Never one to be outdone, I shoved my hand down the front of his board shorts and grabbed his cock. Hot skin and hard flesh more than filled my hand. All the while, his hooded gaze stayed glued to my face, doing his best to read me no doubt. But I was in charge. Not him. And pushing aside my bikini bottoms and sinking down on him more than demonstrated that fact.
“M-Martha,” he stammered, fingers digging into my hips almost hard enough to bruise. His eyelids slammed shut. “Fuck.”
The man was large. Thicker than I’d expected. Some wriggling was definitely required. I panted, gripping his neck tightly, my cheek pressed against his. Bit by bit, I took all of him inside me. An adjustment period would also be needed. Holy hell. “Just give me a moment.”
“Give you a moment?” He shifted his hold, strong arms surrounding me. “I think you just killed me.”
“What? Why?”
“It didn’t occur to you to give me any warning?”
“Me grabbing your penis didn’t signal something was about to happen?”
His laughter came from deep inside his chest, brutally low and rough. Hands stroked firmly down my spine, soothing me. There may or may not have been an air of possession about the way he touched me. I don’t know. Other things were on my mind right then. Like figuring out how to breathe and keep my heart beating with his big dick inside of me. “Guess I should have asked about protection etcetera.”
“That might have been wise.” More laughter. “I’m clean. Tested regularly.”
“Yes, same, regularly. I always have, promise.”
“I know. Wouldn’t have let you grab my dick without a lengthy discussion otherwise.”
“Then what the hell were you complaining about just now?” I rested my chin on his shoulder, getting comfortable. For such a hard man, he was awfully comfy. “Honestly, Sam. Talk about mixed signals.”
“Most women like a little foreplay first is all.”
“Oh, that.”
“We haven’t even kissed.” His mouth moved up my neck, hot and seductive. Teeth nipped and his tongue dragged over my skin, lighting up every single freaking nerve in me. “Not that I’m complaining.”
“Do that again.”
He obliged as I rocked my hips, rising and falling just a little. There was no rush. And testing his stamina appealed to me. Fingers tugged at the ties on my bikini top, loosening the straps. Soon I was as bare chested as him, my stiff nipples brushing against his hard pecs and smattering of chest hair. Interesting to note that sensation wise, chest hair had been much underrated. Most of the guys I’d screwed previously had shaved or waxed. But this was much nicer.
One hand palmed a breast, the other holding the back of my neck. All the better to guide my mouth to his. It wasn’t a polite first kiss. But then, I guess we were probably well past that stage. His firm lips pressed hard against mine, slick tongue sliding into my mouth. The man kissed me with a decade’s worth of hunger and longing. I might not have known for quite that long, but I answered him just the same. We owned each other. Mouths fused and hands grasping.
Finished with kneading my breast, he traced down to where we were joined. The pad of his thumb rubbed around my clit, tantalizing me and making everything that much more urgent.
“That’s it,” he murmured.
I rode him harder, taking his thick girth. With him working me, dragging things out this time wasn’t an option. Someone had obviously given the man a map to my body. Or he simply was that good. Either way, my pussy tightened on him. Everything in me drawing impossibly tight before boom! Orgasmic explosion. It was the big bang all over again. I came harder than I had possibly ever. My body shaking, every muscle trembling. All of the good hormones rushed through me, sending me sky high.
“Christ.” Gripping my hips tight, he slammed me down on him over and over. Until finally he came too. “Martha.”
If I hadn’t been busy biting his shoulder I might have answered. Doubtful though. My mind had been wiped clean, every part of me floating and yet weirdly heavy with lassitude. It was entirely possible I’d never come down. His body shook, pelvis grinding against me. We were plastered together, not a hairsbreadth of space between us. My arms were wrapped tight around his neck. Possibly suffocating him. But honestly, such were the risks of making a woman come that hard.
And so easily. Damn.
Next time I’d make him work harder for it. Try out a couple of different positions and really put him to the test. Yes, good call. Using Sam for sex might just be the best idea I’d ever had. Or possibly the worst, given how scarily addictive sex with him could become. Maybe I should take a breath before already mentally planning our next encounter.
“What are you thinking about?” he asked, clever fingers massaging my back, rubbing my neck.
“Nothing,” I lied. “You didn’t even think to ask if I was on contraception.”
He shrugged. “A baby would be fine. After all, I’m not getting any younger.”
“You did not just say that.” I sat up, aghast. It took a moment to untangle ourselves and another to find my bikini top. “A baby…fucking hell, Sam.”
“Too much?” His smile was small but sneaky. Very sneaky. “I think you’d make a wonderful mother. Look how good you are with Gib.”
