Two Masters for Samantha 2: In Their Hearts [Awakenings 7] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour)

by Michele Zurlo

  Both she and Stef startled. His brother sat on his other side. They flanked him in case he planned to bolt for the exit, which he would have done if Samantha hadn’t looked so gravely afraid.

  Stefano snorted, sounding an awful lot like a chuffing horse. “When were you planning to tell us?”

  Lex shrugged. “She said it was stress and to cut back on the caffeine. I’m down to one cup of coffee a day and no energy drinks.”

  They were both silent, and he hoped they were experiencing regret. Tricking him like this was sneaky and underhanded, and that was completely unlike Samantha. Stefano had a definite hand in bringing him here. No doubt his brother had arranged the whole thing.

  And no wonder Samantha hadn’t issued one argument against returning to New York with them. Stefano had most likely used this appointment to circumvent any reason she might give for remaining at Sanctuary.

  He glanced over at her, and some of his anger drained away. Underneath her tan, she was pale. Her mouth was drawn. If seeing her unhappy had been difficult, witnessing this anguish was impossible. He unclenched his fists and took her hand in his.

  “I’m okay, Samantha.”

  She looked over at him. Wetness made her eyes bright. “No, you’re not, but you will be.”

  He heard the determination in her voice. Nothing he said or did could convince her that her fears were unfounded. “You’re going to come back there with me, aren’t you?” It was likely that she’d talk to the doctor, tell him or her all the details that Lex might overlook.

  “We both are,” Stefano answered. “If they need a baseline for anything, they can test me. It’s an identical twin benefit.”

  “My medical records are in Miami.”

  “I had them sent up,” Stef said. “I’m not an idiot.”

  “Did you pretend to be me?”

  Stefano grinned. “Sammy has us spoiled, Lex. It’s been a long time since we’ve switched places. I miss doing that.”

  Lex did as well. There had been a time when switching had been a daily habit. A nurse came out, interrupting his musings, and called his name. Back in the exam room, Alexei listed his symptoms. “Fatigue and occasional dizziness.”

  Samantha said, “Last week, he said he pulled a muscle in his chest, but the soreness went away long before a pulled muscle would have time to heal.”

  Doctor Karpov, a tiny woman with birdlike hands, pointed her finger at his chest. “Show me where.”

  Lex indicated the general area of his left upper chest and shoulder.

  Karpov poked at his muscle, a thoughtful frown on her delicate face. “When was this?”

  As he was trying to remember when that had happened, Samantha chimed in. “Four days ago.”

  “Describe the pain.” Karpov continued to probe his muscles, but she kept looking at his eyes and mouth. He didn’t know what kind of reactions she was expecting.

  “It was a tightness, like a spasm. I probably just hadn’t hydrated enough. I’d only been up for a half hour.”

  She made a thoughtful sound and pressed her stethoscope over his heart. “How often does your heart feel like it’s racing, pounding, or fluttering when you’re not doing physical exercise?”

  He shrugged. “After a long day or a stressful meeting, especially when I’ve been sitting a long time and then I get up. I haven’t been working out recently.” He’d chalked it up to losing his edge, and he was serious about making time to work out each day. Samantha liked to exercise. She would probably jump at the chance to run with him. Or dancing. She liked to shimmy across the dance floor, and they hadn’t done that in longer than he cared to admit. Perhaps on his next night with her, he’d take her dancing.

  “Shortness of breath?”

  He grinned at Samantha. “After a strenuous exertion.”

  “He sleeps a lot more,” Stefano said. “He’s hard to wake up, and his interest in sex has decreased.”

  Alexei growled at his brother. “It has not.”

  “A couple days away from her”—Stefano cocked his thumb at Samantha—“and I’m dying for some. You’re just looking forward to sleeping in your own bed.”

  “I sleep better at home. That’s not unusual. Since Samantha has been back in New York with us, I’ve been sleeping a lot better.”

  Karpov looked between the three of them, a million questions hovering on her lips.

