Pierced: Pierced Trilogy Boxed Set (48 page)

He lets out a low, sexy groan of pleasure as I start to move. Up and down … up and down … again and again … over and over. I’m losing myself in the sensations, eyes closed, head thrown back, moaning in ecstasy.

“You are so beautiful, Sam,” Josh says, his voice strained. His hands roam over my body as we move, caressing my thighs and my waist. Lightly squeezing my breasts, teasing my nipples with his fingers. I moan loudly as my body starts to build and Josh picks up the pace, holding my waist and thrusting deep into me.
Oh, this feeling is heaven.
And I look at Josh and he is doing exactly what he said he wanted to do, watching me while we make love. His eyes are glued to my face, watching my every reaction and expression. “You are so fucking sexy, baby.”

His words spur me on, pushing me higher, fanning the flames of my desire. My moans grow louder as my body begins to tremble uncontrollably.

“Joshua!” It’s a cry of ecstasy as my orgasm rockets though me, exploding again and again.

“Ah, baby!” Josh thrusts into me deeply and stills, his body going rigid as I collapse on top of him, lost for several minutes it seems. His arms tighten around me and he kisses the top of my head as we wait for our hearts to slow down. “You are so beautiful, Samantha,” he whispers into my hair, kissing the top of my head once more. “You are so unbelievably beautiful.”

Chapter Seven

Joshua

Samantha is curled up in my arms, still sleeping soundly. She looks so peaceful when she’s sleeping. Like an angel. I smile to myself as I watch her, thinking about last night at The Slammer. She looked shocked when Simon announced that dedication and I could see her listening to the words of the song. I could see her mind working and wondering. Last night at the bar she said she had no clue how I felt. That she was still unsure of me … of my feelings, even after the day we spent together yesterday.

I shake my head in disbelief. I knew that’s what was upsetting her yesterday morning so I tried my best to show her how I feel, all day long. How could she still be so unsure of me?
Women like to hear the words, Pierce.
I take an uneasy deep breath and frown to myself at that thought. I know that I can’t say the words she wants to hear. I have to find a way to make her listen without words. Why can’t showing her be enough?

She stretches in my arms and looks up at me, her bright green eyes reflecting the sunlight coming through the curtains and shining like emeralds. They twinkle and sparkle at me and I am enchanted. This woman is a goddess!

“Good morning, Sunshine,” I whisper, smiling at her.

“Good morning, Joshua,” she whispers back, her hand caressing my face. I lean in and kiss her slowly.

“Did you sleep okay?” I ask, wondering if being at my place felt weird for her at all.

“I slept very well. In fact, I think that’s the best I’ve slept in days. What about you?” she asks, frowning slightly.

“I always sleep great with you, baby.” And as I say those words, it dawns on me that I still haven’t had a nightmare. Not a single one since Samantha and I started sleeping together. What the hell is that about? Not that I want them back. God knows, I am happy to see them go! But it just doesn’t make sense to me. I have never been one for any of that psycho-analysis shit, like that child therapist that Mom tried to get me to talk to after the old man died. But I think I would love to know what a so-called professional had to say about the nightmares stopping cold turkey like that. And I wonder if Sam and I were to spend the night apart … would they come back?

“Mmm, this feels really good,” Sam says as she snuggles up closer to me, prompting me to abandon my wayward thoughts and tighten my arms around her. “I don’t know what you had planned today but, I propose we stay right here, all day long. We’ll just curl up and talk and make love and nap. Maybe venture out for some food later. Sound good?”

“It sounds great, baby. But I can’t.” At my words Samantha sits up, propping the pillows up behind her and fixes me with a scowl.

“Why not?” she asks with a sweet pout, as she pulls the sheet up over her breasts.

I sigh as I sit up beside her. “Because on Sundays I usually have dinner with my family.”

“Oh.” She sounds disappointed.

“I missed dinner last week because I was working, trying to get a lead in your case. If I blow it off two weeks in a row I’ll never hear the end of it from my mother. I’m sorry.”

“No, it’s okay,” Sam says. “I understand. Um … I thought it was just you and your mom?”

“Well, my mom lives with her twin sister, my Aunt Celeste, and her husband,” I explain.

“They’re twins?” Sam asks, smiling in surprise.

