Spring River Valley: The Spring Collection (Boxed Set) (25 page)

“Mmm, you feel so good,” Aiden whispered in her ear as he began to move. He certainly hadn’t been lying about doing good work. In moments, Sam was adrift in the pleasure of his expert rhythm. She wrapped herself around him and followed his lead, letting him guide her speed and her movements until she neared the edge of orgasm.

He stopped just short of tipping her over the precipice and looked into her eyes. “We’re going to be good together, you and me…” He kissed her then, and in a second, she was coming, sweetly, achingly. He followed moments later, a masculine sigh sending a shiver down her shuddering body.

“Oh, yes.” She had to agree. This was going to be very, very good.

*

Dressed in his T-shirt and her sexy pink panties, Samantha was a goddess. Aiden had trouble taking his eyes off her while he attempted to locate the TV remote, hours later when they finally decided they’d worn out the bed.

She had curled up in the corner of his couch, her bare feet tucked under her, a bright red apple in her hand. The juicy crunch of her first bite had his cock reacting to the thought of sweet juice coating her luscious lips.
Focus, Cole. Get your mind in the game
.

How had he gotten so lucky to have stumbled upon the perfect woman for him? Not only was she exquisite in bed, and adorable, but she’d jumped at his suggestion to watch a late-night horror flick. Now all he had to do was find the remote. If he didn’t, he’d have to default to dragging her back into the bedroom…which was not a bad idea, but he needed to prove that he wanted more than just sex from her.

She crunched on the apple again, and his concentration zipped out the widow. “Hmm, this is really good.”

“It’s organic. They taste better.”

“I guess you’re a big health nut. I don’t think there was any junk food at all in your fridge.”

Fortunately, he found the remote. He turned the TV on and adjusted the volume. “I try to teach fitness along with martial arts, so I have to set a good example. But I do indulge. Popcorn is my downfall…and cheese fries. Don’t tell my students.”

“Ohh, cheese fries.” She crunched the apple again. She was going to drive him wild with desire. Fighting off the urge to jump on her, he settled on the couch, grabbed her wrist, and pulled the half-eaten apple toward him. He took a bite.

“You’re making me hungry,” he said after he swallowed.

She wiggled across the cushion and curled up against his side, her warm curves complementing his angles perfectly.

“Here, we can share this.” She took another bite and offered him the rest of the apple. A pressure in his chest made his next breath difficult. With her hair mussed, and her eyes sleepy, she embodied his erotic dreams. This was just too good to be true.

“You finish it. You may need your strength for later.” He winked, and she blushed.

“Oh? You mean there’s an encore performance after the movie?”

“I wouldn’t call it an encore, I’d call it a sequel.”

Sam would have happily stayed the night in Aiden’s apartment, but sometime after their second trip to his bedroom, her brain started working again, and she remembered this arrangement wasn’t the beginning of a long-term love affair. They were friends who’d shared a fantastic night, but she had to get home and get her head on straight.

Aiden walked her back to her car, kissed her until her knees practically buckled and asked when he could see her again. Dr. Fraser’s words played in her mind.
Resist the natural instinct to spend every waking minute together. That becomes a full-time relationship, which isn’t what you’re after.
Based on that quote, she just told Aiden to call her if he wanted to go out. She drove home, wishing her phone would ring, but it didn’t and that was fine. In fact, it was good. Now she had some time to process what had happened and psych herself out of wondering how life would be if they ended up falling in love. That wasn’t going to happen. Not if she could help it, anyway.

* * * *

Aiden shoved his phone into his jeans pocket and, for the hundredth time, dismissed the urge to call Samantha. Friday night had been fantastic, outstanding. Memories of it totally consumed him for the rest of the weekend, but more than once he’d had to stop himself from calling her. He’d given in Saturday afternoon, telling her he just wanted to make sure she was okay and had gotten home safely. Their short conversation had left him wanting and slightly agitated. She hadn’t asked him what he was doing or invited him over, and since then he’d asked himself a million times if maybe she hadn’t had as good a time as she’d claimed.

