Chapter 11

Samantha

Samantha shot Josh a look as they rode down in the elevator.

Still feeling flushed, half-mortified, half-ashamed, and more than a little redolent with what he’d just made her feel, she was the most uncertain she’d ever been.

And she’d been in an abusive marriage.

Uncertain?

She’d spent so much time uncertain it bordered on the ridiculous. And yet, here she was, barely a year after having been given freedom, and tumbling into what, no matter how she looked at it, seemed certain to be a disaster in the making.

She rubbed her forehead as her thighs, almost of their own volition, clenched as the lift rocked. The faint spasm had her pussy twitching in memory, and her eyes fell closed as remembered sensation whooshed through her.

That had been so good.

So… urgent.

So hot and so liberating it was almost like…

She gnawed at her bottom lip as she realized just how bad Jamie had been in bed.

Sure, it wasn’t fair to compare the two men, but how couldn’t she?

Jamie had been her only lover until ten minutes ago. Now? Well, now, she knew different.

She’d never felt that kind of fire before. It had flared between them like an inferno, and where it had come from, she still didn’t know. They’d been apart, sitting on the floor, discussing the shittiest of situations, and almost free and clear of one another.

Then, they’d stumbled into each other a little, their bodies had brushed, and out of nothing, they’d been there. In each other’s faces. Their mouths connecting, their tongues tangling.

She licked her lips as they tingled at the memory. That had been one of the most powerful experiences of her life, and though she knew she’d regret it later, at that moment, she couldn’t find it in herself to regret anything.

How could she when she felt so astonishingly good?

Still, she didn’t appreciate the immediate distance Josh had shoved between them the minute he’d come back to himself.

She didn’t exactly feel like a slut. How could she be that? When she’d had sex with two men in her whole life? But the way he’d pulled away certainly hadn’t left her feeling warm and cozy inside.

She flushed with heat when he grabbed her arm. “What?” she asked, blinking up at him.

“Are you okay?” He was scowling down at her.

Well, technically, he was scowling at her general vicinity.

She didn’t know Josh well. Even though she’d been married to his best friend, and the two men had hung out a lot, they hadn’t spent a lot of time together really. But, what she did know, was the man wasn’t the kind to avoid eye contact.

What did that mean then?

Had she spooked him?

Could that be it?

There was no way he couldn’t have enjoyed what had just happened between them. It had been like a wildfire had just morphed into existence between them… And, that was why, though she found his behavior decidedly odd, she wasn’t worried.

What had sparked to life was unique.

And if he wanted to hide from that, then she was okay with it. More fool him.

She’d spent too long chasing after one man, and there was no way in hell, she was going to chase after any other.

“I’m fine,” she told him brightly, refusing to be ashamed over what had happened.

Sure, it had been spontaneous, and they’d been damn lucky not getting caught—just how close it had come had the power to make her blush. A tenant or resident could have walked into the hallway at any given moment and caught them in the act! And that wasn’t to say that security cameras hadn’t filmed them…

The thought had her clearing her thought. “I am fine, but just a question…”

“What?” he asked, his gaze on her chin again.

She licked her lips. “Will you be making sure there’s no security footage of what just happened?”

“I’ll make certain of it,” he murmured, as though that went without saying.

And, despite herself, she found his firm authority appealing.

There was something about him. Something that was unique and made him burn like a living flame that scorched her just to look at him.

She was used to money, and she was used to privilege now—well, used to and happy with were two different things—but Josh, she knew, lived in a whole other sphere of influence.

In his world, he could make her in-laws quake in their shoes.

That was impressive.

It was enough to make her pussy clench down hungrily if she were being honest with herself.

She’d had all that power, all that arrogant confidence buried deep inside her. She’d made him roar out with pleasure, made him cry out as he came…

Though her cheeks burned in response to those thoughts, she shoved them away, unprepared to deal with more horniness after an epic session of lovemaking with the man himself.

She nodded and stepped out of the elevator—the doors of which he’d held open with his body.

“Thank you,” she told him calmly, when her blood had started to race again.

His lips twitched. “You’re welcome, I guess. Although, I’m doing it for my benefit as much as yours.”

“I suppose.” She cut him a look. “I need to thank you again for what you did for me back there.” She gulped. “With Frank and Janice, I mean. Not the orgasm.”

His nostrils flared. “You’re welcome.” His eyelids grew heavy. “For both.”

She couldn’t stop her lips from curving in a smile, but she stepped ahead of him, nodding at the chauffeur as he saw her approach and moved to open the door for her to climb into the back of the car.

Erin was there with a book, a coloring pad, as well as her iPad. As far as she could tell, no reading or coloring had been done. She immediately dove toward him to kiss his cheek, then sneaked the iPad away from his sweaty little fingers.

“What have you been up to, kiddo?” she asked cheerfully, putting the tablet in her bag.

Though his bottom lip popped out, she merely cocked a brow at him as though daring him to have a tantrum. He huffed. “I was playing a game.”

Josh climbed in beside her. Even if the car had jolted with the addition of his weight, and even if the chauffeur hadn’t closed the door behind her, she’d have known he was there.

Out of nowhere, the air around her turned spicy with musk, and her body came to life in a way it had always been pretty dead before.

She turned to look at him but saw he was on his phone. Though she gnawed at her lip a little, she decided to brazen this out. If she tried to chat to him, he might think she was trying to soften him up, or he might think she was chasing him.

And while that was the best sex she’d had in her life, Samantha Garrett would chase no man. Ever again.

For that reason, she allowed the silence to carry on throughout the ride out of the city center and toward the Upper East Side where her small home was based. As they approached, she felt the change in the traffic, saw the difference in pedestrians as the people on the streets evolved from a broad spectrum of society—anything from a priest walking side by side to a punk rocker—to a more elegant kind of person…

She had to stay in the city, it had been her compromise although almost everyone in the area was stuck up beyond belief.

Erin chattered on at her side, and she gave him short answers that seemed to satisfy him—he’d been playing a game that had some story that thrilled him and bored her, but he was content to chirp away about it, and she was happy not to have to focus.

It was hard to concentrate on anything other than the man at her side, the man studiously ignoring her, and when her house came into view, she let out a short breath—relief to be out of the awkward situation filling her.

He’d made it awkward.

The dick, she thought.

She hadn’t wanted, nor had she needed, him to declare his undying love for her. Neither had she asked for him to make this false engagement of theirs real because they’d had one stupendously good round of sex…

He was acting like she had, though; but rather than mortify her, it angered her.

Made it so easy to open the door herself and usher Erin out onto the sidewalk. Moving behind her son, she bowed low so she could peer into the car, and when their eyes caught, she nodded. “I’ll see you around, Josh.”

His scowl came as a surprise, but before he could say a word, she slammed the door in his face and turned her back on him.

There would be no seeing him around. They traveled in different worlds. Had done, even when he’d been best friends with her husband.

No, that would be the last time she saw him without him seeking her out, and that was how it was going to be…

If there was a first move to be made, it was going to be on his part, not hers.