Page 7 of Working For Her Attention

“Really?” I asked, unable to resist looking at him. His attention was back on the road, but I didn’t miss the way his Adam’s apple rose and fell as he jerked a nod.

“I’m honest.”

“Hmm,” I hummed before taking another bite of my delicious burrito, because I had no idea what the hell would come out of my mouth next. He drove us back to our street and this time backed up into my driveway.

“Stay here. I’ll be right back.” He was giving me another sexy-as-sin wink that my sex- and touch-deprived brain took as flirty. Even though I was almost sure Sam was just a good guy. A good, neighborly guy who would probably do this for any one of his neighbors. I was just finishing my burrito when the passenger side door opened and he was there with a smile on his face and clear dark eyes staring down at me.

“Breakfast good?” he asked. I nodded shyly. That was when I realized he hadn’t eaten.

“Shit. You didn’t eat! You were busy driving and⁠—“

“It’s okay.” The smile he gave me reached his eyes, creating the sweetest lines on the edges. “I wanted to make sure you were taken care of first.”

Yup. Sam was a good guy.

Probably one of the best. and was doing this because he was just a good human being and not anything else. Don’t make this into something more, a voice in my head warned.

“I got your door open, but where I parked, there’s gravel on the ground⁠—“

“Ohmygod! Thank you.” I reached for his hand and loved the way his fingers tangled with mine.

“But the gravel⁠—“

“That’s fine.” I turned my body to face him, my legs dangling out of the truck. “It’s no big⁠—“

“I’m going carry you one more time.” It wasn’t a request but a demand in a stern daddy tone I like way too much. Daddy tone. Stop going there, Avery! You perv! I silently chastised myself.

“You don’t have to⁠—“

“I want to,” he reassures. I licked my lips slowly. Last time he’d carried me, I’d been caught off guard. Now I knew it was coming and, like the huge dork I was, I felt like I had no grace at all.

“Sam, I’m too heavy and—“ I started to say, panic rushing to the back of my neck. But he doesn’t listen. Sam simply moved his frame between my legs, and on instinct, they parted.

Without even a grunt, like he was lifting a light sack of flour, Sam lifted me. My legs wrapped around his middle while my hands settled on his strong shoulder. Sam!” I squealed, our eyes locked as the tips of my fingers dug a little into his muscles. “You’re going to hurt yourself,” I breathlessly tried to argue.

“I’m gonna spank this cute ass of yours if you keep talking about yourself like that.”

“Cute ass?” I whispered, but he didn’t say another word.

Maybe he didn’t really mean it?

Even if he didn’t, my head filled with images of daddy, I mean Sam, draping me over his knee before lifting the bottom of my night shirt and placing his big open palm on my ass. Squeezing it and… So lost in my dirty daydreams, I didn’t notice how quickly time slipped by as he carried me up the drive and straight into my place.

With the door slightly open behind him, he set me down, carefully and ever so slowly. All the while letting the front of my body slide against his. My feet might have been touching the floor, but I swear my heart and head were floating above the clouds.

Sam felt good. Really good. Hard and strong. Stable. Like the very thing that would keep you anchored and safe in the storm that was life. His hand rose and he tucked one of the wavy, wild strands that had escaped from the messy bun I’d tossed my hair up in. He cupped my face. His rough, calloused hand felt good against my skin, and my eyes fluttered shut.

“Hope you have a better morning, princess.” The deep rumble of his voice made my skin flare up with goose bumps and my nipples tighten beneath the hoodie I was still covered up with. My breath hitched, but I couldn’t get myself to open my eyes to look at him. Not when I felt his lips press against my temple.

“Make sure to lock up behind me, okay?” he rumbled. I made a noise that must have been enough of a confirmation, because his hand fell from my face and I heard the heavy footsteps of his boots against the hardwood floors of my living room.

It wasn’t until a beat after the front door shut that I opened them.

I blinked and stared at my empty house, one I hadn’t minded too much, but it suddenly felt too cold and too big without his huge body inside of it.

I wrapped my arms around myself and breathed in deeply, trying to calm my overly sensitive body. If it weren’t for the fact my living room still smelled like him and I was wearing his hoodie, I would have thought I’d imagined the whole weird, seriously mortifying morning.

CHAPTER 4