Page 66 of Love Everlasting

But she knew Sam Cunningham almost better than he knew himself, which is why she paused when he opened the passenger door of his car. “I want your word, Sam, that you won’t kiss or touch me again until I make my decision.”

Those very lips that had stolen her will only seconds before now compressed into a thin smile that was anything but. “You have my word,” he said in a clipped tone, circling the car after he slammed her door with more force than usual. She knew he was angry because he didn’t speak on the way home, profile etched in stone as he focused straight ahead. He was a man who wasn’t used to a woman telling him no, especially when he’d just laid his heart on the line. But this was too important a decision to allow Sam to have his way without prayer and the counsel of people she trusted. This was her life and her heart at stake here, and possibly her very soul, so she had no desire to make the same mistakes all over again.

Veering into her driveway, he turned off the engine and got out of the car, completely silent as he ushered her to the front porch. Hands deep in his pockets, he patiently waited while she retrieved a key from beneath a potted planter and opened the door. Hand on the knob, she turned, a twinge in her heart over the hurt in his eyes. “I care about you deeply, Sam,” she whispered, “both as a friend and as someone with whom I could have so much more. But my heart was wounded once, almost beyond repair, and I will never go there lightly again.”

His eyes softened, appearing to chase his prior anger away, and the faint smile he gave her was achingly tender, revealing the soft side of Sam that had stolen her heart. “The kind of love I think we could have together, Shan, is so much more than I ever dreamed. So I’m more than willing to wait.”

Emotion thickened the walls of her throat. “I truly appreciate that, Sam, because the only type of love I’m willing to risk my heart on is one that will last forever, so it’s definitely worth the wait.”

He reached to gently prod the door open, nodding for her to go in. “Good night, Shannon. I’m praying you’ll say yes, but either way, I will love you forever.”

Tears welled like a flash flood, and reaching out, she caressed his bristled jaw, her hand quivering as much as her heart. “Good night, Sam,” she whispered, slipping inside while the look of love in his eyes forever branded her brain. And if my gut tells me no … Her eyes lumbered closed.

Maybe goodbye …

Chapter Thirty-Six

Here goes nothing.

Sam slipped out of his Vette and quietly closed the door, wishing he didn’t have his good shoes on as he picked his way down a gravel drive to the rustic cabin Chase Griffin rented on a small lake. From what he could see in the dark, it was a good-sized A-frame of sorts that faced a moon-striped body of water too big to be a pond. Tucked away in the trees, Chase’s house was one of a smattering of lakeside summer cottages, each far enough apart to ensure privacy.

He’s going to think I’m crazy. Loosening the tie he’d worn on what had become his last date with Jazz, Sam sucked in a deep draw of loamy air and slowly mounted the steps to the front door, pretty sure Jack’s pastor friend already thought that, but then so what? It was true—he was crazy.

Over my best friend.

Shaking his head, Sam raised a fist to knock on a knotty pine door, questioning both his brains and his sanity in not realizing he’d been falling in love with Shannon all along. Unfortunately, it took being with Jazz several months to come to his senses, but once he had, the reality struck like a mega-watt bolt of lightning, leaving him more than a little stunned. But no more stunned than Shannon, he supposed, when he’d told her he was falling in love with her tonight. His mouth compressed. Or himself, for that matter, when she’d told him she needed time to think and pray about dating him at all.

He expelled a weary sigh. A girl like Shannon had never been his type. Sweet. Shy. Serious. And way too pure to give him the kind of love he’d wanted. Which is why it had never even crossed his mind that she was exactly the kind of girl who could give him the kind of love he needed. Not the physical kind he’d been searching for since high school, but a kind that could satisfy his heart and soul as well as his body.

Body? A veritable hot flash zipped through him at the memory of the kiss he’d given her on the pier earlier, and his blood simmered with a passion he’d never experienced before. A melding of mind, body, and spirit that blew lust right out of the water, confirming to him once and for all that Shannon was everything he wanted in a wife and a lover—an unpolluted woman.

Innocent. Intelligent. Inspiring. And downright irresistible.

The perfect antidote to all the women who had betrayed him in his life.

His knock immediately prompted a dog within to bark, the ferocious sound confirming he was outmatched should a fight ensue if Chase refused Sam’s request to back off from Shannon. Sam’s mouth went flat as he knocked again. “Yeah, real smart, Cunningham—let’s tick off the ex-Navy Seal and his pit bull.”

The sound of footsteps on the other side of the door shook him from his thoughts, and he immediately stiffened, reminding him this was no social call. As much as he wanted to handle this calmly and maturely, he couldn’t shake this tension he felt inside, this edgy drive to eliminate the competition. Shannon was too important, and Chase was too much of a threat.

The door opened halfway, and Sam was face-to-face with the guy he didn’t want anywhere near Shannon, whether Shannon agreed to date Sam right now or not. His mouth morphed into a scowl. Which immediately softened at the sweet whine of a German shepherd the rev was holding back by the collar.

Before Sam could stop himself, he squatted to scratch behind the dog’s ears, the shepherd’s tail wagging so much, it stirred up a stiff breeze. “Hey there, buddy.”

Man, how he’d always wanted a dog growing up! But many of his foster families barely fed him, much less a mutt. And as a single man seldom home, he refused to coop an animal up all day and all night.

“Sam!” Chase opened the door wide, his broad smile obviously unaffected by Sam’s mild glare. “This is a nice surprise.”

Surprise? Definitely. Nice? No way.

Allowing himself a final scrub of the dog’s snout, Sam rose, his good mood dimming along with his smile. He plunged his hands in his pockets, fighting the sudden itch to let fly with a punch to that rugged pretty-boy face.

Knock it off, Cunningham, he silently berated himself, Chase is a reasonable guy. “Can we talk?” Sam said, his tone suddenly as sharp as the jealousy lancing his gut.

“Sure, come on in.” Chase motioned for him to enter, and you would have thought Sam had T-bones in his pockets the way the shepherd went wild, tail whirlybirding while he tried to slather Sam nonstop.

“Sam, sit!”

The dog instantly did, and Sam’s mouth fell open. “Seriously? Your dog’s name is Sam?” He bent to ruffle the shepherd’s fur, peering up with a zag of his mouth. “Or was that command for me?”