Through the tears that leaked down her cheeks and into the creases of her lips, Lil spoke. “Why now? Why tell me this now and not a few days ago? You’ve had four days to come to me and tell me all of this.”
“Lil.” Sam sighed. “It doesn’t matter what I say to you, it doesn’t justify that I didn’t call you. I wanted to,” he stated. “I picked up the phone so many times in the last few days to tell you everything but I wanted it be perfect. This moment?” he said, pointing to the ground. “I needed for this moment to be perfect.” Sam laughed, despite the serious mood around them.
“I tried for this to be perfect, but you?” He looked up at her with a lopsided grin. “You never did make anything easy for me.”
“What’s that mean?” she questioned, her tears subsiding for the moment.
“I had this whole big moment planned out,” Sam said, throwing his arms out to his sides. “Ellie and Kane helped.”
Recognition registered across her face. Her mouth parted to form a soft o that her hand covered.
“That’s why they wanted me to stay at Rusty’s,” she realized. “You were coming up there all along?”
Sam nodded. “Yeah,” he said laughing again. “I wanted to show up and profess my love to you in front of all our friends.”
“And a room full of drunk people?” she asked skeptically which only caused Sam’s laughter to increase.
He bowed his head and looked down at the black patent leather shoes that went with the tux he was wearing. “I realize now it wasn’t the greatest of ideas.” He closed his eyes and ran his fingers through his hair, clearly frustrated.
He felt her before he saw her. She had moved to him, close enough that he could reach out to her and pull her to him, touch her face. He opened his eyes and nearly stumbled at the softness, the tenderness in her eyes.
With so much on his mind, all of it on the tip of his tongue, with her standing this close to him, all of his words, his promises of love and forever faltered.
Instead he said, “I quit my job.” His words elicited a tiny smile from her. “Kane, Abe, and I. We all quit together. We’re going to start our own gaming business. With all of our experience as testers, and my knowledge on the business end, we’re pretty confident we can compete in the market.”
Lil silenced him by placing her index finger over his lips. Her smile widened as she took that final step forward, breathing the same air as him.
“You look really handsome,” she said, her hands trailing up the lapels of his jacket. “Didn’t want a good tux to go to waste?”
Sam threw caution to the wind when he picked her up off the ground and held her close to him. Her legs wrapped around his waist; her arms tightly wrapped around his neck.
“It was all part of my master plan. If telling you how much I can’t live without you and want to be in your life forever and ever didn’t work, I was banking the suit would.”
Lil threw her head back and laughed. In an instant, her smile faded and a frown started to form.
“What are we doing, Sam? We’ve been down this road before and look how it turned out. You had to lose your memory to find your way back to me.”
“But I’m here now,” he whispered against her lips. He was so close he could have touched them with his own. He wanted to. It was killing him to have her in his arms and not kiss all of her doubts and fears away.
He set her gently down on her feet and reached inside his breast pocket for the box he had put there when he retrieved his last things from his condo.
The other box, the one that he had kept with him for the last three years, the one he wasn’t going to wait too long to give her this time, burned a hole in his pants pocket. Right next to the rabbits foot she had given him. A reminder that he’d never forget his love for her.
She watched him, the lines between her eyes, crinkling as he clutched the box in his hands.
“Delilah Rose Harper,” he said, taking both of her hands in his. “I love you. I’ve loved you since that first day at school when you told me your name.” Lil laughed and Sam joined in with her. “Who would have thought we would have come as far as we did.”
Sam got down on one knee and Lil’s hands immediately flew to her mouth. He opened the long box that didn’t hold her ring, but the beginning of their new memories.
When she saw the papers that lay inside, he could tell she had to fight back the laughter.
“I’m not going on your honeymoon with you,” she said.
“I traded those in,” he told her. “Lil, go away with me. I want pictures of you and me and our travels, our memories, on our walls. I want to start over with you. I want to build a life with you and make you the happiest girl in the world.”
“Where are they to?”
“Anywhere,” Sam breathed. Her eyes flew to his, a hint of longing in them.
“Anywhere?” she asked, lifting the airline tickets out for a better look.
“As long as I’m with you.” He shook his head and looked down to regain his thoughts. When he looked back into Lil’s eyes, all he saw was the same love and devotion he felt for her.
“I’ve already been to hell and back. This time, I want to go to paradise. I want to do whatever it is you want. Because all I want is you, by my side, from this moment until forever.”
