“I input my phone number on your landline under B,” he said. “Hand me your cell phone for a second.”
Rolling her eyes, she moved to the sofa to get it out of her purse, and walked back over and handed it to him. She watched as he entered his name and phone numbers—both for his cell phone and landline—into her BlackBerry. He then handed it back to her.
“Now I need your numbers,” he said, taking his phone out the pocket of his jacket. She gave them to him and moments later he returned his own BlackBerry to his pocket.
He met her gaze. “I guess I don’t have to tell you to be careful opening the door for anyone you really don’t know.”
She forced her eyes not to roll. “No, you don’t have to tell me, although you’ve done it anyway.”
He frowned and crossed his arms over his chest. “You like having a smart mouth, don’t you?”
“I don’t know. Do I?”
His frown deepened. “Keep it up and I’m going to get pissed.”
She couldn’t help but inwardly smile at that. “Mmm, what else is new, Blade? Same place—” she looked at her watch “—and almost the same time. Seems like your mood is a repeat of last night.”
When she saw anger flicker in his eyes, she drew in a deep breath and then said, “Look, sorry I brought up anything about last night. I’m not in a good mood right now. I’m tired, sleepy, aggravated and—”
“Trying to make the best of a difficult situation.”
She was. And the fact that he knew it almost was too much for her. All day she’d tried being strong, but now she felt vulnerable. Knowing there was someone out there who wanted to do her harm had her stomach in knots, and it had taken everything she had to fight back her fears. She was a Di Meglio, she had come from a long line of Italians and Africans who were mighty and invincible. Brave to a fault. Not a coward among them and she was determined not to be the first.
“If you want to get to the office by eight, then we need to leave here no later than seven-thirty,” he said.
She nodded. “I’ll be ready. And I’m doing breakfast if you’d like to drop in. It will be ready around six-thirty.”
“Thanks, but fair warning. I’m not a morning person, Sam.”
She shook her head and glanced down as a chuckle erupted from her throat. She glanced back up at him and smiled. “Neither am I, but I can do a good job at faking it.”
The smile that touched his lips—those incredible lips—she thought, was refreshing. His eyes held hers for the longest time and then he reached out and touched her cheeks. The fingertips touching her skin felt warm, soothing…caring. She inhaled deeply at the thought that there was a slight possibility that he did care. He might not want to, but he did anyway. Otherwise, he would not be here now. She couldn’t help but find that interesting.
“Try to get some rest,” he said. He leaned closer and brushed a kiss across her lips and whispered, “Good night.”
“Good night, Blade.”
When she opened the door to let him out, a private security patrol car was driving by, making its rounds. Seeing the patrol car made her feel safe and secure. As she watched Blade walk down her steps and head next door to his own place, she suddenly felt so terribly lonely.
Blade pulled off his jacket and tossed it aside, then picked up the phone to retrieve his messages after seeing the light blinking. He checked the first number and saw the call had been from Alex. He hit the speed-dial button to return the call.
“Alex, this is Blade. Did you try reaching me?”
“You’re not picking up on your cell phone. What’s up with that?”
Blade pulled in a deep breath. “I was in a meeting,” he said, thinking of the time he’d spent in Sam’s office while Detective Adams had asked her questions. “What’s going on?”
“I never got the chance to thank you for helping out at A.C.’s birthday party last month.”
A.C. was the nickname for Alex and Christy’s daughter, Alexandria Christina, who had turned two last month. Alex and Christy had asked him to be the cameraman at the party when the one they’d hired became ill. Blade hadn’t minded filling in, since it had been better than playing lifeguard at the kiddy pool as he’d done the previous year.
Blade smiled. “No problem, although I wouldn’t want to do it again anytime soon.”
Alex chuckled. “Does that mean I can’t pass your name on to Sir Drake? His daughter will be celebrating her first birthday soon and I’m sure they’ll want a bunch of pictures.”