  “We’re a V,” Alexei said. “Samantha is the pivot.”

  Karpov lifted one thin brow. Lex couldn’t tell if her hair was white-blonde or just white. “Polyamory?” At Lex’s nod, she continued. “So you have two people looking out for you?”

  “Yes.”

  “That’s a good thing. I’m going to run some tests on you. I have your records from your doctor in Florida, but they’re six months old. We’re going to do an ECG, and I’m going to take some blood.”

  Lex hated being hooked up to wires and crap. He started to protest, but one look at Samantha silenced him. While he was satisfied nothing was wrong with him, she was worried. He’d endure a prick and a few tests to set her mind at ease.

  “Fine,” he said. “Let’s get it done. We have a realtor to meet at five.” He glanced at Samantha. “Right?”

  She nodded. “We can reschedule if we need more time here.”

  The tests didn’t take as long as he feared. Samantha and Stefano stayed by his side through it all, chatting with him to keep his spirits up. Sitting in an exam room was depressing, and being there alone would have been worse. His regular doctor hadn’t done this many tests on him, and that had him questioning whether he’d downplayed his symptoms too much or if his brother and lover were worried over nothing.

  An hour later, he found himself dressed and in the doctor’s office. The room was tastefully decorated and contained no medical equipment found in an exam room. Karpov sat behind her desk. He took the seat opposite her. Stefano and Samantha positioned their chairs on either side of him.

  “Alexei, you’re a lucky man.”

  He knew it. Now he needed to know why she thought so.

  Stefano, always ready to display his dry wit, was curiously silent. Lex could have used a joke about whether the doctor was considering entering into a polyamorous relationship, but his brother didn’t oblige.

  “You have atrial fibrillation. That’s when your heart is beating irregularly. It accounts for all your symptoms, and it shows up on the ECG. It can be caused by a number of factors, everything from high blood pressure or heart disease to hyperthyroidism or a viral infection. I’m going to put you on a monitor that will give me more data. It’ll tell me what kind of heartbeats you’re having, how long your Afib events are lasting, and what may be causing them. You’ve already cut back on caffeine, and that’s a good thing.”

  Alexei shook his head. He felt like he couldn’t breathe. This was the exact same thing that had taken his mother’s life sixteen years earlier.

  Stefano must have been thinking along the same lines. “This is what Mom had. She died of heart disease.”

  Doctor Karpov didn’t riffle through her paperwork at that news. He’d put it on the form he’d filled out about his family health history. She nodded sagely. “These things can be genetic, but it can also be stress. I’m not comfortable saying you have heart disease. The main thing is to see exactly what your heartbeat is like while you’re doing different activities. You’re young and otherwise healthy. We’ll try for lifestyle changes before we explore any other route.”

  The doctor hooked him up to a portable monitor right there in his office. He regarded the thing with horror. “Does this mean I should avoid strenuous activities?”

  She shook her head. “Nope. I want you to go about your life normally. It’s helpful if you note the times you’re engaging in different activities.”

  “We will,” Samantha said. Lex locked his gaze to hers, and he recognized the steel there. Samantha wasn’t going to trust him to take care of this by himself. He gave her his most charming smile, and he was rewar
ded with an answering warmth. But the steel didn’t go away. What had happened to his pliable submissive?

  Chapter Twelve

  Two weeks in New York, and they had yet to find an apartment she loved. Their realtor, Isabella Thielan, had shown Samantha seven places so far. She’d proposed many more, but the others didn’t appeal to her for one reason or another. Though she hated living out of a hotel, she refused to rush things.

  That’s when she got the idea to find an apartment to rent until they could find something suitable to purchase. It was looking more and more likely that they’d have to buy an apartment to remodel, and that meant it would take a significant amount of time before they’d be able to move. She found a two-bedroom with a great view of the city for far too much money. It had a monstrously large living room, and they left half the area cleared for pony play. Lex put her through her paces almost every day, teaching her to walk, trot, canter, and gallop. They were working on tempi, which is where she changed her leading foot while cantering. She hadn’t realized how rusty her dance moves had become.

