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No, she had to go. She’d pushed too far. Tipped too close to the line and was about to lose her grip and tumble over. And who would save her then? No one would rescue her if she fell.

She reached out to shove Sam awake, but her touch landed so softly. Only her fingertips settled on Sam’s shoulder. The shoulder dusted with salt that had dried on her un-burnt skin.

Retracting her hand was the only sensible thing to do. She should get up and make noise and wake Sam up that way, but she watched helplessly as her fingers glided down her arm, over her elbow, and down her bare back.

At some point, Sam had taken off her bathing suit top. Faint lines across her back marking where the sun had penetrated the sunscreen despite Natalia’s constant efforts. Natalia traced it before following the curve of Sam’s spine to the waistband of her shorts.

Natalia shouldn’t be there. She wasn’t the kind of person who enjoyed such proximity. But Sam hadn’t cared about that on the night they met, and she hadn’t seemed to care once since.

Sam was a bull stomping at the ground, packed hard but shifting under her foot. Bold and undeterred while she barreled into Natalia’s orderly life and upended it all. With her infectious laugh and her brilliant mind and her apparently endless capacity for compassion.

It was unfair, if Natalia had to name it. It was unfair how easy it was to be with Sam. How easy it was to be around her family. To take a deep breath. To feel wanted and seen and appreciated.

Natalia tried to pull away, but she traced the strong lines of Sam’s shoulder blade and dropped to where her tattoo started, wanting to press her lips there. No one had matched her passion so completely, in and out of bed. Just the sight of Sam’s skin ignited a hunger in Natalia that both scared and exhilarated her.

Had she ever met someone so patient without letting themselves be walked all over? How did Sam learn to be that way? She was kind, but not artificial. Brave and opinionated, but willing to bend. It made no sense.

Watching Sam with her parents, Natalia had glimpsed the family she never had. Parents who radiated pride and love, who welcomed with open arms. It touched something in Natalia she thought long dormant.

Sam saw her, accepted her, challenged her — all the things she never knew she wanted. This unbelievable woman and her unrealistic family who refused to let Natalia push her away. It was too much.

Natalia knew she should flee from this place, but how could she run from something that felt like coming home? But that was impossible. Natalia’s only home was the one she built. Her only reliable partner was herself. Hadn’t the universe shown her that time and again?

Distracted, Natalia didn’t notice Sam’s breathing change until she was looking over her shoulder. Until it was too late and she’d been caught touching her so embarrassingly gently.

“Hey,” Sam said groggily. “Are you feeling okay?”

Even half-asleep, Sam was thinking of her. Worrying about her. Wanting to care for her. It was too much. It was one too many things to fend off. She bowed under the weight of it.

Sam turned to face her, but Natalia didn’t want her to fully rouse. She needed to stay in this liminal place. Floating between dreaming and waking. A place where she had no past. No layers of scar tissue around her malfunctioning heart.

She pulled Sam on top of her, needing to feel every inch of her. Needed her to smother the doubt clawing at Natalia’s chest with her body. To drown her crushing doubt in her endless kiss.

Parting her thighs, she pulled Sam closer. Any space between them was unacceptable. She needed to disappear into Sam. To lose herself or find herself, she didn’t know. She just wanted her close. She just wanted to feel.

Understanding the primal thing breaking open in Natalia’s body, Samantha kissed her instead of making some smart-ass comment about Natalia’s bracing need. Kissed her like Sam knew what Natalia craved better than she did.

Hands shoving inside the damp material of Sam’s shorts, the hunger grew in Natalia’s body like a fire starved for oxygen finding a cracked window. She consumed it, melting the fabric off of Sam’s body until she was naked and returning to her rightful place between Natalia’s legs.

Holding herself above her, Sam looked down at her, brow furrowed and hair falling carelessly over her forehead. She was lit from above like the heavens themselves had opened to point at Sam. Like the universe was telling her to stop being scared. To stop running. To catch what she already had. All she had to do was curl her fingers around the beating thing in her palm.

“Touch me,” Natalia whispered so softly she should have been mortified by the sound.

Sam dragged her teeth over her bottom lip, something deep rumbling in her throat before she dipped her head toward Natalia. Instead of capturing her lips in a fiery kiss, Sam grazed her jaw.

Lips warm and gentle, Sam pressed a line down her jaw and over the base of her neck. Kissing her with the same passionate enthusiasm she usually used on her mouth, Sam bit and sucked at the sensitive spot.

Natalia rocked her hips, hands sliding over the thin layer of perspiration covering Sam’s back. She dug in her nails, clinging to Sam and generating more friction between them.

Yanking down Natalia’s bathing suit strap, Sam kissed the newly exposed skin. Her lips were searing against the cooler skin. Natalia imagined them as wild flames burning away impurities and leaving gleaming metal behind.

Sam’s lips trailed lower, hands following to peel the damp swimsuit from Natalia’s body. Each inch of newly bared skin she worshipped with loving attention.

Natalia shivered, equal parts vulnerable and electrified. No lover had ever handled her so reverently. She was used to hungry groping and hurried hookups, not this gentle veneration.

But Sam took her time. She covered Natalia’s breasts with whisper-soft kisses, thumbs grazing over hardening peaks. Down her trembling stomach, Sam continued her unhurried exploration, bathing Natalia in patient affection.

When the swimsuit slipped free, Sam slid back up Natalia’s body, nose nuzzling into her neck. Natalia clutched her close, heart battering her ribs, stripped bare in more ways than one.