Ashton had spent the week alone, seemingly anchorless. She drifted around her cabin, doing light chores, and took long walks in the mountains, taking in as much beauty as her senses could absorb. Still there seemed to be something missing, and that something was Sam.
She longed to look into those teal blue eyes and see her own reflection, as he studied her from beneath those thick dark lashes of his. She missed his crooked smile and that smoldering lust that lingered just beneath the surface as he tried to deny his attraction to her. SHE WANTED SAM. She had come to terms with that realization and planned to do everything in her power to make him feel the same about her, if he ever decided to come back.
He had left on a bad note, and Ashton longed for another chance to fix what was wrong between them. She debated about walking over to his cabin to see if he had returned, but was leery of going over there again, for fear of running into Leonard. The last conversation she had had with the little angel had left her shaken and angry. Because of him her life would be over in a little over a month, and she felt cheated and wronged. She knew there was nothing she could do to change the outcome, but that did not make her feel any more forgiving towards him.
Saul, on the other hand, had tried to help her, so she had tried everything she could think of to summon him. He was the only one who had answers to her questions, but she had not been able to reach him. Where was he? Had he done his job and now she was on her own? Somehow that did not seem like him. He had seemed warm and compassionate to her situation.
As Ashton sat at her kitchen table in the cabin, she realized that she hadn’t eaten much since Sam left. She had lost her appetite for the food they had bought on their one night together. Even the knowledge that she pretty much could eat anything without the worry of having to take the extra weight off, could not compel her to eat. The food, in her mind, had been bought to share with Sam. And he was not here.
That fact was brought to mind over and over as the days dragged on for her. She wondered where he was and what he was doing. She had a nagging feeling deep down that something was going wrong with him, and she could not get to him to help. Her dreams at night were filled with him in danger, of him being hurt, and of him being lost to her forever. If she kept going the way she was, she would drive herself crazy in no time flat.
She tried to keep busy with her walks, and she even tried her hand at arranging the rocks she collected into a garden. It had turned out okay, but her heart and mind were just not in it. Ashton knew, without a doubt, that she was meant to be with Sam, making it all the harder to bide her time until he returned.
He would return, she knew it. The question was, when? Would it be in time for them to be together before her time was up? She hoped so. Letting out a deep sigh, Ashton went to sit on her back steps, trying to soak up the late morning sunshine. She closed her eyes and raised her face to the light. It was warm and gentle on her cheeks, seeping into her body and making her feel relaxed and drowsy. She leaned back against the steps, closed her eyes, and opened her mind to her surroundings.
She heard small animals scurrying in the undergrowth, she heard birds tending their young chicks, and she heard light footsteps approaching her house. She slowly opened her eyes, her breath stopping in her chest as she saw Sam standing before her.
The breeze gently lifted his hair to play around his face in soft curls, reminding Ashton of a child’s locks with their shine and softness. His teal blue eyes locked with hers, and what she saw in their depths made her pulse gallop and her tongue feel thick. His lips were slightly parted as he drew deep breaths into his chest. His shirt was unbuttoned down the front, giving Ashton glimpses of his bare chest as it rose and fell with those breaths. She caught teasing peeks of the dark mat that lightly covered his hard belly, and that line of soft darkness that pointed like an arrow downward to disappear inside the waistband of his old jeans. The top button was undone and the faded material molded itself to his hips and thighs like a second skin. It covered his long legs and lay in folds on the tops of his worn boots.
He looked so good that Ashton had trouble finding the words to welcome him home, so she simply raised her open arms in an invitation for him to come to her. He moved towards her in unhurried strides, his eyes locked with hers as he came towards her. Ashton could sit still no longer and rose to meet him as he stopped before the bottom step. She raised her hands and, with care, slipped them inside the open folds of his shirt. Her hands felt the heat and smoothness of his skin, as they travelled from his shoulders around to his hard stomach. His stomach jumped and quivered at the light touch of her hands. She let her thumbs slide inside the front of the waistband of his jeans, then slowly circle around to his sides. She let them climb his sides and, again, brought them to his shoulder caps under his shirt.
