Page 88 of The Aster Valley Collection, Vol. 1

My stomach jittered with nerves. “Mmhm. In here.” I gestured to the drawer next to the bed, forgetting that the drawer with the lube also had a zillion toys in it. A wide swath of afternoon sunlight lit the side table up like a beacon.

As soon as Sam opened the drawer, I gasped and lurched for it to try and hide what was inside. Sam’s arms came around me to keep me from dive-bombing the bedside table.

“Easy, easy. What’s… oh. Ohhh . What have we here?” Sam’s voice held amusement, and it was enough for me to drop my head and squeeze my eyes closed in embarrassment.

“Can we just… pretend you didn’t see that?”

He tightened his arms around me while he moved to get a better look. “Not in a million years, Truman. This is so very interesting.”

I turned to hide my face in his chest. “Not interesting. Embarrassing.”

Sam’s hands rubbed up and down my back. “Are you kidding? Feel how hard I am right now. The thought of you using any one of these toys makes me so horny I can barely see straight. What’s your favorite one?”

I thought of the drawer full of dildos and plugs. Did I tell him what he wanted to hear or what was actually my favorite? Truth won out. I pointed to a slim black plug.

“I like to wear it out sometimes.”

He reached for it and studied it. “Wear it out?”

“I mean… like in public. Not for very long, just… long enough for me to feel…”

“Naughty. Like you have a secret,” Sam added.

I nodded. “Everyone thinks I’m a kid, that I’m this pure innocent baby.

I, uh…” This part was embarrassing, but for some reason I wanted to tell him.

“I liked to wear it when I was out with Barney because he would look at me like I was his angel, like he’d have to teach me what sex was and be patient while I learned about sexual pleasure. ”

Sam’s grin was devilish. “And you were really sitting there getting hard every time this bad boy rocked against your special spot. Then you’d come home and shove one of these monsters in your?—”

I clamped a hand over his mouth and felt my face heat. “Stop,” I said with a nervous laugh. “Don’t make it sound like I was getting off to the thought of Barney.”

“If you were already experienced with all of this, why not have sex with him? Or… or did you?”

“No. I didn’t. I’ve, um, never had anal sex before.” Or a blow job , I wanted to add. Until you . “But there was something about him that made me nervous when things between us got physical. He would…” I tried to think of how to put my feelings into words.

“Pressure you?” Sam suggested softly.

“Not really. Not too bad. It was more like… when we kissed and things began to go further. His hands would wander, and he’d start talking to me about what I needed to do to please him, how to touch him the way he wanted and how to treat him the way that brought him the most pleasure.

It was all about him, almost like he was training me for a future of service to him.

It made me very uncomfortable. I think it’s his age, maybe? An old-fashioned thing?”

Sam’s eyes narrowed. “Or an egotistical jackass thing,” he muttered.

“Don’t get me wrong. I loved being the center of his attention. He was very affectionate and attentive. He made me feel cared for and looked after.”

“Which is something you needed. Something you deserve.”

I shrugged. “It was something I craved, anyway.”

“Talking about your ex while I’m holding a butt plug isn’t the way I envisioned spending the afternoon,” Sam said, breaking the tension and making me laugh.

I leaned in to kiss him through my smile. He tossed the plug back in the drawer and flipped me onto my back in bed. We made out in a fun kind of sensual grappling. It was almost like the horny daydreams I’d had in high school when I watched a wrestling match.

Things didn’t go further than kisses and possessive hands, and when he finally found the lube in my drawer, he used it to slick us up and stroke us both at the same time.

I watched and felt the slide of our erections against each other in his large grip, and it was enough to send me over the cliff in moments.

When I saw his release land on my body and mix with mine, it sent another shudder through me.

After a long, lazy recovery followed by a quick shower, we went outside to work on some of the remaining planting I wanted to get done.

Sam commented on how beautiful it was in Colorado in general and how gorgeous the farm was specifically.

I could tell he enjoyed the physical work, and having someone to share it with was like something out of a dream for me.

I watched the sun stream over his dirty-blond hair and the muscles move along his wide shoulders and back.

Periodically, I caught myself drooling over him like I was watching my very own porn video.

I secretly wondered how much I could make by capturing his sexy, shirtless body in blue jeans simply tilling soil and hauling debris.

“Why are you laughing?” he asked on his way back from the compost pile.

“If I had a video camera right now, I could start my own farmer porn channel.”

Sam’s face broke into a wide grin. “I’m wearing too many clothes for that.”

I shrugged and batted my eyes innocently. “I could probably fix that for you.”

He laughed, bright and clear. The sound filled the space around us and made me feel light as air.

“You’re killing me,” he said before stalking over and pulling me in for a kiss, garbling any sense I had left in my brain and taking away my ability to care about it one way or the other.

Eventually, we came up for air and finished the work. We met Mikey and Tiller for dinner at a pizza place in town, and I was surprised by how normal it felt to be with him as if we were on a real double date. As if a man like Sam Rigby would want to date a man like me.