“I saw that, you know,” Bailey said as she emerged from her kitchen and stepped onto her tiny balcony with a tray of iced tea and sliced fruit. Matt Kelso, her boyfriend, jumped up to help her set the tray on the picnic table.

“Saw what?” Aiden grabbed an iced tea and shrugged, eyeing Matt with a sidelong glance.

“You keep checking your phone. I’m sure it will ring if she calls you.”

“Who?” Aiden played innocent. He hadn’t told his sister about Samantha because he knew how she would react. She’d been on his case for years to settle down and stop breaking hearts. His insistence that he didn’t want to hurt anyone fell on deaf ears, and she lectured him far more often even than their parents had when he was growing up.

She sat on the floor of the balcony, and Barkley climbed into her lap. The dog nuzzled her hand, and she rubbed his ears, then leaned back on her hands and stared up at Aiden. “You’ve got another girl on the hook, don’t you?”

“She’s not on any hook.”

“Oh, so there
is
a girl?” Matt jumped on the bandwagon. He was a cool guy, great for Bailey who deserved some happiness after her last boyfriend cheated on her with every woman within spitting distance. Matt and Bailey had been seeing each other just about six weeks now, but it was clear to everyone they had a strong connection and a great relationship. It was the kind of thing Aiden would have wanted, if he'd wanted something serious.

“Yeah, there’s a girl. Barkley introduced us. She works at the Croft Clinic.”

Bailey gasped. “Sam? Taylor’s receptionist?”

Aiden shrugged. “Yeah.”

“She’s so nice. Please don’t hurt her.”

Aiden set his glass down, walked to the corner of the balcony, and leaned on the rail. He took a deep breath to hide his sudden annoyance. “Why do you always assume I’m going to hurt someone? You must think I’m some kind of monster.”

“No, I’m just going by your track record. When we lived at home, at least once a month there was some girl on our front porch crying her eyes out while you ‘let her down gently.’ I hope you told Samantha that you’re a serial dater, and you have absolutely no interest in a long-term committed relationship.”

He turned around and patted his thigh for Barkley to join him. The dog obeyed, leaving Bailey like yesterday’s newspaper. “In fact, I did. We had a long talk about what we expect and what we’re looking for, and guess what, she’s just like me. She doesn’t want to get married. She’s not looking for an engagement ring or any proclamations of undying love. We’re going to have some fun, hang out, and not let it get serious so nobody gets hurt.”

Matt glanced at Bailey, who rolled her eyes.

“What?” Aiden demanded of them both. “Just because you two are blissfully happy with your exclusive arrangement doesn’t mean everyone else has to do the same. Samantha’s the one who suggested this…and she’s totally okay with it. We’re friends with benefits. That’s exactly what I want and exactly what she wants.”

“Never ends well,” Matt whispered out of the corner of this mouth.

Aiden felt betrayed. As much as he liked the guy and was thrilled he was committed to Bailey, he’d expected some support on this. “Hey, I get why you have to agree with
her
. But come on, Kelz. You understand where I’m coming from, don’t you?”

Matt held up his hands in surrender. “I plead the Fifth.”

Bailey transferred her sparkling hazel-green gaze to Matt. “No, feel free to speak your mind. I won’t hold it against you if you agree with him…but I might not hold
anything else
against you either. If you know what I mean.”

Matt groaned. “You’re killing me, Aiden. Seriously, though, I’ve seen this kind of thing go south so many times. It’s all great for a while, then somebody starts asking the hard questions.
Where’s this going? What are we doing? Can we date other people? Oh, wait, you’ve been dating other people and I haven’t?
Then bam! All hell breaks loose.”

Aiden shook his head. “We talked about all that. No screwing around. We both agreed sleeping together is exclusive, and if we want to sleep with someone else, we say so first.”

