Smiling widely, he responded, “Only if you call me Samuel.”
Cocking her head to one side she considered his request. She shook her head and his heart fell at the thought that she wasn’t comfortable enough with him for this degree of informality. “You seem more like a Sam to me.” He was taken aback, but she shared her reasoning. “Samuel is an old cold name. You have been so sweet to me; I’d really like to call you Sam.”
No one had ever called him that. Though his family was close, even from birth he had been referred to by his given name. His parents hated nicknames. “I’d like that,” he said shyly. “So, Haley, if you want to hop in the hot tub in the ladies’ locker room and meet me out here in about forty minutes, I’d love to have my driver drop you off at home then we’ll pick you up again later for dinner.”
This time there was no hesitation. “I’d love to,” she responded with a smile. “But…I’m afraid of getting used to this,” she finished quickly and jogged to the locker room door.
“Get used to it,” he urged under his breath, “because I could get used to taking care of you.”
After Sam walked her to the door, Haley had rushed to the bathroom to get ready. Once positioned in front of the mirror, she gave herself an overly critical appraisal. Well, she was thin at least, although the bones around her hips jutted out a bit too much. If food could regain its taste, maybe she would eat more. Her complexion was clear, but dull. That could easily be remedied with some exfoliation and a nice mask. Everywhere she looked, she saw room for improvement. With a sigh, she had to admit to herself that she had neglected her body as of late. She had hoped if she ignored it, everyone else would, too. It was time to start changing that. Certainly Sam was used to having beautiful women accompany him to all of his functions. And she wouldn’t want to embarrass him. Or me, she thought glumly.
After arriving at her apartment, Haley was so busy tending to all her deficiencies that she barely noticed how quickly time was passing. Suddenly, a knock sounded on her door just as she finished moisturizing. Biting her lip, she wrapped a bathrobe around her panty clad body. Would he recognize this as a demonstration of her trust? She hoped so.
When she opened the door, Sam thrust a box of chocolates at her. He had considered flowers, but when he thought about her in her running wear, he knew that she needed something to eat more than she needed something to smell. His eyes had widened ever so briefly when he saw her attire, but he pulled himself together in an instant.
“Would you rather I wait out in the hall while you get dressed?” He asked seriously.
Smiling shyly, Haley responded. “No, you can wait in the living room if you want, or help yourself to a drink in the kitchen.” She headed down the short hall to her room. “I’ll be quick,” she promised, closing the door gently behind her.
Sam listened intently, but he didn’t hear a lock. She must trust me a little, he thought. “I guess I’ll just make myself at home,” he said loudly enough for her to hear. His mouth seemed strangely dry, so he decided to check out the contents of the fridge. No beer. No wine. No liquor of any kind. Seeing that his selection was limited to milk or water, he poured a half glass of two percent and realized old habits die hard. He had spotted the big bellied bear cookie jar and moved to study its contents. He soon discovered the bear wasn’t a cookie jar after all. There must have been thousands of dollars in it. And that was when Haley chose to make her grand entrance. Instantly, he knew he looked guilty.
“I just wanted a cookie to go with the milk,” he said quietly.
Exhaling slowly, she said, “Well, I didn’t think I was being robbed.”
“No,” he said sadly. “You thought I was snooping. That’s even worse.” He walked over to her and slowly moved to gently rest his hands on her shoulders. “I’m sorry.”
She wanted to respond. At the moment, however, all she could concentrate on was the warmth radiating from his hands being absorbed by her bare skin. It was amazing. “It’s okay,” she said quietly, staring into his eyes.
But then he did it. He broke the spell. “Where did you get all that money anyway? And why isn’t it in a bank?” The second the words escaped his lips, he regretted them. He didn’t mean it the way it sounded. Sure, he was curious, but mostly he was concerned. If anyone ever broke in, she could lose everything. Naturally, Haley wouldn’t understand that.
She stepped back and glanced at the door. “We don’t want to be late.” Haley grabbed her wrap from the back of the sofa where she had laid it minutes before and walked toward the door with her clutch in a death grip.
Always the consummate gentleman, he held open her apartment door and locked it for her. He held open the building front door. He offered a hand as they exited the vehicle. It was one gesture after another, but she was painfully silent. They were waiting in the restaurant’s bar for the client and his wife to meet them when Sam finally managed to break the silence. “Haley, please.” It wasn’t what he said so much as how he looked when he said it.
Sighing, she said, “I inherited some money.” His heart sank. “And I can’t put it in the bank.”
Tired of waiting for a complete explanation, he began guessing. “Because of credit issues?” Her face wrinkled up. “Because you don’t have identification?” She bit her lip. “Because you are hiding out?”
She took a breath. “It’s not that simple,” she whispered. “Don’t expose me, Sam. Just this once, instead of playing hide and seek, let’s play sardines.”
