Page 68 of Dr. Roz Harrington
Sam exhaled slowly, her voice quiet as she finally spoke.
“You hurt me, Roz.”
Roz nodded, her gaze steady. “I know.”
Sam’s voice broke slightly as she continued. “But I still love you. I don’t know how not to.”
Roz’s expression crumbled at the confession, her eyes glistening with tears she didn’t bother to hide. She took the final step forward, closing the distance between them, and reached for Sam’s face with trembling hands.
Sam didn’t pull away.
Roz’s fingers cupped Sam’s cheeks, her touch so gentle it made Sam’s breath hitch. For a moment, they just stood there, eyes locked, the tension humming between them like a live wire.
Then, slowly, Roz leaned in and pressed her lips to Sam’s.
The kiss was soft at first, hesitant, as though Roz was afraid Sam might disappear. But when Sam didn’t pull back, Roz deepened it, her hands holding Sam like she was something precious.
Sam’s arms came up to wrap around Roz’s waist, pulling her closer as the kiss grew deeper, more desperate. It was raw and tender, filled with everything they hadn’t said, the anger, the longing, the love.
When they finally broke apart, both of them were breathing hard, their foreheads pressed together as they clung to each other.
“I’m here,” Roz whispered, her voice thick with emotion. “I’m not going anywhere.”
Sam closed her eyes, her heart pounding as she held onto Roz like she might slip away.
For the first time in days, she let herself believe it.
Roz was here.
The night air felt still and heavy, wrapping around them like a cocoon as they stood just steps apart. Sam let out a shaky exhale, her arms finally falling to her sides as the tension bled out of her muscles. She felt as though she’d been holding her breath for weeks, holding onto the anger, the hurt, the confusion, and now, with Roz standing right in front of her, it all threatened to break free.
Her voice softened, low and unsteady as she spoke.
“You hurt me, Roz.” Sam’s gaze flickered up, meeting Roz’s eyes, dark, vulnerable, and entirely focused on her. “I spent days trying to figure out why I wasn’t enough for you. Why we weren’t enough.”
The words cracked in her throat, her voice trembling under the weight of them. “I hated you for letting your mother decide what we were worth. I hated you for leaving me with nothing but questions.”
Roz didn’t move. She stayed rooted to the spot, her hands balled into fists at her sides as though bracing herself against the force of Sam’s pain.
Sam’s breath hitched as she continued, her voice quieter now, almost a whisper. “But I couldn’t stop loving you. I don’t know how not to.”
The confession lingered in the air, raw and unfiltered. Sam didn’t try to hide the tears that threatened to spill, she was too tired, too hurt, too in love to keep pretending she wasn’t breaking.
Roz’s shoulders slumped, a faint shudder rolling through her body like she’d been struck. For the first time, Sam saw her not as the confident, untouchable surgeon she was to the rest ofthe world, but as the woman Roz truly was—flawed, scared, and trying.
Slowly, Roz stepped closer, her movements careful, deliberate, as though afraid Sam might vanish if she moved too quickly. The space between them disappeared, and Sam could feel the faint warmth of Roz’s body, the air charged with everything unsaid.
Roz’s hands trembled as she reached out, cupping Sam’s face gently between her palms. Her touch was light, almost hesitant, as though she wasn’t sure she had the right to hold her like this.
“You are enough, Sam,” Roz said softly, her voice shaking with emotion. “You always were. I swear to you, you’ve always been more than enough. It was me.”
Sam stared up at her, her heart pounding so loudly she could feel it in her fingertips.
Roz’s thumbs brushed over Sam’s cheeks, wiping away the moisture pooling under her eyes as she went on. “I didn’t know how to let myself have something good. I didn’t know how to stop listening to every damn voice in my head telling me I’d ruin it the way I ruin everything else.”
Her voice cracked, and Sam saw the tears shimmering in Roz’s dark eyes. “But I’m done being a coward. I don’t care what my mother or anyone else thinks. I care about you. I wantyou.”
The words hung there, trembling in the still air. Sam’s breath caught in her throat, her chest tightening as something inside her, something she’d been holding back for so long, finally gave way.
