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Warmth and adrenaline coursed through me as I looked up at him and tried to converge the man smiling so easily above the table with the man holding my hand under the table. He wasn’t freaking out. His fight or flight didn’t seem to be engaged. However, I was racing down the highway of fear and anxiety without brakes.
“Can I talk to you at the bar?” My voice came out breathy, something that shouldn’t have happened. I wasn’t turned on. Was I?
Sam slowly turned and met my gaze, his dark eyelashes sweeping across his cheeks as he did. His tongue peeked out just the slightest bit as he wetted his lips, and when he squeezed my hand in his, I felt the touch between my thighs with a jolt of awareness. “We shouldn’t leave our dates.”
I leaned in closer. “I will murder you in your sleep if you don’t get out of this booth right now, Sam.”
Behind his glasses, his eyes crinkled as he laughed at me. “Touchy, aren’t we? Fine.”
“Is everything okay?” Morgan looked at me and then at Sam, who was already standing. Thankfully, he’d dropped my hand.
I nodded swiftly. “Oh, yeah. We just have to discuss something really fast. We’ll be back before you know it.”
Following Sam through the bar, I couldn’t get the comment Dad had made about him out of my head. James Bond didn’t have anything on Sam Clark if I was being honest. He did walk through the bar with an ease that I’d never been able to master. With one hand in his pocket, he moved like he owned the place and didn’t have a care in the world. Meanwhile, I was struggling to keep up behind him and felt like a troll as women stared at him as he went past.
By the time I reached the bar I was frustrated and didn’t fully understand why. I knew part of the reason, but I felt like I had blinders on somehow.
Sam leaned against the bar and nodded to the bartender. “Two whiskeys, please.”
Despite the packed bar, the woman winked at Sam and brought us over two shot glasses of whiskey right away. When he slipped her money to cover the cost, I noticed she let her fingers linger over his and I wanted to scream.
I turned away from them instead and looked out over the dance floor. My body was almost itchy with discomfort at the idea of watching Sam pick up women. He was technically on a date with my coworker, but that felt different. I’d pushed him into the double date. Picking up random women at a bar felt wrong for Sam. I knew he wasn’t a saint, but I’d never seen him bring home women the same way Cyrus and Jude did. He was private, and I realized that I’d taken it for granted, never having to see him with other women. I didn’t like it. I felt angry, upset.
“Here.” Sam pushed the glass into my hand and tapped his against mine. “Take your shot and tell me what you wanted to talk about.”
I stared up at him as I took the shot and dropped the glass on the bartop. There was something different in his gaze as he slowly drank his and licked his lips. My stomach heated and I gripped the bar to steady myself. “What are you doing?”
He smiled and lowered his mouth to my ear. “I’m double dating with my best friend.”
I slapped his chest and leaned back to glare at him. “Sam, I’m serious. You’re being different.”
He shrugged. “Maybe you’ve just never seen me dating.”
His words were too close to what I’d been thinking and that just annoyed me even more. “Do you always sabotage your own dates?”
“Is that what I’m doing?”
I gritted my teeth. “You were hyping up Joey like you were trying to set him up with Morgan. He’s supposed to be my date.”
Sam’s smile seemed strained for the first time. “Oh? Is that why you’re acting all pissy? You want Joey?”
Someone moved closer to the bar behind me so I shifted closer to Sam. “God, no. You know I can’t stand your cousin. Which is another reason I wanted to talk to you. Why the hell would you bring Joey?”
“I thought maybe your feelings had changed.” He glanced over my head and nodded to someone behind me. “Should we go back to our dates? This place is packed.”
“No way. We’re not done here.”
“I thought you wanted me to date your friend?” He held my gaze until my skin warmed and I had to look away. “Seems we are done here.”
26
***Sam***
Poppyslidintothebooth ahead of me and tossed me another annoyed look over her shoulder. She was in a mood. It wasn’t helping that I was teasing her. She put her elbows on the table and smiled at Joey and Morgan. I could tell it was fake, but it didn’t seem like our dates could.
“Is everything okay?” Morgan smiled hesitantly at me and then looked back at Joey. “They seem really intense, right?”
Joey snorted. “That’s just how they are. Sam is the definition of intense.”
