Sami snorted indelicately as she opened her eyes to look up at him. “Yeah? Tell that to my agents,” she scoffed.
“Like I mentioned earlier, Viv told me about those asshats,” Ben grumbled, his jaw clenching as he recalled everything Vivian had shared with him about Sami’s life recently. The fact that those fuckers had hurt his girl pissed him off to no end. And it really stung that he hadn’t been there to protect her from those vultures. “Those men are idiots Sami. You’re as gorgeous today as you were on the day I met you. More so, if you ask me. Because now you have a wisdom in your eyes that makes that beauty even more potent. If those fuckers can’t recognize that, they don’t deserve to have you on their label.”
“Maybe,” Sami allowed with an uncertain shrug. “It doesn’t change the fact that the Cordova Agency doesn’t want me any longer. Once that word gets around, I’m pretty sure my modeling career will be over. Nobody wants a model whose beauty is fading.”
“That’s crap,” Ben stated flatly. “If you still want to model, there are other agencies. Reputable agencies. I may have been out of the fashion industry for a little while, but I still have a lot of connections and am owed more than a few favors. I’ll get you a meeting with ten fashion houses with one phone call if that’s what you want for yourself, Sami. Don’t you dare let those bastards at Cordova shake your confidence. They do NOT get that power,” he snarled, his eyes flashing with anger at the thought that those mercenary pricks could make his woman doubt herself.
“Honestly, I don’t know what I want anymore,” Sami acknowledged with a heavy sigh. Blinking slowly, Sami focused on Ben’s harsh face, his jaw stone hard as he gazed down at her and smiled sadly. “What stings most is that they don’t want me anymore. They just cast me aside. Like trash.”
“It’s their loss, baby,” Ben growled, cupping her cheek and catching a tear as it escaped her eye.
“Y’know, it really hurts to be beautiful sometimes, Ben. Especially when that beauty starts to wane. So, I guess the poets got it right, huh? There’s a price to be paid for everything in this world. Even beauty. Maybe how I feel right now….maybe that’s my cost.”
Ben scoffed. “No. Absolutely not. And even if it is, I refuse to allow you to go emotionally bankrupt paying that cost, Sami. Not if I can prevent it.”
Lifting a hand, Sami’s fingers tugged playfully at Ben’s beard. “There are some things you can’t control,” she informed him gloomily, her usually bright eyes dimmer. Eyeing her closely, Ben could almost feel her desolation like a tangible entity. And he hated it.
“And there are some things I can,” he stated firmly. And his first order of business once they came back down the mountain would be to find her sleazy agent and throttle the bastard within an inch of his life for putting these shadows in his vixen’s eyes. “For now, I want you to get some rest. There’ll be time to hash out everything over the next few days. First though, I want you to listen to me very closely, okay?” Waiting until she nodded hesitantly, he continued. “Over the next couple of days, I’m gonna ask you to not only think with your mind about what I’m saying, but also listen with your heart. I want you to try as much as you can to put aside all those worries that are trying to invade your mind and focus on this: I love you, Samantha. Three years ago, we fucked our relationship up. We didn’t communicate and we let emotions control our actions. Because of that, we lost three years together. Lucky for us, fate – and a few of our friends- have finally fucking intervened to give us another chance to get our shit together. We’ve got another shot at being us again. The real us, baby. Not the people we’ve been pretending to be for the last few years. I want this chance, Sami, and I think, deep down, you want it, too. Tonight, my body reminded yours how good we are when we’re together. Over the next few days, I’m gonna do my best to get my heart to remind yours about the same thing. We’ve had three years to move on, baby, and I might have moved my livelihood to another state, but my heart? It’s the same place I left it three years ago…. In your hands. And I’m pretty sure I’ve still got yours, too, don’t I?” Seeing the panic flaring in her eyes, Ben held up a hand. “You don’t have to answer that. Well, at least not yet. Just think about it for me. Can you do that for us? Please?” he implored, hoping against hope that he was making some headway with his stubborn vixen.
Slowly, Sami inclined her head. “Yes,” she affirmed, her voice making only the barest of sounds.
