Page 19 of Chosen

“Thanks.” Sam shrugged as he looked around the room. “It’s not really a choice for me, though. If a place feels a little too unfamiliar, it weirds me out. I mean, I wanted to get away from Atlanta, not away from myself.”

Sam crossed the room, not stopping until he was right in front of me. “And thanks, again, for making sure everything is okay with the cabin.”

“You really don’t have to thank me for that. It’s my job.” I grinned. “Literally.”

“Even so,” Sam grinned back, “it just makes me feel better hearing it come directly from you. You know what you’re talking about so when you say the cabin isn’t going to collapse in on us, I tend to believe you.”

I was about to say something in response when I heard the familiar crackling of wood. I turned to see the fireplace going, something I hadn’t noticed earlier, likely because the fire hadn’t been big enough to cause much of a reaction. Now, though, it was crackling away, the sight and sound impossibly cozy and familiar.

“You got the fire going, too?” I said, heading over to the fireplace. “I should go ahead and check—”

But soon, Sam’s hand was pressed against my chest. “Nope! I don’t need you double-checking my fireplace work. I might be a city boy, but I grew up with a fireplace at home. How about you focus on music duty instead?”

“Music duty?”

“Just pick whatever playlist looks good on my Spotify,” he replied, as he walked over to the fireplace. “My laptop’s already open on the table.”

I did as I was told, making my way over to Sam’s laptop as he bent down toward the fireplace. I cursed under my breath, annoyed with myself for turning down Parker’s attempts at trying to teach me how to use whatever latest app had just come out. I wasn’t much of a tech guy, but I didn’t want it to show, especially since Sam was probably an expert when it came to stuff like this.

I fumbled around on the desktop, looking for the app. Somehow, without my own doing, I opened what looked like a phone, or some kind of mirror of it. Confused, I tried to close whatever program I’d opened by mistake, but that ended up pulling up a photo album I’d never even clicked on.

“What the fuck?” I muttered to myself, seconds away from powering the laptop off and pretending I didn’t know how that could’ve possibly happened. A few frantic clicks later, and suddenly photos of Sam popped up on his screen—

Photos of a very naked, very tempting Sam.

Shit.

Shit. Shit. Shit—

“What are you doing?” Sam’s voice was low and suddenly right behind me.

“Nothing!” I said, panicked, as I turned around to face him. “I’m so sorry. I was trying to pull up the Spotify app and I have no idea what even happened—”

Sam stepped past me and closed his laptop with a small snap. “It’s not what you think.”

“I’m not thinking anything about those photos, Sam, I swear—”

“I don’t send them out to anyone. Ever,” he continued. “It’s just a stupid thing I do. I don’t know. It makes me feel more confident about myself. It’s like when people look in a mirror and hype themselves up—”

“You don’t have to explain anything to me, Sam.”

“Right. Sure.” Sam let out a small sigh. “I just didn’t want you to think I was the type of guy who was sending nudes all over Atlanta.”

“I wouldn’t care if you were.” My reply was tentative, like I was testing the waters. “Especially if those were the photos you were sending out.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It’s supposed to mean that you looked hot.” I offered him a playful smile. “Seriously. Sending out photos that look like that only makes sense. Why would you keep all of that hotness to yourself?”

“Stop fucking with me, Damon.” Sam lightly chuckled as he shook his head. “You don’t have to say stuff like that just to make me feel better.”

“I am absolutely not fucking with you,” I said, as I took a step closer to him, my gaze boring down into his own. “You need to learn how to take a compliment.”

“Duly noted.”

“I’m serious.” I brought a hand under his chin, forcing him to keep his eyes on mine. “You’re beautiful, Sam.”

“And I’m sure you believe that wholeheartedly—”

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