Catching Sam: Book 2 of 5: The MacDonald Brothers

by Emily Matthews

  “Sounds good. Best to know what you’re dealing with. So, how’d she end up buying you at the auction? From what I saw, Stephanie was dead set on having you.” Sam’s silence let Phil know he was done talking about Annie.

  Taking the hint, Phil stood and put his coat on. “I have a meeting in ten. You wanna grab lunch later?”

  “Sure. You know where to find me.” Sam had moved to his desk and was waking his computer. He could hear Phil and Tracey talking in whispers. He wished Phil would just ask her out already. He was going to miss his shot if he waited much longer.

  ***

  Two days later, Phil came in with a worried look on his face. “I’ve got some bad news,” he said as he sat on the edge of the couch, gripping a letter-size manila envelope.

  “You know how I feel about that. Spit it out.” Sam walked over to the seating area but remained standing.

  “The lawyers called me this morning and said that an allegation of sexual assault was made against you on the night of the fundraiser,” Phil stated glumly. “But, of course, you won’t be surprised to hear that she will not press charges if you settle for five million dollars.”

  Sam’s heart sank. There was only one person that he’d had sexual contact with lately. Only one person new in his life. Annie was trying to screw him. And to think he’d trusted her so blindly. What an idiot he’d been. Breaking all the rules and thinking she was different. Well, apparently, that mistake was going to cost him big.

  “And when was this supposed to have happened? I went home alone that night. Steve drove me and will vouch for me.”

  “She says you came to her place after the function and quote, forced yourself on her, unquote. Look, you and I both know it’s not true. You would never do anything like that.”

  “Well, you already know I’m not going to give in to her demands. I’ve fought every other asinine allegation about me and always won. It’s like dealing with a terrorist. If you negotiate, you’ll have to deal with it all the time. Everyone and their dog will start trying to extort money from me.” This might be a little trickier since she worked for the company, but he would still fight.

  Sam went from zero to pissed in an instant. It wasn’t about the money. Five million was nothing to him. He hated that his reputation would probably take another blow, but could handle that too. It was the principle of the thing.

  Annie wasn’t going to waltz in here, get him to let his guard down, and then walk away a winner. No way that was going to happen.

  “I know. I told the attorneys that already. They understand. They’ve taken a preliminary statement from her and started the background check process. See if she’s tried this before with someone else. Funny, I thought she already had money. Why blackmail you?”

  “Greed makes people do stupid things. She has some money, but not millions. It seems so risky, though. And I don’t understand the timing.” Sam was talking more to himself now. Well, there was one way to get some answers.

  “Give me that.” Sam nodded to the envelope on the coffee table. When Phil held it up, he snatched it out of his hand and stalked out, ignoring Phil when he asked where he was going.

  No way he was just going to sit down and take this. On the way over to Annie’s office, he tried to puzzle it out. If she’d come forward the day after they’d met and had sex at her door, at least there would be some physical evidence of sexual contact. Why’d she wait until now? Was she mad he’d taken someone else to the fundraiser? Jealous maybe? And this was her attempt at revenge? She’d seemed fine when he’d last seen her, but who knew.

  He barged into Annie’s office, expecting to find her alone, but Beckie was there, sitting in a chair behind Annie, who was showing her something on the computer. Annie looked up in surprise and smiled brightly, like she didn’t have a care in the world. The smile died on her lips when she saw his expression.

  “Hey, Sam. What brings you by?” she asked with a puzzled look.

  “Beckie, I need to speak with Ms. O’Neill alone. Can you give us a minute?” Beckie didn’t answer but practically ran from the office, closing the door behind her.

  “Geez, I think you scared her. What’s the matter?”

  He held up the envelope. “What the fuck is this?” Not exactly how he planned to open the conversation, but he was beyond pissed.

  “I have no idea,” she said, primly lacing her fingers together in front of her on the desk.

  He tossed it onto her desk, and she picked it up.

  “You said you were different. You said I could trust you.” He started to pace in the small space, one hand on his hip, one running through his hair. “The stupid thing is, I believed you. I fell for it. Like a dumbass sucker, I thought you meant what you said. When am I going to learn?”

  He looked up to find her skimming through the papers. “You don’t have to act like you don’t know what they say,” he said. “I just don’t understand why. And especially, why now? You would have had a much better chance at this if you’d done it right away.”

  She put the papers down and leaned forward. “Have you read this?” she asked.

  “I don’t need to.” He waved a hand in dismissal. “Phil told me you were making an accusation against me, and I’ve been down that road before. All your pain and suffering will magically disappear for a mere five mil,” he said sarcastically.

  “Phil said I accused you of that? He used my name?” she asked, wide-eyed.

  “Well, no. He didn’t say who.” He lost a little steam. “But I haven’t slept with anyone else recently. Who else would say something like that?” He nodded at the papers.

  “Why don’t you take a look?” She pushed the heap of papers in his direction. He picked up the first page and saw right away that it was Stephanie who was accusing him. Not Annie.

  Shit!

  “You know how much you hate being falsely accused?” she asked, clearly pissed off herself. “Well, as it turns out, so do I.”

  “Annie…” His shoulders slumped.

