.”

Was she really about to do this? Despite his apology and their misunderstanding from five years ago, Sam still wasn’t sure she could trust that Dean had no ulterior motives to this seduction.

He steadied her with his other hand, gently cradling her lower back. The feel of his arm around her added to the surrender taking over her body. She let her head fall back, her neck becoming a pliable muscle she couldn’t hold upright. With his eyes glued to hers, he came forward and nibbled on her bottom lip.

Ding
. The chime of the elevator door stopped any further interaction. Dean pushed away from the wall and led her down the hallway—her walking rather clumsily behind his steadfast strides.

Samantha weighed her options on the short walk to her room. From a purely physical standpoint, she wanted to make love to Dean all night long. But from an emotional standpoint, she wasn’t sure she could handle the ramifications.

Would she ever be rid of her attachment to him if she succumbed to what he offered? She didn’t think so, but she felt like she couldn’t stop herself. The pull to be with him was too great. She wanted Dean no matter his intentions and even if it meant trying to forget him all over again.

“You know we really shouldn’t be doing this,” she voiced, hoping that if she said the words out loud, some sense would come back to her.

“We shouldn’t?” He paused, his relaxed shoulders stiffening.

“I want to…”

“But?”

But what? Should she put her feelings on the line? Confide her desire to have him for much longer than one night? Tell him how she’d never gotten over him? How she loathed and loved him?

God. She still loved him.

She hoped she meant more to him than just a quick hook-up, but he seemed unbothered by the short time they’d have together—and unaffected by the fact that they were after the same lucrative job opportunity. He’d simply asked her to spend a little more time with him.

And that’s what she planned to do. If she didn’t, she’d regret it. “But nothing. Forget I said anything.”

Arriving at her door, Dean reached out his hand to stop her from sliding in the key card. “It’s not nothing. If there’s something on your mind, please tell me. I care more about you than you could possibly know.”

What did that mean? Had he missed her as much as she’d missed him? Had he been heartbroken when he misinterpreted what he saw between her and her cousin? Emotions she had no business second-guessing assaulted her, and for one long beat she wanted to ask him exactly what he meant.

Fear held her back. “It’s okay.” She smiled, hoping it reached her eyes without revealing her true feelings.

“This has been one hell of a day,” he whispered, “and I want to make your night just as memorable.”

She had no worries he’d do just that. When she thought back, tried to remember happy times, it wasn’t to childhood occasions like birthdays or other family celebrations. It was to her summer with him.

She pressed her lips to his, deciding to stop thinking so hard, then turned to open the door.

They tumbled inside, anxious to put an end to the foreplay that had taken place all day. Dean moved swiftly, his hands circling her waist as the front of his body embraced her backside, connecting them like dancers in perfect sync. His lips tickled the nape of her neck, distracting her from finding the light switch. They shuffled to the bed, where he let go, allowing Samantha to fall to the mattress.

Turning over, she looked up at him and found his hungry eyes darker than she’d ever seen them. This wasn’t their first time, but it was new. When they’d first met, he was young, cocky, charming. Now he was more virile, more potent. And she couldn’t wait to feel his body deep inside hers.

The setting sun allowed a hint of light to stream in through the uncovered window. The glow cast a halo around Dean’s head and she wondered if Cupid had hid somewhere in the room—because she’d just been struck with a sharp point in her backside.

“Ouch!”

Oh, hell. It wasn’t Cupid’s arrow, but the damn umbrella she’d bought yesterday morning, and which now was lying on the hotel bed. She reached behind her and pulled it out.

“You okay?”

“Just removing the umbrella that decided to introduce itself to my ass.”

Dean laughed. “It’s never a dull moment with you.”

“Yeah, I’m a regular one-woman show.” She flung the umbrella to the side and flashed a look of embarrassment before bringing her head down.

He lifted her face and peered at her with lighter, more thoughtful eyes. “You’re the most extraordinary woman I’ve ever met.”

His thumb grazed her bottom lip, sending a rush of warmth from her cheeks, to her chest, to the spot between her legs. His stare ripped away any misgivings she had about herself and the situation. Desire, unconditional, passed between them.

“Scoot back a little.”

