You got to Me (Love on Tour #3) (10 page)

He sighed. “It’s an ex-girlfriend thing, okay.”

“You had an ex-girlfriend that called you Sammy and she broke your heart, right?”

“No, her name was Sammi.”

“Oh, yeah, okay, that makes sense.”

He looked down at Henry. “What’s up, buddy? You are one happy little dude, aren’t you?”

“She break your heart?” I asked.

“Sammi? No. She was a pain in the ass, actually.”

“Let me guess. She was into your brother.”

He looked up at me and scowled. “No. She was only into me. Stalker-ish.”

“Hmmm. In that case I would think you’d be more sensitive about not stalking other people.”

He grinned at me. “Don’t worry, I’m not crazy.”

“The jury is still out.”

He studied me. “You don’t take me seriously, do you?”

“It’s pretty hard.”

“You think I’m just fucking with you.”

“Watch your mouth around the baby.”

“He can’t understand me. We’ve got a while yet until we have to watch our tongues. And honestly, with Hank around, the kid is doomed to be a potty mouth.”

“Good point.”

“Seriously, though, do you think I’m just messing with you?”

“I don’t know, Sam. I don’t know what your game is. And quite frankly I don’t have the energy or the inclination to try to figure it out.”

“No game. I’m just really interested in you.”

“I have no idea why,” I told him honestly.

“I know. It’s kind of cute.”

I turned back to Henry. I didn’t know what to make of Sam. And trying to figure him out was exhausting.

“So, 1916 Organic Act, tell me more.”

“Hmmm. I suppose it would make a good bedtime story for Henry. Okay. Where was I when we were last talking about it?”

“You were telling me how they passed it, but didn’t provide a budget for the Park Service. I’m pretty sure the crazy guy was just about to enter the scene.”

“Hey, a little respect for Mr. Mather, please.”

“Okay, my bad. Please. Tell me and Henry a bedtime story.”

12

Sam ended up crashing out on my bed with me and Henry. I woke up to see him lying there. With his eyes closed, he looked much less like a pain in the ass. In fact, he looked amazing. He had stubble on his chin, and his perfectly straight nose opened and closed with each breath. His long eyelashes were fanned against his high cheekbones. He looked hot. It pissed me off. So I hit him with a pillow to wake him up.

“Ow, damn, hey, you’re gonna wake up the baby.”

“He woke up at 3am. I fed him, and changed him, and you slept through the whole damn thing.”

Sam sat up and rubbed his face. “Sorry about that.”

“Some babysitter you are,” I grumbled.

The truth was, I had been sitting there holding baby Henry in the middle of the night and watching Sam sleep. When Henry fell back to sleep, instead of crashing out with him in the chair, we’d crawled back into bed with Sam. It was a stupid move. I just couldn’t seem to help myself.

I kicked Sam out of my room just minutes before Sean showed up at my door to retrieve his son. With the baby gone, I got ready for brunch with the Rushtons.

I took a long hot shower, then I perused the meager clothing selections I’d brought with me. I ended up in a deep blue sundress with cap sleeves and a flare skirt that fell just above my knees.

I was running late when I popped out into the hallway. I turned toward the elevator, and stopped in my tracks. Sam was standing there, waiting. I didn’t need any more alone time with him. So I turned in the opposite direction.

This hotel was huge, and I’d seen a million staff members running around. But none of them were ever on the elevators with us, which meant there had to be another way to get downstairs.

I found a stairwell at the end of the hallway. It was only five floors to the lobby, and it would be all down, so I ducked inside. I was wearing flat sandals, which made it quick work to run down the first set of stairs. I stopped. There was a door between the fourth and fifth floor stairs. I tugged. It didn’t move. I yanked, and it didn’t budge.

I looked up at the big red sign that was right in front of my face, slightly above eye level. “Staff – Remember to use the 2AB key.”

Oh God.

