The Wedding Affair (The Affair Series Book 2) (17 page)

He was pressing his body to hers—they were joined from stomach to knees—and he was looking at her like he was sketching her with his eyes.

“Another thing you can’t do around me,” he ground out in a manly voice dripping with seduction, “is turn up in a short flimsy robe with nothing underneath.”

She gasped when his meaning hit home. He’d caught her half-naked, and she hadn’t bothered to correct the situation.

His hand, big, warm and powerful, slid effortlessly inside the silk robe and cupped her breast. The shaky moan she heard made her tremble even more. That was her!

She felt him move and then settle in a soft spot where her body cradled the bulge of his manhood. Feeling him grind into her as his hand massaged her boob almost sent Sam to her knees.

And then he claimed her lips, his arm around her waist crushing her body to his. His sexy mouth covered hers with hungry passion, and she surrendered without hesitation.

The velvety softness of his lips and tongue as it boldly swept her mouth made shivers break out along her body. Whimpering and desperate for more, she clung to his big body.

When he pulled on her nipple and pinched it, she started to shake uncontrollably.

Sam tried to speak, but his voracious mouth wouldn’t back off. Finally, he put his lips on her neck and did wicked things to her flesh that made her mind go fuzzy.

“Ryan,” she gasped. “I, uh, oh.” Her shy moans sounded completely out-of-place in such a hot, steamy moment.

Just when she was sure she’d do anything he asked, he drew away and gave her a long, assessing inspection.

“In case I didn’t make this clear,” he told her in a low, throaty growl, “next time it’s you in a robe and nothing else, I will fuck you where you stand.”

Her mouth fell open. Literally. He stroked around her lips with one finger then looked deep into her eyes. Sparks flew when they connected.

“Understood?”

Remembering the panties she had sent him off with last night, Sam swallowed with a bit of difficulty and nodded her head.

Yeah, she understood. Understood that if she had a lick of sense, she’d get some condoms to stash in the bedside table because, well, because you never know.

“Hey,” Kyle called out as Ryan rounded the bend to his room. “Was just looking for you, man. Where’ve you been?”

It never occurred to him to be anything but straightforward. This was his blood-brother and best friend. He could tell Ky anything.

“Samantha,” he admitted as he approached closer. “Breakfast.”

He saw Kyle’s eyes flare and then they quickly move over him. “Oh, okay,” he murmured. “Different clothes from last night. So this was an early morning date and not a sleepover wake-up duty.”

“Fuck off,” he snorted. Pushing open the door to his room, he pushed Ky inside and curled his lip as he started to say something. Kyle beat him to the punch.

“Holy shit!” He laughed. “Leading with the Elvis sneer? This really must be serious then.”

Dickhead. He might as well have dumped a bucket of ice on his head.

“What the hell’s the matter with you? Of course, it’s serious, you putz. Haven’t we already established that point?”

“Just checking, Ry. And you can drop the menacing growl. That girl is Andi’s family. It’s in the husband job description that I watch out for Sam. Keep her safe.”

“From me?” He asked the question with outraged incredulity.

“Especially from you. She can’t play the game, and you know it.”

“I am not playing games with her.”

After jacking him up until Ryan was pulsing with offense, Ky chuckled, smacked him on the back, and said, “That’s all you had to say, man.”

Seriously?

“I need to borrow the hiking watch you brought. The one with the GPS.”

Responding to the whiplash request, he fished the fancy watch from his bag and handed it over. Kyle and his dad were going off by themselves—one of those Sommerfield bonding traditions—which meant Ryan was spending the day with his parents, Aunt Mel, and Ali, of course. Family time.

Before ambling off, Kyle leaned against the doorjamb and spoke with rare solemnity. “This is the best thing I’ve done—my whole life. Finding Andi, asking her to marry me.”

He didn’t think saying anything was necessary, so he focused on what Kyle was sharing.

“Getting on the pro tours is great and everything, but nothing compares to being with her. Just being around her. . .” He shrugged. “Andi makes me feel,” he said, pausing as he searched for a word. “She makes things right. Ya know? All I ever think about is her. And it feels completely natural.”

Ryan was beginning to understand where his cousin was coming from. Hanging out with Samantha was so easy. And pleasant. As for thinking of nothing but her? Already a done deal.

Before Kyle left, he remembered to let him in on a little tidbit of information Ryan was pretty sure the other man needed.

“FYI. I caught the tail end of Steve Carmichael sneaking out of Barbara’s room around six fifteen this morning.”

Kyle snickered. “Good for her! Hope he was packing a little blue pill ‘cause the lady blew past cougar and went straight to cheetah without breaking a sweat a long time ago. She can chase her prey to ground faster than anyone I know.”

Ha! Actually, Ky’s description of Barbara West was winning. She looked like a fair-haired Jessica Rabbit, and he wasn’t being facetious at all.

He hated to pop Kyle’s bubble of amusement, but he hadn’t shared what he saw for no reason.

“Dolores Carmichael,” was all he said.

“Shit.” Kyle’s face twisted into a grimace.

They talked quietly for another minute, and then Ky took off. Ryan glanced at his watch. He had two hours to kill. The horny teenager running his libido chimed in.

Get naked. Remember how soft Samantha’s breast felt. Think about her sexy whimpers and moans. And jerk off.

Ryan snorted. So that’d take up about two minutes before he came like a porn star unloading on cue. What about the rest of the time?

