Autumn Getaway (Seasons of Love) (31 page)

In under fifteen minutes, Sam showered, shaved, dressed in a navy button down shirt and jeans, and was out the door.

He tried to stay calm as he strode purposefully through the lobby, down the hallway that led to the main dining room, but he couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. When he got there, the brunch had already started; a few people were sitting at tables, sipping coffee or mimosas or Bloody Marys, and waiters were flitting around to take orders.

His eyes quickly swept the room. Ryan and Melanie were at a table with both sets of their parents, chatting away. His entire family was already there, at an adjacent table to the Selbys, with one empty seat, probably reserved for him. On the other side of the room, Donna and Kathryn were already in attendance as well, at a table with Joann and her husband, and an empty chair that seemed to glare at him, to taunt him. Lydia wasn’t there.

Sam went straight to Lydia’s friends, ignoring his brother calling out his name, ignoring everything around him, focused with purpose. “Good morning,” he said, his voice even.

The four people seated looked up at Sam; Donna and Kathryn looked surprised, even confused. “Hi,” they all said collectively.

“I thought maybe Lydia would be here already,” Sam said to Donna, his eyes holding hers.

Donna met his gaze and picked up on the intensity, but she was obviously thrown. “Don’t take this the wrong way, Sam, but we thought she was with you. I tried to call her three times this morning, and she didn’t pick up the phone. So I assumed…”

Sam’s jaw set tightly, but his voice stayed calm as he ground out his thanks before turning away and heading for the door.

“Hey, little brother!” Alec was there, meeting him at the doorway, practically blocking his way as he clapped a hand on his shoulder. “Where ya goin’, you just got here. Come, sit.”

“Alec, not now,” Sam said in a low, controlled voice. “I have to go.”

“Off to look for Lydia?” Alec asked.

Something in his tone made Sam stop and carefully study his brother. Alec looked smug, and his eyes were twinkling with barely concealed mischief as he grinned. That was the grin of the cat who swallowed the canary.

Sam’s eyes narrowed. “Have you seen her?”

“Have I seen her?” Alec nodded as the corners of his mouth twitched, trying not to let the casual grin turn into an open smirk. “Oh yeah. I saw her less than an hour ago. Doing the walk of shame from your room back to hers. I don’t think she was too happy to run into me.”

Sam grabbed Alec by the elbow and pulled him out into the hallway.

“Easy, Sammy, easy,” Alec muttered, wrenching his arm free. He knew it took a lot to get Sam visibly ruffled, and he was pretty edgy. That put Alec on notice to tread with caution.

“What happened?” Sam asked tightly. “What did you say to her?”

“Wow! Automatically assuming
I
said something. Nice.”

“I know you, big brother,” Sam all but growled. “And worse, I know that look on your face. It's like when you kick someone's ass in court. Gloating victory.”

Alec shrugged. “We ran into each other and I ribbed her a bit, that’s all.”

“She doesn’t know you, Alec,” Sam said, a muscle in his jaw twitching. “She probably doesn’t appreciate the subtle charms of your sense of humor.”

“She did seem fairly embarrassed,” Alec admitted with fake chagrin. “I only teased her a little, but she wasn’t playing. She got pissed. No sense of humor. Maybe she was too tired?”

Sam closed his eyes, took a deep breath to calm himself, and tried to squelch the urge to slam Alec up against the wall. “Why the hell would you do that?” he ground out. “Why?”

“Sam.” Alec dropped the flair. “Come on. So you had a one-nighter, and now she’s not here. It’s not a big deal. It's done. I set her straight. So now you can chalk it up to a fun romp and go home, free and clear.”

Sam glared with fury at his older brother, his jaw set so tightly that he was clenching his teeth.

“Come back to the brunch, be with the family,” Alec said with a light, breezy tone. “We’ll all be going our separate ways by tonight, and probably won’t see each other again until Thanksgiving.”

“You go back,” Sam said in a low, lethal tone. “I have to do some damage control.”

“I barely spoke to her, Sam,” Alec said, his voice hardening. “If she’s not here, I highly doubt it was because I teased her a little bit. We’re all grownups, aren’t we?”

“Not all of us, apparently,” Sam growled.

