Page 16 of Scoop Me Up (Love in Maplewood #7)

Gabe

I was fighting the urge to pace around Sam’s kitchen when the sound of footsteps on the front porch reached me.

I was out of time. The next urge that hit me was to jump up and retreat, but I knew I didn’t have time to gather my laptop and things before Sam made it into the kitchen. The door opened behind me, and I turned, feigning surprise.

“Sam,” I said, attempting to sound light as I stood up and tucked my chair in behind me. “I didn’t expect you home so early.”

They frowned, brow furrowing. “Gabe, we need to talk about last night,” they blurted.

My stomach dipped and I was hit by a wave of nausea. It was time to face the music. “I know.” Sam was quiet for a moment, so I forced myself to keep going. “I’m so sorry. I crossed a line and I shouldn’t have.”

“It’s okay,” Sam murmured.

“It’s not,” I insisted. “I don’t know what I was thinking, drinking that much. I’m so sorry. I’ll go back to Jennifer’s if you want me to. I’d completely understand if you want to revoke my invitation to stay.”

Sam shook their head and ran a hand through their short, dark hair. “It’s fine.” I watched their Adam’s apple bob as they swallowed. “It’s really okay. I’m not mad. And I’m not making you leave. You can still stay. We all have regrets. There’s no reason to kick you out over one mistake.”

That word—regret—sent a hot wave washing through me.

It felt like they were giving me an easy out, a chance to back off gracefully and dismiss a drunken mistake, but that’s not what it was at all.

“It’s not that,” I said quietly, moving a step closer to them.

“I don’t regret it. I mean, yes, I regret doing it when I did. But I don’t regret what I did.”

Sam’s brow furrowed just a little. “You don’t?”

I shook my head. Another step closer, drawn to Sam like a magnet. “I knew what I was doing. I wanted to kiss you. I still do.” My throat tightened—I was taking a risk, giving Sam the chance to reject me, but I knew I really would regret things if I didn’t speak my truth.

Their breath hitched. “I thought you were straight,” they said, voice barely a whisper. They moved toward me until we were close enough to touch.

“So did I. Until I met you.” I hesitated, wanting desperately to tell Sam just how much I liked them. “I still want to kiss you,” I repeated. “If you’re okay with that.”

Sam let out a shaky exhale and nodded slowly. A shy smile appeared on their face. “I am.”

My heart soared with relief and excitement, my breath catching in my throat.

I closed the gap between us, easing my hand along Sam’s neck and pulling them toward me.

With our bodies pressed together, our lips met, Sam parting theirs readily to invite me in.

They moved their hands to my back, clutching the fabric of my T-shirt.

Every nerve ending in my body felt lit up.

All I wanted to focus on was Sam’s lips moving against mine and their tongue in my mouth, but the intensity of the moment was almost too much to bear.

I was acutely aware of Sam’s hands on my back, holding me against them tightly, their five-o’clock shadow scratching against my skin, the harsh, ragged sounds of our breathing drowning out everything else. I wanted more.

After several moments, we parted, saying nothing, just holding each other close.

I tipped my head forward to press my forehead against Sam’s as we each caught our breath.

Sam closed their eyes, squeezing me tight for one last second, and stepped back, breaking the contact between our bodies.

Immediately, my gut told me to reach out and pull them close again, but I respected the distance they’d created.

I shoved my hands in my pockets to keep myself from reaching out again.

We stood there, gazes locked for what felt like an eternity. My body ached to touch Sam again, to kiss them again, to feel their warmth against me.

After a few seconds of silence, I spoke. “Sam, I…” What was I supposed to say? Was I supposed to tell them that it was the best kiss I’d ever had? Or that I wanted to do it again—and that I thought I wanted to do more than just kiss?

“I should let you get back to work,” Sam said, nodding at my laptop on the table.

“Please don’t leave.” We were both quiet and Sam stayed put. I cleared my throat and rubbed the back of my neck. “This is new territory for me, but I don’t want to run away from it. I really like you. I’d like to—”

Without warning, Sam stepped close and kissed me again, this time more fiercely, hungrier.

A groan rumbled deep in my chest that had Sam pulling me tighter against their body and letting out a soft moan.

