He took his turn washing her, which led to both of them having yet another orgasm, and when she was dressed, he sent her to see Stefano. His brother had needs, too.
* * * *
Samantha didn’t bother dressing before she went to Stefano’s room. By this time of the morning, he would have been up for several hours. He would definitely want to have sex. If he wasn’t there, she would get dressed. Sometimes he had visitors or business partners over, and walking around naked always disconcerted them, not to mention the fact that neither Lex nor Stef liked other men to gape at what belonged to them.
Music drifted from Stef’s room, and his door was open, so she went inside without knocking. His back was to her, and he was dressed in a suit, which meant he was heading out for work soon. As it was Monday morning, she wasn’t surprised. It had been a rare occurrence for them to both take three days off in a row. The weekend had been heavenly.
She approached from behind, enjoying the sound of Stef’s off-key singing, and slipped her arms around him.
He broke off and turned in her embrace. “Hey, gorgeous. I was just about to pound on Lex’s door and ask if you needed rescuing.”
The image of him barging in to find her tied up, gagged, and at Lex’s mercy made her knees weak. His definition of rescuing her probably meant joining in. She giggled and pressed a kiss to his lips. “I’m here now, if you’d like to rescue me.”
She rubbed her bare mons against his package.
He groaned, but he didn’t move to take things further. “I can’t, Sammy.”
At that moment, she noticed the suitcase on his bed, wide open and half packed with fresh clothes. She pushed him away. “You’re leaving? You didn’t say anything about traveling this week.”
“I know,” he said, reaching for her. “It wasn’t planned. An emergency has arisen.”
She smacked his arms away, a move that might get her punished. Good. It would make him miss his flight, and that would be his punishment for keeping this from her. “Did someone die? Because I can’t think of another reason that would constitute an emergency. For Christ’s sake—you just got back!”
He held his hands out, beckoning her closer.
She perched one hand on a hip and scowled.
“Sammy, be reasonable. This is a huge deal. We have to handle this just right or we’ll lose it.”
She pressed her lips together, but her attempt to censor her thoughts was futile. She lost her battle with her temper. “This is bullshit. You have lots of people who work for you who could go. And besides, it’s always a huge deal. How many huge deals do you need before you’ve made enough money?”
“Sammy—”
“Don’t ‘Sammy’ me! You have billions of dollars. You bought me a fucking island, and you didn’t even bat an eye at the sticker price.”
“We negotiated very good terms,” he said. He closed the distance she had put between them. “Honey, don’t be angry. We’ll be home in time for the weekend.”
Hot tears pricked the backs of her eyes, and her nose twitched. She struggled not to cry. Her shoulders slumped, and she let Stef put his arms around her. “I’m not angry.”
Just like that, she wasn’t angry. Her underlying emotion came to the surface. She was hurt.
“Is she okay?”
Samantha turned her head to find Lex standing in the doorway with a suitcase on the floor at his feet. Her stomach dropped. “You’re going, too?”
Stefano huffed out a long breath. “You didn’t tell her?”
Lex shook his head. “I thought I’d let you break the news.”
Stefano regarded his brother with his lips pressed together, but Samantha didn’t care if they fought. Too many emotions whirled through her. She tore away from Stef’s hold, stormed past Lex, and went to her room. Her sanctuary. This was the one place in the house where she was in charge. It was turning out to be the place where she slept the most often.
She got dressed in her work clothes, a light smock dress splattered with paint. She twisted her damp curls into a messy knot so it would be out of the way.
“Sammy?”
She threw the door open to find both of her men standing in the hall.
“I know you’re angry,” Stef began gently, “and you have every right to be. I’ll make this up to you. I swear it, Sammy. Once this deal is set, we’ll go on vacation, just the three of us.”
Lex took her hand in his. “I’m sorry. I should have told you this morning, but you were so happy, and I wanted you to stay that way for as long as possible.”
She didn’t comment on the fact that it had been a cowardly move to avoid unpleasantness. Still, the loves of her life were leaving, and she wouldn’t see them for almost a week. Wordlessly, she gave each of them a tight hug and a heartfelt kiss. They might have left feeling positive about their relationship, but she didn’t share in their optimism.
If her role in their relationship was to take care of them and they were never home, how long could this last?
The question made her cry. Tears of fury, frustration, longing, and grief fell as she painted through the next two days. If Rosa, the housekeeper Lex and Stef had employed since they’d moved to Miami years ago, hadn’t brought her meals and forced her to eat, she probably would have gone on in a manic state until she collapsed from dehydration.
At the end of the two days, she emerged from her studio and took a shower. The water washed away most of her anguish and heartache, but it left behind the scars of another hurt. As she dried herself, she made a hard decision.
* * * *
Stefano fumed as he sat next to his brother on their private plane.
“She’ll be okay,” Lex said.
“Son of a bitch,” Stef retorted. “You left it for me to tell her.”
“She was in a great mood. I didn’t want to spoil it.”
Stef was long past the stage where he would act on the impulse to punch his brother, so he was surprised when his fist shot out and nailed Lex in the gut. “No, fucker. You gave her orgasms and sent her to me for the hard part. That’s not taking care of her. That’s punking out on your responsibility.”
