What The Heart Wants (7 page)

A choked sound escaped from Anna’s throat. Pressure her? He didn’t want anything to do with her. “No of course not,” she said and threw herself dramatically onto the couch.

“Alright,” Sam sighed. “I’m not going to make you tell me.” He sat down next to her, glancing at the laptop. “So what are we watching?” he asked, pulling a doughnut with pink and yellow icing out of the box and handing it to her.

They watched two movies back-to-back. The urge to cry slowly eased as she defended the silly plot lines and bad acting to Sam who had suddenly become some kind of harsh movie critic.

His shoulder was against hers. Every time he moved, his arm brushed hers. Try as hard as she could, she couldn’t ignore the sensation. Or the quick spread of goosebumps the contact had spreading across her arm.

She felt her overworked eyes getting heavier by the minute. She pulled her knees up to her chest, encircling them with her arms. She could feel the outline of Sam’s body next to hers. The heat he was giving off made her feel warm and sleepy. Lulled by his presence, he drifted quickly off to sleep.

Sam had expected to be greeted with one of those big, happy smiles of hers when she noticed that he had been thinking about her while on a short business trip. But there she stood in his old t-shirt with her big green eyes puffy from crying. He had felt the fist of jealousy all day when he had heard about her and Eric, but then it was growing, almost overpowering in its intensity. And yet all he wanted to do was pull her into his arms and make her laugh until she didn’t look so sad anymore.

But he knew he couldn’t do that so he settled for sitting with her so she didn’t feel so alone in whatever misery she was going through. He picked apart her movies with amusing digs as the characters and plot lines until she was smiling and rolling her eyes at him. Before long she had already eaten four of the doughnuts, carelessly licking the sticky icing off her fingertips.

She fell asleep quickly, her head landing softly on his shoulder. They sat like that for half an hour, his head resting against her soft brown hair and felt his own eyes getting sleepy. He gently pulled her close to him and rolled with her until they were both laying on the couch, his back against the back cushion with Anna facing him. He wrapped an arm around her so she wouldn’t fall and slowly drifted off to sleep, listening to the sound of her soft breathing.

Anna woke up with a start, feeling disoriented. It took her sleep-fogged brain a few moments to register that she was in her house, on her couch. And that she had been asleep on Sam’s hard yet comfortable chest. She wondered how long they had been asleep. How they had even gotten into that position to begin with.

Sam started to stir beneath her and took a deep breath before saying in a voice gruff from sleep, “Hey there sleeping beauty.”

The arm around her didn’t loosen, in fact he pulled her tighter against his broad chest. She felt him yawn. Then his weight suddenly shifted and she grabbed his waist, afraid she was going to fall.

A second later, she found herself pinned beneath Sam. He propped his weight up on his elbows and one of his legs pushed up between hers until she felt his hipbone rest against the juncture of her thighs.

His deep brown eyes were heavy and she wondered if it was from sleep or arousal. He was looking down at her intensely as she struggled to make eye contact. She was having trouble breathing, she realized. Whether it was from her own excitement or surprise of from his weight on her chest, she wasn’t sure.

He was going to kiss her, she realized with a start. But then again maybe she was wrong. She had been wrong about Eric wanting to kiss her. Maybe she was just imaging things lately. Maybe he was just trying to get off the couch without making her get up. Maybe…

“Don’t look so scared, Anna,” he said softly and she realized it was the first time he had said her name. It sounded like a secret on his lips, like something only the two of them could share. “I’m not going to hurt you, okay?” he asked, scanning her face, waiting for an answer.

At a complete loss of words, she nodded. A second later, Sam lowered his head, angling slightly to the left until his lips found the soft skin of her neck. Anna sucked in her breath at the contact, a slight gasp escaping her lips. She felt Sam smile against her neck before continuing his trail of kisses across her neck to the other side and then up, landing on her earlobe.

She almost pulled away, unfamiliar with the sensation but Sam’s breath was in her ear and she heard him softly whisper, “It’s alright. Relax.” And then she felt the soft tip of his tongue gently stroke her ear and a shudder wracked her whole body.