“I’m not sure I understand,” he said slowly.
Haley straightened. “In hide and seek, the person is revealed as soon as he or she is found.” She watched a moment to see that he was following along. Satisfied, she continued. “In sardines, once the person is found, the seeker climbs on in and joins the hider. No one is caught.”
Thinking on what she had just said, Sam leaned in to within a couple of inches of her face. “From what I recall of sardines, the players have to get mighty close.” He watched her swallow really hard. “And,” he added with a small degree of satisfaction, “it also means you have to let me in.”
At that moment, they were joined by the other couple. The Vanderhoffs were in their late forties, Haley guessed, and very wealthy. More importantly, however, they were warm and inviting. Both took her hand during the introductions. She noticed Mrs. Vanderhoff’s eyebrow raised when Haley was introduced as a friend. It didn’t take her long to drag Haley into the bathroom so they could gossip like teenagers, either.
“So, what do you really think of our Samuel?” She asked while she powdered her nose.
Haley already felt self-conscious. She hadn’t packed any cosmetics in her purse, other than her lipstick. Taking an extra few seconds to dry her hands and pretend to be checking her make-up, she finally responded. “In what respect? We work together and now I am accompanying him to some of his social obligations.”
Mrs. Vanderhoff was taken aback. So Haley tried again. “Maybe ‘obligations’ isn’t the right word,” she said quietly.
“Oh, no dear. These dinners and everything else business men do on their off time tends to fall into the category of a social obligation. They consistently focus on their success and doing whatever is necessary to achieve it.” She blotted her lipstick. “I was reacting simply because you mentioned that you work together.” It was definitely a question disguised as a statement.
Warning bells started ringing in her head. “I’m a temp,” she said quietly. “I’m filling in for an old friend as his personal assistant.” It wasn’t that she was ashamed of her current career. It was that she was afraid her current status wasn’t good enough for Sam. And then she caught herself. He’s my boss. This is work. It’s not like we’re getting married or anything. She moved to leave the confines of the bathroom, but Mrs. Vanderhoff wasn’t finished.
“Glad to see that he’s finally loosening up and breaking some of his silly rules,” she murmured. She shot a knowing look at Haley then they wandered back to the tab
le.
“What did you think?” Sam asked as they stretched out in the back of the limo on the way home.
Kicking off her shoes and folding her feet under her, Haley smiled warmly at him. “The food was amazing!” She prepared to say more, but he interrupted.
“How could you tell? You barely touched it.” He gestured to the doggie bag she was taking with her.
“Did I embarrass you too much when I asked for the food to be packed?” She asked blushing.
“I don’t do leftovers, unless it’s Chinese,” he replied.
“Well, I don’t do wasteful,” she retorted. “As I was saying,” she shot him a warning look, “I had a lovely time. Thank you.”
Sam was beaming. “I’m glad you enjoyed yourself.” He caught her stifling a yawn. She had turned her attention out the window and was leaning heavily into the corner. He knew she was tired. She had to be. She worked almost nine hours, followed it with a brisk run, and now it was nearly midnight. Sam watched as her eye lids fluttered shut. They turned the corner rather rapidly and she slid across the leather seats and fell into his waiting arms. Having anticipated this, he had caught her very smoothly so that she wasn’t even jostled.
Seeing she was struggling to wake up and move back to her side of the vehicle, Sam whispered, “It’s okay. Just rest. I’ll make sure you get home safely.” He stroked her hair as she lay curled up in his lap. She had been tense at first, but his patient, persistent, gentle touch had soothed her nerves. He leaned forward to remove his coat and lay it over her. “Sweet dreams, Haley.”
At that, Haley tensed. “No,” she mumbled. “No dreams.”
And he was reminded of his earlier conversation with Ellen. The glass partition lowered. “Are we still driving Miss Iverson home, sir?”
He thought for a moment, gazing at her lying there almost peacefully. It was nearly Saturday. He had a guest room. Or, better, he could give her his room and sleep in the guest room. Sam smiled. “No, we’ll bring her to my place.” The driver’s eyebrow rose, but he didn’t care.
When the car pulled up in the front of the house and the driver opened the door, Sam gathered Haley in his arms effortlessly. She couldn’t have weighed much more than one hundred pounds even with all that added fabric. He wound his way up the grand foyer staircase and down the hall. He pushed open the double doors with his foot and laid her on the bed. He toyed ever so briefly with undressing her, but didn’t want her to wake up scared and ashamed. Instead, he simply removed her shoes, draped a throw over her and gave in to the need to kiss her on the forehead. Haley stirred but didn’t awaken.
Walking over to the closet, he picked out a pajama bottom to go along with his racer back t-shirt. Sam changed in the bathroom and heard her wrestling around in the bed. As he placed his clothes in the laundry, the whimpering began. “No, please. No, please.” His heart began to pound fiercely in his chest as he rushed to her side. “You’re hurting me,” she whimpered as she thrashed about.
