I needed, right then, to be smart enough to hold on.
I pulled in a deep breath.
Then I whispered, “Okay.”
He held my eyes, looking deep, assessing, I knew, where I was at.
Then he decided he liked what he saw and he whispered back, “Okay.”
“We left our food and Luci –” I started but didn’t finish.
Sam bent his head, touched his mouth to mine then in a fluid motion, he rolled us and I found myself on my feet and in his arms by the side of the bed.
I tipped my head back to look at him to see he was already looking down at me.
“You go fix your face,” he ordered and my hand flew to my face but he shook his head and his lips twitched. “Yeah, you’ll think it’s a mess when it’s not but I’m gettin’ from you you give a shit about the way you look so you’ll wanna fix it. I’ll call Luci and tell her you had a thing, it’s sorted and we’ll be back in fifteen. That work for you?”
I nodded.
Sam dropped his head and touched his mouth to mine again.
When he lifted his head an inch, he asked quietly, “Are we sorted?”
I nodded again but added a verbal, “I think so… for now.”
He bent his neck to touch his forehead to mine a second while murmuring, “Good.” Then he let me go, turned me, and with a his hand low at my back giving me a little push toward the bathroom, he muttered, “Face.”
I kept moving toward the bathroom but looked back to see Sam had his hand in his back pocket pulling out his phone, his long legs taking him to the windows.
My legs took me to the bathroom.
Then I looked in the mirror and swallowed a scream.
Eyes red and puffy, mascara everywhere. It was such a mess I had to start from scratch. And Sam had seen me like this and told me it wasn’t a mess.
He was wrong.
But I had fifteen minutes to sort it and get back to Luci which meant I really only had ten.
So I didn’t have time to think about how Sam could think me post-crying jag was not a mess or even how he could see me that way and not even so much as wince.
I had to fix it and get to the restaurant. Luci was alone and probably worried.
And, post-drama (again), I remembered I was still hungry.
Chapter Ten
Skippy’s
“We’ll let you young people enjoy the rest of your evening. Kia, ma chérie, walk with me?”
That was Celeste and I looked at her as she spoke seeing that Thomas was catching her hint and he got up and pulled out her chair so she could rise.
We’d had dinner together, Sam, Luciana, Thomas, Celeste and I, and then moved to a bar for after dinner drinks. It had been a fabulous time, a natural fit with all of them. Thomas and Sam hit it off instantly, talking sports, and Celeste and Luci hit it off instantly, talking fashion, restaurants and spas. We laughed at Thomas’s stories about people he met and things he did while he traveled, we laughed at Luci’s stories about people she met and things she did while she modeled (and traveled).
Now it was late and, even though Sam had just bought Luci another drink, it was also apparently time for Celeste and Thomas to call it a night.
And it was probably the last time I’d see them. We’d exchanged contact information during before dinner drinks but that afternoon I’d called a very curious Teri (but I didn’t share, not the time or place nor did I have the two hours to explain it all to her) to deal with the changes to my schedule and she got me on a flight to Crete a day later, the same one Sam booked when we popped by Luci’s to use her computer in order for him to do just that. Sam and I would be driving to Parma the next day, spending the night and coming back the day after, leaving early the day after that. That meant no more time with Thomas and, worse, no more time with Celeste.
Looking up at her, feeling suddenly bereft, I felt my chair move slightly and my neck twisted to see Sam had risen and was helping me up.
Farewells were exchanged, Luci and Celeste promised to meet for lunch, Sam gave Thomas a handshake and bent to let Celeste touch her cheek to his then she moved into me, wrapping her hand around my elbow, she turned her head and tipped it to Sam, saying, “We won’t keep her.”
Apparently, I was going alone.
I looked to Sam, he tipped up his chin, a small smile on his face saying he got the message then Celeste moved us away, Thomas following.
Thomas had found our table, a table on the back terrace around a corner and mostly secluded from the rest of the bar but still having a fabulous view of the lake and after we were out of sight, Celeste leaned deeper into me, her hand giving my elbow a squeeze.
“Official approval, ma belle, he’s lovely.”
I turned my head to her and whispered, “I know.”
“He has a lovely friend too. You can tell much from the company a man keeps. This says good things about him.”
I grinned and repeated, “I know.”
Her face inched closer and she asked, “If you know, why do I sense hesitation?”
I shook my head, we were still walking and I looked to my feet as I spoke. “I don’t know. Probably silly but he is who he is and I am who I am and, right now, I come with a lot of baggage on top of that and… I don’t know. I guess I wonder when he’ll figure it out. I mean, he’s explained what he sees in me but I’ve got a lot to process, what we have is very new and, as I process, for Sam, it could get very old. And I can’t stop thinking that, as I deal, eventually he’ll remember that he can have anybody so he’ll wonder why he’s putting up with me.”
At my words, Celeste stopped us firmly, turned toward me and opened her mouth to speak.
But it was Thomas who spoke.
“So can you.”
Both Celeste and I turned our heads to him and it was only then I saw how close he was.
“Sorry?” I asked quietly.
Thomas got closer, his head tipped to the side and his eyes moved over my face.
Then he smiled a strange, small, sad smile and he said softly, “Kia, I just walked through a bar and every man we passed turned to watch you. If you think you’ve been at a party with Sam, to dinner with Sam and he has not noticed this too, you would be wrong. That man is not stupid. That man knows, he doesn’t take care of what he’s found, someone else will do it. He’s Sampson Cooper and he is no fool. He knows a good thing when he sees it, my love, and you’re right, he’s very likely a man who could have anybody, that is, anybody who is his to have so, being no fool, he made certain not to delay in laying claim to you.”