Page 61 of Next in Line
“Anytime!” she beams, her dark hair framing her beautiful face like a picture. “I feel like ice fishing might actually be the only adventurous thing I don’t suck at.”
I chuckle and run my hand through my beard nervously. “Listen, though…um…I’ve never talked to Miles about my dad stuff. I mean, he knows my dad ditched our family for another family, but he doesn’t know all the mental stuff. So if we could keep that between us, that would be great.”
Maggie’s eyes warm with affection as she reaches out to touch my hand resting on the bench between us. “Sam, you can trust me.”
I exhale the weight on my shoulders. “I think I was just feeling sentimental today. My uncle’s been my rock…with him leaving, it all just kind of drudged up old memories.”
“I get it,” she says, lacing her fingers with mine and offering me a soft smile of reassurance. “I’m honored you shared all that with me.”
I lick my lips because I’m still not saying what I want to say, and I feel like a fucking pansy because of it. Instead, I stare down at our clasped hands. Holding hands with a girl seems so simple and basic. Like something anyone can do. But the view of her delicate fingers tangled with mine feels important and maybe even a little extraordinary. My eyes move up to look into Maggie’s, and something grows inside my chest as she stares back at me with so much openness and vulnerability. It’s overpowering.
I swallow hard. “Maggie, my dad is the only other person I’ve ever gone ice fishing with.”
“What do you mean?” she asks, her brows knitting together.
My heart thunders in my chest when I reply “I mean…I’ve never gone ice fishing with anyone else since he left seventeen years ago. Not even Miles.”
Silence falls over us as she takes in my words. I’m not even sure what they mean exactly or why I was so desperate to tell her, but I just felt like I needed her to know. Ice fishing is so simple, but it means a lot to me. And having her fish with me means something to me as well.
“Why me?” she asks, her voice quiet and her eyes glossy as they connect with mine. Letting out a half-assed laugh, she adds, “Because I was so needy that day?”
I stare back at her, my body tense as I reply. “Actually, I think at that moment, I was the one who needed you.”
Maggie’s brows pinch together, and I suddenly feel too far away from her. I slide over from behind the wheel to sit in the middle spot closer to her. “I feel like I saw something in you that day at Marv’s that I lost in myself after my dad left.” I reach out and brush the backs of my fingers down her cheek. “A spark.”
She smiles a small, almost invisible smile, but that crease in her cheeks shows up, and it makes her whole face light up. “That’s why you call me sparky.”
I nod slowly. “For years, I started fights, seeking out thrills and taking up dangerous hobbies. I was an adventurist, but I never truly took any chances.” I take a deep breath. “I took a chance on you because that spark you have is something I want back.”
Maggie inhales sharply, her smile completely vanishing as she reaches out and cups my cheek. “I promise you, Sam, your spark is alive and well.”
I shake my head, refusing to believe her words because I know I’m different. I know I’m closed off. I can feel it when I’m with my family and watching Miles with Kate. There’s an innocence they all have that I don’t give purchase to in my heart.
Maggie shifts beside me, and in one swift move, she unbuckles her seat belt and crawls up onto my lap with one leg propped on either side of me. She runs her hands along the side of my face, and I turn into her touch, brushing my lips against her palm to feel the warmth of her embrace. To feel her skin against my lips. The touch sends shivers all the way down my spine, and I swear my heart expands inside my chest.
“Your spark is right here,” she states firmly before leaning in and kissing me.
Her kiss is gentle at first—tender and reassuring—but it’s not enough. I want to consume her right now. I want to taste her spark and steal some of it for myself so I can always have a piece of her with me long after our crazy ride ends.
I spread her lips with my tongue and thrust into her sweet, gentle mouth while sliding my hands up her back and clutching her firmly to me. A frenzy stirs inside me because I feel like no matter how hard I try, I can’t get her close enough. Our mouths meld together in perfect harmony, but it’s still not enough. I want her clothes off now. I want this snowsuit burned, and her body laid out bare for me to devour.
She pulls away for a breath, her hands falling from my face to the zipper on her chest, clearly having the same needs as mine at this moment. She unzips her snowsuit to reveal that same hot pink bra she had on the first time we fished together. I smile and thank fuck I didn’t know she was wearing nothing under this suit before now, or I would have thought of nothing else all afternoon.
It’s all too perfect. She’s too perfect.
I take a brief second to glance out all the windows and ensure we’re still the only vehicle around. When the coast is clear, I bury my face in her breasts, rubbing my stubbled jaw against her soft skin, the desire to mark her strong as I reach back and unclasp her bra. Her giggles bounce off the walls of my truck as I free the offensive fabric and toss it away with a grunt.
Grabbing her hips, I turn us so she’s laid out on the bench below me with her legs wrapped tightly around my waist. Dropping a soft kiss to her lips, I murmur, “You know this means I’m going to show you my big rod, right?”
She bursts out laughing, and that spark inside me returns with a vengeance. And it’s all because of this girl who I think I could be falling for hook, line, and sinker.
Tall Fish Tales Told Here
After hooking up with Sam in his truck, my mind is consumed with how it’s possible that sex with him has been exceptional every damn time. I thought our weekend away was a fluke, and it only felt good because it was like vacation sex. Vacation sex is always the best sex because you’re on vacation. But then you get back to the real world, and the sex becomes completely ordinary again.
But with Sam, it didn’t.
What happened in his truck yesterday wasTitanic-epic sex. We were Jack and Rose, steaming up the windows and putting finger smears all over the fogged-up glass for over an hour. I never knew I was capable of multiple orgasms, let alone multiple orgasms inside the cab of a truck.
