“You okay to drive?” Freddie asked, looking on with concern.
“Don’t hover, Mom.”
“She’s fine,” he said to Gonzo, who snickered.
“Can you guys get home from here?” she asked.
“Don’t hover, Mom,” Freddie said. “We’re good.”
“I’m out.” Sam’s legs wobbled from exhaustion as she made her way back to her car and headed for home. About halfway there, she acknowledged that she probably shouldn’t be driving. She blasted Bon Jovi and the AC, aiming the vents to direct the cold air on her face. By the time she reached the Ninth Street Secret Service checkpoint, her face was frozen, but she was still awake. Barely.
What the hell? Why was she so freakishly tired after a relaxing vacation that had included tons of sleep? As she pulled into her assigned parking place outside their house, the possible answer to that question had her heart beating faster. Any time she felt different, she wondered if maybe...
“No,” she said out loud. “It’s not that, so don’t even go there. Who can stand the disappointment?” Angry with herself and the direction of her thoughts, she got out of the car and used the last of the gas in her tank to go up the ramp Nick had had built so Skip could visit their home. The memory of that day, of realizing what he’d done for her and why, could still bring tears to her eyes more than a year later.
Jesus. Now she was weepy too? This wasn’t good. It wasn’t good at all.
“Good evening, Mrs. Cappuano,” the agent on duty at the door said.
“Good evening, Eric.”
“Is everything all right?” the handsome young agent asked.
“Other than someone shooting innocent people in my city, it’s all good.”
“Heard about that. Tough one. Good luck with it.”
“Thank you.”
The first floor was dark other than a single lamp in the living room. Sam headed directly for the stairs and tiptoed into her bedroom, trying not to disturb Nick in case he was sleeping for once. In the bathroom, she stripped out of her clothes and brushed her teeth. She took a minute to lock up her weapon and badge and set her alarm for six-twenty before sliding into bed, expelling a deep breath as she tried to shake off the disturbing night so she could get some sleep.
“I really hope you’re my wife, or I’m gonna be in big trouble when she gets home.”
Sam smiled and moved closer to him, letting him gather her up in his arms. “Mmm, I’ll take my chances with your wife if this is what I get in return.”
He nuzzled her neck. “I saw a thing about the drive-by shooting on the eleven o’clock news.”
“We had three of them tonight and reason to believe it’s not over yet.”
“I’m sorry, babe. That must’ve made for a tough night.”
“It was awful. One of them had just found out she was pregnant three days ago. They’d been trying for a long time. Her husband was there. He’d been on his way to meet her and came upon the scene.” Sam shuddered, remembering Joe’s awful grief.
“Naturally that hit you hard.”
“They all hit me hard.”
“But that was harder.”
“Yeah.” The tears that’d threatened earlier rolled down her cheeks, and she hoped he wouldn’t notice. Of course, that was wishful thinking. He noticed everything where she was concerned.
“Come here, babe.” He drew her in even closer to him, positioning her head on his chest and wrapping his arms around her. “Hold on to me.”
“Her husband was so crushed. It made me wonder what it would feel like...”
“Don’t go there. I’m surrounded by the best security in the world all the time. Nothing is going to happen to me. I promise.”
“Don’t make promises you can’t keep.”
“I never do, sweetheart. You know that.”
“I was so tired when I got home. But now...”
“What? Tell me.”
“I want you to make love to me, and I want it slow and sultry.”
His chest rumbled with laughter. “I can do slow and sultry.” Raising himself up on one elbow, he looked down at her in the glow of the nightlight they left on in the bathroom. “I hate to see you upset.”
“I was upset. I’m better now that there’s going to be slow and sultry.”
Smiling, he leaned in to kiss her with tenderness that rendered her defenseless. Not that she needed defenses with him. But after relying on them so thoroughly her entire adult life, it had taken a while for her to drop them when they’d first been together. Now she might as well have never had them, when he looked at her with more love than she’d ever known could exist between a man and a woman.
Sam reached for him and opened her mouth to the persuasive strokes of his tongue, not that she needed persuading either. She often joked that she was far too easy when it came to him, but he had no objections. As she kissed him and lost herself in his sweet tenderness, she tried not to think of Joe or Sridhar’s wife or Jamal’s mother, but that was easier said than done.
Nick broke the kiss and moved down to kiss her neck and throat on his way to her breasts, each of which he worshipped with light strokes of his tongue and gentle tugs of his lips on her nipples.
The sensations spiraling through her body reminded Sam of floating with him in the surf, riding the waves, one right after the other.
His lips left a trail of desire and need as he moved from her breasts to her belly and below.
With every nerve ending in her body on full alert, she might’ve never been tired for the way he made her feel.
Sam fisted handfuls of his soft hair when he raised her legs to his shoulders and took the slow and sultry theme to a whole new level with his tongue and fingers. He had her on the verge of coming within seconds but then backed off, making her groan with frustration.
He laughed. “All in good time, my love.”
“Only because I love you so much I’ll let you live.”
“Awww, that’s so nice of you.” He started over with soft dabs of his tongue and slow strokes of his fingers that quickly took her to the brink once again.
“Nick... Please...”
“What does my baby want?”
“You know!”
“My orders were slow and sultry. I’m just doing what I was told.”
Sam sagged into the mattress when it became apparent that he planned to follow her directions to the letter—not that she was complaining. Much. She forced herself to relax and go with his flow, which always led to her satisfaction even when he took his own sweet time.
Before him, she’d tolerated this act more than enjoyed it, but Nick made it impossible not to fully enjoy it.
He sucked lightly on her clit as he drove his fingers into her, curling them to engage her G-spot, which she hadn’t known she had until he had shown her exactly where it was.
Her hips lifted off the bed, trying to get closer to him, to the orgasm that grew and multiplied with every stroke of his tongue and thrust of his fingers. Then he upped the ante by pressing a wet finger against her ass, and she exploded.
“God, it’s so hot when you let go like that,” he said as he brought her