  Lex seemed to love their training sessions, especially the grooming part at the end. Samantha, for her part, was glad they were practicing in private. She would pull the curtains on the bank of windows even though Lex assured her that nobody would see inside. She preferred to be safe than sorry, and that episode of Friends where they all watched the naked guy with a telescope kept replaying in her head. She did not need to be the object of some stranger’s amusement. Learning some of the gaits was harder than she thought it should be. She’d danced for twelve years, for goodness’ sake. Dressage shouldn’t have been different.

  One thing she loved was watching Lex enjoy her progress. He took real pride in her achievements, and he’d ordered her a decorative harness. The bondage lover in her was looking forward to that contraption.

  Stefano took her out for a night on the town. The fun part of living in New York City was the number of things to do. Several gallery owners had been courting her, showing interest through emails and social networking sites. Before committing to anything, Samantha wanted to check them out. Stefano took her to dinner, and then they strolled the frigid streets, holding hands as they perused the galleries.

  They’d visited two galleries, and this third was the last one of the night. Lex was supposed to be relaxing, but he was most likely working. She didn’t want to stay out too late so that she could make him go to bed.

  Stef agreed with her. Both of them would have liked to stretch it out, let the night last until the predawn hours, but neither of them trusted Lex to take care of himself. Stef opened the door for her and followed her inside. She liked how he cosseted her. There was something about the way he helped her remove her jacket for coat check and kept a proprietary hand on her lower back that made her feel special. She found herself leaning into him and reveling at all the places their bodies made contact. It was both intimate and comforting.

  “I like the layout of this gallery best,” he said, looking around. “It’s open, yet it doesn’t feel cavernous. The art is arranged so that each piece is featured. Whoever did this had an eye for beauty.”

  Samantha glanced around, considering his assessment. “I like it, too.” The show that night featured two local artists. One had a strong, vivid style, and the other worked in metal. Samantha liked the mix of media, that way there was no real competition between the featured artists.

  Stefano paused in front of a small sculpture. It mixed copper and bronze in a series of intertwined ribbons that reminded Samantha of the ocean. “What do you think, Sammy?”

  She wanted to hear his opinion first. Lex had more of a background in art, and Stefano rarely commented on anything. Samantha suspected he wasn’t entirely comfortable expressing his opinion because he had some crazy idea that he was supposed to have certain opinions about certain pieces. She considered the sculpture. “You go first.”

  “It’s interesting. The longer I look at it, the more fascinating it becomes. Trying to follow one path is impossible. It all gets tangled together. It’s like a metaphor for life.”

  Samantha gave him a warm smile. “Life does get all tangled when you try to follow just one path, doesn’t it?”

  He kissed her temple. “The things to which you’re trying not to pay attention demand it eventually, and if they don’t get it, then nothing else makes sense. I’m so glad you demanded attention, Sammy. I took you for granted, and that should never happen between two people who love each other.”

  Leaning into his embrace, she enjoyed the warmth and surety of his proximity. “I certainly find life fuller and more enjoyable following multiple paths. Living in Miami, I was alone so much that I felt like I just had one ribbon. The others were there, but I couldn’t find them, and I desperately need to find them.”

  “Do you still feel like you’re alone?” He held her stiffly, as if he was afraid of her answer.

  “Not when I’m with you, but I do get lonely. New York is like Miami. I don’t have family or friends here. At least our apartment is in the midst of things. When you’re not there, I don’t feel so alone, but yes, I’m lonely.” She reached up to where he rested his hand on her shoulder.

  He held her hand. “You miss your family.”

  She shrugged. She did miss them, badly. “I think that’s why I want to build a house on the island. If everybody has one, then I’ll never be alone.”

  “We should look at buying something in Michigan. There’s no reason for us to live exclusively in New York.”

  She’d already voiced her opinion on their Miami home—she didn’t want to live there anymore. “I’d like that. I’d like to have my main studio there.”

