The Call (Another Love Book 2), page 5
“Wait! Come here.” Sam sighed, her voice hoarse with emotion.
Luciana’s shoulders sagged, exhaustion setting in. “I don’t want to fight with you, Sam.”
“Come here, please?” Sam leaned back against the counter, holding out her hand. Over the last couple of days, she’d continued to push and pull with Luciana, and she didn’t want it to be that way. Whatever the outcome of this was, she and Luciana had to stick together. They had to be okay at the end of all of this. Work. Janet. The shitstorm of life.
Luciana approached Sam. “I know you’re stressed. You don’t have to apologise.”
“I’m not stressed enough to behave this way.” Sam closed her eyes as Luciana’s hand slid into her own. “This, all this work…it’s been a long time since I’ve had someone at home with me while I work on a big project.”
“I understand that.” Luciana chose to agree, deciding against the mention of Janet’s name for the time being. This attitude, this anger, wasn’t only work related for Sam. Not in a million years.
Sam shook her head. “But that doesn’t excuse all of this. Let me make it up to you.”
Luciana lowered her eyes, her fingertips toying with Sam’s. “Honestly, I just wanted to spend the evening with you.”
“Then that is what we will do. Don’t ever think I don’t want to spend time with you. It’s all I want to do.” Sam squeezed Luciana’s hand, pulling her closer. Sam couldn’t imagine how Luciana must be feeling. She really had been awful to be around lately.
“I know how busy you are, babe.” Luciana appreciated Sam’s willingness to drop everything, but the work would still be there in the morning…unfinished. “You do what you have to do, and I’ll go out for some snacks. We can have a late film and then call it a night.”
Sam arched an eyebrow. “You’re sure? I can drop all of this if you need me to.”
“I don’t need you to do anything.” Luciana’s hand found its way to Sam’s cheek. “I’d never expect you to drop work for me.”
“Well, you should. I’d drop everything for you.” Sam drew her into a kiss, her lips passionately enveloping Luciana’s. This was what she wanted to be doing. It was exactly where she needed to be. In Luciana’s arms, kissing her until the sun began to rise.
“Later,” Luciana replied breathlessly. “Finish what you’re doing and then you’re all mine.”
“I love you.” Sam’s forehead rested against Luciana’s. “So much.”
“I love you, too.”
Luciana watched Sam descend the staircase, her gorgeous dark hair pulled up on the top of her head. Evenings with Sam usually left Luciana in a state of euphoria, and tonight wouldn’t be any different. She wanted no talk of Janet and Lindsay; the office could take a backseat, too. Just Sam, in her arms, loving one another. It couldn’t be that hard to do, it was their norm after all. Sam’s stress was becoming more obvious by the day though, and it was only going to get worse.
Maybe I should de-stress her. Luciana smirked as she followed Sam’s every move. Her body responded to the white boy shorts barely covering her girlfriend’s ass cheeks, a baby blue racer back hiding perfect breasts.
“Do you need anything before I join you?” Sam called out from the kitchen, turning around to find Luciana staring at her. She loved that look Luciana gave her. A look that could unravel Sam in a matter of moments. A look of complete want. Arousal. “See something you like?”
“Oh, very much so.”
“I thought we were watching a film?”
“We are. It’s ready.” Luciana’s eyes darted to the screen of the TV before returning to Sam.
Sam’s dark eyes narrowed. “Except I know that look. You have no plans to watch that film.”
“Are you saying I have no self-control?” Luciana quirked an eyebrow.
“Yes. That’s exactly what I’m saying.”
“Fine.” Luciana shrugged, turning her back on Sam. “Let’s see just how wrong you are.”
“Oh, baby.” Sam leaned over the back of the couch, taking Luciana’s earlobe between her teeth. “We both know,” her voice dropped lower, “that you’ll be fucking me on this couch within ten minutes.”
“In your dreams. And just hurry up, anyway. I’m waiting to watch this.” Luciana’s voice remained even, but inside she was dying. Her hands itched to touch Sam.
“Coming…” Sam smirked against the side of her neck. “All. Night. Long.”
