Page 105 of A Matter of Time

I glared at him, and the smile I got back was huge.

“Jesus, you’re a pain in the ass,” he grumbled, shoving me out the back door in front of him.

As we walked around the side of the house, he draped an arm around my neck and pulled me tight against him.

“What’re you doing?” I snapped at him, trying to push him off me.

“You were so jealous.”

“What?”

“What?” he repeated. “You’re so fulla shit. I saw the way you were lookin’ at me and Nora.”

“If I was looking at you in any way, I can assure you it was entirely⁠—”

His laughter cut me off, rumbling and deep.

“Screw you,” I groused at him, trying to move away.

He wrapped both arms around my chest and leaned down to talk in my ear, his breath warm and his voice husky before he bit my earlobe gently. “J, it’s so hot to see you all worked up. I promise to fuck all this worry right out of you as soon as we get home.”

I shivered hard, leaning in against him, letting his hands run all over me.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought,” he said, kissing the side of my neck as I tipped my head to give him better access. “Come with me.”

We both heard the call from the open front door as we got to the sidewalk.

“Sam!” his father called from the porch. “Nora needs a ride home. She’s close to you.”

“Like hell she is,” I said under my breath, which made Sam smile wide. “Let her parents take her.”

“Actually, I’ve got a lot of stops to make,” Sam yelled back as Nora joined his dad outside.

“I can go along.” Nora smiled at him. “Come on, Sammy!”

“You know what—” I began, but Sam suddenly grabbed me as he had the night before, throwing me over his shoulder and slapping my ass hard. The indignant gasp came out before I could stop it. “Put me down. You’re gonna freak out your dad.”

“Sorry,” he yelled back. “Gotta go!”

When he turned, I saw his dad laughing, and the wave of relief nearly undid me. The man was clueless, and that was good for me. Nora’s expression was dark.

We were both silent in the car until I reached over and put my hand on his thigh. I felt the muscles tense under my hand and looked at his profile.

“It was harder than I thought, being there.”

“Why?”

“I don’t wanna go places where I can’t touch ya if I want.”

“You can do whatever you want, Sam. You just gotta tell people first so they expect it.”

“Tell my folks I’m gonna be all over you. Yeah, that’ll be the day.”

“It might not be as bad as you think.”

“No, it’ll be worse.”

“You’ll hafta do it someday.”