Worth the Risk
Page 10
Then she remembered he had lied to her. Whatever excuses Doug or Bailey tried to make, it still had been a lie. Bailey had always been well-meaning, and Sarah forgave her sister-in-law for trying to fix her up. But Sam, well, Sarah didn’t know him well enough to understand his motives. All she knew was she had trusted him, and he had lied to her.
A threshold had been crossed, and Sarah wasn’t sure she could go back to a celibate lifestyle. Terrified at the thought of dating again, she knew not all men were liars but wasn’t sure she had enough energy to start over with someone else.
She barely had enough energy to climb off the sofa and crawl into bed Friday night.
Mandy wanted to go shopping Saturday, and Sarah just wanted to sleep. Her daughter finally guilted her into getting dressed and going out, where they ran into Sam in the driveway.
“Have an appointment?” he asked.
“Shopping,” Mandy answered when her mother didn’t speak.
“Good,” Sam replied. “We need to talk for a minute.”
Sarah spoke up. “This is not the time,” she glanced at Mandy, “or the place.”
Sam took a step closer to her. “I think it’s way past time, and what I have to say concerns Amanda as well as you. So if you could spare me a couple of minutes?”
Sarah looked at him. She didn’t think he’d ever called her daughter ‘Amanda’. Maybe she could give him one minute, or two. “Okay.”
“I was wrong, Sarah, about several things. Wrong to deceive you when I moved here, I understand that now. But it really was just a case of misleading, nothing sinister or plotting like you imagined. Bailey emailed me, we caught up, she said she needed a replacement and she happened to mention a beautiful sister-in-law. I took the job because I was at a crossroads in my life—bored with my current job, needing to shake things up a bit, you know. I never told Bailey I came here for you because I didn’t. I came here for me.” He took another step closer. “I was just lucky enough to find you when I got here.”
Sarah inhaled slowly. “Oh.”
“I told Bailey if things got serious between us that I wanted to tell you the truth. I guess I wasn’t prepared for how quickly things might get serious.”
“It did happen pretty fast,” she admitted. “I was wrong to let things proceed like they did.”
“No,” Sam said firmly. “That part wasn’t wrong. That part was the rightest thing I’ve ever experienced in my life, and I think you feel the same way.”
As they gazed into each other’s eyes, Sarah was vaguely aware Mandy watched them, but she didn’t care. Her future was on the line, and she needed to resolve this. “I thought it felt right too.”
“I know you did.” He nodded. “Where I was wrong—where we might have been wrong—was thinking we could live without each other. I’ve been without you for two weeks now, and I swear to god they’ve been the worst two weeks of my life.”
Tears streamed down Sarah’s face and she said the first thing that came to her mind. “You shouldn’t swear.”
“Oh, get over yourself.” He grabbed her shoulders and shook her lightly. “Is that all you’ve got to say to me? I tell you that I love you, I can’t live without you, and you’re—”
Sarah looked up into his eyes. “Is that what you just told me?”
He smiled sheepishly. “That’s what I was thinking, anyway. Damn it, I’m screwing this all up. You’ve been messing with my mind ever since I met you, Sarah Stevens.”
“I think it’s perfect,” Mandy sighed, clasping her hands over her heart.
He gave the girl a quick smile before he looked at Sarah again and said, “Okay, let me try this again. I love you, Sarah. I can’t imagine not loving you. I want to be part of your life, if you and Mandy will have me. Please forgive whatever stupid mistakes I’ve made and tell me you feel the same way.”
“I do,” she sighed as relief washed through her body. “Oh, Sam, I feel the same way. It’s been horrible without you. I could barely muddle through each day.”
He smiled and drew her close to him. “Say that again.”
“What?” She blinked. “I could barely muddle through?”
“Before that.” Sam grinned.
“Horrible without you?”
“Before that.”
Understanding dawned in Sarah’s eyes, and her smile widened to match his. “I do.”
Sam pulled her towards him. “Damn, that sounds good! I might need to hear you say that again with a few people as witnesses.” He leaned in to kiss her and placed something around her neck.
“What’s this?” Sarah pulled back and glanced down at the shiny necklace, a silver cross with a small diamond in the middle.
“I wanted to surprise you with this the night Bailey went into labour. Unfortunately we got distracted.”
“Oh, Sam! It’s lovely. Thank you.”
He smiled. “We’ll have to go shopping and find a ring to match.”
