Sam waited patiently. She was quite curious to know what Ellen had to say, but she didn't want to scare her off by pushing the point. She continued to wash in silence.
After a moment, Ellen began, “Listen, honey. In all the times that Carl and I traveled to see Luke, he always picked us up at the airport when we arrived, and he'd drop us back off when we left. Like clockwork.
“Oh, of course, we would always tell him not to worry about it, that he was busy and we could take a cab, but he would never let us. It must have been close to a hundred times over the years, and each and every time, without fail, he picked us up and dropped us off himself.”
“Except for one time. In 2010, in Aspen at the X Games. We were watching the SuperPipe Women’s Final and when you were injured after your double corkscrew. We all rushed to the hospital! Then later, Carl and I took a cab to catch our flight because Luke wouldn't hear of leaving until he had news about you. He stayed for almost two whole days, no sleep, barely eating. He wouldn't move until he knew you were out of the woods.”
Sam was stunned, and having a hard time believing what she was hearing.
“He did that? Why didn’t he come in and see me? I didn’t even know he was there!”
“Well, as best I can remember, your manager or coach or someone didn’t want anyone seeing you. He shooed Luke away.”
“Oh...” Sam began, and then trailed off because she had no idea what else to say.
“Look, sweetie, I for one am glad you gave him a run for his money. Girls have been throwing themselves at him since he was in kindergarten. That's no good for a man. It deprives them of the chase! I’m glad you weren’t falling all over him. If he had to work to make you notice him, so much the better.”
Ellen gave her a small wink.
“Well, actually...” Sam began nervously. She wasn’t sure why she was going to come clean with Ellen, but she just felt like she should be honest. It felt right.
She continued, “Truth be told, he's been on my radar since I was thirteen. I had posters of him plastered all over my walls.”
To Sam's chagrin, Luke chose that moment to come waltzing into the kitchen, saying playfully, “I told you I would sign those for you.”
Sam flicked him with the water that was on her hands from washing the dishes.
“Oh, so it’s like that, huh?” Luke smiled as he looked at her, holding her gaze for a moment before he started chasing her around the kitchen.
Sam started laughing, and she wasn’t even sure why she was running. All she knew was that she was having a lot of fun.
The kids came in when they heard the commotion and then Luke, as the ‘tickle monster,’ chased them around until they dog piled on top of him.
Luke and Sam stayed at the house to help Ellen, who was still tired from her long ordeal the day before, and didn't leave until his brother Bobby and his wife Ashley picked up the girls.
On the drive home, they talked about the weekend and the kids, and Sam thought that she may be in some very serious danger of falling head over heels, madly in love with Luke Reynolds.
Chapter Twenty-two
Sam again sat in her house, looking down at a text she was about to send, and bit her nails nervously, wondering whether or not she should send it. This time, however, it wasn't to the book club mavens. It was to Luke.
She had made a big decision. The biggest. She had decided that she wanted Luke to be her first. Now all she had to do was hit send on the text message that she had composed, inviting him over for dinner that evening.
It wasn't that she was unsure about her decision. Far from it! She knew that there was no one in the world that she would rather give herself to for the first time than Luke Reynolds. She felt like it was meant to be!
No, the nervousness came from wondering whether he would accept the invitation or not. I mean, she had just spent the entire weekend with him, pretty much. Would he laugh at her if she invited him over for dinner again that very evening?
She took a deep breath. There are other options, she told herself. She could play it cool. She could wait a day. Hell, she could wait two!
But the truth was, now that she had solidified the decision so firmly in her brain, she was really anxious to make it happen. I mean, truthfully, if it wouldn't be considered too forward to just text him to come over right now and ravish her senseless, she'd do it!
But, no. That wasn't the way to do it. I may not have a ton of social graces, she told herself, but I can manage better than that.
She hit send before she could stop herself.
As soon as she had done it, her eyes widened and she clapped her hand over her mouth.
Oh, dear Lord. It was done now. No taking it back. Her stomach churned, anticipating his response. Would he think she was desperate? Silly? Annoying?
Arrghhh! Why didn't he text her back? Didn't he know what the silence was putting her through?
She swiped the phone's screen just to make sure the battery was still alive, even though she had seen that it was fully charged only moments before.
She accessed her list of outgoing and incoming text messages on the off chance that the chime and notification that usually accompanied a new message had just suddenly stopped working.
As a last resort, and more out of instinct rather than any kind of logic, she shook the phone as if it were a Polaroid snapshot and she was trying to hurry its development along.
To her shock, the phone chimed as she shook it, and she accessed her new text with trembling fingers. YES! It was from Luke. She read the text with one eye shut, anxious about what it might say.
“Dinner tonight? You're on, beautiful!” the text read.
She sank onto the couch in relief. She leaned back into the soft cushions and simply lay there for a moment, breathing in and out and relishing the sensation of knowing that Luke did not find her to be an annoying stalker for wanting him to come over for dinner so soon.
She sat bolt upright, eyes wide. Dinner! Yeah, since she had invited him to dinner that meant that she...um...had to actually have a PLAN for dinner!
