Chapter Twenty-one

Chapter Twenty-one

Sam

“It’s beautiful out,” Chloe says quietly, and I pause before looking up at the star-studded sky. I’m standing just inches from her, having come around the car to open the door for her to get inside. It’s cooled down a lot from the heat of the day this afternoon, but not so much that it’s uncomfortable to be outside. I love nights like this when I can be out in sweatpants and a hoodie, covered up enough to keep from getting eaten alive by mosquitos without breaking out in a sweat.

A soft breeze rustles Chloe’s hair, and I reach out, not even thinking, and tuck her hair behind her ear. I get zapped with an electric shock when my fingers grace over her flesh, and Chloe jumps slightly.

“Maybe you’re a merman.” She reaches up and puts her hand over mine.

“What?” I ask with a chuckle.

“It’s something from a made-for-TV movie I used to watch when I was a kid. He shocked people when he touched them.”

“I think I remember that one.” I flip her hand over and lace our fingers together. Stepping in close, my heart is in my throat. I could tell her now, put it all out on the line, and see what happens from here. There’s a chance it could all crash and burn around me, but there’s a chance it won’t.

And I need to take it.

“Should we get going?” She pulls her hand out of mine. Is that an unspoken answer to my question?

“Yeah. It’s, uh, getting late.” I bring my hand back and run it through my hair, needing to calm my heart and my dick down. Chloe holds my gaze for a second and then turns, opening the door and getting in the car.

“Fuck,” I mumble to myself as I go around the car. No one has ever made me unnerved like Chloe does. When it comes to women, I’m always calm, collected, and never strike out.

But I’ve never cared like this before. Chloe has always been everything to me, even if I didn’t see it. Losing Chloe once hurt bad enough. Losing her again, knowing that she never wants to be anything more than what we are now…it will fucking destroy me.

“Do you mind if I roll my window down?” she asks as we pull out of the driveway.

“Not at all. We can open the sunroof too.”

“I’d like that.” She turns, smiling, and reaches up to push the button to open the sunroof at the same time I do. Her fingers slide over my wrist and—dammit—just that little bit of feeling her skin against mine sends a jolt through me. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay.” I press the button and the glass slides back. “I don’t get to use this all that often.”

“In California, you would.” She gathers her hair in her hand and moves it behind her back, keeping it from blowing in the wind.

“For sure. You don’t get much rain there, do you?”

“No, we go through drought seasons, and it seems like every year gets worse. The wildfires came really close to my house two years ago. It was terrifying.”

“I can’t even imagine.”

“I was more worried about Spartan. I camped out at the barn for four nights, too scared to leave him and the other horses. We kept a really close eye on everything, of course, and had emergency plans to load up the horses and drive to another barn miles away. Thankfully, it didn’t come to it.”

“I think I’d rather take the snow and cold over fires.”

“It’s a trade-off, but it’s not like fires happen regularly, like snow here in the winter.”

“True, but snow doesn’t burn your house down or risk killing you from smoke inhalation.”

She gives me a pointed stare. “Thanks. As if the thought of another fire didn’t scare me enough already. Want to remind me about earthquakes too?”

“I was going to save that one until right before you fall asleep. That way you can lie in bed wide awake worrying about being buried alive in rubble.”

“You’re late to the party. I’ve already had that nightmare over a dozen times.”

“Then I’ll remind you how you’re more likely to be robbed after a natural disaster.”

“I need to find my own island to live on—and don’t even talk to me about tidal waves,” she says, and I laugh. I turn off the rural road my parents live on and get on the main road that runs through downtown Silver Ridge. We have to go around the lake to get to Chloe’s dad’s house, which adds a bit of time to our drive.

The actual town of Silver Ridge looks big on a map because of the lake, but population-wise, it’s a small town. I felt claustrophobic here in my youth, which is almost humorous now considering I live on the sixth floor of my apartment building in downtown Chicago.