I ran back up the stairs and tried the door I’d come through. It was locked, too. I could feel the panic bubbling up in my chest. I stared at the walls, so close around me. It was dark in here, lit only by a weak orange-ish glow. I backed up and went down a few steps so that I was in a more open area. It didn’t help. My breathing was shallow.

The door opened.

“Sam!”

I couldn’t articulate what I needed to say quickly enough, so I ran back up the two steps and lunged for the door. I was too late. I watched in horror as the door latched close behind him.

“Oh God!”

“Leese, what’s going on? I saw you head in this direction and I followed–”

“We’re trapped!” I cried.

“What?”

Sam put his hand on the doorknob and jiggled.

“They’re all locked. Where’s your phone?”

“In my room.”

I was really starting to panic now. I put my back against the cool cement wall and took several deep breaths. My heart was pounding in my chest and I put my hand over it. “Oh God.”

“Lisa,” Sam stepped toward me and put his hands on my shoulders. “It’s okay. An employee will come by soon and let us out.”

“It’s not okay.” I looked around wildly at the walls that were getting closer and closer with each passing moment.

“Lisa, are you claustrophobic?”

I nodded. “Only when there’s no way out.”

“Hey,” he said quietly. “Just breathe, okay? I’m going to get you out of here. Do you believe me?”

I nodded.

He rubbed my shoulders gently. “Just take deep breaths.”

His voice was very soothing. It was not quite as deep as Sean’s, and instead of the smooth quality of Sean’s voice, Sam’s was just a little bit coarse. I liked it.

“Sam, I need your help.”

“I’m here, Lisa. I’m going to help you.”

I needed a distraction, a big one. “Kiss me,” I said.

I watched his face. He didn’t grin or get cocky. He just looked concerned. Then he leaned down and put his lips gently on mine.

His mouth so soft and tender. I opened up for him, and Sam took me away. I wasn’t in a dark stairwell with close walls and a potential lack of oxygen anymore. I was in a dream, an excellent, never-want-to-wake-up-from kind of dream. It was the perfect distraction, because Sam was so very good at this.

Kissing him was all-consuming, but I wanted to touch him, too. I put my hands underneath his t-shirt and felt his stomach. It was hard and smooth. My hands went higher, and I felt a little hair in the center of his chest. I stroked it.

Sam made a noise in his throat. I deepened our kiss. I felt his hands go to the bottom of my dress and slide up along my thighs, past my hips, to my waist. I had been happy when Ken had touched me like this the other night, because it had been so long. But this was much, much better. Sam’s hands were big and soft, and I wanted them on me.

I moved my own hands down over his stomach again. God, he was exquisite. Then I found the button on his jeans and popped it open. I slid the zipper down, then I put one thumb inside his waistband, on each side of his hips. I hesitated.

Sam moved his head and did something amazing to my earlobe. I yanked his pants down.

His hands were all over me, and I absolutely loved it. He moved back to my lips and kissed me. I lost control.

“Sammy,” I breathed.

He moaned and lifted me up against the wall. I wrapped my legs around his waist. He moved his hand down between my legs and pushed my underwear aside.

“Say it again,” he said softly.

He was doing something amazing down there.

“Sammy,” I sighed.

“Say, yes, Lisa.”

As if I could, in a million years, have had the willpower to say no to Sam at that moment. “Yes,” I breathed.

And then, before I knew it, he was sliding inside me.

It was like nothing else I’d ever experienced. I was a little disappointed that I’d made it almost 35 years without ever having something this incredible. And then I actually had an orgasm – during sex. I was so taken aback that I started to cry out. But then I buried my head in Sam’s neck and bit down.

He moaned and shuddered. And we stood like that, just breathing and holding onto each other. Until I heard a door slam and footsteps on the stairs.

“Shit!” Sam put me down and smoothed out my dress. He just barely had his pants zipped back up when a man rounded the corner.

“Hey, you got trapped, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, we sure did,” Sam said casually.

“Where you headed?”

“First floor, breakfast room C.”