This time, she didn't hesitate to send out a text message SOS. If there was anyone who could help her formulate a viable seduction strategy, it was her girls!
--- ~ ---
So, let me get this straight,” Karina said dryly, “You think you actually have to have some sort of complicated plan to get a man to go to bed with you? OK, no offense, Sam, but it's moments like these where your virgin-ness really shows.”
“Hey!” Amanda defended, “She's just nervous! If it makes her feel more secure to have a plan, then we are going to damn well help her come up with a plan!”
Karina snorted, “OK, OK, I'll come up with a plan! In fact, here it is. Step One: Look at him and say, 'Hey? Wanna have sex with me right now?' Step Two: is unnecessary because that's the whole plan. Trust me, it's not going to take more than that. In fact, you could probably do away with the part where you say 'hey' and be equally as successful.”
Lauren and Amanda laughed, but Sam just sulked.
“I don't think that's very funny!” she said miserably.
“Oh, trust me,” Karina said breezily, “You're gonna look back on this conversation in a year or two and think that was hilarious.”
“Look,” said Amanda, “Maybe you could just try being really sincere with him. Let him know how you're feeling. Share and be open!”
“Right,” Karina said dryly, “Because nothing makes a man hornier than talking about feelings.”
“Yeah,” Lauren interjected, “I hate to side with Karina here, Mand...”
“Hey!” said Karina indignantly.
“...but I do think she's right in this instance. Sam, why don't you try this? Sexy clothes, sexy makeup, sexy music, sexy lighting, sexy wine. Give him sexy signals and let sexy nature take its sexy course.”
Sam looked at her blankly.
“What I'm trying to say is that you should just telegraph non-verbally that you're ready, willi
ng, and able...and then let him make the first move thereafter. Trust me, he will.”
Sam looked dubious, “That doesn't sound like a very surefire plan.”
Karina threw up her hands in exasperation, “Dude, seriously, you are over-thinking this. There are a million moves you could make. Like, why not forgo saying anything and just strip? When he sees you standing there in your skivvies – or better yet, your birthday suit – he'll get inspired, trust me. Or how about this? Why don't you tell him you want to play video games and then grab his dick and ask him if he minds if you use his joystick?”
Sam matched Karina's exasperated tone, “Oh, come on, if you're not even going to take this seriously...”
Karina laughed, “OK, true, on the one hand, that was a joke. On the other hand...it would still totally work. That's my point, though! LITERALLY ANYTHING will work.”
Sam eyed her suspiciously, “And what about the 'just randomly strip' thing?”
Karina shook her head, “That wasn't a joke. That's what I did to Ryan.”
“What?”
“Oh, yeah. He was totally like, 'let's wait to have sex until we've been in a relationship for a million years' and I was all 'no thank you I'd rather not.' So I stripped. And I'll give you two guesses how the rest of that scene played out, and here's a hint – it wasn't with us sitting on the couch binge-watching DVDs of 'The Wire' – although that is a hella good show. No. It was with some sex. A lot, actually. So there you have it.”
Lauren eyed Karina sideways, “That was oddly specific. The TV part.”
“Oh, yeah,” Karina said, “We actually have been watching 'The Wire' lately, so it was on my mind. I mean, don't get me wrong, we're still having our fair share of steamy hot lovin'! But, dude, we live together now. There are a lot of freaking hours in the day, you know what I'm saying? We have time for a little TV now and then.”
Amanda said, “Oooo...have you guys done 'Friday Night Lights' yet? Justin and I are almost finished, we'll bring you the DVDs when we're done.”
Sam groaned, “Are we getting slightly off-topic here?”
Lauren laughed, “No, Sam, not at all. The point is, if you want to get to the place where these two are, the place where you're a sickeningly lovey-dovey couple chatting about trading DVDs with other sickeningly lovey-dovey couples, then we need to get you laid! Am I right?”
“Agreed,” Karina said, “And don't worry, Sam. Ryan and I will totally lend you and Luke our copy of 'The Wire' when we're done with it.”
“Yes,” Sam deadpanned, “Because that was totally the part of this whole thing that I was concerned about.”
“Look, Sam,” Karina assured her, “In all seriousness. Just order in dinner so you don't even need to worry about cooking, have a couple glasses of wine to take the edge off, and let nature take its course. There is literally nothing that could go wrong.”
--- ~ ---
Luke knocked on Sam’s large wooden front door with a wide grin on his face. Even though it had only been about six hours since he had last seen Sam, he was surprised at how much he had missed her.
He missed her smile. He missed her eyes. He missed the smell of her hair. He missed the way she felt against him. He missed her laugh. He missed her lips. He missed the way her eyes got as big as saucers when she was nervous or surprised. He missed the way she scrunched her nose when she was concentrating. He even missed the way she snorted when someone complimented her.
After spending so much time with her over the last forty-eight hours, he was pretty sure that, if he hadn't been already, he was now completely and officially head over heels in love with Sam. It may have taken him a decade to figure it out but now that he had, he didn’t want to waste any more time. He wanted to be with Sam, he wanted her to be his. Only his.
