Page 25 of His Hawaiian Heart (Stateside Doms #26)

“Come for me, Sam, come with me. Come now!”

I threw my head back and would have been totally awed at the sight of fireworks exploding right in front of me except for the fact that I was no longer in my body. I was flying.

The next thing I was aware of was the heat against my back and the weight around my body. Well, that and the hand that cupped my breast and the rhythmic flick of a fingertip against my nipple. I could wake up to this every morning.

Wait… something was wrong.

My brain felt unnaturally sluggish as it attempted to work through the puzzle. Heat, not dangerous. Weight, not dangerous. The hand around my boob. Nope that was really good. The finger flicking my nipple wasn’t dangerous, it was delicious, so what had set off my inner warning bell this morning?

Morning?

“It’s morning!”

“And good morning to you to, babygirl,” Sam said.

Though I was sure he’d been aiming to press his lips against my shoulder, he pretty much planted them on my ass as I jerked up and off of the bed.

“What’s wrong?”

“Look!” I shouted, gesturing toward the expanse of window that was no longer framing a darkening landscape, but instead was providing a view of a sky with rays of light shooting through it. When Sam didn’t respond, I turned back to the bed. “It’s morning!”

“Babygirl, I think you’ve made that pretty clear. What I’m a bit confused about is why that’s a bad thing?”

I rolled my eyes and then turned to locate the clothes I’d shed the night before.

“Baby?”

Spotting a lone heel brought to mind that conveyor belt that no longer had any regret rising in me. Until I glanced at the window again, that was.

“Sam?”

I grabbed the shoe and tried to slip it on while hopping on the other leg like a one-legged grasshopper. “Where’s my?—”

“Samantha!”

“Huh? What?” A forty-five degree turn had me looking toward the voice.

It no longer came from the bed, but from beside it.

The man it belonged to was no longer all smiles and cuddly.

Instead, he stood with his arms crossed and a stern look on his face.

The fact that he was buck-ass naked took a little sting out of that tone, but still, it was one I really didn’t care to hear directed at me again.

“I’m sorry, Sir, but I’m so, so late.”

His arms dropped and his expression softened as he came toward me. It didn’t matter that I was still standing on one leg, the other bent at the knee and the heel halfway on my foot, he simply wrapped his arms around me and lifted.

“Really, I’m?—”

“Shhh, I’m aware,” he cut in as he returned to the bed. “Panicking isn’t going to help, it’s just likely to break your ankle.” He set me down on the edge of the bed and then knelt down on one knee and guided my foot fully into the heel.

I felt like Cinderella before her Prince Charming… except the story was slightly askew. Instead of losing a shoe, I wore one and had lost everything else. When I started to giggle, Sam looked up and shook his head.

His palms came up to cup my face. “Breathe,” he instructed.

It took a few minutes I really couldn’t afford to spend, but once I had taken several deep breaths, I did feel far more capable of dealing with the disaster.

“Better?”

“Yes, thank you.”

He smiled and bent forward to kiss me. The fact that he simply kissed and did not claim my lips told me he understood.

“It’s just that I really hate to be late. It’s disrespectful.”

“I can understand that, but while it is indeed light outside, it’s not all that late.

We are at a higher elevation than your camp which is in the canyon surrounded by dense forest. Most of your team are most likely still in dreamland and those who aren’t, are probably staggering through the dark toward the mess tent in search of coffee. ”

“Coffee.” Did he notice I’d practically moaned the word?

“As much as I’d enjoy watching you getting dressed, I’ll make you a cup of coffee. You can drink it on the road.”

I focused on him and gave him a sincere smile. “You are the best Dom in the entire universe.”

He chuckled, kissed me again and then stood. “You might want to change that when I finally call your debt due, but until then, I’ll accept the compliment and thank you for it.”

While I tried to decode a specific part in that soliloquy, he chuckled and disappeared. By the time it came to me, I was pulling my dress down over my panties. “Call my debt due, like spanking my ass is going to scare me.”

“It’s not meant to scare you–”

“Don’t do that!” I squealed, turning to slap at his chest. “You almost made me wet myself!”

His brow quirked. “It’s meant to motivate you. But that’s a discussion for later. Right now, I need to know if golden showers are on your kink list.”

“Um, not to yuck anyone’s yum, but no. Are they on yours?”

“Nope, so I suppose you should go to the bathroom before we get going.”

I was halfway to his en suite when I realized that not only was he holding an insulated travel mug, he was completely dressed.

And not in the suit he’d been wearing at dinner.

He had on a pair of jeans, a white button-down shirt with the cuffs rolled up, a totally different belt than the one I’d unbuckled and a pair of boots.

