"You doin' okay? You barely moved an inch back there."
"I'm good."
Charlie hung her helmet and reached for his. She hooked it and locked her bike before she tossed him the key. The moment caught her off guard when she threw the key back to him, it was too natural.
"You want to go for a walk?"
"Sure."
Sam touched the small of her back and guided her to the walking path.
They walked down toward the river on a dirt path that ran beside it. She couldn't stop the shiver that ripped through her when the breeze picked up. Sam pulled his sweatshirt over his head and the shirt underneath it went up with it revealing his chiseled abs. He had the v-cut that dipped below his pants. She looked up and saw his face was still covered as he tried to separate the tangled shirts. Charlie used the opportunity to stare at him before she got caught. She chewed on her lip as he pulled it over his head and looked flustered.
"Hey it's more difficult than it looks okay?" he laughed, his cheeks were flushed and she knew he was embarrassed.
She stepped toward him and reached forward, "Here let me help you." Her knuckles grazed his warm skin as she pulled both of his t-shirts down. She patted his chest when she was finished and looked up at him.
He slid the sweatshirt off of his arms and locked his eyes on hers. "Thanks."
She was frozen in place, in that moment and couldn't move. Sam lifted his hand and caressed the side of her face, his thumb stroked her cheek as he pulled her face to his. His lips teased hers as they grazed each other. Chills ripped down her spine and her heart fluttered as he pressed his lips against hers. Sam parted her lips with his tongue and pulled her tighter against his body.
A moan escaped her mouth as she wrapped her arms around his neck and their tongues entwined. Sam gradually pulled away and kissed her with two soft pecks on the lips before he stepped back.
"Sorry, I couldn't resist," he said with a sheepish grin.
Charlie was breathless but she certainly wasn't sorry.
He handed her his sweatshirt. "Here put this on, I know you're cold."
She accepted it and looked down at her nipples standing at attention through her shirt. At least he was enough of a gentlemen to not point that fact out. She slid his sweatshirt on and it swallowed her lean frame. But it was warm and smelled like him, so it was absolutely perfect.
Sam grabbed her hand and laced his fingers into hers and led hers down the path.
♥♥♥♥♥
Sam's pulse thrummed in his throat as they walked down the path hand in hand. The sun had just begun to drop. He led her to a log along the river's edge and they sat down to watch the water dance along the rocks.
"So how was it riding passenger?" Sam couldn't read her body language.
"It was different but I was actually more relaxed than I thought I would be." She relaxed a bit.
"That's good to know."
"How'd it feel to ride again?"
"Incredible, I hadn't quite realized how much I'd missed it, until today." He looked over at her and leaned in to kiss her again. He smirked and looked down when he pulled away.
"Sorry, I can't help it." He didn't know how he was going to be able to keep his hands off of her.
"You know, you're going to get me into trouble if you keep doing that."
"How's that?" He was intrigued and wanted to know how honest she'd be.
"I'll never tell," she paused. "How was your week?"
He cringed at the thought of it and wrinkled his nose.
"That good huh?"
"Yeah, it was the week from hell."
"Don't want to talk about it?"
He saw the sincerity in her eyes and it tore right through him. When she asked him questions, he could tell she cared about his answers. Unlike other women he'd dated in the past. Sam knew if he talked about work, it would put him in a foul mood and he didn't want to ruin the evening.
"Nah, it just makes me a grump-ass."
Charlie nodded like she understood and leaned into him. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her close as they watched the sun disappear behind the horizon.
Her stomach grumbled and he held back a chuckle. "Come on, let's get you back to town and we'll get some food."
She flushed and looked embarrassed. "Oh god, you heard that?"
"I think the fish in the river heard that."
Charlie covered her face and shook her head. Sam grabbed her hand and they walked back up the path to her bike.
"I'd like to cook for you, when we get back. Why don't you come in and I'll whip us up something."
"You cook?"
"Yup." Pride swell in his chest. He loved to cook and she seemed impressed he knew how.
"Well, aren't you full of surprises."
"Is that a yes?"
"Maybe." She giggled and pulled her helmet on.
As they rode back to the house, Sam hoped things wouldn't get awkward. He wanted her to know he had no expectations but there was no good way to say that.
When Sam pulled into his driveway and parked, he noticed Alex's car was gone. Relief washed over him, though he hoped she didn't show up before Charlie left.
"This is really nice," she said, as she walked in and looked around.
"It's no castle but it works." He smiled and hoped she didn't take that as a dig because her house was ten times the size.
"I like it." She wrapped her arms around herself as she walked toward the dining room. Sam watched her pause at each picture he had on the wall. Most of them were of him and Alex but she changed them out so often, he never knew what was up there.
He went into the kitchen, pulled some chicken out of the fridge and rummaged around in the cupboards for spices. A bundle of red potatoes sat in the cupboard with the rest of the stuff he needed to make dinner.
"Are these your parents?" She looked back over her shoulder at him.
He only had one picture of his parents. "Yeah."
"Who's the picture enthusiast, you or Alex?"