  She stood, shaking her head. “I think you should go,” she said calmly, picking up the papers and using them to point to the door.

  From the look she shot him, he knew now was not the time to try to rationalize his behavior. He’d have to grovel later. He took the papers, tucked his tail between his legs, and trudged back to his office.

  “Where’d you run off to?” Phil asked when he returned.

  “Oh, God, I am an idiot,” Sam said, sliding into the chair opposite Phil. He was relieved it wasn’t Annie but also amazed at how quickly he’d jumped to that conclusion and how easily he’d believed it was her.

  “You thought I meant Annabelle, didn’t you?”

  “Huh? Uh, no,” Sam said, even though he knew Phil wouldn’t buy it.

  Phil rolled his eyes. “Anyway,” he said, dragging out the word to show his disbelief, “I’ll keep you updated. I’m sure the lawyers will want to talk to you at some point. I just stopped by to tell you so you wouldn’t be blindsided by it, but I gotta go.” He got up and straightened his tie.

  “Later,” Sam mumbled after him. Just what he needed, another frivolous lawsuit. He was getting tired of the bullshit. Why did people think they could just take the easy way out to make money? Scratch that, take money from someone else for no reason.

  He walked to his desk and called the attorney. He explained what had happened that night—that Stephanie left the fundraiser early, drunk as a skunk, and that he left later, alone, went straight home, and went to bed after watching some TV. Then he told them, in no uncertain terms, that he wanted to pursue a defamation lawsuit and press criminal charges against her for extortion and making a false accusation.

  Steve would vouch that he went straight home, and several people would corroborate that Stephanie was intoxicated most of the night. This wasn’t going to happen again if he could help it. Stephanie picked the wrong billionaire to fuck around with.

  After he hung up, he sat, thinking. He’d been so quick to assume
the worst of Annie. This was someone he liked and wanted to get to know. Someone he thought he could trust and yet how quickly he had let all that go. His cynicism apparently went deeper than he thought. Though his heart was saying go for it, his head kept butting in with doubts.

  He thought again of the repercussions of dating someone at work and how badly that could go if things didn’t work out. It really was stupid on his part to pursue anything with her. And yet…

  He’d made his fortune relying on instinct. Well, that and a hell of a lot of hard work and sacrifice, but when it came down to important decisions, he always informed himself as much as possible on the topic and then did a gut check for a final decision. It hadn’t led him astray yet.

  The feeling he couldn’t shake was that Annie was not someone he wanted to let get away. He was drawn to her. It was something he’d never felt with any other woman. And it wasn’t just physical. It was her personality, her vulnerabilities, her very essence.

  God, now he just sounded pathetic. He booted up his computer to do what he often did when he had a tough decision to make. A pros and cons list. He’d look at this logically, like he did everything else.

  When he was finished, the results weren’t good. The list of things that could go wrong far outweighed “nice body” and “fun to be with.”

  He deleted the list and decided to trust himself. He would find out as much as he could about her while continuing the relationship. He would go in with his eyes wide open but, hopefully, with his heart open too.

  And he’d keep his distrust level in check. He got back online and ordered a book about how to trust people. Maybe that would help. It would be delivered the next day, and he could have it read by the weekend. Perfect.

  Now, what to do about an apology.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  It was the Fourth of July, and Annie was sitting on her back porch in a turquoise, plastic, Adirondack chair. On her way home yesterday, she’d picked up the chair, an American flag, a box of sparklers, and a six-pack from a local drugstore. In honor of the holiday, she’d posted the flag in a pre-installed bracket next to the front door. She was sipping a hard lemonade and enjoying the warm, evening air when Sam called for the third time that day. He’d left messages and texts apologizing and asking to see her.

  She’d already decided to forgive him, but if she accepted his apology too readily, he’d think she wasn’t upset, which was not the case. He’d have to work for it a little.

  Although he’d been way out of line, she understood where he was coming from. She could easily see how irritating it would be to be accused of things you didn’t do. Of course, the irony was that that was exactly what he’d done to her.

  Merely telling him he could trust her obviously wasn’t enough. She would have to prove it over time.

  The one thrilling bit of information to come out of the conversation was that he admitted he was only sleeping with her. She happily clung to that thought as she answered the phone.

  “Hey.”

  “Oh, Annie. Thank God, you finally picked up. We need to talk. What are you doing?” he blurted.

  “Sitting on my back porch, drinking lemonade.”

  “I can do better. Can I come pick you up?”

  “I guess,” she hedged.

  “See you in five,” he said. She heard him moving before he disconnected.

  Figuring he would head straight over, she sprinted into the house and up the stairs to run a brush through her hair and change her shirt. It took no more than a few minutes, but he was already knocking when she came downstairs.

  He was wearing cargo shorts, a T-shirt with his alma mater’s logo that said “Go Dawgs,” and flip-flops. He looked comfortable and sexy as all hell.

  “Wanna come to my house?” He gave her a sheepish grin.

  “Sure,” she said and gave a small smile in return.

