Just Like That (27 page)
Sam looked at the grinning little girls in the picture and thought of the women he knew. Carmen was an ER nurse. She was caring and dedicated even while she was being tough and no-nonsense. “What do you mean?”
“Carmen is a take-charge person. She took over all the things she could
do
. She was even in charge of taking mom to her doctor’s appointments, which is how she got interested in nursing. But she can’t sit still.
She was the one who made every outing or family gathering or event into a production. She’d call ahead 156
Just Like That
and make sure everything was set up just right, or she’d call the family and give them instructions about how things would go when they came over for holidays. Things like that. Drove us all nuts.
“Abi, on the other hand, needed two weeks’ notice to be a part of anything. She worked two jobs, volunteered, and was in every extracurricular activity she could possibly find so that she could avoid everything at home. She loved our mom, of course, but she was very uncomfortable with the wheelchair and the doctors and the medications. That’s why, I think, she went into sales…nothing to do with caregiving. Not her thing.”
Sam chuckled and shook his head. “I can relate to a lot of that.”
“You can?”
She looked genuinely interested and he figured that if he was going to find out everything he could about her, he’d probably better share a few things himself. “Jessica is exactly like Carmen. She takes charge of things and orders people around. After my dad died she took over. Everything…” He trailed off, swallowing hard.
“I’m sorry about your dad, Sam.”
He looked at her, deciding if he should go on. He wanted to. Which never happened. Then he decided that if anyone would understand the pain it would be this woman. “He was shot.”
“Oh!” Her eyes were wide. “That’s horrible.”
“It was,” Sam agreed. “Jessica was living in a rough neighborhood. He went over there every day to check on her. One day he got there in time to interrupt a burglary. They shot him and left him lying on her doorstep. He was still alive when Jess got home, but he never regained consciousness.” Danika was staring at him with her hand over her mouth. “How old were you?” she whispered.
“Fifteen.”
“Oh, Sam.”
“Yeah, it sucked.”
“What about your mom?”
“She left when I was five.”
“Left?”
“Walked out. Never came back. I remember her, but not well.”
“She
left
?” Danika sounded outraged and was now sitting tall. “How? Why?” Sam felt he corner of his mouth kick up at her obvious indignation. “She wasn’t cut out to be a mom.”
“But she
was
a mom. That’s not something you just undo.” He shrugged. He knew that his mother’s abandonment had helped form him as a person, but it bothered him more to talk about his dad than his mom. “You have to understand my dad, I think. He was intense. He had beliefs and he stood by them, put his whole self into them.”
“Like the youth center?”
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“Right.”
“I would think she would have been impressed by that,” Danika said.
“It wasn’t that easy. Dad was a lawyer and made good money in spite of taking lots of pro bono cases.
But he insisted on keeping only what we needed. We had nothing in excess. No TV, no video games, only one car, no vacations, things like that. He knew that there were a lot of people out there who were struggling and he didn’t feel right living extravagantly.”
“You didn’t even have a TV?” Danika asked. “Seriously?” Sam chuckled. “Seriously. I watched TV at friends’ houses, of course, but I didn’t have one until Jessica got custody of me and Sara.”
“That is true commitment to a cause,” she said, with a frown.
“He gave all his extra money away,” Sam said feeling the familiar mix of pride and frustration when he thought of his father’s lifestyle choices.
“And your mom wanted more?” Danika guessed.
Sam shrugged. “It was more complicated than that. She was a project of his as well.”
“A project?”
“She was a runaway when he met her. She was eight years younger than him and he took her under his wing, tried to help her straighten out her life. She saw him as her savior for a long time, but he did everything he could to mold her into the lifestyle he’d always envisioned—kids, stay-home wife, who would work alongside him on his charities. She was unsatisfied. So he talked her into having Jessica. That was okay for a while, but she got restless again. So I came along. Then Sara. It just got to be too much, and none of it was what she chose.”
“Your dad told you all of this?” Danika was frowning again.
