Wanting Forever (A Nelson Island Novel) (4 page)

And he watched, her hands balled into fists on top of the table.

He quickly glanced to her face, and she was gazing at Finn and Ashley with an unreadable expression. Then her glance slid to Princeton, who still sat backward on his chair with both hands cupped around his frosty mug of imported beer. Awareness dawned on Sam, a blazing sunrise in an area of his consciousness that had previously been dark with night.

She wanted him to touch her. It was as clear as day to Sam, but apparently Princeton didn’t have a clue.

The men in Aston’s life clearly treated her like the strong, capable woman she was. She wanted that, she demanded that.

But there was so much more to her than that. How long had she gone without any of them realizing it?

Aston bit down on her tongue as Princeton pounded his sixth tequila shot of the night with Blaze and Tate. She rolled her eyes and glanced over at Ashley, who gave Aston a sympathetic shake of her head. She extracted herself from Finn’s arm and came to sit next to her friend.

“He’s hitting it pretty hard, huh?” she asked in a low voice.

“Is that new?” Aston asked, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

Ashley clearly had a better leash on her man, but then it had always been that way. Ashley and Finn had been together about as long as Aston and Princeton, since junior year of high school. They’d been through all the ups and downs together. Aston knew Finn and Ashley had the ability to make it for the long haul. They were
it
for each other. It was obvious every time Finn looked at Ashley and that dumb, dopey expression appeared in his eyes. Every time Ashley absently placed her hand in Finn’s, Aston felt reality jab her in the gut.

She had no illusions about her relationship with Princeton. She’d been enamored with him in high school, but since graduation when she’d gone to Xavier and he’d stayed behind at the University of Charleston, she’d known they weren’t going to make it to marriage. She didn’t think Princeton knew that, though. She stayed with him because they’d been together so long, the relationship was like an old, comfortable quilt she could pull on to shield her from chilly nights. But now, at this point in her life, it felt like the quilt was heavy on her limbs in the middle of a hot, steamy summer. They didn’t have the connection that Finn and Ashley had.

Maybe they’d never had it.

It was glaringly obvious on nights like this when the whole gang was together, and Finn and Ashley were right there, acting like they were already married.

“And Reed is still Reed,” Ashley said with a giggle. She was staring in fascination as Reed wound his fingers through the bra strap of the giggling blonde sitting in his lap. He let it snap back down on her exposed shoulder and she gasped, batting her lashes at him.

Reed found a new girl to occupy his lap every time they went out. He didn’t do commitments.

“You barely came home this year, Aston.” Ashley’s expression was sad. “I miss you.”

“I miss you too, Ash.” Aston sighed. “I just didn’t feel like coming home and watching my dad fawn all over my mom like she never cheated on him. It makes me sick. They healed, but Reed and I didn’t. I love being at school, away from all the N.I. drama.”

What she didn’t say was that now that she was home again, every time she looked at Sam she felt like she was doing the same thing to Princeton her mother had done to her dad.

“I have no idea what that would be like.” Ashley nodded sympathetically. Ashley and Finn both attended Charleston like Princeton. “Going to U of C is just like being in N.I. Only a bigger version of it.” She presented Aston with a wry expression.

Aston smiled at her friend. She and Ashley had known each other since they walked into kindergarten and found they had matching Barbie backpacks. She considered her a best friend, and she was sad she’d seen a lot less of her over the past three years.

She reached over and squeezed Ashley’s hand. “We’ll just have to spend a lot of time together this summer to make up for it.”

“Done.” Ashley grinned and smoothed a hand over her short blond bob. “Tamara’s laying it on thick with Sam tonight, huh? I think she really likes him. I can see why. He’s sweet as pie.”

Aston glanced over at Tamara and frowned. “We told her he had a girlfriend. Why is she still after him? She looks like an idiot.”

Ashley turned surprised eyes on Aston. “Easy. She’s just being Tamara. She’s always like that around new guys. Especially new guys who look like Sam. I mean, damn. The boy is gorgeous.”

And he was. Aston couldn’t deny it. She actually had a chance to look at him tonight, really look at him without being obvious. His dark wash jeans fit him just right. She could see how tight his ass was beneath them, and she couldn’t help wondering what it would feel like to reach out and pinch it. The fact that Sam was such a sweet guy made her want to do not-so-sweet things to him.

