Page 36 of Always Love You More

Sam shifts in her seat, twisting a ring on her finger. “Are you asking me?”

“I’m asking both of you.”

I’m about to say no when Sam answers, “Sure. I’ll just have to ask my brother.”

Billy knows he has me. “Jameson?” he prompts.

“Yeah, I’ll go.”

He slaps me on the back. “Sweet!”

The side door creaks open, and my father walks through with Luke behind him. Sam immediately drops her feet from the desk before Luke stops in front of it.

My father strides past us without a word.

I turn toward Luke for an explanation, but he subtly shakes his head. He pastes a smile on his face and says, “I’m ordering pizza to celebrate Sam’s first day.”

“Oh, you don’t have to do that,” she tells him.

“I want to,” he answers. “Now, I know you boys want pepperoni.” He looks over at Sam. “What toppings do you like?”

“Just cheese is fine,” she says. “Or I can have pepperoni. I’m not picky.”

Luke watches her like he doesn’t believe her answer, but he doesn’t push it. “What about your brother?”

“Johnny will eat anything.”

“Okay, pepperoni it is then.”

“Thank you,” she breathes.

“No, thank you.” He motions toward the computer. “You’re a fast learner. I can already tell having you here is going to help out a lot.”

She fidgets under his compliment, like she isn’t used to receiving them.

How can someone like her not be used to getting compliments?

Luke calls in the order then looks between me and Billy. “Can you boys come give me a hand in the garage?”

We both nod and start to follow him out. Once I reach the door, I quickly look over my shoulder at Sam and find her already watching me. Instead of dropping her eyes, she keeps them fixed on mine.

God, she’s beautiful.

I hear Billy call my name and reluctantly turn away from her.

Chapter 11

Jameson

We’reallgatheredaroundthe table in the break room with open pizza boxes laid out in front of us. Sam is next to her brother, and I’m between Marcus and my father, with Luke and Billy across from me. Luke and my father won’t even look at each other. I’m not sure what’s going on there, and I honestly don’t want to know. It’s not uncommon for them to act this way. They always get over it sooner or later.

It’s hard to believe they’re brothers, that they were raised in a house with the same parents. How can two people who grew up together turn out so differently?

Sam sits back as everyone fights for a slice. Once all of us have taken a piece, she grabs one for herself.

The first few minutes are filled with silence, and not the comfortable kind. Eventually, Luke speaks up, trying to cut through the tensions like he always does. “Noticed you were reading,” he says to Sam.

She bounces her eyes from Luke to her brother then back to Luke again. “Oh, I’m sorry,” she pushes out.