Didn’t matter. Not really. Jerk off, don’t jerk off, he was still going to do nothing except think about her. Not even releasing what the guys at one of his shops called D-S-S, or deadly sperm surplus, would make much difference.

He thought about Kyle’s admission that Andi was the best part of his life. In a lot of ways, he understood.

It’d taken him some time to get there and figure it out on his own, but once he had, Ryan pulled the plug on the empty hookups and half-encounters that clogged up his romantic life. He didn’t make an announcement or anything like that because being labeled a pussy wasn’t his idea of fun. For him, the truth was remarkably simple. Anyone can get laid. Fucking wasn’t the problem.

He craved an emotional intimacy that wasn’t met by getting his wang drained.
Go ahead and laugh,
he thought to himself. Stupid expression, yeah—but accurate.

Samantha gave him more than a small taste of what he craved. He liked being around her. Liked the energy she gave off. Liked that she wasn’t wired for game playing. And really liked the care she showed for her friend. He found something about loyalty immensely sexy.

He snorted a joyless laugh. Loyalty was sexy?

Yep, he was definitely a pussy.

“Miss Evers,” Andi murmured when they were left alone for two minutes. “Is that a love bite I see on your neck?”

It was, so there was no use in denying what Andi was busily figuring out in her brain.

“Yep. Was taking dental impressions and one slipped.”

For one second, Andi stared at her confused and then broke into a quiet laugh.

“Were these, um, impressions left last night or this morning? I only ask,” she said innocently with her hands waving from Sam’s head to her toes, “because that looks suspiciously recent.”

Feeling lighthearted and oh-so-very naughty, she rolled a shoulder and calmly admitted, “He brought breakfast. I was, uh, grateful.”

“So you let him chew on your neck?”

“Something like that.” She chuckled as a warm flush crept onto her face.

Andi stood stock-still, her hands on her waist and studied Sam with an intensity that made her tummy flutter.

“What?”

“You’re thinking about sleeping with him, aren’t you?”

“Andi! Shush. What the hell?”

Wearing a rueful expression, her friend drily responded. “That did not sound like a denial.”

Sam made a pained face and put down the stack of bras and panties she was considering getting. She looked around. At the far end of the exclusive ladies boutique, the bridesmaids were gathered around a laughing Lisa who must be telling one of her ribald suburban mom stories. Tara was there and looked to be having a good time.

“Tell me about Tara. And don’t cut corners. I want to know, Andi, before I do something I won’t be able to take back.”

Andi reached for a lock of her hair and drew it over her shoulder. Sam recognized the old habit from their youth. She only did it when she was uncomfortable.

A tingling of unease broke loose inside. Shit. Had her gullibility been showing when Ryan offered his side of the story?

Andi took her by the elbow and darted around a couple of displays until they were in a corner of the fancy boutique where no one could hear them.

“Did you ask Ryan this question?”

She nodded but said nothing.

Andi pursed her lips and frowned. “He’s not that type of guy.”

“What type is that?”

“You know. The type where checking up on an explanation is necessary.”

It was Sam’s turn to purse her lips and drawl, “Well, I wouldn’t know that yet, now would I? Stop stalling, girl. I get that he’s a good guy, Andi. But Tara being a see-you-next-Tuesday in front of everyone isn’t normal.”

Andi ducked her head and peered around a display. The ladies were still oohing and ahhing at the front of the store. Such caution made Sam’s stomach knot.

“Okay. The abridged version. Tara had some sort of brain fart, which resulted in her all but stalking Ryan. It got weird in a hurry and threw the guys into a quandary. She’s important to the business and despite coming off like a custom-made robot, she has a good heart.”

Pfft.

“No,” she murmured. “Don’t be like that, Sami. I know she’s a bit much at times, but. . .”

“At times?”

The heaviness in Andi’s sigh took Sam by surprise. “She’s jealous of you, yeah. But you know what? In the end, Tara Donner is like the rest of us. Lookin’ for love.”

She snickered. “Hashtag wookin’ pa nub.”

The reminder of an old
Saturday Night Live
joke they found particularly amusing earned a hearty chuckle. “Exactly. But when it came to Ryan, she completely lost her shit. It got ugly, I presume, because he wasn’t interested, and for whatever reason, the foolish bitch pulled a pregnancy out of thin air.”

Sam didn’t know why, but listening to Andi’s terse retelling of the story made her feel sorry for Tara. Andi would have stood by the woman forever because she was a tried-and-true friend, not just because they were partners.

“Kyle flipped when more of the story emerged. Complicating things even more, she’d apparently slept with one of his sponsor’s reps. Nice touch. I thought he was going to blow a fuse he was so angry.”

She’d heard enough. It was almost word-for-word what Ryan had already confessed. At the end of it all, she only cared about one outstanding detail. “So is she pregnant or not?”

Lip biting wasn’t Andi’s thing, so when she saw her friend anxiously chewing on the corner of her mouth, her brows rose and Sam held her breath as she waited for an answer.

“The timing isn’t there yet to call bullshit. I’m afraid this is fresh drama, and so far, she’s sticking to her story. We put Stan on her for the wedding and basically crossed fingers that she didn’t blurt out anything to any of the Sommerfields. Although. . .”

The drawn-out way Andi said the word had a conspiratorial edge to it. An edge that reminded her of the Dirt Detector Twins, the name Lisa had given them as kids because she and Andi had a way of sniffing out dirt.

Twisting her engagement ring, Andi wore a scornful look when she grumbled, “She had champagne at dinner, and I swear on all that’s holy that she sucked back two Bloody Marys on the plane.”