He gave her a you're really asking me that look and she laughed.
"Is she going to grace us with her presence tonight?"
He couldn't tell what was behind that question but didn't want to read too much into it. "God, I hope not, she already ruined one meal."
"She didn't ruin it.. She made it... interesting."
Sam shook his head as he pulled out the cutting board and dishes he needed. Charlie took a seat at the eat in bar and watched him. Her elbows were on the counter top, folded up with her hands crossed under her chin. He glanced over at her before he washed the potatoes and diced them.
"This is impressive. Did your mom teach you to cook like this?"
He winced. His mother was not the sweet, teaching nor nurturing type. She'd always treated him more as a ward of the state than as her only child.
"Uh, no. My mom didn't cook."
Charlie looked uncomfortable and that was the last thing he wanted, so he knew he needed to elaborate.
"See, my parents... they're... I don't know how to say this without sounding like an asshole."
"You don't have to. I'm sorry I brought it up." She gave him an apologetic look and he felt even worse. Sam kept his hands busy as he prepared the food and tried to think of a way to explain things to her.
"Your dad worked a lot right?" he asked.
"Yeah, I was on my own most of the time."
"How was he when you did see him?"
"He did his best to spend as much time with me as he could. He felt guilty I had to grow up so quickly and do things most kids my age didn't have to do."
"My parents didn't do that, at all. They both worked corporate jobs and never made any time for me. When they were home they'd tell me to go away, I was annoying them."
"That's awful, Sam." Charlie's forehead creased and she shook her head.
"I mean don't get me wrong. I had plenty of toys, clean clothes, a nice house to live in. I just didn't have much interaction with the
m." He poured the potatoes into a dish and seasoned them.
"So did they hire you a nanny or anyone for you to be with when you were home?"
"No, they had a maid come in a clean the house and do laundry. They both had personal assistants and were too busy to be bothered with common house work or anything." The way she looked at him, he saw empathy in her eyes not pity.
"Who taught you how to cook then?"
"The Food Network." He laughed and pulled the chicken out of the package.
"Seriously?"
"Yeah, I was sick of eating mac and cheese or peanut butter and jelly. So instead of watching cartoons when I got home from school I watched the Food Network and figured the rest out." Sam shrugged.
"That's pretty impressive."
"Not really, I just got creative."
"What else did you do to pass the time?"
"Read... a lot. Books let me pretend I was someone else, somewhere else."
"I did the same thing," she said and watched him get everything ready to put in the oven.
"So how long did you live here?"
"Until I was seven. Then after that all we did was move."
He watched her face and saw the pain behind her eyes. There was more to her story and it was hard to not pry.
"So your mom, what happened or do you not want to talk about it?" Sam really hoped he hadn't crossed the line. He just really wanted to know everything about her. Charlie's brow's furrowed and he felt like a jerk.
"I'm sorry I shouldn't have asked."
She shook her head.
"No it's okay, I never knew her. I uh- pretty much killed her during child birth."
He watched the torment on her face and it broke his heart to hear her say that.
"Why do you blame yourself for that?"
"I don't know, we were both rushed into emergency surgery and I was the only one that survived." She shrugged, looked down at her hands and fiddled with them.
Sam had the overwhelming urge to comfort her, but he didn't want to be over bearing. He reached his hand across the counter and laid it on top of hers. She smiled at him and they both took a deep breath at the same time which caused them to laugh.
"You just got chicken goo on me, gee thanks." She mocked a face of disgust.
"Oh shit. I'm sorry. Here come wash your hands."
Charlie walked over to the sink and washed her hands.
Sam wanted to know more. "So what's the deal with Jules? I know you said he's your best friend."
"Our parents grew up together. My mom got pregnant first, then all that happened while Callie was pregnant with Jules. I was pretty sick as a kid and with my dad's schedule Callie basically raised me as her own." Charlie dried her hands and sat back down at the counter.
"That must have been hard for you to leave them. Why didn't your dad let you stay with them?"
"Even though he worked a lot, he always made sure we still had a pretty close bond. He didn't want to leave me anymore than I wanted to leave him. It was hard, but I think it would have been harder on me without him."
"Do you want to sit in the living room while all of this cooks?"
"Sure." She stood up and made her way to the couch.
He made a pot of tea, stuck the sugar and a spoon in the crook of his elbow and walked into the living room. Charlie had made herself comfortable already and he liked she seemed at ease. Her boots sat neatly under the coffee table and her legs were criss crossed at the end of the couch. Sam sat everything down on the coffee table and took a seat beside her.
"How did you know I drank this tea?" she asked suspicious.
"My spidey senses told me."
Charlie titled her head to the side and raise her brow at him before she spoke.
"Or your stalker like tendencies."
"In my defense, I drink the same kind and I noticed the tea bag label at the cafe." Sam held his hands up in mock defense.
"Mmmhmm," she said, with a laugh. Charlie reached forward and poured two teaspoons of sugar into her cup and stirred. She wrapped her hands around her mug and took a sip.
"You said your dad was military?"
