“We’ll go out to the waiting room until you’re done,” Sam said.
His mother frowned and flicked her good hand at him. “Waste of an evening sitting around here when there’s nothing you can do. Go on out to the farm and feed the dogs and check on the horses, then head home and get a good night’s sleep.” The lines on her forehead unfolded. “But not too much sleeping,” she added, a sparkle returning to her eye. “In the morning you get here bright and early to pick me up. Your father, bless him, will be driving those poor nurses pōrangi without me running interference.”
The four of them left after the orderly wheeled Ariana’s bed into the corridor. Sam’s head was in so much chaos that he ran on autopilot saying goodbye to Tui and Manu. While Vee drove them out of the hospital parking lot, he made call after call to whānau about his parents, and to staff to juggle responsibilities while Isaac and he took care of things away from Kauri Whare. He also called Eric, who said he and Gregory would stop in to see Ariana before visiting hours were over.
“Makes you realize what’s really important,” Eric said to him after the initial shock of the news wore off.
When they arrived at his parents’ farm, Sam was still up to his neck in phone calls. Vee went through a mime routine to get the house keys while he attempted to calm down one of his aunties, and left him sitting in the car. He watched as she moved around the property, the farm dogs loping behind her as she first checked on the horses then disappeared around the back of the house where the dogs’ biscuits were kept.
Ten minutes later she reappeared with two overnight bags—no doubt she’d filled them with his parents’ clean clothes and toiletries to make their hospital stay in Whangarei a little more comfortable. His stomach gave a girlish twirl at her thoughtfulness and a bigger somersault at what lay in store for them that evening.
Would she stay, like his ma asked? Did he want her to stay because his ma had asked? That one was easy to answer. No. He wanted her to stay, needed her to be his strength and his shelter, but not because she felt obligated into it by her friendship with the Ngata family.
He finished the last phone call as Vee pulled into his driveway. Her eyes skipped to him as he slid his phone into his T-shirt pocket, and she killed the engine then unbuckled her seat belt.
“Before you ask,” she said, “Ruby is staying with my parents and I’m staying with you.” She lifted her chin. “And not because your mother told me to, but because you need me to, whether or not you’ll admit it.”
He unclipped his seat belt. “I’ll admit it. I need you tonight.” And every night from here on out until the end of time. But he didn’t want to scare her off while she had the option of throwing him out of her car and driving away.
She dipped her chin in acknowledgement and got out of the car. He followed suit, and stopped beside her as she hesitated at the porch steps.
“You left your board on the beach,” she said. “We should go get it.”
“It’ll still be there in the morning.” Surfboards were the last thing on his mind.
“I could do with the walk.” Her mouth twisted. “Burn off some of the jitters lingering from today so I can settle. Besides”—she tipped her head toward the beach path—“it’s pretty out.”
Was she once again nervous about being alone in his house with him? He shrugged and they walked along the path, keeping a solid person-width distance between them. She paused by the edge of the sand and slid her flip-flops off, shooting him an almost shy smile as she wriggled her toes in the cool sand. He did the same and they left them where they fell, continuing along the beach.
He could see his board up ahead—luckily he’d set it down far enough up on the sand that the incoming tide hadn’t swept it away—and without overthinking it, he took Vee’s hand. His peripheral vision caught her start of surprise, but also the slow smile that spread across her lips.
Beside them the big surf had eased as the wind had changed direction, and now only small waves washed ashore. A sudden gust of salt-tinged breeze sent Vee’s hair swirling around her face. She brushed the strands aside, tilting her head to the rosy-lit sunset stretching above them. He stopped, toes digging into the damp sand, and stared at her.
So damn beautiful.
He wanted to carve her from ancient kauri, just so his fingers could trace her beauty over and over, should he ever have the misfortune of losing her. And now he realized that he couldn’t lose her. Not ever. Because the thought of not loving Vee for the rest of his life was more painful than the thought of a self-inflicted chainsaw amputation.
“I love you.”