“Thank you, baby,” Ben replied with an appreciative smile before he bent to place a sweet kiss in the center of her forehead. “Thank you,” he whispered again against her warm skin as Sami’s eyes slowly drifted shut.
Chapter Nine
Sami
Stretching one arm above her head as she arched her back and slowly turned on her side, Samantha Dixon yawned widely, awareness slowly returning as the events from the previous night flooded her mind upon opening her eyes. Almost instantly, she became aware of several things at once. First and foremost, it dawned on her that yesterday hadn’t been a dream at all. One look at the dirty window across the room confirmed that she was still stuck inside the ramshackle cabin where Ben had taken her and based on the weak sunlight streaming through the glass, it was pretty early. Probably just past dawn if she had to guess. The second thing she realized was that in spite of the thin mattress and lumpy pillow she’d had, the bed she’d slept in had been surprisingly comfy. So comfy, in fact, that she was reluctant to leave the relative safety of the warm cocoon of covers still wrapped around her body provided. The problem with that was that no matter how much that good night’s sleep had relaxed her, the pressing need to empty her bladder was now quickly becoming a problem she couldn’t ignore. That led her to her final and most important realization of the morning, she thought to herself as she felt a cold nose press against the back of her neck as a large, hairy body brushed against her naked backside.
Which was, she wasn’t alone in this bed!
Now, that probably shouldn’t have been too surprising of a development considering the fact that she’d allowed herself to fall, vagina first, on top of her ex-fiancé’s (and current abductor’s) dick last night. Disturbing news? Absolutely! Because, honestly, who fucks their own kidnapper even if he is their ex-fiancé and love of their life? It’s bad. Bad, bad, BAD!!! But should it be totally unanticipated to find her ill-advised fuck buddy in bed with her the morning after their sexual free-for-all? Probably not. Sadly, she didn’t have time to dwell on her pesky pussy’s poor choice of playmates. She had real problems to address here. Like the one behind her, she thought as she was bumped again by the other occupant of the bed. Opening her mouth to chastise Ben for disturbing her, her eyes noticed movement outside the window.
Eyes narrowing as she focused her gaze on the streaked glass, her jaw dropped as she saw her shirtless kidnapper-with-benefits chopping wood outside through the window. Which meant he was not behind her in the bed.
Oh, shit!
Turning her head to meet the deep chocolate eyes of what Sami could only describe as a giant wolf, she lurched off the bed. “Oh, my God! Ben! Help!” she shrieked as the sheets tangled around her legs and tripped her. Falling to the floor, Sami hissed as her hip connected with the roughly hewn floorboards, the bare planks abrading her skin as she scrambled to her knees and began scooting her body into the corner. Keeping one eye on the beast as it moved to sprawl across the now vacated bed, Sami held her breath as the canine cocked its head slightly to the side and stared curiously at her. Clenching her thighs together as the urge to pee nearly overwhelmed her, Sami lifted a hand to ward off what she feared would be an imminent attack. “Nice wolfy,” she breathed shakily as the huge animal barked once, showing off its long fangs. “Now, now,” she soothed frantically. “There’s no need to try and convince me you’re a big, bad wolf. I’m already a believer! A big one! Please, do me a favor and put those sharp teeth away,” she begged as her back met the wall, her head bouncing against the plaster. “I can promise I wouldn’t taste very
good. I have it on good authority that models taste like Brussels sprouts. A big boy like you wouldn’t wanna waste time snacking on something as nasty as Brussels sprouts, would you? Of course not! Not for a growing boy like you. It’s not like you even need to be on a diet,” she babbled mindlessly, praying that Ben would hurry up and get his ass back inside before she became this big bad wolf’s next meal. “I’m sure we could think of something better than having a model for your next meal,” she continued, chafing her chilled arms as she looked around for something to cover her naked body. Spotting Ben’s discarded shirt from the night before, she snagged it quickly with one hand. “Let’s just think, okay?” she murmured, pulling the soft material over her head as the beast snorted on the bed, watching her every movement. “What would taste better than model a la mode, hmmm?”
The brute on the bed merely continued to eye Sami lazily.
