“Um, Sam?” Bo rubbed his bicep.
Those light brown eyes turned to Bo and he was momentarily dismayed to see tears in them. But they weren’t sad tears or angry tears or I-can’t-believe-this-is-happening tears. No, if Bo had to guess, he’d say those were tears of relief.
“They dropped the case.”
Tears of relief. Definitely.
Bo didn’t hesitate. He unbuckled his seatbelt and practically threw himself over the centre console and into Sam’s waiting arms. They were both laughing as they buried their faces in each other’s necks. Bo hugged the stuffing out of him.
“I knew they would. God, Sam, I’m so, so happy for you.”
Sam pulled back to wipe his face. “Fuck,” he said, still laughing despite the tears that kept falling. “Fuck, I’m so relieved.”
Bo pressed tiny kisses all over his face.
“Thank you, Bo.”
“For what?” The tears had finally stopped and Bo wiped Sam’s cheeks with his thumbs. “I didn’t do anything.”
“Just for being there.” Sam’s eyes were soft as he gently traced Bo’s cheekbones with a forefinger. “For putting up with me, for being a rock through this whole thing.”
Sam had been so strong and seemingly unaffected about the case. Other than the couple of weeks in May when he’d been a jerk to Bo, he’d been almost blasé about the situation. It was only now that Bo realized how stressed he’d been.
“I’m sorry I didn’t realize how much this was affecting you,” Bo said. Stupid of him not to catch on.
Sam’s eyes shifted. “I didn’t want you to see.”
Bo rested his forehead against Sam’s. “You don’t have to hide things from me. We’re a team. You can talk to me.” The irony of the moment wasn’t lost on Bo: Sam had said those very same words to him a few weeks ago. “I want to take care of you like you take care of me.”
It took a second for Sam to answer, and when he did, it was with a kiss that scorched Bo’s insides. In his enthusiasm about the dropped case, Bo hadn’t really processed that he was sitting atop Sam’s strong thighs.
Sam’s arms clamped around his back. Bo met Sam’s kiss with his own committed zeal, tongue dueling with Sam’s.
A car zoomed by on the road and Bo realized Sam had him pressed back against the steering wheel. Running his knuckles over Sam’s beard, Bo eased out of the kiss.
“For the record,” Sam said, lips kiss-swollen, “I know I can talk to you. The past few weeks have been…overwhelming. I was being sued yet I was still working on my clients’ websites and on Scythe and Swords, and trying not to think about having to find a new place to live. And then there was you.”
Bo’s heart tripped at the tenderness in Sam’s eyes.
“You were completely unexpected,” Sam went on. “I didn’t expect to like you as much as I did, never mind fall in love with you. After we patched things up, I wanted to be on my best behavior for you because you deserve the best, but also because I wanted you to like me back. I knew you wouldn’t run away once you found out how freaked out I was, but I wanted to handle it on my own. I didn’t even tell my family about this.” He winced. “Clearly I don’t handle stress well. Either I take it out on other people or I internalize.”
“You don’t have to do either anymore,” Bo said. It was the first time he was seeing Sam’s vulnerability and his heart melted. “You have me. I’ll help you.”
Sam’s sighed deeply, as though he was releasing all of the pent-up stress and frustration of the past few months.
“You make me feel like a new person,” Sam said. “Like I’m alive for the first time in my life. I want to freeze time so I can always have this moment, always have you.”
Bo eyes filled and his chest constricted. He swallowed past the knot in his throat. “You will always have this moment, and you will always have me.” He pressed a gentle kiss to Sam’s lips. “In case you haven’t figured it out yet, you’re stuck with me.”
Sam hugged him hard.
“I love you,” Bo said. He needed to say it, needed to yell it, wanted to write it in the stars for everyone to see.
“I love you too, baby,” Sam kissed his neck. “Come on, let’s get out of here. It’s getting hot.”
The air was just as hot outside the car as inside, but at least it was fresh and clean, smelling of the flowers in Sam’s front garden.
“We need to celebrate,” Bo said. “I saw champagne in Laura’s pantry.”
“I can think of something besides champagne that I want.”
Bo patted Sam’s chest and winked at him. “You can have that too.”
He led Sam through the hedges dividing their driveways, stopping when he noticed that Sam wasn’t behind him. Instead he was still on his side of the hedges, gaze going from Bo to the hedges and back again.
“You know,” he said, “for weeks I’ve been wondering how this little path came to be. I thought it was a giant raccoon family, or maybe ducks, who’d forged themselves a path. And the whole time it was you.” He shook his head in mock sadness.
Bo grinned, unapologetic. “Guilty.”
Sam snorted and walked through the path.
“Tell me about the phone call,” Bo demanded. “What’d Michelle say?”
“Well, they dropped the case because they finally realized they had it wrong.” Sam followed Bo up the walkway and onto the porch. “It just took them forever to realize it. Michelle says they’re very sorry—” He rolled his eyes. “—and in order to rectify the situation, they’d like to pay for all of my legal fees. Michelle thinks that’s just their way of ensuring I don’t take legal action against them.”
Bo paused in his search of his many pockets for his keys. “You don’t want to take legal action against them anyway, right?”
“No, but she didn’t tell them that. And if they want to pay my legal fees, I’m not going to complain.”
The door opened before Bo got the key in the lock, making them both jump. A heartbeat later, he was thrust behind Sam’s tall, broad body. Adrenaline pumping, Bo searched his pockets for his cell—Jesus, if the intruder didn’t kill them, he was buying new fucking shorts with only two pockets ASAP—to call 911, but then…
“What are you doing here?”
Sam’s greeting wasn’t exactly courteous, but seriously, what the fuck? She’d scared the ever-loving shit out of him. He was still holding Bo behind him even though it was clear Bo didn’t need protection from their visitor. At least not the physical kind.
Bo popped his head around Sam’s shoulder. “Laura?”
“Hey, Bonobo!”
Laura’s faked enthusiasm made Sam grit his teeth. It was the kind of enthusiasm one projected when they knew they’d done something wrong and were trying to hide it.
All of the anger at Bo’s family that Sam had internalized on Bo’s behalf had been suppressed the past few weeks. Laura’s unexpected early arrival threw the lid off those emotions. He crossed his arms over his chest and scowled at her. She wasn’t hurting his man, not ever again.