He hadn’t known he’d spoken the words out loud until Vee’s head whiplashed toward him, her eyes huge.
“Sam,” she said.
In her voice was such confusion and doubt and more than that, a longing for it to be real, that he said it again, this time looking into her clear blue eyes as he said it.
“I love you, Vanessa Mae Sullivan.”
And he laughed. A deep, freeing laugh that bubbled up from his gut and left him wondering what the hell he’d been so scared of all this time.
He was deeply, unequivocally screwed up inside out and from head to toe in love with her. He’d probably always loved her, but now he’d finally pulled his head out of his ass, he knew he’d been falling hard and fast from the moment their lives had intersected again all those many months ago.
Vee shook her head, her mouth pinching into a small, hard twist. “No, you don’t. You’re just in shock and overwrought with emotions after the accident.”
Sam tugged on her hand, pulling her off balance so that with a squeak, she tumbled into his arms. He stopped her forward momentum by wrapping his arms around her in a bear hug. She burrowed her face into his chest and he couldn’t stop a smile from curving his mouth. “Babe,” he said into her hair, “if I were dumb enough to try and tell you what you did or didn’t feel, you’d knee me in the nuts, wouldn’t you?”
There was a beat of silence and then a soft snort of amusement. “Are you planning to knee me in my lady nuts, then?”
“No. But I’m seriously considering putting you over my knee until you admit you’re wrong.”
“Like to see you try, mate.” She wriggled until he loosened his grip and they could make eye contact. She unplastered her hands from where they were splayed on his back and slid them around to press against his chest. His heart pumped hard and fast, weakening his resolve not to take the easy way out and kiss her into surrender. He wanted her surrender—but he wanted something else first.
“You’re wrong about my feelings for you,” he said softly. “But I was wrong back in my workshop when I let you think sex was the only reason I missed you. So many fucked up shades of wrong.” He closed his eyes at the glint of hurt in Vee’s eyes. “I was sanding against the grain.”
“Huh?”
He opened his eyes to see Vee looking at him as if he’d invented a new language.
“Wood analogy,” he said with a small grin. “When you put sandpaper to wood, it doesn’t matter what direction you go with in the beginning—kind of like you and I having fun in bed. But when it comes to the last sanding stage, the polishing to make something beautiful and lasting, if you sand against the grain the wood fibers tear and leave scratches. I was going against the grain denying I’d fallen in love with you, and I hurt you.”
He tucked a flyaway strand of her hair behind her ear, and she captured his hand, pressing her cheek into his palm. “I hurt you, too,” she said, “in the only way I knew how. By allowing you to think that the lease was the only thing I cared about. It’s not true.”
“The unsigned agreement Isaac left on my desk as a subtle hint after you left that day pretty much confirmed that.” He brushed his thumb over her soft skin. “I want you to have the space, but I understand that it might be hard for you to see me every day if we’re not in agreement.”
Her forehead crumpled. “Agreement?”
“About us. About us being
together in every sense of the word, but only when you’re sure about me and when you’re ready.” His gut took a swooping dive as her fingers tightened on his and pulled his hand from her cheek.
“I can wait until you catch up,” he said hurriedly. “That’s what I meant the other day about the Wrights but screwed up the verbalizing of it. We’ve got time now to feel out the possibilities of us, to take things at our own pace. At whatever pace you’re comfortable with—just as long as we’re together.”
Chapter 19
Vee looked into Sam’s dark eyes and the last of her doubts soared from her shoulders and disappeared on the wings of the seagulls circling overhead. He loved her.
It wasn’t just his lips moving and saying what she wanted to hear. It was there in the way he was looking back at her, the way he held her, the way he’d made himself vulnerable when she knew for a fact Sam didn’t do vulnerable. But he was vulnerable with her now, putting it out there, not really knowing if Vee would find him worth the risk.
Oh, but he was.
She set his palm over her heart so he could feel the rapid thudding beneath her breastbone. Her mānawa, beating in connection with his. Sam, and only Sam, was her heart.
