A/N and Disclaimer: I own nothing from Glee, Carr's story, or any other copyrighted material. I hope you enjoy it. Please as always forgive all of my mistakes. Thanks for your continual support and kind words in the reviews. I appreciate you all. This chapter was super long and wore me out. I was going to post it unread full of all my many mistakes, but I decided to read over it, so it is not too confusing.

Chapter 4

Sam didn't know why, but he felt nervous as he stood on the front porch to Mercy's house and even though he lifted his hand, intent on knocking, he paused. It wasn't until he heard the music coming from somewhere inside—an oldies station—and it sounded like Mercy was singing along to a disco song. Then he heard JJ giggle. Rather than knock, Sam walked to the end of the porch and peered into the window.

Mercy hadn't had a chance to hang curtains yet, so he could see through the empty dining room and catch glimpses of her and JJ in the family room in the back. They appeared to be dancing as they cleaned up. Mercy had a spatula in her hand and she was using it as a microphone as she rocked out to The Tramps' "Disco Inferno." She grabbed JJ's hand and spun him around as the little boy laughed.

Sam, feeling less nervous, walked back to the door and knocked, and waited again, and rung the doorbell. It was obvious that she couldn't hear him over their dancing and singing, so he eventually turned the knob.

It was unlocked, and he quietly made his way to the living room. JJ saw him first and his toothless smile grew wider. The kid had a way of making Sam feel like a superhero. He liked the feeling. And he liked JJ as a person.

"Do you mind if I cut in?" He asked in awe of her voice and ability to dance well with a five year old. JJ was a gifted dancer himself.

Mercy jumped and dropped the spatula. She turned in surprise, which Sam used to his advantage. Grabbing her hands, he spun her around the same way she'd just done with JJ, then he dipped her as the little boy clapped his hands.

Unfortunately, the music ended way too soon and Sam was forced to let her go. Her face was flushed, but this time he couldn't decide if it was because of him or the dancing.

"Your door was unlocked. Even though Lima is pretty safe. You might want to make sure that it is always locked in the future."

She nodded. "I know coming from Atlanta, I am aware how important it is to lock doors. My hands were full of groceries when I got home. I meant to go back and lock it but I forgot."

Sam shrugged. "I got a dance out of it, so I'm not complaining too much as long as you remember to double check in the future."

Mercy nodded and looked at JJ. "Finish picking up the toys, JJ, while I go check on the lasagna. Would you like a glass of wine, Sam? Or some hard lemonade?"

Sam followed her to the kitchen. "Hard lemonade sounds good." He sucked in a deep breath of the delicious-smelling air when she took the lasagna out of the oven. "Dayum."

She popped the cap on a Mike's Hard Lemonade and handed it to him. Then she poured herself a glass of red wine. He tapped his bottle to her glass and they both drank.

Mercy took a big sip and it occurred to Sam the bottle of wine was already half empty. So maybe her being laid back in forgetting to lock the door and not cussing him out for entering her house without her knowledge and dancing with him all had to do with her being a little turned up.

He got a sense she was nervous like he had been and was probably using the wine to keep her calm.

"Given your response," she said, "I'm going to go out on a limb and say I picked right. You like lasagna?"

"I love it. Though to be honest, I'm a bachelor who lives on takeout. Anything you made tonight was going to be a step up from what I normally eat. It smells great. And you look very pretty tonight."

She smiled, then flipped her hair over her shoulder. It was loose tonight, hanging on her shoulders in long curly braids.

She also wasn't hiding behind baggy clothes tonight, which pleased him more than he could say. She'd put on a pair of jeans that fit her butt just right and a low-cut black top that revealed the perfect amount of cleavage. Mercy's ass and tits were going to star in his fantasies from now on. He was tempted to reach out and cup them to see if they were as full and soft as they looked.

He shook that thought away.

Sam was pretty sure that would get his ass kicked out in record time. Having dinner with a woman without knowing the end result was new situation for him.

He took women out all the time a couple of years ago, but he and his date always knew where the night was going to end—in his bed—so he took advantage of that, stealing touches and getting the foreplay started right out of the gate.

