Free A Dream to Cling To by Sally Goldenbaum Page B

gently beneath her chin.
    She took a tiny bite, looking over the onion ring at Sam. The faint stirring was back. And the rushing warmth in her arms and legs as well as other places she dared not think about right now. She swallowed the bite of onion.
    He wiped a tiny crumb of batter from the corner of her mouth with his finger. Her lips were petal-soft and he could barely keep from tasting them right there in the middle of Jake’s Burger Shop. His chest was tight and the only thing in the room that he could see with clarity were Brittany’s lovely green eyes.
    The heat in the small booth was enough to keep her warm for the whole winter, Brittany decided hazily.She loved the feel of his finger on her lips, but she pulled his hand away, holding it between hers, so she could talk. “Thank you for bringing me here,” she said huskily.
    His laughter warmed her even more. “I don’t quite know how it happened, how we ended up here, but it was a nice journey. I suppose everyone should visit Shadyside at least once.”
    She nodded solemnly. “Not to mention sampling a side of beef.”
    Sam glanced up at the clock behind her. Nearly seven-thirty. Where do they go from here? He and this lovely, flowering woman who was spinning a web clear around him. He couldn’t leave her, that he felt in every part of himself. Not quite seven-thirty. Thursday evening. Thursday evening! He threw his head back and groaned painfully. “Oh, Brittany …”
    “Sam!” Startled, she sat upright. “What is it?”
    “
It
is Uncle Felix Winters.”
    She looked frantically around the empty shop. “Uncle Felix? Sam, what are you talking about?”
    “I have an appointment tonight to talk to your uncle Felix about the game. I don’t understand it. I don’t usually forget appointments.”
    She let out a sigh of relief. “Sam, don’t scare me like that. What time is your meeting?”
    “Eight-thirty. At his men’s club.”
    She slid out of the booth, her mind trying to collect and control the unleashed feelings still floating freely inside of her. A rush of disappointment washed through her. She’d wanted the day to go on and on and on. She didn’t want to think rationally, she just wanted to feel, because the way Sam made her feel was delicious and sweet and she couldn’t seem to get enough of it. Her eyes met his and she knew it flowed out easily, what she felt. It was plain and simple. She wanted the feeling to grow until it exploded. She wanted Sam to make love to her.
    “Would he understand if I had a sudden case of yellow fever and rescheduled?” Sam’s voice was husky.
    She shook her head slowly. “No, Sam, not Uncle Felix. One
never
breaks an appointment with Uncle Felix.” She tore her gaze from him and walked toward the door.
    “Not even for emergencies?” He was right behind her and his breath was warm on her neck. “I don’t think our day is over, Brittany … I’d like to spend more time with you.”
    Her hand was on the door and her heart was somewhere high up inside her, beating rapidly. She turned slowly and managed a smile that matched nothing she felt. “Sam, I was late once for a meeting with Uncle Felix … an appointment I had … to sell him girl scout cookies.”
    He slipped his hands into her hair and held her head back so he could see her face. “And …?”
    “And … he reported the tardiness to the National Council of Scouting … for my own good …”
    Sam bent and kissed away the ending of her words, his lips blotting out all sound except heartbeats and the dim noise of traffic in the background. Finally he pulled away and looked up, just as the round clock down the street began to fill the air with ringing bongs. Small groups of men moved along the street, jacket collars lifted to ward off the night chill.
    Brittany looked after them, then reached up and stroked his cheek. “Poker, Sam. It’s not for us. Come, Uncle Felix is waiting.”

Five

    The next afternoon Brittany stood in front