LATER THAT NIGHT, gathered around a fire on the beach with Nick, her sisters and their husbands, as well as Sam’s partner, Freddie Cruz and his fiancée, Elin Svendsen, Sam tried to relax and enjoy the stories, the laughter, the endless flow of cocktails and the s’mores that Sam’s brother-in-law Mike made for everyone. They’d talked Freddie and Elin into spending the night on the pullout sofa in the living room, and she’d even gotten her straitlaced partner to indulge in a few beers. Scotty and his cousins had been sent to bed an hour ago.
With a full moon hanging over the beach, a sky filled with stars, a warm breeze blowing in from the ocean and most of her favorite people beside her or nearby, Sam should’ve been having the time of her life. But she hadn’t been able to shake off the feeling of foreboding from this morning, or forget what Nick had told her about the call from Halliwell. They had a policy of not keeping stuff from each other, but she wished he’d kept that bombshell to himself, at least until their vacation was over.
Apparently, she sucked at hiding her disquiet, because people had been asking her all day what was wrong, including her astute partner, who looked at her now with concern and dismay.
“Ah, screw it,” Sam said, startling the others with her outburst. “Tell them what you told me earlier.”
Nick glanced at her. “Do I have to?”
“Yes, you have to. If I have to be freaking out about it, everyone else does too.”
“The rules according to Sam,” Tracy said with a grin. “Spill it, Nick.”
“The DNC chair, Halliwell, called yesterday to ask if I had a vice president in mind.”
The statement was met with complete silence.
“Fuck,” Spencer finally said. “That means the party is losing confidence in Nelson’s ability to hang on.”
“Right.” Nick tended to the fire, adding another log and poking at it until the flame flared up.
No one said a word, and Sam began to regret tossing a bomb into their good time. “I didn’t mean to ruin everyone’s fun.”
“You didn’t,” Angela said. “This is a big deal. No wonder you’ve been so quiet today.”
“You should’ve enjoyed the quiet while you had the chance,” Sam said, smiling at her sister.
“What did you say to Halliwell, Nick?” Freddie asked.
“I told him I haven’t given a single thought to a VP—and I won’t until I have to. He said it might be time to start thinking.”
“From everything Nelson has said and done since his son’s arrest,” Mike said, “I don’t see him going down without a fight.”
“I don’t either,” Nick said. “But he’ll be under tremendous pressure to put the country ahead of himself. Depending on what comes out during the hearings, he may not be able to fight the tide.”
Tracy reached for Sam’s hand and gave it a squeeze. “You guys have every good reason to be freaking out.”
Sam held on tight to her sister’s hand. “It’s not like we didn’t know this was possible, but we didn’t expect... Not like this...”
“Why would you expect the sitting president’s son to go so far as to kill your ex-husband for info he could use against you and your vice president husband because the son has political aspirations of his own?” Freddie asked.
Sam smiled at him. “When you put it that way...”
“No one could’ve seen this coming,” Mike said bluntly. “It’s right out of a blockbuster Hollywood thriller, which is why the press is salivating over every detail. I saw one report that the cable news channels are enjoying the highest ratings in history since this story broke.”
“Awesome,” Nick said dryly. “Glad we’re able to help their ratings.”
Leaning on his knees, Mike leaned forward, his expression earnest. “I don’t think either of you has fully grasped just how invested the American people are in seeing justice done for you as much as they want it for the country. People are outraged over what was done to you, the threats made against your family, the murder of Sam’s ex-husband, Nick’s mother’s awful interview, all of it.”
“It’s true,” Tracy said. “Everywhere I go, people ask me how you’re both doing and if you’re okay. Every one of them wants Nelson’s head on a platter, even if he had nothing to do with his son’s scheme.”
Sam glanced at Nick, and he reached for her hand.
“People have been so incredibly kind,” Nick said.
“Not all of them,” Sam said of the vocal detractors who’d sounded the alarm about the possibility of a young, unelected vice president ascending to the presidency should Nelson be forced out of office.
“Most of them,” Nick conceded.
“I can’t imagine what it must be like for you guys to be stuck in this state of limbo, waiting to see how it’s going to play out,” Elin said. “It has to be torturous.”
“It hasn’t been too bad,” Nick said, downplaying it for the sake of those who would worry about him if they grasped the full extent of his anxiety. Only Sam knew how little he slept, how much he brooded and the deep toll the stress had taken on him. “Our plan is to keep our heads down and our mouths shut and let Congress do its job. That’s all we can do.”
“Speaking of keeping our heads down...” Sam yawned dramatically and stretched. “I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m ready for bed.”
“You know me, babe,” Nick said with a salacious grin. “I’m always ready when you are.”
