Indulgence (399 page)

I waited with bated breath. Half of me wanted him to admit
it was true, while the other half wanted it to be a lie. “I need to talk to
Sam. I need to explain,” Rick frantically replied.

“I don’t know if she wants to talk to you, Rick. I’m not
sure I want to talk to you either.”

“Jake, please,” he begged. “Just tell her to turn on her
phone. I need to see her. I have an off day tomorrow. I’ll come down to
explain, if she’ll see me.”

“Fine, I’ll tell her if you want me to, but I can’t promise
she’ll agree,” I conceded.

“That’s all I ask, man. Thank you.”

I crawled back into bed with Sam and held her as she slept
through the night. When she awoke in the morning, I told her about the call I
had received from Rick. She read the text in silence, shaking her head in
disgust.

“Are you ready to talk with him?” I asked.

“I think I started the grieving process the day he left,”
she admitted.

The comment took me by surprise. “So you just wrote him
off?”

“No! I sincerely hoped Rick could handle the trappings of
playing for a pro team, but I know the reality.”

“Did you ever stop to consider that Rick missed you so much
he just needed comfort?” I asked with a knowing look.

“That’s not even the same thing, Jake,” she spat back in
anger.

“You comforted me in the cabin,” I pressed, not letting it
go.

“You were grieving. You kept suffering loss after loss and
you
needed
to feel loved. Rick had a choice. He chose a stupid game over
me.”

I’d crossed the invisible line and wished I could take it
all back. How could I be so insensitive to bring up that night now? She jumped
out of bed and rushed out of the room. I followed as quickly as I could, but
forgot my crutch and stumbled forward, catching the door frame to stop my fall.
“Sam, please wait up. I’m so sorry.” I held out my hand, expecting her to take
it, but she refused.

“That night was special. Rick and I did it because we love
you. Don’t ever try to cheapen to comparing it to what he just did.” She walked
down the stairs two at a time, leaving me behind. She didn’t have a way to get
home, so I figured I would leave her alone to let her cool down.

I waited ten minutes and then quietly made my way
downstairs. I could hear Sam talking on the phone. I wondered if she called
Rick. I took a seat on the steps and listened intently.

“Did Rick put you up to this?”

Well, obviously she wasn’t talking to Rick.

“Jenna, I love your brother. I’ll listen to what he has to
say, but my trust is fragile right now. If he did cheat on me, I can’t promise
this will have a happy ending.”

There was silence as Sam listened to Jenna on the other end
of the line.

“You make a good point,” Sam said with melancholy. “I’m also
upset because I had a fight with Jake.”

I heard the refrigerator door open as Sam continued to
listen to Jenna’s advice.

“Of course he does. He’s my best friend.”

It was so difficult eavesdropping in on one sided
conversation. I was dying to know what Jenna was saying on the other end of the
line. I guessed it had something to do with the fact that I loved Sam.

“Thanks for the advice, Jenna. I’ll talk to you later.”

The conversation was over, so I decided to walk back
upstairs.

I was sitting in my room trying to read a book, but it was
no use. I kept peering at the open door, waiting for Sam to appear. When she
did appear in my doorway, I closed the book and gave her my full attention.

“I’m sorry for fighting with you,” she apologized, walking
into the room and stopping just in front of me.

“It was my fault,” I interjected. “I’m an ass. I’m sorry.”

She sat down on the ottoman, listening intently.

“I need to explain. I didn’t bring up that night in the
cabin for Rick’s defense. For me, it was a perfect moment. When it was over, it
was never mentioned again. It was like some antique you put on a shelf to
collect dust and never look at again. I need to know what it meant to you,
because I’ll never be able to verbalize how important that night was to me.”

Sam grazed the side of my face with her knuckles as she
softly said, “I assure you, that night was never forgotten.”

I blinked at Sam, not believing what I’d just heard her say.
After all these months of longing, could it be that Samantha felt the same way
that I did? I took a deep breath and began: “Sam, the night we made love, I
have never seen you more beautiful. I felt a connection with you that I have
never felt with anyone else.”

“I know. I saw it in your eyes.” Sam brushed the raven
fringe off my forehead. “Your eyes say so much when your voice fails you.” She
moved closer, placing her hand over my pounding heart.