“I’ve got it! You know what you need?” Sami questioned the dog, her shaky voice growing marginally more confident as she looked around the room for something she could use as a weapon if worst came to worst. Coming up empty, she fought a wave of hysteria as she soldiered on with her one-sided conversation. “You need a steak. A great big, juicy T-bone,” she suggested with a decisive nod at the wolf. “And you wanna know what tastes just like a T-bone?” Sami continued as she continued edging toward the door, wisely keeping her back to the wall. “Photographers!” she announced enthusiastically, more than willing to throw Ben under the bus… or the wolf, as the case may be. Feeling slightly more hopeful, she grinned brightly at the canine. “Lucky for you, I know exactly where you can find that particular delicacy. There just so happens to be a delicious specimen right outside that I just know would fill that empty belly of yours right up. You just let me scoot out of here and I’ll drag him in here and serve him up,” she bargained hopefully as she heard a deep chuckle from vicinity of the doorway.
“Actually, Jellybean prefers chicken to human, but it’s good to know you’re willing to make the hard sacrifices when the situation calls for it. It just warms my heart,” Ben’s amused voice surmised dryly as he leaned casually against the doorframe, his wide smile and dancing eyes indicating that he’d been highly entertained by her antics.
Sami’s eyes were the size of saucers as her gaze darted from the huge wolf currently resting on his hind quarters in the center of the bed to where Ben stood just inside the door, looking as if he didn’t have a care in the world. With a fine sheen of perspiration clinging to his muscled chest and an insolent smile on his face, under different circumstances, she would have thought he looked positively edible. At the moment, however, looking positively edible might just get them both ripped limb from limb. “I don’t know who the hell Jellybean is, and right now I don’t care! ” Sami hissed, nodding toward the animal in front of her. “In case you missed it, there’s a wolf IN. THE. CABIN. with us! Don’t just stand there! Do something!” she ordered shrilly.
“I am doing something,” he replied with a still-widening grin. “I’m watching you negotiate with a perfectly harmless teddy bear.”
“You think THAT thing,” Sami hissed, inching even closer to the wall as she waved her manicured hand wildly in the direction of the bed, “can be confused with a teddy bear? That’s a damn freaking wolf, you moron. And wolves EAT people! I know this! I’ve seen Wild Kingdom! I read the Twilight books! Wolves are NOT to be trusted!”
Ben let out a sharp bark of a laugh that only served to send Sami’s blood pressure even higher. “Babe, trust me,” he murmured, pushing off the edge of the doorframe to stride over to the bed, “Jellybean just wanted to say good morning.” He rubbed the animal’s tummy and grinned as it wiggled happily, a pink tongue lolling from the side of its mouth. “You can’t really blame him. After all, you were in his bed this morning.”
“HIS bed?” Sami yelped, eyes narrowing as she tugged at her shirt, trying to pull the fabric down far enough to keep her not-so-secret garden covered. “What do you mean, HIS bed? And why the hell are you allowing that… that creature to mess up my perfectly clean sheets??”
Ben’s lips twitched as he tried to keep a straight face. “This creature has a name, Sami. It’s Jellybean, and he’s not a wolf. According to the local vet in town, this sweet guy is an Alaskan Malamute.”
Frowning, Sami noted the obvious affection Ben had for his pet with a raised eyebrow. “You know, you wouldn’t even consider adopting so much as a goldfish when we were together,” she recalled dryly. “I find it kind of ironic that you and this so-called dog are joined at the hip. So, I’ve gotta believe there’s a story there. And who in their right mind names a dog this size Jellybean?” she asked with a small laugh as she nodded toward the canine in question.
“Jellybean and I crossed paths a couple years back while I was taking some photos of the mountains up in the Pacific Northwest. Not sure what exactly his story was since I never found his owners… or tormenters, if you wanna know the truth about it. All I know is I was lucky enough to be there when this boy stumbled out of the woods,” he explained, sliding his hand over his dog’s shiny coat of hair as he gave the animal a fond look. “Jellybean’s body told the only story I needed to know. Somebody had done a nasty number on him. He was emaciated and covered in fleas when he found me. He had rope burns around his neck from where somebody had tied him up and scars on his back from God knows what. Despite of all that abuse though, he walked right up to me and pressed his snout into my hand. It’s like he could smell the fact that I was a decent human being. As for his name, it’s kind of a stupid story,” he admitted.
