“Sorry,” I said, “were you going to ask me something?”
“Just whether you were having second thoughts,” Sam said gently. “If you are, I can go. It’s totally fine.”
“No,” The word came out fast. Embarrassingly fast. “No, I want youto come in.”
I swiped the card over the lock before I could change my mind. When the light turned green, I pushed the door open and walked in quickly, giving me a few feet of space from him.
Elizabeth Marie James. Get your shit together. You’re an independent woman. You’re a thousand miles from home. You’re allowed to do irresponsible things.
Sam was still standing by the door, eyeing me carefully.
He was giving me my last opportunity to back out.
Why did he have to be so sweet? Before he started talking to me downstairs, he’d been crowded by a group of women who were laughing a little too loudly at whatever it was he’d been saying. I’d pegged him from the dance floor as arrogant. Egotistical.
But then he was there, smiling at me, his expression open and easy. Looking at me like I was an extremely welcome surprise. Like I was his favorite dish on a menu.
I wished he was a hot jerk. I’d be less nervous that way.
You’re never going to see him again.
Right. It didn’t matter if I embarrassed myself. Tomorrow, this would be a distant memory. I might as well be honest.
“Okay.” I dropped my purse on the bedside table and flipped on the lamp. “I’m nervous. It’s not like I’ve never done this before, but it’s been a long time. Having a kid kind of limits my sex-with-strangers opportunities.”
Oh fuck, did I really saysex?
But Sam wasn’t fazed. His eyes twinkled. I didn’t know eyes could actually do that.
He leaned against the hallway wall. “I think you’re lying.”
My stomach lurched. “What do you mean?”
“About your son being 14.”
Relief washed through me, because I’d been lying about having done this before. I hadn’t dated at all when Tommy was young. Then I’d had two boyfriends back to back, both of which didn’t work out. The last one in a big way. So I wasdone with that now. I would not let my bad luck with menimpact my son’s life, ever again.
But Sam wasn’t a boyfriend. And Tommy was on the other side of the country. I smiled. I could do this. I wasgoingto do this. Besides, he wasn’t a total stranger. My friend Sarah knew him. She introduced us downstairs, whispered Sam was a sweet guy and that I should ‘go for it’. And it was just for tonight.
“I don’t regret my life choices,” I said. Not anymore, anyway.“But I do have some fun to catch up on.”
Sam’s lips twitched up.
Heat flooded my insides.
He was so sexy with his rumpled shirt and hair. That upturned mouth that had turned into a playful smile.
“I like fun. What are you thinking, Crazy Eights or something?”
I closed my eyes, laughing. God this guy was an absolute flirt. Probably with a phone full of women’s numbers with reminders of how he met them instead of last names.
He was all wrong for me.
It was perfect.
But when I opened my eyes again, Sam was looking at me with something else in those crystalline eyes. Something more to the point of why we were here.
“Ellie, were you lying about the other thing, too? It’s okay if you were.”
