Hidden Barriers (37 page)

“If I thought it was that important to you, I would have. Mom said it would be a while, so I didn’t see the need to panic. Sorry.”

Josh shrugs, kissing the top of my head and moving to kick off his sneakers. He pulls away from me and heads to his bureau, grabbing a change of clothes. As he’s changing, I shut the bedroom door and make my way back to sit on his bed.

“Seriously, Sam? More of this show? How can you watch so much of it?” Josh asks as he slides his legs into his shorts. With a raised eyebrow, I nudge my head toward the paused screen. Jensen’s face takes up half of the screen. Josh’s eyes turn back to the television, taking my hint. “Ha! I’m so much better than he is.” Josh gives me a brazen smile as he stands at the foot of the bed.

“Is that so?” I playfully tap my finger against my lips as I watch him slowly slink his way toward me. Josh grabs the remote, shutting off any images of Jensen that might distract me from what I know he is about to do. He pulls my legs, bringing me out of my sitting position so I’m lying flat between his knees.

“Yes, that’s so, and I’m going to prove it to you right now.” He slowly moves his hands under my tank top, grazing my skin. When he cups my breast with his hand, I thrust out my chest as I crave more of his touch. Nothing about this man’s touch causes anything but absolute pleasure and a desire to become closer. Our eyes fix on each other as he erases the distance
between our bodies, his lips connecting with mine as my body goes weak underneath him.

My hands run along the tight muscles of his back before pushing their way under the waistband of his shorts. Josh releases a deep groan as my fingers remain where they are while my
lips part, and he pushes his tongue into my mouth. Our kiss is full of need and want as much as it shows our love for one another.

Josh continues to grope my breasts, teasing my hardened nipples between his fingers. My body reacts, as I yearn for more of his body. His ability to instantly put my body on fire never ceases to amaze me. Pushing my pelvis away from the bed, I rub my most sensitive area over his shorts. Feeling his hardened length pulse, I continue my tormenting movement.

Josh backs away from our kiss, bringing me up gently as he pulls my tank top over my head. My hands fumble with the waist of his shorts as I struggle to get them off him quickly. “I don’t even know why you bothered putting these on. They were bound to come off anyway.” I toy with him even though there is some truth in my statement.

When Josh and I are together, we can hardly keep our hands off each other. Until recently, the passion has taken a slight backseat to our connection on other levels. Some nights we are more content just lying together in bed, holding each other as we fall asleep. It’s as though something between us changed after Josh returned from Savannah. We now realize this is more than just a relationship. This is a lifetime.

As Josh finally pushes down his shorts and kicks them off the end of the bed, he tugs at the waist of my very non-sexy cotton boy shorts. “Cute undies,” he teases, but at least I bought them at the high-end store at the mall. Still, if I know I’m meeting up with Josh, I wear my lace thongs. He threw me off tonight when he told me to head back to his place. My face suddenly blushes in embarrassment. Tossing them onto the floor, Josh pushes my legs apart as he positions himself over me. “Sam, cotton or lace doesn’t matter to me. Everything underneath is always perfectly sexy in my eyes,” he says softly as he caresses my face, rubbing his thumb over my cheek. “I love you, Sam.”

Before I even respond to his words, my hand reaches down between my legs and grabs his length. Josh lets out a long hiss that I never tire of hearing whenever I touch him. It’s as though my touch does exactly the same thing to his body as his does to mine. His hand reaches down to cover mine as he places the head of his cock at my entrance. He pulls away my hand, bringing it above my head as he pushes himself inside me. My hips rise, allowing him to get deeper within my core, hitting places that send tingling sensations throughout my entire body.

Josh continues to thrust within me, holding my hands captive in his above my head. I wrap my legs tightly around his waist, keeping him buried deep inside me as I begin to feel my core tighten around his cock. “Josh, please,” is all I have to say, as I look him straight in the eyes before my body tenses. He pushes so deep that not even he can handle the continued pulsing around him as my orgasm overpowers my body. Josh takes two more hard thrusts before I feel him release inside me.

When our breathing returns to normal, he pushes himself up on his elbows to gaze into my eyes. I reach up to run my finger across his bottom lip. “I love you, Josh,” I say before placing a soft kiss on his lips.

“Love you too, sugar,” he says as he moves to grab his box of wet wipe cloths from the nightstand. Pulling out of me, he takes a few of the wipes and cleans up the evidence of our lovemaking between my legs.

Josh stands to toss out the tissues into the trash and grabs my underwear from the floor, handing them to me as he throws on his shorts again. I laugh as I stand, pushing my legs into my panties and pulling them up.

“What’s so funny?” Josh asks as he checks his cell phone on the nightstand.

“Oh, nothing. I was just wondering what’s going to happen when we finally move in with one another,” I say as I throw my arms back into my tank top before returning under the blankets.

“What do you mean?” he questions as he tosses back the sheets and makes himself
comfortable in his bed.

“Well, are you going to come home every night and ravage me, or will I have to find other ways to entice you?”

