by Unknown
Bella felt the strength in him, felt the wild ripples of waves and saw the brilliant flames of color. Full lips had parted and she knew the voice that cried out was hers…followed very shortly by a ragged male shout. A wicked, almost savage sound that only made her feel more female, more desired.
Sam rolled to his back just as the explosive sensations took him, a move that sent his eyes wide as she thrust heavily down on him, taking him fully and deeply inside her. He felt her pelvis come down hard on his, felt the softest grinding begin even as his body swore it had already had one orgasm. But the erection wasn’t going down quickly or easily and Bella was definitely savoring the sensations, arching her back and rotating her hips so the most sensual, sensitive part of her was being stroked against him.
His hands took a firm hold on her hips, growling low in his throat when another, smaller eruption shook them both. Pale lashes opened very slowly, one hand stroking over the faint sheen of moisture on Bella’s neck, fingers moving the stray, damp curls from the side of her face. Only a small protest when he carefully shifted her to the side, rising and disappearing into the bathroom for a few minutes.
Bella pulled the rumpled quilts over her, thighs clenching and a soft mew of pleasure rumbling in her throat. She felt the bed move and opened one eye, the sight of Sam’s chest coming through the strands of wild hair everywhere. She felt every bone in her body had melted, willingly.
Sam moved over the bed, pulling the quilts over him and a large pillow behind him. Fingers went out to cautiously move the strands of hair from the side of her face, very pale lashes closed. His finger touched the damp spot on her nose.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
“Bella? Are you alright? Did I hurt you…” Anxiety shot through him.
“Oh no…I feel incredible, Sam,” she whispered, only a tiny bit of a tremor in her voice before she rolled to her back, eyes blinking and staring up into the gray sky above them.
“Then what’s this,” he drew his finger along the tiny trail of moisture from the corner of her eyes.
“I’m honestly not sure…happiness…maybe a final good bye to something long, long ago,” Bella swiped her palm over her face. “This is going to sound trite, but it’s not you, it’s me.” She assured him, her voice shaky.
“I am a good listener,” Sam offered, sinking lower and pulling her to face him on their sides. “That was the most incredible sex I’ve ever known…I wasn’t sure we’d make it to the bed,” he admitted, relieved when she smiled at him. He was arrogantly positive he could handle anything as long as she was there with him.
“You have incredible muscles,” she breathed, a warmth and satisfaction inside that hadn’t been there in an incredibly long time. “And very good hands.”
“I think we fit together kinda nice,” he brushed the hair from her face again, leaning up on his palm and watching her. “I thought my hands were in question at one time?” He teased softly.
Bella chuckled, her hand lifting and fitting into the masculine one lying between them. “Thank you…”
“For…?”
“Making me laugh…making me feel…”
“Is that what the tears are about?”
Bella laid her head against his chest, listening for a long, long minute to the reassuring sound of his heartbeat.
“You know…the more you don’t answer, the more I’m sure my imagination will make a wild leap…” Sam hitched them up onto the pillows, his head tipped to peer into the soft, flushed features.
“You know Chloe and Kate and I have known each other a long time,” she inhaled deeply, searching for words. “We met before freshman year in college in Southern California. Chloe introduced us to a couple of her computer friends. All four of them had started this game company and it was going wild. Their games were fun and easy and…just amazing. Two of the guys…Mark and Jimmy…” Bella laughed softly, a sound belied by the tear that eased from the corners of her eyes. “They swept us off our feet,” her voice should have been stronger, should have been solid, but it shook with a tremor of memory.
“Kate married Jimmy and I married Mark,” she said quietly, not minding when his fingers brushed the side of her face. “Trevor and Chloe were good friends, and so into the programming, neither of them were interested in the boy-girl thing.”
“How long…” Sam felt her body shiver and he pulled her a little closer.
“Seven months,” she answered after a long, shaky breath. “One evening they had just finished a long haul on some game they were creating and were…” the words caught in her throat. “Were caught in the parking lot in the cross fire of a couple gangs shooting it out.”
“Bella, I’m sorry…I never…”
“No…no, it was so long ago…so very long…I keep thinking it’ll stop hurting,” her breath was ragged but resolve firm. “Kate was so angry…so very angry,” she whispered in memory. “I was…I was just empty. There was nothing inside me for so very long. Chloe and Trevor finished their projects, made a mint. Trevor sold out to a very large game company in San Francisco and we were all very wealthy. Chloe…god, if it wasn’t for her…Trevor…Kate…me…we were a mess. Kate’s anger took us to the police force. I guess the anger kind of drove us all…that year they had a special award for rookie of the year…it went to all three of us. A couple months out of the academy, we got the year long stretch as beach patrol. Chloe and her…her humor and her perky attitude and…and her clothes!” Bella laughed softly. “She’s the only thing that kept us from…I just wanted to hide. Kate wanted to beat something, anything. But Chloe wouldn’t let us lose ourselves.”