Luciana squeezed her thighs together, closing her eyes briefly and calming herself. When Sam spoke like that, her body went into overdrive. This was the Sam she knew and loved. Luciana hated seeing Sam stressed, so this, the sultry voice and the teasing, was the perfect end to what could be considered a terrible couple of days. This version of Sam would always be the one she wanted to spend her evening with. Sex or no sex.
“So…” Sam dropped down beside Luciana, moving painfully close to her. “What are we watching?” She reached for a melon ball and popped it into her mouth, moaning as the juice slid down her throat. This may be the ideal night after all.
“J-just something I found on a streaming service.” Luciana fixed her eyes firmly on the TV, her heart almost beating out of her chest. “If you don’t like it, we can look for something else.”
Sam’s hand slid to Luciana’s thigh. “Perfect.”
“I like seeing you less stressed. You know I hate it when work gets on top of you.” Changing the direction of the conversation, Luciana felt Sam smile beside her.
“The life of a businesswoman, Luce. It won’t be forever.”
“No, I know.” Sighing, Luciana’s head rested on Sam’s shoulder, a faint hint of her perfume still present. “Just wish I could whisk you away for a week so you could forget all about work.”
“A week alone would be ideal. Maybe when this is all over…that could happen.” Sam pressed a kiss to Luciana’s hair, smiling as she did. A week alone sounded extremely inviting.
“I’d love that, babe.”
“So, about that film?” Sam cocked her head towards the TV. “You have the controller.”
“I do.” Luciana pressed play, a smirk playing at the corner of her lips.
As the opening scene played, Luciana side-glanced at Sam…noting the confusion on her face. “Um, we’ve seen this. Like, two weeks ago.”
“I know.” Pushing her down onto the couch, Luciana straddled Sam’s legs and met her lips frantically. “But when you come down dressed like this, what do you expect from me?”
“No self-control,” Sam teased, breathlessly. “Wouldn’t have it any other way.”
“No?” Luciana took her bottom lip between her teeth as her hands found the hem of Sam’s racer back. “You wouldn’t?” Lifting it up and over her head, Sam sunk deeper into the couch, her hips thrusting up to meet Luciana’s.
Gasping, Sam delighted in the lips now enveloping her nipple. “N-never. Fuck.”
“I hate fighting with you, babe. It’s not us.” Luciana palmed Sam’s other breast.
“I know.” Sam’s hand found Luciana’s hair, grasping at it and pulling her face closer to her chest. “N-no more,” she said, moaning and writhing. “This. This is what we should be doing.”
Luciana smiled as her hand slid down Sam’s bare stomach. “Mm, it is. This is exactly what we should be doing.”
Sam’s insides tightened. “Oh, God. T-touch me.”
Pushing her hand into Sam’s boy shorts, Luciana’s fingers glided through swollen, wet folds. Aroused and needing much more, she removed her hand, took her fingers between her lips, and sucked. “Shorts off!” Luciana demanded, the taste of Sam on her lips almost too much to take. As she tugged Sam’s shorts over her thighs and threw them to the floor, her legs fell open, revealing exactly what Luciana wanted. “God, I don’t even know where to begin with you…”
“I’m all yours. You know that.” Sam’s hand travelled down her own stomach, separating slick lips.
Every time Sam touched herself, all oxygen disappeared from Luciana’s lungs. Marvelling in the scene before her, her breathing became laboured and her body begged to be touched. “B-babe.”
“Mm?” Sam’s fingers continued to tease Luciana from afar.
Luciana moved closer; her knees almost buckling. “Shit. You have to stop doing that. I-I should be doing that.”
“Then come and join me…”
Climbing back on top of Sam, Luciana gripped her wrist and brought Sam’s fingers up to her lips. Trailing her tongue over them, she sucked them into her mouth, moaning in pleasure as Sam’s arousal took over her entire world.
Sam dragged Luciana’s body down against her. “I need you. Right now.”
“Where?” Luciana’s lips worked the skin of Sam’s neck, her pulse throbbing. “Here?” Her hand rolled over a nipple. “Or here?” It slid lower, garnering the response she expected.