“The one thing I’m sure about is you,” she said. “Because we are in agreement. I love you, too.” She blew out a pent-up breath. “As you might’ve guessed, it’s hard for me to say that out loud.”
He smiled, and under his palm her heart did a happy dance. “You and me both. Looks like something we need to practice more often until it becomes a habit. So say it again.”
“I love you.”
“There, was that easier?” he teased.
“Nothing is ever easy with you.” She rolled her eyes and he laughed, the sexy sound of it causing her toes to curl. “Except, apparently, causing me and Ruby to fall in love with you.”
He slid his hand up from her chest to cup her jaw, his expression turning earnest. “Speaking of Ruby…”
A sliver of icy doubt wedged into Vee’s spine and she stiffened, drawn back into the moment when Patrick had turned his back on them and walked away. But this was Sam—her Sam—and even if it’d take her a little while to truly, bone-deep accept that he loved her, she knew he adored Ruby. So she melted into him and smiled.
“Yeah?”
“Remember how she forced me to play mummies and daddies with her?”
“By forced you mean she made you be the mummy and let her take the role of the daddy, which upset your manly idea of gender roles?”
He produced a fake frown and narrowed his eyes. “She made me wear a plastic tiara and speak in a falsetto.”
“You’re the hottest male mummy I’ve ever met. I’d do ya.” She let go of his hand, ran her fingers down his side, and slapped his butt.
“Good to know.” He grinned, then his expression turned serious. “I want to tell you that I’ll never stand between her and her father, but I’ll stand beside her and for her and love her while she grows up to be an exceptional woman like her mum.”
“You’re an exceptional man. And you’ll be an exceptional daddy, Daddy Sam.” Vee rose on her tiptoes and pressed her lips to his. Before the kiss could escalate into an unquenchable desire—and a public beach was no place for quenching that kind of desire—she pulled away and took off, running toward his surfboard.
Sam caught up and kept pace with her easily, overtaking her to stop in a spray of sand, whisk her off her feet, and spin her in giddy circles. Laughing, he finally set her back down and she collapsed against him, so much joy fizzing through her she felt as if she were ninety-nine percent bubbles.
“Exceptional, huh?” he said. “No wonder you fell so hard for me.”
Heat punched into Vee’s lower belly and she wrapped herself around him like clingy seaweed. “I fell for you when I was twelve years old, you big dummy.”
“You did? How come I never knew?”
Vee rolled her eyes. “Because you were chasing every other girl in Bounty Bay and you never noticed. And your sister accuses me of being unobservant.”
Sam touched his forehead to hers. “I chased those girls because I told myself you were out of bounds.”
“And the women that came afterward?”
His arms tightened around her. “I chased, caught, and released all of them, because none of them were you. Believe me, I’m not releasing you back into the wild. None of that if you love something let it go crap. I’m never letting you go.”
“Keep sweet-talking me like that and we’re not going to make it back to your bedroom before I jump your bones.”
“Hold that thought,” he said and picked up his surfboard, setting it under one arm and slipping the other around her shoulders.
Under the deepening sunset of rose and gold, they strolled back to Sam’s house. Once they reached his backyard, he dumped the surfboard and, before she could protest, swept her into his arms.
“Hey, Mister Lifeguard,” she said. “How about you save me with some mouth-to-mouth?”
Sam threw back his head and laughed, then carried her quickly around to the front porch, setting her down while he retrieved the spare key. Holding hands, they stepped inside, barely making any progress down the hallway since they could hardly keep their hands off each other.
They stumbled into his bedroom, kissing, touching, and breathing life and love into each other as they tumbled onto the bed. She rolled to sprawl on top of him, loving the feel of him wanting beneath her. He reached up and cradled her face in his hands, his eyes dark with passion. And love. What she’d always wanted to see reflected in his eyes was a mirror to her own.
“I’m the one who needed saving.” He brushed his thumb over her lower lip. “I was drowning before you came back into my life.”
