Spring River Valley: The Spring Collection (Boxed Set) (26 page)

“Nope, I’ll be fine.” She squeezed his hand. “Just hold on tight and no monkey business up there.”

“Maybe we better leave him here, then.” He tried to tug the monkey out of her grip, but she held on tight.

“No way. He’s mine. He comes along as my chaperone.”

“Okay, okay.” Aiden paid for tickets, and they climbed into one of the swinging bench seats. Samantha shivered next to him as their gondola began to rise and jut out over the fairgrounds, which had been set up in a huge empty lot adjacent to the hospital parking area. From here they had an amazing view of the river and the lake, the park, and most of the large buildings in Spring River Valley and nearby Stanton.

The warm breeze turned cooler as they climbed, and once they reached the top, where the ride operator stopped them for a minute so they could enjoy the rush of being suspended above the earth in nothing but a metal framework, Samantha pressed her body tight to his. He put his arm around her and looked into her eyes. “Awesome, right?”

She nodded, speechless.

“Are you scared?”

She shook her head. How could she explain what she felt right now? Her heart pumped furiously, threatening to jump out of her chest. She gulped air, trying to suppress the urge to cling to him. Her head spun a bit. It had been years since she’d ridden the Ferris wheel, not because of fear of heights, but because of the overwhelming sense of freedom she felt often left her weepy and unable to talk.

He tipped her chin up and looked into her eyes. She wanted to dive in and drown in the green pools. How on earth would she ever be able to maintain any kind of distance from him when right now, if she could have climbed inside his body with him, she would have? She wanted to be so close to him they could think the same thoughts. A tear escaped her eyes, which she prayed he wouldn’t be able to see in the blue twilight. “Hey, Sam…you okay?”

She nodded again, quickly. “Fine.” The word came out like a groan. He’d never believe her. Suddenly the gondola was in motion again, heading downward in fits and starts as the operator stopped the wheel to let riders off at the bottom.

Once their bench reached the bottom, Aiden offered his hand to help her out. When her feet hit solid ground, she let out a slightly hysterical laugh. “That was amazing!”

Unsmiling, Aiden pulled her aside, away from the crowd gathered to get on the next ride. “What happened up there? You’re not fooling me. You were petrified.”

“No, I wasn’t really.” She swiped at her eyes, hoping he’d mistake the tears for a reaction to the strong wind up at the top of the wheel. “I just get…ugh.” She sighed. Why not tell him? What did she have to lose? “I get choked up when I’m up there. It feels like my heart is going to explode. I’m not afraid; I’m…expanding. Does that make sense? It sounds ridiculous, but I feel like I’m a cloud and I’m just wafting away over everything. I can see the whole world, and it’s so beautiful I want to cry.” She let out a sob that turned into an embarrassed laugh. “Stupid.”

Aiden stepped up to her and cupped her face in one hand. He kissed her softly, just a brush of his warm lips over hears. Liquid heat coursed through her. “Not stupid. It’s incredible. I’d love to feel that way.”

She sniffled and wiped her eyes again. “You’ve never felt that? Like there’s so much in front of you that you can’t stand how amazing it is?”

He shook his head. “No…I didn’t know a feeling like that existed, until now.”

Sam hugged him. “I’m sorry. I hope you can find that some day.”

He put his arms around her, and together they headed off toward the next attraction. “I hope so too.”

*

Hours later, Aiden and Sam stood in her kitchen, too exhausted from laughing to do much more than stare at the mess they’d just made. The idea to make chocolate milk shakes had sent them to the grocery store on their way home from the carnival, and after assembling all the ingredients in her blender, he’d distractedly turned it on without securing the lid. Now dots of melted ice cream and chocolate syrup coated everything in the kitchen. The barely blended concoction dripped from his T-shirt and his pants and both of their faces.

“Sorry,” he said nonchalantly as he wiped milk chocolate slurry from his eyes.