Holding her gaze, I moved in to kiss her. This time she
didn’t shy away. Our lips touched, soft and gentle. Slowly I parted her mouth
with my tongue and deepened the kiss. We broke apart for a moment and I mourned
the loss of her touch. Sam sat in my lap and put her arms around my neck and
began to kiss me again. The initial sparks of electricity I had felt when I
kissed Sam in the library intensified into fireworks. I don’t know how long we
stayed like that, but I was in heaven.

Sam finally pulled away from my kisses in a daze. “Jake...”
She shook her head as if that would compose her scattered thoughts. “Wow.”

I laughed with joy, amazed that my touch could leave her
this way. “Definitely, wow,” I agreed, kissing her forehead.

“I have to get ready to meet Rick. I need to end this
properly if we’re to be together Jake.”

Her words washed over me like a burst of sunlight. “You want
to be with me?”

She nodded her head as her mouth curled up into a smile.
“Yes.”

I drove Sam into town so she could meet Rick at Starbucks.
She wanted a meeting in public. It seemed like a wise decision. I pulled into a
parking space along the street and turned off the ignition. “Are you ready for
this?”

Sam reached over and took my hand. “I think its best I go it
alone. There’s a lot to say and this is between Rick and me.”

I was disappointed, but I knew she was right, so I backed
down. “I’ll go wander around the book shop. Text me when you’re ready to go
home.”

I watched her step out of the car and walk into the coffee
shop, a strong and determined woman.

Once she was inside the coffee shop, I followed her. Rick
was sitting in a corner booth at the back of the shop. The booths had tall
seatbacks, so I was able to sneak into a booth nearby, undetected. I didn’t
enjoy listening in on the conversation, but my instincts told me to stay close
to Sam incase she needed me.

Rick was nursing a coffee and had a cappuccino waiting for
Sam. He stood up as she approached. “Thanks for meeting me. I didn’t want to
explain in a text or email. You deserve better than that.”

Sam sat down and took a sip of her drink. “I’m listening.”

“I won the game in Philly and then they escorted us out of
the stadium to catch the plane for the next game. I was upset that I couldn’t
spend time with you. I was full of myself for winning the game. I went out to a
club with some of my teammates. The women just flock to you when they find out
you’re a professional sports player.”

“This is an explanation? Sounds more like a poor excuse to
me,” Sam interrupted. “Did you have sex with them?”

“It was just sex. It didn’t mean anything. I’m a total
douche. I’m sorry, Sam.” Rick reached for her hand, but she quickly placed it
under the table.

“What do you want me to say, Rick? You want forgiveness?
Well, I made a choice to be faithful to you. I made a mistake.”

“Oh, and Jake would have been a better choice?” he shot back
in anger.

Sam ignored the comment. “When I agreed to the long distance
relationship, I assumed that included loyalty and monogamy.”

“I fucked up! I wish I could take it all back, but I can’t.
I’m begging your forgiveness, Sam. I was drunk. I was lonely. You didn’t go all
mental on me when we had sex with Jake.”

“We were sober and that night meant something.”

“So you admit you have feelings for Jake?”

“Of course I do. He’s our best friend.”

“That’s not what I mean and you know it.”

“Jake is not the topic of conversation here. It’s you and
your betrayal. You shattered my trust.”

“So that’s it then? There is no way for you to forgive me.”

Sam shook her head. “You cheated on me once. It will
probably happen again. I deserve better.”

Sam stood up to leave, but Rick quickly grabbed her arm.
“Tell Jake I said hi,” he seethed with sarcasm.

“We could have had a wonderful life together. Just remember
that the next time you fuck one of your skanks,” Sam huffed as she turned on
her heel and left the coffee shop.

When Rick left, I got up and made my way across the street.
Sam had already texted me.

Sam: WHERE R U? I’M IN THE BOOKSHOP.

Jake: OUTSIDE NEXT TO THE HALLMARK STORE.

Sam: K BE RIGHT THERE.

I was pretending to scrutinize the display window of the
gift shop, when Sam came up behind me and whispered in my ear, “Hmm, you can
see into Starbucks from the reflection in the window. Were you watching me with
Rick?”

