Page 83 of Shattered

And as she walked by him she reached out to squeeze his hand. He hooked his finger around hers and as she stepped further away, she found both their arms stretched out toward the other. She stopped just as she moved out of reach and turned to look back at his devastatingly beautiful face just as his hand dropped from hers.

“Good luck out there tonight,” Callum said, his voice low and wanting with a devious yet jaw dropping smile on display.

*******

She was surprised when they spent the next few hours working alongside each other. He was somehow constantly at her side. She could tell he was trying not to make it so obvious but, in truth, he was miserably failing at that. Even Jess kept giving her a wide-eyed expression whenever he came near.

He’d started out helping all three waitresses in Sam’s section. He filled drinks, helped run the food, and even turned the tables over. But as the night went on, she realized he was spending more and more time near her. At her tables. With her guests.

And she couldn’t stop the smile that spread every time they passed each other and his hand not so slyly brushed against her hip, or arm, or back.

And she loved every second of it. She just loved being near him.

Chapter 35 - Sam

“What do you say we get out of here for the weekend?” Kristin asked as she leaned against Sam’s bedroom door. Sam had spent the first two days after that meeting in an obvious funk. Then, after their night at Topline together, she spent the next two days unable to wipe the smile off her face. She finally confessed to Kristin what exactly caused that smile and then promptly walked straight upstairs with the notion of needing to study so she didn’t have to answer the millions of questions she was sure Kristin was dying to ask her.

The only time in which that smile turned down was when she thought of Christian and how he had bailed on her when she’d needed him most. The lone apologetic text she had received later that night had been promptly deleted before it had even been fully read.

She wasn’t sure what could have caused him to leave so quickly, but she wasn’t yet ready to forgive him for it.

“And where do you suggest we go?”

“Charleston.” Kristin looked way too happy about this.

“Okay. I can tell by the devilish smile on your face that you have something planned. Where would we stay? And, what are we doing? Where would we get food? How are we–”

“We would stay at a nice big house on the water,” Kristin promptly cut her off.

Sam eyed her skeptically at the notion of ‘big house on the water.’

“For free,” Kristin quickly added with a massive smile and then the rest came out in a rush, “And we would get free food and free drinks, and there is a pool. Oh, and I could take you shopping on King Street. I have barely spent any money this month, so my mom will think something is wrong if I don’t drop some serious cash. You could finally see Rainbow Row and The Battery and The Charleston Market. Oh, Sam! I’m so excited for you! I know you’ve wanted to go for a while.”

Sam waited a moment to let Kristin catch her breath.

“Just us two? A girls weekend?”

Kristin scrunched up her nose and admitted, “Not really. But while the guys are away, we can go to the pool and then burn through my stupidly large inheritace.”

Sam sat up more fully at that and set down the novel she was reading. She wasn’t sure she wanted to know the answer to the question she was about to ask.

“Which guys?”

“Okay. So, hear me out.”

“Kristin…” Sam dragged out her name as a warning. “Are you suggesting we spend the weekend with Micah and Callum?”

“And Drew,” Kristin added as she placed her hands in a pleading gesture.

“I don’t know.” But she did know. She knew exactly what she wanted. She wanted to go to Charleston with Callum and spend all weekend teasing each other like they had at work. She had never wanted anything more in her life.

But she was scared to see him again. She needed to apologize. The last time they had really talked, the night when she’d been a complete ass and told him he ruined her, she had broken a piece of him and she was slowly drowning in embarrassment. She had to apologize for what she had insinuated. She couldn’t hide behind a busy schedule, a coffee bar and a plethora of Topline guests if they were on a beach. She would have to face the awful things she’d said. And that was terrifying.

“You haven’t even heard what the deal is,” Kristin said in an exasperated tone.

She gave Kristin a look, imploring her to continue.

“Okay.” Kristin sucked in a deep breath and Sam knew Kristin was about to spit everything out in rapid fire before Sam could turn her down. “So, there is this festival going on this weekend and Callum and Drew have a booth or something for the tattoo shops. Micah is going to help them set up and do some of the behind the scenes stuff while they are working with customers. Actually, he’s probably really going because it’s free, and it’s Charleston, and there’s alcohol, but that’s beside the point. So, he told me I could come, and I said I would only go if you went, too.”

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