He stared at me for a long, silent moment before clapping. Slowly. Sarcastically. “My, my. You’re quite the heroine, aren’t you?”
“The heroine who knew how to fool you, anyway,” I replied. “I guess that’s as heroic as I needed to be.”
“We’ll see how heroic you are when you see my Will.”
I laughed. “You think I care about that? You never knew me at all. Not like you ever made an attempt to get to know me. I don’t need your money, and I don’t want it.”
“Right,” he sneered.
“I mean it. I’m doing just fine on my own. Now that the world knows about the Excalibur GTX3 and my role in its creation, because Lincoln has been generous enough to drop my name, but you probably know that by now. I’ve had more requests to consult on more design projects than I know what to do with.”
“I won’t wish you well,” he said and turned away from me.
This was the end. If anything, he made it easy for me to walk away from him, from any chance of having a relationship with him. There’s nothing between us. “I have a feeling I’ll have better luck than you will.” I smiled to this rigid back before turning away, and closing the door between us forever.
Now, I sit here and read the headline again, then skim the contents of the article as I sit at my usual table. I hope Lincoln cleans Arcane out and grinds it into the dust. We haven’t smoothed things over between us, and I don’t know if we ever can, after all the horrible things that have gone on between us, but he did make it a point to spread the word that I played a major role in the prototype’s success. He didn’t have to do that. Just another example of how vastly different he is from my father, who would’ve taken all the glory for himself without a second thought.
The case will never make it to court, of course. The article hints at the strong possibility that it’ll be settled privately. A shame, actually, since my father deserves to be on the witness stand having to sweat bullets.
Ryland, on the other hand, will go on trial, having been arrested for corporate espionage. I can’t believe I ever looked up to him. My heart aches for Lincoln, who cared about him much more than I ever did.
My heart aches for Lincoln, period.
Samantha
It’s a hot day, well into the nineties before noon. “Thank God for air conditioning,” I whisper, cranking it up a bit more to keep the apartment comfortable on cleaning day. One of the perks of working for myself now, is having time to keep my place clean. One of the downfalls is having no excuse on the weekend to avoid cleaning my place. My cleaning sessions are almost as good as an actual workout.
When the doorbell rings, I’m on my knees on the kitchen floor with a scrub brush in one hand. “Who the heck is this?” I mutter, dropping the brush into the bucket of sudsy water and wiping the sweat from my forehead with the back of my forearm as I walk to the door. I’m not expecting anything, or anyone.
And I sure as hell am not expecting Lincoln and Maddie. Not in a million years.
“What are you guys doing here?” I ask, suddenly intensely conscious of my ratty sweats and bleach-stained tank top. My hair’s in a messy bun on top of my head, strands falling out all over the place. Probably stuck to the back of my neck with sweat too.
Maddie giggles, holding her father’s hand. “We came to see you!”
“I can see that,” I say, smiling, looking from her to Lincoln. I don’t feel like smiling at him right now. He could’ve called. He could’ve given me a little warning. And he could’ve refrained from bringing his daughter with him, like I’m going to soften just because she’s here. He should know me better than that.
“Can we come in?” he asks, eyebrows raised.
“It doesn’t look as though I have much of a choice,” I murmur, stepping aside to let them in.
“Oh Sam, your apartment is so cute!” Maddie gushes, her eyes big and excited.
I’m glad I’m almost finished with the cleaning. I don’t have to be embarrassed by dust bunnies under the sofa. “You like it, huh?” I chuckle, hands on my hips. “It’s nearly as big as your Princess tent.”
“No, it’s not,” she says seriously. My tent is muuuuch smaller.”
I absolutely adore this kid. She’s so cute. “Make yourself comfortable,” I encourage her, still side-eyeing Lincoln at the same time. I don’t know what game he thinks he’s playing, even though the sight of him—the fact that he’s here in my apartment—makes my heart race.
I can’t pretend I didn’t develop feelings for him.
“I don’t think I should,” she says, smiling ever so slightly.
“Why not?”
Another knock at the door. I turn to it, surprised, and hear Maddie explain, “I have another appointment to go to. I’m pretty busy.”
I have to laugh as I open the door to find a kindly middle-aged woman standing in the hall.
“I’m here to pick up Maddie,” she explains.
Maddie runs to the door and flings her arms around the lady’s waist.
“This is Gwen, Maddie’s nanny.” Lincoln pats the top of Maddie’s head.
“I see.” And I can see that he brought his daughter as a way to get in the door. Now that he’s in, he can send her off with Gwen. My heart is thumping with a strange excitement, but I’m not sure how I feel about this bit of trickery. Does he think he can just roll in here and take up where we left off?
“Sam, will you come over to our house soon? Please?” Maddie asks.
“I’ll see what I can do,” I reply, stroking her hair before Gwen leads her away.
Leaving only Lincoln and me.
I wait until the door is closed before I whirl on him. “What do you think you’re doing here?” I ask, my voice shrill with nervousness. “How manipulative can you possibly be?”
“What? You think I’m trying to manipulate you?”
I fold my arms across my chest and raise my eyebrows disbelievingly. He knew exactly what he was doing. “By bringing the baby.”