After I peed and stood washing my hands while staring at the mess of my hair, I shuddered.

“If you’ll have all my team sound asleep when I do the walk of shame back into camp, I promise to be a good girl.”

Ms. Smartass didn’t have any words to convey, but then she really didn’t need them. Not when I could so easily visualize her bent over, clutching her stomach as she laughed hysterically.

“One day, we are going to have to have a real heart-to-heart.”

She continued to laugh while I heard, “Sam? You coming?”

God, I wish I were, but that too, would have to wait for later.

Somehow, having Sam walking beside me, my hand in his, my stilettoes once more tucked inside the backpack hanging off his shoulder, that walk didn’t feel quite so shameful.

I acknowledged that I’d overreacted when the camp was as deserted as Sam had predicted it would be.

Well, until I turned to thank him for the best night of my life and saw Cookie standing in the door of the mess tent.

“It would be rather rude to pretend we don’t see him, right?”

Sam chuckled. “I’d have to agree, babygirl.”

I groaned and pressed my forehead, not against his, but to his chest. “What’s he going to think of me now?”

Sam’s arms wrapped around me. “He’s going to think that I finally pulled my head out of my ass, recognized the gift I’d had right in front of me, and be proud that his favorite scientist was generous enough to forgive me and give me a second chance.”

I pulled my head back and though I shook it, I smiled. “Yep, definitely the greatest Dom in the universe.”

Of course, the belief I’d gotten away with staying out all night came to a screeching halt when Sam’s lips left mine so we could breathe. I’d just turned to duck into my tent when a voice had my eyes closing and Ms. Smartass sniggering.

Told you so.

I’m a grown-ass woman and can do what I want on my free time, I reminded myself and yet I obviously wasn’t one hundred precent committed to that belief as I braced myself as Katrina strode across the camp toward us.

Samuel slipped his arm around me and pulled me close and spoke softly. “People can only make you feel bad if you allow them to do so. You’ve done nothing wrong, babygirl.”

“Easy for you to say,” I murmured back.

“Do you want me to stay?”

Only with my whole heart!

I knew he would in a heartbeat, but I knew this was something I needed to handle. “Of course, but no. It’s not like she’s my mom, and I’m going to have to explain why I broke curfew again.”

He chuckled. “Again, huh? There’s a story I’m going to want to hear. You can tell me all about it later. Be my good girl and don’t let anything sting you, and that includes cats.”

That made me smile and my, “Good morning, Katrina,” was given in a far more believable tone.

“Good morning, Katrina,” Sam echoed.

“Sam. Sam,” she said.

“Have a great day with your little creepy crawlers,” Sam said before cutting off my snort at his choice of adjective by planting a kiss on my lips, then he passed the backpack to me and turned away.

“Good morning, Cookie!” he called.

For some insane reason, I could swear I heard Cookie calling back except it didn’t sound like a “good morning”. It sounded far more like, “chip, chip, chip”. Shaking my head, I turned my attention to Katrina who was still standing there, staring at the back of Sam as he walked back into the forest.

“Running a bit late?” she asked once she turned back to me.

“Actually, a little early. The morning meeting isn’t for”—I glanced at my watch—“another half hour.” I gave her a smile. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to change and grab some breakfast. See you in a bit.” I bent to duck into my tent when I felt her hand on my arm.

“I think we should have a little chat. We wouldn’t want people to get the wrong idea, or for anything to turn up in your file that might be… embarrassing.”

I shot her a glance that was devoid of any faked emotion. “While I don’t particularly care what ideas people choose to have, I do know that you should take your hand off my arm before something far more than embarrassing shows up in your file.”

She slowly pulled her hand free. “I’m just thinking of your reputation.”

“No you’re not. You’re thinking that you made a huge mistake letting Samuel go.

And, woman to woman, I feel for you. But sub to sub, the biggest mistake you made was not in appreciating the man Sam is outside of his role of being an incredible Dom.

For that, I don’t have it within me to have any sympathy, because I most certainly do. ”

“You just appreciate the fact that he’s loaded,” she snarled, all pretense of friendship gone.

“Wow. After our talk the first day I arrived, I’d honestly believed we understood each other. It’s obvious I was wrong. I might work with you Katrina, but I don’t work for you. If you have a problem, it’s exactly that. Your problem.”

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

“It means that you’ve chosen exactly what I hoped to avoid. Forced civility. Now, excuse me, I have a meeting to prepare for.” I didn’t wait for her to respond. I simply ducked into my tent and let the flap drop behind me.

That’s my girl.

This time the voice wasn’t that of Ms. Smartass and didn’t make me roll my eyes.

It was Sam’s and made me smile.