Claiming What's His (7 page)

             
She shook off that warm feeling.  “Were you waiting for me?  Why didn’t you call or call out my name so I knew it was you?  I could have pepper-sprayed you!”  She was still shouting but she didn’t care if the neighbors came out and yelled at her back.

             
“Yeah, I was waiting for you.  I would’ve called but I don’t have your number.  And, pepper spray?  You need a stun gun or something.”

             
“I have a pepper spray, a stun gun and a handgun.  I just wasn’t in the mood to shoot anyone on my doorstep this late at night with the blood and all.  Plus that would mean I’d have to call the cops to investigate an accidental murder and it would take hours before everything cleared and I could get you back into my apartment.  And, you could’ve gotten my number from Maggie or the office, now that you’re my boss.  HR would’ve given it to you.”

             
“You have a gun?”  He sounded a little shocked and slightly amused, completely ignoring the phone number issue.

             
“Yes, I do.  Care for me to demonstrate on you?” Sam retorted, faking a sweet smile.

             
He held his hands up and took another small step back, chuckling.  “No, no.  I come in peace.  I just wanted to talk to you.  Can I come in?”

             
Sam immediately lost her fake smile.

             
Alex going in? 

             
Bad idea. 

             
If she couldn’t be in a big conference room filled with people and him, why would she want him in her home alone, just the two of them?

             
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.  It’s late.  I have a long day tomorrow,” she tried.

             
But, it seemed he wasn’t deterred.  “I won’t take long.  I promise.”

She stood there staring at his for a moment.  His eyes locked on hers telling her that he was determined to go in whether she agreed or not.

She sighed.  She didn’t have all night to try and keep him out.  The quicker she let him in, the quicker he would leave.  ”Fine, as long as it won’t take long.”

Sam unlocked and opened the door.
 She turned on the lights and stepped aside to let him in.  

Alex walked in, slowly scanning the room, and his eyes came back to her.  They were warm and soft and his lips curved into a smile.

“What?” she asked.

“I like it.”

              Alex was referring to her apartment.  All the furniture pieces she owned were very simple but modern.  She had a cream color sectional sofa that she had found at World Market that was on sale.  (In fact, they were all from World Market.)  But even with the sale price, it still cost more than other furniture stores.  She didn’t care.  It looked good at her place and she loved it.  Next to the door sat her Hako console table with a bamboo bowl sitting on top, what Sam liked to call her ‘junk bowl’, meaning keys, coins, mail, candy, etc.  She had a matching Hako coffee table that sat in front of the couch, magazines neatly stacked on top, coasters located on the lower compartment of the table.  Instead of having a dining room table, she replaced it with a desk and turned it into her home office nook.  Underneath the kitchen counter were the counter stools she used to eat dinner, among other stuff.

             
It wasn’t much, but it was home.  

             
Her home.

             
“Would you like anything to drink?” she offered.

             
“Coffee, if you don’t mind,” he replied, still staring at her.

             
Sam nodded, dropping her purse at keys on the console table, heading for the kitchen.

             
“You still take it black?” she called after him.

             
There was a pause before he answered, “You remembered.”

             
Yes, she still remembered.  Some things were never forgotten, especially when it involved Alex, but she wasn’t going to tell him.

             
Instead of saying so, she turned to her Keurig coffee maker and replied, “Most men I know take it black.”  She knew it sounded bitchy and wrong, but considering the current situation, she would’ve said anything to get him out of her place as quickly as possible.

             
But, apparently he wasn’t fazed by anything she said because he hadn’t said a word.  Either that or he was ignoring her.  Probably the latter.

             
A few minutes later, Sam walked back into the living with two cups of coffee in hand to see him flipping through her office furniture magazine.  Sensing her presence, he looked up and took his coffee.

             
“So, uh, what did you want to talk about?” she asked as she sipped her cup.

             
“Maggie told me you were starting your own company.  Have you found an office already?  Are you moved in yet?”

             
Her cup froze and her eyes moved to his.

             
Is this what he wanted to talk about?  What does this have to do with his visit?  Why does he want to know?  Why does he care about her company anyways?

Ignoring his questions, she lowered her cup and asked, “Is that why you’re here? 
To ask about my business?”

He took a sip of his coffee and hesitated for a moment before he replied. 
“No, not particularly.”

“Then, let’s cut to the chase.  You said you wanted to talk.
 So, talk.”

His eyes
crinkled.  “Straight to the point, huh?”  He sighed, closing the magazine, placing it back on the coffee table, and turning his body towards her.  “Fine.  I wanted to know why you left without saying anything this afternoon.”

Oh crap. 

She hadn’t expected him to bring this up.  She shouldn’t be surprised that he wanted to know, but she never wanted to discuss it.  She wanted to let it go and never mention it again.  She wanted to bury it and leave it, far, far underground.  But since it was brought up, she knew she had to say something. 

