Wedding Wednesday
While you go over the menu, Sam keeps shooting you nervous glances from where he’s sitting across from you at the diner.
“Sam, it’s fine.” You raise your eyes to his and smile softly.
“Still… I’m sorry. We lost the reservation ‘cause of me and-”
“Sam,” you intone kindly, but add some firmness to how you say his name to get him to listen. “I promise you, it’s fine. The motel is busy right now. That you’d lose track of time with all the customers is something that can happen… Plus,” you continue after a second, looking down at the menu again, “the food is great here anyway.”
“Sure, but… I thought I’d treat you to something fancier.” Sam shrugs, still looking unhappy with how the evening had gone.
You put the menu down and fold your hands over it as you look at Sam.
“Tell me. What do you think I want more? Making sure that I’m in a good restaurant, or that I’m with you?”
Sam meets your eyes for a second, before he looks down at his hands with a small, shy smile.
“Exactly,” you confirm despite the lack of answer, knowing that he understood you just fine, and reach over to rest a hand over one of his.
The tremor in it, that you’d noticed ever since you sat down, stops as soon as you make contact. His hand turns to catch yours.
“Now… what would you suggest I get?” You ask after squeezing his hand fondly.
The rest of the evening goes well. Once Sam has accepted the fact that you really are okay with eating at the diner, he relaxes, and you chat throughout the whole dinner.
You can understand his disappointment, since today is the first time you’d been able to actually go out together. You’d been dancing around each other for weeks, the mutual attraction clear. The flirting had been easy from the start. Nothing heavy. Instead, it’s been sweet and slow, and you would never dare complain about it. You are completely taken by that man, who’s been shooting you soft looks and tentative smiles from the first day you’d met. Sam Rossi is the kind of person you wouldn’t have dreamed of ever finding.
After dinner, Sam offers to drive you home, something you immediately accept, not wanting the evening to end yet. And to be honest, you are quite hoping for a goodbye kiss. Or maybe more… But no… Not tonight. A kiss. You want a kiss. You’d feel silly for how much you’ve been thinking about it if you hadn’t noticed the countless glances that Sam had given your lips over dinner, and on several other occasions beforehand.
It’s a quiet drive, the silence slightly charged with the end of a nice dinner and the prospect of something more. Sam’s hand is twitching every now and then, while you nervously bite over your lower lip. Feeling like a teenager, you chuckle to yourself and shake your head. Sam glances your way, the streetlamps highlighting his face and his raised eyebrows. You smile and reach for his hand, but don’t say anything. Sam doesn’t seem to mind and returns his focus on the road, his thumb stroking over your hand absently.
You arrive at your place a few minutes later, and Sam follows you as soon as you’ve stepped out of the truck. He walks with you, his steps slow with his light limp, and his hands in the pockets of his jeans. At the door, you turn to face him and take a moment to take him in; his fluffy hair, soft eyes and shy smile, surrounded by that lovely beard that you’ve wanted to touch nearly as bad as his hair. His eyes lower to your lips, and when he sees that you’ve noticed, looks all the way to the ground. You, on the other hand, stare heavenward, feeling somewhat stupid for being so nervous as you jiggle the house key in your hand.
“You’re gonna hurt yourself if you keep doing that,” Sam suddenly mutters quietly, nodding his head towards where you’re still biting over your lip.
You instantly stop and lift a hand to your mouth, rubbing a finger over your lip as you laugh self-consciously. You see Sam smiling out of the corner of your eyes, and meet his gaze. It’s so obvious that you both want it, so why is neither of you doing anything about it?
Finally giving in, you take that last step needed to be in Sam’s space and lean in. Sam doesn’t let you do all the work, though. As soon as you move, so does he, as if he’d been waiting for a signal. One of his hands comes up to cup your jaw, the thumb resting in front of your ear as your lips meet.
It’s good. Great. Amazing.
Sam’s lips are cold from the weather, while your bottom lip feels a bit raw from how you’ve been going at it. It’s so good anyway. Hot breath puffs up between you as you quickly separate to angle your heads into a better position before you kiss again. Not resisting temptation any longer, you bury your hands in Sam’ hair, softly scratching your nails over the scalp. Sam makes a rumbling noise of pleasure at it, and you can only smile before you invite him to slide his tongue against yours. His beard tickles around your mouth, and you know that you will never tire of it. It’s coarser than his hair, of course, but still soft enough to feel wonderful against your skin.
His arms wrap you up and pull you flush against his strong chest. There is such a contrast to Sam. He has this kindness and shyness about him, but his body, despite the trembling in his hands and his bad leg, is strong, as is his desire. Now that you’ve jumped over the hurdle of that first kiss, confirmed that you truly want him, it’s like Sam opens more to you and is willing to show you just how much he wants you.
The kiss comes to a slow end, the time that went by since the start of it completely unclear. All you know is that you are looking for a repeat of it. Soon. And many more after.
While still holding you close, Sam clears his throat, and rubs a palm over one side of his bearded face.
“Not that I… it was…,” he stutters lightly, seemingly just as overwhelmed as you. “I got an early morning tomorrow and-”
“No – yeah – of course. Me too,” you smile reassuringly.
You comb your fingers through his hair and chuckle at the way Sam’s eyes close with an appreciative hum.
Neither of you moves, not wanting to let go, until you both laugh under your breath and finally do step away from one another.
“So,” you elongate the O as you think about your next words. “Is it okay if I come by the motel after work?”
Sam’s face morphs into a happy smile as he nods.
“Yeah… yeah, ‘course.”
Biting your lip again as you smile fondly, you quickly turn to open your door before you engage into another long kiss that you can tell Sam wouldn’t say no to either.
“Right, then… see you tomorrow.” You lean against the side of the door as you watch Sam take a step back.
“Yeah. Yeah, G’night.”
Who needs fancy restaurants if the evening ends with that kind of first kiss?