Mercy invited him here to thank him for helping her out around the house. Which reminded him.

He looked up. The old detector was still hanging open, without a battery.

"Thought you were getting a new one."

She pointed to a bag next to the refrigerator. "I did. I just haven't had time—"

Sam raised his hand. "Say no more." He grabbed the detector from the bag and unpacked it. She opened a drawer, rummaging around until she found her lone screwdriver. Luckily it was a Phillips head, so it worked.

"I'll start working on the salad." She turned her back to him, giving him a chance to check out her ass again as he stepped up onto the chair. Sam made short work of changing out the smoke detector. She glanced over her shoulder in surprise when he pushed the chair back to the table.

"That didn't take long." She'd just picked up a cucumber and Sam couldn't resist stepping next to her and taking it out of her hands. It was a decent-sized one.

"Seems a shame to waste this on a salad."

She laughed, bumping her hip against him playfully as she grabbed the cucumber back. "Behave."

"Where's the fun in that?"

"You're going to be problematic tonight, aren't you?" She said in a voice that meant she wanted him to be problematic.

Her eyes drifted to his lips. Oh yeah. Mercy wasn't pushing him away tonight. More than that, she was actually flirting with him.

Sam leaned closer, his mouth thirsting for a taste of her. He could smell the sweet wine on her breath. It was warm and inviting.

"I think you want me to cause you trouble, am I right?"

She licked her lips, shifting toward him.

"Mommy!" JJ called out from the other room. Footsteps running in the hall proved he was on his way to the kitchen.

She gave Sam a regretful grin, and they moved apart just as JJ walked into the kitchen. "The TV has that blue screen again."

"I can't fix that right now, baby. I promise I'll look at it after—"

"Blue screen?" Sam asked, latching onto anything as a distraction before more blood rushed to regions south of the border.

"We got cable yesterday, but I think there's something wrong with the connection."

"Why don't you finish that salad and I'll take a quick peek?"

She smiled appreciatively at his offer, and Sam noticed a slight tremble in her hands.

He wasn't the only one hungry for something other than the delicious food she had on the menu for their dinner.

Good.

Good?

No. That was bad.

Sam wasn't here to seduce Mercy Jones. Definitely not with her kid in the house.

He'd only done that once and it hadn't been his fault. Hence that unfortunate question from Harmony at the fire station. He'd gone out with her mom, Rachel, before knowing the woman was a divorcee with a kid. Because of her small stature, Sam had assumed she was in her twenties but the woman was in her forties. When he had got her in the bedroom, her ex called and said he was bringing Harmony home earlier because he had a work emergency. The phone call shrunk his erection almost two years ago, and he can remember seeing Rachel's ex and child as he hurriedly left her home. Of course Harmony had brought up seeing Sam at her home to any and everybody, and Rachel bragged how they had had sex to cover up what had actually happened. Her lies about him had spurred others to lie, and now he had a reputation with married women and older women that was a lie, but because he didn't want to call those women out. He was stuck with it.

He fiddled with the television for a few minutes. Mercy was right. There was something wrong with the cord. He had an extra one at home. He figured he could offer that as an excuse to come back again.

Until then…

"There," Sam said, as the picture popped back up. "Going to need a new cord," he explained to JJ, who'd stood next to him as he worked. Sam had noticed the last time he'd been here, he had acquired a five-year-old shadow.

"Mommy said I can watch The Incredibles 2 tonight after dinner."

"Oh yeah? Think she'd let me watch it with you? It's my favorite."

His eyes lit up. "Yeah. You can stay and be my guest, okay?"

Sam ruffled the little boy's hair playfully, then Mercy called their names from the kitchen. "Sam. JJ. Dinner's ready."

It was a simple invitation to eat, but something about it made him feel warm inside. After a decade of living alone, there was something "home-y" about being called in to supper.

They settled down at the table, digging in. Mercy really was an amazing cook.

"This lasagna tastes even better than it smells," Sam said after he'd polished off his second helping.

