True North Book 3 - Finding Now Kate and Sam (16 page)

“Helloooooo, Msssss. Jolieeee,” he said, mimicking the watchman, being all kinds of sexy and breathing in my space.

I took in his sweet breath and felt the heat of his hard body escaping from his rain-drenched clothes.

“I am so proud of you for tonight.”

“You’re proud of me? Why?”

“Because you did it. You get to check off three things from your list. You’re a brave woman, Jolie, and I admire you for that.” I felt my face blush red, and he continued. “Tomorrow, you and me, all day. What do you say?”

“What do you want to do?” I was finding it hard to form complete sentences.

“Whatever you want.” His voice was deep and husky.

I could have sworn he was about to close the distance between us, but just then the elevator door slid open. He set a hand against it so it’d stay open for me to get in.

I thought about being forward and inviting him up, but I didn’t want to fuck up the perfect day. I stepped into the elevator and pushed the button for my floor.

“I’ll bring breakfast. Deal?” He leaned in.

“What if I said no?” I countered flirtatiously.

“You wouldn’t mean it.” Sam spoke in a sultry tone, reading my eyes.

I leaned into him closer until my lips hovered right above his ear and whispered, “Alright then, no.” And then I kissed him lingeringly on the cheek before I stepped away from him, deeper into the elevator.

He looked stunned that I’d kissed him and brought his hand up to his cheek. The corners of his lips turned up and he said, “Nine a.m., Jolie,” before he let the elevator doors close.

I almost squealed, but it was caught short. In that instant I saw her. In the mirrored reflection of the polished elevator doors, Kate stood there—a smile across her lips and a glow burning from her inside out. Even with streaks of black mascara running down her cheeks and her clothes soaked to her skin she was stunning, beautiful even, and I didn’t want to scare her away. Delicately I lifted my hand to meet hers. A little panic threatened the balance.

“Shh, it’s okay. Just us,” I promised. “We’re going to be alright now.”

The elevator stopped on the second floor and the doors separated. I caught my breath and hurried into my apartment and took a half dose of my panic pill. I wasn’t sure if I really needed it, but I didn’t want to mess up a perfect night.

After I peeled off my wet clothes, I threw them in the washing machine and wrapped myself in a robe. I had seen Kate, a happy vibrant Kate.

Sprawling on my bed, I replayed the night again and again in my mind: Sam’s sweet words, our ride up the Space Needle, his smile and his voice, and the feel of his hand and calloused, guitar-playing fingers against my skin, and his breath floating around me … I fell asleep with one cohesive thought,
Sam and Kate.

Chapter Twelve

“Look After You”

The Fray

Sam

The elevator closed with Jolie tucked safely inside, and I knew I was in serious trouble. And I didn’t care. My head was reeling with her—her beautiful face, her inquisitive mind, her broken heart … her ravishing body. Her gentle kiss lingered on my cheek, and it took everything I had to keep going because I really wanted to follow her up there and make the sweetest love to her.

I wanted to be whatever she needed from me. I had never felt this way before. I knew my heart was on the line now, but I didn’t care. I wanted it there, in Jolie’s hands, even if she were to ultimately break it in the end. I wanted her to have it. I hadn’t opened myself for years, but Jake was right, sometimes fate had a funny way of turning shit you thought you knew upside down.

“Did the headshrink specify what genre of motion picture you had to watch?” I asked curiously as we got off the bus at the cinema.

Jolie barked out a laugh. “No, no specifics.”

“Okay, let’s think about our choices then here for a moment.” I pivoted behind her and gripped her upper arms, then shifted her body so she was looking at the wall of movie posters displaying the current showings. “We have giant robot aliens that have to save the world.”

“No,” Jolie said sadly.

I had to move on, fast!

I angled her to the right. “How about a kid and his dog travel across the country to find his long lost father?”

She looked at the poster and said curtly, “No.”

“Disney villain fights heroine? Probably an apple involved.”

“No.” She sounded bored.

I smiled a little and moved her so she could see the next poster. “How about the new Nicholas Sparks movie?”

“A romance?” Her voice sounded slightly brighter, but then she shrugged.

I couldn’t believe I actually wanted to see a romance with her. In fact, I might have preferred it over the others.

“Jolie, we’re running out of options,” I said. “We have the flick where the dude in the mask saws people in half.” 

“I think this is a dud, Sam. Any of these just have way too much emotion to be safe.”

I closed my eyes for a moment against the pain she dealt with. Pain that I could only imagine. No way was I letting this be a dud. It was on her list and we were marking it off today!

“So, no action, no romance, no horror …” I thought for a moment. “Down the street there’s an adult superstore, we could do a porn flick!”

“SAM!” she spun out of my hands to slap my arm.

“It’s just a thought,” I played, sounding optimistic. “And it could lead to the checking off of number six.”

She glared at me, but I could tell it wasn’t a serious glare. It was almost like she wanted to.

“I got it! How about checking out an IMAX 3D film? They have …”—it took me a second to find the right sign—“
Yellowstone, the Movie
. It’s even narrated by Morgan Freeman.” Yes, I was trying to sell this.

“No specific emotions, just an experience,” she rationalized. “That’s like a documentary, right?”

“Right.” I took her by the hand and moved her body toward the glass doors. “Of course, if you change your mind about the adult film, just let me know.”

She giggled a little and it was like the music of wind chimes. I bought us two IMAX tickets and we walked inside.