“Yeah.”

“And they live together. That’s cute,” she says, still smiling.

“I don’t know how cute it is,” I shrug. “They did it for practical reasons. See, my Uncle Paul, he worked as a logger for over twenty years. One day, he was up in the canopy, topping an old Sycamore. Something went wrong and he fell nearly 60 feet to the ground. He survived but, the fall severed his spine. He’s been in a wheelchair ever since.”

“Oh, my God,” Sam whispers.

“Once I entered the police academy, Mom sold our place and moved in with my Aunt Celeste to help out. So, every Sunday, we have dinner at their place and all us kids are expected to show,” I tell her.

“All us kids?” Sam asks, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah,” I smile. “Me and my cousins. Aunt Celeste’s boys.”

“Ahh, the cousins you weren’t very close to growing up?” she asks me.

“The very same,” I tell her. “I guess we’re closer now that we’re adults. Paul Jr. and I hang out some. But back then, we didn’t really have much in common.”

“Tell me about them,” she says quietly, snuggling close to me again, and I wrap my arms around her and settle in.

“What do you want to know?” I smile at her.

“I don’t know,” she shrugs, taking my hand and playing with my fingers. “What are their names? What do they do?”

I chuckle at her and sigh. “Well, Paul Jr., that’s the oldest … he’s a firefighter.”

“Really?”

“Mm hm.”

“A police detective and a firefighter in the same family? That’s awesome! I bet your mothers must be very proud,” she gushes, and I smile at her.

“Well, I don’t know about that. You’d have to ask them yourself,” I say, chuckling at her again. “Anyway, he and his wife, Pam, just had their first kid a few months ago. They had been trying for a few years, I guess.”

“Aww, really? That’s nice,” Sam says, still playing with my fingers, threading them with her own. “Boy or girl?”

“Boy. Paul Downing the third,” I tell her and she giggles.

“So tell me about the other one.”

“Phillip. He works in retail. Manages a department store in Northgate. His girlfriend, they’ve been together around a year I guess. She works as a cashier in his store.”

Samantha is silent for a few minutes as she continues to play with my fingers, watching absentmindedly as she laces them together with her own. She seems lost in her own thoughts for a moment and I wonder what she’s thinking. When she speaks again, her voice is small and timid.

“Does Phillip bring his girlfriend to your family dinners?” Her bright green eyes are big and questioning and my heart is suddenly pounding. I know what she’s getting at and I don’t know why I haven’t already asked. I guess I just didn’t think she’d really be interested. But I want to show her that she’s important to me. Asking her to meet my family would certainly do that, wouldn’t it?

“Yes, most of the time, he does,” I answer her question softly. My breathing has shallowed and I swallow nervously. As she runs her fingers slowly through mine once more, I gently tighten my fingers around her hand. The sudden gesture brings her eyes flying to mine. “Samantha … would you want to have dinner with my family today?” My voice sounds anxious to my ears.

Sam’s eyes widen a fraction and she smiles slightly. But then she quickly dials it back, shaking her head slowly. “I wouldn’t want to impose. I don’t want you to feel like you have to ask me, Josh.”

“Sam, if I didn’t want you to come, I wouldn’t ask,” I say, looking her in the eye. “You wouldn’t be imposing. I didn’t ask before because I didn’t think you’d be interested. I want you to come to dinner with me … if you want to.”

She smiles slowly and then bites her lower lip. “I would love to,” she says softly and I smile at her.

Letting go of her hand, I thread my fingers through her hair and kiss her deeply. And soon, I am sliding her back down onto the bed as I prepare to take her. I feast on her flesh, kissing and sucking all over her body from her neck down to her navel and beyond. I love the smell and the taste of her skin and her nectar. And I love the way her hands fist in my hair when I’m in this position, my head between her thighs, her legs spread wide. My name on her lips as her body bows off the bed and her hips start to buck.

Her fingers tighten and pull on my hair as she comes loudly, calling a garbled, twisted version of my name, and my tongue doesn’t give in until I know that she is wrung out and spent. I raise up and grab a foil packet from the bedside table and open it as Sam is panting and floating on a cloud of ecstasy. I smile to myself as I roll on the condom, watching her slowly surface from oblivion.

