Authors: Melody Heck Gatto
"Okay," she said, giving one last look in the mirror. She turned to see how her shorts looked.
Eh, they weren't great. Where were her jeans shorts?
She slid the fabric shorts right to the floor and stepped out of them while she searched through her clothes for her favorite jeans shorts.
"Here we go!" she said as she slid on the cut offs. Pulling off her t-shirt to expose her black bikini top with white skulls, she admired herself in the mirror again. She loved these shorts, the front pockets were longer than the shorts themselves. Grabbing her flip-flops, she was ready to do this.
"I'm here!" Trina called, strolling up to Sam's deck that overlooked the boardwalk. Toby followed behind her.
"Good." Sam appeared from the sliding glass door that led to his bedroom. He carried two bottles of beer and some napkins. "Hungry?" he asked as he looked up at her, his jaw practically dropping to the ground.
"Yep!" Trina said way too loud, full of nervous energy. "Thanks," she said as she brushed by him, taking the beer out of his hand and drinking a long slow sip. She could feel his eyes on her as she drank.
Sam took a jagged breath as he watched her. Making his way over to the couch where Trina sat, he flashed her his irresistible smile.
"So, sorry I freaked out this morning," she apologized, unwrapping her sub and taking a bite, smearing sauce across her cheek.
"Here." Sam handed her a napkin. "Don't worry about that, it's fine." He took a bite of his sandwich before he continued. "My offer still stands. I still want you and Toby to come home with me."
With every word he said she was becoming more and more convinced that she wanted to go with him. "Sam, you don't know me," she started to say.
"You're enjoying yourself here? Right? You enjoy,
this
?" He moved his finger between them. "I want to get to know everything about you. That's why I want you to come with me, so I get that chance. It will be even better on the west coast. The sun is warmer, the sand is cleaner and don't forget about Morgan."
She was convinced right up until he started talking about his niece again.
Fuck
. Her body became rigid, and her demeanor agitated. Setting the rest of her sandwich down on the table, she grabbed the beer and quickly finished it.
"Alright, what did I say this time?" He sighed as his smile disappeared. It was clear that he was growing irritated. "Trina, what is wrong? What is it?"
"It's me." She walked to the railing overlooking the ocean. Watching the waves she counted down from ten. By the time she got to four she had already relaxed a little. It wasn't Sam that she was mad at. She had to make sure he knew that, before she really messed this up. "I'm sorry, it doesn't have anything to do with you."
Sam stayed sitting on the couch, trying to give her space. His stomach growled, and he finished off his sub. After wiping his mouth with a napkin, his lips curved into a weak smile. "What can I do to help?" His blue eyes looked sad.
"You can't. It's just me. I am really happy with whatever
this
is." She motioned between the two of them. "You are a great listener, and hell, the sex is amazing! But things are complicated." she said, shaking her head.
Sam walked up behind her, wrapping his arms around her. His lips brushing along her cheek, he softly pleaded, "Talk to me, please. I really do care about you, Trina."
She took a deep breath as Sam placed a soft kiss her shoulder. "Okay, here goes, and please don't feel sad for me. People like to look at me like 'you poor thing'. I'm anything but a poor fucking thing!" She knew she was going to get emotional talking about this. Trina swallowed hard taking a moment to calm herself down and then continued. "I have been through hell and back and I'm stronger because of it. I already told you about my MS."
He interjected, "And I know that if you take your medicine you will be fine."
She nodded and continued. "What you don't know is that my former fiancé, Marc, died in a car accident, a little over a year ago. It was bad. At the time the accident happened, our wedding day was just a few weeks away. Ironically, the day he died, he was actually leaving me. Yes, leaving me. Marc and his mistress were running away together, when his SUV crashed. What's worse is that I was driving the same stretch of road to do some errands and came upon the crash site. They had already taken him away, but I knew it was his car.
She
was in the car with him. I didn't realize it at the time, but the emergency techs wheeled her right by me on a gurney while I was hysterical." She took a deep breath. This was harder than she thought it would be. She really didn't like talking about that day.
Sam held onto her tighter. His chin rested on her shoulder.
"I refused to go to the funeral. Since he was leaving me, what did I care?" She shook her head. "Yeah, I was bitter. I didn't even get out of bed for, well, I'm not even sure how long. There is more to the story that no one knows, not even my sister." This was the pain that she carried around with her the past year. "With all the medical privacy laws, they weren't able to tell Talia without my permission." She paused to catch her breath. "I got very depressed after the accident. It was bad. I stopped taking my medicine; I didn't even leave my bed, which at first was by choice. Then it was because I was too weak. Long story short, after about a week or so, I'm still not even sure about the time period, Talia showed up. She let herself into my house and found me practically unconscious. I don't even remember that. I don't remember much from that time. She rushed me to the hospital. I was severely dehydrated. Sam, I was really sick. My organs were on the verge of shutting down. I was a goddamn mess.
The doctors told me that due to all the stress, dehydration, and how it all just ravaged my body, I had miscarried while in the hospital. I didn't even know that I was pregnant! I never told Talia." She touched her stomach. Tears formed in her eyes, but she pushed them back. "That is why I am here. I love the beach. Being here has helped me to let go of all the grief. The grief of losing my fiancé, the grief of realizing he was never going to be mine, and the grief of losing my baby. I don't want to go back to Canada. I want to start a new life somewhere, me and Toby." She finally turned to face Sam.
"Oh, Trina. Come home with me then. Start your new life there. I know it takes you farther away from Tyler, but—" Sam didn't know what else to say. She was finally showing him the true Trina, the scared girl. "Look, Trina," he said, gently tipping her face up with his finger. "Your past demons alone don't define you. Your loss, your miscarriage, your MS, together they have created the strong independent girl that I met here at the beach. That is who you are."
