“It is a great love story but super fucking tragic,” Alex said. “So, you see, offensive on two fronts. The first being they both die, and the second being the current interpretation of Romeo as a womanizer type.”
“Jesus Christ, I fell asleep after you said super fucking tragic.”
Alex rolled her eyes. Lenna was never one to appreciate the fine arts.
Sophia slipped a carrot to Yogi. “Anything on the book?”
“Not yet. I’m starting to lose hope.”
“Don’t. I’m telling you. I have a feeling it’s gonna happen.”
“Anything new between you and Sam?” Lenna asked.
“Nope, still sexually frustrated.”
“How big is her family?”
“Uh, I think just her mom and stepdad. Why?”
“Just making sure we can sit everybody at Thanksgiving.”
“For God’s sake, what is the Thanksgiving thing? Enlighten me.”
“Jesus, somebody needs to get laid,” Lenna teased.
Sophia laughed. “This all goes back to the first time you brought Sam here, and both your sister and I loved her the moment we met her. Then you said she couldn’t cook, and Lenna made a joke we would have Thanksgiving at our house. Obviously hoping you two would hit it off and become a couple.”
Alex smiled broadly. “Okay, now I get it. And I’m pretty sure we’ll be able to fit everyone around the dining room table.”
* * *
Sam waited impatiently at the door as Alex’s truck drove through the gate, eager to show off the new maroon athletic shorts she’d bought today. They may be a size too small, but she liked the way they hugged her ass.
She held the door open, ogling Alex as she walked in. After the door closed, Alex dropped the backpack and they fell instantly into each other’s arms, pressing their lips together.
When they broke apart, Sam caressed Alex’s cheek. “You look tired.”
“I am so wiped. Eighteen-hour days this week. Ugh. It’s been grueling. Physically and mentally. Nice shorts, by the way.”
“You like?” Sam stepped away and twirled.
“Yeah, I like.” Alex stared with naked lust in her eyes. “I’d have to be dead to not appreciate those shorts.”
Sam grinned and jumped back into her arms, hands entwining in Alex’s hair. “I can’t believe you came over on a Thursday. It feels like Christmas.”
Alex held Sam tight against her body and pushed their hips together. “Well, I do have to go into the office tomorrow to finish up some paperwork. But that shouldn’t take long. Then we have three days together.”
“Here, let’s get you off your feet. It’s couch time. We need some couch time!” Sam led the way to the sofa. She had cleared off the throw pillows earlier in anticipation of a hot and heavy make-out session.
Alex sagged onto the cushions with a heavy sigh, dragging Sam down on top of her. Eager hands moved under Sam’s shirt, while her tongue and lips worked the neck area. “Oh, no bra. You little temptress.”
Sam bent her head away to give Alex more access. “It’s almost bedtime. You’re lucky I’m not already in my PJs.”
“I would call that unlucky.” Alex nipped at Sam’s collarbone.
“God, I missed you.”
Alex’s hands slipped lower and she squeezed Sam’s ass. “Mmm. Now that’s nice.” She moved her hands and managed to slip them underneath Sam’s underwear. “Mmm, very nice.”
Sam’s breath caught in her throat and a soft moan escaped from her lips. “Easy, killer. Don’t start something you’re too tired to finish.”
“Oh, I’ll find the energy to finish, don’t you worry,” Alex murmured into her neck.
Sam’s tongue found its way to Alex’s ear. She flicked the lobe and gently sucked it into her mouth. Nights this week had been filled with sex dreams, more so than usual, and she was seriously reconsidering the ‘I love you’ rule. Her hand slid to the top of Alex’s jeans, and two fingers flicked the button open. Those same fingers slipped under the waistband and traced a path back and forth between Alex’s hip bones.
Alex tried to guide Sam’s hand lower.
Sam smiled. “Uh-uh.”
“Please.”
The corner of Sam’s lips curled into a smile. “You can barely keep your eyes open and you’re still this frisky?”
“I’m always this frisky. And hopeful.”
