Claiming What's His (31 page)

She continued pulling against him, but with his strength, her efforts were useless.

Giving her a small but firm shake, he commented, “Sam, I don’t know what you’re talking about.  But I want to explain about Lynn. 
She
came on to
me
.  I was walking through the park when she found me and she made all the moves.  The only thing I tried to do was push her away.” 

Since she wasn’t able to pull out from his arms, she turned herself around and looked into his eyes.  She was hurt, but she had to see for herself if he was telling the truth.  His eyes gleamed with uncertainty and she could see that he was worried that she wouldn’t believe him.  She had known him long enough to figure out which ones were lies and which ones were truths.

This was the truth.  He really was worried that she wouldn’t believe him.

Her insides melted a little.  She inhaled a deep breath.  When she did, her breath hitched a couple of times before she whispered, “Then, why did you text me?”

His brows furrowed.  The hand that was across her chest slid up to her next as his face dipped closer.  “What text?  Sam, I didn’t text you.”

Her head did a small jerk.  That didn’t make sense because she got a text from him and he asked to meet her there.

“You didn’t text me?” she asked again.

             
Alex shook his head but kept his eyes to hers.  “No, I didn’t.”

             
“You didn’t ask me to go to the park?” she asked in order to clarify his response (though she wasn’t sure how much clearer he could be).

His eyes went hard and he firmly replied, “No, I didn’t.  After I left a few hours ago, I went out with Dean to run a few errands.  When I finished, I walked through the park for a few laps since I didn’t have time to go to the gym.”

It was then she smelled his sweat odor through his clothes.

She wondered if he would tell her what those errands were.  And he walked through the park without changing out of his work clothes.  How bizarre was that?

But other than that, this whole text didn’t make much sense.

“If you didn’t text me, then who did?” she asked in confusion.

This was getting way off track from our case, but at the same time, Sam couldn’t shake the feeling that this somehow was connected to the case.  In the back of her head, she had the feeling that the Lynn situation that she caught in the park was a distraction to what was really going on.  Alex had reminded her (and apologized to her) that the thing with Lynn long ago was a mistake and she believed him.

Sam turned her head, scanning up and down the streets, until she saw it.  There were cameras on top of the lights and luckily, there were two pointing in the direction she needed.  She knew that she could call Corey up and get him to hack into the feed and get what she needed.  Perhaps with this, they would be able to catch some potential criminal activities (other than the hacking, of course).

She returned her head back to its position and looked to Alex to see that his eyes hadn’t shifted.  They were still on her.  She leaned in, pressed her lips to his, and offered him a small smile.  “I’m sorry I overreacted.  I was wrong.  But, when we get to the office, you are going to gargle with mouthwash and give me that kiss I know you want to give me.  In the meantime, we need Corey.  Stat.”

His hard eyes disappeared and were replaced with soft ones.  His lips twitched and he muttered, “Yes, ma’am.”

*******

             
Once Corey walked into the office, Sam immediately put him to work, ordering him to hack into the street cams to look for anything suspicious.  She ran her whole theory by him with Alex tentatively listening nearby.  She told them she believed (after reorganizing her thoughts and thinking clearly) that Lynn was possibly used as a distraction to something or someone who might’ve been engaged in criminal activities.  So she had him look into camera feeds, listening to police scanners, and anything that alerted them. 

             
Luckily, Comfort was a small town so there wasn’t much area to cover.  If the bad guys needed more area to cover, they wouldn’t have possibly sent Lynn to the park.

             
Because of this theory of hers, she now believed that Alex was simply there at the wrong place, at the wrong time.

             
Minutes before Corey arrived Alex practically ran into her office bathroom and did what she asked.  Once he gargled, they were making out on the couch when Corey caught them groping on the couch, nearly gagging at the sight which made them laughed.

             
Corey pulled up the camera feeds around the park at the times she had given him.  She stood behind him, towering over and quietly watched.  Alex stood on the opposite side of Corey and did the same.

             
Nothing out of the ordinary.  It was just very quiet.  A few cars passed in the camera frames. 

             
She always wondered how people who worked in security or surveillance did this for a living like what Alex did before combining businesses with Dean. 

             
It was
boring!
 

             
How did they manage not to shoot themselves while they did this?  They pay had to have been off the charts.

             
Unless, there were cops chancing bad guys or bad guys breaking into homes or businesses, this was one job where Sam wouldn’t last five minutes.                She liked action and adventure so this wouldn’t be the job for her.  Not that her most recent jobs turned her into a daredevil or anything.  Climbing trees, car chases and attempted murder. 

             
It wasn’t a like playing paintball like on
The Big Bang Theory
, but it was way better than sitting in a room, watching screens all day.

             
Good lord!

             
After about eight minutes into the frame, Sam noticed a car off to the far top of the camera that slightly shook like either someone pushing down on it or someone loading something heavy in it.  Either way, it caused the car to move.  Then a body ran across the street to that same car, got in and drove away.