“She’s been driving me insane for two weeks, asking every day when we’ll be able to see you again. If I didn’t bring her with me, even so she could see you for a few minutes, I’d never hear the end of it. If anything, I’m the victim here,” he says with a hangdog expression.
The idea of him being a victim is so ridiculous, I burst out laughing. “You’re crazy.”
“Yeah, I know. Crazy for you.”
I pretend not to hear the last part even though my heart is singing. “Even so, I don’t have to listen to a word you say. You know that, right? I could throw you out right now and have every right to do so. Nobody would blame me.”
“I won’t leave until you hear me out. Please, Samantha? I want to apologize.”
“You could have done that over the phone.” But my resolve is weakening every moment, every time our eyes meet. It’s not fair. He’s too sexy, too handsome, too magnetic, too everything. How am I supposed to fight that kind of pressure?
“Yeah, I could have, but I’m here now, aren’t I?”
It’s exhausting, trying to win. I should just give up. “Okay. You’re here now. What do you have to say?” I’m careful to keep my arms folded tight in front of me, unwilling to leave myself open to him. He needs to know how much he hurt me. I can’t make it easy.
To my surprise, he stumbles over his words. “I don’t—I don’t know where to s-start.”
“You could start by telling me how wrong it was to call me what you did. That’s a good start.”
A dull red flush stains his cheekbones. “I should never have called you that. I’m really sorry. It’s unforgivable, I know. And I know now that you were right all along. I heard your father fighting with Ryland after their demo, and it was all just like you said.”
“So…?”
“So?”
I shrug. “What’s all this mean? You were wrong. I knew you were wrong from the beginning, but that doesn’t change the way you treated me, the things you said. How small you made me feel that
day, after—after everything.” My cheeks start burning at the mere mention of what went on in his office only hours before he fired me.
“I realize that,” he mutters, shaking his head. “It was wrong. I can’t tell you how wrong I was or how sorry I am. I was deeply hurt by what I thought was your betrayal, Sam. It cut me to the bone to think that you were not what I thought you were. Not to mention the fact that so much of the business relied on our demonstration. What would you do in my shoes?”
“I would ask why you were with Vince Weissman. I would ask flat-out if you had anything to do with the leak.”
“Why would you have admitted having anything to do with it if you were really a spy? Why would you tell the truth?”
“If you had an explanation for what was happening the way I did with Ryland you would’ve at least gotten the chance to share it. You could’ve had your say. I didn’t get to have mine. I had to email you, hoping you would read it without deleting it first.”
“I did.” He looks and sounds sincere. I have to give him that. “I would do anything to make this up to you. Do you know that?” He takes one step closer, then another. “I mean it. Anything in the world.”
I could move away, but I don’t. Having him nearer to me is a joy I don’t really want to refuse. I’ve been refusing myself for too long already. The weeks without him have been worse than torture. Even though I haven’t known him for much longer than that, the heart wants what it wants.
So does the body.
“Sam. I couldn’t have done anything I did without you.”
When he reaches for me, I don’t pull away. I allow his hands to linger on my arms—light, gentle, not demanding a thing.
“You’re the entire reason we were a success at the conference. It was all you. I would be nowhere without you. I’m nowhere without you now.”
“What are you saying?” I whisper, not daring to hope.
“First of all, I would love it if you would come to work for me again, because you’re really and truly a genius, and I need you on my team.” He strokes my arms, staring deep into my eyes.
I can hardly hear him over the sound of blood rushing in my ears. Does he have any idea what he does to me? He can’t possibly. I narrow my eyes until they’re practically slits, pretending to think it over. He deserves to sweat a little after what he put me through. “Hmm…no. I don’t think so.”
“What?” He frowns and pulls back a little, hurt and surprise in his eyes.
He thought I would give in so easily, did he? “Well, I mean, I’d be happy to work with you. Just not for you. I have my own clients now.”
“You do?” He looks deflated, but when he sees me raise my eyebrows, his expression changes to excitement. “That’s terrific news!”
“Yes, it is. You helped quite a lot, dropping my name the way you did. I appreciate it more than I can say.” I take a deep breath, releasing it slowly before continuing, “I’ve been wanting to get out of my father’s shadow for as long as I can remember. I’ve wanted to make a life for myself away from him, completely and totally. And there’s no way he’d ever let me into his life after what he knows I did to him, so…”
“Actually, even though I’m crushed at the thought that you won’t be in the lab at all hours of the night, I’m very proud of you,” he whispers, smiling softly, his eyes shining.
I’m not used to hearing people say they’re proud of me. It sounds good. I could get used to it. “There’s another thing, too,” I whisper back, leaning in ever so slightly.
“What’s that?” he asks with a totally sexy grin.
“I don’t think it would be a good idea for me to date my boss.”
His grin turns to a smile, wider than any I’ve ever seen from him. “You mean that?”
“I absolutely do.”
He takes my face in his hands, cupping it gently. “In that case, Miss Harper, I’m afraid your services will no longer be required by Guardian.”
“Gee, that’s a shame, but thank you for letting me know, Mr. Cage.”