“Hopeful?” Sam’s fingers continued to dance below Alex’s waistband.
“That your fingers might slip lower.”
Sam rubbed her nose in Alex’s hair. “Slip? Like on a banana peel?”
Alex chuckled. “God, you were so hot that day, wearing my sunglasses. I should’ve known then I was in trouble.” She stifled a yawn.
“You’re exhausted. I should put you to bed.”
“Do I still have to behave myself? Because those PJs of yours are very sexy.”
“Maybe I should wear a full-length flannel nightgown, all boxy and big. Then you wouldn’t find me so appealing.”
“Doubt it.”
Sam laid her head on Alex’s chest. “I’ll make Yogi sleep between us. Then you wouldn’t be able to touch me.”
“If you like human torture, that’s your solution. But I think there’s something in the Geneva Convention outlawing that sort of behavior.”
Sam chuckled. “I don’t think the Geneva Convention covers that.” She kissed Alex. Her body screamed for more as the kiss deepened and Alex’s arms tightened around her. But when she pulled back, the fatigue surrounding Alex’s eyes made her pause. “You’re too sleepy. When I let you get in my pants, I want your full attention.”
“Don’t worry, you’ll have it.”
Sam nervously nibbled on her bottom lip. “I haven’t been with a woman in a long time. I’m kinda worried I won’t measure up.”
“There’s no way you couldn’t measure up, so don’t even say something like that.”
The sincerity in those green eyes put Sam’s fears to rest. “Okay. Let’s get you to bed and tuck you in.”
* * *
Alex came out of the bathroom and joined Sam under the covers. She inched across the king size bed, and upon reaching her destination, gave Sam a solid kiss good night. Sighing with contentment, she relaxed onto her side, leaving an arm resting across Sam’s belly.
“What? I don’t have to fight you off?” Sam asked with mock seriousness. “Are you over me already?”
“I’m being respectful.”
“No! A little fighting off is good. It’s the highlight of my day.”
Alex yawned and rested her head on Sam’s shoulder. “I’m saving my energy. I’m gonna try and bang you tomorrow.”
Sam’s laughter filled the room. “You’re funny.”
“Turn around and we’ll spoon, then you can fight me off.”
“Yeah! I love spooning.” She turned over, anticipating some grade-A groping.
Alex snuggled up behind her. “Now, where to begin?” She slid a hand under Sam’s shirt and placed it over her breast. “Hm. Good place to start.” Her fingers teased and caressed. “Ah, here’s the part where you fight me off.”
Sam whimpered quietly as her nipple grew taut beneath Alex’s touch, and the heat began building in her core.
“Seriously. Where’s the fight?”
Sam’s hips pulsed with want.
“Oh, Lord Jesus.” Alex yanked her hand away and she buried her face in Sam’s hair. A muffled groan fell from her lips.
“Why’d you stop?”
“You didn’t fight.”
“Well, it’s just second base. It’s not like you haven’t been there before.”
“Then don’t move your hips.”
“It was involuntary. Like a twitch.”
“Babe, we’re walking a very fine line here.” Alex placed feather-light kisses on the back of Sam’s neck. “I’m gonna have to put you in the burqa soon.”
“Okay. Guess I have been torturing the shit out of you.�
�� Sam grabbed Alex’s hands and held them against her stomach. “Go to sleep, BG. You’re tired.”
“Well, I’m kind of awake now.”
“Oh. Well, tell me how you found Yogi. I remember you said you both rescued each other.”
“I got him while I was living on the East Coast, before I moved back here. I met him the day of Madison’s funeral.”
“Oh, crap, I’m sorry. You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”
“No, it’s fine. One of our friends pulled him from a shelter because he was time stamped. You know what time stamped means?”
“They were going to put him down?”
“Yeah. I told my friend I would keep him until they found a good home for him. I figured I had nothing better to do except cry my eyes out, so might as well cry with him. After about a week, he was following me everywhere. We became inseparable. That’s how we found each other. And here we are today, getting rescued all over again.”
