Even in my agitated state, a flurry of sparks tickled my stomach thinking of him touching me.
I shoved a forkful of eggs in my mouth, willing the image away.
We chatted about neutral things after that, and I relaxed again, remembering there were no stakes here. Mom was just observing two people who’d been close the night before. Naturally she’d pick up on the way we were interacting.
“Well,” Sam said when he’d finished, “I’m going to tidy up in there, then I’ll get going. You guys need to catch up.”
I zipped my gaze to his. He met my eyes and gave me a little smile.
“Are you sure?” I asked. Despite my anxiety, I didn’t want him to go. Not yet.
God, was that desperate?
“Yeah, actually, there’s a SAR orientation this afternoon I’m going to help out with. Then I need to catch up on some work I missed this week.” He began collecting our plates.
Guilt churned in my stomach. He’d been helping out here this week. Putting his life on hold for us.
“What do you do for work?” Mom asked.
Sam smiled. “I’m in the wonderful world of auto parts sales.”
As he explained to Mom what he did, I felt myself appreciating him in a different way. I loved how Sam wasn’t disparaging about his job. It wasn’t his life’s work, and he didn’t love it, but he never spoke poorly about it. He was grateful to it for what it was. And he brought home those hilarious stories about his strange co-workers and clients.
“He also does websites,” I said, when he was done explaining all that to her.
“Oh!” Mom said. “I’m actually in the market for a new website for the farm. Can I see some of your work?”
“I can show you,” I said, since Sam’s hands were now full.
As Sam headed into the kitchen, looking a little bashful, I pulled up the SAR website on my phone. “Here,” I said to Mom, handing her my phone. “Can you also watch Henry for a sec?”
“Of course!” She unbuckled Henry, pulling him onto her lap.
When I came into the kitchen holding the last of the dishes, Sam looked up from the sink, where he had water running, his arms deep in the soapy water.
“You can put them in here,” he said.
He pulled his hands out of the water as I dropped them in, then dried his hands on a kitchen towel.
Then he gripped my head, sliding his hands into my hair before crushing my mouth to his in a silent kiss. Heat flooded me at the desperate grip of his hands on me; the feeling of his hard body walking me back and pressing me up against the wall.
“Oh this is beautiful!” Mom called from the other room as Sam broke the kiss.
“I’ve been wanting to do that all morning,” he breathed into my ear.
“You really did all of this?” Mom asked.
“Yup,” Sam said.
He cupped my face, running his thumb over my bottom lip. “I want to taste you again,” he whispered. “As soon as fucking possible.”
“I—” I breathed, but I didn’t know what I was trying to say.
“Go be with your mom,” he said.
“I can help with?—”
Sam gave me one last kiss. Then he took me by the belt loops and turned me around, swatting me on the ass as he practically shoved me out of the kitchen.
