“I should get going, though,” I said reluctantly. “I have some stuff to do.”
“Me too,” he said.
“Oh? What do you have to do?”
“Work,” he chuckled.
“Oh. Yeah.” I wrinkled my nose and quickly jumped out of the bed.
He stared at my naked body and whistled. “But I could be persuaded to work later if…”
“No, Sam,” I shook my head. “Not again this morning.”
“What?” He pouted and looked like a little boy. “But I wanted to give you something to hold you for the day.”
“I think you gave me enough to hold me for the next couple of months.”
“I hope not,” he said, shaking his head. “I was hoping that I’d get to see you again very soon.”
“Well, we do have my parents’ party coming up this weekend.”
“Yeah, we do. Though it’s not like we can do anything there.”
“We’ll see,” I said, smiling seductively at him.
“Shelby, we’re not going to mess around at your parents’ party. There’s no way I’m going to do that.”
“Did I say that we’re going to mess around at my parents’ party? All I said is we’ll see each other.”
“The look you gave me certainly implied something else,” he said, raising an eyebrow.
“Oh, yeah?” I said as I put my clothes on.
“Yeah. What it implied was that you’re thinking about getting frisky while your parents are at my place, and I’m telling you that’s not going to happen. So do not even think about it.”
“Don’t worry, Sam. That is the furthest thing from my mind.” I walked over to him, gave him a quick kiss on the lips, ruffled his hair, and smiled. “Anyway, I’m off now. I’ll see you later, okay?”
“Okay. You have a nice day. Stay safe, Shelby.”
“I will. Bye.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
I drove around aimlessly, looking for a coffee shop. The thoughts in my mind were driving me crazy. I had a real connection with Sam, and that surprised, even shocked me. I mean, I’d always thought he was attractive and I’d always thought he had a good sense of humor, but I hadn’t expected us to get on so well.
I was starting to feel a little bit sad that I was too young for him. This could never go anywhere, and I kind of wanted it to.
I wanted us to be official. I wanted him to be my boyfriend. I wanted to hear him tell me that he loved me and that he didn’t want anyone else to be with me.
I sighed as I blasted the radio and continued driving. Seeing Sam stick up for me with Brian had awakened something in me I hadn’t realized was missing. I wanted a man who cared about me and loved me and didn’t want to share me. I wanted a man who thought I was special, someone who needed love and care. I wanted a man that could see through my hard exterior and my witty, sarcastic comments
I wasn’t the bitch that everyone thought I was. I wasn’t as self-confident and full of myself as I tried to make it appear. I wanted what everyone wanted. I wanted to be loved for me. I wanted to be appreciated.
And I wanted Sam.
I wanted Sam to be that man, to be my forever, but I knew that there was no way in hell it was going to happen. We were having fun, and while it was the hottest sex I’d ever had, it couldn’t go further.
Sam knew it too. We had embarked on something, not really thinking about where it was going and not even caring, but already we were growing closer. Already, that spark was too undeniable to forget.
When I saw a sign for a Super Target, I pulled into the parking lot. I didn’t really need to be spending any money, but my therapy was shopping, and Target was a much better choice than Saks Fifth Avenue or Tiffany’s. My parents would absolutely kill me if I had a super large credit card bill.
I walked into Super Target, grabbed a cart, and wandered aimlessly down the aisles, looking for something that would preoccupy me. I didn’t want to be thinking about Sam 24/7. I didn’t want to get myself all upset and worked up because the truth of the matter was I wanted to see him again already. I wanted to touch him. I wanted to feel him. I wanted to text him, and it had only been an hour since I’d left him at his apartment. It had only been a few hours since he’d been inside me, since he’d made me feel like we were one.
I now understood what lovemaking really was. I’d fucked before and had sex, but I had never felt anything like what I felt with Sam. What we had was electric. What we had was something other women would pay a billion dollars for if they could.
I sighed as I got to the book section and decided to see if I could find something to read that would occupy my time. There were a bunch of romances that looked good, but reading a romance would only remind me of how badly I wanted Sam. Then I looked at the psychological thrillers. I loved a good thriller, but then they always scared me and I always needed to talk to someone, and then I’d think about Sam again because I’d want to be able to cuddle into him and have him wrap his arms around me and protect me.
I moved over to the fantasy books and saw a couple of books about vampires and werewolves. I was about to buy one when I realized that the book would only make me think of Sam and the way his teeth had nibbled all over my body, the way he tried to claim me as his, even though we both knew it was only for the night and not for an eternity. I sighed and headed towards the memoirs. I shook my head as I stared at the different covers. I knew that none of them would occupy my brain.
I headed towards the DVDs to see if there was a TV show that I could binge watch, something that would occupy my mind and make me think of something else, but there was nothing. I pulled out my phone and decided to call Ann to see how her night had gone. I hoped she wasn’t too upset that I’d left early.
“Hey,” she said, answering the phone within a couple of rings.
“Hey. How’s it going?”
“Not bad,” she said. “You’re the talk of the school.”
“I am?” I was confused. “Why?”
“Because your older boyfriend threatened to kill Brian and pulled out a gun on him.”
“What?” I burst out laughing right in the middle of the Target. “What are you talking about?”
“Brian told everyone that some older dude in his sixties came to the party last night with a gun and put it against his head and threatened to kill him if he even so much as looked at you again. And Brian had to let him know that you were the one that was coming on to him and not the other way around.”
“Oh my God, Ann. Are you serious?” I rolled my eyes as I listened to her story.
“What? I’m just telling you what Brian’s telling everyone.”
“You know I have no interest in Brian.”
“Well, you did go down on him that time.”
“Ann, just because I went down on him once doesn’t mean anything. You know I’m not interested in him.”
“I know,” she said, “but that’s not what Brian’s saying. And who’s this older guy that you’re dating? Are you really with a sixty-year-old?”
“Ann, do you really think someone as hot as me is going to be with a crinkly sixty-year-old?”