Sam rubbed her hands over my chest and smiled up at me. “You know you’re my adventure.”
Lifting her into my arms so I could kiss her properly, I said, “And you know I’ll keep you safe.”
THE NEXT MORNING I TOOK her to the knitting shop.
“I’m surprised we left the apartment,” Sam cooed in my ear. She leaned over the console of my truck as far as the seatbelt would allow. It was the first time I’d wished I had bench seats, but then maybe it was a good thing there was a barrier between us. I had a hard time keeping my hands off her.
“As much as I’d like to have a repeat of this morning…” I paused, remembering the vision of Sam bent over the kitchen table, her red, polka-dot dress pushed up right over her ass so I could drill her from behind. Reaching down, I adjusted my now-hard dick. At this rate, I’d have to sit in the truck for at least ten minutes before I could face Mrs. Bends and her daughter. “Anyway, I wanted to show you something.”
I’d packed the rest of the knitting stuff in a bag and carried it out to the truck while Sam was showering. “What happened to the flag you were working on?”
“Oh I ended up finishing it. I just knitted a blue background and then crocheted a bunch of stars and tacked them onto the blue background. One of these days, I’m going to figure out the star pattern though and knit it. Just for fun.” Her fingers were running down the side of my abdomen, tracing out the pattern of my muscles. The whisper-soft touch was distracting me. “And I gave the afghan to my local VA. It’s about all I worked on these past two months. I’m behind in all my other projects.”
"Ah." What the hell? That she'd finish her project before I got to her never occurred to me. She hadn't worked on it in over two years, and she’d whipped the fucker into shape in two months? I had not planned for this. Squeezing the steering wheel, I wondered where else I could take her, but we were already there.
"Oh look there's a yarn shop."
Sighing, I pulled into Knit Together.
"We don't have to stop. I can get yarn anytime.” She smiled at me and stretched out her arms, making an interesting outline around her breasts. “I’m going to have a lot of time on my hands.”
“What do you want to do after this?”
“Probably look for a place to live.”
“There might be someone in my apartment complex who has a place. Will you let me check that out for you?”
“Sure.” She smiled, and I was so overwhelmed by emotion, I couldn’t really speak. Unbuckling her seatbelt, I pulled her into my lap and buried my head in her neck. She held me, soothed me, and brought me back to life again. I didn’t cry…exactly, but I held her tight and hoped she realized how precious she was to me.
We may have sat like that forever if she hadn’t pushed away and said, “So even though I said you didn’t have to stop, do you mind if we go in? We are in the parking lot.”
I chuckled and unlocked the door. Holding her to me while I climbed out, I set her down next the truck door. “Hold on.” In the back seat, I pulled out the pack and then slung it over my shoulder. Placing a hand at the small of her back, I ushered her into the shop.
“Sergeant Phillips,” Mrs. Bend cried out when we were inside. Sam had started to look at some yarn balls on a front table display but quickly abandoned them to look first at Mrs. Bend and then at me. I bent down so Mrs. Bend could give me an obligatory kiss in greeting. Holding out my hand to Sam, I drew her close to my side and introduced them.
“Mrs. Bend, this is my girlfriend, Sam, the one I told you about. Sam, this is Mrs. Bend. She and her daughter Dorothy have been helping me with something.” I let the pack drop to the floor and then knelt down on one knee to pull out the sad mat of yarn I’d created. Mrs. Bend had her hands up by her mouth, and I could see out of the periphery of my eyes that everyone in the store had turned toward us. Sam’s head was cocked to the side as if I were some strange bug she’d found on the floor and she wasn’t sure if she should crush it or sweep it outside with the trash.
Feeling embarrassed by my effort, I crushed the knitting in my hand and thought frantically of a way to get out of this. What had I been thinking? I started to stuff it back into the pack and stand, but Sam’s hands stopped me.
“What is it?” The caring in her voice had me dropping my head. While I was pissed off at myself for spending so many years avoiding relationships because of the number Carrie had done to me, I was grateful too, because otherwise I wouldn’t have met Sam, wouldn’t have fallen in love with her, and wouldn't have the gift of her love in return. She’d made every effort to keep me in her life and I had to show her how willing I was to make her part of my life, forever.