by Hailey North
“Oh, I’m used to doing everything by myself,” Sami said. They might mean well, but surely they couldn’t think there was any purpose in crowding her and Flynn into the same car for an eight-hour road trip.
“Flynn’s not,” Cameron said. “He hates to fly. Wouldn’t you rather go with Sami?”
Jonni nodded. “Much nicer. Company for each other.”
Flynn put down his burger. Folded his napkin. Looked from his best buddy, and best client, Cameron Scott, to his doggone dangerously conspiring wife. “Don’t think I don’t know what you two are up to,” he said.
Jonni smiled.
She looked an awful lot like a cat that had just raided the creamery. “Another burger, Flynn?”
He shook his head. Glared at Jonni. He knew darn well she was a hopeless romantic but she’d never once tried to set him up. It was true he hated to fly, but he damn well managed to crisscross the country on business as necessary.
“Do you really not like to fly?” Sami was dusting her fingers and looking at him the way she might study a lab specimen—were she that kind of doctor.
“I really don’t like to talk about it,” Flynn said.
She nodded. “More repression.”
Flynn stood up and strode to the grill. “I think I’ll have another burger.”
Over the top of the grill he watched Cameron and Jonni exchanging more glances. Flynn lowered the metal spatula, returned the burger to the warming plate, and resumed his seat at the outdoor table. He’d just had an idea of the best way to squelch this nutty idea. “I guess I wouldn’t mind helping you out, Sami,” he said, leaning back in his chair and placing one arm on the back of her chair.
She reached for her wine glass. As she sat back, Flynn was treated to a delightful view of the tops of those tantalizing breasts. Bravo for Jonni getting her to take off that box of a jacket.
“That’s generous of you, Flynn,” she said, “but I’m quite used to the drive. I know every rest stop along the way.”
“Rest stops are dangerous,” Jonni said. “Not safe for a woman alone.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t be alone,” Sami said.
Cameron clapped his hands together and rose. “Great. Then it’s settled. What time does Flynn need to be at your place?”
Sami choked. A few drops of wine spilled onto her skirt. “Oh, my,” she said. “This is brand new.”
Jonni stood up. “Come inside with me. We’ll take care of it.”
The two women left, the children trailing in their wake.
Flynn looked over at his buddy, who’d sat back down. “What the hell are you trying to do?”
Cameron shrugged, lifted his hands in a gesture of surrender. “Sorry, pal. I realize I threw you to the wolves there, but Jonni’s instincts are never wrong.”
Flynn drained his beer. “If I drive with her, I’ll have to put off the CMT meeting.”
Cameron nodded. “All for a good cause.”
Flynn was feeling pretty annoyed. “What cause is that?”
“Keeping my wife happy.”
“Well, if you put it that way. But she’s never unhappy. She glows.” He realized he sounded somewhat wistful. “Congratulations are in order again?”
Cameron nodded. “We plan to stop at three.” He grinned. “Actually, we hadn’t planned this one.”
Flynn envied his friend his contentment, but no way would he want to be in his shoes. “You should see the babe I was going to have dinner with tonight.” He made the shape of an hour glass figure with his hands. “Swedish. Hotter than hot. Met her last night at the Hard Rock.”
“Sami’s pretty good looking,” Cameron said, in a rather off-hand tone.
“True. But she’s one of those hopeless romantics. And she never stops talking.” Flynn groaned. “Remember I saved your life way back when. Save me now.”
In Jonni’s dressing room, which was larger than the bedroom in Sami’s shotgun house, her hostess was pulling a simple black dress off a hanger.
“This might work,” Jonni said. “We’re a similar size. And it’s a knit.”
Sami accepted the padded hanger and the dress, somewhat reluctantly. “You really don’t have to offer me a change of clothing. I can arrange to have my skirt cleaned tomorrow.”
Jonni smiled at her in a friendly way. “Tomorrow you’ll be on the road all day. It’s my fault you spilled wine on your skirt, so I’ll have it cleaned and sent to you. Just don’t forget to give me your address in Nashville.”
