False Match

by Lynne Silver

  “You’re a fertility specialist, you’d figure something out.”

  “It would be nice for Luca to have a sibling. Maybe this time I would have a girl.”

  “Huh?”

  “I’m a geneticist, remember. I can control gender if I choose, but I wouldn’t.”

  “But…” Was she talking about what he thought she was talking about? Did she mean to implant herself again? This stung. Here he was on the verge of falling in love and planning a future together, and she was blithely implanting herself with another man’s sperm.

  She frowned at him. “Are you okay?”

  He looked at Luca then back at her. “Can I talk to you in the other room?”

  “Okay. And then I really have to get dressed for work.” She rose from the bed and he followed her to the tiny living room. When they were alone, he glared down at her.

  “I want to make sure I understand, so I don’t yell at you for no reason,” he said.

  “Yell at me? Whatever for?”

  “Because,” his words went off like a bomb, “you want to have another man’s child.”

  She blinked. “How else would I have a baby?”

  “With me.”

  Silence fell.

  “You want to have a baby with me?” she asked in a shocked whisper.

  “Yes. No. Hell, I don’t know. All I know is the thought of you having another man’s child makes me crazy.”

  “Does Luca get you crazy?”

  “Of course not. You had him before we met.”

  “Then why should another child make you mad?”

  “Do you really not see?”

  “Obviously not, Chase.” She nibbled her lower lip and placed a hand on his forearm. He shook it off.

  “I don’t want you implanting yourself with another man’s sperm, because we’re together now. If any sperm goes in you, it should be mine.”

  More silence.

  “Having a child together is a big deal, Chase. A lifetime commitment. We’ve known each other a little more than a month. Are you sure you want to be talking babies?”

  He slumped onto the couch and she followed him down. She tried to meet his gaze, but he wouldn’t let her and looked everywhere around the room except at her. He didn’t know what to say. She was right, it was crazy. They weren’t married or even close to married, it was insane to talk co-parenting. But something deep in his gut cried at her growing large with another man’s child. Why should she do that when they were together?

  Maybe he was being a selfish prick. Luca deserved a sibling, and if Samara wanted another child, who was he to stop her? Only her boyfriend. “Look,” he said, rather desperately, “I know we haven’t made any firm commitments to each other, but you’re quickly becoming my everything. I think about you constantly and when I’m near you, it’s all I can do not to jump on you and hump your leg like a dog in heat.”

  She laughed. “That’s sweet. Warped and sick, but sweet. And you’re describing lust, not love.”

  Now he worked up the courage to look her in the eyes. “Don’t tell me what I’m describing. I’ve been with other women, Jones. Not one of them makes me laugh or think or care the way you do. Every other woman was simply a warm body to sate my needs. You’re so much more than that.”

  She melted against him. “Thank you, Chase. You mean something to me also.”

  He hugged her and kissed the top of her head. “Please don’t do anything rash without talking to me. Okay?”

  “All right.”

  He hugged her tightly to his chest, planted a kiss on the top of her head then let her go to get dressed for work.

  Chapter Ten

  “Samara.”

  She looked up to see Loren’s head poking through the doorway of her small lab. “Girls night out. You in?”

  “What?”

  Loren stepped all the way into the lab. “It’s Saturday night. Take a break.”

  Warm fuzzies ran through her body to be included in such an outing. She’d been invited out with colleagues after work before, but only because she’d been in the room while plans were being formulated. She’d never felt truly invited. Not really. But this…this was special. Loren had obviously sought her out simply to invite her.

  But then she remembered. “Luca—”

  “Chase is going to watch him.” Loren trailed her hand along the high linoleum countertop and looked expectantly at her.

  She was in awe they’d arranged this while she’d worked. “All right then.”

  “Since it’s not safe for you to leave the campus, we’re bringing bottles of wine and chocolate to the pool. No boys allowed.”

  “Sounds like fun. Should I bring a bathing suit?” She swiveled in the high lab stool.

