Heart & Soul: The Meeting (Heartland Series) (6 page)

Grinning at her friend, who she knew wouldn’t be
going home alone tonight, Sam continued dancing.
 
Another favourite song came on and she
grinned, spinning around in a 180.

That’s when she saw him.

At least, she thought it was him, no, scratch
that, she knew it was him.
 
All she could
see was a silhouette, outlined against the glass barrier of the second floor,
but she knew.
 
Her body was responding in
the exact same way it had done earlier in the day.
 
Her heart rate had quickened, her pulse had
sped up and, as if she needed any more convincing, the warmth she felt between
her thighs told her more than any rational thought ever could.

For some strange, unfathomable reason, her body responded
to this man like no one else she’d ever met.
 
Hell, she couldn’t even see him clearly and she was practically
hyperventilating at the thought of him being here.
 
Could he see her from where he was?
  
Had he known she was going to be there?
 
No. How could he?
 
He’d probably forgotten all about her as soon
as she and David had left his suite.
 
What could she possibly have to offer a guy like Alistair Lockwood?

Even though she knew the answer to that question,
her eyes were still locked on the shadowy figure standing by the glass.
 
The more she looked, the more she was
convinced it was him.
 
She’d only spent a
little over half an hour in his presence, but every little detail about him had
somehow been burnt into her memory.
 
The
shadow had the same physique; the hair was the same length. It was him, no
doubt about it.

So much for relieving tension.
 
Now all she could think about was him backing
her up against that glass wall, pushing her skirt up over her hips and using
those long fingers to work her body into
a frenzy
as
his cock worked her pussy into submission.
 
Closing her eyes at the errant thoughts, she took a deep breath to
steady herself before opening them again, finding Dominic standing in front of
her.
 
Smiling, he placed his hands on her
waist as hers moved to his upper arms, together they danced.

A few minutes passed before either of them spoke.

“You know, not to sound big headed, but most women
would kill to dance with me.
 
What’s got
you so distracted?”
 

Sam looked up at Dominic, seeing the teasing look
in his eyes as he spun them in a 360.
 
Sam’s eyes flicked over his shoulder and she fought hard to mask the
disappointment she felt when she saw the shadow was gone.

“Let me guess.
 
Mr
Hotty
invading your thoughts again?
 
It’s
okay, I get it.
No way can I compete with a movie star.
 
I’ll just be on my way.”

Dominic’s plan worked when Sam burst out laughing
at the pouty look her friend was sporting.

“You’ll always be my number one guy Dom.
 
Besides, I thought you had your own fan
club?” Sam said, referring to the brunette that had captured his attention for
the last hour.

“Who Emily?
 
She’s cute an’ all but not my type.”
 

“Since when has big boobs and a curvy figure not
been your type?”

“Why Miss Westfield, I’m insulted that you’d think
I only look at the physical aspects of a woman.”

Sam rolled her eyes and gave him a look that told
him what her answer to that question was.
  
Dominic grinned before releasing her and leading her back over to their
table.

“She really did have great boobs though.”

oOo

Alistair sat in the VIP area of the member’s only
section of Infinity nightclub.
 
The only
difference between where he sat and those on the ground floor was that the
drinks were more expensive, the clientele more exclusive and the waitresses
more naked.

On the ride over, Chris had promised him that the
girls in the member’s only area would be just what he was looking for if he
needed to distract himself from the events of the day.
 
Unfortunately, and it didn’t happen very
often, his friend had been wrong.

He had indulged in the extremely over priced
alcohol, even letting a couple of the waitresses get a little closer than he
normally liked.
 
These girls were smoking
hot with bodies most women would envy, yet his body hadn’t reacted at all.
 
His cock had remained in his dormant state,
not even twitching as the women, wearing only skimpy g-strings sashayed around
him.
 
He was sure they were pulling out
some of their best moves on him too.
 
Part of him had felt bad when they’d just moved on to the next guy,
realising they were not going to get anything out of him.

Sighing, he threw back the single malt that sat on
the table and stood.
 
Glancing at his
friend, he grinned as he saw he was in his element with three of the
“waitresses” giving him their undivided attention.
 
He was sure some of the moves they were
pulling were illegal.
 
The “look but don’t
touch” rule that was a prerequisite in places like this didn’t seem to exist, or
if it did, it was being blatantly ignored.

Crossing the room, Alistair stood by the glass
partition that Chris had explained was tinted so they could see everything that
went on downstairs but all anyone could see from the outside was shadows.
 
He appreciated this, considering his
reputation.
 
If anyone from the press found
out that he’d been here, it would all over the news in seconds.
 
He knew he didn’t have to worry about the girls.
 
Chris had informed him that they had all
signed confidentiality agreements upon accepting their jobs.
 
Alistair didn’t know how Chris knew this information
and he hadn’t asked.