“Forever?” she wondered aloud, her bottom lip trembling as she said the one word.
Sam stood up and cupped her face in his hands. Slowly, he moved in, brushing his lips against hers. The fireworks went off as the clock struck midnight, as well as the bright flash of a camera. Sam didn’t question the timing of the camera that was behind them, because he knew the images of them unifying their love would forever be captured on film and in his mind. This moment, this precious wonderful moment would remain with him for all of his days. The love of a relationship rekindled that was brighter than any light in the sky.
Lil broke the kiss first. She cradled Sam's face in her hand, studying his face. “I thought you were going to ask me to marry you,” she said. There was a hint of sadness in her voice.
The only thing Sam could do was smile. “Oh, it’s coming. I’m not waiting this time,” he said. “I’m thinking it’ll happen on our trip. Maybe in the security line at the airport or,” he said, his voice dropping to a seductive whisper, “when I make love to you again. The possibilities are endless.” His grin turned wicked. “Either way, it’s going to happen this time. You and me? We’re in it for the long haul.”
“No more giving the other space. And no more hiding,” Lil said. “We have to be up front and honest with one another. Something's wrong? You tell me and vice-versa.”
Sam nodded. “Anything for you. I promise you, I'll do anything and everything for you. For us.”
“I love you, Sam,” she said against his lips.
“I love you too, Lil.”
“Oh, one more thing,” he said. She looked at him through her long thick lashes and tilted her head to the side. “I kind of don’t have a place to live.”
“That’s okay,” she said, wrapping her arms around his neck. “I’ve got a great couch you’re already familiar with.”
Had it not been for the teasing tone she used, or the flirtatious smile on her face, he would have thought she was serious. He had no plans to ever sleep on the couch again.
They were brought together all those years ago on the green grass of their college campus. Sam realized that everything they had been through – the laughter, the tears, the separation – was all leading up to this moment now held by their love under the explosion of fireworks signifying a new year, a new beginning. For it is said that a love of epic proportions would stand the test of time from here until all eternity. For if he was the day and she was the night, one cannot be without the other.
Just like Samson and Delilah.
219
SECOND RATE CHANCES
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
People have often told me that I live in a fantasy world. Little did the
y know, I was building an empire of stories in my head to one day share.
I'm a mother first, a wife second, and a writer third. I'm so thankful to have been given this chance to get my stories out of my head and onto paper.
When I'm not writing, I sell plumbing (no, I'm not kidding) and read romances that leave my heart a flutter. I know a ridiculous amount of pop culture information and can quote certain movies word for word. Music drives me to write and to also sing off key.
Connect with Holly on the following sites:
Twitter- @HollyGeauxLitly
Facebook- www.facebook.com/hollystephenswrites
Her blog- hollystephenswrites.wordpress.com
Stay tuned for upcoming novels from Holly Stephens.
Risqué Business- Coming late July, 2012
Sawyer Thomas lives the kind of life he’s always dreamed of. He owns his own auto body business that has expanded into three successful shops in his hometown of Houston. Sawyer isn’t strapped for cash; far from it. So when Thompson Oil & Gas starts calling him with top-dollar offers to buy the mineral rights of the land his late grandfather left him in Summit, Texas, Sawyer laughs in their face.
Layla Reynolds spends her days working in the male-dominated field of oil and gas acquisitions in Dallas. As the youngest project leader at Thompson Oil & Gas, Layla is given the biggest deal the company has ever seen. And she’s determined to show those men that a woman can succeed in a man's world. However, if they knew Layla spent her weekends slinging drinks with more sass than Tom Cruise in Cocktail, she’d only further their assumptions that a woman has no place in the oil field and is better suited as the eye candy or weekend flings they brag about every day of the week.
For some, relaxing at the end of the day might mean a long hot bath or an ice-cold beer. For Layla it means being the hottest bartender who puts on the best show for the college kids in Summit. And Layla has a rule: no mixing business with pleasure.
That is until Sawyer rides into town on his vintage Harley Davidson and his black leather jacket like he’s the king of the motorcycle circuit. There’s something about scruff and blue eyes that gets Layla’s motor running.
After one night together, Sawyer knows that there’s more to Summit than saving his grandfathers land, even if he's sworn not to let a great pair of legs cloud his vision.
But when true identities are revealed, can the spark of something wonderful offset the price on Sawyer’s land. And Layla will have to decide what’s more important; getting ahead in a man’s world, or getting the man she loves.
219
Second Rate Chances Page 21