19. Sam
CHAPTER NINETEEN
sam
Oh god. This is a bad idea.
The thought has plagued Sam all morning. On the subway. At her office. In the meeting she couldn’t afford to skip. In the taxi. At the airport. On her flight. During her layover. On the second flight she almost— almost —didn’t board. And now here, with nothing but metal doors standing between them.
This is a bad idea.
She stops in the middle of the hallway. The other passengers on her flight flow around her like a river to a rock. She puts a hand to her stomach, as if she can somehow feel the knot that’s twisting and tightening her insides. Her fear has been festering for days, just waiting for the perfect moment to strike.
Apparently, now is that moment.
She can’t move. She can’t breathe.
Panic swells her throat.
This is a really bad fucking idea.
What is she doing here? She doesn’t belong here. She’s wearing three-inch pumps and a black suit that probably cost more than her plane ticket. The airport is hardly bigger than her apartment. There’s not even a baggage claim. They just unloaded the plane right on the runway and set up shop.
She should’ve left everything that happened with Cooper in the Maldives. A vacation fling. A blip on the radar. A fun memory to look back on with a smile. Not…whatever the hell it is now.
She should’ve told Nina to go screw herself.
Really, she should’ve told Emily the truth as soon as she had the chance. Except that would’ve involved a phone call—which would have been difficult enough before but now seems completely impossible with Em begging her to become CFO of the business. Turning the offer down via text was hard enough. If she actually hears her sister say the words, she won’t have the strength to say no. And she has to say no. She has a plan. If she sticks with her job, she’ll be earning millions by the time she’s in her midthirties. Practically guaranteed. Who is she to pass that up on a startup whim that may very well fail before it even begins? When she told herself no one in her family would ever want for money again, she meant it. She still does.
And that plan does not include falling for a cowboy from the middle of nowhere either. Get a grip. Sam swallows and squares her shoulders. She’s built this up too much in her head. She’s built him up too much. He’s not as hot as you remember. It wasn’t as good as you remember. You will not let a man unravel all the goals you set for yourself, all the promises you made. You—
“If you’re planning on running, I’d reconsider. The next flight out doesn’t leave until tomorrow, and there’s nowhere you can go in this town where I won’t find you.”
A shiver works its way down her spine as that deep rumble punctures through every one of her defenses to settle in her bones. All at once, everything becomes clear.
He is that hot.
It was that good.
And she just might.
Fuck.
Sam lifts her chin and turns around. “Cooper.”
“Samantha.”
He arches a brow in question even as his eyes sparkle. One of those damn dimples digs into his cheeks. He might not be making a sound, but he’s laughing at her clear as day, amused as ever by her futile attempt to keep a little distance between them.
“Oh, shut up.”
“I didn’t say a word, Cuj.”
“You didn’t have to. What are you even doing here? I thought I’d find you waiting outside in a pickup truck.”
“And I thought I’d find you in cowboy boots and a thong, so I guess we were both wrong.” He leans in close, the tip of his nose like a brand against her cheek. His warm breath brushes over her skin. Tingles cascade down her back. “Though that tight little skirt is sexy as hell.”
She rolls her eyes. “It’s a suit, Cooper. For work.”
“It’s begging to be bunched up around your hips is what it is.”
“Well, I am wearing that thong you can’t seem to stop thinking about.”
“Don’t tempt me with a good time, Cuj,” he murmurs as he slips his hand through the slit in her jacket and slides his warm palm around her waist to toy with the zipper. In a sudden rush, he pulls her flush against him and nips at her earlobe. “I have the home team advantage here, and I plan to play dirty.”
Her heart leaps like a professional gymnast going for gold. After so many hours on the phone with nothing but his voice and her imagination, she’s overwhelmed by his presence, by his proximity, by the feel of his hands on her and the memory of exactly how skilled they were. But there’s one little question nagging at her through the lusty haze, the only thing keeping her from jumping on him in the middle of this airport. “How’d you get on the other side of security, cowboy?”
“I have my ways,” he says distractedly as he drags his fingers down her spine and over the curve of her ass as if he just can’t stop himself.
“Cooper.”
“Come on.” He chuckles softly and pulls back. “You’ll see soon enough.”
“See what?”