“Sam.” Alec lost his casual tone and got down to business. “She’s pretty, I’ll give you that. She’s smart, pleasant, even kind of sexy, I can see the attraction. I’m glad you had fun last night. But, man, come on. What are you thinking? She's been divorced for what, five minutes? Women like that turn into clingy, needy stalkers. And she's got a
kid
to boot. You don't need that, Sam. It's good for you if she's not here. Best to leave it alone, let her be. Just let it go.”

Sam’s eyes narrowed menacingly on his brother’s face. His fingers flexed and curled into fists as he tried to control his temper. But before he could open his mouth to answer, he saw that Melanie was quickly approaching them.

“Sorry to interrupt,” she said, obviously unaware of what she'd walked into. She turned to Sam. “Can I talk to you for a second?”

“Gladly,” Sam said. He shot a venomous look at his brother. Alec nodded curtly and went back into the dining room.

“Where’s Lydia?” Melanie asked Sam, not bothering with pretense.

“I don’t know,” he admitted. “I thought I was meeting her here, that’s what she told me to do. And, as you can see, she’s not here.”

“Is everything alright?” Melanie demanded. “Is
she
alright?”

“She was fine, Melanie,” Sam assured her. “Calm down, please.” He pulled her aside and lowered his voice in discretion. “She was asleep when I left; I run every morning, and I went for my run. I left her a note telling her that, and that I’d be back soon. But when I got back to my room, she was gone, with a note she’d left telling me to just meet her at the brunch.” A muscle jumped in his jaw as he revealed, “I think she had a small run-in with Alec, I'm not sure. I'd like to think he didn't drive her off. But Donna couldn’t reach her on the phone. She’s not here. So now you know as much as I do.”

““Shit.” Melanie bit her lip. “I should go find her.”

“You should do no such thing,” Sam instructed her in a quiet but forceful tone. “This is
your
brunch, you are the bride, the hostess. Go back to your guests. I’ll go find her for you, and I'll bring her here.”

“Okay. Do you know where she could be?” Melanie asked. “If she's not in her room?”

It suddenly occurred to Sam that Lydia could have checked out of the hotel and left, for all he knew. She could've been halfway back to Long Island by now. His stomach lurched as if he were taking the high loop of a roller coaster. He left Melanie standing there, watching after him as he practically broke into a jog towards the main desk.

“Excuse me,” he said, getting the attention of a hotel employee.

The young woman smiled at him. “Good morning. How can I be of assistance?”

Sam gave her the most alluring smile he could muster, made a conscious effort to smolder. “Could you please tell me if Lydia Powell is still in the hotel, or if she’s already checked out?”

The young woman blinked and swallowed hard, apparently taken by his masculine dazzle. “I, um, I'm sorry, but I’m not supposed to—”

“She’s a guest of the Dawson and Selby wedding,” Sam went on assertively, not dropping the powerful smile. “The bride asked me to come and check for her. They're doing the brunch now; I'm just doing Melanie a favor so she doesn't have to leave her guests.”

“Oh.” The woman blinked again, putty in his hands. “Well… alright. Hold on…” She went to the computer and tapped a few keys. “No, Ms. Powell hasn’t checked out yet, she’s still here.”

Sam felt relief flow through him in a rush. “Thank you very much. Ms. Dawson—I mean, Mrs. Selby—will be grateful for the information. Thanks again.”

He rushed up the two flights of stairs and went straight to Lydia’s door. Then he stopped himself. He took a few deep breaths to calm down, angry at himself for letting Alec piss him off; he'd deal with his interfering brother later. Sam felt guilty for assuming the worst about Lydia, for the surge of doubt he’d had to quell. Surely he was making too much of things. She’d said she didn’t want him to wait, she was probably just still getting ready, that was all. Maybe she’d been in the shower when Donna had called and she’d never heard the phone ring. He knocked lightly on her door and waited.

There was no answer.

Sam knocked again. Still nothing.

“Lydia,” he said gently, but loud enough for her to hear if she was in her room. “If you’re not in there, then I feel pretty stupid right now. But if you are in there, could you please open the door? Your friends are concerned about you. And… so am I.”

He waited a few more seconds. Then, deciding she must not have been inside after all, maybe went for a walk or something, he turned to go. He took one step, and heard the door click open behind him. He whirled back around to see Lydia standing there, the expression on her face remote and slightly wary. It stopped him cold.

“Hi,” he said, his dark eyes searching her face for clues.