The kiss felt like much-needed oxygen, like I’d been deprived and suddenly I could breathe again.

When we broke apart, I let out a shaky laugh and Sam did the same, their cheeks pink. I was truly speechless. All I wanted was to keep kissing Sam, touching them, being held by them until we fell asleep. My breath caught in my chest as I let myself imagine it.

A buzzing from the table cut through my foggy thoughts, brought me back to the present as I realized my phone was ringing. I gave Sam an apologetic smile and scooped up my phone, a strong suspicion of who the caller was before I picked it up.

“Hello?”

“Hi, Daddy!”

My suspicion was confirmed. I couldn’t help but smile at the sound of Ellie’s voice, even as Sam nodded at me and left the room. “Hey, Bug. What’s up? How was school today?”

I listened to Ellie chatter about her school day, telling me about the book she read, about the boys in class who were a distraction, and about her friends. I focused as closely as I could on Ellie’s stories, but my mind kept wandering back to Sam.

“Will you, Daddy?”

I zeroed in on the conversation again. “Sorry, Bug, I missed that. Can you repeat it?”

“Mommy is making meatloaf for dinner tonight and she said you should have dinner with us. Will you?”

“Of course I will. What time should I be there?”

We talked about logistics briefly and then we hung up with the promise that I’d be at her mom’s house soon and I’d take her to the park after dinner. After the call ended, I made my way to Sam’s office. The door was closed and I knocked softly.

“Come in,” Sam called.

I pushed open the door and found them focused on their laptop with what looked like a restaurant supply site pulled up. “Should we talk?” I was anxious about their answer, but I knew I couldn’t avoid it, and I wanted to get the hard part out of the way.

Sam turned to face me. “I don’t know what to say,” they confessed.

“I’ve never done this before, but like I said, I don’t want to run away from it. I like you—a lot. I don’t want to spend the next six weeks avoiding each other.”

“I like you, too,” they murmured. “If that wasn’t obvious.”

“So what do we do?” I held my breath waiting for an answer.

Their gaze flickered down before meeting mine again. “Let’s just take it one day at a time. Probably best not to make any big decisions right away.”

I nodded slowly. “Do what feels right until we have a better idea of what we both want?”

“Exactly.”

“I can do that.” I closed my eyes briefly, fighting the urge to go to them and pull them close again. “I’m having dinner with Ellie and Jennifer tonight, but I won’t be too late. It’s a school night, after all.”

Sam chuckled and gave me a soft half-smile. “Have fun.”

“Thanks.” With that, I turned and headed out. I was looking forward to spending the evening with Ellie, but at the same time, I had no idea how I was going to manage to think about anything besides Sam’s mouth against mine.

I arrived at Jennifer’s house a little while later, knocking before I let myself in. Ellie came running, her footsteps echoing on the wood floors the moment I called out a hello.

“Daddy!”

I picked her up and hugged her tightly. “Hi, Bug.” As I gently put her down, Jennifer appeared from the kitchen, a soft smile on her face. I gave Ellie’s shoulder a squeeze. “Why don’t you go play for a little while before dinner?”

“Okay!” She scurried off and a moment later I heard her bedroom door close.

Jennifer came over and put her arms around me. I did my best to hug her back, but as I did, memories of Sam slammed into me.

“It’s good to see you,” she said as we parted. “I’m glad you’re here.”

“Thanks for inviting me.”

Jennifer shrugged one shoulder. “You’ll always be a part of my life, Gabe. You’re welcome here anytime.” We headed into the kitchen where she was finishing up dinner. I set the table and offered to help, but Jennifer waved me off and told me to sit down and relax. “How have you been? How’s work?”

I took a slow breath. Work wasn’t something I wanted to think about. “I got a job offer,” I admitted.

She turned to face me. “That’s amazing. Where?”

I gave her a quick rundown of the job, my chest tightening with anxiety as I did. “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime offer.”

“You have to take it.”

I sighed and shook my head. “I don’t know. It would mean moving even farther away. I barely have time to see Ellie now.”

“She’ll be fine. We’ll come to visit. You can spend summers with her. Like you said—this is a once-in-a-lifetime offer.”

“I know. It would definitely open a lot of doors. We’d be able to put away a lot more for Ellie’s college fund. But… I don’t think I’m going to take it. She’s too important to me. I don’t want to miss everything just for a job. There’ll be other offers.”