He steps around her without bothering to answer and starts wheeling her suitcase in the opposite direction to the exit.
“See what, Cooper?”
He keeps ignoring her.
“What aren’t you telling me?” she asks, racing to keep up as he leads her across the one-room terminal. “What are you hiding? Why are you smirking? And why—”
He bursts through a set of metal double doors, and everything within her comes to a screeching halt. Gleaming in the fiery sunset like a harbinger of doom sits a forest-green four-person helicopter with the words Kelley & Dunne painted on the side.
“Oh, fuck no.”
She starts to wheel around, but he stops her. “I have a pilot’s license.”
“Good for you.”
“We’ll be home in twenty minutes compared to the hour and a half it takes to drive there.”
“Not happening.”
“You’ll get an amazing view of the ranch.”
“Not if I pass out.”
“You don’t have to be afraid with me.”
“No, apparently I need to be afraid of you.”
He steps close and cups her face, then arches her head back until she meets his eyes. “Remember what I told you on the parasail? Same thing applies here. I’ve got you. You’re safe. And you’re going to kick yourself if you miss out—”
“Because I’m afraid,” she finishes softly, teetering.
“Because you’re afraid,” he agrees and brushes his thumb across her cheekbone.
“I’m not just afraid, Cooper. I’m terrified.”
“I know.” He presses a soft kiss to her forehead. She’s not sure if they’re still talking about the helicopter or something else, something deeper. “Don’t make me double-dog dare you again, Cuj. Get your pretty little ass in the copilot’s chair. Now.”
She snorts. “Order me around again, cowboy, and you’ll be kissing my pretty little ass instead.”
“You say that like it’s a threat.”
“Isn’t it?”
“How can it be when it’s all I’ve wanted to do for the past seven weeks?”
The hungry gleam in his eye makes her heart skip a beat. A flush creeps up her neck as she goes hot all over. “Twenty minutes you said?”
“Twenty minutes.”
She squeezes her eyes shut, utterly torn.
This is insane.
It’s a death trap.
You’re not doing this.
You’re not actually thinking about doing this.
No.
No.
No.
A flashback to their last night in the Maldives permeates her denial, all stars and sighs and feeling.
Screw it.
She can survive anything for twenty minutes.
Sam squares her shoulders and marches toward the helicopter. Cooper seems to sense this is his one shot because he throws her suitcase into the back seat and then hops in without a word. Buttons are pushed. Seat belts are secured. He flicks switches, spins knobs, and says something into the comms that her anxiety-ridden mind isn’t able to process. A heavy set of headphones slides over her ears, canceling out the roar of the blades spinning faster and faster overhead. The sense of weightlessness grows, until suddenly, the ground slips away and they’re floating. It all feels surprisingly peaceful as they rise higher and higher, like a balloon cast adrift.
Then the wind shifts.
They drop.
And the brutal reality of being hundreds of feet in the air without a safety net comes careening back into focus.
Sam screams.
Cooper laughs.
Bastard.
Another gust of wind slams into them from the side and the helicopter tilts left. She presses her palm against the window as if that might do anything and searches desperately for a handhold while all her organs shove themselves up her throat.
And now I’m coughing. Great.
She finds a handle and grabs on, needing to feel grounded.
“I wouldn’t hold that if I were you,” Cooper says through his mic.
“Why not?” Sam practically squeaks.
“It’s the emergency exit.”
“Shit!”
She lets go as if burned. Her heart pounds. Spots start to invade her view as she squeezes the seat cushion, needing something firmer, sturdier—
Strong fingers suddenly thread through hers in an iron grip.
She looks up at Cooper, surprised. “Don’t you need it to fly?”
“I’ll tell you if I do.”
“Are you sure?”
“Just hold my damn hand, Cuj.”
She doesn’t ask again—not because of his tone, but because the moment he touched her, the panic subsided. Not entirely, but enough. Enough for her to catch her breath and look past the fear to the beauty waiting on the other side of the glass. Like always on the plane, the first thing she did when she sat down was close the window. But now, there’s nowhere to look but out at the pink-and-purple-stained sky, the clouds gilded by the dying sun, the stars already starting to pierce through the soft glow. To the far left, the cliffs of a majestic plateau gleam. To the right, rolling hills stretch endlessly into the mounting darkness. It’s awe-inspiring.
