...
That night, in the midst of all of the sleepover commotion, Samara took the opportunity to sneak away from Zen and her rowdy friends. As she quietly walked the hallway with a glass of wine in her hand she was startled by Zay. "Going somewhere?" he asked from behind her. She jumped and turned around.
"Damn it Zay," she whispered. "You scared me." She looked down at her shirt. "And you made me spill my wine. Fuck."
"Oh. Damn. My fault," he said taking the glass from her hand. "Come with me. Let me get you another shirt." Zay grabbed her hand and pulled her up another flight of stairs to his bedroom. When he opened up the door he revealed a beautiful living room area with two couches, a reclining chair, a coffee table, and a mounted flat screen TV. As he led her through his space they passed a full size bathroom, a cozy work space, his actual bedroom, and then his closet.
"Zay, your room is insane. Why the hell do you ever leave it?" Samara joked.
"Psh. I know right," he smiled. He headed over to his closet and walked inside. "Mar, you don't have to stand over there. Come in," he said motioning for her to join him. She walked inside and looked around wide eyed while Zay continued to rummage through the drawers.
"You know I could've just went to my room and grabbed another shirt? You don't really have to go through all this trouble."
"Yeah, but that's on the other side of the house. My room was closer." He pulled out a shirt. "Here you can put this on," he said handing it to her. Samara unfolded the shirt and held it up in front of her. She laughed when she saw the name of his high school printed on the front and his basketball jersey number on the back.
"Wow. I get the honor of wearing your former number. You must really fuck with me," she laughed.
"On some true blue shit," he grinned. "You're the first girl to wear it."
Samara smiled in his direction. "This shirt?"
"Yeah, and my jersey number," he said looking at her.
"So, are you saying that I'm special?" she teased.
"Oh, no doubt," he grinned, playfully swiping her chin.
"Well that's good to know," she beamed. "Thanks for the shirt superstar. I think I'll keep it."
"Yeah that's pretty on brand for you," he chuckled. "Ar'ight. Now that I gotchu straight imma go 'head and step out while you change," he said nodding his head towards the door. "Come find me when you done."
"Okay. I'll only be a sec." As soon as Zay shut the door behind him Samara pulled her shirt over her head and mindlessly let it fall to the floor. As she pulled Zay's shirt down over her body she stood in front of the closet mirror enjoying the look of it on her. It hung just a few inches below her hips, covering half the length of the shorts she was wearing. Samara thought it was fine. As long as she was comfortable she was cool. Grabbing her shirt from off the floor, she headed to the door. "Zay!" she called out.
"I'm out here," he said from the couch. Samara walked out into the living room area to join him. When Zay saw her in his old shirt he had a hard time looking away, but when he did, it was only so that he wouldn't be caught staring.
"Hey," Samara said plopping down beside him. Zay sat his phone on the table.
"Hey yourself," he smiled back. Samara nudged him and took a look at what was on the coffee table in front of her.
"Zay, whatchu got going on? What's all this about?" She grabbed the bottle of white wine off of the table and read its French name. "Chateau d'Yquem. Oh. This is the good stuff."
"Just something I thought you could enjoy since I spilled yours. Sorry about that."
"It's no problem," she said pulling out the glass wine stopper. Zay put his hand over top of hers and insisted that he pour the wine instead. Samara didn't fight him on it as he took the bottle from her hands.
"I can always count on y'all to put me on to the best wine out here," she grinned. "I can't wait to try this one."
"What can I say? We got good taste."
"And I am so grateful," she laughed as Zay handed her a glass. "Thanks." She eagerly inhaled the aroma before taking a sip. "Hm," she said with closed eyes, "This is so good." When she opened them she gave the wine a chef kiss.
"I knew you'd like it," Zay grinned. "I bought it with you in mind."
"Wait. What?"
"Yeah," he grinned. "That's what I said." Zay looked over at her and laughed. "I bought it on the last family trip to Paris. I've had it for about two years now just waitin' for you, but you took forever to fly out so it's just been sitting in the wine cellar."
"Wow! That was so thoughtful of you. Thank you Zay!" Samara felt giddy. "You are literally the best," she cheesed.
"You know. I had to make sure I got only the best for you."
"Okay. I see you might know a lil suntin suntin about me," she laughed.
"Yeah, I might," he grinned and then, as if to slow down his feelings of desire, he took a slow sip from his own glass. Samara looked at him and sat her glass down on the table.
"Well, speaking of how well you know me," she smiled. "I never got a chance to say thank you."
"For what?" Zay asked curiously.
Samara tucked one leg under her and positioned her body to face his. "For trying to help me out earlier. Your efforts did not go unnoticed," she smiled. "I owe you one."
"Well I have to admit that my intentions weren't completely selfless."
Samara raised her brow at him. "Oh really," she smirked. "Then what were they?"
"An excuse to spend more time with you."
Samara could feel herself blushing. "Zay, you don't need an excuse to hang out with me."
