Stay for Me by Carlene Love Flores Read Free Book Online Page B

beautiful, cropped head fell into
his hands and when he looked back up, she could see
just how serious he was taking this.
    She found her courage in the unsaid bond
that showed through just then in those grey-green eyes of his. “Could we be
lovers?” she asked, putting all the cards on the table. “That’s what you need
to know.”
    Her limbs felt like dead weight but her
heart beat like a race horse. At least talking about them kept her mind off of
hurtful Luka and what he’d done in here. In that chair.
    Finally, Sam answered, although he
seemed only to be able to get a few words out at best. His massive chest rose
and fell, showing all its strength, all his heart. Steadily, he breathed deep
and long. It caused her to do the same. “Not me. We, ” he said.
    He meant it. Every tiny word he’d just
let out was huge. He was right.
    “We,” she amended. Her stomach flipped
in anticipation of what that one word answer would mean.
    Could it be that they’d just given up on
it way too quick the first time around?
    She remembered the burning, tearing
sensation as he’d tried, softly as he could, to push inside her. Emma nearly
bit the side of her tongue as her mind brought back her scream and the way he’d
gone stone cold and statue-like, hovering above her. Her welcome home gift had
shattered.
    Just then she heard a couple of soft
raps at the door before it opened.
    Gabe.
    “Hey, Gabe,” she said hearing the
distraction in her voice.
    “Hey, little mama,” he said quietly then
looked to Sam. “Hey, man.”
    “Oh, the
laundry. Or your briefs. It was something, right? I’m supposed
to be helping you with something. Sorry,” she said in his direction, wishing
Sam wasn’t in here completely naked.
    “Actually, I’ve got the laundry. And I
can sew my own booty pants. Just wanted to let you know Donovan made an
invitation during his last number. So, um, you’ll want to be finishing up in
here. I’d say fifty minutes, tops.”
    Sam just looked on. Emma hid her
surprise, wondering what Marie thought of Donovan making invitations. They
paused, kind of awkwardly, as soon as she realized Gabe had to have some idea
of what was happening, especially since good Lord, Sam still hadn’t put his
clothes on.
    Thank God, Sam spoke up. “We’ll be done
by then.”
    Well, what could she do now? Tuck her
tail and run at the insinuation those words had probably given Gabe?
    What would Gabe think of Sam if she
bailed?
    Her best friend wasn’t some cold, scary
jerk like Luka. She knew that’s what it would look like if she didn’t put on a
calm face and answer up.
    “Thank you for the heads-up,” she tried
to say in her most even voice.
    His glance dipped down to his feet. Yep,
she’d made sweet, quiet Gabe uncomfortable. Emma patted down the wet parts of
her blouse, feeling how her skin had become itchy under the softener where it
soaked through. She ignored it.
    “And thank you for the laundry help.”
She leaned in and patted his hand. “We won’t be long. I’ll come find you
afterward in case you need help with that stitching.”
    He pulled in on his lips from the inside
and held them together.
    Emma didn’t have time to figure out what
that may or may not mean. She left Gabe there in the doorway and walked the few
steps across the room, silently repeating Sam’s name the whole way over. She
scooped up her safety net, Sam’s set of dress whites,
the ones he wore for the “Hero” routine. If they were doing this, if they were
proving something to each other and calling re-do’s on
disastrous nights from their pasts, he was doing it in this. The man was going
to know he was her hero, fully clothed.
    Darn. The small pile was missing two
things, his officer’s hat and white gloves. She could watch him take those off,
finger by finger, over and over again.
    A cold chill swept over her at the overall
emptiness of S room. She prayed this
uniform, and Sam dressed in it, was enough to fill it up.
    “Back in a