“It wasn’t your fault.”
“You might be right,” Jonni said. “It was Cameron who asked what time Flynn should be at your place. And that’s when you choked. I’ll slip out and let you change.”
And with another smile she left the room.
Sami studied the simple black dress. There was no tag to identify the designer, but she sensed it was expensive. The fabric was silky soft. But it felt wrong to put on another woman’s dress, a stranger’s shockingly pricey and gloriously sexy dress. It was so pretty, though. Sami shopped at Talbot’s. Sensible clothes that helped her look like the associate professor she was. And jackets to minimize her breasts.
She’d just try it on, and then gently decline the offer. Sami unzipped her skirt and stepped out of it. Stripped off her camisole. She removed the sleeveless black dress from the hanger and lowered it over her head. Goodness, but it was tight across the bosom. She and Jonni were not at all the same size there. But the rest of the dress flowed across her hips and around her thighs as if made for her body. It was form-fitting, but not clingy. Thank goodness her pink bra didn’t show. Not that such a detail mattered, Sami reminded herself. She was only trying the dress on, not wearing it out of the dressing room. She walked to the full length mirror and gazed at the woman looking back at her.
A tap sounded on the door. “Excuse me,” a woman said, “Ms. Jonni asked me to get something for her.”
It must be a maid. Or housekeeper. The rich and famous lived on a whole different plane than did academics. “Come in,” Sami said.
A middle-aged woman in black slacks and tunic stepped in, opened a drawer, then another drawer, then bent and picked something up. “Sorry to disturb you,” she said, and whisked out.
Sami gazed in the full length mirror at the sexy woman in black, fluffed her hair and pouted her lips. Not that she wanted to be wanted for her looks alone. But she clearly hadn’t figured out the route to interesting a man enough to make it to the third date. And if she couldn’t achieve that marker, how in the world would she ever find happily ever after?
Another tap sounded. “Come in,” Sami said, tossing her hair over one shoulder and tipping her head back. The gesture reminded her of Flynn grabbing and kissing her and she blushed.
“A perfect fit,” Jonni said.
Sami whirled around and moved away from the mirror, back to where she’d dropped her skirt to the floor. Her skirt was gone. As was her camisole.
“Beatrice collected your things,” Jonni said. “I don’t know how I’d manage without her. She oversees our house here and our home in Bel Air. She’ll send your skirt out before she flies to L.A. in the morning to make sure things are ready for summer.”
Sami couldn’t figure out how to interrupt Jonni to ask for her skirt back. She was normally so in charge of every conversation, but somehow this gentle woman was not giving her a chance to object. “You’re not staying in New Orleans either?”
She shook her head. “Erika’s school is out. Cameron will join us after this film wraps.”
Sami glanced around the dressing room, at all the pretty clothes and shoes and purses all in specially made glass-fronted cabinets and shelves. “It must be a lot to pack and move back and forth.”
“Oh, we don’t do that,” Jonni said. “We have everything we need in both places.”
Sami blushed. She was used to thinking of herself as reasonably well-off. The only child of professional parents, she’d lacked for nothing. Except unconditional acceptance. “Oh,” sh
e finally said. “Of course.”
“I know it’s indulgent,” Jonni said. “But what matters most to us is being together as a family and with Cameron’s work, we have to do everything we can to keep life as normal as possible for us and especially for the children.”
“Of course,” Sami said once again, with feeling.
“Before we join the guys,” Jonni said, “I want to thank you for being kind to Flynn. He’s too much of a guy’s guy to admit to the pain he’s feeling over his brother’s death. Add to that his dislike of flying and well, you’re an angel to the rescue. That is, if you really don’t mind him joining you on your drive to Nashville?”
Sami gazed at the woman she’d wanted to meet, the author of the delightful and clever children’s books.
And she knew she’d been had.
How could she say ‘no’ when Jonni put the question to her in that fashion?
