Chapter Fifty-Two
It was well past midnight by the time Maisa made it back to Sam’s cabin and all the windows were dark. She sat in Stu’s borrowed pickup for a moment, gathering her nerve. The sled dogs were gone, the other vehicles missing. Only Sam’s big truck sat in the driveway. As far as she could see everyone else had gone home.
It was just the two of them now.
Okay. She could do this.
Maisa got out of the truck and trudged up the drive to the door. She’d swiped one of the spare keys on the hook by the door when she’d left for the hospital, and now she tried it in the lock.
The key turned easily and she opened the door to find Otter dancing on the other side, his tail wagging madly.
“I’ve only been gone a couple of hours,” Maisa whispered to him, but his enthusiastic greeting made her feel better.
That is until she looked up and found Otter’s owner staring at her. Sam wore a pair of boxer briefs and nothing else. Well, beside the gun he held by his side. “What’re you doing here, May?”
Maisa carefully hung the keys by the front door. “I wanted to talk to you.”
He gave her a look and then turned and walked back upstairs.
At least he hadn’t tossed her out. She shed her coat and boots and followed him up. Otter, too.
When she got to his bedroom, he’d donned his jeans and turned on the lamp. He was sitting, propped up on the bed’s headboard. “Why’d you leave without talking to me, May?”
“Because I was scared.” She shifted from one foot to another, then thought, The hell with it, and crossed to sit on the bed next to him. “You have to understand, I’ve only had my mother and Dyadya for such a long time… it’s like I’ve forgotten how to let other people in.”
He didn’t say anything, just watched her.
She inhaled. “And I was ashamed of how I treated you this morning. I… I didn’t trust you to save Dyadya. I stole the diamonds—or thought I did.”
He looked away at that. “Yeah, well, I guess I see it from the other end: I took the diamonds from you because I didn’t trust you not to do something stupid.”
She winced at the stupid but raised her chin. “And you were right. I betrayed your trust.”
“Did you?” For the first time he smiled, a small, wry twist of his lips. “Here’s the thing: I don’t know if I consider it a betrayal for you to love your uncle so much that you did everything in your power to save him. Sure, if you were a heroine in some old movie, one that never swore and never did anything wrong at all, then it might be a betrayal. But you’re not some made-up character. You’re May, sweet and sharp and abrasive and gentle and real.” He took a breath, running his hand through his short hair. “Maybe I’m the one in the wrong. I almost let my rage at Beridze, my wrong-headedness over not letting him get those damned diamonds, get the better of me.” He looked up at her. “It was never the diamonds, May, you know that, right? I love you. That was the only thing I could think about out there on that ice. I love you and I’d let Beridze walk away a thousand times over if—”
But she couldn’t wait to let him finish. Maisa launched herself at him, catching his face, pulling it to hers. “I love you.” She kissed him, trying to convey all the power of her emotion, because three simple words weren’t going to do it.
He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her tight, his face angling under hers, his lips hot and possessive.
When she pulled back to gasp for breath, he made to chase her lips, but she placed her fingers on his mouth, forestalling him. “I need to tell you. I’ve stopped running, Sam. I’m going to stay here and stick it out for whatever this is between us, but I know I’m not going to get any easier. I’ve got a temper and I’m going to say or do the wrong thing sometime in the future, and I’m sorry—”
But he was already shaking his head. “As long as you stay. As long as you let me talk it out with you. We’re going to be good.”
“No,” she whispered against his lips. “We’re going to be wonderful.”