She burst out laughing again and almost slipped in the puddle of liquid ice cream that spread out around them on the floor. “Have you never used a blender before?”

“I make a protein shake every morning for breakfast. I’ve never had this happen. Yours must be defective.”

“It works fine if you put the lid on right.” She laughed again, her gaze following drops of chocolate up the wall to the ceiling which was also spattered. “Ohmigod. There goes my security deposit.”

He looked up too. “I can clean that right up. No problem. Do you have a step stool?”

“I’ll get it, and a mop.”

For the next hour they cleaned the kitchen, laughing all the while. Finally when they’d wiped up every last drop of their failed experiment, Samantha reached for the hem of his shirt and pulled it off. “You’re next, dirty boy. I can throw your clothes in the wash.”

“What do I wear while you do that?”

She peeked innocently into his pants. “Your underwear is okay, but there’s chocolate in your hair. Do you want a shower?”

“Mmm.” He pulled her close and kissed her, tasting the remnants of the syrup that had splashed on her face. “You could use one too.”

They made their way to her tiny bathroom, stopping only to peel off items of clothing. Wearing nothing but a hot little pair of powder blue panties, Sam gathered their clothes and stuffed them in the small washer hidden in her apartment’s utility closet. “Actually, I can’t turn that on while the shower is running or all we’ll get is ice-cold water.”

Having taken half a dozen cold showers in the week since he’d seen her last, he had no desire to cool himself off at the moment. “That will never do. We’ll just have to shower and hang around naked until the clothes are clean.”

“Who’s this ‘we’? I have a whole closet full of clean clothes. You’ll be the only one naked around here, unless you want to wear a pair of my yoga pants and a Girl Power T-shirt.” The sparkle in her eyes made him want to get much dirtier before they got clean.

“You know, I’m thinking, why waste a good shower?” He leaned in and kissed the sweet spot where her shoulder met her neck. She shivered. He loved that…loved the way she moaned when he touched her intimately.

That was “loved” in a strictly “liking” sense, of course.

Before he finished that thought, she was in his arms, kissing him, steering him toward her bedroom. “I like the way you think.”

He wondered when he actually had time to think these days, since his brain seemed to know only two things, Samantha, his friend and Samantha, his lover.

No time to analyze. She pushed him down on her bed and straddled him. With nearly surgical precision they helped divest each other of their underwear, and she produced a condom from…he wasn’t quite sure where. He’d have to remember to ask her later.

In a moment, he was inside her, kissing her, holding her, feeling her body’s every delicious response to him. This was only their second time in bed—if no one counted the five condoms they’d used at his place last week—so how had they managed to find such a perfect rhythm with each other so quickly? Why did every movement seem exactly right? There was no fumbling, no awkward questions about what would be more comfortable, no colliding noses or knees. She obeyed his every silent command, and he knew instinctively where to touch her to bring her to a shuddering end.

They locked eyes and held on until the waves of pleasure ebbed, leaving them spent and sleepy, and then he lay beside her and took her in his arms.

After a few deep, steadying breaths she said, “We do that so well.”

“I know. Maybe it’s because there’s no pressure. No expectations.”

She raised her head and met his gaze. He brushed a pale lock of hair out of her eyes. “I think you’re right. There’s no self-consciousness. I don’t feel like I have to be…I don’t know, a supermodel or something.”

“A supermodel in bed?”

“You know what I mean…well, maybe you don’t because you’re a guy. Guys don’t have the same insecurities.”

“Like hell. We’ve got to be better than the last guy, whoever he was. And we have to be better than the next guy, whoever he may be—because we all want to think ‘she’ll never have better than this. She’ll be thinking about me no matter who she ends up with.’”

She rose up on her elbows and squinted at him. “I thought men thought…” She feigned a deep voice, “‘She’ll never want anybody else after she has me.’”

“Yeah, well, that too. That’s in the regular relationships, the ones that are supposed to be forever, and they never turn out to be forever. You’re thinking, ‘She’ll never need anybody else. She’ll never even want to look at anybody else if I do this right.’”