She nodded and turned back to the stove to finish the mashed potatoes. “I understand. I don’t think I’d be able to do it either.” She was quiet for a long moment. “So back to business as usual, then? You’re headed back to the city in a few weeks.”

This was my chance. “I don’t know. I’ve been talking to Miles Rogers.”

She spun to face me, eyebrows raised. “The real estate agent?”

“Yeah. Turns out we knew each other in high school.”

“Are you thinking about moving? Here?”

I held my breath, worried she’d react badly. “I am.”

A smile broke over her face. “That’s amazing. Ellie would love that. So would I.”

“Nothing’s decided yet.”

She mimicked zipping her lips. “I won’t say a word.”

“I’m also thinking about investing in a business here in Maplewood. Really cementing myself in the community.”

“You’ve always wanted to get onto the front lines of a business. I think that’s a great idea.” A few minutes later, she called Ellie for dinner, and we gathered around the table. “How was your day, El?” Jennifer asked.

Ellie shrugged, distracted as she poked at her mashed potatoes with her fork. “Good.”

“That’s all? Anything interesting happen at school?”

Ellie’s eyes lit up. “Mix sent a note. It’s in my bookbag.” She hopped up and ran to get it, returning with an envelope that was addressed to Jennifer.

Jennifer read it quickly. “There’s going to be a read-a-thon?”

Ellie nodded. “Mix said we’re all going to do our best reading and show everyone what we learned.”

I swallowed hard at the mention of Sam, feeling the heat of blush creep up my neck. Jennifer looked at me quizzically but said nothing.

“Daddy, are you going to come?”

“I get to help out,” I said, remembering my promise to Sam. The heat in my cheeks and neck intensified.

Mercifully, Ellie pivoted then, talking about the park and what she wanted to do there after dinner.

I managed to keep the conversation away from Sam and school for the rest of dinner, to my relief.

As Jennifer and I cleaned up, Ellie watched TV in the living room, waiting patiently.

Jennifer took the chance to zero in on me.

“You doing okay?”

I cleared my throat. “Great, why?”

She chuckled and handed me a plate to load into the dishwasher. “You seem a little… distracted.”

“Distracted?”

She smirked, grabbing a container to fill with leftovers. “When Ellie brought up her teacher, you got kind of jumpy. Are you two not getting along or something?”

I let out a shaky laugh. “It’s not that.”

Jennifer put down the leftovers container. “You know you can tell me anything. I won’t be weird about it. I won’t be mad.”

I dropped a detergent pod into the dishwasher and closed the door. “There’s nothing to tell,” I said, a half-truth.

“I don’t believe that for one second. Don’t forget, we were together for a long time. I know your tells.”

Could she tell I was lying? I glanced in the direction of the living room to be sure Ellie wasn’t going to overhear. “I kissed them.”

Jennifer’s smile widened. “That’s amazing. I had a feeling you were going to say something like that. How did it go?”

I exhaled sharply. “It was great.” The memory of Sam’s touch burned through me. I itched to be close to them again. “But I don’t know. It was probably a bad idea. Right?”

She stopped what she was doing and fixed me with a look, putting a hand on my arm. “You’re allowed to do things that make you happy. As long as they’re on board, it wasn’t a bad idea. How did Sam react?”

I remembered the way their body reacted to my touch, the soft moan that escaped their throat, the way they held me tightly. “Good,” I said, my voice cracking a little.

Jennifer smirked again. “Don’t get too caught up in your thoughts about this. Go with it. Do what feels right.”

“What if it ends terribly?”

She shrugged. “Then you’ll know.”

I nodded slowly. Before I could speak again, Ellie shouted from the other room. “Daddy, are you ready yet?”

With a laugh, I looked at Jennifer, who shrugged. “Have fun.” I couldn’t tell if she was talking about the park or Sam.

“On my way, Bug.” I hesitated one last second. “Hey. Thank you,” I murmured.

She nodded. “Anytime. I’m always here for you.”

I appreciated it more than I could say.

“Daddy!”

“Coming,” I called. With that, Ellie and I left, heading to the park to play, my mind consumed with nothing but thoughts of Sam.