Arizona Sunsets - Sam Hubbard

XVI

Sighing, Liz turned off the first alarm clock that rang loudly the next morning and turned around again. She almost flinched when she crashed into a muscular naked chest.

Slowly the memories of last night came back and Liz had to admit that she was a little bit surprised that Sam next to her hadn't been just a dream. He looked damn hot, sighing softly in his sleep now, pulling Liz to him with the arm he'd had around her since they'd fallen asleep.

They'd snuggled together after sex and exchanged a few words before they'd both decided it was late enough and they'd better get some sleep. While Liz had slipped into her thong and oversized sleep shirt, Sam had just put on his boxers.

For that decision, Liz just sent a silent prayer to heaven, because being pressed against Sam's warm, bare chest early in the morning was a feeling she could get used to very quickly.

His face looked so peaceful, there was a slight smile on his lips while his eyes were shut tight. Liz also closed hers again and snuggled closer to Sam. She loved his smell, she had noticed that yesterday when they had danced together.

Now next to her in bed, Sam's smell acted like a sleeping drug, taking her back to the land of dreams in seconds....if it weren't for the alarm clock, which was now ringing for the second time, jolting her out of sleep again.

Sighing, she turned it off and decided to get up. Although there would be three more alarms until she actually had to get up for real, when she saw Sam still sleeping undisturbed next to her, she decided it wasn't worth the risk of waking him up, too.

Carefully removing Sam's arm from her waist, she slowly slipped out of the bathroom before fishing the rest of her clothes off the floor and grabbing her work clothes that were already laid out before tiptoeing into the bathroom.

She was in dire need of a shower to wash the traces of alcohol, dancing and sex off her. However, since time was running out for blow-drying, she decided to just wash her body. She would go to the gym later anyway, then she could wash her hair afterwards.

Smelling of her lavender shower gel, she slipped into her clothes, brushed her teeth and tied her hair into a high braid before putting on her makeup and leaving the bathroom again as quietly as possible.

She had just closed the bathroom door behind her when Sam suddenly turned in bed. "Liz?" he mumbled sleepily, and Liz almost slid down the wall at the sound of his raspy morning voice. Quickly, she cleared her throat. "yes?"

"What are you doing? Come back to bed" Sam mumbled sighing and tapping the mattress. One side of Liz would have loved to rip off her clothes and hop back into bed, but her responsible side got the better of her.

"I'm sorry. I have to go to work" she stood in front of the bed and looked apologetically at Sam, who couldn't even fully open his eyes from tiredness. In reply, he only made unintelligible, slouching noises.

"You can stay here as long as you want, though. Go ahead and sleep a little more. You can take a shower and see if you can find something to eat in my kitchen. Just pull the door shut behind you when you leave, okay?" Liz asked as she grabbed her bag and stuffed a few things inside.

"Alright" Sam made a sighing sound as he snuggled against the pillow. "I'll see you later at eight. I still want my coffee" he stated with his eyes closed, which made Liz smirk.

"Of course, see you later" she said goodbye but stayed in front of the bed for a moment. The sight of Sam made it really hard not to consider just staying here. Quickly shaking the thought out of her head, she grabbed her keys and left her apartment.

• • •

"Say, wasn't handsome out with you guys yesterday?" Charlotte asked as they got past the first stream of guests and Liz came back behind the counter from her little breakfast from the storage.

"yeah, why do you ask?" Liz asked as she washed her hands and tied her apron back around her hips. "oh, just out of interest" Charlotte mumbled before looking at Liz with a big grin on her face. "You guys fucked, right?"

Caught, Liz turned away so Charlotte couldn't see the blush rise to her face. Quickly, she cleared her throat. "I...I don't know where you got that idea!" she lied, quickly grabbing a couple of dirty cups to put in the dishwasher, but Charlotte, of course, wasn't about to let her off the hook so quickly.

"Come on, his car has been parked in front of the store the whole time. Are you really going to tell me he's not in your apartment? You want me to go up and knock?" she raised an eyebrow questioningly as she tried to suppress her grin as Liz's face got even redder.

"Okay, yes, he's in my apartment and he slept there. But we didn't sleep together" Liz tried to talk her way out of it. "If that's true, you're the dumbest person I know, Liz. You have a hottie like that in your apartment and you don't take advantage of it, really?" Charlotte thrust her hands on her hips, shaking her head.

"Besides, I know your apartment. No way handsome has room to sleep on your sofa, so he definitely slept in your bed and I'm pretty sure he wasn't wearing anything, just like you" Charlotte looked at Liz expectantly.

Sighing, Liz lowered the cup she was about to put in the dishwasher. Charlotte wouldn't give up until she knew the truth, and why should she hide it? She had slept with Sam, so what? It wasn't a crime...rather the opposite.

"Honestly, we were wearing a bit of clothes again to sleep" Liz admitted quietly. "Meaning...?" Charlotte's eyes got all big while her mouth dropped open so wide Liz was afraid she might dislocate her jaw.

"Sam and I slept together" Liz confirmed nodding. Delighted, Charlotte clapped her hands before doing a pirouette. "I knew it. I knew there was going to be more going on between you two. Now tell me, what was it like?" she asked curiously.

"I'll only tell you if you promise me that afterwards, when he comes to get his coffee, you won't say, do, or even think about anything, absolutely anything at all, promise? I don't want it to come across like I'm bragging or anything, okay?" Liz raised a warning finger.

"Well, honestly, you'd have every right to brag about it. Just imagine how the old folks would shoot their mouths off about it" Charlotte's grin immediately disappeared from her face when she saw Liz's serious look. Sighing, she raised her pinky finger in Liz's direction. "I promise" she said as Liz hooked her pinky finger with Charlotte.

"Now tell me." Charlotte urged her to talk. "How was it?" Liz thought for a moment before shrugging her shoulders. "It was...nice" she mumbled. "Nice? That's the only thing you say about it? That's what you say about your first kiss with some weirdo you go to high school with, not about sex with handsome" Charlotte was totally outraged.

"Okay, okay" Liz reassured her before running her hand over her forehead. "It was...just amazing. He was so tender, so loving and...I don't know, I've never felt so safe and secure" she recounted.

"well there you go" satisfied Charlotte grinned at her. "I knew it must have been good. handsome looks like a man who knows what he's doing" she clarified. "Oh, he really does" Liz replied with a grin.

Work out starts again and there's a chance that we get bengals content again, wuhuuuuu

WHO DEY 🧡