CHAPTER 30
SAMANTHA
I gazed in awe at the lights of New York from the top of the Empire State Building. It was getting late, and it was the perfect way to end the surreal evening that I’d just spent with Xander.
His arms were wrapped around my waist from behind, and I rested my head on his shoulder, wishing I could stay like this forever.
The musical had been magical, and when he’d hauled me up here just to see the views, I’d never been more entranced with his charisma.
He was a romantic, even though I was pretty sure he’d deny it. The whole evening had been planned just to please me, and I think that was what choked me up the most about this whole experience.
Getting dinner reservations and those theater tickets had taken some planning. I could tell he hated the tux, and I’d seen him put a finger underneath the starched collar occasionally in an effort to loosen it a bit, but I was pretty sure it hadn’t helped.
All of this . . . the entire night . . . had been mapped out just to make me happy. More than the actual events, which had been spectacular, the thought was the part that touched me so deeply.
Xander was an incredible man.
Time had slipped away so quickly. I realized we were almost at the end of the summer. Xander was back into his music, and he wrote every single day while I was working on my book. He’d do fine with a small performance in Amesport.
Technically, I’d accomplished what I’d wanted to achieve with him. We’d become close, and Xander had found the path to heal himself.
I’d also made my own peace with all of the traumatic events of my past. Not that I’d ever completely get over any of them, but I was able to move on without my past haunting me anymore.
My hand instinctively went to the teardrop around my neck, a piece of jewelry I never removed. It always reminded me that love really did never die. I’d care about my parents and my family until I breathed my last breath. But I also knew I could now live my own life without them, and honor them in any way that I could in the future.
I wasn’t sure what Xander was thinking. Neither one of us had broken our agreement to just enjoy being in the moment, and decide everything else later. But our deal was eating at me, and I was worried how my life would be without him in it.
I swallowed hard and tried to push it from my mind. I loved him, but if he didn’t end up feeling the same way, I’d be crushed into a million tiny little pieces.
I loved him just that much.
This wasn’t the way I’d planned things when I’d made the move to come to Amesport, but I was beginning to learn that not everything was certain. I was a planner, a woman who had everything mapped out for her future. Maybe that was boring, but it was the way I’d always handled my life. Probably because I needed some semblance of control after some of the chaos of my earlier years.
No, I hadn’t planned on Xander. But loving him was one of the best things that had ever happened to me.
Good or bad.
Together or not together.
I just couldn’t regret what had happened over the summer.
Maybe it wouldn’t be easy if we had to part ways. But I’d hang on to the experience for the rest of my life.
“What are you thinking about?” Xander asked curiously.
I closed my eyes and wallowed in the sensations of his warm breath across my neck, his arms tightly around me, and the feel of his hard body supporting mine. “Nothing really important. I was enjoying the view. It’s gorgeous up here. I’ve actually never seen it at night.”
“What in the hell did you do when you lived in New York?” he asked.
I shrugged. “Went to school. Worked. Went to cheap places to eat that still had good food. And I made a hobby of visiting bakeries for cake,” I answered.
I never lied to Xander, but I wasn’t about to tell him I’d been thinking about us parting at the end of summer. The last thing I wanted was to ruin the most perfect night I’d ever experienced.
“Are you ready?” he asked.
“Yes.” I turned around and wrapped my arms around his neck. “Thank you. This night has been perfect.”
His head lowered, and I trembled as his mouth met mine. I tried to show him everything I couldn’t say in one special kiss.
He lingered over the embrace, nibbling on my lower lip and then laying a succession of gentle kisses on my mouth.
When he took my hand and led me to the elevator, I walked in a haze of bliss.
It was late when we entered the limo for the last time, the ride that would take us back to the penthouse.
“I almost don’t want this night to end,” I murmured against his shoulder.
“Samantha,” he growled in the darkness, his arms wrapping tightly around me. “I can’t last another minute without being inside you.”
My channel clenched painfully, and as Xander’s mouth came crashing down on mine, heat flooded my core, and we ended up almost clawing at each other to try to get the connection we craved.
He kissed, caressed, and nipped at my skin, lowering the shoulder of my dress until it fell in a pool around my waist. I moaned as his mouth roughly connected with one of my pebbled nipples, the sensation nearly painful as he laved over it with his tongue.
It was dark in the back of the limo, and the driver had closed the screen between us and him. Still, I couldn’t believe I was getting hot and heavy in a car.
Xander explored with his hand, finally reaching under the material of my dress to find the heat he was seeking.
“Christ, Sam. You’re so wet,” he rasped as his fingers moved the flimsy material of my panties so he could caress across my slit and into my drenched heat.
“Xander,” I panted as he connected with my clit, stroking over it until I was ready to sob with frustration. “More!”
I forgot that I was in the back of a car on a crowded New York City street. I forgot about everything except Xander, and how much I had to be elementally, carnally connected to him.
One hard yank eliminated my flimsy panties and gave Xander access to my bare pussy so he could continue to stroke and tease, driving me half out of my mind.
I reached for his cock, desperate to free him. My hand could only wrap around the hard outline of his member, and I shivered with frustration. “I need you, Xander. Now. Right now.”
“Down,” he growled, lowering me to the carpeted floor. “I need to be as deep as I can get.”
I stayed in the kneeling position he wanted, trembling as I felt clothing brush against my ass.
“Hold on,” he warned.
Nothing prepared me for the force of his thrust as he entered me from behind, his cock buried to the root.
“Oh, God. Yes. Hard, Xander. I need it hard.” I wanted it rough, passionate, and animalistic. I craved his possession, and I wanted him to claim me like he meant it.
“You aren’t going to have much choice,” he rumbled. “I need this.”
He grasped my hips and started a punishing rhythm as he drilled in and out of my sheath, burying himself deeply with every entry.
The only sound in the back of the limo was the sound of our harsh breathing, our skin slapping, and our sounds of satisfaction as we both neared our peak.
“You have to come, baby. I can’t last any longer this time,” he grunted, his hand moving from my hip to my belly and down to the place where we were joined.
I splintered apart almost from the second he stroked a finger across the sensitive bundle of nerves that were throbbing for attention.
Thankfully, Xander slapped a hand over my mouth as I went to scream, probably worried that the limo driver would think he was killing me.
My climax flowed over me in a torrent, and milked Xander of his own release.
We panted as we spiraled down. Xander placed a gentle kiss to my temple, then pulled me up as he started rearranging my clothing.
“Sorry. The panties are done for and in my pocket,” he answered without remorse.
I smoothed my hand down my wrinkled dress and actually giggled. “I’m glad I can’t see. I’m sure I look like I just got fucked in the back of a limo.”
As we slowed to a stop, I realized that we hadn’t left much time to spare.
“I hope you had a pleasant ride home, Mr. Sinclair,” the chauffeur said in a stuffy voice.
Xander slid out and offered his hand to me. “It was fine. Thank you.”
“Miss.” The driver nodded as I stumbled out of the vehicle.
“It was a nice ride. Very stimulating,” I shared with the chauffeur, biting my lip to keep from laughing.
Xander slipped the man a tip, and grabbed my hand. We were both laughing as we tripped happily toward the penthouse, so wrapped up into each other that we barely knew anyone else existed.