The hike - closed to Roosevelt

[starting_over]

True to her word, Samantha had forced herself to keep a slow, steady pace on the hike. No matter how many times Roosevelt got ahead of her, she continued without trying to speed up to catch him. To the man's credit, as soon as he'd noticed, he slowed himself to match hers.

He got points for that. And for not teasing her for moving at the same speed as his grandmother, or some similar poke-disguised-as-a-joke. He'd just shifted his walking speed, and continued talking about what they were seeing on the hike itself, others he'd been on, or other generalities since hiking and talking weren't things she could do at the same time.

Then, finally, they stepped into a clearing and Sam gasped when she saw where they were.

"Wow. Its...it's beautiful."

Comments

[comeonbro]

"You have incredibly high standards that I can only hope to meet, but I'll do my best."

Actually, Roosevelt had fallen asleep during a date before and the result had not been pretty. People only liked that you were heroic when it meant you didn't doze off while they were talking to you. That was rather rude no matter what your profession.

"Are you telling me that's what you eat for dinner?" Roosevelt said, his expression only slightly mock horror. "For several nights?"

[starting_over]

Samantha's cheeks flushed as she turned to look out over the waterfall. "Most nights, that's all I have the energy for, especially if the shop's been busy or I've been making cards all day. I tried to cook for myself, but the only thing I can really make well are omelets and you get real tired of eggs, really fast, when that's all you eat every night for a few weeks. Some nights I have cereal," she offered, looking back up at him with a joking smile complete with a little wrinkle to her nose.

[comeonbro]

"Then I am definitely going to do some cooking for you on our date," Roosevelt told her. It made him a little sad but he knew that was just his own experiences speaking. It had taken him a while to realize that and not push his own personality on people. That and she looked absolutely adorable wrinkling her nose like that.

"But cooking can't be everyone's thing. I'm sure there's a lot you're good at."

[starting_over]

"You mean aside from very creative greeting cards? Well, I was a pretty good lawyer once upon a time. And might be again soon," she added as an afterthought. She'd taken Maine's licensing exam and was just waiting for the results to come in.

Honestly, she wasn't sure if she'd ever use it, but there was just something about knowing she could be a practicing lawyer again that felt right.

[comeonbro]

"Greeting cards and law is a good combination. I don't think a lot of people can crossover to two very different mediums like that," he told her. It actually was impressive. Roosevelt himself didn't have a creative bone in his body. His talents were all a very narrow skill set. Useful, but narrow.

"I bet you have other talents too and are just modest about them."

[starting_over]

"I'm excellent at poor life choices and really excel at bad timing," Samantha laughed, "but I don't think that's what you're talking about and sounds incredibly cynical and self-deprecating. "I am pretty good at not getting knocked down for long when life kicks me in the teeth and have a good head for business."

She waved a hand. "Enough about making me uncomfortable with compliments. How about you? What are your specialties?"

[comeonbro]

"I have a very narrow skill set that revolves almost entirely around being a Navy SEAL, a fire fighter, or a fitness nut," Roosevelt said with a laugh. Those all had a lot of really interesting skills involved in them but that was more because of a lot of practice and not any innate gift.

"Although I like to think that I'm also a decent kisser," he said, turning to look at her. "But that can be subjective."

[starting_over]

"It can be subjective, yes," Samantha replied, an innocent expression on her face as she looked up at him. "I'll reserve judgement on that one for myself, if it's all the same to you."

It took just about everything she had to not put a hand to her chest to calm the rapid beating there.

[comeonbro]

"You know, I really like excelling at the things I do and I would hate to go around being awful at it," he said, unable to hide his smile. It was a very obvious game they were playing but she seemed to be more than happy to play it. Plus, there was something about the innocent expression on her face that made him want to kiss it even more.

"And if I'm terrible at it now, I can think of some new techniques to try by the time we have our date."

[starting_over]

Samantha felt her tongue dart out to moisten her lips reflexively. "That probably means I should have some sort of baseline for comparison. Empirically speaking, you understand," she finished, a mock primness in her tone.

[comeonbro]

"Of course," he said, his voice becoming a bit more quite as he moved in closer. There was quite a height difference between them but it wasn't anything he was worried working around. "Empirically speaking."

Leaning in, Roosevelt pressed his lips against hers. The kiss was soft but it wasn't hesitant, more curious and tender than heated.

[starting_over]

With her heart beating a steady, pounding beat against her ribs that only increased as he moved closer, Samantha couldn't stop the little moan that escaped her lips at the first touch of his. She leaned in to get closer, her hand slipping up to wrap around the back of his neck.

"Not bad," she said when they broke to breathe, her lips curved in a smile but not making any move to put distance between them. "Empirically speaking."

[comeonbro]

The kiss was nice. The kiss was really nice, especially with the way her hand moved around the back of his neck to hold him there, sending goosebumps along his skin. There was something about her touch that was both soothing and exciting. Whatever it was, it was definitely a good thing.

"Hold on, I can do better," he said, leaning in to kiss her just a fraction more heatedly this time.

[starting_over]

Any attempt she'd planned to make about insisting he'd done just fine the first time was lost when his mouth took hers again. There was heat there, a warmth that slid through her like tumbling into a warm bath, and this time she didn't even try to hold in her responsive moan. Instead, she tried to move closer to him, and the fingers on the back of his neck slid into his hair and held tight.

[comeonbro]

The moan was nice. Roosevelt really liked that moan because it matched the feeling that he had. There was this sort of melting into her that he felt when they kissed. He liked how she felt against him and how close she was. Roosevelt could get used to have her be this close. But this was a bit early yet.

"How was that?" he asked, slowly pulling back from her with a grin on his face.

[starting_over]

Samantha's hand slipped from the back of his head around to his cheek, her thumb brushing over his full lower lip. "That was this side of amazing," she told him. "Would it sound horribly trashy to say I hope there are more where that came from?"

[comeonbro]

"No, because there are definitely a whole lot more. Although we should probably wait until we have an actual date before there are too many more?" Roosevelt suggested. As much as he would have liked to kiss Samantha more. A lot more, he knew what it was like to ruin a good thing before it could really get started. "Because I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be able to stop myself once we really got started."

[starting_over]

His words caused a flutter deep in her belly as images filled her mind, images fueled by the taste of him still on her lips. She licked them reflexively and kept herself from releasing the moan. "I like the sound of that."

[comeonbro]

"It's kind of nice to have gotten that out of the way though, right? No more first kiss jitters," Roosevelt said, reluctantly straightening up. There would be time for more of that later, when they didn't only just know each other.