“I should have listened to my father,” he said after a while.
“Me, too,” Samantha said absently, nodding in agreement as she couldn’t help but wonder how her life would have turned out if she’d made different choices.
“Why is that, wife?” Trace asked, throwing her a questioning look.
“He told me that if I ever got a chance to leave that I should never look back,” Samantha said, sighing as she glanced down at her feet as she raised them so that she could feel the water run through her toes.
“And you got a chance to leave,” he guessed correctly.
“Yes, I did.”
“But you came back because of your brother.”
“And you heard my conversation with Nathan,” she said with a teasing smile.
“Apologies,” he murmured.
“It’s fine,” she said, biting back a yawn as she found herself leaning against him, her head on his shoulder as the sounds of the stream slowly lulled her asleep and…
“You were worth the wait,” Trace said as she felt his lips touch hers.
Chapter 34
“I’m sorry,” Trace said, breaking away from that kiss that had been barely more than a simple touch of their lips, but had him struggling to catch his breath as his heart pounded against his chest and his hands clenched into fists when all he wanted to do was pull her back into his arms and kiss her again.
That was a lie, he told himself as he moved off that rock and walked away, putting space between them before he did something that he would regret. He wanted to pull her into his arms and kiss her, and-
A roar was torn from him as his vision went red and pure rage tore through him at the reminder of everything he’d lost because of that bitch. He should have done so many things, should have been here to see the world change, and he should definitely know how to fucking kiss a woman, Trace thought as he slammed his fist into a tree, breaking it in two as another roar was torn from him and-
“Hey, look at me,” Samantha said as he felt her small hands cup his face as she stepped in front of him, “it’s okay.”
“No, it’s not,” he bit out, needing to put his fist through something else only to allow himself to be pulled down so that his forehead was pressed against hers as she gently caressed his face.
“Yes, it is, Trace,” Samantha promised him.
“No, it’s…” he began only to groan when she used her hold to pull his mouth down to hers so that she could kiss him.
Afraid that he would do something to stop this, he held himself still as she pressed her lips to his, the slight pressure shooting pleasure through his body only to tear another groan from him as her lips brushed against his. For several minutes, he stood there, enjoying the way that it felt to have her lips move against his until he found himself reaching for her.
He pulled her closer as he tentatively moved his lips against hers, copying the simple move as he wrapped his arms around her, enjoying the feel of her small soft body against his as she released her hold so that she could wrap her arms around him as she raised herself on her toes to get closer to him. With a groan, he tightened his hold on her and picked her up off the ground as he lost himself in that kiss.
Her lips were so soft and sweet, Trace thought only to decide that they were made of sin when her lips parted and he felt her
tongue slide against his. This was so much better than he’d ever imagined, and as a boy, he’d imagined doing this a lot. Some days, it was all he could think about and other days, he’d wake up to find his hand wrapped around his cock and-
His hands slid down to her ass when she wrapped her legs around him, tearing a groan from both of them as the move brought her closer to the part of him that ached for her. The kiss deepened as he used his hold on her to bring her tightly against him, needing relief as her fingers threaded through his hair, and her scent reached him, tearing a moan from him as his cock jerked against his trousers.
That scent…
It had him sliding one hand between her legs, needing to touch her, needing to know if he could feel how wet she was through the soft material of her trousers. With a moan, Samantha dropped her head back, breaking off the kiss as he stood there, holding her as he rubbed his fingers between her legs. He pressed a kiss against her throat as his fingers found her mound through the soft material.
Growing up in whore houses, he’d seen and heard enough to know what women wanted, what they hated, and all the things they said and did to make a man believe whatever pretty little lies they’d told him to separate him from his purse. He’d never been interested in the whores he’d grown up surrounded by because he’d seen what they did, spreading their legs for men, one right after the other only to use their mouths and hands when a man didn’t have enough coin to sink himself between her legs.
He’d listened as they’d talked, the way they’d complained about men who didn’t know how to use their cocks, the way they’d praised the men who did, how they’d talked about a man being able to make them wet with a simple touch and-
“Trace,” Samantha said on a broken moan as he traced her folds with his fingertips, hating the material between them, but unable to stop as her scent grew heavier and he felt the soft material grow damp beneath his touch.
He needed to know what it felt like to be inside her, needed to know how wet she really was, how tight she would be, and he needed to feel her wrapped around his cock, now. Desperate to be inside her, he kissed her neck, as he shifted her in his arms so that he could-