“I’m on contraception, thank you very much.”
“Of course you are. It was just a thought. But on the timeline it was still a year or so down the track.”
Given how much effort I put into glaring at the man, his magnanimous expression was irritating as all hell. While he tucked himself back into his pants, I concentrated on righting my bikini. Because it would be wonderful if anyone looking out the windows saw me half naked. Absolutely wonderful. Maybe semi-public sex in my brother’s hot tub hadn’t been the best idea. Especially since it had started Sam talking about children, of all things. Though the orgasm really had been something.
“Relax, Martha,” he said. “I’m just joking. Of course you’re not ready to discuss children yet.”
My mouth really did gape this time. “I said I was just using you for sex.”
“And you did.”
“That’s all. Just sex.”
“All right then.”
He put his hands behind his head, all relaxed-like. Not getting distracted by the way the position made his muscles bulge was harder than it should have been. Especially given how angry he’d made me. Thank God for champagne. I grabbed another glassful, sitting safely opposite and well away from him. If ever a man seemed to delight in pressing my buttons. Though he didn’t just press them. He jabbed at those bastards for all he was worth and then sat back and clapped when I went off. Asshole. And they said age brought you wisdom. Boy were they wrong.
“You are such a shit stirrer,” I grumbled.
“Sorry, love.”
“Stop calling me that,” I said. “And if you ever repeat that crap about us having children I am never fucking you ever again.”
“That would be sad. I thought for a first time we didn’t do too badly.”
Silence descended. Stars twinkled. I sipped my champagne and tried to re-find my post-orgasmic bliss. “You think you can do better?”
“I know so.”
“Hmm.”
He waded across the tub, stopping when my outstretched hand hit his chest. “I’m not allowed to show you affection after sex?”
“A. I like my space. B. You’ve pissed me off.”
Instead of retreating, however, he stayed put, stroking my hand and toying with my fingers. The same ones holding him back. Such a ridiculous man, behaving as if we were suddenly a couple or something. Either that or a very determined one.
His gaze when he looked at me was gentle, far too warm. “Like I said, I’ve been waiting for you for a long time. I was a little worked up. Next time will be much better, I promise.”
Much better might kill me. Still, it was an intriguing idea. “I’ll give it some thought.”
“You do that.”
“I’m going up to bed now. Alone.” And while climbing over the edge of an inbuilt hot tub in a bikini might not be the most elegant exit, it was, however, certainly the most expedient. With the overly demonstrative mood Sam was in, he’d probably want to hug or something, which would be misleading for everyone involved. That wasn’t what we were. Whatever exactly we were.
“Night, love,” he said cheerfully. Apparently undeterred.
“Stop calling me that,” I hissed, collecting the remnants of the bottle of Cristal on my way. Be a pity to waste it and I was in need of something to calm me down.
Behind me, he chuckled, all amused. The jerk. In a display of great maturity and grace, I ignored him and got the hell out of there. I had the worst feeling I might not in fact be winning when it came to our verbal sparring. Perhaps all of the information, emotions, and sex had boggled my brain. Tomorrow I’d have a better handle on things. A clearer perspective.
Inside the house, Lizzy was wisely nowhere in sight. A second bottle of Cristal waited on my bedside table along with some candles for mood lighting. She probably thought she’d been setting up quite the lovenest for Sam and me. As if. I’d catch up with her later, the conniving girl.
And I did not lie awake for hours frowning at the ceiling thinking about him. That would just be stupid. For some reason, however, sleep didn’t come. But surely it had nothing to do with him. Because whatever Sam’s original plans might have been, we were just using each for sex. Therefore, there could be no possible reason for me to be freaking out about all of his relationship talk. Sex. Nothing more. Nothing less. Just really great sex. Apparently, even better than what we’d had tonight and it had been rather fucking great. Though he might have just been bragging. Though as my brother had said, Sam wasn’t the type to say something he didn’t mean.
Hmm.
Since I couldn’t sleep, I drank some more champagne, because why not? That’s unfortunately when the bad thing happened.
“Heard someone was seen skulking out of the pool house this morning in the early hours.” The drummer grinned. Most likely the housekeeper had ratted me out. For some reason she thought Mal was delightful. “Fast work, Marty. You go, girl.”
Jimmy just seemed amused at the news. But David and Ben gave me startled glances. Hypocrites. As if neither of them had copulated in the history of space and time. My brother had even rather infamously impregnated Mal’s then twenty-one-year-old sister-in-law. It had caused all sorts of trouble within the band and their entourage. Sam and I getting it on barely rated as news compared to that scandal.
