CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Sam stood in the center of his bedroom listening to the water running on the other side of the bathroom door. Riley was preparing for bed and that was what he needed to do as well, but instead he was frozen in place contemplating multiple scenarios and grading each one as to how likely it was an outcome.
He had been nervous many times in his life. His first audition. His first day on a movie set. His first date. His first time having sex. And that was just a few from the very long list.
But nothing in his life to date had him as nervous as bedtime now that Riley was staying in his home. She’d agreed to spend the summer with him and really think about his marriage proposal but that didn’t mean she’d agreed to share a bed with him. It also didn’t mean that she was interested in having sex with him, especially as she’d been so sick this morning. Physical intimacy was probably the furthest thing from her mind and he wasn’t a jerk that was going to press the issue. He’d let her come to him.
But…
The question of where he was going to sleep tonight was still wide open. He’d placed her suitcases in the master bedroom when they’d arrived and she hadn’t objected. He’d even showed her where he’d made room for her clothes in the closet and the dresser so she was able to unpack. But it didn’t mean that she expected him to sleep there. She might assume he was bunking in one of the guest rooms.
Except that all of his clothes and toiletries were in there.
I’ll just stroll in like this is totally normal. Act like we do this every night.
If his friends could see him right now they’d be howling with laughter. Sam had a reputation as a cool, smooth operator but he was sweating through his t-shirt and hoping his heart didn’t jump out of his chest.
This was ridiculous. He was a grown man, well-experienced with women of all kinds. He couldn’t remember the last time a female had rejected his advances. In fact, he rarely had to do the chasing. The women came to him.
Riley, however, was different. She’d never come on to him or even flirted really. She was honest, straightforward, and she didn’t play those head games that so many of his other girlfriends had played. She wasn’t here because she wanted fame or diamonds. She was here…because of the baby. Whether any attraction to him had played a role, he didn’t know. If he’d asked her to join him before she knew she was pregnant, then he might have a clue into her psyche but right now all he had to go on was that she wasn’t sure whether to marry him or not, so this was a trial run. Technically he was on probation, so he didn’t want to screw this up.
So here he was. Still standing in the middle of his bedroom like a fool. He didn’t have any more answers now than he’d had ten minutes ago. All he knew was that he wanted to share that bed with Riley. The sex wasn’t the important part. Okay, it was important, but it wasn’t required. He could control himself.
He simply wanted to be close to her. He’d spent so many long, empty nights thinking about her and now she was here. The fact that his emotions were so diverse and all over the place spoke to a greater issue than where he would lay his head tonight, but he could only take one problem at a time.
He took too long, however, and the bathroom door swung open. Riley stood there looking so absolutely, stunningly beautiful that he had a difficult time sucking oxygen into his lungs. Speaking was out of the question.
A lump lodged in his throat as his gaze ran from her pink-painted toes, up her shapely golden limbs, to the hem of the oversized t-shirt she was wearing. Gray with pink letters across her breasts, it read “New Hope Beach, Florida” and he lingered a little too long right there. Hopefully she’d just think he was a slow reader and not that he was checking out her rack.
Because he totally was. Like a randy teenage boy who had never been laid, he was staring at her with his tongue hanging out. Not exactly the mature and laidback image he’d been honing in Hollywood for years.
“Sam?”
Don’t just stand here like an idiot. Say something.
“How are you feeling?”
Better than nothing but hardly original. He’d been asking her that all day.
She smiled and he couldn’t help but notice how her eyes lit up when she did. There was no pretending she was happy or even a halfway grimace. When she smiled, she was all in.
“I’m good. Much better than this morning.” She held up her wrists which had round dents in the flesh from the elastic bands she’d worn most of the afternoon. “Those pressure bands are magic right along with the ginger ale. I didn’t even have to try the lollipops.”
Thank God. He didn’t think he could have handled watching her licking and sucking a lollipop. He was only human.
“I bet you’re tired.”
Wow, scintillating conversation. She had to be questioning his intelligence right about now.
“Actually, I’m a little too keyed up to sleep,” she confessed. “I did rest earlier and now that I feel better I’m kind of excited to finally be visiting New York City. I’m looking forward to doing some sightseeing tomorrow and that reminds me…thank you for letting Callie spend so much time with me. I know it’s her job to take care of you.”
“And you,” he corrected. “We’re a team now, remember? What’s mine is yours.”
“You might not want to say that,” she giggled, her hand flying up over her mouth. “Because I’m not sure you want anything of mine unless you’ve had a deep-seated need for a used Honda Accord with low mileage.”
“They’re sensible automobiles.” He realized they were still standing in the middle of the room. At some point, one of them needed to make a move toward the bed. Did he dare? “We can watch some television if you’re not sleepy.”
“That sounds good.” She moved to one side of the bed but then stopped abruptly. “Um, is this side okay? I can sleep on either.”
From her pink cheeks and the way she avoided his gaze, Sam was beginning to get the idea that she wasn’t totally comfortable about all of this either. They’d always been honest with one another and their quickly burgeoning friendship had reflected that. He should have been up front in the first place instead of standing here like a dolt wondering what he should do.
“I usually sprawl in the middle but I’m fine with either side.” He finally caught her gaze and he could see the nervousness she’d been trying to hide. “We haven’t talked much about this. I don’t want you to feel pressured about anything this summer. If you need me to sleep in the other room, I can do that.”
I just don’t want to.
“Do you want to sleep in the guest room?”
“No,” he replied firmly. He didn’t want there to be any doubt in her mind. “I’d like to share this bed with you. I meant what I said about us being a couple and committing to a future. As for sex, well, you can decide about that. I won’t push especially as I know that you’re not feeling a hundred percent.”
“Then we should start as we mean to go on.” Riley lifted the covers and slid in, so he did the same on the other side before reaching for the remote. “I want this to work, Sam. I’m just cautious by nature.”
“I respect that. It’s just when I want something I tend to go all out until I get it, but I won’t pressure you about marriage right now. I know that you want the summer to see how we do.”
He was determined she was going to love living with him, although he wasn’t sure how. She couldn’t be wooed like other women with gifts and parties.
He handed her the remote control. “Your choice. I’ll watch anything.”
It was the first step in the campaign to make life so wonderful for her that she’d never want to go back to Florida and live alone. Whatever Riley wanted, he’d make happen for her. But he had a feeling that the biggest problem would be that she didn’t want anything from him.
There was nothing that he could give her that would make her want to stay.