Only You (Stevens Book 12)

Chapter 9

When Sam had finished his workout, he climbed the stairs to the main living area and found Mave looking despondent as she stared at something on the stove. Curious, he walked over to her, grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge before he peered over her shoulder.

"I tried. I really did. I wanted to make you a delicious dinner." Mave pushed the pan covered in some kind of blackened goo to the back of the stove.

"I see you inherited your mother's cooking gift," Sam joked as he took a long gulp of water, watching Mave exhale dramatically, enjoying how the movement affected her chest. "I'm afraid to ask what it was going to be?"

"It was supposed to be orange chicken." Mave walked into the living room and fell onto the couch with a bounce. "How do you know my mom can't cook!" She demanded.

Sam picked up the spoon, which had hardened to the pan in the minute since Mave had pushed it away. He knew he would have to throw away the pan and the spoon. Taking another sip of water, he followed Mave into the living room, sitting on the ottoman across from her.

"I remember that she was babysitting all of us once, and she tried to make cookies. I was so excited, but when she pulled them from the oven, they were little black bricks. We can go out to dinner if you like, or I can pick something up?"

"I don't think I'm up to going out. Could we order in again?" Mave shook her head.

"The few good restaurants on the island are locally owned and only have pickup, but I don't mind. I do it most nights." Sam finished his water.

"Alright, you pick. It's the least I can do since you're going to get it," Mave offered.

"That's big of you," Sam said, amused. Most people found Mave's selfishness trying, but Sam had always found it amusing. She always gave when it counted, just not so much on the little things. Although, he had a feeling that it was rapidly changing. She had had to grow up quickly in the last few months.

He stood up and leaned over her, giving her a quick kiss before he went to shower and change. It only took him half an hour before he was on his way to one of his favorite restaurants. He purposely didn't order ahead of time so he could get a drink and watch a little of the game while he waited.

Being in the same house with Mave and sharing a bed without being able to make love to her was proving harder than he had imagined. He understood that she wasn't ready, and if he had to guess, it was because of her scars. She didn't want him to see them. So half an hour to decompress from both work and Mave would greatly help his frustration levels.

Sam walked into the bar at the seafood restaurant, recognizing the usual neighborhood faces, and sat in his favorite place in front of the large-screen television.

"Hey, Doc. What can I get you?" The waitress, Tammy, asked. She was a skinny blond who liked to wear short shorts and tank tops no matter how cold the weather was. She was also the kid sister of one of his childhood friends.

"Hey, Tam. Can I have an order of two hamburgers with fries and a buffalo shrimp to go?"

"To go? That's a lot of food? Do you have company?" Tammy wrote the order down before she pulled him a beer. He always got the same thing, so she didn't have to ask.

"Yep, an old friend is staying with me," Sam said off-handedly as his attention was sucked into the football game on the television.

"Lucky, friend." Tammy grinned as she walked away. He and Tammy were always sharing fun and flirty banter, but they both knew that as the sister of a friend, she was off limits. Not that he was interested because Mave had always been the only one for him.

"He Sam!" Carey, a nurse from the hospital, greeted him as she sat on the stool next to him. She had started only a few months earlier, so he didn't know her very well yet. She was a cute brunette. "I'm here with some of the girls, and they bet me I wouldn't come say hello." Corey stirred her cocktail with the stirrer provided.

Sam, who was taught manners at his mother's knee, tore his attention from the screen and turned to Carey with a pleasant smile before looking over his shoulder at the group of young nurses sitting at one of the high-top tables in the corner. He lifted his beer and gave them a nod and a smile.

"I hate to think that anyone is afraid to say hello to me," Sam said more for something to say than because he meant it.

His phone alerted him to a text, and he looked down at it.

"Is the food ready?" Mave asked.

No." he responded.

"I have it on good authority that you're flirting with women and drinking beer instead of bringing me my food.

"I can't help it if the girls love me."

A little quick banter with Mave made his day every time.

Sam set his phone down and turned to Carey. "Sorry, that was my girlfriend. She's impatient for dinner." Then he let his eyes scan the restaurant, unable to identify anyone who would tattle on him to Mave.

The word girlfriend was like a magic charm and Carey mumbled something about seeing him at work the next day before she moved off to tell her friends that Dr. Sam Evers had a girlfriend. She might be disappointed that she struck out with a doctor, but she at least learned some juicy gossip from the encounter.

It would be all over the hospital the next day, and the thought made Sam smile. He had been waiting to officially call Mave his girlfriend for a long time.

"I just told all the women flocking to me that my girlfriend was waiting at home, so they needed to leave me alone," Sam texted Mave.

Sam waited, his heart racing, as the dots on the screen that told him she was typing something appeared and then disappeared a few times.

          "Good!"

Sam let the breath he hadn't realized he had been holding go in a long exhale.

          "Now, bring me my food! I'm getting hangry, and it's almost half-time. You can come back then and finish watching the game here."

Oh yes, he was definitely in love with Mave Stevens, who knew him better than anyone.