Page 85 of Soulmates

I reached for Sam’s hand under the table. He squeezed my fingers lightly before extracting his hand from my grasp and settling it on my thigh over the denim I wore.

He leaned in, his lips brushing the shell of my ear as he whispered, “Pool after this?”

“With Shawn and Thomas?” I asked.

“Absolutely not. I don’t share, not even with my annoyingly valuable and very gay employees.”

“I should go home after this. I don’t want to come home in the middle of the night… again. I wake up my family when I do that.”

“Stay at my place.”

I now had a drawer of my clothes at Sam’s apartment, and extra toiletries had magically appeared in his bathroom too. There was no real reason I couldn’t go back with him. And I was going to be spending the next two weeks in my own bed alone. There was no need to start that a day earlier than necessary.

“Okay. Let me text my mom and let her know.”

Sam sat back and nodded, removing his hand from my thigh and lacing his fingers together on top of the table.

The night crawled by slowly. As nice as it was to see Shawn and get to hang out, the double date-type thing wasn’t really working for me. Shawn and Thomas were so cute together, making eyes at each other, casually touching, and smirking at inside jokes. Meanwhile, Sam was acting downright cold. I couldn’t pinpoint exactly what was different. He talked to me normally, but there was a sort of distance between us. He wasn’t looking at me like he wanted to devour me, wasn’t coming up with reasons to touch me, and he certainly wasn’t kissing me. He was treating me like Nacio would treat one of his dates—like he found me attractive and was committed to the date but not committed to me as a person. I felt like a pretty face instead of someone special.

I couldn’t wait until we could get out of this bar and go somewhere where I could havemySam back rather than the embodiment of every ruthless businessman, who was sitting beside me.

I was grateful when conversation finally turned to talk of going back to Youngblood. We were all going to end up back at the building since Shawn had been spending his nights at Thomas’s place ever since Thomas’s accident just over a week ago, and I was spending the night with Sam.

We packed up one last order of chips, Sam paid the bill, and we all scooted out of the booth.

Sam’s hand found my elbow, and he led me through the bar to the front door. I gave him a look meant to convey my annoyance at his choice of hand placement, but if he noticed, he was ignoring me.

Thomas and Shawn had taken a cab to get here, so Sam was driving us all back home. He opened the passenger door for me and closed it behind me without a word. As soon as he’d put the car in gear, his hand moved to my thigh, tracing small circles with his thumb that were both soothing and reassuring. His hand was warm, and it chased away the chill I’d felt from him in the bar.

His fingers inched closer to my center, and I grabbed him to halt his progress. I didn’t trust him not to take this way further than was appropriate with our friends in the back seat, and I didn’t trust myself to remember that fact if I didn’t stop this right now.

Sam chuckled and slid his hand back down, stopping just above my knee and leaving it there for the rest of the ride to Youngblood.

Jules was the bouncer at the club tonight. He was arguing with a small girl I didn’t know. She looked a couple of years younger than me with dandelion-colored hair that barely brushed her shoulders and giant rounded glasses. Her hands were on her hips over a plain black T-shirt dress.

“Oh good, you’re here,” Jules said the second he saw us enter the lobby. “Daphne wants into the club tonight.”

Daphne shot Sam a meaningful look.

Sam raised his brows at her. “You’re going to give up your leverage for one night in the club? I thought I taught you better than that.”

“Without you or Thomas or anyone else hovering. And not just one night either.”

“And then we’re even?” Sam asked.

“Yes.”

“You cause any trouble or prove incapable of dealing with any trouble that finds you without you causing it, and the deal is off.”

Daphne nodded, shot a smirk at Jules, and strutted into the club.

Thomas laughed, watching her slip into the crowd. “What the hell did she have on you?”

“None of your business,” Sam answered smoothly. “Anyone touches her…” His voice was dark as night and made me shiver even without him finishing the threat. Or maybe because he left it open-ended.

Sam placed a hand on my lower back and guided me inside the club. It was the first time I hadn’t been carded at Youngblood. He cut through the crowd with purpose, giving off the aura that he owned the place, which I guess he did. People moved out of our way like they instinctively knew he was someone they didn’t want to mess with.

He led me directly to the bar and made some hand signal at Gayle. She came over a second later with a glass of amber liquid for Sam and a mint-green frozen cocktail for me.

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