Trina shook her head. "You just don't get it." She wanted to run, but instead she stood there looking up into his concerned blue eyes. "I couldn't even carry a child without messing it up. I fucked that up without even knowing I was doing it. I was a failure to my own baby." She touched her stomach again as the tears threatened to fall. "I will always be a failure."
Sam couldn't help it as a grin crept across his face. "So you're scared of being around Morgan? Is that it?" He realized that was her kryptonite.
Kids
. That's why she freaked out when he talked about her spending time with his niece. The gorgeous, strong girl who looked like she could kick anyone's ass was scared of kids?
"I am
not
scared of kids!" she growled. "I'm just no good with kids. I'm pretty sure I'll break her or ruin her or something."
Sam was amused. Oddly, he was also turned on again. "You won't break her. I can guarantee you won't ruin her. Baby, she just might give you a run for your money though; she is a handful. The girl has an attitude already." He flashed her a big smile. "Trina, have you ever played with a little kid?"
"No." She pouted as she shook her head.
"It's easier than you think. Did you ever play make believe when you were little?"
"Well yeah, Talia was older and not interested in playing with me, and Ty was always busy playing hockey. So yeah, I played a lot of make believe, by myself." She shrugged, unsure where this was going.
"I was scared at first too when I started to help out with Morgan. But she loves make believe. Some days she is a princess, some days we play dolls, and some days we pretend we are cooking. Some days we make a huge mess in the kitchen baking real cookies!" He moved a piece of hair out of her face. Looking into her smokey eyes, he continued. "Plus you guys have some things in common. Not only does she love to sing, but her favorite hockey player is none other than Tyler Kidd."
That made Trina giggle. "Wait," she said, shaking her head. "You mean to tell me her favorite hockey player isn't her uncle?"
"I'm sure I am number two on her list," he scoffed. "Look, my point is you will do fine." He became serious for a moment. "Please don't blame yourself for losing that baby. It was not your fault. Everything happens for a reason, remember that," Sam said smiling and pressed his lips against hers. "I'm sorry about what you went through, especially the baby. But I still want you to come home with me. Please?"
****
His words really did comfort her. Plus, the thought of moving on without him made her stomach ache. "Are you sure Amy and Morgan will be okay with this?" she asked, concerned. After all, she was an outsider and they were a huge part of his life.
"I'm positive." he said, grinning wide and kissed her lips. "Oh, just one thing though, know that I love your naughty mouth. But, I just don't think that my sister will appreciate you talking like a truck driver around Morgan. Any chance you can maybe tone it down?"
She grinned. She knew she didn't talk very PG-rated. She also knew he liked how she talked. She would do her best to tone it down around Morgan and Amy. "I will do my best,
friend
." She slid her arms around his waist giving him a hug. Trina felt his hard-on press against her through his shorts. She tugged on his arm so that he would follow her back to the couch. Glancing out at the water, she knew that any feelings of doubt and pain she came to the beach with were now gone. It wasn't because of the beach, it was because of Sam. She finally realized that.
"Friend?" he asked inquisitively. "I was hoping we could be more than that tonight?" He pouted as he sat down and watched Trina grab his beer and finish it off.
"Oh hell, I plan on it," she said with a devilish grin as she straddled him. Taking his face in her hands she kissed him hard, biting at his bottom lip.
Sam slid his lips down her neck to her breastbone, tugging at her bikini to expose one of her breasts. As he took it in his mouth, she let out a groan. His tongue playing with her hard nipple, he held on to her ass, pushing her hips hard into his. Sam grabbed her hips hiking her up farther onto his as he stood up and carried her into his bedroom.
Gently setting her on the bed, Sam crawled on top of her. His hands moved down her stomach, opening the button on her shorts, and sliding them to the floor. He kissed up her thighs, and then grabbed her lacy black panties, tossing them to the floor as well. She let out a little gasp as the air-conditioned air hit her wet center.
Sam's mouth came down on hers as his hand felt at her moist mound. His tongue explored her mouth as his fingers slid inside her, exploring every inch of her. His body lying against hers, she thrashed about underneath him. He played with her almost to climax. Slowly, Sam pulled away. He kissed down her belly, and then quickly jumped off the bed.
She sat up to see him dropping his shorts and putting on a condom. Untying her bikini top, she threw it to the floor as he crawled back into bed. "Over here," she commanded, pointing to the headboard.
Sam obeyed and sat against the headboard. Before he could ask why, she was crawling up along his legs.
She straddled him, taking his long hard cock into her fully. She held onto his shoulders and let out a sigh. Sam sucked at her nipples, taking his time with each one while using his fingers to tease the other. Trina closed her eyes and kept slowly grinding against him.
"Goddamn," she cried out breathlessly as he finally grabbed at her hips, pushing harder into her. Flipping her on to her back, he sat admiring her for a moment.
"I need you," she said, softly begging.
A devilish grin spread across Sam's face. He slid his hand between her legs, feeling how wet she was. She was ready. "C'mere, baby," he mumbled before he took her mouth in his, and pushed his hard dick into her. She let out a groan against his lips as he filled her completely and rode her hard.
She wrapped her arms around his shoulders, her nails raking down his back as he fucked her hard. "Please? I'm so ready." She pulled back from his lips just long enough to let him know. Sam took over her mouth again as he came hard into her. She climaxed along with him, her body thrashing uncontrollably under him. Every nerve craved more of him as Sam continued to move within her.
She looked up at him with glassy eyes, her body still pulsating.
Sam ripped the condom off quickly, and disposed of it in the trash. He rolled back over beside her. Taking her breast in his mouth, he teased and bit at her nipples. His hand slid down her stomach to her warm mound. She was still so wet and swollen, arching her back at his mere touch.