Sam raised a brow. “Interesting fact. I will share this with all my female friends.”

Aiden rolled over so he was on top of her again, stroking her lips and her cheeks with his thumbs. “So guys are thinking that, and women are thinking, ‘Does my butt look fat in those panties he just threw on the floor?’”

She giggled. “Something like that. And…‘He’s expecting Penny the Porn Star. How will he feel about getting the Stay Puft Marshmallow Girl?’”

“Oh, come on. You can’t think that about yourself. You’re perfect.” He pinched her hip lightly. “This is definitely porn-star material.”

She slapped one of her thighs. “See that jiggle? That’s marshmallow.”

“I like marshmallow.” He dove down to kiss her thigh, and she shrieked.

She moaned while he nibbled, and when he came back up she kissed him. “Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For letting me be myself. Like I said, I can be comfortable with you because it doesn’t mean—” She stopped, but he could have sworn he already heard the next word in his mind.
Anything
. This didn’t mean anything, so she wasn’t self-conscious about it. “It doesn’t… I mean…”

Aiden covered the sudden sting with a laugh. “Go ahead, say it. It’s the truth. This is just fun and games. It’s okay. That’s exactly what we wanted it to be, so we don’t have to feel weird about anything we say or do. We’re friends first. We’re not trying to drag each other to the altar, so we don’t have to have any secrets or play any games.”

“Right.” She nodded vigorously, but he could tell she’d choked on her words. She hadn’t wanted to hurt his feelings because she’d forgotten for a second that they’d both agreed not to have any real feelings about this. He had no idea why there was a spot in the middle of his chest that now hurt, but he would definitely have to man up and get over it.

He kissed her, quickly, with none of the depth he’d put into the last time their lips met. “Let’s take that shower now. And Sam…honestly, it’s fine. This isn’t serious; it’s just fooling around, just like destroying your kitchen, and going to the fair and watching a horror movie. We’re playing around. Don’t start getting self-conscious about what you say. You don’t have to worry with me.”

“I know…it’s fine. I’m sorry. I thought for a second I hurt your feelings.”

He ruffled her hair. “Nah. Come on. Let’s get wet.”

“I loved the book!” Brenda said as she slid into the booth at the diner on Sunday morning. She handed Dr. Fraser’s book back to Sam. “And I changed my mind. Now I’m thinking about gift wrapping a copy for Riley and leaving it on his desk…but do you think that would be sexual harassment? Can’t be too careful at a law firm. Maybe I can leave it on his car.”

“What?” Sam dragged herself back to reality. She’d been staring out the window at passing traffic, too deep in thought about Aiden to even register that her friend had arrived for brunch. “Oh, you finished it?”

“I read it twice. I would have underlined passages, but I wasn’t sure if you’d mind.”

“I don’t mind.” She pushed the book back across the table. “In fact, you can keep it. I have most of it memorized anyway.”

Brenda tucked the book back into her purse and grinned. “Oooh, maybe I’ll underline it and give Riley my copy.”

“So are you really considering a friends-with-benefits relationship with him?”

Brenda leaned forward, her eyes wide. “Where have you been, under a rock? That’s all I’ve been talking about for the past…forever. I want Riley Thayer. You wanted Aiden. You got him, with this little magic book. I’m your disciple.”

Sam let out a long, slow breath. The waitress came and took their order, and Sam waited until she’d left again to speak. “If you’re taking lessons from me, then pay close attention to this.
Don’t do it
.”

“What? Why not? Did you guys break up?”

“We can’t break up. We’re not dating. No…in fact, we woke up together this morning.”

“And you met me for brunch? What’s wrong with you? Why aren’t you with him?”

“Well, we spent the whole night together, fell asleep watching TV in my bedroom. This morning was…not awkward per se, but I could tell he hadn’t planned on spending that much time with me. It was like he was a little embarrassed even though we had a big talk about not being self-conscious.”