With three children under the age of three running around, telling the man to go fuck himself was out of the question. Sadly. Still, my smile was all sharp teeth. “Why, thank you, Malcolm. You know how I value your input into these things.”
Gibby, along with Jimmy and Lena’s twin girls, were building and destroying towers of blocks faster than I could keep track. The creative and destructive power of small children was awe-inspiring. Also the range of floor space they managed to spread their toys across. I sat on the ground nearby, doing my best to try to keep it contained to one general corner of the room. But alas, I was no match for their sheer exuberance. Blocks were everywhere.
Since the band had been putting the finishing touches to some new songs, everyone was in attendance. Even Adam had been running around, acting as both errand boy and roadie. He tuned guitars and fetched things, all while avoiding my gaze whenever possible. Suited me fine. The less said about last night the better. At least Sam had been busy organizing security for a show next week for charity and hadn’t yet made an appearance.
But of course, Mal wasn’t even remotely finished. “Poor Adam. Did you get any sleep at all, man? How thin are the walls out there in the pool house of love?”
Adam just gave me a worried look. “I didn’t say anything.”
Oh, God.
“You didn’t say anything about what exactly?” asked Mal, twirling a drumstick in one hand. “Not holding out on us are you, dude?”
The kid froze.
“Can’t hold out on your fellow band members. That’s not cool.”
His brows drew in. “I’m a solo act.”
“Yeah,” said Mal. “But I’m playing on your album under my awesome new secret name, Sticks McGee. Ingenious, right?”
“That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.” Ben didn’t even bother to look up from where he was busily making notes on a pad of paper. “You’re playing uncredited like we decided. I don’t want any of the attention taken away from Adam. It’s his debut album.”
“Fine, whatever. But he still has to tell us what he knows.” Given they were both around the same height, Mal couldn’t quite loom over the kid. But he certainly tried. Peer pressure at its finest. “Is Marty a screamer? Likes to make farm animal noises in bed? Or no, did she say mean things during sex and make Sam cry? C’mon, what went down? You can tell me.”
My hands bunched into fists. “Mal…”
“What? No,” stammered Adam. “She just…I mean, it’s not even a big deal and…it was just an accident.”
“Not another word.” Normally, violence wasn’t my thing. But I might punch someone. “I mean it.”
Ben just shook his head.
David looked vaguely confused.
Jimmy, meanwhile, was now wearing quite a broad smile. “What did you do?”
“Nothing,” I lied with much vehemence. “Nothing happened!”
“Adam, my boy.” Mal continued to twirl the stick in a vaguely threatening manner. “Don’t make me use the drumsticks of death on you. It’s not a nice way to go.”
The children laughed and clapped at the idiot drummer’s display. Like he needed any encouragement. But Adam’s gaze kept darting between me and Mal, trying to decide whose wrath would be mightier and scarier. And since Mal stood closer, I lost.
“She just got the room wrong, is all,” Adam blurted out, finally. “Thought mine was Sam’s and stumbled in a little drunk.”
I hung my head and covered my face. So I missed seeing Sam stride into the room, assessing the situation in an instant. Or perhaps our voices had carried.
Mal’s hyena cackle filled the big room. “Oh. My. God. You poor young innocent thing to have to face down Marty’s lusts all alone in the dark like that. Were you terrified? I know I would have been. Tell me more.”
Sam sighed, crouching down behind me. What should have been a comfort was not on account of how he actually fucking told them. “Then she slapped him on the ass and declared it was booty call time. Fortunately I had, however, heard her enter the building and intervened.”
“What’d you do, Sam? What’d you do?”
“I threw the slightly intoxicated lady in question over my shoulder and told young Adam to go back to sleep since I’d be dealing with the situation,” said Sam, who I now officially hated. Unfortunately, ex-Navy SEAL. So when I tried to jab him with my elbow, he simply caught it and gave me a smile. “Sorry, love. But I’m afraid that story was always going to get out. Especially once Adam opened his mouth and Malcolm caught wind of it. Best that they hear about it now, have their laugh, and then get on with their lives.”
“How could you?” I growled.
“It’s going to be all right.”
“They’re never going to let me live this down.”
My brother shook his head, mumbling something about neither wanting nor needing to know about my sex life. I hadn’t wanted him, or any of the others, to know either. And I couldn’t even bring myself to see what expression David had on his face. But while Jimmy had the manners to at least turn his head away to chuckle, Mal was outright crying from laughing so hard. “We really aren’t. We’re going to give you shit about this forever and ever.”
“No, you’re not,” said Sam simply. “Because if you do, I’ll accidentally hurt you sometime when you least expect it.”
“Y-you’ll hurt me?”
“Yes.”
