Tony

 

 

 

 

SHE WAS ALL Kiss me! Kiss me, Tony! Frankly, I had no idea what stopped me. All I knew was that I took a deep breath, clenching my teeth, then I let go of Sam and took a small step back. As far as the wall of solid rock behind me allowed.

Her mouth fell open, and her dark brown eyes turned wide like those of the stallion she’d been riding before. Her nostrils flared slightly.

Fuck, I’d hurt her.

Again, a grumpy voice inside my head pointed out. Yeah, I could do that like no one else. What surprised me was that she would let me kiss her after all the crap that had been going on between us since the day of her arrival. One would think she’d shove me off the cliff the first chance she got.

But for a reason I couldn’t explain to myself, she didn’t. The girl just stood in front of me with sagging shoulders and an expression that tugged at my heart. Ow.

The good thing was, by now I knew how easily distracted Sam could get and I seized the chance. “Turn around,” I told her as softly as possible without letting my frustration with my hesitation slip into my voice.

Her brows knitted together. “Hmm?”

I nodded at the landscape behind her without breaking eye contact, and this time she looked hesitantly over her shoulder. Then she spun around and gasped.

Mission accomplished. Samantha Summers was sucked into the beauty of the fascinating scenery before her and had forgotten all about me. Why did this make me ache to hold her again?

Pressing my back against the wall, I raked my hands through my hair and cut a scornful look skyward. This couldn’t be true. I was attracted to Sam Summers. Another Summers out of all the girls in town. This was crazy. Shit, what was it about me and the women in her family that I couldn’t keep my distance from them?

Sam half-turned back to me…and smiled.

Unfair! I wanted to scream at her.

“This is just beautiful,” she breathed.

I pressed my lips together, forcing a tight smile, and lifted my brows quickly.

Sam gazed down at the multitude of trees, bushes, flowers, roots, and moss again. “It looks just like a page ripped out of a storybook. What an enchanting place.” She was so immersed in the view that she didn’t notice the first few drops of rain falling on her head. Only when the rain quickly got harder did she look up at the sky and wipe the drops away from her face. “I guess we missed our chance to get home dry.”

Ten seconds later the sky opened its watergates and a downpour washed over us. Ducking her head, Sam shrieked and giggled at the same time. She was the only girl I knew who could do that and still sound lovely. With a wry expression on her face, she turned questioning eyes to me. “What do we do now?”

I grabbed her arm and pulled her toward me, then pointed at a tall crack in the rock face a few feet above us. “You get up there and hide in the cave,” I said loudly enough for her to hear me over the pounding of the rain.

Helping her climb the first two steps, I made her move. But when I let go of her and jumped down from the ledge, she stopped, looked down at me, and shouted, “Where are you going?”

“To get your backpack!” With the rain coming down like this, her drawing would be ruined within minutes.

Little runs formed quickly at both sides of the path. I almost slipped on the soft ground. By the time I arrived at the tree where I had left my bike and Sam had left her bag, my shirt clung to me like a second, ugly wet skin. I strapped the dark red backpack over my shoulders and darted back to the rock face, scaling the wall toward the cave where Sam waited.

The hiding place was a narrow crack in the surface, barely broad enough for two. To get there, I had to climb a few steps higher, then jump to the surface where Sam stood. She had stepped back as far as she could, standing on a small rock. I reached her slightly out of breath and braced my impact with my palms at either side of her head. She gasped because I stopped mere inches before her face.

Water dripped from my hair down onto her sweet snub nose. A taunting drop wanted to be kissed away. Oh man, why did this girl tempt me so? She wasn’t Lisa, I tried to argue with myself, but the cousin of the girl who was going to ruin my last years of high school with a lie. I couldn’t trust Sam. Didn’t want to.

But I wanted to fucking kiss those sensual lips in front of me.

Aware that I hadn’t moved for the last half minute, only staring into Sam’s big brown eyes, I dipped my chin a little. Just enough that the tip of my nose brushed that rain drop away from hers.

Sam’s breathing sped up. Almost at eye level with her, I could feel it warm and soft on my chilled skin. Her hands touched my chest, uncertain and light.

“You shouldn’t do this,” she said, her voice a shaky whisper.

I shouldn’t kiss her? “Why not?” Leaning in just a little more, I sounded gentler than I thought I could. Skimming the tip of my nose across Sam’s cheekbone now, I closed my eyes and inhaled the fruity scent of her hair.

Her lips brushing against my cheek ignited a shiver down my back as she answered, “Because you don’t really want it.”

Two minutes ago I might have agreed. But right now I couldn’t imagine anything I would rather do than kiss her. Just one short nip of that luscious bottom lip. Then I would pull back. And everything would be fine.

“Do you want it?” I breathed and placed a tender kiss on the soft spot behind her ear.

Sam stilled, then she sighed, slipping her fingers underneath the straps of her backpack. “That doesn’t matter.”

“It matters to me.”

“I can’t seem to figure out what’s going on inside your head.”

“You don’t have to.”

“See, that’s the problem,” she almost whined. “You’re confusing me. Everything you say seems to be at war with everything you do. This really is a bad idea.” In spite of her words, she leaned into me, pressing her cheek against mine. God, who was the hypocrite now?

Her skin felt velvety soft, tempting me to nibble a path along her jaw. “You sound like you’ve never done anything stupid in your life,” I whispered in her ear.

“Not like this. I think it would change too much…for me.”

My palms still solidly placed against the rock behind her, I touched my brow to hers and looked her in the eye. “You think too much, Bungee.” And with that, I was done talking. I tilted my head and brushed my lips against hers.

I took her bottom lip between my teeth and gently sucked. Sweeping my tongue across it, I could still taste the cherry lollipop and got lost in her soft moan.

Just one little kiss. Nothing was going to change. We would still be friends tomorrow. Not more. Nothing. Would. Change.

I took her hands in mine and moved them away from my chest, lacing my fingers through hers. Feeling her soft hands made me fully aware of how fragile and small she really was. A girl who needed to be protected…from idiots like me.

What the fuck was I doing? I didn’t want a girlfriend. Especially not Chloe’s cousin.

Sam tasted wonderful, but I had to stop it now, or I wouldn’t be able to in another moment. Just when she opened her mouth at my gentle demand and the tips of our tongues brushed against each other, I pulled back, struggling to catch my breath.

This. Was. So. Wrong.