“Hey, don’t do me any favors.”
Alex laughed. “Will we see you this weekend at Jake and Diamond’s party?”
Blade rubbed a hand over his face. In his haste to volunteer as Sam’s bodyguard, he’d forgotten all about the fact that he was supposed to return to Houston this weekend for the party Jake and Diamond were hosting for Rasheed. He would have to think of what to do about Sam while he was gone. He couldn’t talk her into going to the ranch with Mac and Luke, since they’d made plans to attend the party in Houston, as well. The Madarises liked to party, and enjoyed any excuse for a family gathering.
“Yes, I plan to come.”
“I’ll see you then, and again thanks for taking care of the pictures at A.C.’s party. You took some real good shots and all of them came out great. I owe you one for agreeing to do it on such short notice,” Alex said, regaining Blade’s attention.
“I might be collecting on that IOU sooner than you think,” he said. “A woman I know is getting flowers.”
Alex laughed. “And?”
“She doesn’t know who’s sending them.”
“I’m sure they aren’t coming from you. And I can’t imagine you getting jealous about someone sending a woman you’re messing around with flowers, since jealousy isn’t one of your attributes. Sounds like she has a secret admirer. Why do you care? What’s the problem?”
He glanced out the window at the lake. It was just beginning to get dark and there was a breeze in the air that was stirring the waters. “The problem is that her secret admirer threatened to kill her.”
“Damn. That doesn’t sound good. Who is this woman?”
“Samari Di Meglio. She’s one of Mac’s law partners.”
“I’ve met Sam. A nice person. She’s also a looker.”
Blade smiled. Since he knew just how much Alex loved and adored his wife, he knew his comment was nothing more than a compliment. “Yes, she is.”
“Call me tomorrow so we can talk about it. And by the way, in case you hadn’t heard, Mama Laverne dreamed about fish again.”
Blade rolled his eyes toward the ceiling. “What’s going on with her? Why can’t she have normal dreams like everybody else?”
Alex laughed. “Depends on what you consider normal dreams. Hell, I would hate for her to start having any of yours.”
Blade couldn’t help but chuckle at the thought of that, and quickly concluded that Alex was right. He would hate for the old gal to start having any of his dreams. They would turn her gray hair grayer. Hell, she just might wake up the next morning completely bald.
“And just so you know, all eyes are on Clayton and Syneda.”
Blade almost got weak in the knees at that announcement. “I hope you’re bullshitting me, Alex.”
“Sorry, but I’m not.”
Blade shook his head. Clayton and Syneda, the attorneys in the family, and a power couple if there ever was one, already had a daughter, eight-year-old Remington, who was definitely a handful, and that was putting it mildly. The thought of adding another child to their already chaotic household was a bit much.
Moments after his conversation with Alex ended, Blade returned calls to his brothers Slade and Jantzen. Both wanted to give him the scoop about the stork possibly visiting Clayton and Syneda again, just in case he hadn’t heard.
It was close to eleven when he finally headed upstairs to take a shower and try to get some sleep. He’d seen security patrolling the area when he’d left Sam’s place, and
he felt good about it. He also felt good that he was right next door if she needed him.
Sometime tomorrow he would call and talk to Alex and tell him what he knew. Alex was a former FBI agent who owned a private investigation firm and was good at what he did. Hell, Alex wasn’t just good. His ability to solve cases was legendary.
If anyone could find out who the person was behind the threat to Sam’s life there was no doubt in Blade’s mind it was Alex.
Chapter 16
Daylight was just beginning to break when Sam finished her shower. After toweling dry she slipped into her robe to go downstairs to start a pot of coffee.
Even after all the drama of yesterday, she had been able to get some sleep. She was certain the glass of wine she’d had before finally going upstairs to shower and dress for bed had helped.
As strange as it seemed, she had felt a measure of comfort knowing Blade had been in her bedroom. The man had a way of being a part of her fantasies whether she wanted him to be or not.