“If you think he’ll agree, I’ll manage with a passenger,” she said, knowing she sounded just a tad less than gracious.
Jonni gave her a warm smile, slipped her arm around Sami, and before Sami could explain exactly why she couldn’t borrow the dress, she found herself approaching the back terrace.
The dress pushed Flynn over the edge.
He broke off in mid-sentence and stared at Sami.
Or rather, the way she looked in the slinky slip of a dress screamed sexy and made him forget his determination to thwart Cameron and Jonni’s scheming.
Or maybe it was the thought of slipping one shoulder free, then the other, then easing the fabric down…
Or perhaps it was the image of what she’d look like once free of the dress.
What the hell. He’d go back to her place. They’d have sex. And he’d slip out and call a cab and hightail it to the airport. No way could they spend eight hours in the same car after having had sex. She’d be furious for having broken her first date rule and he’d be itching to move on. He’d get on his flight as planned. Jonni and Cameron wouldn’t have to know.
What hot-blooded male could resist a babe as luscious as Sami in that black dress?
He was insane. He admitted it. He had no business trying to score with this woman.
Cameron pulled out a chair for Jonni, then one for Sami. “My wife is the most beautiful woman in the world, but you come a close second in that dress,” Cameron said. “Doesn’t she look lovely, Flynn?”
He nodded, busy calculating how long it would take to get her out of that dress.
“I had Beatrice cancel your flight,” Jonni said. “One less detail for you to deal with.”
Flynn snapped back to the present moment. “Oh, that wasn’t necessary,” he managed to mutter, his fantasy bubble popped. Just as well. How could he have forgotten Sami might have done it with his brother?
“So, Sami,” Cameron said, “how did you know Sean?”
Flynn clenched his jaw. Cameron knew he couldn’t bear to talk about his brother. Not now when it was still so fresh.
“We met playing mini-golf. We were both in Las Vegas, at different conferences.” Sami was toying with the ends of her hair, pulling it over one shoulder and brushing it across her throat. “We were pretty silly and had a good time and he asked me to go to dinner the next night. We did, but somehow the interaction was far less satisfactory than the first evening. He said he had an emergency and rushed off to the airport before we ordered dessert.”
“Don’t tell me you spent the meal lecturing him on the principles of physics,” Flynn said, even though he was sure she had done exactly that. She couldn’t help herself. But that certainly indicated the two of them had never gotten physical. He treated himself to a long slow study of that amazing cleavage, and then swallowed. Hard. Forget it, Flynn. She wants a ring on her finger and a baby seat in the Volvo.
“Naturally I brushed up after I learned that was his specialty,” Sami said. “Who wouldn’t? I like to hold my own in conversation. It’s my practice to inform myself anytime I go on a date, especially a second date.” Sami bit her lip. She heard the lecturing tone in her voice, the defensiveness toward her failure. Why oh why did she feel such pressure to be perfect?
“Maybe he liked you as a person and didn’t need you to know a jot about physics. Or a particle,” Jonni said. “I knew nothing about the film industry when Cameron and I met.”
“And I had no clue as to children,” Cameron said. “Or marriage.” He smiled at Jonni and reached over and brushed her cheek with his fingers.
Jonni smiled back at her husband. “I really do believe in the classic advice to ‘be yourself and the right person will love you for who you are.’”
Sami pushed her chair away from the table. She wanted to discuss being loved for who you are as little as Flynn wanted to talk about his brother’s death. She knew better. Her parents had taught her over and over again that any performance less than perfect was simply not acceptable. “Thank you for dinner,” she said, rising. “I appreciate your hospitality. But I must be on the road early in the morning.” She glanced down at the silky black dress. “I’ll send your dress back as soon as I can get it cleaned in Nashville.”
“Please keep it,” Jonni said, rising, too. “It looks so much better on you I know I’ll never dare wear it again.” She smiled and placed a hand on her tummy. “And soon I won’t be able to squeeze into it no matter what.”
