8. Sam
SAM
“Can we stay here for the rest of the day?” my girl asked, and I smiled.
“Hmm,” I breathed, stroking her hair. Avery was lying on my side, thighs spread out and over my leg, her arm across my chest as her hand doodled random patterns on my chest.
And I loved it.
I loved her.
Not that I thought she was anywhere ready to hear that. Not yet. Soon, but not yet.
“We could do more… stuff,” she suggested. I glanced down at her. Her soft, sweet body half on mine, bare peaches-and-cream skin my fingers couldn’t seem to stop stroking.
“Stuff?” My lips twitched at her sudden shyness, but I couldn’t stop myself from gently teasing her, “What kind of stuff are you thinking about, princess?”
“Hmm,” she purred and lifted her head. “Maybe a little more playing?” she suggested. My already hard dick pulsed. “Maybe you can spank me?”
“Teach you a lesson—“ I didn’t get to finish what I was saying when frantic knocking sounded from the front door.
Knock, knock, knock.
It stopped and started again in intervals of three.
“Expecting company?” she asked.
“Not really.” I frowned. When the knocking started to get louder, I sighed. Whoever was at the door was obviously not going anywhere. “You stay here and let me get rid of whoever is at the door so we can get back to that list of stuff we should do.” I wagged my brows, and she giggled.
I dipped down just as she shifted to meet my lips in an easy, simple kiss. Like we’d done this morning=after shit a million times. Mine, that thing inside of me mumbled, already irked at whoever was at the door.
I rolled out of bed and felt her eyes on me as I pulled a pair of joggers and an old Miranda HVAC shirt out of my drawer.
I hurried out into the living room. KNOCK.
KNOCK. KNOCK. I cursed under my breath the moment I looked towards my driveaway and noticed the car there.
What the fuck? No fucking way was this shit happening today of all days!
I opened the door and stared into sea-glass green eyes staring up at me.
“What do you want?” My jaw clenched, but she just smiled back up at me like the pain in the ass she was.
“Well, hello to you, too.” She laughed.
“What. Do. You. Want?” I enunciated each word clearly, not bothering to give her any leeway of misinterpretation that today wasn’t a good day to visit. As happy as I was to see her, I didn’t want to hang out. She stared at me, not giving anything away, then she tilted her head.
“Did I wake you up? Is that why you’re all—“ Her fingers wiggled in front of her as they pointed at me.
“What?”
“It’s after ten in the morning,” she said, and I blinked. “You never sleep in.” Too observant for her own good.
“Look, I don’t know why you’re here but—“
“But nothing. Let me in.” She stepped forward, and I pulled the door closer to my back, something I knew she wouldn’t miss. Talk about bad timing.
“Why?” I asked, knowing the moment I let her inside, all of Avery and my plans for doing stuff were going to fly out the fucking window.
“Why?” She laughed incredulously. “Maybe because I’ve been knocking on the door for the last ten minutes and I have to use your bathroom!”
“Look, how about I call you, say, in a month to make plans?”
“Haha, you’re funny. A month?” She straight up laughed in my face.
“Did you forget what today is?” I blinked, and the pain-in-the-ass woman in front of me used that to her advantage, moving me out of the way.
She stepped inside, and the sound I made at the back of my throat hinted at what I’d been trying to hide.
I loved my sisters, but Jesus, they had horrible timing.
“Fuck, look, I don’t know what you’re playing at or why you’re even here—”
“You don’t remember that today is Mami’s birthday and you offered to host lunch?” I shut my eyes. My mom’s birthday. How the hell had I forgotten that? “Holy shit! You forgot Mom’s birthday? The golden child? Mom’s favorite.”
“I’m not her favorite, Stells. And if I were, why didn’t you remind me yesterday you were coming into town?”
“I don’t know. I figured you were going to offer me a ride from the airport, but with your girl drama… wait—“ Her voice hushed. “Is she here? Ohmygod! She’s here, isn’t she?!” she obnoxiously whisper-yelled.
“Look, I will give you anything you want if you manage to—“ I lost sight of my youngest sister’s eyes when she was suddenly no longer looking at me but over my shoulder.
