Chapter Nineteen #2
Still, the air between them crackled with the tension of unspoken words.
While they ate, Alex’s eyes darted from her plate to Sam’s face and then down again.
A few times, her lips parted as if to say something, but then they pressed together, and no words came out.
Sam wondered what she was thinking but didn’t dare ask.
When Alex finally set down her fork and pushed away her half-finished plate, she fixed Sam with a gaze so weighted she could feel it without even looking up to meet it.
“I loved you.” Her voice was quiet, but her words held conviction.
Sam felt her heart stutter at the confession.
“I still love you,” Alex corrected. “That never stopped. Ever.” She reached across the table and brushed her fingertips across the back of Sam’s hand before quickly retracting them. “I just didn’t think you were mine to love…or that you ever would be again.”
Sam turned her hand over and laced their fingers together.
Her eyes didn’t leave Alex’s when she spoke.
“I think I’ve been yours since I was seventeen years old.
” She swallowed hard past the lump in her throat.
“I just spent too many years pretending that I wasn’t.
” Her voice cracked, and she cursed under her breath. “All that time we wasted.”
She shook her head and tried to withdraw her hand, but Alex wouldn’t let her.
She didn’t smile this time, not quite. She simply regarded Sam with quiet determination that held Sam in place more effectively than her grip.
“But we’re here now,” she reminded her. “And we have all the time in the world.”
Sam nodded, her throat tight with emotion and with all the things she wasn’t saying.
The weight of the lost years pressed against her chest, making it hard to breathe, yet somehow, she felt lighter than she had in a long time.
She looked up and caught Alex watching her with a soft smile—the one that had always made her knees weak—and felt a rush of warmth.
She returned the smile, her heart hammering so loudly she was certain Alex could hear it across the table.
They sat at the table for a long time afterward, enjoying the rest of their dinner and their glasses of wine.
Sometimes they talked, and sometimes they didn’t.
Nothing felt forced. The weight of the past seemed to melt away between them.
Sam felt the promotion as a persistent whispering thought in her brain that she refused to give voice to.
The moment was precious and she didn’t want to ruin it.
When dessert arrived, they shared a single plate with two spoons.
Alex swooped in to steal the final bite, grinning triumphantly.
Sam watched her savor it, thinking how some things never changed, and how she wouldn’t have it any other way.
When the waiter arrived to offer another glass of wine, Alex shook her head, covering her glass with her palm. Sam gestured for a refill. She was enjoying their time together and didn’t want the night to end.
“Stopping already?” she asked, watching the liquid pour into her glass.
Alex raised an eyebrow and looked at Sam. “I don’t want there to be any question about my motivations for whatever happens next,” she explained.
There was no mistaking the intent gleaming in her eyes. Sam felt the implication all the way down to her core. She inhaled and withdrew her hand from her wineglass. Feeling her face redden, she glanced wide-eyed at the waiter, but he seemed to read the room and retreated to grab their check.
Outside, Alex took her hand and tugged her toward the canal path along the river.
“Let’s walk off some of that food,” she suggested.
Sam was more interested in the what happens next Alex had alluded to, but now that the moment was close, her nerves were getting the better of her.
She swallowed her anxiety and let herself be led.
The street around them buzzed quietly, unaware of the thousand unspoken things that had passed between two people who had loved and lost and then found their way back to each other again.
The full moon filtered through the trees along the path, casting everything in a soft white glow.
The air smelled like autumn was just around the corner, but it was still warm enough for them to wander comfortably.
Sam and Alex walked along the path, their footsteps falling into sync as their fingers laced together.
The air between them was charged, but they didn’t need words.
Every glance they shared said everything, an unspoken language only the two of them knew.
Eventually, Alex stopped walking and turned to face Sam.
Her gaze was deep and steady. Sam felt her chest tighten and a warm sensation spread through her.
Suddenly, feeling even more nervous, she reached up to push her hair back behind her ear.
But Alex’s hand was already there. Her touch was gentle as she tucked the lock behind Sam’s ear.
She let it linger as it drifted down her cheek to cup her jaw.
Sam felt everything within her stiffen in anticipation.
Her eyes fluttered shut for a heartbeat, then opened wide, meeting Alex’s gaze with quiet intensity.
Alex’s breath brushed Sam’s ear as she whispered, “I think we’ve reached the moment in the date where we make a decision that we can’t return from.
” Sam felt Alex’s hand slide down her front, her fingers clutching the fabric of her shirt.
“I like this shirt,” she said. “But I think I’d like it better if it weren’t on you. ”
Sam steadied herself by wrapping her hands around Alex’s waist. She could feel the heat radiating from her body.
She slipped a hand under Alex’s sweater and stroked the soft skin at her waist. She leaned in, touching their foreheads together for a brief moment.
“What does the point of no return mean to you?” The words felt raw and vulnerable in her throat.
“It means…” Alex slid her hands up to wrap around Sam’s neck. Sam felt herself being pulled in slowly, as if by something deeper than gravity. Their breath mingled, warm and uncertain against her lips. Alex paused briefly, and Sam wondered if she was giving her a chance to change her mind.
Sam closed the distance between them. She watched as Alex tilted her head slightly, lips parted and ready for her to come closer.
Time slowed to a stop.
And then softly, sweetly, their lips met.
It wasn’t rushed. It was slow, steady, and filled with promise. The kiss deepened, not with any sense of urgency but with a growing certainty and an answer to the unspoken question that lingered between them. Sam knew then that this was where she belonged.
When they parted, just barely, the world seemed different. Alex slid her hand from Sam’s neck and rested it on her chest. “Once I start kissing you, I’m not going to be able to stop.”
“Who says I want you to?”
Alex smiled and bit her lip. She anchored her gaze somewhere over Sam’s shoulder, suddenly looking bashful.
“Well, the thing is,” she stammered, “I took the liberty of booking us a room.” She tilted her head toward the street side of the path, and that’s when Sam saw that they were stopped in front of the Copeland, a small boutique hotel.
Sam threw her head back and laughed. “Well, that’s presumptuous of you,” she teased.
Alex lightly tapped her on the shoulder. “I wasn’t being presumptuous,” she argued. “I was just trying to be realistic. Hicksville is an hour away. Why would I want to wait any longer to have you?”
This time, the kiss was urgent and hungry.
It wasn’t the sweet questioning meeting of before.
This kiss was an answer—the kind that comes after too much waiting and yearning.
Their mouths moved together in a rhythm they’d always known.
Sam pressed her body closer, trying to erase any space that had ever existed between them.
Alex’s fingers slid up into Sam’s hair, anchoring her in place.
Sam groaned at the first brush of Alex’s tongue along her lower lip, and she opened up to her, allowing her access.
The kiss was deep and searching. She couldn’t remember being kissed like this ever, by anyone, as if Sam were the water and she was dying of thirst. Sam knew then that something between them had shifted, maybe into something more profound than ever before.
She pulled away, breaking the kiss. “So, about that room you mentioned…”