He lightly nipped at the fleshy edge of her earlobe before raising his head to look at her again. His eyes were clouded and she had no doubt about his arousal as she felt how hard he was pressed up excitingly to her pelvis.

He lowered his head again, this time his lips found hers with just the ghost of pressure at first. She shivered and closed her eyes, her hand sliding up his back. He increased the pressure slowly and she sighed, her lips parting slowly. Sam’s tongue slipped inside to find hers and Anna’s hand dug into his back, her legs tightening around his hips, pulling him closer.

She had been kissed before, of course, but she had never felt this connected to her own body. Every nerve was processing sensations. The feel of his heart against her suddenly heavy breasts. His slick tongue toying with hers. His insistent cock pushing into the flesh of her belly.

His lips suddenly grabbed hold of her tongue, sucking roughly. A strangled moan escaped her lips and just as suddenly as he started, he stopped.

He kissed her closed eyelids quickly before pulling away. She felt his ragged breath on her face. She herself was feeling breathless, somehow completely overwhelmed physically.

“Open your eyes,” he said quietly. “Open your eyes, Anna,” he repeated when he didn’t respond.

They opened, wide though they felt heavy.

“Shit,” he cursed, raising himself off of her and into a seated position on the couch. He sat there a moment catching his breath with his hands on his head. “Sorry, he said, standing. “I shouldn’t have done that.”

And with that, he left.

Anna didn’t move, her overwrought body trembling slightly. What just happened? Why did he feel like he shouldn’t have kissed her? At least this time she knew it wasn’t from a lack of attraction. The straining erection she felt pressing into her soft flesh didn’t lie. She took some small amount of comfort in that, but was clueless as to why he had felt the need to apologize to her after giving her the most intensely sexual experience she had ever experienced.

After laying there for a moment to settle down, she got up to go take a long, cold bath as she cursed the male residents of Stars Landing with every filthy word she could think of.

Something was seriously wrong with the whole lot of them.

–

Sam walked home slowly, ridiculously aroused and frustrated. Anna had nearly pushed him past his self control with her completely open response to him. He had felt her body twist and tremble, her fingers digging into the flesh of his back, her legs pulling his hardness closer to her. She had gasped and whimpered and moaned. But when she opened those big green eyes, they looked huge and confused like a deer in the headlights.  And then he realized with absolute certainty that she was a virgin. And he had to stop himself before she allowed him to do something she was probably going to regret.

He’d seen that look of bewilderment and hurt cross her face as he left but he comforted himself with the idea that he had done this for her own good.

He got home and tried to clear his mind of Annabelle Goode.

And failed miserably.

Seven
 

It had been Hank The Friendly Grocer who had convinced her to go. She cursed him as she pulled the new dress out of the shopping bag. He had somehow even managed to make her believe that it would be good for her business if she showed her face. Though now that it was time to get ready, she pretty much accepted that Hank was just a good-natured, bold-faced liar.

The Spring Into Summer Dance event was an annual tradition in Stars Landing. It was a charity event orchestrated by a handful of the older, very wealthy residents of the town. Apparently all the proceeds benefited one lucky high school student each year for a future college education.

Hank had explained that upon entering (and paying a nominal fee of five dollars), each lady got a dance card. And to get a spot on a lady’s dance card, a man had to pay one dollar. At the end of the night they would tally all the dance cards and the wealthy families would each match the amount. Then the final dance brought all the ladies up to be bid on by all the men for one final dance.

Though she felt conned into it, she thought it was a wonderful event. They could have just donated the money of course, but they chose instead to make a community event out of it to keep everyone in their small town engaged with each other. And as cheated as she was by Hank, she understood his motives. More women in attendance meant more dance slots which meant more money.

She honestly wasn’t much of a dancer, but she was willing to do her part to help send some deserving kid to college who otherwise might not have gotten a chance.

