If the Boot Fits Read online

  Sam let out another deep breath, a little more pained this time, a little more frustrated. He was not okay.

  “If there was one place around here. One place you had to show me. Where would that be?”

  “We’d need a helicopter,” he muttered. Amanda burst out laughing.

  “Excuse me, what?”

  “I’d show you the whole valley from the air. It’s beautiful, but we’d need a helicopter. I’m good, but I’m not gonna charter a helicopter on short notice good.”

  “So much for the Pleasant name. Can’t even get a spontaneous helicopter. What the fuck am I going to tell my family? You made promises, Sam.” She smiled wide until he glanced over at her, a smile spreading across his gorgeous face. The smile faded after a moment though and he was quiet. Amanda decided it was a good idea to give him some time just to be in his head. God knew she could use a moment to pull it together after their speedy exodus from the bar.

  They drove back to the ranch. Amanda tried not to let disappointment overtake her, but to her surprise Sam drove past the lodge. They drove deeper into the property, up a dirt road, up a slowly rising incline. About halfway up the hill there was a lone cabin. The lights were off, but from one of the windows she could see a fire going in the fireplace. They drove past the cabin and further past a small clearing. The ride continued on and on and seemed to go all the way up the foothills into the mountains. Sam cut the engine, then tilted his head a bit.

  “Come on.”

  Amanda climbed out and followed Sam to the back of the car. They leaned against the trunk and she could immediately see why he’d brought her there. It was butt-ass cold out, but you could see almost the whole ranch from where they stood and what felt like almost every star in the sky along with the enormous waning moon. They stood side by side, only touching arm to arm. For the moment it was enough.

  “I don’t really have a place,” Sam said quietly.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I don’t have a place. Usually when I come back I go to the house and I go to the ranch. I don’t, like, go out much and all my childhood spots aren’t really private.”

  “People don’t see me,” she said suddenly, since they were back to confessing things.

  “In what way?”

  “People actually don’t see me. I mean, it’s partly my fault. Well, no, it’s entirely my fault. I’ve made a habit out of being invisible. It didn’t occur to me that people would be trying to pap you in your hometown. No one ever cares what I’m doing. Definitely not enough to sneak photos. I’m sorry that happened.”

  “I didn’t expect that either. A lot’s changed in the last couple of weeks.”

  “It’s amazing what one statue can do.”

  “True. Not complaining, but looks like there’s some adjusting to do. Just wasn’t prepared for it. Wasn’t prepared for you either.”

  Amanda moved off the car and stepped between his legs. Sam didn’t hesitate to wrap his arms around her waist. The warmth of his body broke through the cool night air surrounding them. She watched his eyes as they focused on her lips. She couldn’t help but think about what it would be like to feel his mouth between her legs.

  “So what do we do?” she whispered.

  “We try to keep this private until we don’t want to keep this private anymore.”

  “We could do that. It’s not hard.”

  She saw an eyebrow go up under the shadow of his cowboy hat. “It’s not?”

  “No. Do you even know what Daniel Kaluuya’s girlfriend looks like? Mahershala’s wife?” Sam paused and she knew he had a vague sense ’cause he’d probably met them at a thing but... “See. If you saw them on the street you wouldn’t know.”

  “You have a point. But . . . I don’t want to keep this private.”

  “You know that’s enough for right now though, right? Like, it means a lot to me ’cause I know you’re serious. I’m not ready to be photographed. I am not a photographed kind of girl. And it’s not ’cause I don’t think I’m beautiful—”

  “Oh, I know. Remember, we spent a good chunk of the morning protecting this beautiful face,” Sam laughed.

  “It’s not a self-esteem thing. It’s . . . when something or someone means a lot to me I want to keep it to myself for a while. Just enjoy it for as long as I can. As soon as we are seen together—”

  “We belong to the Internet.”

  “Bitch, we belong to the Internet.”

  “I get it. I don’t want that either.”

  “Listen, you introduced me to your family, day one. You introduced me to your horse.”

