I stopped to think about it. “I guess so? I mean… that makes sense.”
Sam’s brows furrowed. “Truman, how do you pay this fee?”
“It’s actually organized so we contribute to their retirement fund. So I guess we’re not paying the department directly, we’re helping fund their pensions.”
His nostrils flared. “Truman, who do you make the payment to? How is the check made out?”
“I don’t remember exactly. It’s an acronym. It stands for the Rockley County Sheriff Pension Fund or something like that, I think.”
Sam opened his mouth to say something else but stopped himself. “Okay. Maybe I’ll ask the guys at the diner more about it since they were here when it first started.”
“Pim and Bill would know more than I do, for sure,” I said in agreement. “Do you want dessert?”
Suddenly, the subject of the sheriff’s fee was long gone, and Sam’s eyes were filled with decadent promise.
“I sure do,” he said in a rough voice before reaching for my hand. I glanced at my smaller hand in his larger one. He was incredibly gentle with me, so much so it made me want to thank him. Which was ridiculous. I knew enough to know I deserved for men to be gentle with me, but I also recognized it wasn’t always the case.
“Truman,” he said carefully. “I’d really like to kiss you again.”
I opened my mouth to enthusiastically agree, but he continued talking before I could.
“But I need you to know I’m not relationship material, and I’m only passing through town. I’ll be back on the road in a few days. And I think maybe you deserve more than that.”
I did deserve more than that. But I also deserved the right to have a one-night stand if that’s what I wanted.
“I think maybe I deserve to make my own decisions,” I said instead.
Sam met my eyes. “And what’s your decision about kissing me?”
I stood up and stepped closer to him before reaching for his other hand. After urging him up from his chair, I led him to the giant sectional sofa in the den. This room was one of my favorites with a stone fireplace, windows on three sides, and several of Aunt Berry’s old quilts folded neatly here and there.
“My decision is a resounding yes, please,” I said with a smile as I sat him down on the sofa and straddled his lap again the way we’d done on the patio.
This time Sam’s hands came around to grab my ass and use it to pull me closer. I felt a confidence I didn’t recognize in myself. I leaned in and pressed a kiss to his cheek just above the line of his blond beard.
“Truman,” he said softly. “You’re in charge, okay? You tell me to stop and I stop.”
I kissed him again, just below his bottom lip. I wanted to kiss every square inch of his face. “Mmhm.”
His big hands moved up, sliding under the hem of my shirt and landing on the skin of my back. The feel of those warm, callused hands on me made me harder than I already was.
“Fuck, you’re so perfect,” he murmured, nuzzling the side of my face. “You’re driving me crazy.”
“Is this okay?” I asked, kissing his temple and then his ear and then his neck.
Sam groaned and arched up, pressing the bulge in his jeans against my own. “More than okay. You can do whatever you want to me, sweetheart.”
I felt oddly bold and brave, like I truly could do whatever I wanted and he wouldn’t judge me for it. Knowing it was a one-night stand was freeing. I could be brave.
I kissed his neck beneath his beard and then mouthed my way over to his Adam’s apple. The scent of pine and lemon was stronger here, and it had enough of a commercial hint to it to confirm what I suspected. It was an aftershave or cologne of some kind.
Whatever it was, I wanted it. I wanted to spray it over my pillows and pour it into my bath. I wanted to spend hours trying to recreate the scent with organic sources and all-natural elements.
One of his hands came up to cradle the back of my head and hold it still while he ducked down to kiss me on the lips. Ahh, there it was. The brain-fog and belly-swoops that came from being kissed by Sam Rigby.
I gave myself up to it happily, letting my body sink against his as his tongue explored my mouth. The endearment he’d uttered a minute ago finally sunk in and twisted my heart in hopeful knots.
He’s not relationship material, I reminded myself. He’s not sticking around.
But oh, how irrelevant that was right in this moment. I didn’t need long term when I could have this right now. I didn’t need a future when I had this as my present.
I moved my hands down to his shirt and yanked it out of his pants so I could sneak my fingers up under it. I felt the crisp hair on his stomach and moved my hands up to explore his muscled chest. God, he was like something out of a construction worker pornography video, all chiseled muscle and hairy chest. I roamed my hands over every firm curve I could reach and enjoyed the noises he made in response.
“Fuck,” he said before flipping me quickly onto my back on the sofa. The move took my breath away, and then his mouth on mine made it hard to get it back.
Please, please! My brain hammered out a silent litany of begging for more. More kisses, more touches, more skin, more time.
Sam ground his erection against my hip and moved a hand down to cup me through my pants.
“Oh!” I cried. “Oh god.”
I sounded like a prim miss, but I was too overwhelmed with sensation to temper my words.
Sam rumbled out a low string of dirty talk I wasn’t even sure he realized he was saying out loud as his belly pressed against my erection in a rhythmic cadence. “Want to fuck you. Want to strip you down and suck you off. Slip my fingers inside you and fuck you with them. Want to watch you lose control. Then I want you to sit on my dick and—”
Apparently, I was a sucker for dirty talk. The orgasm hit me like a roundhouse kick out of the blue. I grunted in surprise and cried out in complete horror.
“No! Oh, ahhh, oh my god. Oh. Oh god.” It seemed like it lasted forever. My humiliation was impossible to miss as I gasped and wheezed and shoved myself against him in a heady combination of embarrassment and relief.
The silence that followed was horrendous.
“Keep going,” I said stupidly.
Sam pulled back and stared down at me. “Did you just—?”
“Keep going,” I said again. “Please! It didn’t happen. I’m good. Keep going.” I reached up to try and pull his face back down for another kiss, but he was stronger than I was.
Instead, he gave me a giant, shit-eating grin. “You came.”
Cripes.
“No.”
“You did. You came in your pants.”
What would happen if I burst into tears right now? It would probably make for a really awkward goodbye followed by tires squealing as he peeled out of my driveway.
“I’m sorry,” I breathed. “It’s been a long—”
“That’s the single hottest thing I’ve ever seen.”
“—time for me. What?” I blinked up at him. “What?”
“If I so much as touched my dick right now, I’d come all over you. You’re so fucking sexy, Truman. That was incredibly hot.”
“Come all over me,” I whispered, too scared to say it fully out loud. “Please, come all over me.”