“Hi!” she said, beaming with a huge smile on her face. Without looking back, I knew Avery was standing there.
“Hi,” my girl breathed. “Umm…” She was obviously at a loss for words.
I turned around and looked at her, my heart softening, knowing she was not running away. Yet. Avery was standing there in nothing but one of my shirts. The thing was massive on her, hitting just a couple of inches above her knees. She was looking at Stella and for some reason avoiding my eyes.
“I should probably get going.” She walked a couple of steps forward, and that’s when I noticed her shirt and bra on the floor.
“Stell, go use the bathroom,” I ordered.
“No! Wait, don’t go!” my sister chimed in just as more footsteps neared the front door.
“Knock, knock!” another all-too-familiar feminine voice called, and I watched as Avery paled.
“Hey! Avery, right?” Rainy said as she walked into my house.
“What are you doing at…” She blinked. I wasn’t sure how one of my sisters had already met Avery.
“Wait! Hold the phone! Holy shit!” she whispered, and then her face transformed.
All my sisters were full of personality, but Rainy grinned wide and yelled out.
“Windy! You are never going to believe this!”
“Small world,” Avery squeaked, pulling my shirt down her thighs. “I can get out of here and—“
“No!” Stella moved closer to Avery. “Don’t go.”
“What is happening?” Windy asked, a cake box in her hands.
She stopped, and the moment she saw Stell, she rolled her eyes.
“What’s the big deal? It’s just Stella!” Stella turned and gave her a look, and that’s when my baby sister moved out of the way.
I swear, Windy’s eyes looked like they were about to pop out of her head.
“OMG!” she shouted with a jump, careful not to drop the box she held in her hands.
I didn’t think Windy had ever said OMG in her life.
“You’re her neighbor?!” she exclaimed, turning so fast to look at me I was shocked she didn’t get whiplash.
“He’s a total dork, Avery! I expected better from you,” Windy teased. She better be teasing.
“Shut up,” I rumbled. It was time to get control of the situation. “Okay, all three of you, will you guys… go to the kitchen or out to the backyard and set up the table and chairs for today, so I can talk to my woman?”
“His woman?” Stella repeated with unhinged glee.
“His woman!” Rainy and Windy both repeated at the same time. My jaw clenched. Pains in my ass.
“You’re going to scare her off if you guys keep acting like teenage girls hopped up on caffeine.”
“We’re grown—“ Windy started to argue. I rolled my eyes.
“Yes, I know. Just please give us a minute?” Stells blinked and looked at the other two.
Quietly and in that unnerving way they spoke without words, they all nodded almost at the same time before smiling at Avery and walking to the kitchen.
It wasn’t until the sliding door that led to the backyard shut that I moved.
“I’m sorry about them.”
“They’re your sisters,” she observed quietly.
“Yeah.” I smile. “The three pains in my ass.”
“That you helped your mom with.”
“Yeah.”
“Oh.” She bit the inside of her cheek, and my brows furrowed.
“What’s up?” I could see she was doing the math in her head and something wasn’t adding up.
“Nothing, I just… I thought… when I saw Stella, I thought…”
“What?”
“That you and her were… you know, and I’d messed up by not asking if you were even seeing someone. It made me realize we hardly know one another.” I immediately closed the space between us and picked her up.
With Avery, I wasn’t the kind of man to let things linger and fester. Not after she gave herself to me. Her legs wrapped around my middle, and I didn’t stop until we reached the master bedroom.
“Sam! What are you—“
“Shh…” I hushed, kicking the door shut behind me before settling my ass down on the edge of the bed with her straddling me. Somehow, it was just enough to block out the outside world.
“We know each other more than you think.”
“Honey—“
“I’m serious. I haven’t been in a relationship in… I don’t even remember how long. The last time I had sex other than this morning was over a year ago.”
“Why?”
“Why?” I laughed roughly. “Honestly, I was done with hookups, but I didn’t think I could meet someone I wanted more with.”
“Oh.”
“Until you,” I added, and she blinked.
“Really?” Fuck! She was killing me. One day, she wouldn’t even blink believing this. She would be so fucking settled as mine, she wouldn’t remember what it had been like to be alone. I’d make it my life’s mission.