  As they talked, they perused the other art offered by the gallery. “Anything you want, Sammy.”

  A man who looked to be in his late fifties approached them. He wore a stylish suit and a bow tie. “Hi, I’m Sullivan Crabtree. Welcome to S.C. New York. Is this your first time visiting our fine gallery?”

  “Yes,” Stefano said as he shook Mr. Crabtree’s hand. “You have a great place here.”

  Samantha let him do the talking. It was one of the dominant things he did, but it also meant she had more time to scope out Crabtree before committing to a showing.

  “Thank you. Feel free to look around. The artists aren’t here tonight, but if you have questions, you can direct them to me.” He turned a welcoming smile onto Samantha. Stefano hadn’t introduced her. She knew he’d done it because he wanted to give her the opportunity she needed to size him up. “I didn’t catch your names.”

  “Stefano Morozov. This is Samantha Spencer.”

  Mr. Crabtree’s entire demeanor changed. His eyes grew round with excitement, and he clapped his hands over his mouth. “Oh, Ms. Spencer, I am a huge fan of your work. I’ve been following you for several years now, and I’m flabbergasted by the level of maturity you’ve managed to achieve, especially with your most recent works.”

  “Thank you, Mr. Crabtree.”

  “Call me Sullivan.” He turned to Stef. “Mr. Morozov, are you a collector?”

  Stefano grinned. He had quite a collection of bondage equipment and clothing, but that wasn’t what Crabtree had meant. “I do have a few pieces. I’m interested in acquiring the sculpture up front, Twisted.”

  Mr. Crabtree seemed shocked that they’d come to buy. “Of course. Let me take care of that for you.”

  Stefano made arrangements to have the piece sent to their apartment. To his credit, Mr. Crabtree didn’t pressure her for a showing, yet Samantha could tell he really wanted one.

  They left, walking along the street as they looked for an unoccupied taxi and chatting about the galleries they’d seen. Samantha hadn’t decided which one she was going to choose for her first showing. Part of her wanted to hit all three so that nobody felt left out.

  “You don’t want to saturate the market,” Stefano said. “Spread them out over several months. Give it time for word of mouth to get around.”
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br />   A fuchsia paper with black printing caught her attention. Down the right side, it had a silhouette of two people dancing. The woman’s skirt flared dramatically.

  Stef stopped suddenly, turning toward the street to hail a taxi, but Samantha pulled him back. “Look. Salsa lessons. I’ve always wanted to learn.”

  Stefano did as she said. He scanned the information on the flyer. “Funny. So have I. I thought you only did ballet.”

  She had specialized in that field. “I know, but I always thought I would branch out one day, and I never did.”

  “Well, there’s a free lesson tonight. Want to check it out?”

  They weren’t exactly dressed for anything strenuous, but Samantha figured they couldn’t get too sweaty in an introductory class. She slid her arm through his. “I do.”

  The studio wasn’t far away. They found it before her fingers and nose turned into icicles. Sandwiched between a deli and a shingle advertising counseling services, the door to the dance studio flashed a neon sign that said, “Open.”

  Music poured onto the street the moment Stefano opened the door. Samantha went in first. A long, narrow hallway led to an open space where about ten couples were dancing. A woman with a clipboard smiled as they approached. Wrinkles lined her face so thickly it was difficult to tell what she’d looked like as a young woman. Her skin was dark, but her hair was stark white. She was average height, and she walked with a grace that revealed her as a dancer.

  “Welcome to salsa night at Tony’s Place. Tonight’s beginner’s lesson is free. The class runs for twenty minutes. Our next session begins in about ten minutes.” She gestured to a wall lined with chairs. “Have a seat if you’d like to wait.”

  Her spiel complete, she turned and walked away. Stefano looked at Sam, a hint of laughter playing around his mouth. “You want to stay?”

  “Yeah. I think it’ll be fun.”

  They watched the end of the class before them, and then they took the position the instructor, Tony, assigned to them.