Leaning against the chrome railing, Alistair
surveyed the room below.
 
Considering it
was relatively early, the place was packed.
 
People waited patiently at the big, circular bar that was currently three
deep.
 
All the tables and more private
booths were occupied and the dance floor was full of bodies moving to the beat
of the music that filled the large room.

Then he saw her.

She was on her own near the edge of the dance
floor.
 
Her long red hair swayed as she
moved her body to the music.
 
He’d been right
about those curves.
 
The skin tight black
dress she wore left nothing to his already overactive imagination, accentuating
her body in all the right places.
  
The
fuck-me heels she wore showcased her long legs to perfection.

Just like that, he was rock hard.
 
He’d had near naked women grinding on his lap
for the last hour and nothing had happened.
 
Now, thirty seconds after seeing her, his cock strained against his
zipper.
 

In his twenty eight years, he’d been with a lot of
women, but none of them held a candle to her.
 
She was beautiful beyond everything he’d ever seen.
 
He kept his eyes on her as she turned, her
back how too him as she continued to move.
 
The black material hugged her perfect ass and he had to stifle a groan
as he imagined his hands gripping the firm globes as he pushed her against the
wall and thrust into her over and over.
 

Taking a deep breath, he watched as she spun
around and looked up.
 
She stopped
dancing momentarily, her bright green eyes looking straight at him.
 
Could she see him?
 
Had Chris been wrong about this glass?
 
He knew he wasn’t, yet it seemed like she was
staring at him, like she somehow knew he was there.

He kept his gaze on hers for what seemed like
hours, not wanting to break the contact he had with her, even if he was the
only one who could actually see the other.
 
He could feel the connection between the two of them.
 
It was something stronger than anything he’d
ever felt before.
 
How could he feel like
this after only thirty minutes?

Alistair had read about these things, hell, he’d
even starred in a couple of movies where he and the leading lady had to portray
falling in love at first sight.
 
He’d
never believed it was real, until now.
 
He wasn’t dumb enough to believe he was in love with Samantha, but at
the same time, he couldn’t deny that there was something
there,
the hard on in his pants was proof of that.
 

Taking a step back from the glass, he was debating
whether or not he should go down to her when he saw a guy approach her from the
side.
 
He stood in front of her for a moment
before she looked up at him and smiled.
 
His
hands grabbed Samantha by the waist as hers rested on his arms.
 
It was clear that they knew each other and he
watched intently as she laughed at something the guy had said.

He knew it was too good to be true.
 
A girl like Samantha must have guys after her
all the time.
 
It was stupid of him to
think she could be single.
 
Of course she
would have a boyfriend lurking about.
 
Alistair
was about to return to his table when he felt a presence by his shoulder.
 
He didn’t need to look to know who it was.

“So, that’s the little lady that’s got you so
worked up?”

Alistair frowned at his friend.
 
He hadn’t mentioned anything to him about
Samantha, yet for some reason he wasn’t surprised that Chris had figured it
out. He didn’t say anything as he continued.

“Pretty lady.
 
You should make a move.”

Alistair scoffed at his friend’s words, returning
to the table and falling back into his earlier seat.

“She’s taken Chris, or didn’t you notice that guy
she was dancing with?”

“Who?
 
The blond guy?
 
Nah,
they’re just friends, nothing physical going on there,
no
heat. Trust me.”

Alistair didn’t respond as he absorbed the
words.
 
Could she be single after
all?
 
He was silent for several moments
before Chris came to sit next to him.

“Listen, she’s a pretty girl, you’re a relatively
good looking guy.
 
Judging by your
obvious reaction to her
..”
Chris paused as Alistair
looked up, knowing what his friend was referring to, “....it’s clear you want
to get to know her on a more physical level.
 
You know I don’t like to get involved with you and your woman bud, not anymore
anyway, but I’m getting the impression this girl could be something more for
you.
 
Don’t assume anything before you
talk to her. That’s all I’m saying.”

Nodding, Alistair wondered when his friend had become
so
waise
as Chris stood and crossed the room to where
the girls waited for
him,
Alistair ran his hands
through his hair, looking up when Chris called out to him.

“Oh, I emailed you that information you asked
for.
 
Think there’s one thing in
particular you might be interested in, if you’re serious about getting to know
this girl that is.”

Was he serious about getting to know her?
 
Alistair smiled as he knew the answer to that
question without even having to think about it.
 
By the time he was through, there would be nothing about Samantha
Westfield that he didn’t know, and not an inch of her body that he hadn’t
explored.
 
One way or another, she would
be his.

~ 5 ~

When Sam awoke the next morning, she was sure a
percussion band had taken up residency in her head.
 
This was the reason she didn’t drink.
 
She didn’t do well with hangovers and this
was one hell of a hangover.
How much did
I drink?

