Page 73 of Love Everlasting

“You don’t trust him.” Ben’s soft comment reverberated loud in her ears.

She paused. Don’t I? She closed her eyes, and Sam’s handsome face suddenly appeared, his deep-down serious demeanor and tender smile telling her that she did trust him. With her life. He suddenly winked, and his face morphed into Eric’s, taking her stomach for a tumble.

Just not with my heart.

“I guess not,” she whispered, “at least not enough for a love that would last forever, so I suppose I have my answer.”

“Not necessarily.” Ben rose from his chair and paced the dock like Shannon had with hands in his pockets before he halted to peer up at her mother. “Tess? Did you trust me when we first fell in love?”

“Ha! Are you kidding?” She sat back with a toss of her head like he’d just asked the world’s stupidest question. “Not on your life, Dr. Doom.”

His mouth slid sideways. “A simple yes or no would have sufficed.”

Her face softened. “Come on, sweetheart—you were a widowed womanizer who shut people out with hedges and padlocks, including your only daughter. And you had about as much use for God as you did for your perky neighbor.”

His smile crooked. “Yeah, but they both got me in the end.”

Folding her hands on her stomach, Tess released a contented sigh. “Yes, we did, and it was a team effort.”

“My point exactly,” he said to Shannon, feet straddled and hands still in his pockets as he pinned her with a piercing look. “There was nobody more shallow than me, Shannon, and if it hadn’t been for the prayer and persistence of a perky and pesky neighbor poking her nose into my life, I would have never known the depth of love I know today. Not only with God and your mother, but with her family and mine.”

Hope flickered in Shannon’s heart. “So you’re saying I should give Sam a chance?”

“What I’m saying is,” he said quietly, “I believe change is possible for any man who opens his heart up to God. Jack’s told me a little about Sam’s history, and like Sam, I never knew real love either—the kind that lasts forever—until the day your mother introduced me to the One Who loves forever. You better believe that kind of love changes a man, Shan.” His gaze flicked to where her mother sat in the chair with tears in her eyes, the love flowing between them as strong as the current swirling down the Skidaway River. “And trust me, sweetheart—that kind of woman makes him want to love her forever.” Expelling a sigh, he returned to his chair, taking her mother’s hand in his own while his gaze connected with Shannon’s. “And if He can do that for an old grouch like me, Shannon, He can do that for Sam too.” He squeezed Tess’s hand before sending Shannon a wink. “And for you.”

Chapter Thirty-Nine

The end.

Unleashing a contented sigh, Shannon sank back against her headboard, legs stiff from an afternoon of furious writing to meet her deadline. She stared at the last page of Love Everlasting on her computer screen, the novel her freelance editor had talked her into ghostwriting, and a heady smile curved on her lips. No, not the end—the beginning.

Just like for Sam and me.

She closed her laptop, the story between a princess and a playboy having taken a twist she hadn’t expected, providing a fairytale ending that made her heart sing. Not unlike her relationship with Sam, she supposed, where she hoped and prayed for a fairytale ending too.

Glancing at her alarm clock, she jumped up to get ready, heart thudding that in two short hours, she and Sam would go out on their first date. She put a hand to her stomach to quell the excitement churning and headed for the shower, more than well aware that a bit of worry was in the mix too. Her feelings for Sam were stronger than she ever dreamed possible, and certainly more than she ever wanted, but her trust factor came in a poor second. As her best friend, she trusted Sam with her life. But as a man who held her heart—and her life—in his hands? She fought off a cold ripple of concern that rained down along with the cold water in the shower.

Not so much.

Putting on the finishing touches of makeup she seldom wore, Shannon heard the doorbell ring, and grabbed her purse. She compelled herself to descend the steps far more slowly than the adrenaline that surged through her veins. But when she saw Sam laughing with Cat and her mom in the foyer, her tendons went limp at the back of her knees. Flashing a dimpled grin, he could have walked right off the runway in a tightly tailored charcoal fitted suit with a mauve silk tie, hands leisurely in his pockets as he towered over Cat and her mom. And when those deep umber eyes glanced up to connect with hers, she thought she might swoon, never more grateful for the banister that helped her stay up.

“Wow.” That’s all he said as she met him at the door, but his look of stark approval said far more, dusting her cheeks with a warmth that did a slow spiral throughout her entire body.

She didn’t even notice the flowers until Cat waved a long florist box in her face, dropping her jaw when her mother also held out a gold two-pound box of Godiva chocolates. “Oh, Sam, you didn’t have to do this,” she whispered, opening the floral box to reveal a dozen red roses.

He gave a shrug that came off more as an awkward schoolboy than a seasoned player. “Sure I did, Shan,” he said, the husky tenor of his voice assuring her he meant every word. “First dates should be special.” His eyes held an intensity that purled heat in her middle. “Especially when the girl is as special as you.”

From that moment on, the evening had been a whirl of wonder. Sam spoiled her rotten with dinner at Savannah’s finest restaurant followed by dancing at a trendy club, all culminating with a decadent dessert at Lulu’s. They’d wined, they’d dined, they’d laughed, they’d cried, all the while Sam treating her like a goddess for six incredible hours. Which produced more tingles than any romance novel she ever read or could write. Smiling, she released a satisfied sigh as he regaled her with a darling story about the flu-shot debacle with the Brinker twins.

Thank you, Lord, for the best night of my life!

The Vette veered onto her street, and her pulse surged till she thought she might faint.

Uh … and the most nerve-wracking! Because laughing and talking with Sam Cunningham was one thing, the easiest thing in the world for her to do. But the kisses that were sure to follow her evening of bliss? Shannon fought a gulp as Sam eased his car into her driveway. She was more nervous than a sixteen-year-old on a first date—hands clammy and the skin beneath her silk halter dress just as bad. When he finally turned off the car and angled her way, she was hyperventilating so fast, she prayed she wouldn’t pass out.

“I don’t want this night to end, Shannon,” he whispered, lacing his fingers through hers with a smoky look that stole all moisture from her throat. She held her breath, expecting him to kiss her, but he only grazed his fingers down the curve of her cheek. “Take a walk with me?”

A gust of relief rushed from her lungs as she nodded. He gave her hand a squeeze and got out to open her door. “I don’t know about you, Angel Eyes,” he said softly, securing her hand in his as they walked down Bluff Drive, “but this was one of the best nights I can remember.”