Sam felt suddenly helpless. He sat on the bed beside her, but dared not touch her. It was worse than Ellen described. And all he could do was wait. At last the dream ended and Haley was left sobbing quietly, drenched in sweat. He thought of the guest room way down the hall and knew he couldn’t leave her. He pulled the chair and ottoman closer to the bed. From the closet he grabbed another blanket. “I’ll be right here when you wake up, Haley,” he whispered. Then he sat down and settled into the chair facing her for an uncomfortable night’s sleep.
When he woke up just after seven that morning, Haley was sitting up with her legs curled under her, staring at him with a shy smile on her face. He stretched and studied her for a moment to assess the situation. What was she thinking this morning? “I hope you were comfortable enough in that dress,” he said quietly. “I didn’t want to undress you and have you worried in the morning.”
“Thank you,” she said. “If you could just summon the driver, I’ll be more than happy to go home now.” Her eyes kept darting back from the alarm clock to the door.
“Do you have to be somewhere?” He asked, feeling her out.
She shook her head.
“So, you just don’t want to be here?” He wasn’t upset, he just wanted to understand.
She shrugged. “I have my routines. I am usually up jogging by now.”
“Outdoors or in?”
Haley blushed. “In.”
Sam was quiet for a moment then he decided to take a chance. “Well, we never had an opportunity to discuss last night’s dinner, as it relates to the campaign, I mean.” She just watched him with big emerald eyes. “So, what if we go jogging together in the park, then come back here to shower and dress then discuss it over breakfast before I take you home?”
She considered it for a moment. “I don’t have any clothes.”
“I must have something that will work.”
“At this rate I won’t be home for lunch.”
I was shooting for dinner. He shrugged. “I’ll take that chance.”
She cocked her head to the side. “You are pretty used to getting what you want, aren’t you?”
He could tell that thought frightened her. “You’re safe with me, Haley,” he said gently.
Sighing, she said, “Fine. You get your way this time.”
Sam smiled. Now that he had her here, he was reluctant to let her leave. He knew she was safe here and cared for. He knew that with him she would want for nothing. And that he was even thinking this had him deeply unsettled.
Adam showed up just as they were finishing lunch. The day had gone exactly as he had anticipated until that moment. Sam had some difficulty keeping up with Haley during the run. She ran with an intensity that couldn’t be matched. And at times he swore that she forgot he was there. She always seemed surprised when he would, panting, ask her to slow down. The clothes he had sent for arrived during their run, so once she showered she had a selection to choose from. The simple denim jeans and v-necked white t-shirt gave her a classic look. And it about killed him the way she thanked him so genuinely for every little thing. None of the women he had dated had ever responded that way in the past. It always felt as though they were milking him for everything they could get, but not Haley.
During breakfast she had picked at her food, even though she should have had a ravenous appetite. At last he had coaxed her into the library to work while she sipped a hot tea saturated in sugar and he drank cup after cup of black coffee. Sam had finally convinced her to stop and eat lunch at one after they lost track of time over work. And her mind! What had begun as a way to spend more time with her had quickly revealed her talent for advertising. Sam, who was one of the best in his field, was duly impressed.
And then Adam showed up. He raised his eyebrows at her presence then greeted her warmly. “Haley, right?” She nodded. “When did you get here?”
She looked at him shyly. “Around midnight, I guess.” Instantly she turned her attention back to the storyboards they had been working on.
Adam mouthed the word ’midnight’ to his brother, who shook his head to explain that it wasn’t what Adam thought.
When Haley realized that Adam was settling in for the afternoon, she moved to leave. “I’ll just have your driver drop me at home, if you don’t mind.”
Sam stood and walked over to her. He glanced over his shoulder at Adam who leaned against the mantle watching with a morbid curiosity. “If you’ll excuse us for a moment,” he said in a tone that suggested Adam should make himself scarce as quickly as possible.
“Certainly,” Adam said as he left the room and pulled the doors closed behind him.
Turning his focus completely to Haley, Sam said quietly, “You don’t have to go. You could stay.” He laid his hands on her shoulders and squeezed her gently.
For a moment, she almost couldn’t catch her breath, but then survival mode kicked in. He was so charming. And she had been hurt by his kind before. She forced herself to step back. “Under what pretenses this time?”
Instantly, Haley was transported back to New Year’s Eve. She had been searching the house party for David, her fiancé. And while she couldn’t find him, she did run into Chase, his best friend. The man had been drunk, reeking of liquor. He had cornered her in the deserted third floor hall and opened the door she was leaning against, tumbling her into the room. When she finally caught her balance, which took longer than normal because she was always clumsy but more recently frightened; she found herself against the side of the bed.
Hiding Out Page 4