The shirt became a barrier she wanted gone, so she pushed it down his arms, following its progress with her hands until she reached his fingertips. She helped the shirt slide from his body and let it fall to the dirt, forgotten in her pursuit of the treasure beneath it.
She let her eyes devour the perfection in front of her. The colors, the texture, the expanse of his naked torso filled her vision, until she could see nothing else. She moved a step closer, until the distance that separated them was barely a whisper. She let her lips rest on his flesh, and when that was not enough, she let them travel the hills and valleys of his masculine form, tasting the saltiness of his sweat, feeling the heat roll off him, breathing in the scent that was uniquely his. She knew his body, his smell, his taste, the feel of his skin as well as she knew her own.
She let her hands move to the buttons of his jeans, as her lips continued their journey of discovery. She opened each one slowly, stopping to give small feather like caresses, prolonging the anticipation of freedom. When all had been undone, she inched her hand inside to find he wore no cloth between himself and his jeans. She had the freedom of touching him and releasing him into her waiting hands. He filled them with his length and girth, hot and heavy, smooth to her exploring touch. Her attention had him jumping with reaction and growing in size.
She raised her head from his chest and, immediately, her lips were captured greedily by his. He had been waiting for her to get her fill of his body, to become familiar, to realize this was her home, but he was tired of waiting. Gently he gathered her into his arms and held her tightly against his bare chest, not as if she was breakable but with strength and with their whole bodies touching and learning.
Ashton buried her hands in his so soft hair and held his head still while she rained kisses, soft as feathers, over his face, loving the roughness of his whiskers against her sensitive lips. She wanted more, slowly moving against him, letting him know without words what she wanted, what she needed, what her intentions were. She pleaded with her body for him to come to her, releasing them both from the restraint they had kept over themselves.
And Sam did. His hands rode up her sides, taking her shirt with them until she was bared to the sun and to his gaze. She felt no embarrassment as his eyes feasted hungrily on her nakedness. Sam placed his hands under her arms and lifted her until they were eye to eye. Lowering his head slightly, he buried his face between her breasts, breathing in so deep that Ashton was sure her scent was permanently imprinted in his senses.
His lips and hands began a journey of discovery of their own, and she arched her back and dug her nails into his shoulders with the pleasure it brought her. She wanted it all, and she wanted it now. They’d have time later to go slow and be more detailed in their lovemaking, but for now she needed him inside her.
She dropped her hands and pushed his jeans down over his lean hips. Down until they could go no farther without taking off his boots. There was no time for that, it could come later. She took his hands in hers and placed them on her hips, urging him to imitate her actions, and he did, pushing her jeans down her long silky legs. Hastily, she kicked off her shoes so she could be free of the denim that stood in the way of how she wanted Sam.
When she was free, she rose on her tiptoes and gave a jump, letting Sam catch her bottom in his hands, as she wrapped her legs around his waist. She opened herself to him, letting him lower her until she was filled with him to the point of bursting. She put her hands on his shoulders and leaned back, locking eyes with him as they found their rhythm together, relying on his strength to keep them both upright.
Ashton had never felt this connection with anyone else, and wanted to burst with the happiness she was feeling. She began to draw herself inward as both neared their peak. She felt herself tighten around him and the sun began to fragment and burst behind her eyelids as she arched her back bringing herself more flush against him. She held on while wave after wave rolled through her and finally flung her to rest on its shores, Sam beside her.
She could not move and her eyelids felt too heavy to lift. She lay where she was, in no rush to end the encounter. When her breathing began to resemble something close to normal, she opened her eyes to gaze at Sam and to tell him what she was feeling. But instead, she screamed.
She screamed long and loud, as the face before her was not Sam’s, but Leonard’s.