Page 57 of Love Story

He nodded, his jaw tightening and his gaze locked on mine.“Do you?”he asked.

The question hung between us, and I couldn’t answer right away.My mind raced, trying to untangle the knot of emotions inside me.Boston was my past, my mess, my chaos.But it was also unfinished, a thread that still needed tying off.

Sam was quiet, his gaze steady but unreadable.He reached out and cupped my face, his thumb brushing my cheekbone.The touch was so tender it made my chest ache.“The thing is,” he said, “I can see forever with you.”

His words were like a punch to the gut—raw, honest, and terrifying.Because I felt it, too.I could see it in the quiet mornings, the laughter over pancakes, the way he looked at me as if I mattered.But that didn’t mean I deserved it.Not with the mess I was dragging behind me.

“Sam…” I started.

He pressed his forehead against mine, cutting me off.“You don’t have to have all the answers right now,” he said.“But don’t shut the door on what we could have.Don’t decide for both of us that this is over before it starts.”

My throat was tight, and I didn’t trust myself to speak, so I kissed him, pouring everything I couldn’t say into it.The uncertainty, the fear, the hope—I let him feel it all.

The water continued to cascade around us, but for a moment, time stood still.At that moment, I believed that maybe forever was something we could figure out together.

We explored each other, trading languid kisses and gentle caresses.The urgency from earlier had faded, replaced by a tender intimacy that made my heart ache in the best way.I’d never been with anyone like this, where just a touch was enough to make me sigh.

Eventually, the water started to cool, and we stepped out of the shower.Sam wrapped me in a soft, fluffy towel, gently rubbing my arms to fend off the chill.We dried ourselves off and returned to the bedroom, still bundled in our towels.

“I’m not working today or tomorrow.You could stay for tonight, maybe?”His eyes were warm and hopeful, but hope began to fade when I didn’t answer immediately.“It’s just an idea.You don’t have to.”

The offer hit me harder than it should have.

I wasn’t a man to play with someone’s heart, yet I was walking a dangerous line, falling for Sam a kiss at a time, and considering a future here in Caldwell Crossing.The man who’d broken his heart—Byron—had left Sam in pieces, stringing him along with promises that had never materialized, leaving him to pick up the shards of something that could’ve been.

Could I risk being that for him—someone he grew close to who went on to break his heart?Could I ask him to wait for me if things went south?If the case dragged on or if I had to testify or got tangled up in ways I couldn’t foresee?Hell, what if the prosecution decided that with the missing audit records, I wasn’t just a whistleblower but complicit in some way?Could I let Sam tether himself to someone who might end up on the wrong side of the law or at least a public spectacle?

Or end up behind bars?

Could I let myself fall in love?

No, I couldn’t.

And yet, selfishly, I want to stay in his arms, if only for tonight.

My head told me I had no right to hold on to him, not with the storm clouds of my past still circling.But my heart?My heart won out over my head every single time.

I managed a nod, keeping my tone light.“I want to stay.”

With you.

In Caldwell Crossing.

Was he asking for more?Commitment?I couldn’t promise him anything longer than tonight.Not when Boston still loomed like a shadow over everything.

Sam nodded, rummaging through his dresser.He handed me a soft T-shirt, a pair of jogging bottoms, and a thick sweatshirt.“These should work, but they’ll be a bit loose.”

I slipped them on, inhaling the faint scent of Sam’s laundry detergent while tracing the logo of Stonebridge Maple Farm—a maple leaf and a stone bridge, silver on dark red.When I looked up, Sam was watching me with a gentle expression.

“What?”I asked, suddenly self-conscious.

He shook his head, smiling.“Nothing.You look sexy in my clothes.”

I felt my cheeks heat up as we headed to the living room and curled up on the sofa again, watching an old James Bond film and chuckling over his not-so-witty one-liners.

I sent Harriet a message explaining I was now staying overnight, and she responded with a thumbs-up.I ignored Rachel’s newer messages, which included screenshots of the latest updates in the Nelson Review online war.In fact, while Sam made us coffee, I finished everything and closed my phone, powered it down, and tucked it under the pillow again.

Sam’s cabin felt like a world of its own, a bubble of warmth and quiet I didn’t want to disturb.Outside, everything could crumble for all I cared, but here?Here, it was safe.I’d told myself I wouldn’t check my phone today—no emails, no messages, no news—just one day of peace.Sam didn’t push.He didn’t ask.He just… was.And that was precisely what I needed.

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