Ugh! The temptation to think about him in ways she shouldn’t was overwhelming. Sam was working for her father. He wasn’t from around here, which meant he’d eventually leave like all the summer people did. He was also, as she’d found out tonight, taken. And so was she.

And she couldn’t stand the guy!  There were times when he acted like he could see straight through her, to parts of herself she kept locked away deep inside. And that drove her crazy in ways she’d never been driven.

So why did she melt a little inside when those tawny-colored eyes locked onto hers? And why did her stomach clench when he spoke her name with that adorable drawl of his? And why the
hell
did she have to cross her legs and clench her muscles on the rare occasions when he touched her?

She barely knew Sam Waters. But she knew that something sizzled between them in a way she’d never felt. And it was so good, so
tempting,
that she almost wanted to throw everything else she knew out the window and straddle his lap.

But she couldn’t afford to think that way. She had to be on her guard with Sam, or he would end up taking advantage of her father. She knew the look her father got in his eyes when he was talking with Sam. He saw potential in him, and he would pull Sam up by his bootstraps until he became everything Gregory Hopewell wanted him to be.

“Come here, baby,” Princeton slurred as he pulled her roughly against him. Aston had to rise part of the way out of her chair in order to keep her arm in its socket.

“Hey, Prince,” Ashley warned. “Be easy. You’re hurting Aston’s arm.”

Sam’s head snapped around at Ashley’s declaration. His gaze locked on Aston’s arm where Princeton’s hand squeezed. Sam’s eyes narrowed and he glanced at her face. She deciphered the look in his eye almost as if she’d known him all her life and could read his mind. He was asking her if she was okay.

No one ever checked with her to see if she was okay. Everyone just always assumed that she was. A strange heat saturated her chest cavity, squeezing her heart so hard in its cage that she winced against the ache.

She nodded, just a slight tilt, hoping he understood it meant to stay where he was. He scrutinized her and Princeton, his body tense. But he didn’t come toward them.

“Get off me, Prince,” she said. She grabbed Princeton’s hand and pried his fingers off her arm. He only replaced it with his entire right arm draped across her shoulders. He pulled her face toward his with his left hand.

“You’re so fucking gorgeous,” he said. “Kiss me.”

“No!” Aston exclaimed. “You’re trashed, Prince. Get off. I think you’re done for the night.”

Sam stood up quickly, causing panic to course through Aston. Part of her, the part way deep down inside that she tried to keep hidden, glowed at the prospect of Sam inserting himself in the middle of her and Princeton. But the rational part of her won.

It always did.

She shook her head firmly at Sam.

“No,” she mouthed. He hesitated, standing in front of his seat but still glaring at Princeton.

Reed finally noticed the silent standoff between Sam and his sister and stepped in. He shoved Sam back into his seat, and stepped around Aston to grab Princeton by the shoulders. “Come on, Prince. I’ll buy your drunk ass another.”

“Reed!” Aston’s tone was sharp.

“Hey,” he tossed over his shoulder as he walked toward the bar with a weaving Princeton. “I’m getting him away from you, aren’t I?”

Sam watched them go, his mouth hanging open. Then he looked at Aston.

“Is he always like that?” His tone was accusing.

Blaze let out a booming guffaw. “That’s our Princeton. Charming, ain’t he? We cut him off at a certain point, and then we take his keys and someone always gets his drunk ass home.”

Sam didn’t look amused. “He’s an ass. And you guys shouldn’t keep putting up with it.” His eyes never left Aston’s. His disappointment echoed a hard line deep in her soul. She didn’t like it.

Tamara looked first at Aston, and then at Sam. She slid up to Sam’s side.

“Oh, don’t worry about her, Sam. She’s a hell of a lot tougher than she looks. If anybody can handle a drunk Princeton, Aston can.”

“Yeah? Well I’m no stranger to men acting badly when they drink. And no one can handle that. No matter how strong they are.”

Aston’s body tensed as Sam pushed back from the table and stormed away toward the parking lot. Everyone’s heads followed his exit.

“I think I love that guy.” Blaze chuckled.