  He drove the short distance back to his place, grabbed an already opened bottle of wine and two glasses, and led her down to the dock. The dock extended approximately fifty feet into the water and was flanked by a speedboat on one side and two Jet Skis on the other. At the end of the dock, facing the water, were two Adirondack chairs. The wooden expensive kind, not the plastic crap she’d bought. She chuckled.

  The view of Lake Washington was beautiful. Boats and Jet Skis speckled the deep blue water, which was alive with wakes and waves. Kids screamed happily as overzealous dads attempted to drive their boats wildly enough to throw them off their inner tubes. Though it was still light out, fireworks exploded sporadically all around the lake.

  Once they were settled in the chairs and he’d poured the wine, he took her hand and looked into her eyes. “Annie, I’m so sorry. I don’t know what got into me. I can be impulsive, and sometimes that gets me into trouble. Of course I don’t think you are out to get me. Can you forgive me?”

  She nodded. “I tried to put myself in your shoes to understand where you were coming from. It must suck to always have to watch your back and doubt everyone’s motives. I’m trying not to take it personally, but I’m not gonna lie. It hurt.”

  “I know. I don’t have any excuse.”

  “Were you serious when you said I was the only one you’d slept with recently?”

  “Yes. That’s what made me jump straight to you. Since I haven’t had any sexual contact with anyone else, it was the only thing that made sense to me. Stephanie wasn’t even on my radar. I’d spent all of thirty minutes with her. Obviously, my reasoning abilities need some work.”

  “And your reading skills.” She rolled her eyes.

  “True. If I’d just slowed down enough to read the damn papers, I could have avoided this whole thing. That’s what I mean about my impulsiveness getting me in trouble.”

  “I think it will just take time until you’re able to trust me. Besides my word, time is the only proof I can offer. Hopefully, it won’t take too long.”

  “I do trust you, Annie. I do. I was an impetuous idiot.”

  “I forgive you, but I also think we should slow this train down a little.”

  “I don’t really care for that idea, but if it’s what you want…”

  “What if this relationship is one of those impulsive things that ends up getting you in trouble?”

  That made him stop and think. “I hadn’t thought of that,” he said. “It doesn’t feel like it, but I guess it’s possible.”

  They sat in silence for a minute, sipping wine and watching the action on the lake, both lost in their own thoughts.

  “You wanna hear my take on you?” she asked.

  “Sure, lay it on me. Please be gentle.” He chuckled.

  “You remember George Washingstone? The rock I gave you in Maui?”

  “Yes. He’s on my dresser, preparing to lead my spare change into battle.”

  She laughed and slapped his arm. “I got him because he made me think of you. You’re everyone’s rock and have been for a long time.

  “First, for your family after your dad died and now for the business. You have so many people who depend on you and look up to you, and you take care of them all, selflessly. It’s good to be strong, but it’s also okay to be vulnerable. I think you should let someone take care of you every once in a while.” She took one of his hands in both of hers. “I think you should let me take care of you every once in a while,” she clarified.

  She wished she could wrap him up in her arms and soothe him. It was at that moment she realized that while he needed to be taken care of, she longed for someone to care for. Avery’s death had left her a mother with no one to mother. Maybe she and Sam could give each other what they needed.

  In response, he kissed her. Tenderly at first and then with more urgency. She knew he’d have a hard time admitting out loud he needed someone, so she let him pour his reply into the kiss. They made out like teens in a car, the armrests from the chairs impeding them from getting too close.

  “Damn these stupid chairs,” he complained. “You wanna go back up to the
house? We can grill some burgers and watch the fireworks from the pool deck. The chairs there are much more comfortable.”

  Later, full of cheeseburgers and potato salad, they settled in to watch the fireworks, courtesy of the neighbors. A million tiny, exploding stars lit up the sky. One after the other, the whistles and booms morphed into showers of jewels that came cascading down into the water. It was magical, but not half as captivating as the man next to her.

  As much as she wanted to stay, knowing she might have to start pulling away soon because of Wayne, and after having just said she wanted to slow down their relationship, she thought better of it and asked Sam to take her home after the fireworks. He was reluctant but did as she asked.

  The next morning, she received the call she’d been dreading.

  “He’s out, Annie,” said her attorney. “He’s been out for almost two weeks.”

  “Two weeks? I thought you were going to call me right away!” God, these people were incompetent.

  “I know. My guy on the inside was supposed to let me know as soon as the date was released, but he quit and neglected to tell me. I’m so sorry. We must look like a bunch of screw-ups.” She didn’t refute it. She was thinking exactly that.

  “Just don’t let anyone there give out my home address, please. And how is my divorce coming? I’d hate for this to go on much longer. It’s causing me a lot of stress and mental anguish,” she said, hinting at a lawsuit. There was an edge to her voice she couldn’t hold back. It contained a veiled threat she would never carry out, but the attorney didn’t need to know that. She didn’t want to get into a lawsuit any more than the attorney would. She just wanted him to get his ass moving and finish this already.

  “I’m hoping it will be final in the next couple of weeks. There are a few extra hoops to jump through now that he’s no longer in prison. We have paid all the extra fees involved in getting this done as a rush. You will not be billed for one dime of the extra costs involved in making this right,” he assured her.

  Damn right I won’t, she thought, but kept her mouth shut.