Now he understood a big part of their protective nature for one another. He tightened his fingers around hers, taking them to his lips.
“It might sound funny…but for so long I felt like I was…was in a shell…like an egg? When you kissed me…when you danced with me…I felt little cracks,” a pink tint struck her cheeks. “Sounds nutty…but that’s what it felt like…”
“I can’t believe guys haven’t hit on you in all this time, Bella,” Sam didn’t move when her leg curled over his, her toes stroking down his calf.
“I can’t explain it…why you…why not anyone else…Chloe says it’s pheromones. Then this afternoon…it all just seemed to fall away. That’s why I said it was happiness and maybe a final good bye,” she whispered, snuggling closer.
She pulled her fingers free of his, her palm caressing softly over the fine mat of hair on his chest. She tilted her head back and leaned in, taking his mouth in a long, sensuous kiss.
“Time for finesse,” Sam murmured hotly against her mouth, deciding a short time later that there might be finesse in their future, but it sure as hell wasn’t today.
Bella slipped from the bed and dressed quietly, wandering into the kitchen and peering into the fridge for a long minute. She felt his hands on her waist a few seconds later. So much for stealth, she thought, turning in his arms and losing herself in the kiss he offered.
“You are the most mesmerizing woman I’ve ever known,” he whispered against her lips. “Hypnotic and bewitching…”
“We need food,” she argued against his mouth, digging for resolve and shoving against his chest. “Sit. Read the paper while I cook something.”
“We have room service around the corner,” Sam pointed out with a laugh, hitching his foot on the lower rung of one of the high kitchen stools, the unopened paper on the counter before him.
“Oh, yeah…I can imagine those rumors already,” Bella pulled out a couple containers from the night before, leftovers to the victor, she mused. “A nice thick crusty bread and some pork…potato salad and even some pineapple ham. Mustard?”
“Please,” Sam reache
d for the bread and began creating a sandwich. “I’m starving.”
“Must be all that aerobic exercise,” she teased, offering a plate and silverware. She took a large taste of the potato salad, her stomach grateful. “Juice, milk…water…I don’t have much choice. I have mostly water.”
“Water is fine. I can get coffee at the buffet inside. Locating good coffee is a big part of being a good manager,” he assured her with a wink. “And you make a really good coffee blend,” Sam complimented, sinking his teeth into the sandwich with gusto.
Bella gazed up at the corner of the ceiling in the pool area a short while later. Sam’s hands weren’t exactly visible below the water, but she thought she should offer a reminder.
“Sam…you worked the desk for June…remember those security screens next to the computer?” Bella laughed happily when his hands abruptly retreated. “I bet you didn’t learn that work in manager school.”
“That one came from a men’s magazine,” he growled softly, taking off with long, strong strokes across the empty pool. “Important to keep track of who’s coming and going,” he said on the return trip before sinking below the water once more.
Bella was chuckling as she did a more leisurely swim, gazing into the fading daylight outside the fogged glass windows. No one had ever called her bewitching before, she mused. Or hypnotic, her mind played back the word for a long time.
Blond hair fell over one eye when the odd noise sounded. “What the heck…” She looked toward the skylight reluctantly. “It’s not even light outside…you’ve lost your mind,” she murmured testily.
“Going for a run,” Sam dropped a kiss on her forehead, patted the covered behind and scavenged for his clothes. “See you inside,” he promised, the sound of the closing front door a memory as she drifted back to sleep.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
It wasn’t until Bella was in the middle of a batch of butter cookies two days later that her head went back with an almost audible snap. Pale lashes blinked hard and solid for a long minute before she looked around the kitchen.
They didn’t know who was coming and going, her brain shouted.
“Maria, finish these, please. I’ll be in my office if you need me. The meeting should let out soon, so watch the buffet table,” she advised her second in command, sharply snapping heels echoing on the stones as she rounded the hall to her office.
Bella saw Sam step away from the reception desk and stopped in front of him. His mouth opened. Her hands went to the lapels on his suit, gripped them hard and pulled his mouth to hers with a long, hot kiss.
“You…are bloody brilliant,” she informed him, releasing him and striding into her office without looking back at the stunned expressions she left in her wake.
June met the surprised look on his face. “I’d just go with it,” she advised him simply.
“Huh,” was all Sam could say, trying to remember what the next thing was on his list that morning.
