Page 51 of Thorns That Bloom (Venusverse #3)

Sam’s brows draw together, the cute dimple now a harsh line. He grabs me by the cheeks, making me face him. “Look me in the eye and tell me you’re like them,” he says sharply, with purpose. “Tell me you’re anything like the men who hurt me, or someone who could hurt anyone.”

Tears prickle at the corners of my eyes for a completely different reason. I sniff and smile, shaking my head. With a deep exhale, I lean into Sam’s touch. He pulls me in and rests his forehead against mine.

“That’s what I thought,” he whispers.

“You have no idea how much I wanted to…break that man’s neck in the lobby. How much I wanted to put my hands on him for even daring to come near you,” I admit. When I open my eyes, Sam watches me, but there’s no fear or disgust. “But I knew that violence wouldn’t help you at the moment.”

“It wouldn’t have helped if you got hurt or in trouble.

Seeing him get hurt, though…probably would’ve helped me a little.

Either way, you did the right thing. You took care of me and held me when I needed someone to keep me together,” he says, his vulnerable voice melting away nearly all of my worries.

I smile, taking Sam’s hand away from my cheek and squeezing it in my lap. It doesn’t even matter that we’re in public. When I’m with him, it’s like the entire world disappears and we’re in our own little universe, just the two of us.

“I also felt pretty violent when you called me yesterday and told me he’d turned up at your apartment.

” As the anger surges through me, I almost squeeze Sam’s hand too hard, so I let go.

With a sigh, I rub my forehead and look around, hoping for the cool air to calm me down a little.

The only thing that stopped me from getting to him, no matter the distance or any obstacle, was Sam telling me not to. “I wanted to… I was so…”

“I know,” he says, eyes low. “I know, and I’m grateful. I really am. I just…needed to be alone. I can’t explain why. It’s not that I didn’t want you there with me. I did, just—”

“I understand, Sam. You don’t have to defend yourself to me.”

His expression is one of gratitude and vulnerability. Vulnerability means trust. It means he trusts me. I like that expression very much.

“Speaking to her and asking her for a favor on my behalf couldn’t have been easy for you.” His brow furrows, the exact emotion I don’t want to see taking hold of his features. Guilt. “I’m sorry you had to do that.”

I snort at the ridiculous suggestion.

“Oh, don’t be, lovely. There’s no need to feel bad for me. As long as you and the baby won’t be bothered by those monsters ever again, it was all worth it. And I’d do it again. I’d do anything in my power to make sure of that.”

Something sweet flashes behind his eyes. He smiles shyly.

“What?”

“It’s stupid, but I like it…when you call me lovely.”

I grin, leaning closer. “You do?” All of this makes me both excited and worried.

It seems like we’ve moved over some kind of bump.

There’s not the same hesitation from Sam to flirt with me, to touch me, but I worry it’s really what he wants.

What if it’s only some innate need to gravitate toward safety in the turbulent situation he’s in?

What if it really is only the pregnancy hormones?

He purses his lips in a playful smile. “Yeah. Partly because it’s funny. No one’s ever called me that. I’m not ‘lovely’ at all, usually.”

I gape at him. “You are lovely. Everything about you is lovely.”

Sam rolls his eyes.

“Anyway! We got distracted talking about my stupid past. I meant to ask you more about how the meeting went,” I say the moment I realize. “Gail believes they’re going to be able to fight them, yeah?”

The spark in Sam’s eyes weakens a little.

“She sounded confident. If not going to court again for the…main thing…then definitely at least making sure he…can’t demand anything.

” Pensively, Sam looks down at the belly he’s cradling.

“She said that lawyer, Magnolia Ridley, will file a motion for a protection order on Monday. Then, they can pull some strings to make stuff go faster, apparently.” Sam releases a bitter chuckle, one surely encompassing all the pain and hardship he’s experienced when fighting in courts before.

I should think about the horrible things he went through and the injustice of it, and yet I can’t stop admiring how beautiful he looks right now. With his full cheeks, chestnut eyes and the unmistakable roundness of his stomach, I want nothing more than to touch it and feel the baby stir inside.

‘Our baby,’ a fucked-up, possessive voice in my heart whispers intently.

“You’re letting out pheromones,” Sam warns, making me jolt.

Shit.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t—”

His placid smile makes me pause. He doesn’t seem upset.

“It’s okay. I was going to…” Drawing a deep breath, he looks like he’s psyching himself up to say something important.

“I know I said I wanted to deal with it on my own, but that was yesterday. Today, I just… I don’t want to be alone.

I was wondering if you’d like to come to my apartment to keep me company.

We could watch some shows or football or something. ”

My heart leaps with joy. I nod sharply, realizing far too late that I must look like an overeager idiot.

“I could cook for you,” I suggest.

The hint of unease in his eyes makes me pull away. With a serious expression, I raise a brow, hoping he tells me what it is. “I know it’s stupid,” he says with a nervous titter. “You were in my apartment the other day, but this…is different. It’s a big step for me.”

“It’s not stupid at all.”

He smirks. “Yeah, you’d say that.”

“I mean it.”

“I know you do. It’s… I don’t want to be alone today. And if I think about who I would like to have next to me, it’s you. But I need you to understand that it’s only that. Nothing more. Nothing more can happen, Theo.”

The fact that he worries about that hurts me, even though I know it isn’t a lack of trust in me. It’s solely the weight of what they did to him.

“Of course,” I say in a similarly serious manner.

“I would never do anything to hurt you, Sam. I swear to you. I expect only what you explicitly give me, okay? I might…I might want you,” I admit, gulping down the saliva that pools in my mouth at the mere thought, “but I’d never let that guide what I do. ”

Sam’s shoulders go back with a tense inhale.

When he exhales, there’s a lighter, more lively aura about him.

“I believe you. And I trust you. I told you—you’re nothing like them.

I just needed to make it clear to feel calmer about it, and I do now.

I’d love for you to cook, but there’s not much to work with, as you’ve seen.

” He smirks. “Should we go to the store first? You can pick whatever you want and get the ingredients.”

“Sounds great.”

Cooking delicious meals for Sam and making him comfortable is all I want. It’s a hundred times more appealing than the other, more primal needs of my body.

And knowing he trusts me this much completely erases the doubts I had earlier.