Honestly, it’s not at all what she pictured.
“You look confused,” Cooper comments wryly.
“I thought it would be…flatter?”
“Flatter?”
“And full of corn?”
“Ahh.” He nods. “You’re thinking of Eastern Nebraska. This is cattle country. It’s a whole different landscape.”
“It looks kind of like…home, actually. Like the dunes we walk through to get to the beach. Only here, there’s no beach. They just go on and on.”
“That’s a pretty good description, actually. They are dunes.”
She scrunches up her face. “What? But there’s no ocean.”
“Nope. Just sand hills. Lots and lots of sand hills held in place by grass.” He pauses, then turns to her with a grin. “You know what cows like to eat, Cuj?”
“Grass.”
“Ding ding ding.”
She snorts. “Well, whatever it is, it’s beautiful.”
“I’ve always thought so.”
“You say that like you— Wait.” She perks up and turns to look at him. “Are we on the ranch already?”
“You’ve been on the ranch since you landed. We lease the land to the local airport because it’s at the far edge of the property, too close to town for the cattle.”
“So all of this…” She trails off, turning her gaze to the view, the distant horizon, the endless wilds seemingly untouched by man.
“Home sweet home, as far as the eye can see.”
“It’s…” She swallows, not sure what to say, her tiny little concrete box of an apartment suddenly seeming ridiculous in comparison. “Wow.”
“Speechless? I didn’t think that was possible.”
She squeezes his fingers. “Not speechless, just soaking it all in. I might have read on your website that the ranch consisted of about two hundred thousand acres, but reading it and seeing it are two different things. Especially when most of my life fits in an eight-by-eight cubicle without windows.”
“Don’t feel too bad. We’re land rich and money poor out here.”
“You’ve got your own helicopter, cowboy. I think you’re doing just fine.”
He barks out a laugh and shakes his head, then juts his chin forward. “That white farmhouse over there? That’s the main house where my dad lives. Then the stables are just ahead, and those are the hay barns. You can see some of the cattle in that pasture over there.”
“And the bunkhouse?” she asks in a teasing voice.
“None of your damn business.”
“Worried I might find someone to replace you?”
The helicopter takes a sudden dip and she yelps as her free hand goes to the ceiling, as if bracing would somehow make a crash any less fatal.
“Cooper!”
“My hand slipped.”
She glares at him as he folds his lips between his teeth, trying to hide a smile.
“What were you saying, Cuj?”
“That I’m definitely finding the bunkhouse later.”
They drop again.
“COOPER!”
She squeezes his hand so tightly she’s afraid her nails might draw blood…not that he deserves any less.
The asshole laughs outright.
“Sorry. Slipped again. You were saying?”
“Where’s your damn house?” she growls. “I’m ready to get the hell off this thing.”
“Just over that ridge.”
A brilliant shimmer like liquid gold catches her eye first, the sunset reflecting off a small lake nestled in the hills. But as they fly closer, a long black roof appears, the top of what looks like a large rectangular barn and— Sam narrows her eyes, not sure if she’s seeing it right. But she is. Glass. Walls and walls of glass, punctuated by charred wood siding and portions of natural stone. It’s nothing like she expected. Modern yet cozy. Masculine yet soft. Blending into the landscape yet living in stark contrast with it. It looks like him. She’s not sure if that even makes sense, but it’s true. If someone had asked her five minutes ago what Cooper looked like in house form, she would have had no clue. But it’s this. It’s him. They haven’t even landed and she’s already itching to explore because she just knows walking through that door will feel like a warm hug, like stepping inside a piece of him, maybe even like going…
Home.
“My buddy helped me build it a few years back,” Cooper explains, not noticing how still she’s gone in the wake of that single word sending tremors through her soul. “He’s an architect out in Denver, but he flew out a bunch to oversee the project. I know, I know , it’s a little funky, but it’s—”
“Perfect.”
He turns to her with a pleasantly surprised expression. “You think so?”
“I wouldn’t say it if I didn’t.” She squeezes his hand. “Now, stop fishing for compliments and land this fucking thing. Your twenty minutes are up.”
He slides his hand free and flips some switches. They start to descend.
“Cooper!”
“What?” He turns to her. “You said to land this fucking thing.”