“Mm, definitely there.” Sam’s back arched, two fingers suddenly slipping inside of her. “Oh, fuck.” Her mouth fell open as Luciana sunk deeper. This was the evening she had been praying for since they’d exchanged words in the restaurant. This side of Luciana was what she’d craved in the days that followed. Their connection. Their love. Their responses to one another’s touch.
Luciana trailed her tongue across Sam’s bottom lip. “You feel so good. You’re so beautiful.”
Sam took a sharp breath, and a sudden rush of warmth spread through her like wildfire as her orgasm approached. “F-fuck, I’m close.”
“I know.” Luciana pushed in and out slowly, her thumb gliding over Sam’s clit as her walls squeezed her tight. “I can feel you.”
“O-oh.” Sam’s eyes slammed shut, her thighs trembling as Luciana brought her to the peak. “Yes, right there.” Her hips bucked but Luciana didn’t stop. She didn’t slow. “Shit.” Gripping her back, Sam sunk her nails into Luciana’s skin, eliciting a hiss from her. Pain with pleasure. Sam smirked. It had become their thing over the last several months, something neither of them ever imagined they would enjoy. As her body trembled, craving more, Sam relaxed and took the weight of Luciana’s body on top of her. “I love you.”
Luciana kissed Sam slowly. Softly. Nights like these…she never wanted to leave the house again. Take away Janet, the daily grind, and nothing mattered more than moments like this. “I love you, too.”
5
“Okay, Mum.” Sam relaxed back in her seat, a cool summer evening breeze whipping around her.
“You’ll promise to visit?”
“Yeah, I’ll arrange for us to come over next weekend. Luciana is working on and off until mid-next week. She’s visiting her parents this weekend.”
“Okay, well keep in touch. Love you.”
Sam smiled. “Love you too, Mum.”
Ending the call, Sam set her phone down beside her, taking her glass of red wine from the holder on the swing bed. Luciana was due home in the next ten minutes—her shift unexpectedly running over this evening—but Sam appreciated this time alone. Of course, she would choose Luciana over any time alone, but the events of the last couple of days were beginning to take their toll on Sam’s mind.
A few days on, and she still had no idea what she was going to do about Lindsay and Janet. If she could, she would leave her sister alone to figure it out by herself…but she couldn’t. She couldn’t be responsible if or when something went wrong. It was inevitable, but it didn’t make her decision any easier.
She’d thought about discussing it with her mum, but this wasn’t only about Sam and Lindsay. This involved Luciana, too. In order to give her mum the full picture, she would have to explain her girlfriend’s past. While Sam had no issues with the fact that Luciana was once an escort, she couldn’t be sure that her mum would feel the same. Understandable in some way, but also none of her business. It was best for everyone concerned if Sam kept her parents out of it. She knew it would only complicate things further and neither she, nor Luciana, needed that right now. It would always be Luciana’s decision if the time ever came to discuss her past and Janet with anyone else.
The familiar sound of Luciana’s Audi rumbled up the gravel path, Sam’s eyes landing on the vehicle as it slowly came to a stop beside her own car. Tonight would likely be a quiet night for them but she’d prepared a bottle of wine for Luciana’s arrival since something about Luciana’s tone during a call they’d shared some thirty minutes said it would be needed.
Smiling as Luciana climbed from her car—that familiar navy-blue uniform sending Sam wild—Sam got to her feet and moved towards the edge of the decking. The late evening sun bounced off the lake as it slowly disappeared behind the trees, pink and purple hues dancing in the sky above them.
“Hi, babe. Sorry I’m late.” Sam noted the collapse in Luciana’s shoulders as she approached.
“You’re right on time.” Sam drew Luciana closer, kissing her softly. “Everything okay?”
Luciana squeezed Sam’s hands, not willing to get into this conversation right now. “Yeah, of course.”
“Busy day?”
Luciana slung her rucksack to the floor, falling down onto the swing bed. Busy was an understatement. “Always is.”
“Well, I have wine or if you wanted something else?”
“Wine. Large. Thank you.”