“Now, that we have established you are no longer working for me, Ms. Harper. I’m afraid I’m going to need to get my tongue into your sweet pussy.”
I giggle, letting him pull me closer. “I’m pretty gross right now, by the way.”
“There are two ways around that problem. I could lick you clean or I can get you showered up, then,” he murmurs, sliding his hands over my back.
“You would lick me even though I smell of sweat and bleach?”
“Sweetness, I would take you any old way I can. I love you clean, I love you dirty, I love you drenched in sweat and stained with bleach. Anyway, I can take you.”
I can hardly believe my ears. “What? You love me?”
He smiles, the slowest, sexiest smile you ever saw and I wait with bated breath for it to finish.
“I do. I really do.”
“When did you realize that?”
“I think it was when you were cleaning Maddie’s feet. I looked down at both your heads so close together and this strange thought crossed my mind. If any man ever hurts either of these two girls I’ll fucking kill him. I felt so protective towards both of you. As if you were both mine. But of course, you were always running hot and cold, so I talked myself out of it. I told myself it was just a thing. A fling.”
“I was running hot and cold because I was scared. I didn’t know if—”
“I would respect you in the morning,” he interrupts in a dry voice.
I smack his chest. “See these are the kinds of things that made me run hot and cold.”
“I could be that guy who professes to love a woman and never hears it back, but you know, it would be nice if the feeling was returned in some small measure.” He is joking, but his eyes are serious and almost apprehensive.
My chest feels like it’s about to burst. Everything I’ve ever wanted is right here in this room, holding me in his arms. Just when I thought I lost out on my dreams of him, he came back.
“I love you, too,” I breathe the words out, my eyes filling with tears in the instant before his mouth touches mine.
Lincoln
A month later…
“Come here,” I growl at her as soon as the door is shut. She looks so fucking good in that dress.
Sam doesn’t hesitate, pressing her body hard against mine, so I can feel every contour of her.
I love the way she feels. “Fuck, I want to tear this thing off of you,” I mutter into her ear as I draw her close to me, brushing my nose against her neck.
She shivers. “Then do it.”
It feels more like a challenge than anything else. If she thinks she can lay down a challenge like that in front of me and get away with it, then she’s got another thing coming. I pull back and cock an eyebrow at her. “You serious?”
“Deadly,” she replies, that playful grin playing at the corners of her mouth. “Tonight—I want you to—I want you to do something wild.”
I eye her for a moment.
“I mean it.” Looking at my lips, she slides her hand between us and grips my hard cock through my pants.
I can see the tipsiness in her eyes but I know this isn’t because of the alcohol. We both want this. Maybe we both need it.
She tightens her grip slightly on my package.
That’s all I need to push me over the edge. Oh, I’m going to make this girl scream.
I grab her, turn her around, and push her roughly down onto the bed. She lands with a slight giggle, scrambling to turn the right way up, but I shake my head, pulling off my blazer as I look down at her. “Stay like that,” I order. “On your front. Don’t look at me.”
She raises her eyebrows and I can tell that she’s swallowing down a smart remark, but she does as she’s told, facing away from me, taking up on all fours so her ass is tilted towards me, wiggling back and forth temptingly.
“Wild?” I repeat softly, running my hand over the curve of her butt.
She shivers slightly. “Wild,�
� she confirms, looking over her shoulder at me with a grin.
Without another word, I grab her dress and shove it roughly over her hips. Grabbing her panties, I yank them off of her with a sharp tearing sound of fabric. I toss them aside. She gasps when I grab her ankles and pull her towards me, running my hands up her legs until they come to rest on her ass.
“Show me your pussy,” I order.
She obeys, as she tilts her hips forward and uses her fingers to open her folds for my viewing pleasure.
“Wider. I want to see it.”
I look at her like this, her sweet little cunt opened up for me, and I admire the woman all laid out in front of me like this. Her delicious pussy is pink and glistening. A very tempting offer. My mouth starts to water, but I have other ideas for her tonight. I lean down and plant a soft kiss against her ass cheek then move over and press my tongue against her tight asshole.
She gasps again, and then lets out a long moan of pleasure as I move my tongue lightly back and forth across her butt, testing her. Her skin is sweet and clean and my cock is already rock-hard at the thought of pleasuring her like this. She slips a hand between her legs to play with her pussy, but I brush it away. “Not yet,” I order, pulling back a little. “I’ll tell you when you can touch yourself.”
Sam groans in desperation but does as she’s told, planting her hands in front of her.
I slide a hand over the small of her back to keep her in place and begin lapping at her tight hole, wondering if anyone has ever taken her here before. The thought of fucking her ass for the first time, of thoroughly devirginizing this gorgeous hole blows my mind, but for the time being I’m happy just to watch the way she reacts when I probe her with my tongue.
There’s a specific pleasure in watching a woman driven so crazy with desire that she can’t quite consummate yet and knowing you’re the cause of it. And she doesn’t let me down, groaning and wriggling while letting out these desperate little gasps as I trace my fingers up her thighs and towards her pussy without giving her any relief. She did say wild, and I’m going to show her just how delicious it is to offer someone like me that kind of deal.
Too hot to handle: A curvy girl romance Page 28
