Lover of My Dreams (54 page)

Rachel watched Sam from the side of the stream where she sat at the picnic table and worked on her book. He stepped down from the camper and eased his way down the steep hill then walked toward her slowly. He looked so ruggedly handsome with his cowboy hat pulled low over his eyes. The black T-shirt he wore hugged his body tightly, showing off every muscle from his broad shoulders and finely sculptured abdomen to his slim waist.

She swallowed with difficulty as her gaze lowered to the formfitting jeans he wore that outlined the strength of his thighs and the bulge of his generous package. The boots just finished the perfection of him. How could any woman stand to have her husband look so incredibly handsome and sexy?

He smiled at her and reached out to touch her cheek lightly. “What?” he asked as she looked up at him.

“Nothing,” she said quickly, laughing and blushing at her thoughts.

He smiled at her seductively. “Thinking about me?” he asked her, winking.

“Sam!” she said quickly. “Not everything is about you, you know!”

“Liar!” he told her, laughing as she blushed again. He leaned forward to kiss her lips lightly and pulled her up to stand before him so he could embrace her gently.

Sam looked at Rachel quietly, a soft expression in his crystal blue eyes. “You need to come back into the camper and lie down,” he told her quietly.

Rachel looked up at him, her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “Why do I need to do that?” she asked him, humor in her voice.

“Because I want you to be comfortable when we make love,” he told her as he pulled her body tightly against his, reaching out to tug at the loose tendril of hair that hung at the nape of her neck before stepping back slightly as if to allow her to pass and follow his direction to go back to the camper.

“Oh, so now you think we need to make love,” she said as she leaned back, a full smile on her face. She looked up at him with a sparkle in her soft brown eyes. “And what makes you think I would want to do that?”

“Because you like me,” he stated simply, smiling slightly.

“You think so?” she asked, amused.

“Mmm,” he answered, nodding his head slowly.

“What makes you think that?” she continued, knowing she was unsuccessfully attempting an air of indifference.

“Because I’m adorable,” he answered.

Rachel bit her lip to keep from laughing. “Are you?” she asked finally.

“Yes,” he told her, trying not to laugh. He stepped closer to her and leaned forward until his lips lightly touched hers.

Rachel closed her eyes at the sheer joy of his mouth touching hers. She reveled in the softness of his kiss and the gentleness of his lips moving tenderly against hers.

“You know, I have to admit it. You
are
one hot cowboy,” she told him quietly. “And I’m a sucker for cowboys.”

“Yeah?” he asked, smiling down at her.

“Yeah,” she whispered. “I don’t think I’ll be able to ever get you out of my system.”

He pulled her toward the camper, walking backward as he held her hand and tugged her along. “Did you know I have the hots for romance writers?” he asked her seriously as he stepped up into the camper and pulled her in behind him, reaching around her to lock the door behind them securely.

“Do you?” she asked, laughing softly.

“Absolutely,” he said softly, picking up one of her novels off the table. “I intend us to do what you wrote on page 247 of this book.”

“And what did I write on page 247 of this book?” she asked, laughing as she took the book from him, quickly flipping to page 247, and reading her own written creation.

Her breath caught in her throat and her pulse raced with excitement as she read the words before her. She had never in her wildest imagination ever expected to have her own fantasy play out before her.

“So how about it, baby?” he asked her huskily, reaching out to remove the book from her hand and toss it gently onto the table before taking her two hands in his and pulling them to his chest. “You game?”

Rachel stepped back, pulled her hands from his, and began unbuttoning her shirt. “Okay, cowboy,” she whispered. “Take off everything but your hat.”

He smiled in triumph, his breathing quickening as he fought to rid himself of his clothes as he watched Rachel slowly strip before him. He was only successful in removing his shirt and boots before he had to stop to watch his wife seductively pull each piece of clothing from her body, touching herself erotically in the process.

He watched in fascination as she traced her nipples slowly, touching and squeezing her breasts as she removed her bra. His breath hitched in his throat when she pulled her underwear from her body, stood up slowly, and reached down to touch herself to open the delicate folds of her body. In that moment, he found that he could barely breathe. She moved closer to him, lifted her foot up onto the mattress behind him and offered him a peek as her finger delved into the already wet recesses of her body. That was when his butt hit the mattress and his hands were useless in removing his own clothes.

“Need some help, cowboy?” Rachel asked him huskily. She lowered her leg and stood before him, tugging him up to stand before her. She smiled as she saw him swallow with difficulty and was empowered by the passionate gaze that pinned her and the heavy breathing that was emanating from him.

“Sam,” she whispered, laughing a little. “Breathe, honey.”

“Oh, God,” he whispered before he reached out and framed her face with his hands.

He pulled her toward him to kiss her with such exquisite tenderness that she thought she would die from the pure pleasure of his touch. She reached out and unbuttoned the top of his jeans but had some difficulty pulling down the zipper. The hardness of his body left no room in his jeans to allow the zipper to be lowered.

“Sam, honey,” she whispered, her voice raspy with passion. “You have to help me. I can’t get this open because you’re too excited.”

Sam looked at her seriously. “Baby, you have no idea,” he told her quietly, reaching down to cup himself and shift the hardness of his shaft to try to ease the constriction in his jeans as he stood before her.

It took a minute, but he was finally able to release the zipper. Rachel wasted no time in pulling the jeans from his body. As she knelt before him to discard the pants, she reached up without ceremony and pulled him into her mouth, sucking and stroking with a fury that left him gasping.

When he was close to exploding, she released him and stood quickly to push him back onto the bed so that his legs hung off the side. She climbed on top of him to straddle him, reached down and grabbed hold of his engorged shaft, brought it to her dripping opening and impaled herself on him, her moan mingling with his at the connection.

