After about fifteen minutes, I reach my destination, a little island in the middle of the lake. I paddle as far in as I can before hopping out and dragging the canoe to shore.
I heft my bag over my shoulder, stopping only to slide on my sandals, before venturing into the brush until I find my spot.
It’s nothing special, just a pile of big rocks, but it’s my favorite place at the lake. And more importantly, it’s private.
I grab my towel and Kindle, settling in for a day of reading. But before I can finish the first chapter, a shadow falls over me.
“Are you freaking kidding me?” I shout as I set my Kindle down onto the flat rock beside me.
“I said we needed to talk.”
“Pretty sure we proved we aren’t capable of talking, so maybe we should just stay away from each other.”
“I can’t stay away from you.”
I tap my index finger against my chin. “Could have fooled me.”
“Stella,” he says my name, as calm as ever.
“Just go!” I shout, my voice echoing all around us. The leash on my emotions is slipping and he needs to leave before I lose it entirely.
“I brought you something.”
I follow his gaze as it lowers down to a small cooler resting on the ground at his feet. How he managed to sneak up on me—again—is beyond comprehension.
Closing my eyes, I slowly inhale, fighting against the urge to go off on him. It’s not like it would help; he’s as stubborn as a mule.
“Fine.”
He grins victoriously as he bends to grab something from inside the cooler.
“Is that... coffee?” I ask.
He nods. “I watched you leave without it.”
I blink. “You watched me?”
Another nod.
“Do you realize how creepy that sounds?”
Samson widens his stance and crosses his arms over his broad chest. “If you’re looking for an apology, you aren’t going to get one.”
“Clearly.” I take a sip of the still piping hot coffee, sighing when I realize he’s made it exactly the way I like it.
It’s on the tip of my tongue to mention it, but I swallow it down along with another sip. Who cares if he remembers that I like my coffee creamy and sweet? A little bit of cream and sugar doesn’t make up for him leaving.
“You said you came out here to talk, so talk.”
He reaches down and plucks the mug from between my fingers before lifting me clear into the air. “Samson!” I kick and holler, but he ignores me as he settles down onto my rock.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” I wriggle like a fish on a hook, trying to break his hold on me but he bands his arms tighter around my waist.
“Stop moving,” he growls, burying his face into the crook of my shoulder.
“Let me go!”
“Not happening. We both know this is the only way I can guarantee you won’t try to get away from me.”
“Or, you could just take a hint and leave me alone.”
“Why can’t you just see you’re mine?”
My eyes bug, because seriously, he didn’t just say that. “I’m not yours.”
“You will be.” He sounds so sure of himself that I almost just give in.
And then I remember all the nights I cried myself to sleep, soaking my pillow with my tears. “In your dreams.”
Samson shifts me ever so slightly, pressing a soft kiss to my neck. “Every night, Luna.”
Against my better judgment, I sigh and relax back into him. “Just say what you came to say.”
A beat of silence passes. “I missed you. I know you don’t believe me, but I really did...” he trails off, and then adds, “I thought I was doing the right thing.”
“You thought leaving me the night before we were going to tell my brother about us was the right thing?” I grab his wrists and tug out of his hold. “You’re either clueless or an idiot.”
“Maybe a little bit of both, but I want us to get back to where we were.”
“I don’t trust you,” I whisper, my eyes filling with tears as I crawl out of his lap and stand.
“Let me show you, Stella. Let me prove that I’m worthy of your trust. Of your heart. I swear it, just...”
“How?”
“Give me time,” he pleads, his eyes so full of hope.
“What if I said I wanted to go talk to Orion right now?”
Right before my very eyes, Samson’s entire body tenses. His jaw pulses and he balls his hands into tight fists.
I let out a dry laugh. “That’s what I thought.” I shove my Kindle into my bag, not caring about my towel trapped under him. I need to go. To get away from him. And I’ll gladly sacrifice some terrycloth to make my escape back to the lake house, where I can hide in my room, which has a door with a lock. “Good to see nothing’s changed.”
He looks up at me with sad eyes. “It feels like everything has...”
Chapter Ten
Samson
I wasn’t lying when I told Stella I felt like everything had changed. Gone was the sweet, carefree girl I fell in love with, and in her place is this wild, sexy, angry woman.
Somehow over the last nine months, my Stella grew the hell up and now I’m not sure I know how to handle her. But if she thinks I’m going to give up, that I’m going to walk away—again—she’s dead wrong.
It’s been a week since the disaster at the lake and I spent all seven days of it trying to figure out a reason to see her again. I thought about just stopping by, since I have an open invitation but after how well my last few attempts to talk to her went, I probably need a better plan.
“How’s work?” Orion asks, dragging me out of my thoughts as he cracks open a fresh beer and drops down into the chair beside me on my porch.
“Same as yours but bigger.” I smirk, knowing my reply will irritate him. The fucker is competitive as hell and too easy to rile up. Sometimes Stella and I used to take turns, seeing who could make him snap the quickest.
“We use the same tools, dipshit.”
“Right, sure. Mine are just bigger.”
“Jackass,” he mutters, wising up to my game. “You always do this.”
“And you always fall for it.”
He rolls his eyes and sinks deeper into the chair. “So how was your weekend?”
“What do you mean?” I know damn well what he means, but maybe if I play dumb, he’ll drop it.
“You literally spent one night at the lake and then dipped. I saw you for like five minutes and Stella was in a pissy mood and stayed up in her room pretty much the whole time.” He pins me with a glare and for a heart-stopping second, I think he’s on to me. “Y’all left me alone. With my parents. All weekend. Not cool.”
My pulse slowly returns to normal. “Sorry, man. I wasn’t feeling too good.”
“I thought you had to work.” He tilts his head to the side, narrowing his eyes.
I rub at the back of my neck. “Yeah, that’s what I meant. I felt bad I had to leave. To go to work.”
“Anyone ever tell you that you’re a shit liar?”