“Do you want popcorn or candy?” I offered.

“No, I don’t want anything. Honestly. Just the smell is difficult right now.”

“Zero snackage, moving on.” I pulled us straight up the ramp and into the stadium style theater.

We found two seats and settled in.

“It’s been six years since I’ve sat in a movie theater,” she confided.

“It’s been a while for me too. I never have time.”

“I have all kinds of time.”

“Not with me around you don’t,” I insisted.

“That’s true.” Her voice was light again, and it relieved me. I wanted no meltdowns on my watch.

The lights dimmed and the screen lit up. Fifteen minutes in, I knew this had been a good idea. She liked heights and the footage was shot mostly from the sky. It was gorgeous.

“Have you ever been?” I whispered.

“To Yellowstone? No.” She shook her head in the dark.

“I could bring you there.” I leaned into her, but not too close. I wanted to watch her reaction.

She looked at me with skepticism and pressed her shoulder into my side.

“Don’t you believe me?” I asked.

“You did bring me, with the movie.”

“No, I mean for real. Want to?” What was I doing? I didn’t know for sure, but I couldn’t help myself.

“How would you do that?”

“Private plane. We could be there in a few hours.” I wanted her to say yes so badly, I felt like I was going to jump out of my skin. “We could leave after school next Friday and stay the weekend.”

“Is this how you charm all the girls?” she asked.

“No, baby, I don’t do this with anyone,” I promised. “This is how I charm you and you alone.”

She turned her head to look at me. I had been completely sincere. And I was going to fucking explode if I didn’t kiss her soon.

Once she caught my eyes, she could only hold the intensity of our gaze for a moment before she turned away.

We both put our eyes back on the screen as the photographer in the helicopter descended between the colorful rock layers of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone to the Yellowstone River, which cut through the stone.

“Yes,” Jolie whispered next to me.

“Yes?” I needed to hear her say it.

“Yes, I’ll go with you to Yellowstone next weekend.”

I wanted to shout with excitement. Instead I squeezed my fists tight and closed my eyes.
Hot damn, she said yes!

A moment later she rested her head on my shoulder and my heart melted in my fucking chest.

After the movie, we walked out into the evening air and I took her hand; not to yank her under an awning or rush someplace, but just to tell her that I was here next to her and that I wanted to be. I twined my fingers between hers and she let me.

We brought a pizza and six pack back to her place. When I realized it was getting late, I found myself trying to find a way to procrastinate. I didn’t want to leave.

“Why don’t you show me your poems and songs?” I suggested. “Really, Logan is all over my ass to write more material. If they’re any good maybe we could try some co-writing.”

“Sam, you’re a rising superstar and I have a notebook filled with chicken scratch. I don’t think they’d really mesh.” Still, she walked to her nightstand and took out a folder. “I pulled a few from my book I thought … I don’t know, that these were better than the others.”

She was smart. She pulled them out because she didn’t want me to come across her deepest secrets.

“Great idea,” I played along as I took the folder she offered. She had also brought over an unused yellow legal pad and a couple pens.

She sat next to me now on the loveseat and sipped at her beer.

Slowly I turned through the pages. The pain was palpable. Each poem screamed out from a depth I couldn’t fathom. Like brittle autumn leaves, her words showed just how truly fragile and breakable she was under the surface of her tough façade. As I turned the pages carefully, it was as if I was holding a part of her soul; my eyes stung and all I wanted to do was pull her into me and protect her.

Darkness covers all the light

I’m just so far down

There’ll be no rescue for me

I deserve the pain I’ve found

Where’s the hand to lift me

Trapped in a memory

Oceans away but still here in my soul

Where are you really, where did you go

The nightmare never ends

From this place I can’t wake up

I’ll never find the peace

I only breathe the dark

I swallowed hard. I was busting at the seams trying to be calm, but I needed to know what had happened to her. I wanted to be her light and the hand that lifted her out of her invisible hell. The curiosity burned through my fingertips where they touched the paper, scorching my blood.

Shit!
These were amazing!

“These are …”—my breath caught in my throat and I had to swallow it down—“beautiful. Your words capture the deepest feelings ...” Purposefully, I took air through my nose and willed myself to hold my own feelings back. I didn’t want to overwhelm her. “How about we try writing something new together?” I set the papers down and forced a smile.

“Like what?”

“Um … Oh, I know.”

I needed to pull us both out of the intense emotions that had descended over us, so I started tapping an upbeat rhythm on the table with my hand and sang with the tempo.

“Ba ba ba … da da da … Just a little bit, just a little bit …

Ba ba ba … da da da … Just a little bit, just a little bit …”

I wrote the words on the paper and then smiled up at Jolie. “Now jump in whenever something comes to you.” Her sweet lips twisted together and she began chewing on the end of her pen. “Don’t be nervous, it’s just me,” I assured her. “Just say what comes into your mind. Most important thing is not to overthink it. Let’s try again.”

“Ba ba ba … da da da … Just a little bit, just a little bit …

Ba ba ba … da da da … Just a little bit, just a little bit …”

“Of time,” she sang, adding to it.

“Yeah …” I smiled and nodded. “Nice.” 

I wrote it down before continuing with more words, singing a capella as I went.

“I’ve played the field and it’s so cold             

I want to feel the warmth of your soul …”

Jolie interjected, “But it’s so broken, how can I share