Fuck. I’m messing this up all over again.
“This is bomb,” Orion says around a mouthful.
“Don’t you want any?” Mrs. Cartwright asks me.
“I sure do.”
“Stella, honey,” her mom prompts.
“What?” The little she-devil looks from her mom to me. “He’s a big boy.”
Her dad laughs from deep in his belly. Michael Cartwright’s a big man. Quiet but with a heart of gold. And Stella is his baby girl through and through. That man would lay waste to entire cities to protect her.
But somehow, I get the distinct idea he’d be okay with the idea of us together.
In fact, sometimes it even felt like he was trying to push us together over the years.
He even tried getting me to take Stella to her junior prom, but we both shrugged it off since I was over the age limit.
“It’s fine,” I murmur, serving myself the last slice, which is noticeably smaller than everyone else’s.
“Stella, what’s gotten into you?”
“I don’t know what you mean.” But the devious curl of her plump lips tells me she knows exactly what her mother means.
“You’re being rude to Samson.” She gives Stella a disapproving look. “He’s a guest in our home.”
“Hardly!” Stella gasps out on a laugh. “He’s basically a member of the family.”
“Stella!”
“Nope.” She pushes her chair back from the table again. “I’m gonna get a head start on the dishes so I can head back to campus.”
Mrs. C hesitates before eventually nodding. Her indecision is written all over her face. Stella’s always been the baby and I know it’s hard for Lizzie and Michael to let their daughter spread her wings.
Stella presses a quick kiss to her mom’s cheek before gathering the plates from the table and hightailing it to the kitchen.
As soon as she’s out of sight, I shove what’s left of my pie into my mouth, swallowing in two rough gulps. “I’ll help.”
Orion smirks. “Well, since y’all have that handled, I’m gonna head out. I’ve got an early morning.” He hugs his mom and gives his dad a slap on the back before heading out the door, hollering a bye Smalls over his shoulder to his sister.
“I can take care of those—” Lizzie starts, but I wave off her concern.
“It’s the least I can do.” Not to mention, I’m desperate to get your daughter alone.
“Are you sure?”
“Let the boy help if he wants,” Michael says. “Plus, I was thinking we could go for ice cream, just the two of us.”
Mrs. C’s eyes twinkle. “That does sound nice.”
“Good, let’s go.”
I linger in the dining room while Mr. and Mrs. Cartwright tell Stella they’re leaving, hoping that she’ll think she’s alone.
Something tells me I’m going to need the element of surprise to get her to listen.
“No good stupid jerk,” she mutters, plunging her hands into the soapy water filling the sink, as I watch from the doorway.
I approach the kitchen like one would a wild animal—calm and quiet—because if there’s one thing I know about Stella, it’s that she has claws when she’s mad.
And my Luna is fucking furious.
I creep quietly, until I’m right behind her, gripping the lip of the sink on either side of her petite body, caging her in.
“What do you want?” she asks, not even remotely surprised to find me behind her.
“To talk.”
“Oh, right.” She rolls her eyes. “We’re alone now.”
“Stella.”
“Samson.”
“Please?”
She whips around to face, a feat in and of itself in the narrow gap between my chest and the counter. She shoves at my chest with her sudsy hands. “Why should I?”
“Because—”
“Oh my God, save it.” Her eyes brim with tears. “This is what you always do. You reel me in and then just leave me on the hook. I’m tired of it.”
“I know.” I stare down at her, willing her to see how much I mean it. “I know you’re tired of it and I know you deserve better—”
“Then give it to me, Samson. Because I’m worth more than scraps.”
“I know.” God, do I know. I’ve been in love with her since before she was even legal. And yet, now that she is, I’m shooting myself in the foot over and over. “One more chance?”
“Give me a good reason, because from my point of view, I’m struggling to see the upside.”
As quick as lightning, I release the counter with my right hand and tunnel my fingers into her long hair. I tug her face up to mine and press my lips against hers in a hard, searing kiss.
Like always, my sweet Stella parts her lips for me.
I pour everything I feel for her into my kiss. My longing, my love, my desire—I give it all to her with my lips, teeth, and tongue.
“Samson,” she moans my name as she practically climbs me, wrapping her arms around my neck and her legs around my waist.
I spin us, hoisting her against the island for leverage, dragging my lips away from hers to kiss down the slender line of her neck.