At first, Sam’s virginity had taken him aback, mainly because he hadn't understood it, but also because of the responsibility that dating a virgin entailed. Now, however, his feelings had changed. Just knowing that he could be her first, and (if he had anything to do with it) her last, made him feel like he wanted to puff out his chest and pound it.
He had never been very ‘caveman’ about women, but Sam brought out things in him he had never felt before. He wanted to pick her up, throw her over his shoulder, take her to bed and claim her.
He felt like over the weekend he had been able to break down some of the walls Sam had built up so assiduously when it came to him. She had opened up to him over the past couple of days, and not just physically, but emotionally as well.
He had been thrilled when he received her text message dinner invitation. He wanted to talk to Sam tonight and solidify what was happening between them.
Luke knocked again just as he heard the doorknob turning, and the door opened to reveal Sam wearing a short black cocktail dress which looked like it was painted on her body, paired with bright red stiletto heels.
“Hellllooooo...” She said, hanging on the door. She flung her hand out behind her, “Come on i…”
She hiccupped.
Luke walked past her, trying to assess situation. He leaned in close to her and sniffed. He smiled. Mystery solved.
“Sam have you been drinking?”
Her head bobbled up and down several times, “Yes.”
“How much have you had to drink?” concern laced Luke’s voice.
“I had some wine.”
She held up her fingers in a V, like a peace sign.
“Two glasses?” he attempted to clarify.
She popped a third finger up so that her hand now looked like a W.
“I had four...” she slurred, then stopped to consider, “Or more...”
She laughed, “I'm a poet and I din' know it.”
He pulled out her chair guided her into it, then sat across from her at the kitchen table. He made his voice become serious, “Really, Sam, how much have you had?”
She put up the V sign again.
“Just two glasses of wine?” he asked.
She hiccupped once again, “Nope. Bottles.”
“What?! Is something wrong? Why would you drink two bottles of wine?”
Luke really had no idea what to make of the situation. He knew that Sam wasn’t a big drinker...and yet, here they were.
“Liquid courage.” She said to him in a tone that indicated that he was an idiot for not already knowing this. But he decided on a follow up question anyway.
“Liquid courage for what?”
She ticked her finger back and forth like a metranome, “Uh, uh, uh thass for me to know, and you to find out.”
She smiled and wagged her eyebrows up and down.
She picked a third bottle up from the table and began to uncork it. Luke watched her fumbling progress with horror, unsure how to proceed. She solved his dilemma by
offering it to him, “Coulds you help pease?”
He took the bottle from her as well as the glasses on the table and went into the kitchen to fill both of their glasses with water.
As he slid back into his seat he set the water down, “I think water would be good for now.”
She looked at him as if she was confused, but just shrugged her shoulders, “OK.”
“The dinner looks good,” Luke offered. Laid out on the table was a mixed green salad, spaghetti with meatballs, and freshly baked garlic bread.
“Help yourself,” She leaned forward giving him a glance at her ample cleavage. “To annnyyythiing.”
Luke narrowed his eyes. OK, he may be a little slow on the uptake, but he was beginning to see what was going on here. She had obviously thought they were going to make love tonight and she must have needed ‘liquid courage’ for the occasion.
Obviously, nothing was going to happen in her current state, that was a given. But when she sobered up, Luke needed to find out if she had just been nervous about it being her first time...or if she really needed to get drunk to sleep with him.
He was pretty sure it was just about nerves. The way she responded to him wi
th just a kiss told him they had insane chemistry.
He scooped some of the salad onto both of their plates and began to eat.
She just stared at him for a few seconds and picked up her fork and took a huge bite of salad.
After they were finished with their salad she gasped loudly, “OH, I forgot.”
She jumped out of her chair and would have knocked it completely over if not for Luke’s quick reflexes. Without even noticing either that the chair had almost taken a tumble or that Luke had saved it, Sam ran into the front room.
Luke smiled. Even when she was drunk as a skunk, she was cute as hell!
He scooped spaghetti onto their dinner plates and garnished it with a couple of slices of garlic bread for each of them. He set their plates back on the table and waited. He was just about to follow her into the living room to make sure she was all right when he heard the sounds of Marvin Gaye’s soulful Let’s Get It On filling the room.
Sam returned a few seconds later and flopped sloppily back down into her seat. After she had straightened herself somewhat so that she was facing the table, she grinned widely at Luke. “Moooood music,” she said by way of explanation.
He nodded, trying to hide his smile. He knew he should take her seriously because if he laughed, it could only go one of two ways in her current state. She would either get offended and mad, or it would hurt her feelings and she would cry. He was going to do whatever he could to avoid either of those things from happening.
“It’s nice,” He smiled as he took a big bite of spaghetti.
Again she looked confused but, seemingly not knowing how else to proceed, she ate her dinner. They talked a little about Mountain Ridge and the Grand Re-Opening the following weekend.
When dinner was over, they made their way to the couch. When they got there, Sam placed her hands firmly on Luke’s shoulders and pushed him down so he was seated on the couch.
She stood in front of him and before he knew what was happening she had unzipped her dress and was peeling the shoulder straps off one by one.
“Um...Sam?” he said, alarmed.
“Wanna play video games...” she said nonsensically.
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