Bailey let out a barking laugh that startled the dog. He crossed back over to her and sniffed curiously until she reached out to pet him. “You’re sleeping together exclusively? Nobody else? Aiden, dear brother,
that’s
a committed relationship no matter what you want to call it.”

“No, it’s just common courtesy. I mean, if we had other people to sleep with, we wouldn’t need friends with benefits, right? Isn’t that the point?”

Bailey shook her head in bewilderment. “What am I missing here? You’re not going to sleep with anybody but Samantha, and she’s not going to sleep with anybody but you, but you’re not really ‘dating,’ and you’re not committed to anything serious.”

“What’s so hard to understand about that?”

Bailey hauled herself up from the floor, still shaking her head as she left the balcony. “What’s so hard to understand is why a smart guy like you can’t see the inevitable crash and burn coming.”

Aiden glanced at Matt once Bailey had gone inside. “Okay, you don’t have to plead the Fifth anymore. What do you really think?”

Matt sipped his iced tea and shrugged. “If you can make this work, you will go down in history as a god among men.” Matt rose then, taking his drink with him to follow Bailey. “Odds are against it.”

Alone on the balcony now, except for Barkley, Aiden ran his hands through his hair. Without thinking, he checked his phone again. No missed call, no text from Samantha. Clearly, she was committed to the non-commitment, so what was everyone else’s problem? He caught the dog staring at him expectantly. “What? You’re a dog; you should understand.”

Barkley yipped, walked in a tight circle, and headed inside too. “Traitor!” Aiden called after him. He’d just have to lead by example and show everyone that he and Samantha could make this arrangement work, and no one was going to get hurt.

He headed inside, checking his phone one more time as he went.

Aiden aimed his weapon and fired, sending a high-powered ping-pong ball crashing into a pyramid of old-fashioned milk bottles. Sam whooped in delight as the bottles toppled, and the carnie running the game booth at the spring carnival handed her a purple stuffed monkey from the wall of prizes behind him.

“You’re a great shot,” she told Aiden as she hugged her prize. This was the third giant toy he’d won for her this evening. They’d donated the other two, a green dog and a plush ivory unicorn, to nearby children, but this one, she decided she would keep for herself as a souvenir of the night.

“It’s all in the angle. You have to hit the right milk can, and they all go down.” He twined his fingers in hers and tugged her toward the Ferris wheel. “Wanna ride?”

“Sure!” Her pulse raced at the idea of snuggling with him in one of the open gondolas and swinging hundreds of feet above the fairgrounds. She felt like a teenager, and she had to admonish herself again for being nearly giddy for days after he’d called to invite her to the fair. Between early Saturday morning when she’d left his apartment and late Thursday afternoon when he’d finally called her, she’d run through a complete psychological textbook of inappropriate emotions.

At first she’d been relieved he hadn’t called and had convinced herself it would be better for both of them if she never saw him again. Then she’d gotten angry that he hadn’t called, which lasted until the phone rang Saturday afternoon when he actually had called to see how she was. She’d been thrilled at first, then worried that he was getting too involved, so she’d played it cool and hadn’t even hinted that she wanted to see him again.

By Monday she was morose and convinced he’d only said he had a good time to spare her feelings, and by Tuesday she’d thrown him out with the dishwater and deleted his number from her phone.

She wouldn’t even think about her frantic attempts to get the deleted number back on Wednesday when she had a change of heart, and by the time he’d called on Thursday she’d found her calm place and decided to just go with the flow, whatever that flow was.

Brenda thought she was certifiable at this point and wanted her to check herself into relationship rehab. If the high she’d experienced from the moment he’d picked her up at her place continued much longer, she would definitely need professional help to kick her new addiction.

“You’re not afraid of heights, are you?” Aiden asked as they reached the line for the ride. “I took a girl up on one of these once, and she had a full-blown panic attack at the top.”