She rode him hard and furious, unable to stop, not wanting to stop. She could feel him touching her womb he was so deep, but still she wanted him deeper. He lifted his hips and thrust against her as if he knew exactly what she wanted and needed, making her scream out his name as she burst with an explosion of completion just before he found his own—the groan that escaped him nearly as loud as hers.

She fell forward and landed on his chest, their bodies wet with perspiration, both of them fighting for breath. She could feel the pounding of his heart beneath her ear, and she knew that hers was beating just as quickly. She closed her eyes and smiled as his arms heavily surrounded her. It was as if he had no strength in his body, but he needed to hold her to him. It was wonderful.

“Baby, you are better than any scene you can ever write,” he whispered, almost in awe.

After a moment, Rachel was able to get her breath back. She looked up to face him. His eyes were closed and there was a smile of contentment on his face that shot straight to her heart. Goodness, but she loved this man.

“Sam,” she whispered, smiling as he lazily opened his eyes and looked at her. Her eyes caressed him and showed him just how much she cared about him, but she was unable to say the words that were in her heart.

He reached out and touched her jaw tenderly, tracing it before lightly touching her lips. “I know, baby,” he told her, pulling her up his chest, smiling at her moan when he slipped out of her body.

He settled her onto the bed and turned his body so that he could lie beside her, then pulled the blankets over them both. Rachel lay silently in his arms, soaking up his tenderness.

“You’ve worn me out, honey,” he whispered, kissing her temple lightly as she snuggled into his embrace.

“Sam, you’re still wearing your hat,” Rachel told him sleepily, laughing softly at the way his hat was tipped awkwardly against his head as he rested beside her.

“You told me to, ma’am,” he teased her with his best cowboy drawl.

He smiled at her giggle, then took off his hat and threw it across the camper. He turned to her then and tucked his arm under the covers so they were both warm and cozy. His hand reached up to rest on her breast, the way he always seemed to fall asleep.

“Get some rest, Rachel,” he whispered. “When you wake up we’re going to do page 355.”

“What’s on page 355?” Rachel asked, yawning.

“Oh, honey, you are gonna like it.”

Rachel laughed and snuggled in closer. As she drifted off to sleep, she began to dream.

Sam was holding her in his arms as they lay peacefully in bed. His hand was gently caressing her breast. She sighed contentedly as she felt his hand travel down her side to rest possessively on her belly. She covered his hand with her own and pressed it closer to the life that was growing inside of her. As if knowing that her mother and father covered her with their love, the wee babe stretched to push up and touch them.

Rachel smiled at the movement, hoping Sam was able to feel his child moving within her. She opened her eyes and looked at him, seeing that he was looking down at their hands and smiling. Yes. He had felt it, too.

“Our baby is moving,” he whispered, leaning forward to kiss her stomach before trailing kisses up her body to end at the crescent moon birthmark at the corner of her right eye.

“Sam,” she whispered, pushing his hand against her swollen abdomen. “I love you so much.”

“I love you, baby,” he told her with such intense seriousness, her breath caught in her throat.

She looked up into the crystal blueness of his eyes and began to cry at his admission. It was what she needed to hear. When he surrounded her with his arms and covered her mouth with his, she pulled him to her with such fierceness that he moaned in pure joy. She opened her legs as he settled between her softness, already hard and throbbing as he entered her welcoming body.

Sam stirred in his sleep as Rachel turned restlessly within his arms. He watched her pull his hand from her breast to place it over her stomach and press it tightly against her. He held his breath and waited—for what he didn’t know, but he wasn’t about to stop her from doing what she was doing even if it was in her sleep.

“Sam, I love you so much,” she mumbled, reaching up to tug his body to her.

“Rachel,” he whispered, kissing her mouth tenderly as she pulled him until he was settled intimately between her legs. “Wake up, honey.” He kissed her lightly and smiled down at her as she roused from her dream to look up at him with clear eyes that were filled with pain. At the sight of her pain he pulled back and touched her face in concern. “What’s wrong, honey?”

Rachel’s heart was pounding as she looked up into Sam’s eyes. She wanted more than anything to hear him speak the words he had spoken to her in her dream. She couldn’t tell him. She needed him to tell her those words on his own. If she had to pull them from him, she could never trust the honesty of them.

“I need you inside me,” she whispered instead, opening her legs to the hardness she felt pressed against her.

He hesitated a moment before lowering his mouth to hers to kiss her tenderly as he entered her slowly, gasping at the warm, inviting wetness that welcomed him. “Whatever you need, baby,” he whispered as he moved within her, stroking deep and long and pulling moans of pleasure from both of them.

She groaned at the fullness of him, loving every push, every touch. She was lost to him. Her life would never be the same. She had gone beyond what she had ever thought loving someone could be. And it broke her heart to know that Sam might not feel the same.

Sam walked around the front of the camper with his clipboard in his hand. His rounds this morning with Roy had been quick, each man wanting to get back to their wife, each knowing that the other understood the lack of conversation. The distant sound of Roy’s truck pulling out of the campground was the last thing he saw before he turned and froze in place.

His breath hitched in his throat. He saw Rachel’s body lying still by the rushing stream at the bottom of the small hill beside the camper. He threw his clipboard down and started to run, his boots sliding as he hit the dusty incline.

“Oh, my God,” he whispered as he skidded to a halt next to Rachel. She was lying there, still as could be, her eyes closed and her hands resting across her stomach.

He had to force himself to take in a cleansing breath as he reached forward to touch the pulse at her neck. When he felt the steady beat of her heart he relaxed a little, but panic still gripped him.