“No. Our aunt. Dad’s sister. But not until after he’d died. Anyway.” Sam shifted. “I guess I can relate to having a less-than-perfect childhood.”
Danika met his eyes. “I guess so.”
“I’ve never told anyone any of that.” Sam wasn’t sure why he said that out loud. But it was true. Ben was the only one of his friends who knew the story and that was because Jessica shared it with him. Sam had certainly never told a woman. Of course, he rarely spent time with women that lent itself to talking, not to mention talking about their childhoods.
“I’m glad you told me,” Danika said simply.
She didn’t say it especially sympathetically, or like she was reading anything into it. She just seemed to sincerely mean that she was glad to know his story.
She turned her attention back to the box in front of her. “Oh my gosh!” She pulled out an aged VCR
tape. “This was my mom’s favorite movie. We watched it all the time together.” He glanced at the cover.
Groundhog Day
, with Bill Murray.
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Just Like That
He chuckled. “I haven’t seen that in years.”
She nodded staring down at the tape. “We’d watch it and then talk about days that we’d had that we’d like to live over and over.”
“Let’s watch it,” Sam said, setting the picture of Danika and her sisters on the coffee table.
She looked up excitedly. “You’d watch with me?”
“Yes. And then I’d love to hear about some of the days that you’d like to live over and over.” He stretched to his feet, prepared to move to the sofa.
“This one.”
Her words stopped him and he turned slowly. He looked at her for a long time as the word
yes
raced through his head like the running digital numbers at the stock market.
“I’m pretty fond of this one too.”
He wanted to make love to her again. Just like that, he wanted her. Not that he thought the desire had gone away, but all at once it was different, stronger somehow, and almost
more.
Like it had become a necessity versus just a longing.
She seemed to read something in his face, because she rose and laid the tape on the coffee table next to the photo.
“Maybe we’ll watch it later.”
She pulled her shirt off and reached for his.
“I’ll do mine. Keep going,” he said, pointing at her jeans as he stripped his shirt off and unzipped his pants.
Within seconds they were naked. She sat on the couch, then lay back while he shoved the coffee table out of the way and knelt beside her, bracing one hand beside her hip.
Sam stroked his hand from her ankle to her knee and down again. “Definitely this one.” He looked at her, proudly displayed before him, confident in her body and his response to her, confident that he wanted her.
All at once, she sat up, leaned over, took his erection in her hand and stroked up and down. Sam thought he was going to die, letting go with a deep, long groan.
His hand went to hers and stopped the motion before his head blew off.
“Am I doing something wrong?” she asked, blinking up innocently.
He didn’t buy that for a second. “Um, no.” He cleared his throat. “I just wasn’t expecting it to…feel…like that.”
“No one’s ever done this before?”
“It’s never been this good.” He didn’t even have to try to make it sound heartfelt.
“Really?”
His hold on her hand didn’t lessen, so instead of stroking, she squeezed gently.
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A long breath hissed out between his teeth. “Yeah.”
“That’s interesting,” she said with another squeeze. “How could it be that different?” Sam’s hand dropped limply away from hers and his head dropped forward.
She stroked base to tip and back. “I mean, it’s just a hand. How could it—”
“Danika,” he interrupted.
“Hmm?” she looked up.
“I can think of something better for your mouth to be doing than arguing with me about this being the best hand job I’ve ever had.”
She grinned, obviously feeling a little surge of feminine power. If she only knew the things he was willing to give her if she kept going.
“You want me to sing?” she asked.
He looked down at her, smiling up impishly at him even as she kept her hand firmly around him.
“
No
, I don’t want you to sing.”
“Knock-knock jokes?”
“No.”
“Whistling?”
Before he could answer she shifted forward and took the tip of him in her mouth.
“
Dani.
”
His hand cupped the back of her head, urging her forward. Not that she needed urging.
She sucked slightly, then took him more fully into her mouth. She lifted her head, swirled her tongue around the tip, and then sucked again.