While the others groaned at his predictable comment, they helped to douse the fire and clean up the bottles and other trash from the beach. Back inside the big, contemporary house, they made fast work of cleaning up the kitchen and getting Freddie and Elin settled in the living room.
“Thanks for a great day,” Freddie said to Sam. Elin had gone to change and use the bathroom.
“I’m glad you guys were able to come out.”
“I hope you know if there’s anything I can do for you through all this, I’m right here.”
Sam squeezed her partner’s arm. “I always know that. I plan to keep very busy planning your bachelor party. I have a to-do list a mile long before next weekend’s festivities.”
His amiable expression hardened into a glare. “There’d better not be any strippers on that list.”
Sam cracked up and patted his indecently handsome face. “My poor, delusional Freddie. Strippers are the very least of what’s on my list.”
He moaned as he shook his head. “Asking you to be my best-man woman is going to turn out to be the biggest mistake of my life.”
“That’s the goal,” Sam said with a cheeky grin.
Elin rejoined them. “Are you torturing him?” she asked Sam.
“Me? Torture him?”
“Every chance she gets.” Freddie held out his hand to his fiancée. “Come protect me from her.”
Elin went to him and wrapped her arms around him. “My poor baby. I’ll make it all better.”
“Yes, please.”
“I’m out,” Sam said, amused by them. “If you need anything, let me know.”
“We’re good,” he said. “Thanks again for having us.”
“Always a pleasure to have the opportunity to torment you, Detective. Sleep tight, and remember there’re children in this house. Keep it clean out here.”
“Good night, Sam.”
She giggled at her own joke as she closed the door to the first-floor master suite.
“What’re you up to, babe?” Nick asked. He was already in bed, book in hand, covers pooled at his waist leaving his gorgeous man chest in full view. He’d left the sliding glass door open to allow the warm sea air into the room.
Sam realized she was staring at him. Sometimes it still amazed her that they’d managed to find each other twice in a lifetime. Even with their lives out of control more often than not, she wouldn’t trade her life with him for a quieter, more predictable existence with any other man.
“Samantha? You okay?”
As she crossed the big room she peeled her maxi dress over her head and tossed it aside, loving the way his gaze heated at the sight of her coming toward him wearing only a skimpy pair of panties.
“To what do I owe the pleasure of this lovely show?” he asked as she joined him on the bed, straddling his lap and tossing his book aside. It landed on the floor with a loud thunk. His hands encircled her waist before sliding down to grasp her ass and pull her in closer to him.
“It all began this morning when you started something you couldn’t finish in the water. I’ve been counting down to bedtime ever since.”
“So have I.” His hands roved from her bottom to her back and up to tangle in her hair so he could position her for a deep kiss. “In case I forget to mention it, this beach getaway has been the best idea you’ve ever had. I can’t tell you how badly I needed it.”
“We all needed it. Scotty has had a terrific time with his cousins, and I’m enjoying having a full week with you without work or Dispatch or fundraisers or reporters. I haven’t missed the goddamned reporters up in our faces. The Secret Service gets mad props for keeping them away from us here.”
“They’ll be hungrier than ever when we get back. Are you ready for that?”
Looking down at his handsome face, she shook her head and ran her fingers through the chocolate-brown hair that curled on the ends. “I’m not ready, and I don’t have to be ready for four more blissful days. We’ll cross that Bay Bridge when we get to it. In the meantime...” She bent her head to kiss him with teasing strokes of her tongue that quickly had him straining for more. “We have lots more sex to have before this vacation is over.”
“Have I mentioned lately that you’re the best wife I’ve ever had?”
She snorted with laughter. “I’d better be the only wife you ever have, buster.”
“If you hadn’t shown up at my crime scene that day at the Watergate, I never would’ve married anyone.”
“Your crime scene?” she asked, brow raised.
Nick grinned at her predictable reply. “Somehow the worst day of my life became the best too.”
It’d been a while since he mentioned finding his best friend and boss murdered, but she knew he thought of John O’Connor every day and always spoke of him with fondness and affection.
“What would John say if he could see you now?” Sam asked. “Vice president and people floating the possibility of—”
He kissed the question right off her lips. “Don’t say it. There are so many better things we can do with your mouth than talk about that.”
Smiling, she ran her lips back and forth over his. “Such as?”
“More of this.” He tightened his hold on her hair and kissed her with sweeping strokes of his tongue that had her squirming on top of him, trying to get closer to the rigid length of his cock beneath her.
She broke the kiss, gasping. “I’m down with that.”
“Speaking of going down...”
“I’m down with that too. I’m down with anything you want.”
He raised a swarthy eyebrow, and Sam thought that if the women of America could see their insanely sexy vice president in that moment, they’d lose their collective minds. “Anything?”
“Whatever you want.”
“You’re feeling frisky tonight, my love.”