Mercy smiled, then took another sip of wine.

Sam glanced toward the counter where the bottle was. One more glassful left. She was definitely getting tipsy.

JJ kept the conversation rolling throughout the meal, excited about the fact his mother had signed him up for tee-ball.

"I think you're going to like playing on a team," Sam told him. "I know the coach. He's a great guy."

Sam was the coach, but he didn't tell them that. Wanted that to be a surprise the first day of practice. This night just kept getting better and better. Mercy had taken him up on the offer of the cable cord, which meant he could spend more time here, and now he would see her at tee-ball games.

Sam didn't usually try so hard to manufacture reasons to see a woman, but he really liked Mercy and longed to see her.

She was pretty and sweet and not eyeing him like he was a grade A beef or a hunter stalking his prey. The Lima ladies man with a huge pole reputation always managed to land him in one of those two categories with most of the women in town, and he was sick of both.

Of course, that wasn't to say all women felt that way. He had quite a few female friends—wives and sisters of his buddies—who were cool to hang out with. Mercy mentioned being friends with Tina. She was a great person. He was glad Mercy had found her rather than Kitty Wilde's pack of rabid hyenas to befriend.

"JJ said something about The Incredibles 2 being on the agenda for tonight." Sam had obviously surprised Mercy with his comment.

"Sam's watching it with us," JJ said excitedly. He was wiggling in his chair. Mercy gave him a look and he said, "Can I be excused? I wanna play with my trucks."

She nodded and smiled.

JJ raced back to the living room.

"Nice manners."

Mercy stood and started clearing the table. Sam rose and helped her.

"My dad was strict and what many called old schooled. Having a daughter getting knocked up in college with a guy who wanted nothing to do with her or her kid was a big disappointment for him. He was insistent that JJ would not follow in his father's example. So, my dad insisted on JJ having good manners and being a mini gentleman. So, having table manners, saying please and thank you, using sir and ma'am as terms of respect were sort of drilled into his head as a baby. We lived with my parents up until the end of July, so Dad's been a pretty big influence on JJ his entire life."

"I think it's great that your dad stepped up and has been a good grandfather for JJ. He could have disowned you and JJ both, and even though he probably detests JJ's dad, he never took it out on your son. He wanted your son to be a better man. And I think you and your family have done a good job raising your little boy."

"So do I."

She rinsed the plates, then slid them into the dishwasher. "You really don't have to watch that movie with us if you have other things you need to do."

"Trying to get rid of me?"

Sam liked the way she shook her head instantly. "Oh no. Not at all. It's just…"

"I really do love the original movie and it's sequel, and I also get the bonus of spending time with you."

"I like that too," she replied, somewhat breathlessly.

Sam's cock went from soft to hard in two seconds. Mercy was hell on his libido. Too many more nights of this cat and mouse game and he was going to end up in the hospital with terminal blue balls.

"Can we watch the movie now?" JJ shouted from the living room.

Mercy closed the dishwasher, even though she hadn't finished loading it. "I'll clean up the rest later." She poured the last of the wine into her glass as she asked, "Another drink?"

He'd only had one, so he nodded. "Yeah. I'll grab it." Sam opened the fridge and pulled the bottle out.

Mercy was only a few feet away, so he reached for her free hand. She stopped and turned toward him. "Sam?" she started.

He closed the distance between them and gave her a quick, hard kiss. He'd been wanting to kiss her since the first moment she walked into the fire station, looking like some sort of female Pied Piper, patiently guiding the group of little kids surrounding her.

After they parted, she touched her lips and smiled at him.

"That is just an appetizer," he said. "For later."

She surprised him by taking his kiss and raising him one. The kiss she initiated lasted a few seconds longer, though it was still closed mouth. He really wanted to steal a taste of her. When they separated this time, she gave him a saucy smile. "Dessert for now," she said, pretty much alerting him to the fact that there would be no later tonight.

Sam laughed as they made their way to the living room. He and Mercy sat next to each other on the couch, but JJ somehow managed to wiggle his way between them. Not because he was trying to keep Sam away from his mom. In truth, it felt like he wanted Sam all to himself. That theory was proven when JJ gave his mom a look and she shifted away a few inches to give him more room.