Samantha did as told, sudden impatience building up. If they didn’t get naked soon, she’d go crazy. An urgency to feel his heated flesh against hers stirred the sweetest sensation she’d ever felt.

Lifting her leg up, he slid off her shoe and let it drop to the floor. He handled her ankle with delicate pressure, branding it with a light kiss before lowering it. He gave the same attention to the other leg, the shoe dropping with a
thud
. Then, leaning over her, he undid her pants and pulled them down while dropping kisses along her thighs, her knees, her calves. When he reached her feet, he let the clothing fall, looking uninterested in anything but her body.

Damn.
He’d decided to devour her slowly, just like he had all those times in their tent, when he’d seduced her so carefully she thought she’d burst.

“While I love the attention you’re giving me, I’m not sure I can handle a slow seduction,” she said.

“Feeling on edge?”

“Just a little.” A moan escaped her lips as he danced his fingertips along the top of her foot while lifting her leg back in the air. He moved slowly down, caressing his way to the back of her knee.

“You’ve got the sexiest pair of legs.”

Samantha arched her back. They weren’t even near an X-rated body part, but he still had her raw with anticipation, wondering where he’d touch next.

“Take off your shirt.” She needed to see some skin. Now.

“I will if you will.”

Obliging, she maneuvered out of her tank top while Dean quickly pulled off his tee. Since her tank top had built-in support, she wasn’t wearing a bra and sucked in a breath as she exposed herself to him.

Resting back down, she witnessed his eyes narrow in on hers before they did a slow rake over her body.

“God, you’re perfect.” His words warmed her, but his bare chest set her on fire.

Hello, Gladiator.

His broad shoulders and smooth chest were more defined than the last time she’d had the privilege of viewing them. The planes of his pecs were deeper, his stomach muscles more pronounced. She’d suspected he was buffer than before, given the way his shirt clung to his body, but seeing it for real far outweighed her imagination. She smiled up at him.

He pushed her back down with a nudge on the shoulder and lifted her leg again. “I’m not going to stop this time.”

He resumed with kisses at the inside of her ankle, slowly, meticulously working his way up her limb. The feel of his lips and hands on her sent blissful pulses straight to her sex. The closer he got, the more she quivered.

She took her fingers and traced the outer curves of her breasts, then shifted her shoulders and drew her pointer fingers down her cleavage before returning to the outside slopes. Dean let out a moan at her display and reached for the button and zipper of his pants.

Dropping a kiss on her foot before lowering it to the bed, he removed the last stitch of his clothing, revealing an erection that brought to mind too many naughty positions to name. “Now, I said I wasn’t going to stop.”

“Okay,” she said breathlessly.

His lips hit the inside of her thigh and massaged their way to her heated center. When he brushed his mouth across the satin of her panties, she reached out to cradle the back of his head, twirling her fingers in the soft waves of his hair.

He continued on up, his mouth giving affection to her stomach, hip bones, and rib cage before finally settling on her breasts. His tongue slinked its way out to circle her left nipple before grabbing it with both lips and firmly sucking and toying with it. While he tasted the one, his hand covered the other, his thumb rolling over the engorged nub. Then he switched, repeating the given pleasure.

Everything he did felt so right, she didn’t want him to stop. Ever. Images of them making love five years ago flashed in her mind and her anticipation of having him inside her grew impossible to handle. He navigated her body like he knew exactly where to go, but this time he used a more mature, ripened hand.

Dean lifted his head and for a few moments they were lost in each other’s intense gazes. He lifted his body up higher so that he was nestled in the satin between her legs. When Samantha reached down to stroke his thick, hard shaft, a moan escaped his lips and he dove in for a little mouth-to-mouth.

While their tongues intertwined, she gently groped him, sliding her hand up and down his length, rolling her thumb over its head until a drop of moisture slipped out. When he deepened the kiss and adjusted his pelvis against her, she lost her concentration. Her hand fell to the mattress.

With their bodies aligned, she finally felt the smooth, hard planes of his chest on hers and nearly lost her breath. She broke the kiss to catch some air and he grinned at her, always able to have fun in the throes of passion. She couldn’t help but smile back, sheer happiness rivaling the ecstasy her body experienced.

She still loved this man.