  “That’s huge. You don’t even know.”

  “So, I met your horse. I met your grandma. I’m a little less terrified of your brother Jesse, and Evie, well, she loves me.”

  “How could she not?”

  “My mom can’t keep a secret for shit so maybe I won’t tell her right away, but as soon as Helene and Ignacio are back from their honeymoon I’ll tell Helene. And then maybe we can go double-dating on Ignacio’s yacht or, like, go window-shopping for exotic animals and buy the most illegal one. I don’t know what rich people do with their free time,” she teased.

  “We’re rich. Not white.”

  “True. Tex, let’s just protect this from the Internet for as long as possible.”

  “Anything for you, Cha-Cha. Anything you want.”

  “I want to sleep with you again. And then probably again.”

  “Oh, we can definitely do that.”

  “Why don’t we head back to my room. Like now. My front is very warm but my butt is freezing.”

  Amanda felt Sam’s hands ease down her hips before he reached around and grabbed her ass in his firm grip. “Better?”

  “Much. But we still can’t do this outside.”

  “Okay,” Sam laughed. “Let’s go.”

  Chapter 17

  Sam pulled back up to the front of the lodge and tried to ignore the clock on his dashboard. Their night wasn’t over, but he didn’t expect to be back at the ranch just before nine p.m. He needed to turn his mood around and enjoy the time he had left with Amanda before their weekend was over. He glanced through the front doors and caught the shadows of a couple walking through the lobby.

  “Head on in. I’ll go park.”

  “I can come with you,” Amanda replied, her voice light. Sam could tell she was trying to make him feel better and he really appreciated it. He reached over and took her hand so he could lay a warm kiss on her cold fingers.

  “I’d love the company, but in the interest of our collective privacy—”

  “Right.” Other guests might have seen them together earlier, but things felt different now. Things between them were different and he wasn’t coming up just to say goodnight. He wasn’t planning on walking back out. “Well, in that case, let me just go freshen up. I’ve never said that before.” She wiggled her eyebrows, so damn proud of herself. Sam chuckled quietly before kissing the back of Amanda’s hand one more time.

  “Text me when you’re feeling fresh enough.”

  “Oh, I will, baby.” She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek, then climbed out of the car. He waited until she was safely inside before he pulled out of the curved drive. He took a U-turn and drove behind the lodge so he could leave his car in Zach’s parking space. He took his time walking back to the front, breathing in the night air, wondering where exactly he had gone wrong. The truth was that he’d done the best work of his career and been rewarded for it and as a result he was now a thing. He thought he’d been prepared. He couldn’t go anywhere in a hundred-mile radius without someone recognizing him as Jesse Pleasant Sr.’s boy or Zach and Jesse’s little brother, but that kind of notoriety had never impacted his love life before. He had never come close to scaring off someone he was starting to care deeply for.

  And yeah, even though Amanda had stuck around, handling the whole situation at Claim Jumpers like a champ, he didn’t miss the shock and hesitation in her eyes. She was so cl
ose to hightailing it back to the city. Things were fresh, but so easy between them. He didn’t want to lose her. Not again. All he could do was be cautious and show her that she was his focus now. He stepped into the lobby and greeted the young lady at the front desk with a nod and tip of his hat. He thought about taking a seat in one of the available chairs in front of the central fireplace, but decided against it. Privacy was a firm policy at Big Rock, but at the moment he wasn’t in the mood to even risk being recognized. He headed down the hallway toward Amanda’s room.

  He pulled out his phone as he waited outside her door and thought about braving a look at his social media. He wasn’t in the mood for whatever comments were waiting for him on Instagram, but Twitter usually delivered the appropriate levels of humor at a time like this. Sure enough the first thing was that photo that was turned into a meme of Jason Derulo falling backward down the Met Gala stairs almost ten years ago. JASON DERULO FALLS DOWN THE STAIRS ON HIS WAY TO VOTE IN THE DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY. Sam laughed quietly to himself as he ignored the thousands of tweets hanging out in his mentions and kept scrolling. A few minutes later a text from Amanda popped up on his screen.