  “Only if you don’t want to skinny dip. And since long-range rifle scopes and night vision goggles are standard equipment around here, I’d grab a suit.”

  She laughed. “Thanks for the warning.” Then she wavered. “Will Emma be there?”

  “Emma was the one who reminded me to invite you.”

  “Really?”

  Loren nodded. “She’s recovering from her experience and I think she realizes you were a victim, same as her.”

  “I’m glad. I never meant to hurt her.” Even though Emma had been her daycare savior, helping out with Luca, their own relationship had been more hesitant.

  “And I want you there. Everyone’s buzzing how they’ve never seen Chase go this crazy for a woman. If things are serious between you and my brother, then it sounds like we need to get to know each other better.”

  “Adam’s okay with this?” The more questions she asked, the more it reminded her how many enemies or non-friends she had on this campus.

  A frowned crossed Loren’s face. “Adam may not like it, but he doesn’t get a say.”

  “Okay then, I’ll be there.”

  “Great. 8:30?”

  “Perfect. I can still tuck Luca in.” Loren left and Samara bent over her work again, but a huge smile stretched her lips. She wasn’t Miss Popularity on campus yet, but an invitation was a start.

  *

  “And then he passed out!” Beth giggled into her nearly empty cup of wine. All the women laughed along as Beth recounted her husband’s reaction to their matching. They were gathered around the concrete pool deck, lounging in the white plastic lounge chairs, except for Emma, who was bobbing in the pool.

  “Well, Adam didn’t pass out, but he did blame me for his arousal. Like I could help it,” Loren said. She leaned over to grab the bottle of merlot from the ground and topped off her plastic mug.

  Samara listened with interest. As one of the geneticists who helped orchestrate the DNA matches between the couples, it was fascinating to hear the origins of the strength of the connections. But a little pang ran through her that she and Chase would never have one of these stories of their own. Maybe that was just the wine talking.

  “What about you, Samara? Or should I call you Jonesie like my brother does?” Loren asked.

  She smiled slightly and shook her head. “Samara works. We’re not a perfect match like the rest of you are. The attraction between us is strong, but it’s not down to the DNA level. I’m afraid we’re nothing but an old-fashioned couple.”

  “But that’s so romantic,” Emma interrupted from where she stood, waist deep in the pool, leaning her elbows on the edge. “You know he wants you for you and can’t pin it on a chemical reaction.” Samara eyed Emma’s fit body in a bright-blue bikini, and reminded herself Emma was more than ten years younger.

  “No luck with Xander yet?” Loren asked Emma with a sympathetic look.

  Emma frowned. “He barely talks to me. But he did say I’m too young and I’ve been through a trauma.” She gave a bitter laugh that crossed with a sob. “He refuses to be alone with me unless we’re outside.”

  “I’m still surprised Shep isn’t pressuring him. It’s odd,” Loren said, “since they pushed Adam to be with me so hard.”

  “May
be Shep is trying to protect you,” Beth said. “You did have a rough experience. Do you feel ready for the intensity of the connection that goes along with matching?”

  Emma shrugged. “All I know is the connection I feel with him. I don’t need the blood work done to know we’re a match. I felt it as soon as I met him. I think he did also. I’ve lost everything in the past few months, my university degree, my friends, everything. I thought it would be nice to have that connection with someone. We could be each other’s family. Maybe I’m being selfish. I don’t know.”

  Samara thought she was acting like any twenty-something would after such a loss. “Creating a family with your genetic match does sound amazing, and I’m sure Loren and Beth could tell us that it is, but you should do it for the right reasons, not simply out of need.”

  “Thanks, Doctor,” Emma said with a scowl, but then her expression softened. “You’re probably right. It’s all the hormones talking. How long before they’re out of my system?”

  She did a quick calculation. The poor girl had been shot up with fertility drugs and hormones for months. No wonder she was a wreck. Her body didn’t know which way was up. “You should start feeling better really soon.”

  “Maybe that’s why Xander bolted.” Emma gave a bitter laugh. “He knows I’m so full of hormones, if something more happened between us, we could have sextuplets.”

