Sweet as Honey (Aster Valley 2)

I shrugged and batted my eyes innocently. “I could probably fix that for you.”

He laughed, bright and clear. The sound filled the space around us and made me feel light as air.

“You’re killing me,” he said before stalking over and pulling me in for a kiss, garbling any sense I had left in my brain and taking away my ability to care about it one way or the other.

Eventually, we came up for air and finished the work. We met Mikey and Tiller for dinner at a pizza place in town, and I was surprised by how normal it felt to be with him as if we were on a real double date. As if a man like Sam Rigby would want to date a man like me.

Mikey and Tiller were engaging and fun as usual, and we ended up running into Winter and Gentry, who joined us at our table. The six of us ate pizza, drank wine, and shared easy company for several hours. It was such an incredibly normal night, like something out of a movie or television show, I wanted to cry with gratitude.

Finally, finally, I had the beginnings of a group of friends. I’d already been included in several of their get-togethers before, but this was different. Maybe it had been the outpouring of support after the fire, or maybe it was knowing that we had a shared enemy in the pension fund scheme, but I finally felt like I was part of something.

During the evening, Sam periodically glanced over or squeezed my hand to make sure I was doing okay, but he never told me I needed to leave to get some sleep or cautioned me against having too much wine. He simply sat beside me and enjoyed our time together as equals. When I was finally ready to go, I turned to him with as much courage as I could muster and asked, “Will you please come home and spend the night with me?”

The look in his eyes was liquid fire, and it burned me all the way through.

“Wild horses couldn’t keep me away,” he said, leaning close and brushing a kiss along the edge of my ear. His murmured words slid into my ears, too soft to be heard by anyone else. “It’s taken every ounce of my patience not to throw you over my shoulder and steal you away to someplace private. You’re the sexiest man in this room, and I want to strip you down and make sure you know it.”

I let out a nervous laugh. “Oh-ho. Oh. Ho. Yes, well. It’s past time for us to go. Goodbye,” I said, standing up and addressing the group. I accidentally knocked the table with my hip and almost spilled several full water glasses.

Sam bit his lip and looked at me with a smirk. “Maybe we should pay first, real quick.”

Heat rushed to my face as I sat back down. “Tiller Raine makes over twenty million dollars per season with the Houston Riggers,” I blurted. “That means while we were sitting here listening to his delightful story about the difference between wing nuts and washers in regards to IKEA furniture—of which, by the way, he probably has none—he earned four thousand dollars. Pretty sure he can cover us for the pizza and wine tonight.”

My eyes widened as my own rude words hit my ears. What had I just said?

Mikey’s eyes widened, and he let out a laugh. “Get it, girl! I was wrong. The man knows football after all.”

Tiller nodded and winked at me. “I got you, cutie. Be safe.”

Gentry leaned forward with a grin. “And if he can’t, I will.”

“I’m sorry,” I muttered, sitting back down. “That was rude. Of course I don’t expect you to pay for our dinner. And I appreciate your extensive knowledge of Swedish engineering. Although… IKEA prefers to use barrel nuts if you want to know the truth. In fact—” I stopped myself before holding up the pointer finger of pontification. “Never mind.”

Sam stood and thanked everyone for a lovely evening before picking me up and tossing me over his shoulder. We left to the hoots and hollers of a table full of kind-hearted men who would have covered the cost of a pizza for any friend in need.

And I was in need.

Despite my big plans for a long night of delicious mutual orgasms, I barely got my pants down before Sam and I were humping each other to completion against the side of the car in my driveway. The cool night air chilled my hot skin, and the sound of Sam’s heated groans made me dizzy.

His murmured “Come for me, sweetheart” almost drove me to my knees, but before I could even think about taking our interlude a step further, I was crying out and coming into his hand while clutching his shoulders and trying not to tip over.