“Don’t care,” Sami returned as Ben stroked Jellybean gently on his head. “I wanna know. Please?” she begged eagerly, batting her eyelashes at Ben as she leveled him with her wide, doe-eyed look. He’d never, not once, been able to resist the power of the doe eyes when she’d pulled that trick out of her bag.
Groaning, Ben hung his head. “Fine, just put that wide-eyed look away. You know it kills me,” he grumbled, before continuing. “It’s kind of a dumb story. When the dog found me, I could tell he was hungry, but the only thing I had in my pockets at the time were some jellybeans I’d grabbed as a snack at the gas station. Well, he was whining and nosing at my hands, so I decided to give the candy a try. I held the food out to him and he gobbled ‘em up like it was the best food on earth. He kept bumping against my pockets hoping I’d pull out more for him. From that moment on, he was known as Jellybean. He and I,” Ben continued, patting his dog’s head, “Well, we’ve been mostly inseparable ever since then. Honestly, vixen,” he continued, looking up at her, his eyes open and unguarded, “I think God knew Jellybean and I both needed a friend and he set us on a collision course.”
Hearing the abuse this poor dog had endured was almost enough to make her forgive the animal for making her think she was his next meal. Almost. But hearing the story of how the dog got his name? Yeah, that was enough to melt her heart. Yeah, she was very close to falling under this dog’s spell. And Jellybean sealed the deal for her when he hopped off the bed and trotted past Ben to nuzzle her hand with his head until she began to pet him. And when Jellybean lifted his head to look guilelessly up at her with his melted chocolate eyes, Sami knew she was a goner. Somehow, she’d gone and fallen head over heels for the freaking dog AND his master. Way to go, Samantha. “Okay,” she grumbled to the dog, “I guess I forgive you for making me think I was gonna be your breakfast.” Putting her hand underneath the dog’s chin, she lifted its head until she met those bottomless brown eyes of his. “However, you and I need to discuss the sleeping arrangements. I refuse to share my pillow with a puppy. We’ll have to find you your own… or give you Daddy’s,” she suggested mischievously, winking at Ben.
“Not likely,” Ben returned with a shake of his head. “My dog has a perfectly respectable doggy bed in the corner,” he stated, pointing toward a cozy mound of pillows stacked in the corner on Ben’s side of the bed. “I’m surprised you didn’t spot his pallet last night
and start asking questions.”
“We were kind of distracted by other things last night,” Sami mumbled, her face reddening with embarrassment. Looking around as she tried to figure out where Ben had hidden his dog last night, she asked, “Where was Jellybean while we were…were…you know?”
“Getting reacquainted?” Ben supplied with a smirk. Jerking his head toward the window, he explained. “When I came up here last summer to take pictures of the property for my buddy, Axton, I built him a pen out back so he wouldn’t have to stay cooped up in a hot cabin while I was working. When Ax dropped off our stuff last night for us, he put Jellybean in the pen so that he wouldn’t have any accidents. Since we got a bit carried away, I didn’t actually bring him in until after you’d fallen asleep. I’d intended to be in here to introduce the two of you when you woke up, but I’d counted on you sleeping later than dawn.” With a cheeky grin, he shrugged. “I thought I had properly exhausted you. Guess I’ll have to try a little harder next time.”
Swallowing hard at the obvious innuendo in Ben’s deep voice, Sami automatically began shaking her head and backing away from him. “Oh, no! NO, no, no, no, no,” she denied, wagging a finger at him when he began to follow her. “That’s not gonna be happening again. In fact, nothing is going to be happening between us again,” she clarified, looking around desperately for her clothes. “Where the hell are my clothes?” she questioned desperately.
Chucking, Ben had the decency to look slightly ashamed. “We-llllll, that’s a funny story,” he murmured, lifting a hand to rub the back of his neck as he shot his dog a harassed look.
“What do you mean?” Sami asked cautiously, not quite liking the shifty look that had entered Ben’s eyes.
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