Doubled over, Lex coughed. “Punking out? Who talks like that?”
“I’ll punch you again. This time it’ll hurt.”
“Hurts now. Damn, you hit hard.”
He knew what Lex wasn’t saying, that he’d hit Stefano back if he didn’t agree with him. Lex knew he deserved the punishment.
The expression on her face haunted him. Every time he closed his eyes—hell, every time his gaze landed on a blank surface—he saw the anguish and dejection stealing her internal sunshine.
He wiped his palm down his face. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen her that upset before, Lex.”
Lex regarded him soberly, and he saw a reflection of the grave expression on his own face. “I think we should bring her to New York with us. We’re there often enough to buy a place.”
The idea had merit. Hope lit his heart. “She can meet with realtors and choose the apartment.”
“Yes. Let’s get her on the phone now.”
Samantha checked her messages to find sixteen from either Alexei or Stefano. That was a lot, considering they were working. Typically when they went on a business trip, they carved out time to call or text her several times each day. In addition to the sixteen voice mails, she counted thirty text messages and four e-mails.
She waited another three hours before calling back. It had a little to do with her need to be contrary, but it was mostly due to the fact that they tended to be available around dinnertime.
Though she’d dialed Stef’s phone, Lex picked up on the first ring. “Samantha, honey, how are you doing?”
He sounded concerned, but not overly so. Rosa must have reported to him about her activities. She had been with the Morozov family since they had been boys, and so her first loyalty was always to them, not that Samantha had asked for privacy.
“Okay. I finished a painting.” It was
a landscape, bleak and desolate. The sun was a steely glow hidden in the background.
“That’s great. I can’t wait to see it.”
“You can’t.” She sometimes didn’t allow them to see her work, and this one was too personal. Her heartache was too raw.
On the other end, she heard him suck in a breath. “All right, honey. I can wait until you’re ready. Hey, Stef and I were thinking you could fly to New York. We’re thinking we should buy an apartment here, and you should pick it out.”
The fact that they wanted her closer was overshadowed by their growing habit of throwing real estate at her whenever they thought she was getting restless. Restless, schmestless.
“I can’t,” she said. Her flight to the Caribbean was already booked. “I’m leaving in a few hours.”
“Leaving?”
She heard the panic in his tone, but the next words came from Stefano. He must have taken the phone from Alexei.
“Sammy, where are you going?”
“Sanctuary,” she said. “I’m going to oversee the renovations. You’re taking care of your business interests, and I’m going to take care of mine.”
She heard twin sighs of relief.
“So you’ll be back by Friday afternoon? Our flight comes in at three.”
Good for them.
“I’m not coming back,” she said. “I’m going to stay there until the renovations are finished. Sophia and Sabrina want to build houses and apartments for the staff on the unused side of the island. I’m thinking I’ll move there.”
“Sammy, you’re blowing this out of proportion. I know you’re upset, but moving out isn’t the solution. I love you, honey. You can’t leave me.”
A tear ran down her cheek, and she worked to keep the tremor out of her voice. “I’m not leaving you. I’m moving. You’ll hardly notice I’m gone.”
“Jesus, Samantha, don’t do this.”
“Sammy, you can’t move out.”
They must have put her on speaker. She heard both of them clearly and at the same time. “I left my family and friends. I moved down here to be with you, and you’re not here, so there’s no reason for me to stay. I’m going to Sanctuary. You’re welcome to visit me there. I’ll be staying in one of the three-bedroom suites, so there will be room for us all.”
“Samantha, stay there. Please. We’ll be home in three days. Just stay there, and we’ll talk about this.”
They’d convince her to stay. Both had supernatural powers of negotiation. They’d have her feeling good about changing her mind, and then they’d leave on their endless trips. No, it was better to go now.
“I’ll be at Sanctuary. If you have time, I’d love to see you there. I love you, Lex. I love you, Stef. I need to go finish packing.”
* * * *
Alexei stared at the phone. Call Ended. He couldn’t believe she was moving out. His Samantha had always been so agreeable, so eager to please.
“What the hell happened to her?”
Stefano sank down on the sofa in the common room of their suite. He looked stunned, and that was an expression Lex had rarely seen on his brother. “She stood up to us.”
No woman had ever stood up to them, not that they’d mistreated anybody. They were both used to always getting their way, including dictating the terms of a relationship. Neither of them knew quite what to do with the situation.
“I’m going to turn her ass red,” Lex said.
“No, you’re not.” Stef tapped his fingers on his thigh as he thought.
“She planned this, Stef. She was going to leave us while we were gone.” It took time to pack up and move. Alexei was pissed that he’d missed the signs. Sure, they had let her down by not coming to her showing in San Diego, and she was upset about the trip, but that wasn’t enough to make her leave. Samantha loved them. She lived to take care of them...She’d said so the morning they’d left.
Stefano shook his head. “If she planned anything, it didn’t happen until today. Rosa said she was locked up in her studio for two days. You know how she gets when she’s in one of those painting frenzies.”
