Samera
A
s my eyes slowly open, I feel an immediate sensation of warmth.
I feel safe.
The same moment I apprehend it’s now morning, I also notice that arms are wrapped around me.
And that’s all it takes for the memory of last night to come rushing back to me. Drinking with Rusty, then taking our lust for each other upstairs. Peter showing up and creeping me out. The panic of what almost happened. Reed finding me in the lobby and ushering me away to safety.
I place my hand on top of Reed’s and sigh.
I know I was over Reed, but everything about this feels so right. The way Reed’s hand is gently slung around my belly, not perched on one of my breasts—which was a fairly common thing whenever we fell asleep together during our relationship. And if he’s erect right now, I can’t tell, since he doesn’t have his cock pressed against my ass.
My God, it’s odd—me and Reed like this. Odd because in the past whenever we’ve touched, the passion between us burned out of control and we both knew we’d end up fucking.
Just like in Costa Rica.
I almost didn’t think Reed capable of tenderness. But that’s definitely the vibe I’m getting from him right now, even in sleep, and I can’t help but view him differently.
I shift my body until I’m on my back. Reed’s eyes pop open, frightening me for a second.
“You’re awake,” he says.
“I thought you were sleeping.”
“I woke up a few minutes ago. But I didn’t want to get up.”
I try to sit up—but a killer jolt of pain across my temple stops me cold. The effect of a hangover.
No surprise there.
“What do you need, babe?” Reed asks me.
I place a hand on my forehead. “Some sort of painkiller. And coffee. Preferably Starbucks.”
Reed sits up and glances around the room. “I know I don’t have any Aspirin. Will you be okay while I go downstairs to get it?”
“Yeah, sure.”
Reed squeezes my hand before getting off the bed. He’s already dressed in blue jeans and a T-shirt, so he doesn’t need to throw anything on but his shoes. Though my brain is fuzzy, I notice that I’m also fully dressed. Which means Reed didn’t try to get any action from me last night.
He flashes a little smile before heading out of the room. Glancing at the digital clock, I see that it’s nearly eleven in the morning. My God, I was out like a light. But again, no surprise.
I shuffle off the bed and head to the bathroom, and after I’m finished in there, I turn my cell phone on, then lie back on the comfortable pillows and close my eyes.
The sound of the door turning has my eyes flying open, and I realize that I must have drifted off to sleep.
“Sorry I took so long,” Reed says. He’s carrying a very large paper bag in one hand and a coffee holder with two Starbucks cups in the other.
I get off the bed and walk toward him. “Smells delicious.”
“I figured you could use some breakfast. I picked up some grub at the café.”
I reach for the coffee. “You’re a sweetheart.”
“Here, take this.” He rotates the coffee holder, and I see that there’s a small white bag on it. “I got Advil. I hope that’s okay.”
“It’s perfect.”
I take the coffee and bottle of Advil and head back toward the bed. I busy myself opening the bottle and popping out two pills. I wash them down with a swallow of coffee, which is so hot that it scalds my throat.
“Motherfucker!”
“What?” Reed is at my side in a flash.
“Nothing,” I say. “The coffee…” And shit, I start crying.
Reed folds me in his arms. It’s not the coffee, of course. It’s everything. The reality that I don’t know what the hell I’m doing most of the time. First, I broke Miguel’s heart in Costa Rica. Then I found the worst guy on the planet to use as a palate cleanser. And here I am, back with Reed, a guy who fucked me over royally.
I feel completely lost.
Reed coos softly. “It’s okay, Sammy. I’m here now.”
“Why?” I ask. “Why are you here?”
“You’re kidding me, right?”
I ease backward and stare into his eyes. “No, I’m not kidding. You showed up in Costa Rica, and I thought you’d changed. I believed that you loved me. That you were sorry for cheating on me. But then you acted like a prick, trying to tell me what to do. So why are you here?”
Reed doesn’t answer right away. “You have every reason to doubt me. I fucked up when I screwed Lilly. And I fucked up in Costa Rica. I can’t defend what I did. I can only tell you that sometimes it takes a while for a guy to get it. I finally get it.”
I don’t say a word. I simply examine Reed’s face, trying to determine if I can trust him.
“Come on, Sammy. You think I’d come all this way—knowing you could tell me to fuck off—if I didn’t love you?”
His words give me pause. My brain says I shouldn’t believe him, but my heart—God, I’ve trusted my heart before and been steered on the wrong path. But still, ever since seeing Reed last night, I’ve been feeling better about him. Like maybe we truly are meant to be together, and that this is our time to do it right.
Maybe my brain is clouded right now because he was there for me after a harrowing ordeal. I’m not sure. All I know is that right now, being with him feels good.
“Why don’t we eat?” Reed takes the large paper bag to the table in the room and starts to pull out the contents.
After a moment I join him there. Reed shares a plate of scrambled eggs and sausage with me. I place my hand on the small of his back, and he gives me a quick kiss on my temple.
This is when I really start to believe that Reed has done a one-eighty. Because the Reed I know wouldn’t need more than a touch like that to turn to me, sweep me into his arms, and get all hot and heavy. In less than a minute we’d be naked, his tongue on my nipples and his fingers playing with my clit.
Instead, Reed pulls out a chair for me, and I sit.
We eat in silence for several minutes. The toast is like manna from heaven, helping assuage the queasiness in my stomach after all the alcohol I consumed last night.
“Thanks, Reed,” I tell him when I finished. “This really hit the spot.”
His eyes roam over my face, but never venture lower. He doesn’t make the obvious joke about hitting my “other” spot.