Bella struck the right keys, her mind churning. Nyssa answered the Skype call, her blond hair pulled into a high ponytail and her smile bright.
“Hey, Bella…wow, have you got a look on your face,” Nyssa leaned closer to the screen. “What’s up?”
“Okay…listen and don’t think I’m crazy until I’m through,” Bella drew in a long, slow breath. “When Chloe was out of touch those four weeks, we know she was drugged. But Pembrook was able to identify only one, a sedative. What if there was another? We know she wasn’t sexually molested. We know she was fed and nourished. We have Wetherly’s word that a physician saw her, claiming she had food poisoning. But we do not know who else came and left the house during that time.”
Bella leaned back in the chair, her eyes closed and the words forming. “We’ve had contact with Stephen Wetherly during the fundraisers. He was confident. Almost arrogant in his confidence where the loss of his business was concerned. All any of us chatting with him could get was that Chloe would do the responsible family thing when she was told to…but my point here is, we don’t know who else came and went during that time.”
Nyssa only raised a very pale eyebrow. “We don’t know who else visited Wetherly’s home during that time,” she repeated slowly, straightening in her chair.
“Me and Kate and Chloe have been wracking our brains for something. Something that would explain his behavior. What if Stephen Wetherly knew his father would do something like leave shares to Chloe? We know he forced Stephen to adopt Chloe. What if he couldn’t change his father’s mind? What if he set up a contingency for just such an event?”
“What kind of…” Nyssa sat up even straighter in the chair, bright blue eyes sparkling as her mind churned wildly.
“He is unable to control Chloe consciously,” Bella said slowly.
“What if he found a way to control her unconsciously,” Nyssa completed the thoughts, one palm up and rubbing her neck.
“We know sleeper cells exist. What if Chloe was hypnotized, Nyssa. What if she was given a…hell, I don’t know, a code word that her subconscious would respond to, that would put her completely in Wetherly’s control. That would also explain why he refused to talk to her unless they were alone. He doesn’t want anyone to see or hear him talk to her.”
Bella watched Nyssa turn slightly to the side and knew she was working her fingers on the keyboard of another unit in her office. “I was thinking financial records were computerized four years ago…we know the dates…Wetherly would be arrogant enough to keep a record of the transaction because who the heck would bother with him? He was a caring father, had doctor records about Chloe and everything.”
“It certainly isn’t about money. The man is richer than anyone needs to be,” Nyssa said quietly.
“It’s about control. Of an illegitimate child and a company. Just for the hell of it. No real reason at all. Arrogant control,” Bella stated flatly.
“Let me do some investigating, Bella. I’ll get back to you, I promise,” motivated that they finally had a path to trace, Nyssa signed off and went to work.
Bella paced her office for a few minutes, two hands on her shoulders. Sam found her staring out the window in her office. She turned when the door clicked behind her and leaned against the brass bar that ran around the front of the window.
“If anyone had doubts about us, that…uh, kind of sealed things, you know,” Sam crossed the room, stopping to stand in front of her. “What is it?”
“I think we might have figured it out,” Bella said quietly, her hands shaking a little as she laid them along his arms. She liked the feel of his hands on her waist. “The arrogance of Wetherly was the key…and you…gave my mind the words it needed to wrestle things out the last few days.”
“Me? We haven’t talked about Chloe since Sunday,” he changed their positions, leaning back and moving her between his feet.
“The words weren’t in connection to Chloe, just words. I’ll let you know if it pans out. Nyssa is doing some checking now,” she told him. “But I really think this is it this time. So how goes the team building seminar for Collision Course?”
“I talked to their representative and she seems suitably impressed with the facilities. She’s grateful we do not advocate an open bar at these things, and is actually glad the bar doesn’t open until six. Evidently some of her people think this is their play time, and she doesn’t like that. Oh and the food was a great hit, as always.”
“Such a flatterer.”
“Hey us manager types read Oprah…” he winked before dropping a kiss on her parted lips. “A few things to check on and done for the day. A quiet mid-October weekend coming up?”
“Quiet for the most part,” she agreed. “Off to the kitchen,” she pushed aw
ay, wiggling fingers in a wave as she left the office.
Sam stood on the doorstep to her cottage a couple hours later. The whole couple thing didn’t seem to come with a manual. He could smell something rich and flavorful cooking, his stomach growled and other parts of him seemed to abruptly be alert, too. He tapped lightly on the door, the friendly “Come in!” echoing through him.
“Sam, I have dinner almost ready,” Bella looked up from the table she’d laid out. She saw him set a backpack by the door. “What’s that?”
“Some stuff for your bathroom,” he answered carefully, breathing a sigh of relief when she just nodded and moved to the oven. “Wow…look at this spread.”