Goddess Rising (70 page)

When Wes winnowed the perfect bias between his push and her pull, he was awarded with a sharp gasp of pleasure, her fingers clenched around his back. Wes slid as deep as she could take him, pulling her tight against his body. The sensations flowed back and forth until he felt Sam reach the excruciating rise, her body arching and twisting just before she fragmented, clenching around him in helpless spasms that drove him to his own powerful release.

Wes stayed inside her, panting, dazed, and so full of relieved, unalloyed happiness he had to blink back the rush of emotion. Her hand wandered down his chest, small as a sparrow, but strong and agile, like the rest of her.

“Did you think it would be like this?” she asked in the aftermath, her hot cheek pressed against his shoulder.

Wes tilted her chin up, kissing her mouth until he felt her smiling against him. “I didn’t know anything could be like this,” he admitted in the calm, cool quiet of her room.

He made love to her again and again that night. Reveled freely in the passion, basking in the warmth of each other’s bodies as they learned to forgive each other the hurts, let the healing pervade the unarticulated, secret places of their hearts.

When the sun rose the next morning, Wes awoke to see her standing at the window, her naked back a long, graceful curve in the early dawn light. He slid out of bed, coming to stand behind her as he wrapped her in his arms, pulling her back against the warmth of his body. Samantha leaned against him as they watched the sun rise over the city.

“We went over the edge of something last night, didn’t we?” she murmured, her honey whisky voice raspier from sleep.

“I went over that edge the day I saw you at the Arches,” he told her, holding her close. “The first time I laid eyes on you I think I knew everything had changed.”

Sam laid her cheek against his forearm. “You’re just saying that because you won the prize with
The Statesman
.”

“Nah,” he smiled against her cheek. “You’re the prize, Sammy. Just took me a second to realize what a lucky bastard I was to win you over in the first place.”

Six Months Later—May

Sam’s Apartment, College Station, Texas

W E S L E Y

W
es took the
steps to Sam’s place two at a time, excitement making him breathless. He pulled out his set of keys, but the door opened before he got the key fitted in the lock, and Sam smiled up at him, looking sexy as hell in one of his t-shirts with the chain from her new dog tags peeking out at the neck. She was tanned from running outdoors all spring, and Wes’s heart swelled at the sight of her.

“I was hoping to surprise you, darlin’,” he said as he caught her up in his arms.

“Hard to do that with a Harley engine,” Sam said on a laugh, looping her arms around his shoulders.

“You all packed?” he asked, walking her backward into the apartment.

“Pretty much,” she answered, nodding toward the rucksack sitting by the door, her last name stenciled under
U.S. NAVY
on the canvas. “You going to be alright while I’m gone?” she asked, perching on her toes to kiss him.

“It’s only six weeks, darlin’,” he murmured against her mouth. “Think I’ll manage while you and Rita are out on that battleship. Besides, I’ll be in Austin most of the time at the paper.”

Sam nodded, dropping her hands down his chest.

Wes winced slightly when her hand hit the bandage over his heart, and Sam’s brow creased.

“What happened here?” she asked, lifting his t-shirt up, expression worried.

Wes stepped back, pulling the shirt over his head. Her eyes dropped to the gauze there as he thumbed at the edge of the tape, pulling off the bandage. Sam sucked in a tight breath when she saw the tattoo he’d gotten. An S and a W boldly and beautifully intertwined, sat right over his heart, inked in a script he’d designed himself.

“Wes,” Samantha breathed, fingers fluttering up to her mouth. “What did you do… ?”

“I figured this would probably be the first of many times we won’t be able to be together,” he confessed with a wry grin. “So I wanted to have something to keep you close. A reminder—”

“Wes, this is
permanent
—”

“Darlin’, how I feel about
you
is permanent,” he told her, touching the edges of the tat with gentle fingers. “I’ll think of you every time I see it, no matter where you are.”

Her eyes welled and she shook her head, as if trying to stave off tears.