Sam studied Luciana’s body language. Something about her seemed different tonight. Her first thought was that she may have bumped into ‘she who shall not be named’ but that was quickly erased with the possibility of a hard shift. “Did you want to talk about it?” Sam reached for a glass, pouring a large measure of wine into it. “You look like you need to.”
Luciana sat up on her elbows. “You know the rules. I don’t bring work home with me.”
“That’s your rule.” Sam handed the glass over as she tugged Luciana into an upright position. She really wished Luciana would open up to her. “You know I’m here to listen whenever you need it.”
“And I appreciate that but it’s easier to block it out.”
Sam exhaled deeply, sitting beside her girlfriend. “That’s not healthy, Luce. I know something is on your mind…I can see you’re hurting.”
“But I’m home with you and that’s what matters. I’m where I should be and I’m okay.” Luciana took Sam’s hand, resting her head on her shoulder. She’d waited for this moment all day.
“At least tell me what happened.”
“You didn’t see the news?”
“You know I don’t watch the news.” Sam hadn’t paid any attention to news channels since Lucia died. If something was going on nearby, someone would call her. She watched the building Lucia was in crumble before her eyes; she wouldn’t allow that to happen again. “Sorry, but I just can’t.”
Luciana lifted Sam’s hand, pressing a soft kiss to the back of it. “I know.” She paused. “We’ve been tackling a blaze at a house outside the city for the last seven hours.”
“That doesn’t sound hopeful.”
“Someone called it in soon after the fire began.” Luciana scoffed, shaking her head. “I was too late. We arrived and it seemed pretty straight forward. We made entry and I knew whoever was in there, we would save. We had to get them out; we couldn’t not.”
“Take a breath, baby.” Sam’s voice remained soft as Luciana’s increased in speed. This story wouldn’t have a good outcome, Sam felt it in her gut. A heaviness. A sorrow. “You don’t have to rush this.”
“I carried the three year old out in my arms.” Luciana lowered her eyes as she cleared her throat. If this job had taught her anything, it was that she couldn’t cry. As much as she wanted to drop to her knees and sob, she wouldn’t. You deal with what’s in front of you, and then you move on. That had always been her motto. Luciana knew it wasn’t healthy, but it’s how she got by. “I carried her out…lifeless.”
“Luciana…” Sam’s heart broke. Not only for the family, but for the woman sitting beside her, a shadow of who she usually was. “I’m so sorry.”
Luciana gritted her teeth. “I should have saved her. It doesn’t make sense.”
“Some things never make sense.” Sam wrapped her arm around Luciana’s shoulder, pulling her against her body. “You know you did everything you could. You would never go into a call unprepared.”
“We got word of a leak in the kitchen when Jack was clearing the lower level,” Luciana said. “I’d just made it outside with the deceased and handed her over to paramedics. Next thing I know, Jack’s running out behind me, pushing me face first into the grass verge on the street.”
Sam had nothing to offer. Her heart sunk. In her mind, she imagined Luciana trapped in that house with nowhere to go. This…this was her recurring nightmare.
“The windows blew out, partial roof collapse.”
Sam focused on the lake in front of her, Lucia’s death playing over in her mind. The original pain she’d once felt came back tenfold, the devastation of reliving Lucia’s death now tearing her in two.
“We got everyone out. Jack was the last…”
Sam shuddered, tears falling from her eyes as they searched the water before her. What she was looking for, she didn’t know, but she couldn’t bring herself to look at Luciana. She couldn’t attempt to speak. The possibility of her past becoming her future made her want to heave. Would she one day lose Luciana, too? Sam blinked back tears, her throat thick with emotion.
“Can I have a refill?” Luciana nudged Sam as her arm fell away from her shoulder. “Babe?”
Sam wiped the tears from her jawline. “One moment. Just…I need a moment.”
“Sam, I’m okay. It comes with the job.” Luciana’s hand settled on Sam’s thigh.
“Yeah, well, I’m not okay.” Sam shook her head, her eyes closing when her voice betrayed her. How could she put her foot down in this relationship if she couldn’t even stop the tears? “Y-you can’t go back. You have to leave. You don’t even need to work. I’m bringing in more than enough for the both of us.”