With the coffee brewing she was about to head back upstairs, when she remembered she had left her purse on the sofa, and that when Blade had returned her BlackBerry after inputting his phone number, she’d noticed that she had missed a call. She had totally forgotten about it until now.
Taking her BlackBerry from her purse, she saw the missed call had come from Peyton’s private number at the office. Sam pressed the button to listen.
“Sam, this is Peyton. After you guys left I hung back to get some work done and happened to be here when your eight-o’clock appointment called to cancel. I thought I’d let you know so you wouldn’t get up so early to come into the office. After everything that happened today, you need your rest. In fact, if you want to just take the whole day off and chill, then do so. Mac and I can handle things here. Love you. Bye.”
After Sam ended the voice-mail message she breathed a deep sigh. She wished she’d checked her messages last night and then she wouldn’t be up so early this morning. Oh, well, since she was already up, she might as well stay up, and she just might take Peyton’s advice and work from home today and get some rest.
Then she remembered Blade. It was too late to call and let him know about her change in plans. He would be knocking on her door for breakfast in about a half hour. Since she was up, she might as well prepare breakfast as planned. Besides, she was hungry. All the activity in her dreams last night had made her ravenous.
She headed upstairs to get dressed and tried to suppress the thought running through her mind that she was actually looking forward to seeing Blade.
A scowl covered Blade’s face as he locked his front door to head over to Sam’s place. It was quiet, barely daybreak. Yet when he’d glanced out his bedroom window at the park, he’d seen a number of people who were up and walking or jogging. Hell, why anyone in their right mind would be up at this time of morning was beyond him.
He glanced at his watch. It was a minute shy of six-thirty. He had gotten some sleep last night, but not a whole lot. After he’d taken his shower and gotten into bed, he’d received more phone calls from family members. Now that the word was out that Clayton and Syneda were expecting, everyone was making bets as to where this child might have possibly been conceived. It was a family joke that Remington was conceived in an elevator. There was no telling with this one, since from what he gathered, Clayton and Syneda had an active and adventurous sex life.
Some wondered whether the baby would be a boy or girl. Frankly, he thought Remington was all the daughter Clayton could handle. But others in the family felt that it would serve Clayton right to have another girl, given his playboy bachelor days. Blade chuckled, his sense of humor returning for the first time since learning of the threat to Sam’s life.
He glanced around before walking up the steps to her front door. This particular cul-de-sac was quiet. Most of the people had money and could afford the exclusive lifestyle. Even though Windsor Park was supposed to be one of the safest neighborhoods in the city, he still intended to be very cautious, and hoped that Sam would do the same. She might think this was no big deal, but he wouldn’t make that mistake.
He figured the reason he was so hell-bent on keeping her safe was that there was still unfinished business between them. And although she assumed that the stunt she’d pulled Monday night was the end of things between them, he had no intention of letting her walk away so easily. She needed to understand that a Madaris man wasn’t someone to toy with. And when all this was over, he would deal with her in his own way.
After knocking on her door, he didn’t have long to wait for it to open. His eyes slid over her, noticing just how good she looked barefoot and in a pair of cutoff jeans and a tank top. She was definitely not dressed for work.
“I hope you’re not thinking of wearing that to the office,” he said, trying to keep his eyes from staring at her cleavage, peeking out from the vee of her tank top. She had nice breasts and it didn’t take much for him to be reminded of how they looked and tasted.
“Of course not. I decided to work at home today,” she said, walking away and leaving him standing in the doorway.
He slowly ran his hands down his face. She had decided to work at home? Had he known, he could have gotten at least three or four more hours of sleep. “Excuse me,” he said, walking over the threshold and closing the door behind him with a little more force than necessary. “But did you not tell me you had to be in the office at eight this morning?”