She rolled her eyes above her son's head, and Sam winked at her.

He hadn't lied about loving The Incredibles 2. He'd probably watched both the original movie and its sequel almost one hundred times in his life—all with both of his kid brothers, one who was only one year older than JJ, the other who was away at college and had just turned twenty.

When it was over, Mercy stood up and looked at JJ. "Time to get ready for bed."

JJ groaned, but Mercy remained firm. "It's a school night, JJ. Brush your teeth and put on your pajamas. I'll be in in a few minutes to read you a story."

"Can Sam read to me tonight?"

"I don't think—" she started.

"I'd love to," Sam said.

"Sam," she said. "Really, I understand if—"

She kept trying to put him into some macho bachelor category that suggested she didn't think he could handle little kids. He didn't like it and was ready to prove himself. "Pick out your favorite, JJ, and yell for me when you're ready."

JJ scrambled down the hall to the bathroom.

"Thanks," she said, though he could see her doubting his motives. The Lima rumor mill had been working overtime. Sam had a lot of work to do if he hoped to prove to her there was more to him than being some kind of ladies' man.

And there it was again, this unfamiliar feeling of wanting a woman interested in him because of who he was, not what he could offer in the bedroom.

"No problem."

"I'll finish cleaning up the kitchen. Then," she said, pausing, "would you like a cup of coffee or something?"

"Coffee would be great."

JJ called his name, so he walked to his room. It was pretty standard for a five-year-old, toy cars strewn all over the floor, a shelf full of picture books, baseball glove on the nightstand, and Disney posters on the wall. Sam was pleased by his choice of sheets. "Fire engines?" he asked.

"Mommy and I went to Walmart last week. She let me pick out whatever I wanted."

"If you want, you and your mom can stop by the station someday, and I'll let you sit in the driver's seat of one of these."

JJ's eyes widened. "For real? Honest?"

Sam promised, then they settled down to read a well-worn copy of Jake and the Never Land Pirates: The Pirate Games. Sam suspected the book's appeal came from the main character sharing his name.

Once Sam finished reading, he stood up and tucked JJ in.

"All done?" Mercy said from the doorway. She'd obviously been listening from the hall. Sam read slowly but did the voices for every character which JJ loved. She crossed the room to give JJ a goodnight kiss, then she turned on a nightlight and shut the door behind them.

Sam had expected her to keep the boy's door ajar as a way of protecting herself from him. The closed door pleased him. Either she was starting to trust him or—as the kiss in the kitchen suggested—she was finished fighting this attraction between them.

They swung by the kitchen to grab the two cups of coffee she'd made and returned to the living room.

There was something Sam had been wanting to know, but he wasn't a hundred percent sure how to ask.

"JJ seems to really like you," she said, opening the door for him without realizing it.

"He's a great kid. If it's not out of place, you mentioned how your father felt about JJ's dad earlier, can I ask about his dad?"

Mercy put her mug on the end table and sighed. "There's not much to tell. I guess it's best to say he falls into the category of sperm donor. He's never seen JJ. I didn't even tell him when he was born."

Sam frowned, wondering what kind of guy didn't want to meet his son, especially one as cool as JJ. "Was it a bad breakup?"

Mercy bit her lower lip, the gesture completely adorable and one that continued to bring him to his knees. "There's no way to tell this story without me looking like an idiot."

He put his coffee cup on the table and reached for her hand. "I wouldn't worry about that. I got a whole arsenal of embarrassing stories myself. Bet I'd win in a game of one-upmanship."

"I'm tempted to put money on that because of this story…" She paused, but he could see the wine had loosened her inhibitions. She was going to tell him, so he didn't press her.

