Page 93 of Please Don't Leave Me

I walk over to him and start playfully touching his back.

“Beautiful enough that you want to just stay here all night and fuck me?”

His back shakes from laughter. He turns around and puts his arms around me, pulling me close. “No. I worked hard planning this, and I’m not going to let you spoil it with your sex appeal.”

“You’re funny.” I go up on my tiptoes and press my lips to his for a soft, brief kiss.

“Alright, the cooler is packed. I’m ready to go, are you?”

I nod and examine his outfit to try and figure out what we’re doing. Sam is dressed in nice navy pants and a white button-down short-sleeved shirt. Nice, but casual. My best guess is a picnic.

We let Pepin out one more time, and then we get into his truck and leave. I look in the back seat to see if I can spot any other hints.

None. Not even a blanket for a picnic.

“You can’t handle not being in control, can you?”

“I’m just a curious woman, that’s all.”

He gives me a side-eye look. “Sure, whatever you say, Lou.”

I playfully punch his arm. Ouch. It hurts me more than it hurts him when I do that.

We drive for a while until we pull up to a restaurant. Sam parks the car, and we walk to the entrance. It’s an Italian restaurant I’ve never been to before. The inside is cozy, with only 15 tables max. It looks like a little Ma and Pa restaurant, which usually means the food is delicious.

Sam gives the hostess our name, and she seats us at a table for two in the back.

“Have you been here before?”

“No, my mom actually recommended it.”

“You were telling your mom about our date?”

“Of course. Her and Quinn were sending all sorts of suggestions in the family group chat.”

I know Sam talks to his mom on the phone several times a week, but I didn’t know they talked about me. I grab the drink menu and hold it up to hide my giddy smile.

The waiter comes over, and we order our drinks.

Sam reaches his hand across the table, and I place my hand in his. His thumb rubs back and forth over my knuckles as he reads his menu. Is it pathetic that such a simple gesture means so much to me? That I'm swooning over a man because he's holding my hand in public?

Jay never took me to nice places. At first, I thought it was because we were poor and in college. But once we graduated and got jobs, things didn't change.

I'm still learning what life with Sam could be like, and I'm curious if this is a regular occurrence for him. "Do you go out to eat at nice restaurants a lot?"

"Not really. I used to go to some nice dinners when my brothers and I were with Joel."

"I sometimes forget that you have an incredibly wealthy father."

"Isn't that why you're with me, for the inheritance?"

"Oh, shut up." I shake my head at him and roll my eyes.

The rest of the dinner was lovely. We chatted about places we have traveled and the places we want to go. Sam went on a lot of vacations with his family when he was younger, always to extremely expensive places. But fromwhat he told me, it sounds like it wasn't all that glamorous. It was a classic example of ‘money can't buy you happiness.’

I traveled a few times in college with friends, and those were some of the greatest adventures of my life. Backpacking across Spain and hiking in Patagonia were life-changing experiences for me.

After we finish our tiramisu, we walk back to his truck, and he starts to drive without saying anything about where we're going. A few minutes later, we pull up to an old-fashioned ice cream shop.

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