He did know. On more than one occasion, he’d forcibly dragged her from the studio to make her attend to basic needs. Except to strain toward the painting and plead for “just another five minutes,” she hadn’t really fought him on the issue.
“It doesn’t change the fact that she was going to leave without any kind of discussion.”
Stefano rose to his feet and paced the room. “This isn’t the kind of thing we can solve by ordering her to do something. I’m no longer sure about the terms of our relationship. She’s moved out, but she doesn’t want to break up. She loves us, but she won’t live with us. What does it mean, Lex? Is she still truly ours?”
At a loss, Alexei shook his head. “I don’t know, Stef, but we’ve got to fix this. We can’t lose her. Life has no meaning without Samantha by our sides.”
Chapter Three
Finding a boat to take her to Sanctuary proved too easy. Over the years, an entire industry had built up on the neighboring island that specialized in dropping off and picking up kinksters heading to the resort. Now that it was closing down for the season, professional ferry drivers were desperate for passengers to take to Sanctuary, which they still called Elysium.
The name change would stick once the renovations were complete and the ad campaign was in full swing. Sabrina was working on print materials for the businesses that would service Sanctuary. She also wanted to establish a minimum standard for transportation services that would put some of the economy boats out of business. People coming to Sanctuary should have a high-end experience from the start.
Sabrina met her at the dock when she arrived just before midnight. Bright lights illuminated the darkness. Her petite sister-in-law beamed and welcomed her with open arms.
“Sam, it’s so good to see you.”
Samantha returned the hug. “It’s great to see you, too. What are you doing here? I thought you would be home with Jonas and the kids.”
Sabrina had recently quit her job as an executive in a successful marketing firm—a firm she’d personally helped rise to the top—to stay home and take care of her family. She looked happy and healthy, well-rested for the first time in all the years Sam had known her. Also different was the calm serenity that had replaced Sabrina’s frantic energy.
“Your mom is staying with Jonas to watch Rose and Ethan. And what am I doing here? Sam, do you listen to a word any of us says?” She sighed, but it was the kind that came with a fond smile.
Samantha was well aware that Sabrina—most people, if she were to be fair—thought she was an airhead. When it came to most matters, she was. It wasn’t a point of pride, but Stefano had once pointed out that Sam’s mental talents went to power her exceptional creativity. She was intelligent and fun, with a heart as large as the ocean, but she wasn’t much of a detail person unless some kind of art was involved.
It was something both Stef and Lex had loved about her. Neither of them treated her like she lacked a brain, and both of them recognized and appreciated her quirks.
Samantha shrugged. “I listen. You’re supposed to oversee the shutting down of everything, but I thought that didn’t start until Sunday when the resort officially closes down.”
“We started closing down last month by tapering off some services and offering guests a discount on their first visit to the new and improved resort. I’ve been here since Monday afternoon. There’s a lot to be done right now. Three quarters of our employees are being laid off. Most of them won’t be back when we reopen, which is okay, I guess, because we have to retrain everybody anyway, but the service was never an issue. Jesus, I’m giving myself a headache. The designer is flying in tonight, and we still haven’t chosen a contractor to do the building.”
Demolition of several buildings and the gutting of many of the guest rooms was the first item on the agenda. Sophia had sent Samantha an email reminding her to save one of the goose-themed bathroom fix
tures. She wanted to have them made into something for Neal and Drew.
Thinking of Sophia made Samantha smile. Her friend was discovering the joys of having two men to love.
“Great,” she said. “I want to work with the designer. I have some ideas for the rooms.”
Sabrina tugged on Sam’s arm and led her away from the dock. Behind them, a man loaded her bags into a cart. “I’m glad you came,” Sabrina said. “I was getting lonely. Heather is here, and she’s nice, but she makes me uncomfortable sometimes. And she’s been acting funny. I can’t put my finger on it. She’s a Domme, but she works for me. It’s weird. I like her, but I don’t feel any sort of connection. I hope that doesn’t sound horrible.”
Sam laughed. “No, I know what you mean. I remember Heather. She always seemed like she was on the prowl for fresh meat.” The woman used to look at Helene, Jonas’s first wife, like a wolf in heat. Jonas had found it amusing. Samantha had been discomfited by it. “Are we keeping her on?”
“Yeah,” Sabrina said. They came to a fork in the path and turned right, heading uphill to the largest building on the island. “She’s a great manager. The staff likes and respects her. She’s open to new leadership and a new vision. She loves the Sanctuary model. In all areas, she’s perfect for the job, so why spend the time looking to replace someone who doesn’t need replacing?”
It made sense to Samantha. Besides, in no way, shape, or form did she want anything to do with hiring. She tended to buy sob stories and always believed the best in people, so it was likely she’d hire everyone she interviewed.
“So, how did you know I was coming?” Samantha hadn’t shared her plans with anybody. She had expected to be met at the dock only because she’d called Heather to book a suite.
“Heather told me, and then I got a call from Stefano. At least, I’m pretty sure it was Stef calling. He didn’t correct me when I called him by that name.”
Two Masters for Samantha 2: In Their Hearts [Awakenings 7] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) Page 3