Fucking dammit.I was starting to like the little shit.I decided to repay his honesty with my own.“I’ll tell you a little secret.If we’re talking romantic shit, I’ve never once had what you’re talking about.That unconditional acceptance?”I shook my head.“But if I did?I’d do whatever I could to keep it.As should you.”
He was silent as he finished his beer, but there was a small nod of appreciation.Later, when he left, I realized he hadn’t flirted with a single person all night.
“Wait,I thought they were family heirlooms?”I asked Sam when we were upstairs in his apartment for a post-closing drink.Luna was purring quietly beside me on the couch while Sam sat on my other side.
“Is that what Harry told you?”
Sam’s smirk taunted me, and the realization hit.“That little shit.”My gut clenched at the warm sound of Sam’s laughter.I ignored it.“Well, score one for Harry.”
“He needed some way to stop you from taking over completely.”
Ouch.Guess I deserved that.
“He picked it all up from a garage sale in his neighborhood.”
“I never thought he had it in him.I might actually like him now.”
“High praise.I’ll have to let him know.”He leaned in for a kiss, and I turned my head, letting his lips hit my cheek instead.
“I can’t believe he got one over on me.I mean it, I’m impressed.”
Sam ignored me, guiding my chin back with a strong hand and slipping his tongue into my mouth.I fell into the kiss, enjoying the way his (now regrowing) beard brushed against my skin; the bristle contrasted with the soft, plush pressure of his mouth.
I pulled back.“You know you can’t just kiss me to shut me up.”
“Can’t I?”His voice was a soft, low a rumble.Like he was sharing a secret with you.I’d seen the way people would lean in close, pulled by gravity to him.I was (to my horror) not as immune as I’d like to be.
It was only afterward, when we were lying tangled in his bed (and thank god we were upstairs this time because my back was getting sick of hard flat surfaces) that I brought up the scar on his left shoulder.
I’d noticed it the last time we’d fucked but hadn’t said anything, and I’d seen the way he rolled it occasionally or massaged the joint when he thought no one was paying attention.
“What’s with the shoulder?”Because tact was not something I had mastered.And frankly, tact was hard to come by when I was post-orgasmic.
To be fair, he’d hidden it well enough.When I’d started, I hadn’t noticed it at all.But lately, I’d become all too aware of him.And now that I had a decent sample size to go off, I’d realized that when we had sex, he always preferred positions that didn’t put pressure on it, which had lent itself to creativity (something I’ve always been a fan of).
If he could have moved it out of view, I was sure he would have.Tonight must be the night I accidentally asked invasive questions.I was going two for two.Eventually, he took my hand, turning my palm inward so he could kiss it.I wondered if he didn’t like to talk about it, and I was about to change the subject when he answered.
“It’s an unfortunate side effect from a car accident I was in a year ago.”
“Shit.What happened?”
“It was a minor thing.No one’s fault.A woman swerved to miss hitting a child that wandered into the street and hit me instead.There was minimal damage to the cars, and no one got hurt, thankfully, but the impact messed up my shoulder enough that I’ll feel it for the rest of my life.At the end of the day, it was the best case scenario.”
“Best case would have been no accident.”I relented at his judging look.“But, yes, considering the circumstances, it’s the least that could have happened.How much does it hurt?”
“It’s manageable.”
I groaned because if I knew anything about Sam by now (and it was a short list, to be fair), it was that he would always defer his own needs or concerns when asked.
He was stubborn like that.It reminded me of me.
I stroked the healed streak of raised scarring above his pec, white skin cutting through the otherwise clean chest.“Is this from the accident?”
“No.”I was surprised when he laughed.“That was a renovation gone wrong.A box fell from a rack, and a wayward nail scraped me on the way down.It’s not very sexy.”
“Hmm.”I ran my finger over it, then leaned down and followed it with my tongue, kissing it reverently, noticing how his fingers buried themselves into my hair, holding me to him.My lips curled against his skin as I lowered myself to his perfectly prim nipple.“I think it’s very sexy.”
