Page 60 of When Love Is Unexpected

"What are you doing?" she asks.

"Go ahead," I say. "Wipe it off."

"I'm trying, but you won't let me."

When I don't say anything but just stare at her, she gets the message.

Her eyes are dark and captivating. I wonder if she's feeling what I'm feeling. The undeniable spark between us.

"Sam," she begins, "if you don't let me use my finger to wipe it off, there's only one other way I can clean your face.”

"Go ahead," I say.

She sits up straight on the counter so she can be taller and have better leverage.

"Let me go," she says.

I let her go immediately, thinking she'll push me away and tell me I'm crazy. When I try to take a step back, she reaches for me.

"Wait," she says, pulling me back towards her. When she puts her hand up, I think she's going to wipe the smudge off my face with her fingertip, but instead, she slides her hand around my neck and brings my head down to her level. I close my eyes and feel her lips touch my face, right at the corner of my mouth.

"There," she says. "All gone." She leans back and puts her palms on the counter behind her.

Her sweater is off her right shoulder, revealing that birthmark that teases me every time I see it. It says, "You can look, but you can't touch."

This time, I don't listen.

Chapter 13

Laila

"I have a love-hate relationship with this tiny birthmark on your shoulder," Sam says, touching it with his thumb.

"What do you mean?" I ask, straightening up on the counter to look directly into his eyes.

"I wanted to touch it but never did. I want to kiss it but never have."

"One down, one to go," I say, smiling.

I watch him as he leans his head down and softly kisses my shoulder.

I feel a jolt of electricity course through my body and settle in my chest. The doctor in me says it's nothing more than my brain signaling my adrenal gland to secrete adrenaline, which quickens my heart rate. The woman in me knows better. This man is reaching a part of my heart that no one has ever touched before.

"Laila," he says, "what we have is simple, easy, not complicated."

"I know," I say, "but I want more."

"I live five thousand miles away," he reminds me.

"Don't leave," I say.

"You're moving to Boston to begin a new life. It will demand everything from you. I don't want to be a distraction. There's a reason why you broke up with Eric. I don't want to be another casualty on your road to success."

"Wow," I say. "It sounds like you've put a lot of thought into this."

"It's all I think about," he says.

"This trip to San Diego," I begin, "I don't want it to be pretend."

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