Sam Cortland Lived

Chapter 14

Sam spent the next couple weeks falling more and more in love with Rome. They spent every spare second they could together when they weren't being whisked away by the others. Sam had spent a lot of that time in the training room learning from Aedion and Lorcan. Lysandra even joining them a few times and getting on Lorcan's nerves heavily by randomly shifting into fly and buzzing around his head. He was so proud to see how far she had and he was specifically happy to see her with Aedion. Meanwhile Rowan and Aelin had left shortly after rescuing Rome to go to Eyllwe to retrieve the third part of the cadre, Fenrys. Sam had heard many delightful stories of the fae male and was surprisingly excited to see him. In fact he was excited to see all of Aelins new friends who would be coming to the celebration this weekend. The scary witch with moon white hair however he could wait a little while longer to reconcile with. Rowan and Aelin would be coming back today with only 3 days to go until the celebration to spare. Luckily Rome and Elide had done a fantastic job of planning the entire event. Sam was delighted to see Rome getting alone with Elide so well. Who was beginning to show a little more every day. Sam had to admit it was quite amusing to see how Lorcan fussed over her. Going as far to carry her to and from dinner in his own arms. Now in the their shared room, helping Rome pick a color of curtains for the welcoming ceremony in the streets for the first of the guests who would be arriving tomorrow he was debating doing the same and carrying her around the room just to see the smile on her face.

"Quit staring at me like that, its weird." Rome said laughing as Sam tried to turn his focus to the curtains... and failed.

"I can't help it, your a little distracting." Sam said sliding around his side of the table and pulling Rome into his arms.

She stared up into his eyes looking as lost as he was as she muttered "We really need to decide on a color."

Sam didn't break her stare as he nodded his head absently. He didn't care about the curtain color not when she was standing this close. He glanced down at her lips. She seemed to understand his look and began to lean in. Sam's heart began pounding on his chest as he closed his eyes. His lips had barely brushed hers when she jumped back letting a little gasp escape her.

Sam growled looking down at what had interrupted them. Rowan peered up at him his tail wiggling swiftly behind his small body. Rome laughed and dissolved all of Sam's frustration with it. She bent down to pick up Rowan and Sam rushed forward scooping them both up. Rome whooped with surprise and kicked her legs.

"Sam! Put us down." She said between laughs. He savored the look on her face as he threw them onto the bed and jumped on a moment later himself. They laughed as the dog climbed over them both barking as he paused to lick their faces. Before Sam knew it Rome had rolled over onto him. Now as their faces were inches apart he studied her pine green eyes. The way they could look past all that he was on the outside and to who he was underneath. And whatever they saw there they did not shrink away. She closed them then and bent down to kiss them. This time they were not interrupted.

Sam would never get over how it felt to kiss her. It managed to take his breath away and yet at the same time allow him to breathe like he had been under water his whole life. He tightened his arms around her waste pushing her over to where she was now on her back. His hands ran up her back finding their way into her hair as she ran her own hand over his back. The touch sending shivers over his entire body. Before long she had managed to remove his shirt while he had untied the ribbons holding her simple pale green dress together. They had never gone this far and frankly Sam didn't know what to do next. He had never been with a woman before and he doubted Rome had been with a man from what he knew about her childhood. Luckily she must have had the same idea as she pulled away breathing heavily.

"Maybe we should slow down?" Sam asked tucking a strand of hair sticking to cheek now bright pink.

"Sam, I've never you know-" She gestured to them both and his shirt lying on the floor.