“Sammy—” he began, stepping toward her.

She fended him off, wiping hastily at her eyes. “I don’t know if you’re a lovesick fool or one hell of a romantic.”

“Bit of both,” he replied with a grin, catching her up in his arms again. Wes pressed a brief, hard kiss to her lips, relishing the feel of her against him, aware they only had a few hours left before she had to leave.

Logically, Wes knew he’d see her in less than a couple months, but he was painfully aware of the fact that he’d miss the hell out of her. They hadn’t been apart for longer than a week since they’d gotten back together, and this was the first of what he knew would be many long separations.

“I’ll miss you like crazy,” she murmured between kisses.

“We’ll talk whenever you can,” He promised. “We’ll email. You can send me a message in a bottle—”

“Shut up and make love to me,” Sam said urgently against his mouth. “Chris and Rita will be here in just a couple hours.”

He didn’t need to be told twice. Wes swiftly picked her up, carrying her to her bedroom—soon to be their bedroom—come fall, when he’d move in with her officially.

He made love to her slowly, savoring each sigh and every touch, communicating through kisses, his eyes never leaving hers as they made a slow revolution around the bed, clenching and clasping between strokes and caresses, her dog tags clinking between them, cool metal against hot skin.

They were wholly absorbed in each other, intensely and utterly present, relishing those last moments together like stolen fragments of time. Wes tried to commit everything he could to memory, fending off her imminent departure like he could push it back with sheer force of his will. Afterward, Sam lay quiet in his arms, and Wes pressed his face into the crook of her neck, breathing in her jasmine scent for the last time in a while.

“My girl’s leaving me for damn near the whole summer, and I’ll be stuck inside an office at
The Statesman
,” he lamented jokingly, trying to inject some levity into the moment. He felt Sam smile against him as he watched the fan spin lazily overhead.

“We’ve been attached at the hip for months now so I’m not feeling sorry for you, Wesley Elliott. I’ll be trapped inside a hot metal box with Rita somewhere in the Atlantic while you’ll get a little relief from boyfriend duty,” she said, running her fingers through his hair.

“How many guys will be on this ship?” he asked dubiously.

“Not sure the exact number but I’m fairly certain they’ll be in the majority,” she answered with a little smile.

“God, it stresses me out just thinking about it,” Wes muttered, nipping her neck.

“Why—you worried I’ll step out on you?” she asked, her brow furrowing.

“I’m not worried about you, Sammy,” Wes replied. “It’s
them
I’m thinking about.” He ran a hand down the smooth skin of her arm. “You know I look around sometimes and catch all these guys staring at you, and I can tell exactly what they’re thinking,” he murmured, looking up at her in the warm afternoon light of their bedroom.

Sam let her fingertips drift down his neck. “Are they thinking, ‘Who’s that tomboy from the middle of nowhere?’”

Wes laughed softly, kissing her ribs. “Hell no, they’re not thinking that.”

“Are they thinking, ‘Who’s the stuck-up little rich girl?’”

He shook his head against her navel. “Nope. Not even close.”

Sam kissed the top of his head. “Are they thinking, ‘That girl can field-strip a rifle in less than thirty seconds’?”

He chuckled, fingers tracing her belly. “Definitely not, though it’s completely badass that you can.”

“Then what are they thinking?” she whispered as he made his way down her torso.

Wes smiled at her. “They’re thinking, ‘Who is that gorgeous goddess?’”

Sam laughed softly. “If anyone thinks I’m a goddess, then they need to get their eyes checked.”

“And that’s why I love you, baby,” Wes whispered, nuzzling her. “You don’t even see yet how amazing you are. You’ll rule the world someday—and I’ll be able to say I was one of the first to witness it.”

Sam laughed aloud, before he changed that into a gasp, luxuriating in the pleasures he bestowed on her in the last moments they had together.

When the clock neared the time she had to go, Sam slid from their bed. “I got you something for your internship,” she told him, smiling over her shoulder.