“Hi,” she murmured.

She seemed too still, and very far away, even though they were less than a foot apart. Sam licked his lips; his mouth had gone dry at the unspoken confirmation of his fears: she was avoiding him. One last test… “Did I misunderstand your note?” he asked carefully. “I went downstairs to meet you, which is what I thought you asked me to do. But you weren’t there. And your friends hadn’t heard from you. They were worried. Melanie asked me to find you if I could. So I came to look for you.”

Lydia pressed her lips together, the gesture of delay and unease he’d come to recognize from her. Her makeup was on and she was dressed, in a camel colored cowl neck sweater and jeans. But her hair was still damp, and he noticed she was still barefoot and wore no jewelry. She stared at him with a look of pained apprehension.

“You weren’t coming down, were you?” He murmured it flatly, more of a statement than a question.

She sighed but looked right at him and said, “No.”

He nodded. “May I ask why?”

“Why don't you go ask your brother?” Her chin edged up as she said, “Maybe I didn’t feel like facing a room full of people who now think I’m a whore. They’re all going to think that anyway; I don’t have to actually sit there and be their entertainment.”

Sam blinked. His jaw set as he asked quietly, “What did Alec say to you?”

Lydia blushed at the mention of the brief encounter. “Nothing much. Just enough. He was greatly amused by me, I'll tell you that. He had no problem telling me what he thinks of me.”

“He’s a jackass,” Sam spat, fresh anger surging through him. “God, I could strangle him. Lydia, whatever he said or did, just ignore him. He probably didn’t really mean anything by it, he just likes to get a rise out of people, it's a power play.”

“Oh, he meant it. Every nasty word. But I…” Lydia’s eyes closed, then opened again. “I didn’t… I just…” She shook her head at herself, and her voice faltered. “God, I’m sorry.”

Sam looked at her face for what felt like a long time, trying to read her and failing. There were too many conflicting emotions in her eyes, too much going on. “Can I come in?” he asked quietly. “Can we talk?”

Lydia nodded and moved aside for him to enter her room. He did so and she closed the door behind him.

Sam moved to the center of her room. He stood there silently for a few seconds, rubbing his jaw; except for the tightness around his eyes, he seemed calm and controlled. Lydia envied that. She was certain he could hear her heart pounding from across the room; just seeing him again had made half of the decisions she’d made in the past hour turn to dust.

“Did I not treat you respectfully last night?” he asked somberly. His gaze was steady on her face, compelling her to look back at him. “Did I ever, for a second, make you feel like a whore?”

She cringed at that, surprised at his words. “No,” she sputtered. “No, of course not.”

“Then why would you think anyone else would see you that way?” Sam asked, an edge to his voice. “And, more importantly, why do you care what anyone else thinks? Fuck Alec, and the hell with anyone else too. They don’t know a damn thing. They don’t know what happened last night. And it’s nobody’s goddamn business what happened last night. That was between you and me, two mature, consenting adults.”

She blinked, thrown by his words and the fervor behind them.

“We have nothing to be embarrassed about,” he proclaimed. “I’m not embarrassed. That’s a word that never even crossed my mind. I’m thrilled. I’m psyched. I’m flippin’ ecstatic. Or, I
was
, before you skipped out on me. That took some of the wind out of my sails.”

Her lips were pressed together so tightly they were almost white. “You’re right,” she said. “You’re absolutely right. I'm sorry for that. I’m acting like a child.”

“No,” Sam said gently. “You’re acting like someone who’s running scared. And I understand that.” The corner of his mouth turned up. “I’m just not gonna let you do it.”

She stared at him. Her skin prickled with chills. She couldn’t think of a clever comeback. She couldn’t think of a thing to say that would make sense. Half of her wanted desperately to believe in him. But Alec's barbs were still fresh in her mind. The other half of her, even with Sam standing there looking so earnest, was screaming to turn away from him and put her armor back on.

It was too soon. She had only recently gotten up off the floor after months—years—of feeling like she lived down there. If she let herself be open and got hurt again now, when she was still nursing her wounds from all of the previous battles, she didn’t know if she’d
ever
get up off the floor again. And as wonderful as Sam seemed to be, as sincere as he seemed to be, Lydia didn’t know if that was a chance she was willing to take. Alec was right: a one night stand was supposed to be just that, one night only.