Page 253 of A Matter of Time

“Baby,” he said softly, and his lips brushed over the side of my neck. “Get in the car.”

“Not tonight.” I stepped back from him, my eyes opening. “I gotta work tomorrow.”

He took a step closer, and I took another back.

“J…” he warned me, reaching for my jacket.

I sidestepped him, doing a half spin so he couldn’t get a hold of me. “I really gotta go.” I smiled at him as I walked to the curb and hailed a cab. “But you take it easy.”

“You’re leaving me?” He was dumbfounded.

I waved before I got in the cab and was immediately halfway down the street. I gave the driver my home address and slouched down in the back seat. My phone rang moments later.

“How ’bout I take you to breakfast in the morning?”

I smiled into my phone. “No, Sam. I don’t eat breakfast.”

“Then lunch. Meet me for lunch at the Chop House. I’ll get you a steak.”

“I have a lunch meeting tomorrow already.”

“Dinner. Lemme feed you. Please, J.”

“Sam, I can’t just⁠—”

“Why you gotta be so difficult?” He muttered and truly, it was adorable.

“Hey.”

“What?”

“It’s fun, you know, flirting with you, but really…we should stop.”

“Why?”

“Because there’s no point.”

“The point is very simple. You belong to me.”

“Three years, Sam.”

“I know. I fucked up.”

“Yeah, you did.”

“Forgive me.”

“Why should I?”

“Because if you could see into my heart, you’d know I had only good intentions when I left. I wanted to keep you safe, keep my job, and get back to you. That was all. It’s just…somewhere in all that time, I realized I needed everything perfect if I wanted you back.”

“All I wanted was you, Sam. All you had to do was come home.”

“I was an idiot, but I deserve a second chance.”

“Wouldn’t this be, like, the tenth chance?”

“All our breakups weren’t just on me. You ran scared quite a bit.”