Page 98 of The Love Lie
“I never said that.”
“Look at that smug expression on your face. You totally think I’m going to fall. Don’t you?”
No. I know you already have.He keeps that sentiment to himself even as his lips curl higher.
As expected, Sam fumes. “I can’t believe you!”
“I didn’t do anything.” He chuckles.
The operator calls her name. Cooper recognizes him—Ben or Ken, he can’t remember. But he doesn’t have to know the guy’s name to understand the appreciative look in his eyes as Sam steps forward. Cooper’s hackles immediately rise…then rise again when she steps up onto the inflatable ring and half a dozen more heads whip around to watch.
For fuck’s sake.Don’t they see the diamond?
Sam turns around with a smirk. “I think I’ll be needing this.”
She plucks the hat from his head, and he can tell by her expression it’s supposed to be a jibe, but all he can think is,Damn straight she’s got my hat on her head. Back off, assholes.
Cooper’s too distracted by the growing crowd to hear what exactly she’s saying to Ben or Ken or whatever his name is as he helps her onto the bull. The wicked gleam in her eyes as she tosses a quick glance over her shoulder should terrify him, but he’s too focused on the way that jerk’s fingers are lingering to really notice. The music shifts and he still doesn’t understand what’s happening, too absorbed by the slow roll of her body as the bull eases into motion. It’s not until he feels himself twitch against the seam of his pants that reality sets in, and by then it’s too late.
“Man! I Feel Like a Woman!” blasts from the loudspeakers. Sam gyrates beneath a spotlight, hips circling, hair whipping, breasts bouncing in that low, low top, as she fights to keep her seat. The speed ramps up as the crowd hollers. But she keeps going. And the song keeps playing. And though he knows the whole thing can’t last more than twenty-five seconds, thirty tops, by the time she flies off, he feels like a middle schooler with a raging hard-on in the middle of biology class.
Three guys rush to offer her a hand, but Cooper shoves them aside. At the sight of his glower, Sam smirks. He takes her by the hips as she swings her legs over the side of the inflatable wall, but instead of lowering her to the ground, he keeps her perched there and steps between her open thighs. She bites her lips to swallow a gleeful laugh as that almost painful source of heat nudges against her. Cooper arches a brow.
“Was that really necessary?”
“No,” she chirps and drapes her arms around his shoulders, looking up at him with a victorious expression. “But it was fun.”
“Remember what I said in the Maldives, Cuj?”
“Great power comes with great responsibility?”
He drops his lips to her ear and whispers, “Don’t start something you’re not prepared to finish.”
“Oh, that,” she teases, then leans back to meet his eyes. “Winnie told me something interesting.”
“To be honest, I don’t really give a damn what Winnie told you right now.”
“She reads a lot of Westerns,” Sam continues, ignoring him. “And she told me about this rule.”
“Rule?”
“Yeah.” She hooks her ankles behind his back, and his pulse jumps so fast he’s afraid he’s having a heart attack. “Whoever wears the hat, rides the cowboy.”
“You know what? I’ve always liked Winnie.”
Sam barks out a laugh. “You’ve never even met her.”
“Remind me to thank her when I do.”
Cooper slides his hands beneath her ass cheeks and lifts her against him. He steps back from the inflatable ring, taking her with him.
“Wes!” he shouts, not breaking contact with Sam and the heat simmering in those gorgeous, glowing eyes. “Find your own ride home!”
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
sam
For the firsttime in longer than Sam cares to remember, when the sun peeks up over the horizon, she isn’t alone. Warm arms hold her against a solid chest. Red hair tickles her cheeks. Soft breath cascades over her shoulder, in, then out, then in, then out. He seems asleep, which means there may still be time to make a run for it, time to sneak down to the kitchen under the guise of needing coffee, time to slip away.
