Page 119 of Trip Me Up

“Start over?” She wrinkled her nose. “Like, from the beginning? Like, hi, I’m Samantha Jones, but you can call me Sam, and I’m a computer programmer living and working with my brother?”

I rubbed a hand over the back of my neck. “Maybe not that far back.”

“Oh?” We were still holding hands, and she stroked her thumb across my knuckles. “What about as far back as when I said I liked you? We were friends then, I think. And I kissed you.”

I leaned over the center console, and she met my lips gently, tentatively. But just as I angled my head to deepen the kiss, she pulled back.

“If we’re only being truthful from now on, I have to tell you, all this starting over stuff?” She waved her right hand between us. “It’s kind of silly because I already love you. And even if we back up and get to know each other as friends first, I’ll still already love you.”

The cold place in my chest warmed. “I love you, too. I didn’t want to, not when I was so angry. But I do.” Maybe I didn’t want to go back at all. Maybe I only wanted to go forward, like Nieven always did. “I missed you. The tour wasn’t the same. Would you consider joining me for the next part?”

“Ah.” She grimaced. “Not only am I starting a new job, which I need to, you know, eat and stuff, but also, I’m not allowed to leave the state.”

A chuckle rose out of my belly. “I see.”

She rubbed circles on the back of my hand. “Just until Jackson’s lawyers do their magic. They’ve gotten him out of worse stuff.”

“Worse stuff?” What the hell had he done?

“There could be a big donation to the university involved. It helps when your brother’s fabulously wealthy.”

“I don’t want to talk about him now. I want to talk about us.”

“Sorry, I—you know.”

“I know. It’s one of the things I love about you, Sam.”

I was glad we were parked because I’d have put us in a ditch if she’d hit me with her wide-eyed gaze while I was driving.

“I can’t believe you still—” She bit her trembling lip.

“Sam. Sam.” I cradled her cheek in my palm. “I love every part of you. Because that’s what makes you…you. I love your big brain, especially when it gets away from you and you say more than you should.”

“And I love your big heart.” She put her hand over the center of my chest, and I clasped it. “Especially when it makes you want to take care of everyone you love.”

“I want to take care of you, Sam. I wish…” I stopped. Sam could take care of herself.

“I know you need to do this,” I said. “To use your brain and your skills to create a new life for yourself.”

“A life for us,” she said. “It’s the two of us now.”

Warmth filled my chest. Two hours ago, I’d never imagined I could be so happy. “We should go somewhere more comfortable than this rental car to talk through how this is going to work.”

Her smile turned wicked. “I think we know exactly how this works. We got pretty good at it on tour.” She slid her hand down and traced the waistband of my khakis.

My abs contracted, and my dick hardened. “Maybe we should, ah, dispel the sexual tension before we talk.”

“I think that’s a brilliant idea.” She leaned in and kissed the side of my neck. “Our minds will be clearer.”

I hoped so. Right then, my brain was too hazy to remember the way to the hotel. I had to rely on Sam’s map app to guide us there.

Technology wasn’t always a bad thing.

* * *

Hourslater in my hotel room, I jerked awake when Sam murmured, “Niall?” Her hair tickled my chin as she raised her head from my chest, which she’d been using as a pillow.

“Yeah?” The lamp was still on, and the light glinted off her dark hair when I brushed it out of her face. She wasn’t leaving, was she? Not now, not when we’d finally been honest with each other.

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