Sweet as Honey (Aster Valley 2)

“She doesn’t need life lessons! She needs her brother. She needs family. And she needs a good lawyer. You know how awful the public defenders are! There you sit on your high horse with all your rich friends and fancy vacations, and you can’t even spare enough money for your sister to stay out of prison?”

My face felt numb. I thought back to all of the thousands of dollars I’d spent over the years trying to keep my sisters out of trouble, trying to get them out of trouble, then trying to cover up the trouble they’d been in. I was so fucking tired.

“Bye, Mom,” I said in a low voice before reaching out to hit the End button.

I leaned my head back and closed my eyes. How had I fucked everything up so completely, and how could I try to make things right with Truman? Should I even try? Or would it be better for me to spare him… whatever this was… by keeping my distance?

I opened my eyes and prepared to stand up to face the music, but I saw Truman standing over me.

“I’m sorry,” I said with as much heartfelt sincerity as I could muster. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

A wrinkle of worry marred his smooth forehead just above the dark frame of his glasses. At first, I thought it was his concern that I might have another outburst. But then he stepped closer and crawled into my lap until he was straddling me. He slipped his arms around my neck and hugged me tightly.

I froze for a beat in shock before wrapping my arms around his slender body and letting myself exhale.

10

Truman

I’d heard it all. It had been easy to put together his mother’s words with the little bits I’d picked up from both Sam and Mikey about Sam’s past. She’d blatantly attempted to manipulate him, and it had made me want to spit fire in her general direction.

I’d felt so helpless. So I’d done what he’d done to me a few times already. I simply hugged him as hard as I could.

“I’m the one who’s sorry,” I said. “Sorry you’re trying to handle this from afar.”

“I’m trying not to handle it, though. That’s just it. And it makes me feel like a horrible person,” Sam said roughly, tightening his arms around me.

“Sometimes protecting yourself means you can’t keep protecting everyone else,” I said, as if I’d ever taken my own advice.

“Easier said than done,” he said with a soft laugh against my hair. I could have stayed like that all night in Sam’s arms out here on the patio, but I had to admit to wanting more. Lots more.

But then he threw a reality check at me like a dousing of cold water. “I’ll be back in Houston soon enough. I can deal with it then.”

“Yes. Right. Um, we should make dinner,” I said, pulling back. “Because I’m going to die of embarrassment when my stomach starts growling in front of you.”

Sam’s easy smile gave me an overwhelming feeling of relief. I knew he wasn’t going to be able to drop the stress of that phone call as easily as that, but maybe I could at least distract him for a while.

He stood up and let me slide down the firm front of his body until I stood on my own feet again. Then he leaned down and pressed a long kiss against the edge of my lips. “I’m definitely hungry, Truman,” he murmured.

My entire body shuddered because it was obvious he wasn’t only referring to the food.

“Yes,” I squeaked before clearing my throat. “Yes, well, then. Ha. Hoo-boy. Let’s cook, then. Dinner. Chicken. Dinner chicken. Chicken for dinner.”

Well, then.

Sam’s smile took away some of my nervous fluttering, and when I felt the solid warmth of his hand on my lower back, I forgot all about being a bumbling idiot.

I was a horny idiot.

While he continued to make dinner, I asked about his business back in Houston, what he liked about working in construction, and what his dream job would be if he could do anything.

“I actually love what I do. Building things. Fixing things. Working with my hands and spending the day with other hardworking people. It’s good. I think if I could change anything…” His voice trailed off while he focused on the food for a moment. “I guess I’d want to do those same things in a place I liked better than Houston. You know, it never occurred to me to ever leave, but now I see Mikey and Tiller and I see this place…”

“It’s very different from Houston,” I prompted.

He chuckled. “Yeah. Something about it…”

“Now you know why I came back.” I watched Sam’s face for his reaction.

Sam blinked up at me. “Yeah. I guess I do. It’s beautiful. Peaceful. I almost feel like Aster Valley is set outside of real life.”