"Well. There's a little more to it than that," he said reaching out to touch her. Samara looked down at their hands and watched as Zay slowly intertwined his fingers with hers. Her heart began to flutter. She returned her gaze back to Zay when she felt his eyes on her. "I like you Samara—a lot—and I would really love to take you out."
Samara was visibly trying to wrap her head around what he had just said. "Wha—like...like a date? Really?" Samara was both surprised and flattered by his confession.
Zay nodded his head. "Yes. Like a date," he chuckled. "That's not a problem, is it?"
"No," she said softly, "Not at all." Samara smiled up at him. "It's sweet and also...very you."
"Sooo," he said moving his body closer to hers, "I was thinking that since tonight is clearly out, how about tomorrow night at eight? You free?"
"I'm free," Samara smiled. "Eight sounds good."
"Then it's settled," he said in a low voice, his eyes searching hers. Samara's heart was now beating fast. She knew what would happen next if Zay kept looking at her the way that he was, and as if he could read her thoughts, Zay scooted his body closer to hers and watched her face for a sign to kiss her. He sat so close to her that his breath became hers. Samara's eyes wandered down to Zay's lips and before she could even stop herself she leaned in and kissed him slowly. Zay immediately placed his hand at her neck to bring her closer and matched her slow pace. Her kisses were as he imagined them, sweet and soft. When they had been kissing for a few minutes Zay pulled back. He didn't want to go too far if she didn't want to.
"Is this okay? Should we stop?" he whispered.
"It's fine. Don't stop," Samara uttered softly as she leaned back in to kiss him. Her hands slowly scaled up the sides of Zay's body before slipping under his shirt and letting her hands roam everywhere. Zay couldn't help but break out into a smile in the middle of their kiss. This moment was perfect. Samara smiled back feeling encouraged to go further, and climbed into his lap. Her hands ran down his chest, to his stomach, and then to the waistband of his sweatpants.
"Wait. Wait. Wait," Zay said stopping her again. His breathing was heavy. "Are you sure you wanna do this? Cuz once we go there we can't take it back."
Samara nodded her head. "Yes," she said breathlessly. Not needing to be convinced any further, Zay wrapped an arm around her waist and picked her up. He laid Samara down on the couch and placed his body in between her legs. Not wanting this feeling to end Samara wrapped her legs around Zay's waist and pulled his body closer to hers.
"They look weird. How come they don't hug standing up?"
"I think they're kissing," a little voice snickered.
"Shhh. Be quiet or they'll hear us," the other small voice cautioned.
"Bailey. Blair. What are y'all doing in Uncle Zay's room?" a guy said from outside the door. He walked in to get them, but stopped in his tracks when he saw Zay in an intimate embrace. "Oh shit. I mean shoot. My bad," he said quickly grabbing the girls. Zay recognized the voice as his older brother's and broke away from Samara who quickly sat up.
"Ooh. I'm telling mommy you said a bad word. You gotta put money in the swear jar," one of the little girls said. Her dad ignored her comment. "Bailey. Blair. Go downstairs with mommy. Tell her I'll be down there in a sec."
"Okay daddy. Come on Blair," Bailey said grabbing her sister's hand. The girls giggled and ran out of the room.
"Sorry about that Zay. I turned away for one second and they ended up down here."
"Izzy, what are you doing here so soon? We weren't expecting y'all for another two days."
"I know, but they were talking about a possible snow storm on the day we were planning to fly down and we didn't want to take the risk of being stuck at the airport, so we switched flights."
"Aw man. That would've been bad. And with two kids? Sheesh."
"Right, and with Demi being pregnant that would've been too much."
"How many months is she again? Five?"
"Yep," Izzy said nodding his head, "I don't know what we gonna do when baby boy gets here."
"Spoil him just like y'all do Bailey and Blair." They both laughed. "Anyway," Zay said shaking his head, "I guess introductions should be made. Issac this is my best friend Sam, Sam this is my older brother Issac, but around here he's just Izzy." Samara tried to hide her embarrassment.
"Hey," she smiled. "Sorry you had to witness that."
"Mmhm. Best friend my ass. You my sis-in-law now," he teased. "Who you know kiss their friends like that? That's how I kiss my wife, shoot. That's why she pregnant with baby number three." The three of them laughed. "But nah forreal, do'neven worry bout it Sam. As far as I'm concerned I ain't seen a thing."
Samara gave a small laugh. "Well, thank you. I appreciate that."
"Don't mention it," he grinned. "Ar'ight imma get outchy'all way. Zay holla at me later, a'ight," he said heading for the door. "Nice meeting you Sam."
"Ar'ght bro."
"Bye," Samara added. "You too."
When Izzy left Samara turned to look at Zay. "Well that was fun while it lasted."
"Who said we had to stop," Zay grinned. He playfully kissed her neck.
Samara playfully swatted him away and fixed herself up. "I probably should head back down to the girls."
"Wait," Zay said catching her hand, "meet me back here later." Samara picked up her wine glass and finished what was left.
"Okay," she grinned. She leaned over and kissed his lips. "I'll see you later."
...