“Well, I love him.”
“You know we’re a package deal, right?”
“I can put up with you, if it means having him around.” Sam turned and put her arms around Alex’s neck. “What did I rescue you from?”
“Myself.”
Chapter Twenty
Alex sat back with a satisfied sigh, pleased with the design she had just finished. She’d arrived at the crack of dawn to get all her work done so she could head straight back to Sam’s. At the thought of Sam, her lower belly tightened with desire. She glanced down at her faithful pooch. “I’m feeling lucky, Bear. Tonight might be the night, buddy.”
Lenna poked her head in the doorway. “Hey, you busy?”
“I just finished the design for the Donovans. I think we should go with blue stone pavers, because it’ll match the façade on the back of the house.”
Lenna shut the door and sat in the chair in front of the desk.
Alex noted the stressed-out look on her face. “Jesus. You look like you’ve seen a ghost. What’s going on? Is Soph okay?”
“She’s fine. Were you online at all this morning?”
“No. I’ve been buried in this design for hours. Why?”
“Christ.” Lenna passed her phone to Alex.
She looked down at the image on the screen and her stomach dropped right down to her toes. “What the fuck is this?” Dread clutched at her heart. It was a picture of Sam gazing adoringly at Alex as they danced, their lips inches apart. She remembered the exact moment. It was at Lenna’s birthday party, and she’d almost kissed Sam before thinking better of it. Thank God.
“It’s all over the Internet. Rumor mill says Sam must be gay.”
“Where did the picture come from?”
“It was posted on a Facebook page this morning, and then it went viral.”
“This was months ago! Who posted it?”
Lenna didn’t reply.
“Who was it?”
“Cynthia.”
Red rage filled Alex. “I can’t believe she did this.”
“Have you had any contact with her?”
“She keeps calling, asking why I haven’t been at the bar. I finally told her I was seeing someone. She asked if it was ‘that actress.’”
“You didn’t say it was Sam, did you?”
“No! I just ignored the question and ended the conversation. She wasn’t too happy. Wait ’til I get a hold of her.” The rage receded, replaced with fear. “Oh God, Sam.”
She typed a quick text. Have you seen the picture? Are you okay?
The reply was instant. With Zach. Talk later.
A chill went through her. The text seemed curt, but that was probably just her imagination. She shook it off.
“Well?” Lenna asked.
“She said we’ll talk later.” Alex dropped the phone on her desk and buried her face in her hands. “This is bad. What if she posts more pictures?” She rubbed her eyes and dropped her hands. “I need to go set her straight.” Her lips set in a hard line.
“Calm down. Confrontation is not the answer. Can’t have you popping her in the mouth.” Lenna tipped her chair back and the muscle in her jaw twitched. “I’ll talk to her.”
“Oh, great. Let the black belt talk to her.”
“I can control myself. And I can be very persuasive.” Lenna gave an emphatic point. “Nobody fucks with my Thanksgiving.”
* * *
Later that evening, Alex paced around her bedroom. The picture had been taken down hours ago, no doubt due to Lenna and her powers of persuasion, but the damage was done. It had been the lead story on E! Tonight, the hosts bandying back and forth about whether Sam Cassidy would come out of the closet, and how it would affect her career if it were true.
Alex still hadn’t heard from Sam, and she was in full-blown panic mode. Her heart had been thumping in her chest for hours. Nausea ate at the pit of her stomach. Why did this have to happen? Why now? Things had been progressing fabulously. They’d both been so happy.
She seesawed back and forth between utter despair and quiet hope. Hope that Sam was okay, and that it would all just fade away and be replaced by another salacious story about some other Hollywood starlet. Despair because it could be ruinous for Sam’s career. For her Oscar chances. For their chance at happiness.
Around nine, her phone rang. Finally. “Hey.”
“Hey.” Sam’s voice sounded small. And tired.
“Are you okay?”
“I’ve been better.”
Alex’s heart ached for her and what she must be going through. “Do you want me to come over?”