“Are we talking really bad like blood and stuff?” asked Mal. “Or just a little bad like a stubbed toe or something? Because that would probably be worth it.”
“The first one.”
At this, Mal’s joy up and disappeared. “Good God, that’s harsh. Also, I don’t see how you can do it accidentally.”
“Never you mind. I’ll find a way.”
“It’ll never work. We’re totally untouchable. We’re protected by this kick-ass bodyguard. You know the guy I mean. What’s his name again? Help me out here.”
“You pay me to protect you from other people,” growled the bodyguard. “Not from myself. And I don’t like anyone upsetting my woman, is that understood?”
My shoulders stiffened at his words.
“Right then, so this is never to be mentioned again.” Sam set a hand on my shoulder, rubbing lightly. “We all make mistakes. Time to move on.”
“Well, this isn’t cool. I don’t think I like you and Marty getting together after all,” said Mal, the edges of his lips turned sadly downwards. “I’m still telling Anne all about what happened last night and you can’t stop me because it’s hilarious. After that, I guess I’ll let it go. But only because I’m a wonderful caring human being and not because you threatened me with bodily harm.”
“Thank you, Malcolm. Knew we could rely on your discretion.”
There was multiple clearing of throats and eventually they got busy doing their own thing again. Sam, however, stayed crouched at my side. “You have marker on you.”
“Gib decided he wanted to draw on me,” I said. “Give me tattoos like his father and friends.”
Sam leaned in, inspecting the artwork. “An interesting idea. Though your face was pretty enough without whatever that’s meant to be.”
“It’s a tractor, apparently. I can’t believe you told them.” Hands rubbed at my shoulders, trying to soothe. And failing miserably. “Anyone could have made that mistake. I wasn’t even very drunk. It was just really dark and I didn’t want to turn on the lights and wake anyone up. How was I to know it was the wrong ass I was slapping?”
Sam nodded in sympathy. If there was some sign of amusement in his eyes, I chose to ignore it. This time, at least.
“This thing between us was supposed to be secret,” I said. “Private.”
“Have you ever known anything that happened around this bunch and managed to remain private?”
I just scowled.
Music started up and children played and my mind was a fucking mess. But Sam waited, as patient as ever. Whatever we were, this wasn’t the place to discuss it. Not that I particularly ever wanted to discuss the situation between us. After all, nothing wrong with being fuck buddies.
“You’re not ashamed of me, are you?” he asked.
“No,” I said, mildly outraged. “That’s not it at all. I just…and you called me your woman. What was that about?”
“Oh, I was just using terms they’d understand to make sure they didn’t give you any crap.” He waved the words away like they were little more than a pesky bug. “No big deal.”
Only it kind of was. Yet there’d been enough drama today without me going off. Me being the center of attention here was not what I wanted, contrary to popular opinion. My particular brand of bitch might be all about me getting my way. But it wasn’t all about me getting my way with every damn person watching. A fine yet important distinction in my life.
At least Gibby and the twins had been too busy playing to pay attention and learn any new and fascinatingly inappropriate words. One small relief.
“Don’t frown, love. Everything’s fine.”
With a sigh, I chilled, easing up on whatever pissy expression I’d been wearing. I couldn’t even particularly be bothered getting angry with him about the endearment, though I did manage a mumbled “Stop calling me that.”
“Sorry.”
I took a deep breath. “And I’m not ashamed of you. I would never be ashamed of you. That’s a ridiculous idea.”
“Holy hell,” said Mal, breaking off from the song with a clatter of percussion, and pointing at us with a drum stick. “Did you guys see that? It’s like he’s the Martha Whisperer. Could have sworn she was going to go off and he just totally talked her down. Not even you used to be able to do that, Davie.”
“Malcolm,” said Sam sternly.
“Sorry, sorry. I’m totally minding my own business.”
“That’ll be the day,” said Ben. “Can we get back to work now?”
Sam planted a kiss on top of my head. In front of everyone. I could feel curious eyes on us. But they could all be ignored. Talk about a situation getting out of hand. And it hadn’t even been twenty-four hours since we’d had our pseudo relationship whatever discussion. Things were happening too fast. All I’d wanted was to crawl all over him and use him as my very own personal sex toy. God, talk about complicated. Maybe we should slow things down.
“We’re fine, right?” I asked. “I mean, we’re still friends?”
“Of course we are. You even know which bedroom’s mine now when you’re feeling in the mood.” His thumb brushed over Gib’s artwork. Then he gave my fading black eye a quick grimace. “I’ve got to get back to work. Will I see you later?”
Ziggy came in then and called him away on some business. Just as well. I didn’t have an answer.