But he shook his head in that immovable Sam way.
“It’s been a long day. An emotional day.” He swallowed hard but didn’t retreat. “You’ve only just come home. I don’t want you to wake up tomorrow and regret something that happened too fast.”
“I’ve had ten years to process what happened to me. Ten years to understand how much that night robbed from me.” The more she thought about it, the more right this felt. “We were on the verge of taking our relationship to the next level before that bastard ruined our chance to see what could have happened between us. Why should we let it keep robbing us now?”
His gray gaze dipped to her mouth. Lingered.
“You’re a tough woman to argue with.” His voice was scratchy.
“So don’t try.” She ventured closer, brushing her lips along that strong jaw of his. “Tuck Aiden in for the night, and then come take away all the old, ugly memories. I want some new ones, and I want them with you.”
Chapter Twelve
“ONE DAY, YOU’LL UNDERSTAND,” Sam whispered to his sleeping son, kissing him gently on the forehead before lowering the boy into his crib. “You’ll find out how a woman can turn your life upside down. You think you’re going to walk away and do the honorable thing one minute. And the next, you can’t form a thought that isn’t about kissing her.”
Aiden curled a tiny fist, his features relaxed as he snoozed. Sam turned on the nursery monitor and covered his son with a blanket.
“Bet you’ll be better with the ladies than your old man.” He rubbed the baby’s back. “Night, champ.”
Even now, as Sam wound through the family room looking for Amy, he wondered if it was wrong of him to want her this much after learning what she’d been through. He had no idea what the right response should be to finding out a woman he cared about had been hurt like that—right under his nose. He’d assumed she was home safe and sound that night. Then he’d inadvertently made things even tougher for her by leaving right afterward without a word.He hadn’t been around to comfort her when she’d needed him most.
He would change that now, damn it. He would be everything she needed tonight.
“Sam?” Amy called to him from the darkened kitchen, and he followed the sound of her voice.
Knowing she was here, in his house, waiting for him...that amped him up far more than when he’d chased her through the woods as a teen. Maybe because now there was no second-guessing. No wondering if he understood what she wanted. She’d been very clear. They were going to reclaim what they’d been denied long ago.
She straightened from the dishwasher and pressed the start button. The dull thrum of the machine filled the kitchen as they stared at each other over the butcher-block island.
His chest ached with wanting her. He would have slayed dragons for her ten years ago. He’d damn well send her demons running now. Or at least, he’d do everything in his power to make that happen.
He gestured to the sink. “You didn’t have to clean up.”
“I know. I figured I’d start the dishes to keep busy. It was no trouble.” She stood still, watching him in the muted blue glow of the light from the ice maker. She twisted a strand of hair, a sweetly nervous gesture that cued him in to what she was feeling more than anything else. “Did Aiden stay asleep?”
“He did.” Edging around the island, Sam closed the distance between them. “And it just so happens newborns sleep an average of eighteen hours a day.” He threaded their fingers together and squeezed her hand in his.
“Really?” She arched an eyebrow at him, the hint of a smile playing around her lips.
“Yes.” He wanted to pull her against him and kiss her again. If he let himself do that now, however, they might never get out of the kitchen. “We’ll hear him better if we’re in my room, though.” He nodded in the direction of the master suite. Where he would be with Amy. Soon. Not soon enough. “The nursery monitor is in there so I can hear if he needs me.”
“Good. I was angling to visit your room.” She backed up a step. “I used to fantasize about where you slept at night.”
The smile she’d been hiding before unfurled now. A rare occurrence for Amy. And so damn welcome after the conversation they’d just had. He wanted to see that smile on her face again and again tonight. When she paused near the closed door of his bedroom, he opened it for her.
“Back in those days, I didn’t even have a room to myself. I shared with Clayton Travers.” The same guy Zach had hired to guard Heather. Sam had called him from the police station that afternoon to invite Clayton to the Hasting fosters reunion. “So it wasn’t much to fantasize about.”
“I don’t know.” She gave a deliberately casual shrug that did enticing things to the collar of her dress. “If I remember Clayton right, he was almost as cute as you.”
“You always did enjoy starting trouble with me, didn’t you?” He flicked on the wall lamps on either side of the headboard, lowering the dimmer to ensure the corners of the room remained in shadow.
“You are a lot of fun to tease.” She turned away from him to take in the room, her eyes roaming over the half-made bed with a gray duvet and pillows strewn sideways. “I think it’s because you look like you’ll breathe fire on anyone who dares to try it.”
“I seem to give a lot of people that impression.” His eyes wandered over her as she let go of his hand to step closer tohis nightstand. “Which makes me wonder why you never bought it.”
Reaching the bedside table, she picked up a framed photo of him with Zach and Gabriella on her graduation day. She touched a finger to his face in the photo, and he felt the ghost of it on his cheek.
“Guess I know you too well, Samuel Reyes.” Setting the heavy silver frame back on the bedside table, she turned toward him again. “You’d never hurt me.”