“I do love you,” he says. “I want you to know that.”
“I believe you.”
His lips curve in a smile. “You know what I was thinking?”
“What?”
Reed lifts my hand and kisses my palm. “You might think this is crazy, but I was kinda thinking that maybe…maybe we could get hitched.”
I sip my coffee, buying time. “Married?” I ask weakly. I might be feeling good about Reed again, but marriage is a huge step.
“Why not? Hey, this is Vegas, and I’m feeling lucky.”
When I don’t answer, Reed edges his chair closer to mine. “You believe that I love you.”
“Yes.”
“And I know you have feelings for me.”
I don’t say yes. But I don’t say no, either.
Reed kisses my hand again. “I know I’m not the most traditional guy, nor the most romantic, but you have my heart, Sammy. That’s just the way it is. I can’t change that. I’m done being scared of what I feel for you. Done thinking that marriage means a ball and chain around your ankle.”
Wow—everything Reed is saying sounds absolutely perfect. He’s acting sweeter than he ever has.
“What do you say?” he asks me.
At that exact moment, my cell phone rings.
Saved by the bell,
I think.
“Hold that thought,” I tell him. I scoot across the room to retrieve my purse. My sister’s number is etched on the call display.
I press the button to speak. “Hey, Annelise.”
“Sam! Oh my God!
Where are you?
”
I pull the phone away from my ear for a moment. “Annie, what’s with all the drama? Did you think I’d been abducted by aliens or something?”
“I have been out of my mind with worry. Are you okay?”
“Yes, I’m okay. A little hung over, but okay.”
“Where are you?”
“I’m…I’m with someone.”
“You’ve been with this person all night? Why couldn’t you call, leave a note?”
“Actually, I was with someone who turned into a fucking asshole.” Reed shoots me a glance, and I turn away. “I’m not there anymore,” I add in a quieter tone. “It’s a long story.”
“So you haven’t heard the news?”
“What news?”
“It’s about that guy. The one you showed me in the restaurant. Look, it’ll be easier if I just talk to you face-to-face. Are you in this hotel?”
“No.”
“Can you come back here? There’s a lot of shit going down.”
“Right now?”
“Yes, right now. I have no clue who you’re with, and I don’t want him hearing your end of the conversation.”
“You’re freaking me out a little.”
“It’s that serious, Samera. How long will it take you to get back here?”
I glance at Reed again. He’s got a curious look on his face.
“Ten minutes,” I tell my sister.
“See you then.”
I end the call and put my cell phone back into my purse.
“Trouble?” Reed asks.
I cross the room to meet him at the table. “Sounds like something serious is going on. My sister wants me back at the hotel to talk to me about it.”
“Serious like what?”
“So serious she didn’t want to talk about it on the phone.” I don’t add that it has something to do with Rusty, the guy I’d fucked last night before running into Reed in the lobby.
I wonder if the motherfucker’s been arrested for rape.
At that very thought, a chill sweeps over me. I feel the same eerie sensation I did only moments before I made the decision to sleep with Rusty.
At the time, I’d thought the feeling had to do with something else, like someone following me, and I’d figured I would be safe with Rusty. Now I know that I was lucky as hell last night, because he and his friend could have raped me, then strangled me—all for a cheap thrill.
“You’ve got this weird look on your face.”
I jerk my head in Reed’s direction.
“Babe?”
“I…I’m just thinking. Wondering what my sister wants to tell me.”
Reed rises and slips his arms around my waist. “You want me to go with you?”
“No.”
“You gonna come back?”
I nod. “As soon as I’m finished with my sister, I’ll come back here.”
“I hope so. Because I have a flight out of here this evening.”
“You’re leaving?”
Reed nods. “Maybe you’ll go with me. Just a suggestion. Whatever you want to do is cool.”
“We’ll see,” I tell him. This is all happening
way
too fast.
I expect him to pressure me, to not let up until I agree to leave Vegas with him. But he doesn’t. Instead he gives me a soft kiss on the lips.
“See ya, babe.”
“Yeah. See ya.”
When I get back to my suite at the Venetian, Annelise is sitting on the sofa with her legs folded under her, the remote control in her hand as she watches the television.
Her eyes fill with relief when she sees me. She jumps to her feet and flies toward me, then wraps me in a long, hard hug.
“Oh, Sammy. Thank
God
.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” I say. “You’re acting like you thought I was dead.” As we pull apart, I plant my hands on my hips. “Want to tell me what’s going on?”
Annelise sighs. “I’m afraid you’re not too far off.”
“Huh?” I ask, not getting her meaning.
“When you came in, did you see any reporters or cops downstairs?”
“Both. Why—” My question dies on my lips as I realize what my sister is saying.
I’m afraid you’re not too far off.
“Are you telling me that someone—someone actually
died?
”
“Not just someone. I think it was that guy you showed me—the one you said you’d been flirting with.”
I gasp. “Rusty?”
“Yes! That’s the name they said on the news! I knew it was him when they showed his picture, but I guess I didn’t want to believe—”
“Rusty’s dead?” I ask anxiously. “Are you sure?”
“Ever since I heard the news, I’ve been freaking out. And when I didn’t see you this morning…I thought for sure you spent the night with him.”
I’m too shocked to speak. Slowly I walk to the sofa and plop down onto it. I stare at the television. Some newscaster is reporting on the story of a fire somewhere in the city.
Annelise sits beside me and turns down the volume. “I’m sure the news will feature the story again. It’s bad, Sammy. He either jumped or was pushed out of his window.”