“It’s about time someone stuck up for you, Aston,” Finn agreed. “You’d never catch me treating Ash that way, or getting trashed like that in front of her.”

“Yeah, we all know how perfect you and Ashley are, Finn,” Aston snapped.

She rose from the table and followed Sam outside the bar.

She caught up with him at the far end of the dock. He was peering out at the dark water silently lapping against the wet wood. She stood beside him, watching him watch the water.

“Look,” he said without glancing at her. “I’m sorry. I have a hard time watching drunk assholes treating women badly. Brings up a lot of stuff for me. I’m not going back in there.”

“No one said you had to,” Aston spoke softly. “But I’m not some helpless little girl. I can take care of myself. I don’t need a caveman.”

His eyes shot to hers, flashing with anger. “You’re calling me a caveman? Maybe you should go back in there and take another look at your man. All I’m saying is that I won’t watch him treat you like that.”

Anger flared up inside of Aston, a shocking fiery blast of red heat. “Why the hell do you give a shit, Sam? You don’t even know me. Or Princeton. Why do you care what he says to me or how he touches me?”

She took a step closer until she was able to jab a finger in his chest.

“Why aren’t you back home, Sam? Looking out for
her
?”

He stepped back, as if she’d shoved him. He stared at her for a minute, then at the finger she jabbed in his chest.

“Maybe I should be.” His voice sounded soft and broken. “Maybe I should be at home. But I can’t be there right now. I shouldn’t be here, either.”

He walked away from her. A tumult of emotions battered her chest as she watched him. Something in his voice squeezed her heart almost painfully for the second time that night. Hearing him sound so torn was wrong, somehow. She took a step to go after him, and then stopped.

Sam wasn’t her responsibility, and she wasn’t his. She watched him through the bar windows as he walked over and said something to Reed. Reed nodded and stood up, waving to their friends. She watched Reed and Sam trudge back out of the bar.

“Hey, sis,” Reed called to her. “I’m gonna head home with Sam. You gonna drive Princeton?”

She nodded. She’d drive Princeton home, like she always ended up doing, and then Finn and Ashley would bring her back to the ranch, like they always did.

As Sam and her brother drove away, her chest still ached from the expression she glimpsed on Sam’s face.

He never glanced back at her.

Early the next morning, Sam’s sneakers pounded along the trail winding around the pastures on the Hopewell ranch. He ran with the cover of the trees on his left, with a clear view of rolling grass on his right. Music blasting in his ears, he was met with his idea of a perfect morning.

He slowed as he neared the training ring where the polo ponies received their daily workouts. A large black quarter horse stood bucking in the center of the ring, a long rope attached to its bridle.

Sam paused. He knew they’d recently acquired the horse, and that it had yet to be tamed and broken. Aston stood across the ring, her small hands firmly gripping the rope.

Her worn jeans were a far cry from the polished outfit he’d seen her in the previous night, and his jaw fell open as he followed her movement around the ring.

She circled with the horse as he bucked wildly, pulling on the rope with the force she needed to keep him from knocking her to the ground.

Sam stood frozen to the spot, inspecting Aston as she expertly weaved a path around the ring with the wild horse. His body was taut, ready to run to her aid if she needed it.

She didn’t.

After several long moments, the horse slowly lay down on the ground, breathing heavily, his large nostrils flaring. Aston approached, moving as slowly as a toddler learning to walk.

She murmured calming words of appreciation as she grew closer to the horse, who tracked her approach with wary eyes. Crouching low, she reached out to him.

“Easy, boy. Easy. That’s it, you big, sweet thing. That’s it.”

When she was finally close enough to touch the giant, she stroked a gentle hand along its flank, continued words of encouragement and love reaching not only the horse’s ears, but also Sam’s.

Incredulity washed over him as he watched her with the now quiet horse. Large, grown men had been working with the horse all week and had yet to manage to get close enough to touch it.

Aston, with the power of a sweetness and gentleness he’d never before seen in her, had literally stroked a wild beast and nearly turned him into a harmless pet.

He swallowed hard.

When she finally led the horse back to his stable, Sam followed, approaching the large double doors as she was exiting them. She started at the sight of him, placing her hand on her chest.