Her pitch on the humming was spot on. And the way she tapped out the beat with him made his entire stomach feel funny. Stomach-flutter funny. Good funny.
“Sing with me, Sam.” He pointed to her with a pickle spear.
She didn’t sing. She only shook her head and pulled ayeeshface. “Trust me, no one wants to hear that.”
Oh, but he did.
“You don’t have to sing good to belt it out in the kitchen,” he said. “It’s all about the effort.”
“Hah.” She shook her head. “Still no.”
He slid the finished sandwich across the counter for her, then started one for himself.
“Listen—” She cleared her throat. “About before. I—”
“You don’t have to tell me what happened.” He kept his focus on the spread, not the girl. “With the ‘you turning gray’ thing,” he continued.
What he wanted to add?But please be honest about it if you do.
She nodded. “Thank you.”
The silence covered them like an itchy blanket. He scratched at the back of his neck. How did he get things back to rights with her?
Becca had a suggestion once that wasn’t bad for this situation…
Be Linx. Be Linx.
No… he was going to be himself on this one.
“You want a code word or something?” he asked, finishing up the smear with a flourish of the knife. “So if it gets to be too much, too many people, you say the word and I’ll know we need to step out?”
Of course, that’s what Linx’s girl Becca had done for Tanner on the first tour. She gave him a code word, so if he started stumbling, she could help him with an excuse to leave. Or just help him.
Sam’s eyes softened at the suggestion. The ever-present magnet between them tugged him to her. He wanted more of that. Liked the tingly feeling he got all over when her mask melted away and the defense systems lowered. She had a familiar quality that made him feel ten years younger. Sorta funny, since ten years ago wasn’t the best time in his life. He preferred not to think about it.
But… God, why did he feel like he knew her?
“A code word would be great,” she agreed, lifting the sandwich in her hand. Checking it out. “Maybe something easy to slip into conversation, but that isn’t super invasive?” She took a bite, savored it, chewing, swallowing, and basically making him hard with the way she gave all her attention to the task.
“So nothing like Armageddon or Beetlejuice?” he asked, keeping things light and trying not to let the excited-to-bring-her-to-meet-his-family vibes seep out too much into the comfortable cadence of their chat.
“Or pineapples or pumpernickel?” she asked.
He chuckled and caught himself staring at her mouth. This was a simple answer—
“Roses.” Because her lips were like rose petals and he’d guess that if he leaned in and brushed his lips against them, they’d be as soft as rose petals, too.
“Roses,” she agreed. “I like roses.”
One more thing to add to his arsenal of things he knew about her.
He glanced at the pool, but the crew had all stayed put. Wasn’t that the surprise of surprises? “Expected ’em to start this way as soon as they heard you came along.”
“They’re giving us space?” she asked, wiping the edge of her lips with a napkin.
“Nah, that’s not like them. They’re probably just really into this game,” he said, but he wasn’t entirely certain he believed it.
Knox went for a spike of the volleyball, but Becca was across from him and got there first, hurling it back. There seemed to be some disagreement about whether it was a foul.
