Determined: To Win (Determined Trilogy Book 3) (13 page)

“Uh, um. Sure. No problem. Are you looking for anything in particular, Elliot?” She was understandably surprised by the request.

“No ma’am. It’s just a routine sweep. If you two would have a seat?” he gestured toward the living room.

“Actually, if it’s all the same, we will wait in the kitchen. I have coffee and some treats. You can join us after you are done, if you’d like.”

Elliot nodded and watched us walk down the hall to the kitchen.

Gina poured us a couple of mugs of coffee and brought a tray of pastries with us to the sunroom off the kitchen.

“He’s cute,” she said as she helped herself to a croissant.

I looked over at her. “Elliot?” I chuckled. “Yeah, I guess so. He keeps himself in really good shape.”

“But…?”

“I don’t know. Nothing against Elliot.” I picked out a bear claw from the golden pile of goodies.

“Just not your type?”

“I guess not.” I smiled, thinking of David. “Besides, he works for my boyfriend.”

“Ah, so the search is at the request of the boyfriend?”

“It’s just a security sweep, not a search. But yeah. I’m so sorry. There’s just been a few incidents lately and now he’s being overprotective.”

“Incidents?” Gina’s brow raised expectantly.

I knew I couldn’t share, so I put her off. “Nothing major. I’ll tell you another time, if that’s all right.”

“I see. Well, if he can afford to have someone accompany you, then hey, I think it’s sweet. He wants to keep you safe. You must be very important to him. Are things serious?”

I took a long sip of my coffee. “Yeah. I think so.” I tried to control my smile and failed. “He asked me to move in with him.”

Gina raised her eyebrows. “Oh, wow, that is big news. How long have you two been dating?”

“About two months.”

“That’s quick. I mean, I’m not judging, but…” She put her hand up in the air in an attempt to demonstrate her innocence.

“No, I know it’s quick.” It was true. It was quick for anyone, and especially for me. Something in the back of my mind was still gnawing at me. I had to figure out how to tell my parents. We were normally so close, I felt bad keeping this secret from them, but I knew I’d face a deluge of questions, even though they adored him. Besides, the logical side of me agreed, how well can you know someone after two months? But when I was with David, none of it mattered. Something about him made me want to take the risk.

Gina continued. “Well, take it from a divorcee, you—”

“All done, Sam,” A male voice announced from the door. It was Elliot. “You’re all clear.”

“Thanks Elliot.”

“Elliot, darling, would you like some coffee? Something to eat? You can’t leave me to eat all this by myself. I’d ruin my figure.”

Elliot stayed in the doorway and looked at me and then back at Gina. “I have a hard time believing that, Ms. Moretti. Thank you but no. I’ve got coffee in the car.”

“It’s silly to stay in the car all day, when I’ve got all this space. If you are just going to be sitting out there, you might as well be sitting in the living room.”

Elliot looked at me, as if he was asking permission. I responded. “I agree. It’s cold and rainy out. You’d be much more comfortable inside.”

Elliot shrugged. “If you insist, Sam.”

“I do.”

“It’s settled then. Elliot, make yourself comfortable. Sam and I are going to the office to do some work,” Gina told him. I got up and followed her down the hall. As we rounded the corner, she lowered her voice. “So, what time does he get off?” she asked with a wink. The pairing was enough to make me giggle, and I didn’t have the heart to tell her he was married. Gina and Elliot. Who would have thought?

Gina and I spent most of the morning planning and calendaring our attendance at the art auctions for next week. It turned out she was going back to New York the next day for a long weekend to sign some divorce papers, and she wanted to get started first thing on Monday. We managed to get three sessions on the calendar and finish our registration when she sat back in her desk chair and yawned.

“Whew. Sorry Sam. I was up late last night.”

“That’s okay,” I said, yawning. It was true what they said about yawns being contagious. “I was up late too, actually. I might need another cup of coffee soon.”

“You should have come over. I ended up watching a marathon of
I Love Lucy
on cable. It would have been much more fun with a friend.”