Sami didn’t protest, but she knew she couldn’t accept the dress. She’d simply mail it back from Nashville. She glanced over at Flynn. “Do you want me to drop you somewhere?”
Flynn stood up. “I’ll see you home then call a cab.”
“I’m perfectly capable of seeing myself home,” Sami said.
“Flynn’s mother taught him good manners,” Cameron said. “Humor the guy.” Cameron gave his buddy a fist bump. “Don’t be late in the morning or the lady might leave without you. I’m depending on you to handle the CMT talks.”
Flynn said something under his breath. Sami was pretty sure it was to the effect he’d simply catch a later flight. Good. He had no intention of driving with her. And she had every intention of leaving at least an hour earlier than the time she’d told him she would depart.
Jonni and Cameron, arm in arm, smiling, waved good-bye from their front steps. Sami zoomed out of the driveway, wishing for the magical rapport those two shared. She drove in silence, Flynn whistling but not bringing up any topic of conversation, and soon she pulled up in front of her uptown shotgun. She threw the car into Park and yanked on the brake.
“Be here at 7,” she said. “I don’t indulge tardiness.”
He pulled out his phone, studied it, and said, “Let me walk you to the door and then I’ll call my cab.”
“Not nece—“
“Shh,” he said, placing one finger across her lips. “I know darn well it’s not necessary to you, but it is to me. So humor me, okay?”
The slight touch felt better than it had a right to. Sami nodded.
“Thank you,” Flynn said. “You know, it’s early still. I know a small club not too far from here with a good local band. Lots of talent. A bit raw, but I’m thinking of working with them. Want to come with me?”
“Are you asking me on a date?” No point in not being clear about matters.
“Second date.” He lifted a finger. “Just finished our first date.”
“That is not at all accurate,” Sami said. “You and I happened to travel in the same vehicle to have dinner at the same location with the same people. That is not a date.”
“I did kiss you,” he said. “Doesn’t that factor into your definition?”
Sami reached for the door handle. “Thank you for that reminder. Yes, and no thank you. I will see you in the morning.” She jumped out of the car and slammed the door. “Or not,” she said out loud.
A dog barked. Then another. Sami made it to her front gate before Flynn caught up with her. She tugged at the latch, which had a bad habit of sticking. Right now she wanted to put enough distance between
herself and Flynn so she wouldn’t be tempted to renege on declining his invitation. She felt sexy and glamorous and desirable in Jonni’s dress. It would be fun to go out and be a bit wild and free, so unlike the stuffy professor she was afraid she was growing to be.
“Let me,” Flynn said, and slipped the latch free.
“Annoying man,” Sami said.
He laughed. “You’re welcome.”
Flynn wasn’t sure if he was disappointed or relieved that Sami had turned down his invitation. The hot Swede he’d met at Hard Rock had made it obvious she’d be at the club when he’d given her the name and address, so he’d not lack for company. Not that he ever did. He glanced over at Sami as they walked toward her front porch. The plunging neckline of the dress invited his eye to linger, which he took full advantage of.
So much so that he missed the first step, fell, and hit his forehead on the wrought iron porch railing.
“Damn,” he finally said after he got his breath operating again.
“Are you okay?” Sami was kneeling beside him.
Dimly he heard a chorus of dog barks. Had he fainted?
Flynn sat up. His head swam. “What a wimp,” he said. “I’m fine.”
“I’m not so sure,” Sami said. She fumbled with her purse. “Come in and I’ll get an ice pack for you.”
“I do not need a stinking ice pack,” Flynn said, between clenched teeth.
“Hmm,” Sami said. She stuck her key in the door just as Flynn got to his feet.
He heard more barking and something hurtled toward him, knocking him backwards down the steps.
When he came to, his face was being licked by wet sand paper. Flynn flapped his hand to get rid of whatever was causing the sensation. Sami was bending over him, giving him full access to her breasts.
Not that he felt up to doing anything about it.
He struggled to sit up. A dog, another dog, maybe a third dog, danced around him. “What the hell?”
