Resisting Samantha (Hope Parish Novels Book 10) by Zoe Dawson Read Free Book Online Page B

ignorant, because I hadn’t
known it would make wanting the rest of her right the fuck now so
much more intense.
    I should have
expected it. She’d driven me hardcore crazy, and I needed this
days ago, this heated, tender contact. The feel of her filled
something empty inside me, something that had been hollow for a long,
long time.
    She made another
soft, surrendering sound in her throat, her arms sliding up around my
neck, the fingers of both hands now tunneling through my hair. I
gathered her close and lifted her, spun around and settled her on my
lap as I leaned against the side of the bed.
    She couldn’t
mistake how she affected me from the position she was in. But she
didn’t pull away, holding onto me like her life depended on it.
The next heated sound was my own, deep, low, gasping. I breathed her
in and teased her, rubbing my lips over hers, licking the plump
bottom’s fullness, biting her so very, very gently, and I
whispered her name again.
    “ Samantha .
Beautiful, sweet Sammy.”
    She made a soft,
distressed sound in the back of her throat, stiffening up. She bolted
off my lap, kneeling on the floor and covering her face with her
hands.
    “Damn,
Samantha. What’s wrong?” Everything inside me froze,
except my heart, which plummeted into the pit of my stomach. A
hundred emotions flooded me, and I knew then that I was hooked, and
in deep, deep trouble. I had planned to take it slow with her, not
move too fast and blow it. There were so many reasons to just get up
and go, but I couldn’t seem to hang onto even one of them.
    There was no going
back, so I closed and bolted the door to my escape.

 

Chapter 4
     
    SAMANTHA
     
    This was happening. Had happened. I’d touched Chase the way I have longed to so for
months. Touched him and kissed him, and wasn’t surprised by the
feelings of guilt and betrayal. But I suspected that any change would
have caused an upheaval, and it was time to decide how I was going to
handle the adjustment. Transitions could sometimes be very volatile.
And terrifying.
    There was no doubt I
wanted to kiss him some more, take him in great gulps and never look
back, but out of the blue I’d been smashed to smithereens by
one tenderly whispered nickname, reminding me that starting over had
some pitfalls along the way.
    “Samantha. I’m
dying here. Talk to me. What’s wrong?” He probably didn’t
know how to handle this any more than I did.
    I looked at him, and
my heart melted, even as it was scrambling to assimilate all the
emotions I had been dealing with since the loss of Jeff and Scott, as
well as the newfound feelings for this strong, gorgeous, but also
damaged, local man.
    I’d lived long
enough in Suttontowne to know all about the Suttons. I’d been
through enough of River Pearl’s love affair with Braxton to
know that there were some major issues going on with her family and
her brothers. Chase was the fallen son who had disappeared into the
bayou. My own hang-ups aside, I was deeply interested in why the
family brunch had been so strained. Why he hadn’t managed to
work out his family differences.
    Well, we’d
been dancing around each other for a couple of years, so I supposed
it was time I talked to him.
    “Sammy is what
my husband used to call me. His name was Jeff, and he was a
firefighter.”
    His eyes widened and
he sat up straight, immediate conciliation washing over his face as
he squeezed his eyes shut with a soft groan. When he opened them,
they were filled with apology. “Sugar…I didn’t
mean to hurt you,” he said gruffly.
    I pulled myself out
of my own morass of pain and heartache to soothe him. “I know
that, Chase. I knew you had no idea. It’s just that old
memories have a way of socking you in the jaw when you least expect
it. I’m attracted to you. I think that’s obvious, since
we’ve been gravitating toward each other since we first met.”
    He nodded. “Can’t
deny that one after the kiss we just shared.” Letting his
breath go