Page 88 of Out to Get Her
“You couldn’t get rid of me tonight if you tried.”
“Sorry, I kind of did try.” Erin took a big, shame-filled breath and exhaled. “Sorry I jumped to conclusions like that.”
“It’s okay. You didn’t have all the information. You had to piece things together with what you had.”
“But I should have trusted you.”
“Erin, we haven’t known each other that long. And you’ve had enough reasons in your life not to trust people. I get it.”
“You came back, though,” Erin said. “And you trusted me to handle Zach.”
“I did.” That had been the hardest part. Trusting someone else to handle the situation and not trying to rush in and take care of it herself. “You did a pretty good job of handling things, by the way.”
“Thank you. You did pretty well yourself, sergeant.”
Samantha grinned and pulled Erin close again to kiss her. There was a house full of people, but she didn’t care who saw them. Didn’t care who sawher. The real her.
Erin pulled away from the kiss but held her close. “Power will still be out until the morning, right?”
“Right. Crews won’t go out for repairs until first light.”
“Up for making that puzzle in the dark?”
“I’m not sitting at that table,” Samantha said with a chuckle. “Not tonight, at least.”
“Fair enough,” Erin said. “I’m not playing cards anywhere.”
“Also fair.” Samantha tightened her grip on Erin and smiled. “I’m sure we’ll find something to pass the time.”
ChapterTwenty-Nine
“Nope.”Erin took Samantha’s face in her palms and turned her away from what had caught her attention. She stared into Samantha’s warm brown eyes and wished she could also wrap her arms around her body. But Erin only had two hands, and they already had an assignment. “You told me not to let you look at that thing until it was time.”
Samantha’s lips stretched into a big, goofy grin. A week ago, Erin wouldn’t have thought it was possible for anything to look goofy on Samantha. But as they’d spent more time together and as Samantha had relaxed more around Erin, small quirky expressions began to make appearances. It only made Erin fall even harder for the woman in front of her.
“No, you’re right,” Samantha said. “Donotlet me watch the election coverage until the results are in.”
“Want me to turn that thing off?” Addie waved her dish towel at the TV behind Samantha’s head.
Above the scrolling chyron displaying poll closure times, Nathan Ardoin was being led out of his home in handcuffs. They’d seen it already. Samantha had watched it on repeat with a satisfied smile on her face.
“No, we’re fine,” Erin said. “But thanks.”
“Good, because I wasn’t planning on it. Just being polite.”
Erin laughed and shook her head as Addie winked and disappeared into the kitchen.
Samantha’s mom had already begun planning an election night event in the nearest hotel meeting room. But Samantha told her to cancel it. She would be celebrating somewhere else.
Addie’s Lunch Shack was the perfect place to spend election night.
Melanie hurried in and leaned against the counter as she caught her breath beside her sister. When Samantha had introduced them at a press conference a few days ago, Melanie had immediately wrapped Erin in a hug and thanked her for bringing a smile back to her sister’s face.
“Did I miss it?”
“Nope,” Erin said. “Still waiting.”
“Not so patiently,” Samantha added. “If I could get this whole night over with, that would be great.”