Chloe sticks her hand out the window, feeling the air as we speed down the road. She lets go of her hair, letting it wildly fly around her face for a few minutes with a smile on her face the whole time. When I slow to go through the few blocks of Silver Ridge’s downtown, she closes her window halfway and combs her hair with her fingers.

“Are you cold?” I ask, seeing the goosebumps on her arm.

“I get chilled easily.”

“It’s like eighty degrees out.”

“It’s seventy-six,” she corrects, pointing to the temperature displayed on screen. “You’re off by a whole four degrees. And I thought you were supposed to be good at math since you’re calculating how much medication to give someone.”

I laugh. “You mean you don’t want a rough estimate next time you’re put under?”

“Next time?” She shakes her head. “I’ve never had surgery.”

“You’re lucky then.”

“I’ve been tempted to get cosmetic procedures done, but I’m more scared of being put to sleep than anything else,” she admits.

“I don’t think you need to change a damn thing about yourself, Chloe, but if it makes you happy then, well, go for it, I guess,” I tell her. “And that’s actually pretty common. A lot of patients are more nervous about going under anesthesia than whatever surgical procedure they’re having done. Their concerns are valid, but as long as you’re going to an accredited hospital, you’ll be fine.”

“I’ll ask you for recommendations when I’m old and needing a lift.” She brings her hands to her chest, giving her breasts a squeeze. I grip the steering wheel tight, fighting to keep my focus on the road.

“I can do that.”

Chloe closes her window the rest of the way, and I turn the music on. We’re nearing her dad’s house now, and I need to mentally prep myself to man the fuck up and tell Chloe how I feel.

Or show her.

I’ve always been better at show than tell.

“Do you still want to sit by the lake?” she asks almost timidly when I park in the driveway.

“If you want me to.” I lock the car and shove my phone and key fob in my pocket.

“I do. Come in with me first. I need to get a sweater.”

“But it’s seventy-six degrees,” I tease.

“Seventy-five now.” She gets the house keys from her purse. “It’s sweater weather for me now. Also, the mosquitos are pretty bad out there at night. I should get us a blanket instead. Something lightweight but that will keep the bugs away.”

“That’s a good idea.”

She takes her shoes off, uses the bathroom, and then motions for me to follow her outside, grabbing a blanket from the living room on the way. We leave through the screened-in porch and walk down a little cobblestone path that leads to the wooden dock.

“Does your dad do much fishing?” I ask, seeing the boat tied up. A jet ski is on the other side, neatly covered to keep safe from the weather.

“I think he and Wendy mostly drift around the lake with Balloon, their dog.”

“Balloon?”

“He came with the name and my dad couldn’t bear to change it.” She sits on the dock, slowly dangling her feet over the edge.

“Are you still scared of dark water?” I ask, taking my own shoes and socks off.

“I might still have a slight—”

I give her a gentle nudge, pretending to push her into the water. She yelps and grabs onto me, holding on for dear life. I laugh and wrap my arm around her waist, pulling her close.

“Not funny, Samuel!”

“No one calls me that, you know.”

“I do when I’m mad.” A smile plays on her face, blowing her cover for acting pissed. She laughs and rests one hand over my chest. My heart is thumping away in there, and she has to feel it.

“I guess I should make it up to you then.”

Moonlight pours down on us, reflecting off the glossy surface of the lake. “Y-yeah.” Her breath leaves in a huff, and she straightens up, taking the blanket and draping it around both our shoulders.

“It’s really peaceful out here, isn’t it?” She apprehensively dips a toe in the water. Her hand is next to mine on the dock, and I intertwine our fingers.

“It is. I haven’t seen Silver Lake at night in years. Almost makes me wonder why I left.”

“Did you think you’d end up back here?” Chloe plunges her other foot into the water, and I move so my feet dangle over the dock as well. The water is warm but feels good.

“Willingly?” I ask.

“Yes.”