She shivered at the pleasure he drew out of her with his words and with his touch.
“You saved me, too.” Lowering her mouth to his, she stopped a breath away, finally allowing the depth of her love for this man to flow through her like the inexplicable ocean tides. “And love saved us both.”
Epilogue
Four months later…
Vee stood in the chill-kissed morning air in a one-piece wetsuit surrounded by forty-something other candidates for the loony bin. She slanted a glance at Sam who stood beside her chatting to Isaac, Owen, and their author friend, Glen, also crazy enough to take part in the annual Bounty Bay Winter Swim.
Charity, she told herself as she clenched her jaw to stop her teeth chattering. We’re all doing this to raise money for charity.
They were in the front row of swimmers waiting on the sand for the event to begin. It wasn’t a race, as such, just a swim out to the marker buoy in water that was a lot colder than the pleasant summertime temperatures. Not quite iceberg-forming cold, since the Far North never got really cold in winter, but cool enough that even Sam—who usually protested that only old people wore wetsuits—had covered up with neoprene. A few other entrants also chickened out and wore wetsuits, with the remaining entrants braving it with swimsuits, though they had friends and family gathered on the beach with towels and thermoses full of hot beverages.
Sam and Vee had their own cheer squad set up behind them. Nat and her baby bump cleverly volunteered to stay dry and watch Ruby and Owen and Gracie’s kids—Gracie was somewhere back in the pack with her sister-in-law, Savannah. Beside Nat, Vee’s parents had come, Heather Sullivan fussing over Pete along with Ariana, making sure he was comfortably seated with a blanket in a deck chair. Also joining in the fun—and Vee used that term lightly—were Eric and Julia, with baby Moira who was growing like the cutest little weed rugged up in her pram between them.
Their American friends had fallen in love with Bounty Bay, as had Gregory Wright, and Eric and Gregory were currently in negotiations for establishing the first New Zealand Wright’s hotel there—with Eric overseeing the construction. Vee was hoping the couple who’d become part of their tight circle of friends in the past four months would decide to settle in B
ounty Bay long term.
Sam nudged her. “You ready for this?”
“Born ready. I’m going to kick your ass out there.” She grinned up at him. The only thing she had to fake with him now was how freaking freezing she was.
He’d teased her that morning as he’d dragged her out of their warm, snuggly bed at six that if she completed the swim without complaining, he’d agree to her and Ruby’s demand to buy one of Turbo’s twelve-week-old offspring to make their little family complete.
The starter gun went off, and with the sound of cheering in her ears, Vee ran side by side with Sam to the water’s edge. Everyone else must’ve needed a caffeine fix that early in the morning, as she and Sam splashed through the shallow waves much faster than the other competitors.
“It’s freezing,” she squealed as a larger wave washed past her, soaking her up to mid-thigh.
Sam grinned over at her. “Pardon?”
“I said it’s refreshing.” She gritted her teeth again and forced her probably-blue lips into a smile. “Next wave I’m going under.”
And she’d better wipe off the nonstop smile she’d had on her face since she and Ruby moved in with Sam two months ago before she did. Otherwise she really would need a lifesaver after sucking down a gallon of icy saltwater. Fueled by her natural competitiveness, Vee dived under the next wave and power-stroked toward the buoy. Fortunately, her heart didn’t stop as the water closed over her head, but it continued to pound with both effort and excitement.
So much had changed in the past four months. Bountiful had moved into Kauri Whare without financial help from Sam. Julia had enthusiastically provided contacts back in LA who were seriously interested in their range of mummy-daughter dresses, one of whom paid a healthy advance on a shipment that they’d shipped in early May for the American summer.
Even better than that windfall was that she and Sam had discovered the depth of their feelings for each other was a bottomless cavern. True to his word, Sam had let their relationship develop at a more natural pace, though it ended up with her suggesting to him that all the travel between his place and hers was silly, so they should just move in together.
Break Your Heart: A Small Town Romance (Bounty Bay Book 5) Page 24