“Guilty as charged.”

“Come on, let’s get out of here.”

We walked to the car, arm in arm, in silence. I gave Sam a
sideways glance. She was grinning from ear to ear. I nudged her with my elbow.
“What are you so happy about?”

“Everything.”

“You broke up with Rick?”

“The whole story was true. He admitted he cheated. The only
reason he could give me for doing it was that he missed me. I can’t trust him
now. Once trust is broken in any relationship, how can it survive?”

I didn’t have an answer to her inquiry. I only had more
questions. “Do you think you could forgive him in time? What’s going to happen
to the three of us? How can we remain best friends after this?”

“I haven’t thought that far ahead,” Sam admitted. “Just stay
clear of him for a while. He’s very jealous of you at the moment.”

“Jealous of me! He’s the NBA star.”

“He’s jealous of the relationship you and I have.”

I knew exactly what she meant. No further clarification was
needed. It seemed to be a recurring theme between us and the Welshes. I
couldn’t hold back any longer. “I’m in love with you, Samantha,” I confessed
aloud for the first time.

Sam turned to face me and then we kissed. A chill ran down
my spine that made me shudder.

“I’m in love with you, too,” she whispered back almost
inaudibly.

We ate lunch at a quaint café in town, sharing a quiche and
fresh fruit. I bought Sam a single pink rose from the flower store. We had a
wonderful afternoon together, but all I could think of was getting her back
home to my bed. I could tell by the way she looked at me that she wanted the
same thing, too.

Once we were inside my house, our hands were all over each
other. Sam was walking up the stairs backwards while we kissed. Once we were in
the hallway, we started peeling off our clothes. We were clumsy and impatient,
which only made us laugh. Stumbling into my bedroom, I threw my crutch on the
floor and pushed Sam onto the bed.

We were only dressed in our underwear. Sam was gliding her
hands over my back and then she reached for the waistband of my boxers and
pulled them down. My erection was pressed against her thigh and I was so close
to being inside her, I couldn’t take it. “I don’t think I can stop,” I
breathlessly told her.

“I don’t want you to stop,” she reassured.

“I don’t want to either, but are you sure you want this?
This time when we make love, I want you to be with me a hundred percent. You
just broke up with Rick,” I explained.

“Jake, it’s always been you. I’ve just been too stupid to
see it. Then once I did, you were with Jenna and I was with Rick. We’ve moved
on from our crushes and first loves. Now we can just be ourselves. We can be
together.” Sam stood and removed her bra and panties.

I smiled at the beautiful naked woman standing in front of
me. Sam slinked forward and straddled me. I loved her on top of me. I loved
being able to watch her body move over mine and her expression change the more
she became aroused. Sam’s thighs wrapped around my pelvis and the friction of
her hot wet skin against mine made me tremble.

Sam felt my body quiver. “Do you want me to stop?” she
whispered, lowering her upper body onto my chest.

“No!” I replied in a passionate gasp. I placed my hands on
the small of her back and thrust into her as deeply as I could. My movement
sent Sam over the edge and I could feel her muscle tighten around me. I stilled
myself to feel the spasms of her orgasm. Sam threw her head back and let out a
low moan as her fingers dug into my shoulders. I swear, watching her come was
the most amazing experience of my life. I took her face in my hands and pulled
her to me to kiss her.

“Jake, I love you. I need to feel you come inside me.”

I gently rolled her over and slipped back inside her
yearning body. I moved at a deliberately slow pace, never wanting to leave her.
There was a blissful silence between us as I moved in and out. Our bodies
melded together as one. This was what it felt like to be in love. It felt exhilarating.
My body grew eager for release and I found myself quickening my thrust,
excitement spreading from the pit of my stomach down to my groin. “I’m going to
come, sweetheart,” I ground out, soaring over the edge. My heart was pounding
in my chest, my breath heavy and quick. I lay on top of Sam, exhausted,
listening to her heartbeat and feeling her soft breath on my skin. Sam was my
everything and I vowed to never let her go.

I held her in my arms, feeling safe and complete. I touched
the necklace I had given her in New York. She had the key to my heart and Sam
had unlocked a whole new world for me.