Just the Way I Like It (5 page)

Her climax rushed toward her and her muscles contracted around him as it hit.

Ripples turned into swells that turned into waves and she was pulled into the swirl of pleasure and heat as Sam’s orgasm pulsated right on the heels of her own.

After the heat and passion had washed over them and ebbed, they stayed still for almost a full minute, then Sam slumped forward, draped over her back.

“Wow, I love this store,” he said breathlessly.

She laughed and wiggled for him to let her go. She loved Tease
too and was sure the floor was pretty clean, but she had no desire to lay buck naked on it.

“Remind me what exactly it was that I said to get that,” Sam said as he pulled his underwear and jeans back up. “’Cause I want to be sure I do it again sometime. Soon.”

Dani stepped into her jeans, then smiled up at him. “Just be you. That’s all you have to do to make me want you, Sam.”

“You know that I’m thankful every day that you haven’t yet discovered that you could do so much better than me, right?” he asked, shoving his hand through his hair, straightening the disheveled look only slightly.

It was moments like that when she realized that Sam giving her a chance to really love and need him was a huge gift.

She wanted to give him a gift too.

“I was thinking,” she said, zipping her zipper and also trying to straighten her hair. “You’re pretty crazy about Ava, huh?”

Sam’s grin was huge just at the mention of her name. He was crazy about his baby niece and no one thought it was sweeter than Dani did. Sam had come a long way in believing that he could let people count on him and she knew that not only would he always be there for Ava, but he’d make sure she knew it.

“Ava’s awesome,” he agreed.

He pulled his fingers through Dani’s hair, helping her comb it out. It had gotten a little wilder than she’d realized.

“Well, maybe we should have an Ava of our own,” Dani said.

Sam froze and stared at her, his fingers still tangled in her hair. “Really?”

She pressed her lips together and nodded.

“I just… I wasn’t sure you’d want to,” he said slowly.

“Because of my mom?” she asked. Her mother had had muscular dystrophy, a genetic disorder, and Dani and her sisters had watched her slowly become weaker and weaker. It had made Dani determined to be strong and independent no matter what.

But leaning on Sam was getting easier. In fact, she liked it. He was damned good at being a solid support.

“Yeah.” He put a hand to her cheek. “I didn’t want to bring it up. We don’t have to have kids. Having a life with you is all I need. I don’t want you to think—”

She put her hand over his mouth. “I want to have kids,” she said. “I talked to a doctor about Mom and the chances of something happening to our kids. He said that if I don’t have symptoms there’s a good chance I don’t have it and can’t pass it on. I can get tested, if we want. But I think we should talk about it.”

He took her hand away and kissed the palm, his gaze locked on hers with a slight frown. “We do that stuff together, Dani. Talking to doctors, getting tests. Got it?”

She nodded. They were partners. They were both independent, their own people, but they made decisions together, they leaned on each other, they talked about everything. That was still new and sometimes hard for her. “Right. Of course.”

“If the doctor gives us the go ahead, I’m in,” he said, seriously. “Totally in.”

Her heart flipped and she felt tears sting her eyes. “And if I can’t—or shouldn’t—get pregnant, we can adopt. Or we can adopt anyway. But either way, I want to raise a child with you. You’re going to be an amazing dad.”

His eyes shone brightly for a moment just before he started blinking rapidly. “If our baby was born with muscular dystrophy, or anything else, I wouldn’t care.”

Our baby
. The words sucked the air out of her lungs for a moment. But she shook her head a second later. “It wouldn’t be fair. It’s such a terrible disease. We can’t do it if we know something could happen. We’ll find another baby, or even an older child, who needs us.” Watching her mom struggle was enough to keep Dani from ever willingly putting another person through that if she could help it.

“Okay. That’s your call,” Sam conceded. “But,” he said, stroking his hand up and down her arm. “I do think maybe we should go home and practice some more so we’re ready when we get the okay.”

She felt so light and happy that she really did think floating was possible. “You don’t think we’re ready?” she asked, pretending to misunderstand. “We’ve already changed a lot of Ava’s diapers and the bottle thing has gone pretty well.”

“Yeah, diapers and bottles, that’s exactly what I was talking about,” Sam said, grabbing her hand and heading back out into the store.

They stepped out from the dressing rooms to find Tina still at the front counter. The shop was closed for the night, the front door locked and most of the lights off, but she wasn’t alone. In fact, she was making out with a guy. A guy they didn’t know. A guy who definitely wasn’t Dooley.

“Uh-oh,” Danika said quietly.

Tina’s shirt was whipped off and tossed to the side.

She wasn’t wearing a bra.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be sure to let Dooley know that she’s got great breasts,” Sam said, eyes wide.

“I’m sure you will.”

They should probably leave. But Dani couldn’t make her feet move. And Sam certainly didn’t seem inclined to rush out.

Clearly they’d been forgotten—or Tina and her guy simply didn’t care if someone saw.

The guy’s shirt came off and pants started being unfastened, and finally Dani took Sam’s hand and started for the door.

“Hey, you know that blueberry syrup you haven’t been using on your pancakes?” Dani asked.

“Yeah?” Sam swiveled his neck to keep Tina in sight as he followed Dani out of the store.

Rolling her eyes, Dani took Sam’s shoulders, turned him toward their car and pushed.

“I was thinking maybe I have a better use for it than breakfast.”

He quickly focused on her, the look in his eyes hot. “Blueberry syrup goes great with melted butter.”

She instantly flashed back to the melted butter that had been a part of some of their first, very sexy, lovemaking. “Yes, it does,” she said huskily.

Sam pressed her back against the side of the car. “In fact, I’m thinking of some really great ways to have my blueberry syrup and eat it too.”