Mikey and Tiller were engaging and fun as usual, and we ended up running into Winter and Gentry, who joined us at our table.

The six of us ate pizza, drank wine, and shared easy company for several hours.

It was such an incredibly normal night, like something out of a movie or television show, I wanted to cry with gratitude.

Finally, finally , I had the beginnings of a group of friends.

I’d already been included in several of their get-togethers before, but this was different.

Maybe it had been the outpouring of support after the fire, or maybe it was knowing that we had a shared enemy in the pension fund scheme, but I finally felt like I was part of something.

During the evening, Sam periodically glanced over or squeezed my hand to make sure I was doing okay, but he never told me I needed to leave to get some sleep or cautioned me against having too much wine.

He simply sat beside me and enjoyed our time together as equals.

When I was finally ready to go, I turned to him with as much courage as I could muster and asked, “Will you please come home and spend the night with me?”

The look in his eyes was liquid fire, and it burned me all the way through.

“Wild horses couldn’t keep me away,” he said, leaning close and brushing a kiss along the edge of my ear.

His murmured words slid into my ears, too soft to be heard by anyone else.

“It’s taken every ounce of my patience not to throw you over my shoulder and steal you away to someplace private.

You’re the sexiest man in this room, and I want to strip you down and make sure you know it. ”

I let out a nervous laugh. “Oh-ho. Oh. Ho. Yes, well. It’s past time for us to go. Goodbye,” I said, standing up and addressing the group. I accidentally knocked the table with my hip and almost spilled several full water glasses.

Sam bit his lip and looked at me with a smirk. “Maybe we should pay first, real quick.”

Heat rushed to my face as I sat back down.

“Tiller Raine makes over twenty million dollars per season with the Houston Riggers,” I blurted.

“That means while we were sitting here listening to his delightful story about the difference between wing nuts and washers in regards to IKEA furniture—of which, by the way, he probably has none—he earned four thousand dollars. Pretty sure he can cover us for the pizza and wine tonight.”

My eyes widened as my own rude words hit my ears. What had I just said?

Mikey’s eyes widened, and he let out a laugh. “Get it, girl! I was wrong. The man knows football after all.”

Tiller nodded and winked at me. “I got you, cutie. Be safe.”

Gentry leaned forward with a grin. “And if he can’t, I will.”

“I’m sorry,” I muttered, sitting back down.

“That was rude. Of course I don’t expect you to pay for our dinner.

And I appreciate your extensive knowledge of Swedish engineering.

Although… IKEA prefers to use barrel nuts if you want to know the truth.

In fact—” I stopped myself before holding up the pointer finger of pontification. “Never mind.”

Sam stood and thanked everyone for a lovely evening before picking me up and tossing me over his shoulder. We left to the hoots and hollers of a table full of kind-hearted men who would have covered the cost of a pizza for any friend in need.

And I was in need.

Despite my big plans for a long night of delicious mutual orgasms, I barely got my pants down before Sam and I were humping each other to completion against the side of the car in my driveway. The cool night air chilled my hot skin, and the sound of Sam’s heated groans made me dizzy.

His murmured “Come for me, sweetheart” almost drove me to my knees, but before I could even think about taking our interlude a step further, I was crying out and coming into his hand while clutching his shoulders and trying not to tip over.

Sam’s words were like fire licking blazing stripes across my skin.

“Fuck, fuck that was hot. Christ.” Then Sam was grunting his own release, and I stared down at our bare dicks sliding against each other sloppily in his big hand.

I gave another shudder of relief and wondered again why this incredible specimen of a man would want to do this with me.

Maybe he was desperate.

I laughed at the ridiculous thought, and then I just kept laughing.

“Not the reaction I was expecting,” Sam said, yanking off his shirt to use as a rag. “But I could listen to you laugh all day for any reason.”

I sighed with contentment. “Just happy, that’s all.”

Sam grinned wide. “Then so am I.”

We went inside and slept curled around each other. It was beginning to feel delightfully familiar, and I vowed not to second-guess how long it was going to last.

I would simply enjoy it regardless.

I awoke the next morning to a handsy octopus determined to make me feel even more amazing than ever before. He kissed and sucked every square inch of my body before making me come like a bottle rocket.

Before I’d even fully regained my breath, Sam turned to me and raised an eyebrow. “Have you ever been on a motorcycle?”

I pictured the way he’d looked the day he’d ridden into town. Leather jacket and dark helmet, the rumble of the bike’s engine getting louder on its approach, giving me hope that someone might witness Patrick Stanner’s harassment.

It had been like a scene out of a movie.

“No. I would probably crash it the minute I thought about climbing on the thing,” I admitted with a soft laugh. “But I liked watching you ride one.”

Sam leaned in and kissed my jaw. “Hop up. I’m going to take you for a ride.”

I watched his pale ass as he climbed out of my bed.

“Isn’t that what we just did?” I teased before following him. Apparently Sam Rigby knew how to distract me from the fact my life was in shambles.

Because I found I didn’t care nearly as much as I should have.