“God no. There’s paparazzi at the front gate. They’ve been here for hours, just lying in wait.”
“Sam, I’m so sorry. I had no idea she took pictures.”
“You know her?”
“Yeah. Unfortunately.”
“How?”
Alex hesitated, hating to say it out loud, but she wouldn’t lie to Sam. Couldn’t lie to Sam. “I slept with her a couple of times. Before you and I met.”
Sam’s sigh echoed over the phone. “Oh.”
A piece of Alex died. She could feel the disappointment. “I’m sorry,” was all she could manage to say.
“I thought I recognized her when Jade showed me the post. Was she the one you were arguing with at the party?”
“Yeah.”
“Why is she posting this now?”
“She called me last week. I told her I was seeing someone, and she got pissed. I guess I misjudged the situation. I thought she and I were on the same page. It was supposed be a casual hookup. Somehow, for her, it was something more.” Alex rubbed at the sudden flare of pain behind her eyes. “I’m sorry.” The words seemed woefully inadequate. She wanted to protect Sam. To hold her and tell her they would weather this storm, together.
“The Addictions producers called Zach.”
“And?”
“They’re concerned with the bad press that’s surrounding me right now. They insinuated that they may drop me from consideration. Unless we fix it.”
Alex held her breath. “What does ‘fix it’ mean?”
“It means I have to lay low.”
“What does that mean for us?”
“I don’t know. I…I just can’t do this right now.”
The dread that clutched at Alex’s heart threatened to overwhelm her. “Why can’t we both just lay low, together?”
“I can’t…I can’t…I just can’t do this.”
“Sam?”
“What?”
“Are you breaking up with me?”
“I’m sorry. I need time to figure things out.” Sam’s voice shook when she said, “I have to go. I’ll talk to you later.”
The call ended, and Alex’s eyes filled with moisture. In a rare display of anger, she threw the phone across the room, shattering the glass screen.
* * *
The next night, Alex sat alone in the kitchen finishing her supper. Dark circles hung below her eyes. The conversation kept replay
ing over and over in her brain. There was no, “We’ll lay low for a few weeks and everything will be fine.” Or, “Don’t worry, we’ll get through it together.”
Alex knew how important this movie was to Sam. Was she throwing Alex aside for a shot at having her dream come true?
“Alex, you better get out here!” Lenna called. “There’s a story on Sam coming up.”
Great. Just what she needed. More bad news. She trudged into the living room just as E! Tonight came back on.
The host smiled a perky smile. And Alex wanted to rip it off her face.
“Yesterday this picture broke, of Samantha Cassidy and a mystery woman, dancing at a gay club in West Hollywood. Looking very much like a couple. Rumors have been rampant, but today, we have a different story. Our own Jon Farrier caught up with everyone’s favorite commander at Spago in Beverly Hills.”
Alex’s heart stuttered as the camera cut to a smiling Sam. On the arm of one Brian Davis.
Jon was grinning like an idiot. And Alex wanted to punch his lights out.
“Thank you, Janet. I’m standing here with Samantha Cassidy and Brian Davis. Sam, we all saw the pictures yesterday. The Internet went crazy. Can you tell us what happened?”
Sam’s smile was too bright. Forced. Alex was sure Sam was putting on happy face for public consumption, but it still ripped her apart.
“Those were taken a while ago, at a birthday party for a friend of mine. We were having a great time. That’s really all there was to it. It was just some innocent fun.”
“And Brian, we haven’t seen you with Sam for a while. Everyone thought you two had broken up.”
His hair was slicked back, making him look like a snake oil salesman. Alex wanted to knee him in the groin.
This sudden uptick in violent tendencies was a little disconcerting.
“No, Jon. Rumors tend to be just that. Rumors. We’ve been keeping things on the down low. Enjoying the peace and quiet, out of the spotlight.”
He smiled lovingly at Sam, and Alex wanted to puke. When Sam kissed him on the mouth, she nearly did. Bile rose in her throat and she swallowed thickly.
#CassiNova Page 19