Heat swept over her. But along with it was love, deep love that shouldn’t have been inspired by something silly like blueberry syrup. But it was. Loving Sam Bradford was like that.

“Let’s go home, Sam.”

“Right behind you.” He chuckled as he kissed her neck. “Kind of like in the dressing room, you know? Right behind you. Get it?”

She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I get it.”

Chapter Four

Sara and Mac

“Okay, I’ve got two virgins for Kevin and about fifteen non-virgins for Dooley,” Mac said, settling onto the bench next to Sara. He straddled the seat and leaned an arm on the picnic table next to her, putting her between his knees. Possessive postures like that were common with him, especially since she’d gotten back from her three-month trip to Europe without him. She loved it.

Things had been good before she left, but Sara living too far away for Mac or any of their friends or her family to jump in if needed, was completely new to all of them. She knew it had been especially hard on Mac. Not only had he always been one of her protectors, he was also crazy in love with her. Crazy in love was also new to him.

It had been a little rocky figuring how independent she wanted to be and how involved she wanted everyone else to be. But they were working on it.

“Fifteen?” she asked. “Wow.”

“Non-virgins are a lot easier to find. Who knew?” He gave her a grin and tipped his beer mug for a drink.

They were sitting in the beer garden area of the festivities, at their own picnic table in the corner. As active members of the community, they knew they needed to show up at the annual Oscar Days street dance, but they wanted to stay out of Dooley and Kevin’s way. They weren’t here to spy or babysit. Much.

She laughed. “I don’t think Kevin necessarily wants virgins. Just nice girls.”

“I figured the virgins would be nice girls,” Mac said.

“They just haven’t had sex. They could be real bitches.”

“Maybe that’s why nobody’s slept with them.” Mac nodded. “Good point.”

Grinning, she turned and leaned back against him, loving his big, hard, warm body behind her. He made her feel safe. And loved and protected. And tiny—he was a big guy, bouncer-at-a-night-club big.

“So we’re just going to let them loose?” she asked, watching Dooley and Kevin dance in the middle of Main Street, Oscar where the annual Oscar Days street dance was being held.

“Well, I told a couple of girls to give them some attention.”

Sara tipped her head to look up at Mac. “So did I.”

“Yeah?”

“I was down at The Style,” she said.

It was her friend Angela’s beauty shop, and Angie and the women who gathered there were some of the reasons that Sara loved living in Oscar. “I mentioned that we were trying to set our friends up and I got lots of recommendations.”

Mac chuckled, the sound rumbling through her body and making her sigh.

“I guess they’ll have plenty of options then,” Mac said.

Sara found the guys again. “They deserve it.”

She meant it. She was the instigator of the group effort find-Dooley-and-Kevin-love campaign because they were two of the best men she knew.

Kevin and Dooley, along with Mac and her brother, Sam, had been looking out for her ever since she was a kid. She loved them like brothers and now that she had true, soul-deep, life-changing love with Mac she wanted everyone she cared about to have the same thing.

“Well, I took the liberty of asking the girls I talked to a few questions,” Mac said.

“The two virgins and the fifteen sluts, you mean?”

“Non-virgins is the term I prefer,” he said, pinching her hip.

She laughed and wiggled against him. “Okay, fine, non-virgins. What did you ask them?”

“I picked out two girls for each of them,” Mac said, “and just asked them some basics, like, for Kevin, if they were in a good place for a serious relationship and if they went to church. Figured we could weed a few out that way.”

“And the ones you told to spend time with Kevin tonight passed the first round of interviews?” she asked.

“Right.” He lifted an arm and pointed. “Gwen is the administrator at that assisted-living place over in Kingston. She belongs to the Methodist church, has been married once, briefly, but yes, would like to find a serious relationship. She likes baking, jogging and has two dogs.”

Sara turned to stare at her husband. “Wow.”

Husband. She liked that word. Mac had begged her to re-marry him—they’d tried it once, hit some bumps, and decided to start over—the minute she’d stepped off the plane from Europe. They’d only been husband and wife—for the second time—for six months.

He grinned, obviously proud of himself. He pointed to another woman, a pretty blond in a red sundress. “Erika is a bit younger than Kevin and never married. She’s getting her master’s degree in psychology. She has an older brother who’s deaf and wants to work with families of children with physical disabilities. She also goes to church, but she hates to cook and prefers cats.”

Sara was impressed. “Tell me about Dooley’s.”

He pointed out the first one. She was already beside Dooley, laughing at something he’d said. “That’s Carly. She’s a tri-athlete, teaches English lit at UNO and is looking for a long-term relationship with someone who is willing to experiment in the bedroom.”

Sara raised her eyebrows. “And I’m sure you asked more about what ‘experiment’ means.” Nothing could shock Mac, that was for sure. He’d had a lengthy wild period where experimentation was a regular thing.

“She’s fond of threesomes and likes to be tied up.”

Sara felt her own body heat. She wasn’t in need of anyone but Mac in her bed but she did like the silky pink ties they used from time to time. And the pink fur wedge. And the flavored body powder.

She swallowed hard and Mac grinned, knowing exactly what she was thinking. He dropped his hand from around her shoulders, to her thigh, stroking her leg through the thin cotton of her skirt. Sara parted her legs slightly and Mac curled his big hand along her inner thigh.

“And she just told you that?” she asked, sounding a little breathless.

“Women tell me all kinds of intimate things,” he said. “I don’t know what it is. No one ever thinks my questions about those things are too private.”

“It’s because you have a radar for naughty girls,” Sara said, wishing he’d go underneath her skirt instead of just on top. “And you give off that I-can-show-you-a-real-good-time vibe.”

He did. The promise of wicked fun oozed from him.