“I didn’t mean right here,” she says, looking around in panic as they sink below his roofline. “Isn’t this— I mean, don’t you—” They touch down. “We’re in your front yard.”
“So?”
“You can’t just land a helicopter in your front yard.”
“Why not?” He shrugs and unclips his seat belt. “It’s my house, and my helicopter, and my yard. I can do what I damn well please. And right now, what I damn well please is getting you inside that house as quickly as I can. I’ll take it back to the landing pad tomorrow.”
With that, he hops out of the side. She’s still frozen with shock as he rounds the helicopter and opens her door.
“You coming? Or do I have to haul you out?”
“I don’t—”
He takes her hand and pulls her through the door so she lands over his shoulder. With a little shuffle he wraps an arm across the backs of her legs, braces her weight, and spins them toward the house. It’s possibly the least romantic carrying style ever, yet butterflies swarm across her stomach as he marches confidently for the door.
“Oh my god, I can walk.”
“Not fast enough for my liking.”
“This is not how I envisioned you carrying me over the threshold.”
He smacks her ass. “Tough shit.”
“I’ve got to hand it to you, cowboy. You really know how to seduce a woman.”
“I got you out here, didn’t I?”
“I’m pretty sure Nina and a hefty dose of blackmail got me out here.”
“Keep telling yourself that. I like a challenge.”
He swings open the door and steps inside. She arches around, trying to get a look at the place, then finally pinches the small of his back. He jumps and puts her down, grumbling something she doesn’t quite hear, but it doesn’t matter. All of her attention is immediately snagged by the view waiting on the other side. A wall of glass spills onto a sweeping stone veranda, and beyond that is a scene of brilliant, bursting color. The sun has just started to drop beneath the hills, the sky like a painting as the dying rays scatter through the clouds. The lake, though small from above, seems to stretch as far as the eye can see from this vantage inside the house, the still surface reflecting everything above.
Sam’s breath literally catches in her throat.
“I chose this spot for its sunsets,” Cooper explains, his voice drifting in from behind. Soft footsteps thud as he walks closer. “I used to ride out here as a kid just to watch them from the hill. It’s always been my favorite view.”
“I can see why,” she says, awed.
“It’s never looked as beautiful as it does right now.”
She glances over her shoulder, already aware he’s watching her, but it does nothing to lessen the blow. Those green eyes pierce like a blade right to her heart, pleasure and pain a heady mix as her desire and her fear flare. He closes the last foot between them, molding his front to her back, and gently takes her by the hands. But he doesn’t swing her around as she expects. Instead, he takes three steps forward, forcing her to go with him, until her hips hit the edge of the kitchen island. His lips find her neck as he reaches for her lapels and slides her jacket off. He loosens the first button on her blouse, then another, and another, working his mouth over to her shoulder as her shirt falls open. Between the silk and his hands, her skin turns to flame. A sudden brush of cool air only fans the inferno as her shirt drops away.
“Fuck, Sam,” he groans against her spine.
She smirks. “You said black.”
Calloused fingers toy with the edges of her lace bra. No space between them, she can feel his passion growing, but he takes his time, pulling one strap over her shoulder, then the other, kissing along the path his fingers create, as if every inch of her deserves to be touched, caressed, worshipped. It’s overwhelming. It’s maddening. It’s driving her insane.
But right as she’s about to turn herself around, he braces her hands on the counter and orders, “Not yet.”
He slides his hands down her sides, over her hips, to the edges of her skirt. Then he sinks, dragging his mouth down her spine as he goes. She stands there, exposed, waiting, already on the edge. He takes it slow, torturously slow, as he lifts the hem, inch by inch, over her hips, and kisses his way up the backs of her thighs until her legs tremble.
“Tell me you missed me,” he murmurs as he stands and slides his palm down her front, so close to the place she desperately needs it.
“No.”
“Say it.”
He traces the scalloped edge of her thong, again, and again, and again, each pass making her pulse flutter a little more. He’s deliberate, patient, and calm. She’s practically panting when she finally relents.
“Fine. I missed you.”
“Good.”
He moves suddenly then, kicking her legs apart, gripping her around the waist with one arm while sliding the other home. With a gasp, she arches against him.
“Because I fucking missed you, too.”