I smiled at Gina, glad to see this side of her. I wondered silently how often the angry streak came out. If it was rare, then we’d be fine. In fact, I was glad she was considering me a friend as well as her employee. That was the relationship I’d had with Curtis. I took a deep breath, remembering that that relationship was now gone.

“What is it, Sam? Is everything alright?” she asked, reading the pained expression on my face.

“Yeah. It’s just … someone I know passed away yesterday.”

“Oh, Sam, I’m so sorry to hear that. Why didn’t you say something? What happened? Who was it? Were you close?”

“Yeah, it was actually my old boss from the gallery. The police aren’t sure what happened yet. They think he was shot during a robbery.”

“Oh my God. People told me that area of town was rough. You weren’t there, were you?”

“No, no. Nothing like that. I’m sorry. I probably shouldn’t even be talking about this, it’s not professional. We should be working on getting you your art!” I said, feigning a smile.

“Sam, don’t be crazy. This is a big deal. I’m so sorry to hear about this. If you need time off, anything, please let me know.”

“Thanks, we’re just waiting to hear when the funeral is going to be. I might need a day off for that, but otherwise, I’m glad for the distraction.”
And for the job
. I said, realizing that if I hadn’t taken this job with Gina, I would be on the unemployment line now. There was no way the Kinsler Gallery would stay open without Curtis at the helm. It was the end of an era.

I started to tear up at the thought, and used my finger to wipe away the errant wetness. Gina noticed and offered me a tissue.

“Do you need a moment?” she asked carefully.

I blew my nose and sat up straight. There would be plenty of time for more tears later. Right now I had a job to do. “No, I’m fine. Do you want to review my suggestions for the auction on Tuesday? I think there are three pieces we should go after…”

23

The rain had slowed to a trickle by the time Elliot and I left Gina’s house at 4:30. I checked my phone for messages as we drove back toward the city. One text message from Eve letting me know that the funeral would be on Friday at Chapel of the Chimes. I texted her back and told her I’d try to call her later that night.

Back in the city, Elliot parked the car, and we walked to the elevator. “Feeling up to a run, Els?” I asked.

Elliot pretended to make a pained face at my new nickname for him. “Sure, Sam. You sure you’re feeling up to it?” His voice was soft. Everyone had been treating me a little more carefully since the news.

“Yeah. I need to work off some of my nerves.”

“Sounds good to me,” he said as we exited into the penthouse. “I’ll be here when you are ready.”

I nodded and headed down the hall to the bedroom. Instead of getting ready right away, I flung myself onto the bed and stretched out as wide as I could, taking up as much space as possible. I flipped over and texted David, asking him what time he’d be home.

I stared at my phone, waiting for a response, when the bedroom door opened. It was David.

“Hey, I didn’t realize you were home.”

“I’m working in the office,” he said as he made his way over to me and sat down on the bed. “How was your day?” He looked better than he had been looking. Last night’s sleep had done him good.

“Fine. Good. I’m going to go for a run with Elliot. What do you want to do for dinner?”

“I can have Hilde whip something up.”

“Sounds good. Tell her to go light on the kale.” I winked at him as I got up and started to put on my running clothes.

“Two orders of broccoli, coming right up.”

“Ah, we have a comedian, ladies and gentleman,” I said as I pulled on my running pants.

“Don’t worry, I won’t quit my day job,” David said, as he pulled me toward him, his strong hands fondling my spandex-wrapped ass. “I like these pants, Ms. Sharp.”

“I thought you preferred me in skirts?”

“I think I like your ass any way I can get it.”

“Well, right now this ass is going running. You sure you don’t want to come?”

He released me and reluctantly stood up. “I wish, but I need to finish up some things in the office. Are you going to be safe?”

I pretended to glare at him. “Duh.” He raised his eyebrows at my response. His nostrils flared almost imperceptibly. “I’ll go along the wharf. There are lots of people there.”

This seemed to appease him, and I led us out of the bedroom. “I’ll see you for dinner?” I asked, carefully keeping my distance from his seductive hands.

“Make sure to bring a big appetite,” he said, his eyes dark.

“You know I’m always hungry.”

His jaw tightened, but the corners of his mouth turned up. He was pleased. “You are a bad girl, Ms. Sharp.”

