Page 14 of Finding Jess

Jess relaxed into the front of her body with a soft hum.

“You should’ve slept in longer,” Sam whispered against her warm skin.

Jess leaned forward, rinsing out her mouth.“Youshould’ve slept in longer,” she said, turning and sitting on the edge of the countertop beside the sink.

Sam rubbed the palm of her hand into her tired eyes. “Caleb texted about some urgent error that keeps popping up for the new client.”

Jess frowned, tilting her head. “According to Caleb, there’s an urgent error every other day.”

Sam chuckled. “Yeah. Maybe I’m not as great at this whole software engineering thing as I thought.”

She stepped in front of her, and Jess wrapped a leg around her waist, pulling her closer.Then she leaned forward, kissing her cheek.

“What I mean,” she mumbled into her skin, “is that Caleb considers just about every minor inconvenience to be urgent.”

Sam pulled back a fraction, a knowing smirk tugging on the corner of her lips. “He just knows how important it is to me,” she said, pulling her t-shirt up her body and over her head.

Sam caught the way Jess’ eyes flicked down to the thick scar running from the base of her neck to the edge of her sports bra.

“I just,” Sam started, her voice lowering into a soft whisper. “I just want it to be worth something, you know? I want it to be worth—everything.”

Jess stared at her for a long moment, as if searching for something in her eyes.

Then she pulled Sam close again, trailing a light finger up the scar and stopping when her hand rested around the back of her neck.

“Youare worth everything.”

Chapter three

Caleb blew out a breath, leaning his back against the wall of Sam’s office.

“That’s a lot,” he muttered.

“Mhm,” Sam hummed, eyes raking over the copious notes she’d taken during her time with Liz.

They’d just finished going over all the extra changes they’d need to make in order for things to run smoothly. Caleb seemed more stressed than before. But Sam actually felt better. Now that it was organized, and she’d gone through it aloud, it all began piecing itself together. Everything began forming in her mind, flashing through in different images and lines of code, the way it always did when she started a new project.

And that was the part she loved. The part that made her feel calm. Made her feel in control.

A light knock on the door frame pulled her attention, and she looked up to see one of the developers.

“Hey Sam,” she said, “someone’s here for you.”

But before she could ask who, Jess stepped around her.

She blinked, staring at her for a moment.

“I was wondering when you were going to show up,” Caleb said, chuckling as he pushed off the wall toward her.

Jess jumped slightly, as if she hadn’t noticed anyone else in the room. Then a wide grin broke across her face.

He crossed the few feet between them and leaned forward, pulling her into a tight hug.

“It’s good to see you,” she said, smiling over his shoulder. “How’ve you been?”

He pulled back and threw a nod over his shoulder where Sam still sat, watching.

“Same stuff. Helping our girl take over the world one step at a time.”

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