Dirty Little Secret

Chapter Twenty-Six

Samson

“What does that even mean?” Stella asks as I reach back into the cooler.

“It means…” I trail off as I fish out the plastic container, presenting it to her triumphantly. “That no birthday is complete without these.”

She takes it from me with a dubious look on her face. “Are these cupcakes?”

“Of course.”

“From Crumbs?” she asks, referring to her favorite bakery down in the valley. She’s been obsessed with their cupcakes since the day they opened.

In fact, I’m the one who took her—it was the summer before she started high school and her parents both had work and Orion was off with some girl.

So, when she came to me with pouty lips and puppy dog eyes, of course I said yes.

We bought one of every flavor—I used every fucking dollar and coin in my wallet to buy them—and then split them. She loved the pumpkin from the start, while I preferred the salted caramel.

I’ll never forget the way she smiled and said that was perfect because they were both fall flavors and maybe it meant I’d fall for her.

I laughed it off like she was joking, but damn… it only took a few years for Stella to catch me; hook, line, and sinker.

I nod as she pries the lid off of the box.

“Oh my God—are they pumpkin?”

“Your favorite.”

“But how did you know?” Her brow furrows. “Even my mom gets it wrong.”

“What’s it going to take?” I ask, my gaze unyielding, as I beg her to see how much I care for her.

She scrunches her nose, completely cute and clueless. “Take for what?”

“For you to get it.”

“To get what?” Stella asks, frustration seeping into her tone.

I lift two cupcakes from the box and pass one to her. “To get that I know everything about you.”

She readily takes the offered treat, running her finger through the decadent cream cheese frosting—like she always does—before sucking it off. “God, it’s so good.”

The sight of her tongue wrapping around her finger coupled with her moan has my dick straining against my jeans, but damn if she isn’t right. These cupcakes are fucking tasty.

I bet they’d taste even better eaten off her naked body, I think to myself as she goes in for another lick of frosting.

“You’re wrong,” Stella says, as she peels the wrapper from hers and then tears off the bottom section of cake and presses it into the frosting, making a cupcake sandwich.

“Wrong about what?”

“You don’t know everything about me.”

It’s a fight not to roll my eyes at her smart mouth. “Damn close, and the things I don’t know, I have a lifetime to learn.”

Thanks to the moon high in the sky, I can see the pretty pink blush staining her cheeks. “A lifetime, huh?”

“You think I’m ever letting you go again?”

She shrugs, popping the last bite of her cupcake into her mouth.

“Mark my words Luna—I am never letting you go.”

“That’s an awfully big promise.”

“It’s always been my promise. Do you remember what I said when I gave you that ring you wear around your neck?”

Her burn even brighter. “That we belonged to one another.”

I nod. “That’s right. Even when I messed up and we were apart, you were still mine. The fact that you never took off that ring—not really—proves it.”

“You broke my heart Samson, but even then, every shattered piece still beat just for you.”

Unable to help myself, I lean forward and cup her cheek. “You’re it for me, Stella Cartwright. For as long as I have breath in my lungs and blood pumping through my veins, you’re it for me.”

“Samson,” she exhales my name and the sound of it goes straight to my dick and I want nothing more than to haul her into my lap so I can see all of the other ways I can make her say my name.

But I don’t—not yet.

“You forgot something,” I tell her, grabbing another cupcake.

“What?”

I produce a candle and lighter from my back pocket. “I didn’t sing to you and you didn’t get to make a wish.”

“Oh, no, you don’t have to do that.”

“I want to.” Truly, I do. Aside from last year, I’ve never missed singing her happy birthday. My voice is shit, but it’s always been something I’ve done for her.

“Samson.” She’s all business, trying to convince me not to serenade her.

“Stella.” But I’m not so easily swayed. This woman deserves the best, to be spoiled, to know she is so fucking loved that she never questions where she stands with me ever again.

She rolls her pretty blue eyes. “This is so embarrassing.”

“What is? Me singing to you?”

“Yes! We’re alone in the woods! It’s weird.”

I scoot closer to her. “That’s right, we’re all alone, there’s no reason to be embarrassed.” I stick the candle into the cupcake and light it as I start singing to her.

With every word, Stella’s cheeks get pinker, until finally the song is over and they’re burning scarlet. “Make a wish, Luna.”