  They all laughed, but there wasn’t much humor in the situation.

  “Okay, onto a happier subject,” Loren announced. “What should we talk about? Movies? Travel? Sex?”

  “Movies,” Samara said as everyone else said “sex” in unison. Outvoted. She could feel her cheeks heating already. They all started laughing and she wasn’t the only one blushing.

  “If Xander gets his way, I may never have sex again,” Emma said unhappily. A low murmur of sympathy responded to Emma’s declaration. For once in her life, Samara was in agreement about the tragedy of never having sex again. Chase had certainly taught her a thing or two about desire.

  “That’s it,” Loren said, and sat up straighter, almost spilling her wine. “Make him jealous.”

  “What? How? Won’t that seem a bit immature? And it’s not like I want to sleep with anyone else,” Emma said.

  “You won’t have to. When Adam and I first got together he was a jealous wreck.”

  “They all are,” Beth agreed.

  “Flirt with some of the other men on campus. Don’t you start classes at the University soon? Let Xander think you’re done waiting for him,” Loren said. “Go on a date with some of the boys you meet there.”

  “Write him a goodbye note,” Samara suggested, shocked she was involving herself in this kind of intrigue. But it was fun. “You could say you came to me for help to look for another match on campus for you.”

  “Oh that’s good,” Loren said. “It’ll drive him crazy.”

  “Maybe too crazy.” Emma bit her lip. “I don’t want to hurt him. He… Well, he hasn’t had it so easy. I think I scare him because I could make him happy.”

  Emma’s words gave her something to think about. Maybe something similar was happening with Chase. It was overwhelming to imagine a life with Chase and having more children with him. She was nerdy Samara Jones. She got valedictorian of her class. She didn’t have the school’s most popular guy chasing after her, and somehow, that was exactly what was happening here. After thirty-seven years of life, it was hard to believe it had turned into a Disney fairy tale.

  Yet it had. Chase wanted to be with her. He maybe even wanted to have children with her.

  “What do you think, Samara?” Beth’s question interrupted her reverie.

  “About what? I’m sorry, I got distracted.”

  “Whoa, she’s blushing. Ten quid says she’s got Chase on her brain,” Emma crowed.

  Now she was really blushing.

  “Well who wouldn’t? Chase is hot,” Beth turned to Loren. “Sorry. I know he’s your brother and all, but he is one fine man.”

  Loren smiled. “It’s okay. My brother is gorgeous. And I’ve got my own sexy man who has one rockin’ body.” Her smile was almost secretive. “God, his muscles. I want to bite him.”

  Samara tried not to stare as she listened to the women giggle and generally objectify their men. “Adam’s body is magnificent,” she said softly.

  All the laughter stopped. Loren stared at her. Oh shit.

  “That’s right. I forgot you’ve seen him naked.” There was no trace of humor left in her tone.

  Double shit.

  “Samara,” Loren said softly but firmly. “Will you tell me what happened in the clinic? Adam will only tell me bits and pieces. I think he’s too embarrassed.”

  He was too embarrassed? Try her. “I’d rather not, if Adam won’t tell you.”

  “Please,” she begged.

  All the women watched her with the beginnings of suspicion on their faces. She’d been enjoying herself so much too. For the first time in her life, she’d felt like one of the girls. Now she had to ruin it. But it was already ruined. She might as well give Loren the truth.

  “Are you sure you want to do this in front of everyone?”

  Loren’s gaze circled the curious women, then she nodded. “Yes, everyone here is my friend.”

  Samara frowned but started to speak. “The night Adam was captured in Paulson’s clinic,” she began, taking a breath for the next part, the terrible part. “Paulson asked me to get a semen sample from Adam.” Another breath. “There are two ways to do it. Men can—you know—into a cup.”

  The women nodded.

  “Or I can insert a needle into his scrotum and extract the sample. It can be painful and take longer.” She bit her lip and wished herself back to that terrible night and that she’d found another way.