“What did I warn you about last night?” I asked, needing to remind her.
“No take-backs,” she whispered. I nodded, pressing my forehead against hers.
“I meant it,” I whispered, close enough to feel her every breath against my lips. “Now, we can do one of two things, but either way, you’re absolutely not leaving my place. Not without me.”
“Really? You keeping me hostage, Daddy?” She might be teasing, but I needed her to know just how serious I was about her.
“Fuck,” I growled, loving the easy way it just rolled off her tongue. “Hell yeah.” I stroked her face. “I would do anything to keep you with me, princess. You belong with me. I’d lie, steal, cheat, kidnap and chain you to this very bed if I had to.”
“Hmm.” Her eyes brightened, and I knew that bratty side of hers was about to show. “Maybe that can be some of the… stuff we do later?” she suggested. It was not the time to get hard. Not when my sisters were just in the backyard.
“I promise.”
“Okay.” She nodded.
“Okay, then, two choices. I kick them out and reschedule my mom’s birthday lunch—“
“Reschedule your mom’s birthday?! Are you crazy?”
“Or we get dressed and do this together.”
“This?”
“You already met half the other women in my life. Well, three quarters since you met Stella.”
“Baby, this is a little fast. We don’t have to rush into—“
“This isn’t me rushing into shit, Avery. I told you what I want. I’m not the kind of man who changes his mind. You’re mine and I’m yours. They’re going to see that and are going to love you.”
“What if they don’t?” she whispered. I could feel her fear of not belonging vibrating through her tone.
“They will. I promise.”
“How do you know?” she asked, obviously needing hard, concrete proof, and even though I was probably going way too fast for her, I couldn’t stop the words.
“Because I love you.” She froze and stared at me, unblinking. Her blue eyes never left mine as they slowly started to turn glassy with emotion.
“I love you, Avery. I’m not sure how it happened or when, but I do.
From that first day I saw you, I knew you were different.
That there was something special there, but after?
Talking and hanging out when you locked yourself out?
Baby girl, you had me. And you don’t have to say it back yet.
I know it’s stupid fast and probably a little crazy, but trust me when I tell you I know how I feel, and my family, they’re going to see it and fall just as hard as I did. ”
“Sam.” She licked her lips but didn’t say a thing, and I didn’t push. Instead, I got us back on track.
“So? What do you want to do? Meet the crazy women in my family to celebrate my mom’s birthday, or we can reschedule and you can tell me in detail about all that stuff you want to do.
Though the stuff can still happen if you meet them; we just have to wait until they leave.
” When she laughed, sound filled my chest with something wholesome and pure.
“Meet them and then the stuff.” She blushed, and I grinned.
“I promise they’re not as… chaotic as they seem.”
“Windy and Rainy are really nice,” she said, then added, “They’re part of the reason I showed up at your house out of the blue.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
“Fuck,” I muttered under my breath.
“What?”
“That means I owe them big, and that’s not something they will ever let me live down.” She laughed again, resting her head on my shoulder for a beat. And I loved just how perfectly she fit there. “I do have to go home and change. I can’t meet your mom wearing your shirt.”
“I don’t know. I like you wearing my stuff. Feels like I marked you,” I told her honestly, and she rewarded me with a soft giggle.
“Sam.”
“Fine, I’ll go with you.”
“Okay,” she agreed easily.
The morning might not have gone exactly how I’d wanted after she’d woken me up so damn sweetly with her mouth, but the rest of the day went pretty much without a hitch.
After going back to her house to change, we returned to my place, and just like I knew they would, my sisters fell in love with my girl. They brought her into the fold so easily you would think she had been part of the family for decades.
And when my mom showed up?
She had taken one look at Avery after I’d introduced them and started to cry.
Avery looked at me in panic, and my sisters looked like they weren’t sure what was going on.
Thankfully, my mom caught her breath through what she said were happy tears because it was about time I met the woman I was going to marry.
What could I say? The women in my life were a little bit dramatic.
Not that my mom was wrong.
Avery was the woman I was going to one day marry.