She beamed at him, tears welling in her eyes.
Mandy interrupted. “Um, excuse me? Do I have anything to say in this matter?”
They looked at her warily.
“Well, sure,” Sarah said hesitantly, silently praying for her daughter’s approval.
Mandy studied each of them carefully, and Sam released Sarah.
Finally the girl spoke up. “Mom, I could tell you’ve been unhappy since I got back, but I didn’t know why. You should have told me.”
Sarah nodded. “You’re right, I probably should have. It hurt an awful lot to talk about it though.”
“I can see that,” Mandy agreed. “But we have to talk now. I have to tell you something.”
“Shoot, kid,” Sam said uneasily.
Slowly, Mandy’s face erupted in a smile. She glanced at Sam and pointed to her mother. “See that look on her face? That look right there? If you can put that expression on my mother’s face every day, then I think we might want to keep you around.”
Sarah breathed a sigh of relief and could swear she heard Sam do the same.
He reached out and touched a lock of Mandy’s hair. “You just doubled your allowance, kid,” he said with a shaky voice.
Mandy grinned and hugged them both at the same time. “Thanks, Sam. I knew I could get used to you.”
The group hug ended and Sarah pulled her daughter into her arms. “Thank you, sweetheart. I love you.” She tried to stop her tears but it wasn’t possible.
“I love you too, Mom,” Mandy wiped her own tears from her cheeks. “I really want you to be happy.”
“I always have been, baby,” Sarah said softly. “I just didn’t realise I could be even happier.”
Sam dragged Sarah into his arms and kissed her temple.
“You know what I just thought?” Mandy asked, watching them. “I hope this doesn’t sound weird…”
“What, sweetie?” Sarah questioned.
Mandy wiped her eyes again. “I thought about how you said Bailey’s mom looked down from Heaven, happy about the baby being named after her? Well, if daddy’s looking down right now, I’ll bet he’s happy that you finally found someone.” The girl sniffled. “I’m sorry, I know that’s weird.”
Sam touched Mandy’s face again. “It’s not weird, it’s actually quite profound. We have really good karma around us today.”
Sarah chuckled through her tears. “I think so too. I’d like to think Ron would be happy for me.”
“I’m sure he would,” he whispered in her ear. “I’m happy for you.”
She grinned and pressed up against him.
“Hang on, hang on.” Mandy walked toward the house. “You guys need a few minutes alone. I’m going to call Aunt Bailey and Uncle Doug—they’ll go nuts! Then both of you are taking me shopping. Bring your credit card, Sam.”
“You got it, kid.” He spoke to Mandy but smiled at Sarah, and paused until they heard the kitchen door close. “So, you haven’t said it yet. I’m waiting.”
She snuggled her body as close to his as she cou
ld get. “I know, but there’s still so much I have to say. I’m sorry for the way I acted. I was horrible! I missed you so much—”
“That’s all behind us now. There’s only one thing you have to say that I’m interested in.” He stared deeply into her eyes.
Sarah shivered. His look was so intense, she had no doubt they were making the right decision. She wanted to gaze into those eyes every day for the rest of her life. “I love you, Sam. I can’t imagine not loving you.”
“That’s what I wanted to hear.” He pressed his lips lightly against hers and mumbled, “Shall we see if they still fit?”
“Oh yeah.” Sarah grinned, and they kissed. “Whew. Still a perfect fit. Hope everything else is, too.”
“Perfect.” Sam swept her into his arms and squeezed. “As for the rest, we’ll check that out tonight. I’m guessing it’ll be perfect, too.”
“Absolutely,” Sarah agreed. “I can’t wait.”
About the Author
Jenna Byrnes could use more cabinet space and more hours in a day. She’d fill the kitchen with gadgets her husband purchases off TV and let him cook for her to his heart’s content. She’d breeze through the days adding hours of sleep, and more time for writing the hot, erotic romance she loves to read.
Jenna thinks everyone deserves a happy ending, and loves to provide as many of those as possible to her gay, lesbian and hetero characters. Her favourite quote, from a pro-gay billboard, is “Be careful who you hate. It may be someone you love.”
Email: byrnes.jenna@yahoo.com
Jenna Byrnes loves to hear from readers. You can find her contact information, website and author biography at http://www.total-e-bound.com.
Also by Jenna Byrnes
Unexpected Love: Nothing to Lose
Convincing Cate
Second Time Around
Carnal Collision
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