She opens her eyes to look at me but, before she can fully focus, I am buried deep inside her and she is already moaning again. I start to move, a steady, even rhythm – not too fast, not too slow. In and out, long deep strokes, plunging all the way in with each thrust.

I can feel her body building, her inner muscles beginning to quiver, and she gets vocal, moaning louder and louder. I quicken my pace, thrusting harder and harder, pounding into her over and over, and she begins to scream. Her body starts to convulse, trembling uncontrollably.

“Joshua!”

Oh, fuck yes!
I pound into her and her orgasm seems to last forever. Plunging into her deeply, I let go and detonate, exploding inside of her as she wraps her legs around me, holding me in place and I collapse on top of her, panting into her ear.

I swear sex has never been this good before. What is it about Samantha that makes sex with her so amazing?
Maybe sex is simply better when there’s an emotional connection, Pierce.
Yeah, maybe so. I guess I just never realized before that sex could be anything other than instant, empty gratification. But then, when all you’re doing is fucking just to scratch an itch … how could it be anything but empty? Before Samantha, I never dreamed that it could be any other way. Sex was just sex. I had no clue that this … this, fucking scary connection that we have between us, even existed.

Sometimes … like right now … when we’re together, it’s hot and lustful and sexy as hell. But other times, it is so deep and meaningful. Powerful. Like last night. Making love to Sam last night was so fucking incredible. It’s like the passion … the connection between us, just catches fire and it burns so hot and so deeply that it touches the very core of me. Right down to my soul. But it wasn’t just last night. That sort of soul-stirring sex seems to happen a lot with Sam. And I can’t help but wonder if she feels it too or if I’m in this alone.

We are lying spent and semi-conscious in each other’s arms, our bodies entwined around one another when Sam suddenly jumps slightly. “Crap!”

“What is it?” I ask with a puzzled expression, my mind still thinking about things it shouldn’t.

“I forgot that your mother saw me half naked yesterday!”

I know that I should take this seriously but, I can’t help the laugh that escapes my lips and Samantha scowls at me. But her stern expression only makes me laugh harder.

“Josh!” She punches me in the arm and I can’t stop it … God help me, I laugh even more. She sits up, pulling the sheets over her breasts and folds her arms in front of her. And I try desperately to calm the laughter as I sit up next to her. I don’t know why this is so funny to me. I know that both Sam and my mother were completely mortified, the expressions on both their faces told the whole story. Priceless!

“This is not funny,” Samantha wails. “What she must think of me! Have you talked to her at all since then?”

“Baby, I’ve been with you the entire time,” I tell her, trying really hard to be serious.

“Not after you dropped me off at home. You didn’t call her?”

“When I dropped you off, I went straight to The Slammer for a sound check, Sam,” I explain to her. “I have not talked to my mother since she ran out of here yesterday.”

“Oh, my God,” she sighs. “Maybe dinner isn’t such a good idea.”

I frown at her. “Samantha, I think you’re overreacting,” I say pointedly. Suddenly my laughter is gone; this isn’t funny anymore. “It’s not like my mom saw us going at it on the kitchen counter. You were wearing my t-shirt, baby. All my mom saw were your legs!”

“And my ass,” she fires back. “I was bent over getting something out of the fridge when she came in!”

I try to stifle another laugh and end up smiling stupidly at her and she scowls at me again. “Okay, baby, look … I understand how that must have made you feel. I really do,” I tell her sympathetically. “But, are you just going to avoid my mom forever?”

“I avoid my mom as much as possible,” she responds flippantly. “You’d be surprised how easy it is to do.”

I chuckle at her then, and she smiles at me. Reaching out and running my thumb lightly down her cheek, I say softly, “Samantha … I’d like you to come to dinner with me today and meet my mother properly.”

“You would?” It’s almost a whisper.

“Yes. I would.”

She sighs heavily. “What should I wear?”

I chuckle at her again. “Baby, you could wear absolutely anything and look amazing. Just ask my mother; she saw you in my t-shirt.” I can’t help my shit-eating grin, and Samantha hauls off and smacks me in the arm again, prompting my uncontrollable laughter once more. She climbs out of bed and begins picking up her clothing, which is scattered all over the floor of my bedroom, exactly where we left it last night.

“What are you doing?” I ask her, alarmed.