Page 98 of Stay With Me

He chuckled again. “That’s pretty hot, Sammie.”

She giggled wildly, as her fingers skimmed the flatness of his lower abs when she felt his arms drop and grasp the back of her head. He then turned his face toward hers and kissed her. Like,reallykissed her.

It was the first time he’d kissed her like this in a while. In the weeks since he’d moved into his parents’ guestroom, she’d mostly given him small pecks to tell him goodbye, which was partially why she’d felt no need to clarify what their relationship was. With him confined to a bed and having essentially no privacy, there was no opportunity for it to be anything but platonic.

However, in this particular moment, the way he was kissing her waseverythingbut platonic.

He gripped her head, letting his fingers tangle in her hair, tugged the elastic, and her ponytail fell loose. Her fingers began clawing at his abs, seemingly acting of their own accord, seemingly traveling a bit farther south, and seemingly causing him to utter a throaty growl.

“Sammie, Ineedyou.”

Before she could manage a reply, he demonstrated that his upper body strength had clearly gone unaffected by his injuries, as he lifted her by one arm and hoisted her around to straddle his lap.

She inhaled a sharp gasp as she braced herself from allowing her full weight to sit on him. “I don’t want to hurt your legs.”

“My legs are fine,” he murmured between languid kisses down her neck.

“Oh.” She let herself sink into his lap.

So maybe there was a way to accommodatedoingitafter all. She would have giggled again. Would have, but she was a bit preoccupied with the feeling of him moving his lips farther down her neck, over her collarbone, and her hands seemed to be acting on their own volition once again. Her fingers blindly fumbled to unfasten the buttons on her blouse, finally releasing the last one and allowing his hands to encircle her waist, then her hips, which he grasped and tugged in a rolling motion against his own.

He had on a pair of gym shorts, the thin fabric of which left little to the imagination in this particular moment, but they only seemed to be a reminder of the huge obstacle of her ensemble—a form fitting skirt andtightsfor crying out loud. Darn the first week of cool, fall weather. This must have been why the women in her romance novels always wore garters and stockings.

Note to self: go shopping for new underwear.

Her mental note was interrupted by the feeling of Nick surmounting the less obnoxious upper half of her undergarments, as he uttered a nearly unintelligible moan into her cleavage.

“God, I’ve missed you.”

She smiled into his hair as she anchored her fingertips into his back and continued to roll her hips against him. “I was here yesterday, silly.”

“I know. I just meant we haven’t done this since… Since…”

“Since your dream,” she reminded him breathlessly.

He groaned in apparent frustration at the fact that the deed had yet to be done, as he pushed the blouse off her shoulders, slipping off her bra straps and pulling her deeper into his lap.

He cupped her face as he kissed her more deeply; deep enough that she realized it was definitely time to ditch the wretched skirt and tights. So she reluctantly and carefully climbed off him.

“Where are you going?” he protested.

“These clothes have got to go,” she declared, zipping the skirt off and finally shimmying the tights down her hips—just in time to hear the front door open and close, and James’s voice carry down the hall.

“Brought home some dinner, sport!”

Samantha halted as her eyes grew wide and she shot Nick an incredulous look.

Nick, in turn, dropped his head backward and groaned. “Damn it! When will this nightmare end?”

She silently echoed his sentiment, but had to laugh as she picked up the skirt and paused to kiss his lips.

“I’m sorry, I really was trying to help you feel better,” she apologized with a small chuckle.

“You always make me feel better,”he murmured, gripping the sides of her face once again. “I lo-uh…You’re awesome, Sammie. You’re always awesome.”

“You’re awesome, too.”

And then she quickly stepped into the bathroom to put herself back together.