  “You have to understand that Paulson threatened Luca that night. He told me if I didn’t cooperate, he’d have one of his men shoot Luca.”

  The women gasped. “Before then, I’d been working in Paulson’s lab, but never had to meet any of the test subjects in person. They’d given me samples and I worked on them, but I never had to see Paulson’s evilness in the flesh. That night I had no choice.” She paused and looked at Loren, not really wanting to continue.

  “Go on,” Loren said curtly. “Finish it.”

  “I knew Adam would never cooperate with leaving a semen sample in the cup, so I decided the fastest and least painful way for me to get the sample was to…touch him.”

  Loren’s mouth dropped open. “I don’t understand. What do you mean ‘touch him’? You gave him a hand job?”

  Her face was on fire, and tears threatened to fall.

  “What?” A deep male voice had all the women turning to see Chase approaching the pool deck, his face incredulous. “What did you say?”

  “She jerked Adam off,” Loren said, in obvious shock. Too shocked to notice that her brother practically had steam coming out of his ears.

  “Is that true, Jonesie?” he whispered.

  She couldn’t look him in the eye. “Yes.” She turned to Loren, the person who mattered more at this moment. Chase hadn’t even been in the picture when she’d done this to Adam. “But it was clinical. Nothing remotely sexual. I think he kept thinking of you and…”

  “But you did get a sample? Right? You said so when you first came on campus.”

  “Yes, but…”

  Chase spun on his heel and stomped away. Loren escaped in the opposite direction toward her apartment, no doubt to find Adam. Samara watched them go, feeling as if she wanted to vomit.

  “Nice one,” Emma said. “Way to end girls’ night.”

  “Shut up,” Samara said, and ran after Chase.

  Chase stomped away from the pool area blindly, not sure where he was headed. Anywhere but there. Rage vibrated through him until he felt as if he might explode with it. She’d touched Adam. She’d. Touched. Adam. His close friend. His sister’s fiancé. He didn’t care if she’d done it at gunpoint. It was still ou
t there.

  Christ, to think he’d imagined a future with the woman. He could only imagine Thanksgiving dinner in the future. “Chase, please pass the potatoes, oh, and your woman had her hands on my cock.”

  Now he fully understood why Adam hated her so much, why he wouldn’t even look at her, and why he was supporting Shep in his keep Chase away from Doctor Jones plan. Hell, he’d do the same thing if a buddy were in the same situation.

  “Chase!” Samara’s voice echoed up the hill.

  He kept walking. He refused to run. That would be infantile, but he couldn’t face her at this minute and not be expected to kill her with his words.

  “Chase, please!”

  Knowing he’d regret this, he slowed but didn’t turn to face her. She jogged up, huffing, and ran around to his front.

  “Chase, I never meant for you to know.”

  “Not helping.” He managed to keep his voice relatively toneless and his hands at his sides, not around her neck.

  “You’re right. I’m sorry you found out that way. But it happened before I knew you.”

  “And you didn’t think it was important for me to know that minor detail? Oh, by the way, your friend hates me because I jacked him off.”

  She bit her lip and looked at her feet. Great, now he felt like a bully.

  “Who’s watching Luca?” she asked.

  “What?” And then he remembered. He was watching Luca tonight but had left Gavin in charge for ten minutes while he grabbed a sandwich from the cafeteria kitchen. He’d thought to sneak in on girls’ night and maybe surprise the women while skinny dipping, his warped male fantasy version of girls’ night. Joke was on him. He was the surprised one. “Gavin has him. Luca’s sleeping.”

  “I’ll go relieve him then.” She started to walk away and he stared at her.

  “That’s it?” he called after her.

  She stopped and walked back. “What do you want me to say? You’re obviously furious and I can’t think of anything to say that will erase the past. So I’ll leave.”

  “That’s right, walk away.” Every word was a tiny dart aimed at her heart. “You’re so good at it.”

  “What do you mean?” The pained expression on her face wasn’t easy to look at, but he was the one suffering here. He tried to keep that in mind as he confronted her.