Page 154 of Stay With Me

He paused for a moment, weighing his next suggestion carefully.

“They’ll be back on Saturday. I was planning to take them to brunch the next day. There’s this great place downtown. If you’re free, I know they’d love to see you.”

She gave him a tiny smile from behind her cards.

“What time-ish?”

“Around ten-ish.”

She nodded a tiny nod to match her tiny smile. “I think that would be fun.”

Score.

That was a total acceptance of a double date.Albeit, a double date with his parents, but Nick wasn’t about to complain.

Sammie seemed to be reading his mind because she piped up again almost immediately.

“And it’s not a date, Nick. That would be against policy. It’s just brunch with your parents.”

He lifted a hand innocently. “I never used the word date. Only brunch. With a family friend.”

“Exactly.”

They settled into a comfortable silence as they played—and as he continued to watch her—until she jerked her head up and took on a horrified look.

“Oh no,” she gasped.

His eyebrows flew upward in alarm. “What’s wrong?”

She clutched his arm as she stared at his face intently.“Sweetheart…I amsosorry.”

His heart rate instantly picked up. “What?”

She shook her head in disbelief. “I’m sorry, but—”

“But what?”

“But … your fries are mine!” She giggled wildly as she jumped from her chair and tossed down her cards. “Straight flush, Nick. Read ’em and weep!”

He scoffed playfully as he stood as well. “Bullshit.”

She gasped again and grabbed his chin, shaking it slightly as she pretended to scold him. “Language, Mister Chapman. I ought to write you up.”

And out of nowhere, her lips were on his.

He wasn’t quite sure who’d kissed who, but as far as he was concerned, it didn’t matter. Because she was holding the sides of his face, and his arms were wrapped around her waist, and with nothing separating them beyond the fabric of their clothing, it was as electric as the first moment they’d ever been tangled up like this.

And while it was unclear who’d initiated it, Sammie most definitively ended it. She shoved his shoulders back and covered her mouth, as she looked at him with huge eyes. Her gaze then darted from his face to the patio, to the inside of the restaurant, scanning their surroundings for anyone who may have seen.

After another moment of them standing stunned, she grabbed her laptop off the table and darted inside.

Nick hurried after her, trailing her into the office, and closing the door behind him.

“Samantha,” he began, holding his hands up in front of him in an attempt to calm her. “It’s okay. It’s not a big deal.”

She whipped around to look at him, still wearing a completely stunned expression.

“That,” she retorted as she pointed a finger in the direction of the patio. “Is not okay, Nick.”