She took a deep breath. "I met Jake Puckerman my sophomore year of college. I told you my dad was strict. That basically meant I grew up in a pretty overprotective environment, and I didn't date much in high school. I was convinced that sex before marriage was wrong, and I even wore a purity ring because I thought that I had to save myself for marriage. However when I got out from under my father's thumb at college, I went a little wild. I joined a sorority and went to their parties and fell in love with the freedom that I felt that drinking gave me. I am not shy, but I am a bit of an introvert. However, give me alcohol and I become the life of the party. I didn't even think of finding the love of my life at twenty. I was too busy making out with guys who all looked like Denzel to me because I would be so inebriated."

"You only made out with these Denzels?" he asked, wiggling his eyebrows at her. Sam expected her to confess to more, but she nodded.

"Yeah. You can take the girl out of the church, but it's pretty hard to take the church out the girl; until I met while sober the best looking man in my life. It was like I had found my husband, and I still was waiting for marriage, but I ended up sleeping with him after a party thrown by our Greek houses. He was a member of our brother fraternity—a junior—and like I said earlier I was crushing hard on him. He invited me to dance at the party, and the moves that man had on him and the alcohol I was drinking in order to be personable contributed to me mixing alcohol with jello shots. It wasn't much later that I was in his bedroom. Ten minutes later I realized that I was no longer a virgin, in bed with a passed-out, drunk-off-his-ass naked guy. Four weeks later, I found out I was pregnant. When I told him, he seemed genuinely shocked to find out we'd even had sex. Which isn't really his fault. I left two seconds after he passed out, and then avoided him like the plague."

Sam sat there for a few seconds before he realized his mouth was hanging open. He closed it, then tried to say something. He didn't have a clue what.

Mercy giggled. "Tina had the same response when I told her. Told you I'd win."

"Let me just clarify something," he said. "You lost your virginity and got pregnant on the same night with a guy you later told that you were pregnant, and he never wanted to meet JJ or see a picture of him?"

She nodded. "Yes. I became depressed with his lack of desire to have me or his baby in his life. Emotionally, I was such a wreck that I couldn't concentrate on my classes or attend mandatory sorority events, so I dropped out of college, moved home, and that was that."

"Wow."

She laughed, clearly not bothered by his reaction. "I was lucky, actually. My mom and dad supported me and loved me even though sex outside of marriage is against their beliefs and I had disappointed them, they have been super supportive of me encouraging me to get an online job and attend college online while helping me with JJ, and they adore JJ."

"What made you move so far away from home?" The more Sam learned about her, the more he wanted to know. She took everything in stride and made lemonade out of the lemons life had given her, and he liked her easygoing approach to life. It might have been tough and hard raising a child, working, and going to school, but she eventually set and met all of her goals.

"Dad retired from being a dentist after 30 years, and they planned to start traveling. The RV was packed and gassed up twenty minutes after he left work that last day. My mom grew up in nearby Elida, spent her childhood here, and she'd always talked about it fondly. She never mentioned it being in the middle of nowhere and prone to having tornadoes."

Sam laughed.

"Anyway, I thought it was time for a fresh start somewhere new, so I started looking for teaching jobs online and came across this one in Lima."

"I'm glad you did."

She leaned toward him, giving him a pretty good look at her cleavage. He could tell the move was intentional. Mercy, in her own awkward way, was trying to flirt. Sam took the bait because…well…her tits were amazing almost as amazing as her ass.

He reached for her and she shifted closer. Sam ran his hand over the front of her shirt, squeezing one of her breasts. She released a long, nervous breath.

"How long has it been?" he murmured as he kissed the side of her neck, reaching for the hem of her shirt, intent on slipping his fingers underneath it for a better feel of her breasts.

"What?" she whispered, her eyes closed, her arms wrapped around his neck. The air in the room had grown warmer. He could smell the wine and coffee on her breath, and his mouth watered for a taste.

Sam kissed her again, his lips pushing hers open so his tongue could touch her. Mercy ran her fingers through his hair, then she tightened her grip. He needed to slow things down. There was no way he was going to take Mercy here because besides the fact that she had drunk too much alcohol to make a consensual decision regarding sex, they were on the couch with her son sleeping just down the hall.

