The moment was lost.
I decided to let it go and find my time to make another one.
Not long after, our meals were served.
I was an experimental eater, I would try practically everything. That said, the operative word in that was “practically”. And it had to be said that I was willing to try a fried crab sandwich but was still apprehensive about it. After meeting Skip, learning about him and seeing the many picnic tables filled with people and the steady coming and going of cars picking up takeaway orders, I felt better about this. After actually eating it and the mound of homemade, spiced by hand, thin fries that were fried to crispy perfection and covered in ketchup, I knew why Sam was a regular.
After Skippy’s, we headed home and finished the evening on the couch, snuggled together, Sam watching a game. I knew he’d cuddle even while watching a game and I was happy to have this verified.
Then bed, great sex, sleep and now I found myself waiting for Sam’s mother to show and check me out.
He’d shared and he’d even done it deeply about Marisela Cooper. He loved his mother. I knew this.
So I also knew if I stood a chance of making the man I loved love me, I had to make Marisela Cooper do the same.
But of anyone, she knew his many nuances. She’d created both Sampson Cooper and Sam. She knew Sampson Cooper could have anyone and should settle for nothing but the best. And she knew Sam Cooper deserved the best of the best.
And I had to convince her that was me.
And I was scared to death.
“Kia, look at me,” I heard Sam call gently and my eyes, which were staring unfocused at his shoulder, lifted to his. When they did, his face got close. “I know you’re worried and it sucks that you’re worried but I gotta say, I love that you care enough to be worried.”
My body softened into his and I whispered, “Baby.”
His eyes moved over my face then locked to mine and he kept speaking gently, this time soft and sweet, when he said, “You’re beautiful always but you make a little dress and high heels look fuckin’ spectacular and when your face looks just… like… that, honey, you take my breath away.”
God, God, God, I loved this man.
And I had to let him know without letting him know.
So I went up on toes, my hands slid up his chest to his neck and I pressed my lips to his for a hard, closed-mouth kiss.
Even though it was a certainty people were looking and a possibility someone had at least a camera phone, Sam didn’t hesitate with slanting his head, his arms going tight around me and he took my hard, closed-mouth kiss straight to a hard, deep, wet, open-mouthed kiss.
Suffice it to say, my body softened even more into his and both my hands slid up to cup the back of his head.
The kiss was awesome, it was hot, it was sweet and it was very ill-timed.
“Sam, honey?” a velvety female voice called from close and Sam ended the kiss and lifted his head an inch as he turned it.
I turned mine too, slowly.
And there stood Marisela Cooper.
Damn.
There was a reason Sam and his brother were handsome. I didn’t know what his father looked like but his mother’s beautiful skin, beautiful eyes and now, seeing her beautiful, blinding white smile, she gave him the best of her and her best was the best.
She had long, thick, shining black hair pulled back at the tops and sides. At her age, which I was guessing in the mid-fifties, it was likely dyed but either she was very fortunate or she went to an awesome stylist because there was not a gray hair to be found and it didn’t look fake. She was wearing a pair of stylish, loose-fitting, white linen trousers, a pair of stylish, strappy, black high heels and a black, loose-fitting, linen man-style shirt over a white camisole. She’d added a tangle of some interesting silver necklaces that sat perfectly on her still-smooth, beautiful brown-skinned chest like they’d been arranged by a production assistant during a photo shoot.
Thank God. I was not overdressed.
I knew from Sam that she (very cool at her age back then, I thought) went to college when her son hit the big time and got herself a business degree. While doing this she’d opened her own high-class, beach boutique in Malibu which she still ran that Sam told me was very popular and turned a good profit.
And it was clear she was sporting her wares and they were evidence of why her boutique was popular. She looked fantastic.
Celeste would love her and so would my Mom.
She was perfect.
I was screwed.
“Ma,” Sam muttered, my eyes slid to him as his arms slid from around me and I saw him smiling his mother’s smile right back at her.
I watched him fold her in his arms then I watched her eyes close and my breath stuck when I saw her face get warm, soft and intense just like her son’s as her arms stole around Sam.
“Sammy,” she whispered, her eyes still closed.
Sammy.
Oh man.
She loved her boy. Really loved him.
That was beautiful.