Nope. He wasn’t going to make it. “Okay.” He pulled her up and swung her leg over his thighs as he turned so she sat straddling him. His mouth was on her breasts, her nipples, her neck, her shoulders, and back to her breasts. “Dani, Dani,” he chanted softly, over and over.
She reached for his jeans that were on the floor in front of the couch and found the condoms in his pocket. There were four left.
She quickly opened one and rolled it into place, then lifted her hips and sank back down, taking him deep.
They both groaned.
He paused, absorbing the feel of her. The position allowed a deeper penetration and it seemed that Danika was content to stay right there. But that wasn’t going to happen. His hands went to her hips and started moving her on him. Not that she seemed inclined to quarrel about it. He guided her in a rhythm that quickly, surprisingly, built the heat and the longing. They were moving toward something that stayed just out of reach, building momentum, until at the end they were rushing forward, their breaths and sighs and movements perfectly aligned.
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And then they were there at the sweet moment when every sense was engaged and every synapse was firing. Sensations and impressions poured into his mind and heat and fulfillment spread throughout his body.
A moment later Danika slumped against him. Sam’s hands spread wide on her low back and he rubbed up and down the bumps of her spine.
It seemed apparent to him what he needed to do—absolutely nothing but hold the woman he was very likely already in love with.
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Chapter Ten
They watched the movie, dressed, but lying on the couch, spooning.
“I’ve never done this before,” she told him.
“What?”
“Watched a movie with a guy on a couch.”
She thought for sure he’d tease her. Instead, he surprised her by saying, “I’ve never done this either.
With a woman…or a man,” he added with a chuckle.
She snuggled in closer, thinking that it wasn’t fair for this to feel so good and be something she’d never be able to do again.
Sam didn’t want to keep doing stuff like this and she knew from here on out she wouldn’t be doing much of anything with other men simply because they would never measure up to Sam Bradford.
Pitiful. But true.
She felt the vibration of his cell phone against her left buttock where it was tucked in his left front pocket.
“Damn.” He shifted to slide it out. “Yeah?” he answered a second later.
Danika reached to pause the movie and when she rolled too far away for his taste, Sam tightened his arm around her. Gladly, she sank back into the warmth of his embrace.
“No, I’m still at Dani’s.”
Another pause as he listened.
“Oh, sorry. Yeah.”
Pause.
“I’ll go right now.”
He flipped his phone shut.
“What’s up?” she asked, moving so he could sit up.
“That was Kevin. I totally forgot I was going to touch up the paint around the front windows when we were there Thursday. I told Kevin I was going to do it today.”
“Is there a problem?”
“Kevin just assumed that I’d gotten…distracted.” Sam leaned over and kissed her shoulder. “He offered to go if I can’t make it. But I should be the one.”
“Absolutely. Let’s go.” Danika ran her fingers through her hair.
Just Like That
“I feel bad that I blew this off.”
She stopped him and put a hand against his cheek. “You were here because of my wrist. You can’t be in two places at once and this doesn’t mean that you aren’t responsible.” He smiled at her. “I forgot because I was having incredible sex with an amazing woman. That’s not as innocent as forgetting because I was nursing someone back to health.”
“It still doesn’t mean you’re a bad person, Sam. You’re a little late. You still care about her and you’ll still take care of her house.”
He grabbed her hand and pulled her in close for a kiss. “Okay. Thank you.” Then he kissed her again, longer and sweeter. “It won’t take long,” he said when he lifted his head.
“Give me one minute,” she told him, heading for the bedroom for her shoes.
“You’re coming?” he sounded surprised.
“I thought so,” she called from the other room.
He had no ready answer for that.
She came back into the living room and leaned against the wall to slip her shoes on. “Is it okay?” She wondered if Sam realized how involved all of this had gotten. She’d met his friends, spent time with them in her house today and now he’d had sex with her twice. Was he starting to see that this wasn’t as simple as he liked to keep things, and worse, was he regretting it?