"Yeah, he's a Marine through and through."
"How many times have you moved?" Sam took a sip of his tea and set it back on the coffee table. He unlaced his boots and looked up at her as he slid them off.
"Nineteen."
"Wow, so you have a move for every year you've been alive huh?"
Charlie's forehead creased and her eyebrows drew together. Sam's heart raced as he tried to figure out what he said that was wrong.
"How'd you know how old I am?"
"I did the math the other day when you told me how long you'd been riding."
She seemed to relax and be okay with that answer. "Oh, okay.. Just making sure your stalker like tendencies weren't borderline creeper." Charlie looked like she tried to suppress a giggle.
Sam wanted to fire back but he wanted to know more about her, not get lost in banter. He adjusted the conversation back to what he wanted to know. "That had to have been hard moving around like that."
She stared at her cup in her hands. "Yeah, it got pretty lonely. The only constant I had were Jules and Callie. They called every night. We emailed and texted but we never lost touch."
"Explains why you're so close."
"Kind of like you and Alex, I assume?" She looked up at him and took another sip of her tea.
"Sounds about right. My aunt would come get me whenever she could and I'd pal around with Alex."
"They lived close then?"
"The next town over, it wasn't close enough to see her everyday but they made it work somehow. They never forgot about me." Sam felt tears start to prickle in his eyes. He reached for his cup again and tried to forget that his Aunt cared about him more than his own mother did.
"I don't see how anyone could forget about you," she said.
♥♥♥♥♥
She opened her mouth to speak but shut it before she said anything. Charlie wasn't sure what she wanted to say to Sam or how she wanted to say it.
"You all right?" He watched her with concern.
"Yeah, just trying to figure out how to say something without sticking my foot in my mouth." She started to sweat and could feel her pulse in her throat.
"Try me. This is a safe place." Sam made big circles with his arms in front of him and gave her a wicked grin. She laughed and felt her body relax.
"See, that right there..." Charlie shook her head and took a sip of her tea.
"What? Me making a complete jackass of myself?"
"No, just the way you make everything easy."
Sam looked at her with confusion written all over his face. He pursed his lips before he spoke.
"I don't follow..."
"Nevermind." Charlie dropped her eyes from his as her stomach rolled.
"No, tell me what you meant." Sam leaned back on the arm of the couch and waited for her to say something. Charlie felt nauseous, she hated uncharted waters and wished he would have just let it go.
"I don't know how to explain it right." She shrugged and looked everywhere but at him.
"Try me."
Charlie glanced over and him and let out an exaggerated sigh. "Everything with you is easy, too easy," she paused and tried to find the right words.
Sam acted like he was going to say something but she held her finger up for him to wait.
"I've never been this person before. I don't usually let people in. I learned the hard way that trust is something you can't give freely. But with you, I don't know... You make me want to let you in and know the real me." Charlie glanced up at him and rubbed the back of her neck.
Her stomach growled and she felt sick, she set her cup down on the table to avoid making eye contact with him. She was so afraid of being rejected.
"Well, just know you aren't the only one. You have no idea what you do to me. I— I've never met anyone like you. You have this air of confidence that surrounds you and you don't try to
be anything that you aren't. That is a rarity in this world. I'm drawn to you and I have no logical explanation for the way I already feel about you," he said.
"I know the feeling," she said, with a deep breath. Everything he just said sank in and she knew they were in the same frame of mind. Sam really wasn't the type to play games. As soon as she opened up to him, he put it all out there on the line.
"We're on the same page then?" he asked.
Charlie didn't even think before her body reacted. In one swift motion she straddled him. She ran her hands up the sides of his face and into his hair as she studied him. His body responded below her and a wicked grin crossed his face. His arms wrapped up and around her back. She brushed her lips against his just to tease him, then leaned in and crushed her lips against him with urgency.
Charlie's hips started to move and she didn't want to stop them. Sam's tongue massaged hers and she heard a moan from deep down in his throat. She pulled away from him and studied his face, his eyes were burning back at her and he ran his hands up and down her back.
"Is there any confusion about what page I'm on now professor?" Charlie watched a wicked grin cross his face.
He moved so quick, she was beneath him and he dragged his lips up her neck, just below her ear. Anticipation grew as her head fell back, a tingling sensation danced on her skin.
His touch radiated through her as his hands traveled down her body. Goosebumps rose across her body as Sam ran his tongue down her neck. He pulled the neck of her shirt down and kissed along her collarbone. Chills ran down her body like shock waves and she lifted her hips to meet his. Charlie could feel his erection as it grew against her.
Sam's hand ran down her thigh and pulled it up around him, as he pressed himself against her. She wanted to feel his skin against hers. Charlie slid her hands up both sides of his torso and took his shirt up as she went.
Breaking away long enough to fling his shirt off, he crushed his lips back to hers. His body shifted as he lowered himself to her waist and lifted her shirt up to her belly button. With a trail of kisses across her stomach to the top of her hip bones, she was hyper aware of everything he touched. Sam pushed her shirt further up her stomach and panic rose inside her.
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