  Okay I’m ready.

  I’m right outside your door.

  He rolled his shoulder along the wall reaching over to knock lightly on the door. It cracked open a moment later. Amanda’s smiling face was visible through the small opening. He couldn’t help but smile back.

  “Hi,” she said with a hint of playful seduction in her voice.

  “Hi.”

  “You wanna come in?”

  “Yeah, I’d like that.”

  “’Kay.” She opened the door all the way revealing the beautiful fact that she was wearing nothing but a white ranch towel that left almost nothing to the imagination. Her cleavage spilled out over the edge of the white fabric that she was holding together with a death grip in her other hand. Her luscious thighs were on full display, the terry cloth just barely covering the juncture between her legs.

  “Jesus Christ.”

  “Please come in.”

  He stepped inside, taking off his Stetson as most of the blood in his body rushed to his dick. “You could have warned me.”

  “What do you mean? I thought we decided. We is fucking tonight.”

  “Oh, we did. I just didn’t expect you to already be all butt-booty naked.”

  “I’m wearing a towel. Gotta leave a little mystery. I took, like, a four-minute shower. I feel like I brought a little bit of Claim Jumpers with me. I wanted to be fresh fresh for when I smothered your face with my thighs,” she said.

  “So you’re planning on sitting on my face?” Sam didn’t miss the way she was backing toward the bed. He hung his Stetson on the hook on the door, then shrugged out of his jacket.

  “I mean I’ve been thinking about it. Among other things.” The smile had slowly disappeared from her face. Her gaze followed his every move as he toed out of his cowboy boots, then went about unbuttoning his shirt. Sam knew that look, pure unadulterated lust, but he’d never seen it on the face of a woman he wanted so badly. When he spoke again he could hear that same level of arousal coming through his own voice.

  “What other things? Tell me.”

  Amanda licked her lips as she leaned against the bedpost. “Well. For starters I think you should come over here and see how wet I am under this towel. I didn’t finish drying off all the way.” Sam pulled off his button-down and then his undershirt, then crossed the room, crowding right into her personal space. He looked down at the gorgeous brown skin of her shoulders. There was a small bit of lotion that hadn’t been properly rubbed. Slowly, he used his thumb to finish the job. Then he moved his hand a little lower, brushing the back of his palm over her tit as he went. He helped himself to the warmth between her thighs as he was greeted instantly by the wetness already coating her slit. Her breath hitched as he pressed his mouth to the curve of her neck.

  “You been like this long?” he asked as he used his middle finger to slide between her lips. He found the tiny, hard bud easily, but ignored it to tease her slick entrance instead.

  “Uh, since my massage this afternoon.”

  Sam paused, but didn’t take his hand away. “Sven get you worked up like this?”

  “No. I was thinking about how nice it would have been if those were your hands all over me. He did an a’ight job.” She tilted her head back just a bit so she could look him in the eye. “But I wanted it to be you. I’ve touched myself a lot, thinking about you.”

  Sam watched her eyes as he slid one finger inside her slick opening. “And how was it?”

  “Never as good as the real thing. I want you to fuck me so bad.”

  “But?” He leaned down and sucked her bottom lip into his mouth, kissing her deeply. They could get back to their conversation in a moment. “But what?” he said when he finally broke away. Sam nudged her legs farther apart, making room for his whole wrist as he pushed his whole finger deep inside her. She clenched around him, gripping his shoulder with one hand to steady herself. That towel was dangerously close to slipping to the ground.

  “But what, Cha-Cha? Tell me,” Sam breathed against her fresh-smelling skin.

  “I want this to last.” She whimpered, thrusting her hips against his palm. He added another finger to the mix, fucking her slowly as she tried to find the rest of her words. “I don’t want tonight to end. I’m not ready to go back.”

  “I can’t stop tomorrow from coming, but that doesn’t mean we can’t do this again, and again.”