“For a while, yes. And then I realized my options would be limited. There’s one small hospital here and no trauma center.”

“Do you like working in trauma?” she asks.

“Most of the time. You were right to call working in trauma traumatizing. It can wear on me some days. But it’s exciting, and every day pushes me to be the best doctor I can be. Every patient that comes in is in a life-or-death situation.”

“You could work at a plastic surgery center instead.”

“A buddy from med school does that now. He’s in Miami and loves it. No holidays or weekends. Pretty much everything is pre-scheduled, and you don’t have too many late nights.”

“Did you always want to be an anesthesiologist?”

“Actually, no. I was interested in oncology.” I pause, but don’t have to go on for her to know what made me want to go that direction. I was with her, comforting her, holding her hand, and giving her a shoulder to cry on as her mom lost her battle with cancer. “I was matched with anesthesiology, and there was an opening for my residency at the hospital I wanted, so I took it.”

“That’s interesting.”

“I love it now, and if you ever need someone put in a coma, I’m your guy.” I let go of her hand, and she stiffens slightly. I tip my face up to the starry sky and put my arm around Chloe, pulling her close. Her whole body relaxes once she’s in my embrace. “What about you? Did you think you’d end up back here?”

“I did. It was home. It still feels like home…well, kind of. I was eager to get out, though I never thought I’d end up in California.”

“Where did you think you’d end up?”

“Chicago. It’s a big city but not that far away. For some reason, I was all about experiencing city life.”

I chuckle. “I get that. It was exciting to finally go to a big city in college. I thought it would be night after night going out and living it up, but med school sucks the social life right out of you. Residency is even worse.”

“Who needs a social life when you’re hooking up in the janitor’s closet with your extremely good-looking fellow doctors?”

“Do not get me started on that.” I turn my head down, looking into her eyes. “You know it’s not…” I trail off, forgetting what I was going to say. Chloe is so fucking beautiful, and sitting here with her feels so right, so natural.

My heart jumps, and I don’t think. Just act. I bring both hands up, cupping her face.

And then I kiss her.

The entire world fades around us, and the only thing that exists, the only thing that matters, is Chloe. It should have been this way all along. I push my hands up, moving her hair back. Chloe leans in, kissing me back just as passionately. The blanket falls from my shoulders as I move closer to Chloe, needing to feel more of her.

Eyes closed, I rest my forehead against hers.

“I’m such an idiot,” I breathe, hands still in her hair.

She jerks back with a slight gasp. “Because you kissed me?”

“Because I didn’t kiss you sooner.” Her eyes get glossy, and we fall together again. I lean back, bringing Chloe with me. Her body presses against mine. Warm. Soft.

Perfect.

Her thick hair falls like a curtain around us. I cup her face, kissing her harder. My tongue slips past her lips, and I bring one hand down, resting it on the small of her back. She hooks a leg over me and moves on top. Her dress has ridden up around her waist, with her hot core hovering right over my hardening cock. She widens her legs and sinks down on me, rocking her hips to purposely feel me against her. It’s hot as fucking hell and we’re still fully dressed. I gather up her dress and find the tie in the back.

“Sam, stop,” she says suddenly as I pull the bow undone.

“Okay.” I take my hands off of her right away. “What’s wrong?”

“I…I…” She’s still on me, hands planted on my chest. Her brows push together and her bottom lip trembles. Did I say something wrong? Upset her?

Push her past where she wants to be pushed?

Fuck, I never meant to upset her, and hurting her is the last thing I ever want to do.

“I’m sorry,” she says, and scrambles off me. Her feet get tangled in the blanket and she almost falls. I shoot up and catch her before she drops into the water. “Thank you, again.”

“Of course, Chloe. I told you, I’ll always catch you.”

She looks away, eyes brimming with tears.

“Chloe, what’s wrong?” My own heart is in my throat, bracing myself for the worst.

“I…I can’t do this.”

And the worst is exactly what I get.