Anything.

“I had stuff I need to do,” she lied then continued, ”I already knew who you were so I saw no point in staying to meet you, again.”  She shrugged, trying to play it off casually as if it meant anything.

It definitely meant something.

She wasn’t going to tell him she still wasn’t comfortable seeing him after all these years.  She couldn’t let him see how much he affected her, and not to let him see the hurt that still lingered.

“Yes, there was.  If you had stayed, we could’ve discussed the case and how we’ll handle it.”

Oh.

She definitely didn’t expect him to say that.  Maybe she was overreacting to this whole thing with him.

“Discuss it now then.”

“I can’t.”  He paused, his eyes working as if trying to make up an excuse.  He quickly added, “I don’t have the files in front of me.”

His eyes were working and Sam sensed that he was winging it.  She knew he didn’t need any files to discuss the generalization of the case, if he wanted.    He was stalling, but for what?  They hadn’t been in the same room for a long time and they didn’t have anything in common… anymore.

But she needed to get the conversation going so that she could get him out of her home and sort herself out in private.

“Just tell me the gist of it.”

He waited for a beat and then he sighed.  “Okay.  I have two suggestions.  We could either work together, as in side by side all day where we go through the files and receipts.  Or, we could split up the work, but still do the same thing except on our own.

Sam knew that the second option would be best for her so that she wouldn’t have to see him.  But this was work and she had to remain professional.  This was a job that they hired her to do and she would do it to her best ability.  She answered, “Either is fine, just as long as we can handle and solve the case efficient and quickly.  I have other cases to look at.”

“Okay, I’ll think it over and let you know Monday.”

“Okay.”

Alex was silent.  He sat there, staring at her, wanting to say something.  But he doesn’t.  His mouth opened and closed, his eyes changed from something she had never seen before.  Sam wasn’t sure what it meant.

“Is there something else?”

He was still silent.  Finally, he sighed then replied, “No.  I’ll let you get some sleep now.  Are you going to the fundraiser tomorrow?”

“Yeah, I’ll be there.  Maggie and I signed up as volunteers.”

“Oh yeah.
  What are you doing?”

Sam opened her mouth to answer but quickly shut it.  Her brain started working and it must’ve showed through her eyes because he chuckled. 

My brows furrowed. “What’s funny?”

“You don’t know what you’re doing, are you?”

He’s laughing because she didn’t know?  Was he now making things up to irritate her quicker?  Sam figured she could’ve lie to him to save face, but what was the point.  It wasn’t that big of a deal to lie with so she opted to tell the truth.

She sighed.  “No, I don’t know what she signed me up for.  George mentioned that there were still a few openings and she just picked one for me.”

He chuckled again.

She stood and narrowed her eyes at him.  Now she was plain annoyed.  She didn’t see how this was funny.  And yet, here he was with an amused look on his face.

He got up and stepped forward, the flare in her eyes quickly died. 

Instead of feeling angry, it was replaced with something else. 

Something different.

Fluttered.

Warmth.

His eyes went soft.  The look in his eyes had been something she hadn’t seen in a long time.

Lust.

He placed his finger under her chin, tipped it, and brushed his lips to hers.  It was a soft and gently feather light touch that made her want to lean in for more to get the feel of his full lips pressed to hers once again.  It had been too long.  Her eyes fluttered slightly and she fought the urge to lift her hands and clutch the sides of his shirt.  The brush lasted longer than expected and right when she was about to lean into him, he whispered against her lips, “Night, Sam.”

He turned around and left, leaving her standing in her living room, more confused than ever.

Holy cow.

What on earth was
that
?

It was Saturday morning and Sam was not happy.

She walked through the front door, dragging her feet, swinging her bag side to side as she grumbled, wondering and hoping and praying that today would be better than when she woke up.

Sam had a fitful night.  She tossed and turned, unable to shake Alex’s visit out of her head.  It had consumed her every thought and she hated it.  What they had long ago ended long ago.  She wasn’t going to relive it and go through it again.  Somehow, she managed to fall asleep sometime near three in the morning.

Her alarm went off its usual time, five in the morning.  She hit the snooze button for an extra ten minutes of sleep. 

This went on two more times. 

Sam finally woke up after the third snooze, where she threw the covers off her.  She tried to set her feet on the ground but her brains were working quicker than her body, having getting stuck between the covers.  She fell off the bed, luckily her head missing the corner of the nightstand. 

Once she managed to get to her feet, she stumbled into her bathroom and turned on the shower, hoping a warm shower would make her feet better.  When she peeled off her clothes, she stepped into the shower stall where the water was ice cold, making her shriek loudly.  She hated to take a straight cold shower even if it was a hundred degrees outside.  She always liked to start it warm first then work her way slowly to cold water.  But apparently the hot water wasn’t working so she had to suck it up and wash herself quickly.  She made a note to call the maintenance office to have them take a look.