She turned around and he realized that she had noticed the frown on his face. “Yes, I did tell you that. However, Peyton called and left a message on my phone last night that my eight-o’clock appointment had canceled. Only problem is that I didn’t retrieve the message until a short while ago. I figured since you were probably already up, the least I could do was go ahead and fix you breakfast.”
Then, as if that settled it, she tossed her curly hair over her shoulders, turned back around and continued walking toward the kitchen.
The man really was a grouch in the mornings, Sam thought, as she returned to the kitchen to finish preparing breakfast. She hoped he was hungry, since she had cooked a lot of food, and had even made biscuits from scratch. According to Mac, Luke ate a big meal in the morning, so Sam could only assume most men did.
She was standing at the stove frying bacon when she heard Blade enter the kitchen. She decided not to turn around just yet. Let him continue to stew quietly. One of the first things she noticed when she’d opened the door was just how good he looked. This was the first time she had seen him wearing casual clothes. His jeans actually looked well-worn—even had a rip in the knee—although she wasn’t sure if the tear was from a designer or the real thing. His T-shirt, which fit him like a muscle shirt, was a walking advertisement for his construction company. And he still had that just-woke-up look, which was sexy as hell.
“Need help with anything?”
Now, that question made her turn around. When did a man offer to help in the kitchen? She knew from experience that her father always conveniently disappeared when it was time to do the dishes. And her brother was just as bad.
“What can you do?” she asked.
“Just about anything you can.”
Now, that was a challenge if ever she’d heard one. The Di Meglio men avoided the kitchen every chance they got, but the women definitely knew their way around it, even blindfolded. “You think so?”
He leaned against one of the kitchen counters and crossed his legs at the ankle. “I’m sure there are some dishes you could probably make better than me, but I’m confident that I can hold my own.”
Sam turned and removed the frying pan from the stove before turning back to him. She took the bacon out of the frying pan and placed it on a platter. “You want to explain how that came about?”
She glanced up at the exact moment a smile touched his lips. “Easily,” he said. “Felicia Laverne Madaris, my great-grandmother. She made sure all her sons, grandsons and great-grandsons knew their way around the
kitchen, regardless of whether we wanted to or not. Some of us fared better than others, but all of us have our specialties. Luke has his casseroles and Slade is the best when it comes to preparing a well-balanced meal any time of day.”
She nodded. “And what’s your specialty?”
He smiled broadly, which gave Sam a sensation like a shot to the bottom of her belly. “I can handle just about anything,” he said in a deep, husky tone. “But my specialty is desserts.”
She felt the heat settle between her legs and felt the tips of her breasts harden against her top. She swallowed deeply, wondering if he could gauge her body’s reaction to his words. Desserts. That would always be a hot topic for them. She couldn’t hear the word without thinking of a parked car, being physically aroused and having oral sex.
She looked away from him and began cleaning the frying pan before putting it in the dishwasher. She knew she had to say something or the heat between them would steam up her kitchen.
“Ahh, if you still want to help, you can go ahead and set the table,” she said.
“Sure thing.”
She could hear the sound of his footsteps across the kitchen floor, then him opening her cabinets, removing dishes, glasses and eating utensils. She then went to the refrigerator to take out the orange juice. The blast of cool air was just what she needed, but it did nothing to alleviate the tingling sensation that was still pulsing between her legs. She probably needed a cold shower to get rid of that. He hadn’t been in her house more than ten minutes—ten nerve-racking minutes—and already her body was betraying her.
She inhaled a deep breath as she closed her refrigerator door. She would get through breakfast with him this morning, even if it killed her.
Blade was convinced that this was one breakfast he wouldn’t survive, since Sam’s outfit was practically killing him. Talk about being hot. He’d always thought she had gorgeous legs, but he was really starting to go crazy over those luscious brown thighs. And when she bent over to put the frying pan in the dishwasher, he had actually seen her rounded cheeks. Of course, there was the memory of having gone halfway inside her that was driving him crazy, making his erection throb uncontrollably.
Sensual Confessions Page 16