Sam shifted over her slightly as she lay down on the couch. When he told her his reasons for stopping; she took his hesitation as a challenge and began kissing him again. They kissed for several minutes as she tugged his hair and he reached beneath her shirt and cupped her breast.

"Mercy. We need to slow down, sweetheart. Remember we can't let this go too far…"

Her face was flushed, her breathing labored. "Oh God. Please don't say that. It's been so long and I'm so…"

"How long?" he repeated the question, aware that while his cock was rock hard and uncomfortable as hell in his jeans, Mercy's arousal appeared even more painful.

"I told you," she said, wrapping one leg around his thigh, thrusting against it. "Sophomore year of college."

Sam froze. "You haven't had sex since the night you got pregnant? The night you lost your virginity after a ten minute drunken hump and pump?"

It felt as if someone had doused him with a bucket of ice-cold water.

Mercy looked at him, confused, and he realized she was about to repeat her mistake with him if he let her have her way. Apparently not only did alcohol take away her inhibitions, it also clouded her judgment. The Mercy he knew was careful, controlled, and responsible.

That did not describe drunk Mercy.

"When would I have had sex since then, Sam? I was pregnant, then I had a baby. And I lived with my strict religious parents who viewed sex before marriage a sin, Sam, for goodness' sake."

Sam sat up. She'd clearly been privy to the gossip surrounding him, so her behavior right now made no sense to him. "And you thought you'd break that dry spell with me?"

Mercy pushed herself upright as well, and he could tell she didn't know how to respond to his question. "I, um, well, I mean I kind of got the impression that you…" She sighed. "I don't know how to say this without it sounding bad."

Sam felt his temper rising. "Try it anyway."

She must have sensed his anger, and for some reason, it sparked hers. As such, she let it fly. "I heard from several people that you're good in bed and you aren't looking for a relationship. I thought it might help me if I…have some casual sex before I seriously get back into the dating game again."

Sam's gut ached. Mercy was exactly like the women he'd been avoiding the past few months. Just interested in a night or two with his dick, his personality unnecessary. "You've had sex one time and you thought a night or two with a firefighting manwhore was a good idea?"

She rolled her eyes. "Don't call yourself a manwhore. I have no idea what fighting fires has to do with sex, but it's clear I've pissed you off somehow." She blew out a long, slow breath and her features softened. "I thought there was a shared attraction. I know you're not looking for anything long term, so I thought there would be no harm, no foul if we acted on it. I didn't mean to upset you. Truly I didn't. I'm sorry, Sam."

He know he shouldn't want her still. She was practically a virgin who was looking for commitment with somebody other than him.

She wasn't wrong to say he didn't want a relationship. Up until about thirty seconds ago, he didn't.

But now…

Fate had an effing twisted sense of humor because only she would jerk him out of his peaceful bachelorhood like this.

"I'm not mad," he said, trying to find a way to convince her. He'd been short with her, mistaking everything she'd said.

"It's okay." Her tipsiness was fading fast. Her cheeks were flushed and some of her shyness was returning. "I can see I misunderstood what was happening between us. I guess"—she looked at him as if she still couldn't quite figure out what the problem was—"you prefer white, skinnier and probably married women?"

Mercy Jones had been in Lima five weeks, and somehow she'd heard every single one of the stories that circulated around town about him.

He shook his head. "No, Mercy. I don't like married women. I don't sleep with women based on a type. It doesn't have anything to do with this. It was a misunderstanding on my part."

She waited for him to explain, but he couldn't.

No, he wouldn't.

For the first time in his life, Sam was out with a nice woman who didn't care about what was hanging between his legs, and for the first time he wasn't in a hurry to satisfy his lust with a woman he shared an instant attraction with. Because a big part of him didn't want this thing between them to end until he had a chance to prove to her there was more to him than his reputation for being a good lay.

"What kind of mis—"

Sam took the coward's way out, cutting off her question with a kiss.

Mercy was still for a moment before her hands were back in his hair. God, he loved the way that felt. She shifted and tried to straddle his lap. There was no way she could do that and not want more.

So he stopped her, returning them to the position they'd been in before he had nearly screwed up the whole night.

