Page 97 of The Hermit on the Hill

It was raining hard now, so I popped the trunk, leapt from the driver's seat, and raced toward the back of the car.

Strong arms wrapped around me, and I screamed.

A familiar, warm chuckle stopped my fear.

"You scared me," I yelled at Sam before I realized rain wasn't falling on me. Hard to stay annoyed with the man who'd run out with an umbrella to protect me from the rain.

"Sorry, baby. Let's get you inside. Then I'll grab whatever you've got in the trunk."

Together, Sam holding the umbrella, we walked to the house. He led me inside, leaving the umbrella on the front porch, and to the living room, where he directed me to sit on the couch.

I sat without argument, because he looked so good, in worn jeans and a t-shirt, his face freshly shaven. Seriously, it was like every time I saw him, I somehow fell more in love with him.

"I'll be right back," he said, expression serious. "Don't go anywhere."

"I'm not going anywhere."

He stopped and pressed a hard kiss to my lips. "Thank god."

Then he was gone, back out into the rain to grab the overnight bag I'd hastily packed, not wanting to be away from him a moment longer than necessary.

He was smiling when he got back, but the intensity hadn't left his eyes. He dropped to his knees in front of me where I sat on the couch and ran his warm palms back and forth over my bare thighs, as though warming me up. "You're staying the night?"

"I'm moving in." I leaned toward him, drawn to him like iron filings to a magnet. "You said this is my house, right?"

He stopped rubbing my legs, but he didn't lift his hands away. "It is your house. You want me to go?"

He started to stand, but I pressed my hands over his to keep him where he was. "I want you to stay. The sensible thing would be to take this slow, but I miss you, Sam."

Those warm hands slid up my legs and under my shorts. I closed my eyes and luxuriated in the feel. "It makes sense for us to figure out how to live together before the baby arrives," he said, voice husky.

"It does." I couldn't look away from him. I don't think I'd ever wanted anyone or anything as much as I wanted him at that moment. "We're being smart, not reckless, by rushing into this and moving right back in together again."

"So smart." He pulled at the hem of my shirt and I raised my arms to help him get it over my head and off. "So sensible to get you out of these wet clothes."

"We are so sensible." I yanked at his shirt and he leaned back to allow me to pull it off and over his head. I tossed it on the floor and he was on me, sucking a nipple through the thin cotton of my bra.

"So sensible that it makes more sense to eat this sweet pussy right here on this couch rather than wasting the energy to walk all the way up the stairs to our bedroom." He snapped the clasp of my bra and laved my other nipple, now free of constraint, with his tongue.

"So very energy efficient."

And then I lost the power to say anything because he unsnapped the button on my shorts and pulled them and my panties down in one swift movement. He fell on me like a starving man, driving me out of my mind in a matter of moments, because I'd been too long without him and I'd missed him so very much.

As soon as I hit my climax, he stood, shucked his pants and boxers and drove into me with one hard thrust.

My body, still drowning in pleasure, vibrated again with an aftershock that almost overwhelmed my orgasm. I moaned with the sheer pleasure of it, chanting his name as he thrust into me over and over.

He gripped the back of my neck and kissed me hard as he drove us both to that peak of pure pleasure.

I rode the wave and when we came down and he settled me in his arms and kissed my neck, I knew I was exactly where I was supposed to be.

Home in his arms.

EPILOGUE

"There's Mommy." Sam walked into my office with our two-month-old son, Aidan, strapped to his chest. "She's working hard."

I looked up and smiled. Sam had taken to going shirtless so Aidan could get ample skin-to-skin time. I couldn't complain about the view.

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