“Sam, you can be wearing a trash bag and I’ll still want to ravage you every night. But, first we need to find a place and then worry about the ravaging later,” he says.

I am suddenly at a loss for words. If it weren’t for me, we might have already found a place and moved in with each other. Josh and I stopped looking for a place once the whole Stone situation became top priority. He felt it would be best if I didn’t have a place to go home to everyday and be alone, so I stopped packing my room and stayed put at the derby house. It seems the path to my future unexpectedly slammed on the brakes, and I can’t move anywhere.

“We’ll find a place soon. We just need to make sure Stone isn’t a threat to you anymore,” Josh says, reading my thoughts.

“How can you be so sure of that? The police are no closer to finding Stone now than they were weeks ago. The only difference is we know he knows about the derby and how to get to me.” I sigh as I pull my legs up to my chest, wrapping my arms around them. “I can’t do this forever. I need to go out on my own. I feel like I’m the one in prison now, and it’s not fair,” I say softly as tears spill from my eyes.

“It’ll be okay. We’ll get him. Nick and his guys are working hard, and you know Drew is working around the clock as well. Someone will get him, and everything will go back to normal around here. There is just too much unknown right now for you to be alone,” Josh says, trying to comfort me as he reaches to grab his phone that’s vibrating next to the bed.

“I hope you’re right,” I say dejectedly.

“Hey, cheer up. We can’t have you all sad at a time like this.” He nudges me as I look at him with confusion written all over my face. I shake my head at him as though I have no idea what he’s talking about and then hear my own phone vibrating next to the bed. Grabbing it, I glance at the screen to read the incoming text from Courtney. Turning my head back to Josh, I see the smile spread across his face.

“Get dressed. We’ve got a baby girl to meet.”

It’s been a week since we were first introduced to baby Brittany. Even at a week early, Sue delivered a healthy seven-pound baby. Both she and Dave have learned quickly that being parents isn’t an easy task. Once Sue and Brittany were released from the hospital, my mom took them under her wing

My brother and Emily moved into a house of their own just a few blocks away from my parents, so Sue and Dave moved into their old apartment above the garage, allowing Mom to teach them everything they need to know about being good parents. I can’t think of another woman better suited for the job. Apparently, from what I’ve been told, Dad is also helping, but in more of a supporting role. My dad may have the mouth of a sailor, but he’ll be there for Dave, helping him learn how to cope with being a new dad every step of the way. And, knowing my dad, there will be a cold bottle of beer waiting for Dave in the garage whenever a pep talk is required.

I have never imagined life without a family of my own, but after seeing Sam in the hospital last week holding Brittany, something shifted near my heart. In that moment, I knew without a doubt that I wanted a family with her as I watched her smile spread across her face while she rocked that little girl in her arms.

It wasn’t until she stood and walked over to where I was standing that something really happened deep within my soul. With Mom next to me, Sam handed Brittany over to me, saying, “Time to meet Uncle Josh, baby girl.” Her tone was so gentle and motherly that I wished Brittany was our daughter.

I held the baby in my arms for the first time as Sam ran her fingers softly over Brittany’s light brown fuzzy hair before she kissed the spot she had just touched. As I watched her, the words slipped from my mouth before I had a chance to hold them back. The minute I asked Sam if she wanted a baby for herself, I couldn’t take it back. I forgot I even had an audience. Mom choked back tears, Jeremy held Emily in his arms as they stared in shocked silence, and Courtney stood by Sue’s bedside while both of them grinned from ear to ear.

Sam’s response shattered me. I handed Brittany over to my mom, turned back to Sam, and asked her if she was sure. Then, the words, “Yes, I absolutely want to have a baby, but only if it’s with you,” came out of her mouth, and I kissed her there in the hospital room in front of everyone before I told her if that’s what she wanted, then I’d have no problem working all day and night to make sure it happened for us.

Mom chuckled and headed over to place Brittany back in Sue’s arms as the rest of the guys in the room groaned for Sam and me to get a room.

I couldn’t think of a better idea at the time. No better time than the present to get started on making those babies for Sam, but that day would have to come for us. It’s just not going to be anytime soon. Sam found it funny that I suggested finding an empty hospital bed to get started, but said she’d prefer to be married first before bringing a baby into the world.

I’m sitting with all the guys in my parents’ family room in the basement waiting for Sunday dinner. The girls told us to remain here until they gave us the okay to come up. That struck me as odd, but the rest of the guys didn’t seem to be questioning it, so we’ve been watching the Sox and the Yanks go at it for almost a half hour.

Finally, the stairway door opens, and Mom steps down, calling, “All right, boys, you can all come up now. We’ll be eating on the back patio tonight.” She turns to make her way back up the stairs as all of us look among each other, wondering why on earth we’d be eating Sunday dinner outside tonight. In all my life, we’ve only ever had dinner together in the dining room. Mom never strays from tradition, especially when it comes to Sunday dinner with family.