Arizona Sunsets - Sam Hubbard

XXVII

"Look at you girls, both of you" Ava sighed as Ben's car pulled up in front of the restaurant and Ben got out, grinning, to greet Mia with a kiss while Liz was still on the lookout for Sam's car. He, too, should be arriving soon.

"You'll both be picked up by your men, while I snuggled up alone in my empty bed again tonight" she shook her head, but a smile spread across her lips. Of course she was happy for her two friends.

"Your time will come too" Ben patted her shoulder compassionately as he wrapped his arm around Mia and pulled her to him. "And until it does, we'll have no problem driving you home if you want a ride" he grinned at her.

Ava screwed up her face. "I really have to decide which cheesy shit I can stand longer, huh?" she asked, after Liz had also claimed a few minutes earlier that Sam would certainly have no problem driving her home.

She bit her lower lip as she looked back and forth between Liz and Ben. "Okay, I'll go with Ben. Sorry Liz, but somehow I think those two are more in control of themselves in front of others than you and Mr. NFL" she shrugged.

A smirk formed on Liz's face as she also shrugged. "I don't mind" she clarified, while at the same moment Sam's car came to a stop behind her.

He rolled down the window and smiled at Liz, who immediately turned to him, beaming, before waving to the others and greeting them with a few short words. "Ready to go?" he turned back to Liz, who just nodded before pulling her three friends into a hug and finally climbing into the car with Sam.

She had just closed the door behind her and buckled her seatbelt when Ava came running up to the car and leaned into the open window. "Hey Hubbard," she nodded to Sam. "Take care of her, okay? She's been drinking" she winked at him with a grin.

Liz rolled her eyes. "I've had two cocktails, so stop with the fatherly talk" she grinned. Ava laughed out loud. "Have fun you two, especially if you're showering again" a dirty grin spread across her face as Liz slapped a hand to her face and felt Sam's gaze on her.

"You're just impossible. Now go, I'm sure your cab is waiting for you" Liz nodded towards Ben's car that was parked in front of them before very slowly rolling up the window. As Sam pulled the car out, Ava waved after the two of them, grinning, until she finally got into the car with Ben and Mia.

"So you told them?" As soon as they were on the road Sam looked at her from the side, grinning. Liz immediately felt the blush rise to her face. "Maybe" she muttered softly, watching the houses that passed them by.

Sam's grin grew even bigger. "What did you tell them?" he asked with interest. "Everything" Liz admitted quietly before sighing loudly "And I'm really sorry. I'm not really a blabbermouth at all, especially since everything spreads so fast around here, but...I don't know, it just all slipped out like that" she sighed again.

"Slipped out like that?" Sam asked, amused. "What kind of topic did you guys have that you just slipped out what we did in the shower?" he just couldn't help grinning.

Liz blushed even more as she stammered quietly to herself. "Well...Ava made a joke about how I could pay for the first round because after all, I'm getting picked up by a millionaire later and then I jokingly said that it wouldn't change my bank balance when...when we do that in the shower and then I told them everything" she shrugged.

Sam laughed out loud. "Interesting" he grinned. "You're not mad though, are you?" Liz lifted her head and looked at him. Sam gave her a quick glance before focusing back on the road. "no, why would I be mad?"

"Well, because I'm just telling around such intimate details" Liz clarified. "First of all, these are your best friends and not some strangers you told and well, somehow I feel like I couldn't have been that bad if you told your friends, huh?" Sam grinned.

Liz laughed out loud. "Are you kidding? Weren't the noises I made enough proof of that?" she asked, laughing. Sam shrugged his shoulders. "It's always good to have multiple pieces of evidence. Fortifies the conviction."

Once they arrived at Liz's apartment, Sam immediately plopped down on her bed while Liz turned the TV so they could see the screen clearly as they lay in bed before quickly changing into sweatpants and a top and laying down next to Sam, who immediately pulled her into his arms.

Neither of them really paid attention to the movie that was playing in the background, because no sooner had Liz put the remote to the side than Sam pulled her even closer to him and placed his lips on hers.

The screen flickered unheeded in the background as Liz's slowly slid onto Sam's lap and slid her hands under his shirt. Her fingers were just running over the warm skin of his stomach when Sam suddenly broke the kiss and pushed Liz off of him.

"Not tonight" he cleared his throat before stroking his hair. Confused, Liz looked at him. "Are you okay?" she asked uncertainly. She had actually been pretty sure that Sam had been up for it too, especially considering what she had felt between her legs when she had been sitting on him.

Even now, the bulge could be clearly seen in Sam's pants as he quickly pulled the blanket over it and nodded. "Everything's okay. Just not tonight" he repeated as Liz slid away from him a bit and sat down cross-legged while nervously running her hands through her hair.

"Did...did I do something wrong?" she whispered softly. "Does it have anything to do with me talking to the others about it?" when Sam saw how unsettled and uncomfortable she suddenly seemed, his expression suddenly softened and lovingly he pulled her into her arms.

"Oh God, Liz, no. This has nothing to do with that at all, okay?" he pressed a kiss to her temple. "Then tell me what's going on" she pouted. Sam sighed before running his hand over his forehead.

"I resolved not to have sex with you today....because I didn't want you to think I was only seeing you because that's what I was after" he admitted. Liz looked at him in surprise. "But..." she stammered. "I...I didn't think that for a second" she stroked Sam's cheek.

Slowly he shrugged his shoulders. "I didn't want it to come across that way somehow. That's why I took it upon myself to do this today. Even if you don't exactly make it easy" he muttered.

Liz had to grin before she pressed a kiss to his lips. "You're one of the most caring people I've ever met. It would never have occurred to me that you were just using me for sex" she clarified before giving him another kiss and snuggling back into his arms.

"Well..." Sam breathed a kiss on her hair. "I'm enjoying every single second we spend together, by the way" he murmured into her hair. Smiling, Liz wrapped her arms, around his torso.

They were silent for the rest of the movie, watching the screen as they simply enjoyed the closeness. It was incredible. Liz felt safe, secure and happy like she hadn't in a long time.

As soon as the movie was over, Sam pulled her close, sighing. "I don't want to go" he whispered barely audible. giggling Liz laid her head on his chest and studied his face. "You don't have to. I told you, you can stay the night".

Sam contorted his face sadly. "That's not what I mean, Liz" he muttered. "I don't want to go back..." he kept talking, but Liz put her finger to his lips as her heart grew heavy. "Let's not even think about that, okay? Right now you're still here. Tonight you're here. Let's enjoy the time we have left, then we can think about what comes after."

Sam nodded as he pulled her face to his and placed his lips on hers. It was a sad kiss, passionate, a lot of emotion, yet sad. Because even though they had just decided not to think about it, the sadness, the uncertainty of whether this all had a future, hung in the air.

Sighing, Liz wrapped her arms around Sam as she gave herself fully to the kiss. Of course, she didn't want Sam to go back to Cincinnati either. For their time together to end, but she was also aware that there was nothing she could do about it.

Sam had a career, a life, a responsibility that he couldn't just give up in Cincinnati. Not as easily as she could give up hers here in Scottsdale. But was she really willing to give it all up for him? Was this really serious enough between them that she should at least give it a future beyond the two weeks?

WHO DEY 🧡