Putting her hands on either side of her head, Sam
carefully rolled onto her back, wincing when her alarm made
it’s
presence known.
 
Reaching out, she smacked the offending device with her hand to shut it
off, groaning loudly when the sharp movement jolted her body, setting of a
fresh round of drums.

She knew never to drink on a work night.
 
It only made her sluggish the next day, added
to the fact that when she’d been drinking to this extent, all she wanted to do
was sleep it off.
 
Only she knew that it
wasn’t an option.
 
She had to be at work
in just over an hour.

Dragging herself out of bed, Sam slowly made her
way through to the bathroom.
 
Looking at
herself in the mirror, she groaned again at her reflection.
 
She’d not taken off her make up the night
before and the mascara she’d worn was now smeared around her eyes.
 
Great look Sam.

Switching on the shower, Sam shucked off her
nightdress, frowning when she couldn’t actually remember getting changed into
the garment when she’d got home the night before.
 
Damn, she couldn’t even remember getting
home.
 
Surely she’d not had that much to
drink.
 

Glancing back into her bedroom, Sam saw her black dress
was folded neatly over the back of a chair and her shoes were upright
underneath it. Her purse was hanging from the handle of her closet and her cell
phone was plugged in to the charger and was sat on her bedside table.

Sam narrowed her eyes starting to get suspicious
as she went back into her room and pulled on her robe.
 
If she was drunk enough not to remember
getting home, there was no way she’d have been able to have arranged things so
neatly.
 
What on earth was going on?

As Sam surveyed her room, she turned towards the
door.
 
Coffee.
 
She could smell coffee.
 
Opening the bedroom door, and doing her best
impression of a sniffer dog, Sam went to seek out coffee.
 
She rounded the corner into the living room,
wincing slightly when she saw the drapes were open fully and the bright light
from the morning sun wasn’t helping the pain in her head.

“Morning sunshine.”

Sam span around to her left when she heard the
voice, seeing Dominic leaning against her kitchen counter, a mug of coffee in
his hand as he poured one for her.
 
It
all made sense now.
 
Dominic must have
ensured she got home safely and, if the folded blankets on the back of her
couch were anything to go by, he’d stayed over.

Walking towards him, she accepted the mug he
offered her and inhaled the hot beverage.
  
Coffee had always been one of her weaknesses and Dominic knew that. She
stayed quiet until she’d taken her first couple of sips before she looked up
and smiled.

“Thank you for getting me home last night.
 
I don’t remember much after we danced.”

Dominic laughed at her words, stopping suddenly
when he saw her grimace at the loud noise.

“Suffering this morning huh?
 
I’m not
surprised the amount you put away last night.
 
You’d had several glasses before you even started dancing, good job
staying upright by the way, then you had two more when we sat back down.”

“And
who’s
fault was
that?
 
You know I can’t handle my drink.”

“Hey, don’t blame me baby girl.
 
I didn’t force those drinks down your
neck.
 
You were in a drinking mood and
you only get like that when you’re trying to forget something.”

Sam listened to his words and saw the meaning in
his eyes.
 
He was concerned, which is why
he helped her home and why he had slept on the couch.
 

She’d only ever gotten that drunk once before, her
last night in New York.
 
She was leaving
behind the only life she’d ever known to start a new life in Canada.
 
All her friends and family were in New York.
 
They meant the world to her but there was
something else that she wanted to get away from and she’d known the only way to
do it was to move away where no one, except for Dominic, knew her secrets.

“You know, I can’t for the life of me understand
why you would want to forget a meeting with Mr Love Machine.
 
You know, I’ve read kiss and tell articles
from women who claim he’s a real animal in the bedroom.”

Sam’s eyes widened as she sipped her coffee.
 
Details about Alistair’s prowess in the
bedroom was not the kind of thing she wanted to hear about, especially when her
imagination was doing a damn fine job on
it’s
own of
doing just that.
 
Placing her half full
coffee mug on the counter, Sam turned back towards her bedroom, hoping Dominic
hadn’t noticed the blush on her cheeks.

“I need a shower.” Sam called over the shoulder as
she vanished into her room.

Leaning against the door, she silently cursed
Dominic for putting the images of Alistair back into her head.
 
She’d managed to go for a full fifteen
minutes without a single thought of him, but now he was well and truly back.

Dropping her robe onto the floor, Sam went through
to the bathroom.
 
Before she climbed in
the shower, she reached into the cabinet and pulled out a couple of aspirin.
 
Filling a glass with water, she swallowed the
pills then gulped down the remainder of the contents, only now realising how
dehydrated she felt.
 
Hopefully by the
time it came for her to leave for work, the aspirin would have kicked in to
ease the pain in her head and the shower would make her feel human again.
 
She could hope, right?

oOo

As his car weaved
it’s
way through the Downtown traffic, Alistair was
flicking through the information Chris had sent him the night before.
 