“I’m on vacation with all my favorite people and currently in bed with my favorite husband. I’m feeling happy tonight.”
“I’m glad to hear you say that. I’ve been worried about how you’re handling everything.”
“Don’t worry about me. I’m okay if you’re okay.”
“I will always worry about you, and I could be more okay,” he said, raising his hips suggestively.
“Subtle, Mr. VP. Very subtle.”
“A wise woman once told me I suck at subtlety.”
“Sometimes you’re very good at it.” She began with kisses to his lips and face, laying a path along his jaw and then hovering over his ear. Because they had all night and could sleep in, she took her own sweet time, working her way down his neck and along his collarbone. Nuzzling the soft hair on his chest, Sam breathed in the clean fresh scent of home before nudging his nipple with the tip of her tongue.
He sucked in a sharp deep breath and again fisted handfuls of her long hair.
She continued to go slow, dragging her tongue over each hill and valley of his well-defined abdomen, following the soft trail of hair that led to his cock, which was so hard it nearly reached his belly button. “Someone looks happy to see me.”
“He’s always happy to see you. In fact, you’re his favorite person ever.”
Sam snorted with laughter. Sex with him was always fun—and often funny. He made her so damned happy. The least she could do for him was to try to give him something else to think about other than the dark cloud that hung over them, threatening to burst open at any moment.
Speaking of bursting... She wrapped her hand around the thick base of his cock and stroked him the way he liked it, a little rough and fast.
He groaned deeply and raised his hips to encourage her.
She drew the wide head into her mouth and applied subtle suction as she took him in while continuing to stroke him. The combination always drove him crazy, and this time was no exception.
His fingers tangled in her hair as his hips rose and fell in a rhythmic motion.
Sam took him as deep as she could before drawing back and treating him to some tongue action.
“Fuck,” he whispered on a long hiss of air. “Babe...”
Using her free hand, she gave his balls a gentle squeeze as she sucked him in again. That finished him off, as she’d known it would. She stayed with him until he sagged into the mattress, demolished—just the way she wanted him.
“Jesus,” he said when he could speak again. “Are you trying to kill me?”
“Hardly.” Sam stretched out next to him and pulled a lightweight blanket over them. “I need you too much to kill you. And besides, that’d be too much paperwork when I’m on vacation.” Sam hated paperwork.
“Whatever I did to deserve that, remind me to do it again tomorrow.”
She laughed. “I just wanted you to think about something other than the thing we can’t stop thinking about.”
“Mission accomplished. You completely fried my hard drive, and now all I can think about is sex. More sex. Lots and lots of sex.”
“Oh crap. What’ve I done? How can you want more sex than you already have?”
“Apparently, my desire for you is limitless.”
“That’s more than fine with me.” Sam yawned and snuggled in closer to him.
“I know you really don’t want me to say this, but I’m still sorry I brought all this additional insanity into our lives when we certainly had enough to begin with.”
“I really don’t want you to say that. You have no reason to apologize to me or Scotty or anyone. You were asked to serve your country. No one can fault you for what’s happened since then.”
“Still... I hate that it’s been so stressful for you and Scotty, even if neither of you says much about it.”
Sam raised herself up on one elbow. “It’s only stressful for us because we can see what it’s doing to you.” She caressed his face, noting the dark circles and lines of exhaustion that were new in the last few months. His insomnia was always merciless but never more so than since he’d become vice president.
“What do you say we agree to take this situation one minute at a time and not get too far ahead of ourselves with what might happen?” she asked.
“I think that’s the only way we can do it.”
“So, no more speculation or talk of vice presidents or conversations with the DNC or anything other than contending with whatever is happening in that very minute?”
“I’ll put out the word that I don’t want to talk about it until or unless I absolutely have to.”
“Excellent.” She dropped her head to his chest and put her arm across his midsection.
“You should know, however, that it’s going to take a lot of distractions to keep my mind from wandering.”
Even though he couldn’t see her face, she rolled her eyes. “Your subtlety still sucks.”
“You just said I was getting better at it.” He moved quickly, taking her by surprise when he came down on top of her, perfectly positioned for further distraction.
“Nice move,” Sam said, gazing up at the gorgeous hazel eyes that always looked at her with love and affection and desire and a million other emotions that couldn’t be easily summarized in mere words.
“You liked that?”
She nodded, loving that he seemed so pleased with himself. “I like all your moves.”
“How about this one?” With one determined tug, he ripped the silk panties from her body and entered her in a single thrust that buried him to the hilt.
“That was a good one too,” she said when she had caught her breath.
He nuzzled her neck as he began to move. “Hold on to me, babe, and don’t let go. No matter what.”
She wrapped her arms and legs around him, wanting him as close as she could get him. “I’ll never let go.”