"Sam," she whispered.

"Shhh. It's okay, Mercy." There was a blanket hanging over the arm of the couch, so he grabbed it, shook it out, and put it over them from the waist down.

"What are you—"

"We're not having sex," he stressed. "But I can tell you are on the edge." Sam unbuttoned her jeans and slid the zipper down. "Let me make you feel better."

She lifted her hips to allow him to tug her jeans down.

"Kick them off," he directed. "If JJ comes out, you're covered up. He won't see my fingers inside you."

She shivered and her jeans and panties hit the floor. "God, yes."

He ran his hand along the outside of her bare thigh. Her skin was soft. She felt like silk. Her harsh, excited breathing drove him on, made him harder, hotter. There was nothing he wanted more than to thrust his dick inside her, but he had self control and was able to satisfy her without satisfying himself.

Mercy's legs parted when his fingers drifted inward, skimming over the light smattering of hair. He dipped lower and touched her clit. Mercy's hips thrust up, and she gasped like he'd pulled a trigger.

Oh yeah. She was primed and ready to go. It wouldn't take too much effort on his part to push her over.

"Tell me you at least got an orgasm from the dick of your sperm donor," he murmured as he kissed her cheek.

She shook her head. "No."

"So you're giving them to yourself? With cucumbers?" he asked with a smirk.

She laughed softly. "I considered the cucumber but felt too stupid to try. I got a vibrator in the mail yesterday, but I was afraid it would be too loud and JJ would hear me using it."

Sam was already light-headed from the lack of blood making it to his brain. Every word she said kept pushing him deeper and deeper into a realm of utter disbelief.

She was the exact type of woman he'd spent a lifetime avoiding. She was too good for him.

But he couldn't stay away even if his life depended on it.

He ran his finger along her slit. She was just as wet and so hot as he expected. Sam was surprised there wasn't steam rising from her panties.

Moment of truth.

He slid one finger inside her and knew he was screwed. Her body clenched. Even just that one finger was a tight fit.

"Oh hell," she whispered. Her eyes closed as she started moving against his finger. He slowly added a second, thrusting them in and out a dozen or so times. Then he wiggled his thumb over her clit and just like that, she came.

Sam captured her cries with a kiss, trying to mute the sound, so they wouldn't wake up JJ. Her inner muscles quivered against his fingers, but he kept them there, loving the feel of it, trying not to imagine how good it would feel against his cock.

Once she started to settle down, he pulled his fingers out, lifting them to his mouth for a taste as Mercy watched him.

"That was…" She struggled for the word.

"Amazing," he said.

She nodded. "I had no idea it would feel like that."

Sam sat up enjoying the taste of her on his fingers which now had caused his dick to become constricted in his pants. He needed to get the hell out of here and get home. This hard-on wasn't going away on its own, which meant jerking off in a cold shower. And sooner would be better than later.

She pushed herself up, and damn if the astute woman didn't catch his slight wince. "Sam." She started to reach for his dick.

He gripped her wrist. "No. Not with JJ here and you have been drinking." And not until he could figure out how he was going to take her without hurting her; the rumors about his size were true. He would have to prepare her for his fully erect cock, so that he didn't tear her.

"I can tell you need me too," she insisted.

"I'm a big boy, Mercy. I know how to take care of it."

She smiled, but he could tell she wasn't convinced. "Hardly seems fair, considering what you just did for me."

He kissed her. "I want to see you again."

Mercy hugged him, her arms circling his shoulders. "I'd like that too."

If he didn't get out of there, he wouldn't be able to leave at all. He'd never been much for after-sex cuddling, but how perfect it would it be if he and Mercy stripped off all their clothes, slipped between her cotton sheets, and held onto each other until they fell asleep?

"I'll call you tomorrow and we can figure something out." He stood up and she walked with him to the front door. They kissed again, then he stepped outside. "Please make sure you lock the door this time."

She grinned. "I will."

He waited until he heard the lock click into place, then walked or more like limped to his car.

It was going to be a long freaking night.