Sam got dressed and headed to the kitchen to make her a cup of coffee, knowing that this would help her terrible morning, at least a little.

Wrong.

Sam opened the cabinet and pulled down the coffee canister, only to realize that she was completely out.  Yesterday had been one of those days where she forgot to do some grocery shopping. 

Since there wasn’t any coffee, she was willing to let that bypass and go for a can of Coke since Coke would cheer her right up (she never bought the diet stuff because she believed that drinking ‘diet’ defeats the purpose of drinking soda in the first place).  When she opened the fridge, to her fourth disappointment of the morning, there was no Coke.

Coffee
, she thought,
I need coffee
.

She needed coffee, badly.  If she didn’t have coffee, at the rate that she was going, she could easily rip someone’s head off, or maybe poke out an eye or two.  It may be a bit drastic (yes, a bit) but Sam never functioned without her morning fix.  Ever since she started drinking it in high school, she loved it. 

The smell, the taste. 

Mmmm
.

She could easily pretend that she had a cup there, but that would only last about point two-five seconds.

She needed coffee…
now
.

             
Sam walked into her office, placed her bag and phone on her desk, walked back out and headed into the kitchen.  She had passed by Cozy’s earlier and saw the long line of customers and thought it would be best to drink coffee at the office than die from Cozy’s caffeine withdraw.  She fixed herself a cup and went back to her office when Maggie walked in with two in her hand.

“I’ll love you a little less than Buttons and Cuddles if you hand me that cup of coffee,” Sam pleaded, setting her freshly made office coffee down and stretched out her hands for Maggie to place the cup in her hands.

“You’re actually willing to throw Buttons
and
Cuddles into the mix of love against me?”

“Yeah, but I said I’d love a little less than them.
” Sam clarified, ignoring Maggie’s annoyed look and eyeing the coffee in her hands with determination.

Maggie took pity on her and gave her the cup.

“Which you already do, Sam.  You should really cut back on the caffeine.  It’s really not good for you.”

Cut back on her caffeine?  Was she nuts?  Maggie knew that Sam functioned on her coffee, especially if it was from Cozy’s.

“Yeah, sure.  When monkeys give births to pigs.  I function on caffeine and I don’t plan on stopping any time soon.”

             
Maggie snorted and sipped her coffee.  “So what are your plans for today?

             
“Well, since I will be starting at Conrad on Monday, I need to see if Char can come in today so I could show her around.

             
“Who’s Char?”

             
“Charlotte Murphy,” Sam told her, then cleared her throat and mumbled, “The mother of my four-year-old client.”

             
Maggie laughed and clarified, “You mean four and three quarters.  I’ll see you later.  Gotta go set up for tonight.”

*******

The office door opened and Danny bounced in with a McDonald’s bag in one hand and two French fries in the other, aiming up towards his mouth.  Sam had called Char earlier and asked if she could stop by the office so that Sam could cover office duties with her.  She agreed and thirty minutes later, here they were.  Char had a squirming Billy under her arm and she set him down where he set out to discover his new surroundings.

Danny came jiggling in like he was jamming to a song while he continuously cramming fries in his mouth. 

Thinking she should tease him a bit, Sam asked, “Danny, where’s my food?”

Danny came to a halt from his bouncing and stared blankly at Sam.  Then he looked up to his mom who looked down to him, her lips twitching.  Then, he looked back to Sam. 
Still with no emotion.  He looked down to his bag of fries.  This seemed to be going on for a while.  He looked up and slowly made his way to Sam where he set down the two fries that were in his hand on the desk.

“That’s all I get?” she asked, trying to maintain her face even though she wanted to laugh.

Danny’s brows came together as he opened the bag and bit his bottom lip.  He seemed to be really thinking hard about this and how many more he was going to share.  If he shared any more, then that meant there would be less for him.  And, she could tell that he loved his fries.

Sam glanced up to Char with her lips twitching to see Char’s lips pressed together to prevent from laughing out loud.

He reached in and pulled out two more fries, setting those on the desk as well.

“That’s all?”

“No more,” he told her as he reached in a grabbed three fries and shoved them in his mouth.

Sam smiled, grabbing Danny by his head and giving him a smack on this forehead.  “You can have it back, cutie.  I’m just teasing –”

Before Sam even finished her sentence, Danny grabbed all four fries on the desk and shoved those in his mouth and smiled big with the potatoes wedged between his teeth.

Sam burst out laughing.

Billy joined in and woofed.

             
With her now working undercover at Conrad, she needed to give Char a crash course on the software programs that she used for all purposes in case she need Char to do some checking for her.  She also gave her the key and code to the office the second they sat down so she wouldn’t forget. 