             
Sam tapped his shoulder and pointed to the screen.  “Corey, rewind back to about the eight minute mark.”  When he did, she continued, “See here.  Someone is doing something to the car.  And then, someone runs toward the car, gets in, and it’s gone.  See if you can clean that image up to get me that plate.”

             
“Got it,” he assured.

             
Out of the corner of her eyes, Alex stood up straight and pulled her into his arms.  He rubbed his nose against her ear and noted, “You’re getting pretty good at this PI thing.”

             
“I know, huh?” she confirmed in a conceited way (like she didn’t know that).

             
Then he kissed his way across her cheek to her lips.

             
“Ugh!  Guys, I’m still in the room.  I’m about to puke all over the computer here.  Please get out and go do that next door,” Corey retorted, sticking his finger in his mouth and gagging.

             
Alex chuckled.

             
Sam burst out laughing.

*******

              Sam walked into the condo and was assaulted by Cuddles. 

             
But, Buttons was nowhere to be found.  This was odd.  Usually, it was always the both of them together.  There could only be one logical reason for this.

             
After Alex shut the door, bells rung down the hall and Buttons came charging out with one of her lacy underwear stuck on her head.  She ran in until she hit the side of the couch and plopped down to the floor, unable to see through the material.

             
Sam rolled her eyes and sighed.  She bent down to take the underwear off her head, but didn’t even get her hands on it. 

             
Alex scooped her up and headed straight for the bedroom.  She shrieked, her arms going around his shoulders and gripping tightly.

             
“Alex, put me down!  I’m tired and I want to shower and go to bed,” she shout-whined, even though it was more of a shout than a whine.  But, it had somewhat sounded like a whine because she really was tired and she wanted to sleep.

             
“Later.  Now, I’m going to punish you,” he retorted as he continued stalking into the room.

             
She tensed.  Did he say he was going to punish me?  And what did he mean by
punish
?

             
He stopped next to his nightstand, flipped on the light switch, and unceremoniously dropped her (yes, dropped her) onto the bed, causing her to bounce.

             
Once she steadied, she used her hands to inch her way away from him. 

             
“P-punish me, for what?” she asked as her heart raced and her eyes widened.  She was a little worried that he was considering punishing her like she was a little girl who rolled outside in the mud in her pretty Sunday-church dress.

             
His eyes swept to hers.  It wasn’t anger that she saw.  It was more like a cross between annoyance and him trying to make a point across her.  Then he replied, “For not trusting me.  You saw Lynn kissing me and ran away when I called after you.”

             
She stopped, bit her lip and looked away.  “I apologized and I admitted I was wrong,” she whispered softly, but she wasn’t sure if he heard her.

             
He gripped her ankle and yanked her across the bed which made her topple back and he quickly covered her with his body.  He gripped her wrists and held them beside her head, imprisoning her.  He rubbed his nose against her neck, and muttered, “What am I going to do with you?”

             
“Let me go so I can shower and get a good night’s sleep and not think about everything that’s happened with the near-death’s experience?”  She knew she was being hopeful, but she knew he wasn’t going to let her go that easily. 

             
There was something else in his eyes and it looked like determination.  What he was determined to do, she didn’t know.

             
He shook his head.  “No.  I think I’m gonna tie you up and have my wicked way with you, just like I promised.”

             
And before Sam could say anything, he yanked her body up, straddling her waist, pulling her right wrist and tying it to the silk scarf that was apparently already there.  She had no idea where that came from or when it had been there, but it was scaring her, yet turning her on.

             
“Alex, what the hell?  Untie me!” she shouted as she pounded against his arm while he was trying to tie her other arm down.

             
“Hold still.”

             
Hold still?  He must be high if he thought she’d lie still and allow him to do this to her without a fight.

             
She kicked and tried yanking her wrists away from him which didn’t work.  He got it tied and went to the other wrist.  She didn’t even get a chance to reach her hand up to attempt to untie the restrained arm.  She pulled and wiggled, hoping that the rope would loosen and free her, just like it did in movies and cartoons.

             
It didn’t work.

             
Wishful thinking.

             
But, it felt nice.

             
Real nice.

             
The soft, silky material wrapped around her skin made her skin caress against the cool material.  And
that
sent tingles down her body.

             
He got both arms tied and stared down at her.  “Now, let’s get you undressed and get your legs tied.”

             
Sam began kicking and bucking immediately, hoping she could land a quick, hard blow to his head or his family jewels.  Neither one happened.

             
He managed to undo her jeans and yank that, along with her underwear, down and off her legs. 

             
“Alex!”

             
He then grabbed one leg, worked on that and tied her down.  How he actually achieved tying the one leg with her constantly kicking him was beyond her.  With only one limb left, she gave up the fight and allowed him to tie her.  There was really no point.  If he wanted to tie her up, he’d manage it somehow.  Kicking would only use up more of her energy and she needed to save it for later. 

             
In less than three minutes, he got all four limbs tied to the bed posts, leaving her wide open and feeling very vulnerable.

             
And very erotic.