She was going only about ten miles an hour when she saw another car approaching the exit at the same time as she was. She stepped on her brake, but it was too late. The other car slammed into the front bumper, jolting her. For an instant, she was too stunned to move.
A minute passed, possibly two, or it could have been longer. Her car door was yanked open and Sam was there. “Are you hurt?”
She shook her head. “I … I don’t think so. How’s the other driver?”
He looked up as if he hadn’t thought to check. “I’ll be right back.”
Racing to the other car, Sam checked with the second driver and returned in short order. “She’s fine. She admitted it’s her fault.”
“I must have bad car karma,” Beth groaned. Two accidents within a few months of each other, and neither one had been her fault. She should have been more careful, more aware but her head had been filled with Sam and she hadn’t been paying attention. She felt equally to blame.
The other driver, the mother of one of the high school students, gave Beth the necessary information for insurance purposes so her car could be repaired. No more than fifteen minutes later, the apologetic woman left.
Sam waited and Beth appreciated it. “This is a dangerous way for us to keep meeting,” he teased. “You’re sure you’re not hurt?”
“A little shaken, but I’m fine.” And she was. When she’d first been released from the rehab center, one of her big fears was the possibility of another car accident. Her hands shook and she lifted the hair from her forehead. Silly as it was, she noticed that the rain had started to let up. Not that it mattered—both Beth and Sam were drenched. While the accident had shaken her, thankfully the damage to her car was minimal.
“I’m not fine,” Sam said, studying her intently.
“Sam. What happened?” Beth didn’t realize that he’d been involved in the crash.
“I need you, Beth. I’m ready to take off that armor, ready to move forward. Ready to heal, but I’m going to need help.” He paused and seemed to be waiting for her to respond.
Stunned by his words, she could do nothing more than stare at him.
“Would you be willing to stand by me?” he asked gently. “Would you let me love you the way you deserve to be loved?”
She blinked several times, unsure she was willing to risk her heart a second time.
Beth thought about Sunshine and the regrets she had regarding her relationship with Peter. She’d refused to forgive him and waited years to make things right with him.
Sam studied her, his eyes wide with appeal.
“Oh Sam,” she whispered, the lump in her throat so large she had trouble talking around it. “Yes …” She wanted to tell him how much she’d missed him in the intervening weeks and couldn’t speak. When she could, she’d let him know how she’d struggled to fill the giant hole he’d left in her heart.
Groaning, Sam wrapped his arms around Beth and hugged her close, burying his head in the crook of her neck. If this wasn’t heaven, then it was pretty darn close. She was wrong. Heaven arrived when they kissed. Beth was starving for want of him. They kissed until they were both breathless, chests heaving, and still it wasn’t enough. Rain fell down in buckets all around, mingling with Beth’s tears, liquid flowing down her face, her hair little more than wet tendrils dripping onto her shoulders.
Sam pushed the hair away from her face and braced his forehead against hers. “I’ve been miserable without you. I thought I could do it. Thought I could put you out of my mind. Didn’t happen. I thought I’d lost you all over again when you got in the car and drove off.”
She’d waited, wanted him to stop her and he hadn’t.
“Have you found someone else?”
His heart was in his eyes and she could have drowned in the way he looked at her, the doubt and the regret telling her more than any words he might have spoken. “No. No one compares to you, Sam. No one. Thought you learned that the last time you set me free.”
“You had a date this evening?”
“I was helping Jazmine. The house is coming along nicely and I told her I’d stop by after school.”
He groaned and then laughed softly before rewarding her with another long series of kisses.
“I should have explained,” she admitted, “but I wanted you to tell me why you’d come and you didn’t and then I wasn’t sure what to think.” After all these weeks when she’d hungered for word from him, she’d needed him to explain or to give her something more than simply showing up at the school.
“When you said you had a date …”
“I said ‘appointment,’” she corrected.
“That seemed like just another word for date, and I immediately assumed I was too late and I’d lost you.”
Beth pressed her forehead against his chest. “Guess I have another car accident to thank for bringing us together.”
He chuckled, holding her close. “I hope you know how much I love you.”
She nodded. “I hope you know …”
“I do,” he whispered, and kissed the top of her head.
This felt right, Beth mused, snuggling against Sam’s warmth, her palm against his chest and his arms around her. She felt the even beat of his heart.
This was what it felt like to be loved.
Warning label or not, she was lost.