The dress she chose was fashioned from a vintage design. It had a square-cut bodice and was tight to almost hip-length where it flared out slightly and fell just below the knee. It was white with a pretty petite rose pattern. She had bought a pair of bright red pumps to go with it.

It had been a long time since she had a reason to make herself all pretty. It was something she enjoyed doing once in a while. There was something exciting about taking a long hot shower (or in her case… an awkward bath), shaving your legs, and using extra conditioner to make sure your hair was soft that reminded her of her teens. She dried her hair and decided to spend an extra half an hour carefully applying a curling iron to her usually pin-straight tresses. She curled and combed her fingers through her hair then curled again until she got the perfect tousled loose ringlets.

She dusted her eyelids with a shimmering skin colored shadow and drew a perfect cat eye with liquid eyeliner before applying a few coats of mascara. Lastly, she added a coat of red lipstick. It had been a gift from her mother on her last birthday because apparently it was almost impossible for a woman to find the perfect shade of red and it was a very important item for her to have just in case she needed it.

Viv would be glad she finally had a reason to wear it.

Stepping back from the mirror, she eyed her handiwork. The transformation was extreme for someone who never bothered much with makeup. She looked effortlessly glamorous and sure of herself where she generall seemed about average and self-conscious. Hopefully her new look would prompt at least a few names on her dance cards- even if they were just pity bids.

Anna sprayed the air with perfume, stepping through it and grabbing a small wristlet bag and heading to her car before she could talk herself out of going.

The high school gym had been transformed into a summer garden. The school seniors and the town counsel had been busy every afternoon when school let out for a week. White garden lattice had been used to cover the padded walls. Artificial vine plants snaked up them in varying colors and spread across the ceiling, billowing down and laced with small white twinkle lights. The stage had potted plants lined up in front of it, spilling over the sides of their planters in gorgeous rainbows of colors. On the stage itself there were potted decorate shrubs, shaped into cones and squares and varying other unusual shapes. A DJ was situated discreetly next to the stage, his table covered in a grass-patterned tablecloth. A refreshment stand was next to it.

Directly in the door to her left was the admission table. “Well well well,” a female voice said from behind it. There sitting behind a huge sign telling everyone to sign in there, sat Maude Mays in a light orange summer dress and a hat lined in flowers. “don’t you clean up nice? Come over here and sign in, girl.” Anna paid her five dollars and wrote her name on top of one of the lined dance cards. “Now, I’ll hold onto this and when someone wants to dance with you, they will come to me and sign up and pay. You just go and enjoy being young and pretty.”

Anna thanked Maude and walked into the gym, feeling a lot like an outsider. Everyone was scattered around in small groups, laughing and enjoying the festive atmosphere. A few eyes fell her way, appraising her new look. Most people gave her a small, friendly smile. But out of the corner of her eye, she could swear she saw someone looking at her with outright loathing.

Annabelle took in her bleach blond hair and icy blue eyes. Her pink dress was overly tight and her heels very high. She looked to be about Viv’s age with an impressive shape. Anna looked away first, unsure what she could have possibly done in the past few months to deserve such animosity.

But she didn’t have much time to give the thought before pretty little Ashley from the diner came bouncing over in royal purple sundress looking very much like a stunning picture of young happiness.

“Oh isn’t this so exciting? I’ve always loved this event but have always been too young to participate. This is my first year. The dance hasn’t even started yet and Maude just told me my dance card is already full! Can you believe it?” she gushed, practically bouncing with excitement.

“Yes, yes I can. You look beautiful.”

Ashley rushed on about the decorations and how dapper the boys from her school actually looked all dressed up before she ran off to greet her friends.

Anna looked around. The bleachers were full of younger teens, clustered in groups separated by obvious school cliques. There were families with children and elderly couples all dressed up in their best.

She slowly made her way over to the bleachers just as the band started up. The first song was a fast and cheery oldie and everyone who had a partner made their way to the dance floor. Ashley was being spun around by a handsome teenager dressed in all black dress shirt and slacks with bright yellow suspenders and tie.