Fixing Freddie (10 page)

Authors: Mona Ingram

“Sammie,” cried Zach. “You didn’t tell me you know the Howitzer.” His smile lit up the room.

“The what?”

“The Howitzer,” Zach repeated. “That was his nickname in the early days.” He looked to Freddie. “It was sort of a play on your name, wasn’t it? ‘Howard’, ‘Howitzer.’?”

Freddie nodded.

Zach’s enthusiasm was infections. “He was the baddest of the bad-ass gamers out there. Created tons of cutting-edge stuff, and still doing it, so I hear. His company is one of the great local success stories.”

“His company?” Things were beginning to fall into place.

“Yeah. This is so cool.” Zach was acting like a teenager. “And you’ve known him all along.”

Samantha looked at Freddie and they exchanged smiles. “Well, for the last couple of weeks, anyway.”

Freddie handed her a cup of coffee and their fingers brushed. “Sorry, no latté this morning,” he said, looking into her eyes.

“That’s okay.” She watched as he took a stack of toast from the oven. “I think I’ll settle for coffee and toast. Make sure my stomach is completely settled.”

“Good idea.” He served bacon and eggs for Lauren, Zach and himself and sat down at the counter. The talk was mostly of computer games and Samantha and Lauren exchanged amused smiles. After a while, Freddie turned to Samantha. “I forgot to drop off my wedding gift last night. Lauren and Zach say they’ll take it over to the hotel when they go back to check out.”

“What are you guys going to do?” Lauren looked at them with interest.

“We’re going home,” said Freddie. He looked at Samantha and his eyes softened. “We have things to talk about.”

Chapter Twelve

Freddie locked the chalet door behind him and led her down to the car. She took one look and shook her head. “Why am I not surprised that this is yours? Did we drive in this last night?”

He looked at her tenderly. “You weren’t in any shape to notice.” He opened her door and waited for her to get in.

They were mostly silent on the way back to the city. Freddie drove expertly, the way he did everything else. She snuggled down in the comfort of the seat, content to be in his care.

He drove past the street that led to English Bay, and continued on to his condo. “We’re going to your place?” she asked.

“Yup.” He got out and helped her out. They walked to the elevator and he pushed the button for the penthouse. “I have someone taking care of getting the locks changed on your apartment. Until that’s accomplished, you’re staying with me.”

She nodded silently and stepped out. He opened the door and stepped back. The foyer alone was almost as big as her entire apartment. She walked through, and went directly to the windows overlooking the harbour. “What a fabulous view,” she murmured. Outside, an immense deck contained potted trees, shrubs, flowers and a variety of comfortable lounges and chairs. Freddie stood back and watched her take it all in.

“May I go outside?” she asked.

He pressed a button and the massive sliding doors opened. Samantha stepped outside. The city lay spread below them. A few blocks away, shadows cast by the Four Seasons were already inching their way toward the Granville Skytrain.

Samantha took a deep breath, tried to ignore her hammering heart. “I saw you at the Four Seasons on Thursday night.” She looked up to judge his reaction. A shadow crossed his eyes and for a moment she thought he was angry. “You were with a beautiful woman.”

He leaned his forearms on the railing and stared at nothing. “Yes, Cassie is a lovely woman.” He stopped, gathered his thoughts. “Her husband works for me, or should I say
worked
for me. He was in a serious car accident on Wednesday evening. Massive head trauma and they were keeping him alive on a ventilator.” His gaze came to rest on Samantha. “I didn’t see you there.”

“No,” she said. “I was on the other side of the room.”

He nodded, and then picked up his narrative. “We’d just come from the hospital after conferring with the doctors. They advised Cassie to take him off life support but she wanted time to think about it.” He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment. “They have two young children. Anyway, we took turns staying with him all day on Friday, and I stayed Friday night while she went home to take care of the kids. When she came back on Saturday morning, she’d decided. We rounded up the doctors, and they took him off life support sometime around noon.” He looked haunted. “You know, they tell you it’s the right thing, and intellectually you know that to be true, but it’s hands down the hardest thing I’ve ever done. Being there in the room with her when he took his last breath.” He pressed his fingers into his eyes as though trying to erase the image. “Anyway, that’s where I’ve been for the past few days.”

“Freddie, I’m so sorry.” She didn’t know what else to say.

He put his arm around her, pulled her closer. “I know. Thanks.”

They stood that way for several minutes, and she could feel the tension drain from his body.

“You don’t know how many times I’ve thought about bringing you up here,” he said finally. “Between what you went through last night, and what I’ve been through the past couple of days, it’s not a great start, is it?”

“No, but it’s a start.” As she’d listened to his story her heart had become whole again. “I thought I’d lost you, Freddie.”

He pulled back. “Lost me? Why?”

“Well, when I saw you with Cassie, I just thought...” her voice trailed off.

He tilted up her head, looked deeply into her eyes. “You thought what?”

“I thought you didn’t want me. I was so determined to wait until I’d broken it off with Cody before I let you know how I feel, but he was away all week. And then I saw you with her, and I realized I’d left it too late.” She sucked in a breath of air. “At least that’s the way it looked.”

He gathered her into his arms. “Samantha, you foolish, wonderful, amazing woman. I’ll always want you, don’t you know that? I’ve wanted you since the first day I met you, but you didn’t know I was alive. And since I found you again I’ve been going through agony waiting for you to get rid of that damned boyfriend of yours.”

“He’s gone now,” she said shyly.

“Yeah, he is, isn’t he?” He looked at her with those brown eyes and her insides melted. One large hand slid up her back and into her hair, cradling her head. Ever so slowly he lowered his head, and his lips brushed against hers, gently at first, then more insistently. She moaned softly and opened her mouth, inviting him in. Her hands clutched at his back, and his muscles rippled in response. He smelled good, he tasted good and he felt good; she wanted to crawl inside him and never leave.

He pulled back, eyes dark with desire. “This is going too fast.”

“What?” She couldn’t believe her ears, but lust made her bold. “I want you, Freddie. I want you to make love to me.”

“As long as we’re both on the same page.” He brushed back a curl from her forehead, his touch gentle and soothing. “I’m warning you now, Samantha. I love you and I want to marry you.”

“You do?”

“I do. But not today. Not next week. Maybe not even next month.”

She shook her head. “I don’t get it.”

He bent over and placed a kiss on her lips. His voice, low and seductive, sent rivers of longing coursing through her veins. I want to woo you, Samantha. I want to woo you and seduce you, cherish you and love you. Then I want to marry you and make you mine forever.”

“But what about wanting to look cool so you could troll for chicks at the wedding?” She looked up, challenge in her eyes.

“It was the only way I could think of to get you to spend time with me.”

“And what about Brianna?” Her eyes sparkled with mischief.

“I just threw out her name to see if I’d get a reaction. Plus I wanted to clear up the rumours about her.”

“Ah, yes. Rumours. We all know about them.” Samantha felt a blush creep up her neck. “There’s one about you, too, you know.”

He nodded. “So you heard about that?” A naughty smile lit his eyes. “More rumours.”

“Oh.” Samantha stammered. “So you’re not...you know...” She blushed again.

“Oh, I didn’t say that.” He kissed her again and this time there was no holding back. “Shall we find out?”

“Yes please.”

He picked her up and carried her into the bedroom.

She wasn’t disappointed.

* * *