“How do you know?”

“Because I’m here, and I said so.” I shrug, like that should be the end of it and flinch when he runs a hand down my back.

“You haven’t flinched in a while.” I hear the sadness in his voice and I prop myself up on my forearms on his chest so I can watch his face as I talk.

“I just didn’t expect you to try to comfort me right now, Leo. I’m comforting you, and for the first time in my life, it doesn’t scare the fuck out of me.” His eyes widen and he pulls his fingertips down my cheeks. “I enjoy having your hands on me. Please don’t start thinking that I’m afraid of you or some bullshit like that because you’ll just piss me off.”

“So, this is you comforting me?” He asks with a grin.

I exhale and rest my forehead against his sternum. “Big jerk,” I mutter.

“Thank you,” he whispers and kisses my hair, his hands roaming up and down my back.

“You’re welcome. Will you ever tell me?” I ask softly as he starts to relax beneath my cheek.

“Yeah, but not tonight.”

“Okay.”

***

~Leo~

Sam is draped over me, her arms holding me tightly, as though she’s going to single-handedly protect me from whatever might try to hurt me.

And damned if she wouldn’t. She’s the strongest woman I’ve ever known.

I stroke her back, push my fingers through her hair, and grin when she purrs like a kitten and leans into my touch.

Yes, she’s grown used to me touching her.

The nightmare still sits like dead weight in the pit of my stomach, the images flitting in and out of my mind. I don’t have them nearly as often as I did about ten years ago, but they do still come. I can’t figure out what triggers them. There’s no way in hell that making love to Sam, singing for her, watching her eyes light up with joy and excitement, should trigger the fucked up mess that lives in my subconscious.

I need to talk to her, to tell her about what happened when I was too young to protect myself. She deserves to know. But I’ll be goddamned if I want it to touch her. To see the pity in her eyes, or even worse, revulsion, would destroy me.

I’m just not ready.

“Leo,” she murmurs, surprising me. I would have sworn she was asleep.

“Yes, sunshine,” I whisper and gently caress her soft cheek. Damn she’s soft. She’s soft everywhere, and I can’t stop touching her.

“Go to sleep.”

She’s so damn stubborn.

“You sleep,” I mutter and kiss her head.

“Not unless you do.”

Yep, fucking stubborn.

“Okay, I’ll sleep.”

“Liar.” She sits up and offers me a sweet grin. “It’s almost dawn anyway. We could go for a run.”

I pull her back to me and roll her so she’s tucked beneath me, cradling my pelvis in hers and her hands immediately find my ass.

I brace my elbows beside her head and bury my hands in her hair, nuzzle her nose with mine, and then sink into a long, slow, wet kiss. She makes me forget the shitty past, and is the first person I’ve been with that makes me feel as alive as I feel when I’m playing music.

I’m never letting her go.

My cock is painfully hard again, and rubbing against the wetness from her pussy. Each time I hit her clit with the tip, she moans and bites her lip. I reach over for a condom, but she stops me, links her fingers in mine and pulls them to her face, rubbing the back of my hand on her cheek.

“We don’t need the condom,” she whispers, her gorgeous blue eyes watching mine intently.

“Sam.” I kiss her tenderly. “I’m fine with the condoms.”

She shakes her head and cups my face with her free hand. “We don’t need them,” she repeats. “I have an IUD.”

“But…” I begin, but she interrupts me again, kissing me with those pouty lips of hers, pulling on the hoop in my lip.

“I trust you,” she states firmly, eyes still on me and happy, and I know that statement is possibly the most profound Samantha Williams could have made to me.

“I trust you, too.” My lips find hers again, sweeping back and forth, teasing her sweet tongue with my own, and I pull my hips back to slowly sink into her tight, wet warmth.

She gasps and smiles. “So much better this way.”

“Jesus H. Christ, Samantha I’ve never not used protection,” I admit and watch her closely.

“Me neither.” She grins. “I think I prefer it.”

If I move, I’ll come. It’s that simple. God, she feels amazing, her tight muscles gripping my bare cock, legs hitched up around my hips, cradling me. I’ve never felt so complete.

So whole.

“You have to move,” she murmurs.

“I don’t want to,” I shake my head and rest my forehead on hers.

“Why?”

“I don’t want it to be over.”

“Leo,” she wiggles her hips, forcing me to move within her. It takes my breath away. “This is just the first time.”

The first time of many.

My hips begin to move, thrusting softly at first and then gaining momentum, pushing harder, faster. I feel the build-up rush down my spine as the first tiny contractions grip my cock.

“Fuck, baby, you feel so good.” Reaching between us, I graze her clit with my thumb, and push her over the edge into oblivion. She bucks and cries out, her pussy squeezing around me even more. My balls tighten and lift, and the world stops spinning as I come inside her, truly inside her, for the first time.

It’s the most incredible moment of my life.

“Amazing,” I murmur and kiss her softly.

“You’re not so bad yourself.”

Chapter Fourteen

~Samantha~

“My name starts with a ‘c’, and ends in a ‘t’. I’m hairy and round and squishy inside. What am I?” Jules folds over in laughter, the card with the question gripped in her hand.

“I need another beer,” Caleb mutters and stomps into Luke and Nat’s kitchen for another round.

“A carrot?” Brynna asks, squishing up her face in concentration.

“What kind of carrots have you been eating?” Leo asks with a laugh.

“Ew. Yeah, never mind.”

“This is so fucking funny,” Jules chuckles.

What the hell could it be? I stare at Jules, as if she can send me the answer by osmosis. We’re playing Dirty Minds for family game night, all our siblings and better halves are here, and we’ve turned it into a drinking game.