He wanted more time to figure her out. To figure them out.
Yet she'd offered him the opportunity he'd come for and he couldn't turn her down. "You're sure the time is right?" he asked.
Zoe dropped his hand, putting physical and emotional distance between them. She tipped her head to one side and sighed. "As sure as I'll ever be. I just need a chance to break it to my parents first."
"Of course. And then what?" He flexed and unflexed his hands, nerves taking over.
Questions raced through his mind. Was she going to talk her parents into just letting him take Sam home, once they got through the New Jersey red tape, or did she plan to have him stay in town awhile longer? And how would Sam react to discovering she had family after all this time?
"I don't— " Zoe started to speak.
"Elena, they're back!" Sam's voice struck him in his gut, and prevented Zoe from revealing her thoughts.
Zoe shot him a suddenly frightened look. He understood and wondered if Sam had overheard any part of their conversation.
The young girl fumbled with the lock on the screen door, but finally worked the catch, opened the door and waved them inside. "Come in! You left so early you never opened your presents," she said to Zoe.
Sam didn't meet Ryan's gaze, but that wasn't unusual and once he saw her excitement and smiles, his concern eased. She was too happy to have heard a thing. Now all he had to worry about was Zoe viewing his embarrassing gifts.
"Do you want to help me unwrap them?" Zoe asked Sam.
"Already done." The young girl grabbed Zoe's hand and they walked into the family room.
Ryan followed and seated himself on a chair across from them so he could watch.
Sam shook her head, her ponytail flipping behind her. "Elena said if you were gonna be rude and leave, we could still enjoy the traditional parts of a party, so I already opened the presents, well all except for the ones from Ryan," Sam explained in a rush, as only a teenager could.
"I see. And what did I get?" Zoe asked, laughing.
"Aunt Dee and Uncle John bought you a subscription to an online dating service that lets you pick out whatever traits you want in a guy. They said you'd better make sure he's Greek."
Ryan didn't have to glance at Zoe to know she was blushing. He also didn't have to look down at his clenched fists to realize the thought of her with any other man didn't sit well with him at all.
Sam ran through a litany of other gifts until she reached the end. "And Elena and Aunt Kassie said you already got your gift from them, not that I know what they mean."
Ryan did and his gaze met Zoe's, every moment of last night passing between them in that one look.
"And this is from me." Sam pulled out a pillow that she'd been hiding behind her back. "I made it myself," she said softly, suddenly shy. "Since you have one that Ari made you, I wanted you to have one from me, too. So I could be a real sister, too."
"Oh, Sam." Zoe pulled her into a huge hug and over her shoulder, Sam met Ryan's gaze with a pleading one of her own. One that begged him, the "social worker," not to take her away from these special people.
If only Sam knew the real damage he could do. He glanced from the hugging women to the hook-rug type pillow that said Sisters & Best Friends 4 Ever. A wave of nausea swept through him as he realized that in telling Sam the truth, he'd be depriving her of the security she had finally achieved in her otherwise unsettled life.
How could he do that to her? Ryan wondered.
Yet how could he not?
Sam pulled out of Zoe's grasp. "It's Ryan's turn to give you his presents." She stepped back to reveal the wrapped packages on the table behind the sofa. "We bought one of them yesterday when we went shopping, but there's an extra thing here and I don't know what it is. But I helped him pick out the big one." She pointed to the larger gift as she practically hopped from foot to foot in eager anticipation of the big reveal.
Zoe's eyes narrowed as she took in the presents. "Hmmm. What could Ryan have bought me? I think I'll open this one first." Zoe winked at Sam and started peeling the wrapping off the larger present.
"Oh I can't wait to see," Elena said from the doorway, joining them in time for Ryan's mortification.
"Same here." Nicholas strode in and seated himself in the large recliner chair.
"Oh man," he muttered aloud.
Zoe pulled away the last of the wrapping. "These are wonderful," Zoe exclaimed as she examined each fruit-scented item in the basket, from bath gel, foot cream, hand cream, body lotion, to the different textured sponges.
Ryan would rather die than look at her parents now, though a covert glance showed him that Nicholas was indeed scowling at him. No doubt the man also knew his daughter hadn't come home last night and it was obvious she still wore last evening's clothes.
Well, hell, was it his fault she was thirty and living at home? Still, he cringed.
"Sam, thank you for helping Ryan pick out my favorite scents." Zoe's soft voice interrupted his thoughts.
"It's okay. You know I love you." Sam sounded a little more subdued, Ryan figured because the excitement of giving her gift was over.
"How about opening Ryan's other one?" Elena asked.
Now that he'd seen Zoe's pleased reaction to the bath-shop gift, he wanted to take his more practical one and shove it into his pocket. But that wouldn't be happening.
Elena, Nicholas and Sam crowded around as Zoe ripped apart the paper and pulled out the present he'd purchased to minimize the impact of the first. No chance of that happening, he thought. Now that they'd made love, and now that her family knew they'd spent last night together, he couldn't win with either gift.
He forced himself to look at Zoe. She stared at the Montblanc pen in the black box for so long, he thought he might puke.
"To sign your first contract with," he said, his voice sounding as lame as he felt.
She met his gaze, her eyes filled with warmth, gratitude and, he thought, a hell of a lot more. "That's the most thoughtful thing I've ever heard," she said.
"And the most dorky and lame." Sam grunted and rose from the couch. "I'm going to Michelle's." She was clearly as unimpressed with Ryan's additional birthday present as she was with him.
"Be back for us to go shopping around three," Elena called to Sam.
"Thanks, Sam. Everyone," Zoe said. "I should put all this in my room." Without looking at Ryan, she gathered her gifts in her arms.
He wondered what had her spooked this time. Either it was the knowledge that her parents knew about their relationship or she just wanted to run from last night as fast as she could. He'd been able to stop her this morning, when he'd kissed her senseless and reminded her of why she shouldn't panic. He couldn't do the same thing now.