Wes sat up on his elbows. “What are you talking about?”

Sam pulled out a simple white box with a thick red ribbon.

“Baby—” he murmured as she approached the bed. “I don’t need anything—”

“I know you don’t,” she answered. “But I wanted to get you something I knew you’d use.” She nudged the box toward him on the bed, her eyes soft. “Just open it.”

Wes’s heart stuttered when he opened the box. “Sammy…” he breathed as he stared down at the vintage Nikon FE2 he’d been hankering after for a couple years. Sam have seen him admiring it at the photography store where he stocked up on his film and developing supplies.

“I wasn’t sure which lens you might need since it just came with the manual focus, so I got you the telefocus and the wide angle just in case—”

“I can’t believe you got me this,” he interrupted, looking up at her, heart in his eyes.

“And I can’t believe you got my initial tatted onto your chest, but there you have it.”

Wes laid the camera down gently before cupping her face. He took in every detail, every curvature, slope and line that made her such a wonder to him, brushing his lips along the tender skin of her cheeks before pressing a kiss to her mouth.

“I don’t know how to thank you,” he murmured. “That’s the nicest thing anyone’s ever given me.”

“I saw the way you looked at it, and I like making you happy,” she replied, kissing his nose.

“I take it back—” he said abruptly.

“Take what back?” she asked, startled.

Wes brushed his thumb across her bottom lip. “You’re the best thing I’ve ever gotten. You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me,” he told her, winding his arms around her shoulders. Wes smiled down at her, trying to convey everything he felt through his eyes. Nothing was enough—so he went with tried and true. He went with simple. “I love you, Sammy,” he told her. “I’m so goddamn lost in love with you, girl.”

“Likewise,” she told him, fingers tracing his brow.

Wes tumbled her back onto the blanket, resting his cheek against her heart. “You’re absolutely positive you have to go?” he asked.

She laughed. “It’s just six weeks, Wes.” He felt her fingers twine into his hair and closed his eyes.

“I want to see the world with you,” he told her, listening to her heartbeat, the sound comforting, assuaging… “I want us to see it all together. Go anywhere and everywhere we want.”

“We will.”

Wes reached out to touch the camera lying on the bed beside them. “I’m going to take pictures the world over with this gift.”

“You’d better.”

He sat up quickly holding the Nikon, aiming the viewfinder at her.

“No identifying features,” Sam laughed, covering her face with her hands as she peeked through her fingers.

Wes adjusted the lens to be just slightly out-of-focus, capturing a close-up of Sammy’s collarbone and the edge of her naked shoulder. “One of these days, you’ll let me do a whole series on you—not just random body parts,” he teased, taking a picture of the creamy column of her neck.

“I’m going to be a military officer one day, Wes,” she chided. “Can’t have your artistic, nudie photos of me floating around galleries for anyone to see.” Though he caught the smile curving her lips as she turned away from the lens.

“They’re not all nudie,” he protested, snapping another shot.

“They’re
mainly
nudie,” Sam corrected with a laugh, and Wes couldn’t help but take a close-up of her mouth, her sexy, little grin thrilling him.

Sam tossed the pillow at him, using the distraction to slip out of bed again as she tossed on her clothes. “Rita and Chris will be here in a minute.”

Wes set down the camera gently as he followed her into the bathroom to get washed up.

“Will Rita be with you on the ship the entire time?” Wes asked.

“Yeah, she will,” Sam nodded, washing her face. “I’m relieved to be honest. When Alejo went into the Army, I thought for sure she’d follow.”

“It makes sense to me,” Wes told her with a shrug. “She’s the type to want to carve out her own space, away from her cousin.” He followed her at the sink, rinsing off hastily. “I’m not gonna lie—I’m more than a little happy that she’ll be around to watch your back.”

Sam nodded, gently touching his new tattoo, a wry little smile tugging her lips as she traced the raised and reddened edges of his skin.