“I’ll take you there.”

Sam took my hand and pulled me down the stairs.

“Just to your left there, past the bathrooms,” the man said, pointing us in the right direction when we got to the first floor.

“Thanks.” Sam still had a hold of my hand, and I followed as he pulled me out into the hall.

I stopped in front of the women’s restroom. “Go on ahead. I’ll meet you in there.”

Sam stared at me.

“Go.” I ducked into the restroom.

After I’d gotten myself cleaned up, I stared in the mirror for a long time. What had I just done? It was so completely out of character for me. I’d never even had sex outside of a bed, let alone in a freaking stairwell. But that was the least of my worries. I’d just done it with Sam of all people, my sister’s brother-in-law. And, worst of all – I had really, really liked it.

I managed to pull myself together and head into the breakfast room to face the Rushton clan.

“Hey, where’ve you been?” Dani asked me.

“I, um, got kind of trapped in a stairway,” I said.

“Oh God. Are you okay?”

“Yeah, an employee helped me out.”

It occurred to me just then that perhaps Sam had given the same story. My muscles tensed.

“Come here, sit down.” Dani ushered me over to the table and sat me between her and Bell. Bell rubbed my back.

“I hardly think it’s worth having a fit over,” Gloria said. “Sam just got stuck in an elevator.”

“She’s claustrophobic,” Dani said.

“Oh, poor thing.” Gloria instantly changed her tone.

“Here.” Bell pushed a hot cup of steaming coffee in front of me.

“We understand phobias well in our family,” Sean’s dad, Frank, said.

“Yeah, I found that out first hand,” I quipped. And then I instantly regretted bringing up Sam.

“She held my hand while the evil nurse poked at me,” Sam said.

“Phlebotomist,” I corrected, without actually looking at him.

“That was sweet,” Gloria said, still sounding surprisingly kind.

I looked up at her. She had little Henry snuggled into her lap. She smiled at me.

“He was very brave,” I said.

Then her face took on an evil look. “I’d like to get my hands on those people.”

“I can’t believe you told her,” Sam said to Sean.

“I didn’t. A friend found the story and called her,” Sean replied.

“And I called that damn magazine, too,” she said.

“Really?” Hank leaned over the table, looking amused.

“Mom, you didn’t,” Sean said.

“I sure did. And I gave them a piece of my mind.”

“Dad, you let her?” Sean asked.

“I helped. Looked up the number online,” Frank said, looking very pleased with himself. “They deserved it.”

“They did,” Hank said.

“It makes me sick,” Gloria growled.

“Sam took care of it, Mom.”

“Sam, are you going to sue?”

“Already got that covered, Mom,” Sam replied.

I still didn’t look at him. I looked absolutely everywhere else. A couple of employees came in and brought us all plates of eggs, bacon, and toast. I usually had a good appetite, but I couldn’t fathom eating right then. My stomach was in knots.

“Lisa, you’re not nervous about the lecture, are you?” My sister asked, looking at my untouched plate.

“Maybe a little,” I lied.

“Sorry we’re going to miss it,” Frank said. “We’re taking little Henry to the aquarium. What’s the lecture on?”

Frank was an Archaeology professor. He was the one person in this room who would probably actually enjoy my talk.

“The history of the Department of the Treasury.”

“I bet there are some cobwebs there,” he said.

“Sounds dry,” Gloria commented.

“Mom, remember what we talked about, not being rude to people, especially Baby’s family,” Sean said.

“By dry, I meant intelligent.”

“Well, I’m looking forward to it,” Sam said.

Finally I looked at him. He looked amazing. He was leaning back in his chair. He appeared to be a man who was relaxed and well laid. I wanted to punch him in the face.

Then I saw it. To my great horror, there was a small red mark peeking out above the neck of his t-shirt. It was where I’d bitten him during an intense orgasm not twenty minutes ago.

I looked back down at my coffee and took several deep breaths. This was a nightmare.