             
During their training session, Sam got a call from Kristen Hill who wanted to hire her to follow her husband whom she suspected of cheating.  She managed to stop by and fill out her paperwork.

             
After Kristen left, Sam found Danny asleep with Billy on the couch.  

             
Her heart melted. 

             
“Do you need to take him home?  We can finish this another time,” Sam asked in a soft voice as she turned to face Char.

             
Char lifted her head from the computer screen to look back.  “But, won’t you be undercover starting Monday?”

             
“Yes, but I can always sneak away.  I can handle my boss.”  This would be her constant excuse to get away from Alex as often as possible, and she planned on using it as often as she could.

             
“That’s okay.  Let’s finish this today and then we’ll head home and rest up before the fundraiser.  Are you going?”

             
“Yes.  Actually, Maggie, my best friend, signed us both up for something.  I haven’t even asked her what it was.  I keep forgetting to ask which isn’t good.  But, I’ll find out later.”  

             
They continued working for about another hour, when Maggie walked through the door.  ”I am here, my love!” she announced, waving her arms in the air twirling around the room.

             
Billy woke up and barked, “Arf, arf!”  He jumped up, wagging his tail and his tongue lolling.

             
“I can see that you’re here, beautiful.” Char answered, laughing and winking at Maggie.

             
Sam laughed as well.  ”Maggie, this is Char.  Char, Maggie.”

             
“So you’re the mother of Sam’s four-year-old client.  Sam tells me you’re her new right-hand office woman.  Interested in making double pay?” Maggie asked as she wagged her brow to Char.

             
Char winced when she heard that her son was Sam’s client.  Obviously she hadn’t quite got over that.  But curiosity took over when she asked, “Double pay?  How so?  If it’s as easy as it sounds, then count me in.”

             
“Oh, it is.  You answer my phones as well, I’ll stop by late afternoon with Sam to check them and I’ll pay you what Sam is paying.”

             
“So you’ll
each
pay me to sit and answer phones during the same time?”

             
“Sure, if it’s okay with Sam.”

             
“Fine with me,” Sam replied instantly not really paying attention to them but watching Danny sleep.  Billy was still excited with the new person in the office that he was still standing on the couch next to Danny.

             
“If you guys are okay with it, who am I to argue.  Deal,” Maggie agreed.

             
“Cool.  And I’m her one and only love by the way… Oh, and I think I may have just met mine.  He’s so adorable!” Maggie added as she turned to see Danny still asleep on the couch.

             
Char giggled, “That’s my son, Danny.”

             
“So, Maggs, we were just talking about the fundraiser.  What did you sign me up for?” Sam asked, hoping to distract her away from a sleeping Danny.  Knowing her she would wake him up on purpose.

             
She still inched her way to Danny as she spoke, “That’s why I’m here.  I came to tell you what you’re doing.”

             
“Maggs, don’t wake him up,” Sam warned her.

             
“I won’t.”  She was still moving towards him, and when she was next to him, she bent down and moved his hair from his face.

             
“So, are you going to tell me?”

             
Maggie straightened and looked back to Sam, her eyes were dancing.  ”I know how good you are with people of all ages and everything.  So, I signed you up for...”

             
Danny began to stir as Billy leapt off the couch.

             
Sam hadn’t notice that Maggie inched closer and closer to the door.  ”Spit it out, Maggs.  What did you sign me up for?”

             
She opened the door and began sprinting out.  Just before the door closed, she shouted, “Kissing booth!”

             
Char laughed.

             
Billy barked.

             
Danny pushed up to his elbows and glanced around.  He was confused but then smiled.

*******

              The fundraiser had started about an hour ago and it was in full swing with people bumping into people, going from station to station having a good time. 

             
Sam was walking around, waiting until it was her time at the kissing booth.  In all honesty, she had been trying to think of some ways to get out of it.  She didn’t want to be sitting in a chair and kiss random guys even if it was for charity.  She did think of some: fake sick, medical emergency, new client calls, or her girls were sick.  The faking sick and medical emergency wouldn’t work out too well because someone would then volunteer to take her to the hospital, only to find out that nothing was wrong with her.  They’d probably strap her down to the chair when they got back afterwards.  New client calls wouldn’t be considered important enough to miss the fundraiser.  And if her girls were really sick, then Mitch wouldn’t be there; he would have taken the girls to the hospital already.

             
Sam still couldn’t believe that Maggie had signed her up for this.  Although she was a little preoccupied yesterday at scanning the pool of suspects during the announcement meeting, she would’ve said yes to practically anything (not that she would have told Maggie that).  She would have to kill her later and dispose her body at Lake Conroe when she’d make an “impromptu” visit to “clear her head”.  But she knew she’d miss her, eventually, so she’d have to think of some other way to get back at her.