  “Sam,” she cried out, her hips working hard against the motion of his fingers. She was wet as hell, soaking his palm with her sweet-smelling juices. He had to taste her and soon.

  “Get on the bed,” he said. She followed his instructions, shimmying up on the mattress, the perfect height for him to fuck while they both had their feet still on the ground. They’d get to that eventually. Later, when he bent her over and took her from behind so that perfectly fat ass of hers could bounce off his lap. He stepped out of his jeans and his boxers, grabbing the condoms he’d gotten from Zach out of the back pocket. He stroked his erection as she watched him from the bed, still gripping that towel that was barely covering her tits.

  He approached the bed and leaned over her as he took the towel from her fingers and parted the fabric, exposing her beautiful body. Sam never had a type, until now. Amanda was his type, every full curve, every stretch mark, mole, beauty mark, every inch of her deep brown skin. He loved the roundness of her belly, her large breasts too big for him to cup in his hand. His mouth watered as he looked at the hard tips of her dark brown nipples, just waiting to be sucked. Reading his mind, she pressed her tits together offering them up to him. He didn’t have to think twice. The look in her eyes was enough.

  Sam leaned down, sucking one puckered tip into his mouth, before running his tongue over it again and again in lazy circles. His dick ached at that sound she made. A soft hiss and a moan. Desperate pleas for him to keep going. No way she wanted him to stop. He switched to the other breast, before using his hand to push the luscious mounds together a bit more. He opened his mouth, flattening the tip of his tongue so he could worship both of her nipples at the same time. More desperate noises, even louder as she gripped the back of his head, pulling him closer. If Sam died this way, he’d happily welcome his maker in this moment, with his name on Amanda’s lips.

  He moved to stand off the bed and made quick work of rolling the condom into place. “I’m gonna eat that pussy. Believe me. I just—”

  “No. Now. Yeah. I want you now.” Amanda slid farther up the bed giving him room to join her, but seemed to suddenly have a change of heart. She hopped to the floor, motioning for him to get on the bed. “I wanna be on top.”

  “I don’t see a downside to this.” Sam tried not to bounce onto the bed like an overzealous eight-year-old. He made himself comfortable against the headboard, then held out a hand for her to join him. She came closer to the bed, then seemed to have a c
hange of thought. She hurried across the room, taking her braids down from their high bun as she went, then reached for his Stetson on the hook.

  “May I? Or does this violate some sort of cowboy code of hat ethics?”

  “You could put on a clown wig and a beret and I wouldn’t give a shit. Get over here.”

  She laughed, delicately placing the hat on her head before hurrying back over to join him. She carefully climbed over his lap, positioning herself exactly where they both wanted her to be. He gripped his dick and placed it right at the entrance of her slick, warm pussy.

  “How do I look?” she asked as she teased them both, rubbing herself along the swollen head of his erection.

  “I think you need a Stetson of your own. I like it,” Sam said with a groan as she sunk down onto him. She took a few inches before sliding back up again. He wasn’t packing the longest dick around, but he wasn’t ashamed to brag about the thickness of it. It felt amazing, the way she took her time getting used to him, up and down, taking more and more until she’d taken every inch.

  She leaned forward, bracing herself with her hands just above his shoulders. “I’m not too proud to admit this.” He reached down and gripped her lush hips.

  “To admit what, baby?”

  “Your dick is amazing. And don’t pretend you didn’t hear me. I’m not saying it again.”

  Sam’s hips dropped down to the bed as he laughed, losing his rhythm for just a moment. He picked it up again, driving up deep into her sweet, warm cunt. “I only need to hear it once. I’ll carry your words with me forever.”

  He knew she could have continued to clown him all night, but they both gave in to the pleasure between them, shelving the small talk for another time. Sam moved so he was sitting up more against the headboard and pulled her closer, wrapping his arms around her as she continued to grind on his dick. He kept on kissing her, soaking in the way her tongue felt against his, how their bodies moved together, how he also didn’t want this night to end.