He’d read the information probably a dozen
times and he’d finally decided on how he should proceed. He’d sent Chris an
email at some ridiculously early hour thanking him for his research and letting
him know his plans and what he intended to do.
 
He’d also fired off a couple more, one to his realtor and another to his
personal banking manager.
  
He had no
doubt that they were efficient enough to put his plans into action immediately.

Not being with Samantha wasn’t a scenario he was
willing to entertain.
 
He didn’t know
what it was about the stunning redhead that had grabbed his attention so
strongly, but he wasn’t about to argue with the fact that his body wanted her,
badly.

He hadn’t slept the night before, at least not for
any length of time.
 
All he’d been able
to think about was her in that little black dress and what it would have felt
like to have her body grinding against his as they’d danced, not caring who saw
them.
 

Samantha was the kind of woman men gave up
everything for, and he had a lot to give up.
 
Was it foolish of him to think this way?
Probably.
 
Was is
stupid of him
to serious entertain the idea?
 
Definitely.
But that didn’t stop his mind from running
through all the possibilities.

Placing his tablet on the seat next to him,
Alistair grabbed his cell phone, seeing he had three missed calls, two from
Christopher,
one
from a withheld number.
 
Hitting the call button, he waited for
Christopher to answer.

“Hey buddy, where are you?”

Straight and to the point.
 
Alistair had come to expect nothing less from
Chris.

“I’m Downtown why?”

“Are you following up on that information I sent
you?”

“I might be. Why’d you ask?”

Alistair was getting a little curious about all
the questions his friend was asking him, especially seeing as the line was now
silent and all he could hear was muffled voices, almost as if Chris had covered
the mouthpiece so he couldn’t hear.
 
It
was several more moments before Chris came back on the line.

“Let’s just say you might want to reconsider, at
least for today anyway.”

“What aren’t you telling me Chris and what’s with
all the muffled voices?”

“Al, someone broke into our offices last night.”

“Okay.
 
That
bad news, sure, but how does that affect me?”

“We came in this morning and nothing was out of
place.
 
It was only when I logged in to
my email account that I noticed the discrepancy.”

Alistair signed down the phone.
 
Maybe he’d have to reconsider the straight
and to the point part of Chris’ personality.
 
He sure wasn’t being that now.

“Chris, get to the part where this affects me.”

“Bud, you know that I keep my emails under
password protection.
 
Any emails that I
send to you are backed up to my home computer and the deleted from the account
and the hard drive.
 
Well, I noticed this
morning that the one that I sent you last night was still in the trash folder.
 
The one you sent me this morning was in my
inbox showing as it had been read, but not by me.”

“So? What does that mean?”

“What it means is that someone hacked through my
security and accessed my email account.
 
No one else’s was touched.
 
Apart
from the basics, the only
thing that I do for this company
that’s of any importance is help secure
your safety.
 
Someone was after information on you
Alistair, and it looks like they got all the information I sent through to you
last night, including what you plan on doing today.”

“So you’re saying that if I head there I could be
heading into what?
An ambush?
A
press mob?
 
You’re gonna have to
be more specific here Chris ‘cause I’m almost there now.”

“I don’t know bud.
 
It may be something as simple as a particularly resourceful reporter trying
to get information for a story or it could be something more sinister.
 
We have no way of knowing, but it definitely
looks like that email is the only thing that was accessed.”

Alistair sighed and rubbed his hand over his
face.
 
The reason he’d gone with that
security company was because they had a good reputation and he trusted Chris
with his life.
 
He knew his friend
wouldn’t be giving him this information unless he thought he needed to know,
and he was right, it was probably someone after a juicy story that just got a
little over zealous.

“Thanks for letting me know Chris. I’ll let you
know if anything happens.”

With those words Alistair ended the call and sat
back in his seat.
 
For the next few
minutes he debated whether to tell his driver to turn around and head back to
the hotel.
 
He then added in the possibility
of getting to see Samantha again and the decision was made.
 
Stuffing his cell into his pants pocket,
Alistair stared out the window as his driver made his way to his destination.

oOo

Feeling almost human again, Sam strode through the
doors of the Heartland building.
 
After
her shower and another large mug of coffee, the aspirin had started to kick in
and she felt like she would be able to make it through the day in one
piece.
 

Dominic had left before she’d finished her shower,
leaving her a little note on the kitchen counter telling her to finish the
coffee and he would call her tonight.
 
Part of her had been grateful that he’d gone before she’d finished.
 
She knew that he would keep mentioning
Alistair and she didn’t need to him to keep reminding her about the one man who
she didn’t need to be reminded off.
 
No
matter how hard she tried not to think about him, she’d see or hear something
that would remind her of him and there he was, right at the forefront of her
mind yet again.