Page 45 of Stay With Me

“Yeah. And last night that food critic sort of came onto me and I... I uh…”

She raised her eyebrows. “You hooked up with thefood critic?”

He winced. “Yeah.”

She rolled her eyes and huffed. “Ew. Nick, that’s sleazy and inappropriate and kind of disgusting.”

“I know. It was really stupid and I shouldn’t have done it. So I need a do-over.”

She gave him a subtle glare, but didn’t say anything.

“I’m really sorry, Samantha,” he apologized, and then rambled off another quick series of words. “I didn’t mean for that to happen last night because I like you a lot and I haven’t ever liked anyone this much so I’ve been confused by everything, but I nearly fell off a cliff and died and everything makes perfect sense now so I just need a chance to be different and I want to be different with you.”

She continued to glare for a few seconds until she dropped her head backward and laughed. “You want to be different with me.”

“Yes.”

She flipped her eyelashes at him. “Whatever.”

“Whatever what?”

She lifted her head back up and shot him a look. “You can have your do-over, but now my stipulation istwentydates. And if you even hint at trying to sway me to change my mind before then, you’re going to have to do-over with someone else. Oh yeah. And this weekend counts as one date, not three.”

He brightened. “Really? You’re not mad?”

“Oh no,” she retorted, waving a finger in front of his face. “Make no mistake. I’m mad. But I haven’t even known you a week yet and we’re not technically togetherso it’s not like you cheated on me or something. And you told the truth when you didn’t have to. I guess that’s worth a second chance.”

“Really?”

She shrugged. “Well, I think the fact that you’re alive right now proves that someone up there believes you deserve a second chance. I won’t argue with that.”

Then he couldn’t help kissing her lips and every inch of her face, which caused her to giggle and swat at his shoulder.

“Stop it. I’m trying to be mad at you.”

“I can’t help it. I love kissing you and I thought I was never going to get to kiss you again and the look on your face when you saw the canyon was priceless and I’m—”

She laughed again. “I think the adrenaline is clouding your brain.”

He jerked his face away and gave her a serious expression. “No. Everything is perfectly clear. Probably for the first time in my life.”

It had gone far better than he’d expected.

The second thing he did was cut out his over the top attempts to seduce her. He knew exactly how to be the ideal boyfriend—after all, he’d started out pretending to be that way with Sammie before everything changed for him. The difference now was that he had genuine feelings to motivate his actions. On the nights they had a date, he’d pick her up, kiss her cheek hello, take her to dinner, walk her back to her door, kiss her lips good-night, and then go back to his place.

They typically went out once a week, sometimes twice, and on the nights they didn’t have a date, he’d call her and do his best to not keep her on the phone too late since she had to be at work early the following day.

So for the three months since he’d gotten his second chance at life and with her, they developed a relationship based entirely on communication and friendship—and Nick was extremely impressed with himself.

And not to mention falling hard and fast for Sammie.

In an effort to kill time, he threw on a pair of shorts and sneakers and jogged from his apartment in the Second Street district, all the way around Town Lake, into Zilker Park, where he collapsed briefly on the lawn, and then ran all the way back home.

He showered and dressed, then swung by the restaurant briefly to check on a few minor tasks. By then it was ten a.m., and he sat in his car tapping the steering wheel for a few moments, thinking about the fact that Sammie’s apartment was only two exits up the road.

He couldn’t help himself so he zipped out of the parking lot and five minutes later he hastily knocked on her front door.

She instantly giggled when she opened. “Hey, honey. Did we have a major breakdown in communication or did you decide to pick me up eight hours early?”