“You going to send me to bed without supper?” My eyes blazed at him.

“You better start running otherwise neither of us will make it to dinner.” He reached out and managed to slap me on the ass before he turned to enter his office.

Somehow, I had a sneaking feeling that we might be eating later than planned.

24

The next day, I took my time getting up. With Gina out of town for the long weekend, I had offered to work a little from home while she was gone. But no one said I had to start at nine. I was still in that delightful half-asleep mode when David rolled over and spooned me.

“Hey, baby,” he said, pushing my hair off my face.

“Hey.”

“That was nice last night,” he murmured.

“Yeah.” I agreed, letting him pull me in closer to him. I felt his morning erection hard against my leg and started to move my hips toward it. My body was a junkie for his touch. And after a few days of going without him, having a taste of his cock last night had brought me back to full-blown addiction. I turned myself over, and he glanced up at me, satisfaction evident.

“You are insatiable, Samantha, you know that?”

I started kissing his neck. “It’s your fault,” I said, moving down toward his chiseled torso. “You’re too damn hot.”

He pulled my chin up and looked at me. His expression was sleepy but serious. “You know I love you right, Samantha?” I murmured agreement trying to reclaim my focus. He pulled my head back to face his. “You know I’d do anything to protect you, right?”

Normally I’d question why he was being so serious, but at this point, my goal wasn’t relationship harmony. It was to claim that priceless cock. So I nodded and murmured yes as I moved myself onto him.

~

After a leisurely morning session in the sack, we wandered into the kitchen and helped ourselves to some quiche and fruit that Hilde had left out.

“Don’t you have to go to work?” I asked between bites. David was usually out the door by eight, and it was already half past nine.

David shook his head and finished chewing. “I took the morning off. I thought maybe we could hang out. You know, since I’ve been so busy lately.”

I almost choked on my strawberry. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah,” he reached over and ran his hand along my cheek. “I’ve been putting in long hours lately, and you’ve been really understanding. How about we go shopping? Pick you out some new things?”

Shopping? Practically everything that was in my closet was new, provided of course, by David. But who was I to say no? I mean, sure, new clothes would be nice, but I was more excited by the notion of spending the morning together.

“Um, sure. That sounds fun. But you don’t have to buy me anything. We could stay in, watch some movies or something,” I said, glancing sideways at him. I was imagining what I could do with him and the better part of a morning.

He smiled, and I think he knew what I was thinking. He didn’t bite. “I want to take you out, Samantha. You said we needed to do more things like a normal couple. Let me take you shopping.”

I could tell this man wasn’t going to give up. And who was I, trying to put off someone who wanted to take me out and buy me nice things? I gave in.

“Okay.” I smiled.

“Excellent,” David said, removing his napkin and getting up. “You finish breakfast. I am going to take a quick shower and get dressed.” He kissed me on the head before he left. “I love you, baby.”

~

Turns out, shopping with David Keith is practically an Olympic event. His stamina clearly outshone mine as we hit up all the fancy stores. In each, well-coiffed women whisked us off to private dressing rooms and paraded hanger upon hanger of expensive designer clothes in front of me. It was ridiculously frivolous, but ridiculously fun. I wasn’t used to buying clothes as a recreational activity, but with David as a partner I was beginning to understand the appeal. We were in the Chanel store off Union Square looking at lingerie that cost more than my old monthly rent when David’s phone started buzzing.

“Sorry, Samantha. I’ll be right back. I need to take this.” He pulled out his credit card and shoved it in my hand. “Get that,” he said, indicating a lacey bra and panty set I was looking at, before he ducked outside.

I stood there fingering the black card and debating the merits of ivory lace versus black, when a sales woman approached.

“Would you like to try anything on?”

I looked over at her. She was dressed all in black with just a single string of pearls adorning her neck. I glanced out the window at David who was deep in the throes of conversation. He was dressed casually in dark jeans and a light blue button down, but his stance was all business. It was very attractive.

“No, that’s okay. I’ll take one of each,” I said, picking up my sizes and giving her the card.

“Very good.” She didn’t blink an eye at the easy sale.

I was at the counter finishing my transaction when David came back in. I took the small bag.