Damien was standing with his door wide open when she stepped off the elevator. His eyes sparked upon seeing her.
“You made it,” he said gruffly.
“I did. I wouldn’t have missed this for the world,” Samantha smiled and then said apologetically, “I’m so sorry for not being punctual. I just got caught up some paperwork and time slipped away from me.”
He stopped her from blabbering on by pulling her towards him and softly kissing her. “All that matters is that you came.”
“I came,” she smiled against his lips.
“I’m very glad,” he murmured, kissing her again. He reluctantly pulled his mouth away from hers but keeping her body pressed against his side, he pulled her inside. “Welcome to Casa Black.”
“Wow.” Samantha took in the minimal black and white décor of the apartment. It was just like the man who lived in it. Mysterious. Some parts dark. Some parts light. All together fascinating and alluring. “You’ve a beautiful place.”
“I’ll give you a full tour later,” Damien said. “But if you would like to freshen up, bathroom’s that way.”
“Oh, I would like that. Thanks.” Samantha went in the direction he pointed out and found herself inside her dream bathroom. It looked like a page out of the magazines she sometimes liked to pick up to read when they were on surveillance duty. She briefly wondered if he was renting this apartment or had purchased it. Once she had freshened up, touched up her makeup and loosened her shirt some by unbuttoning a few top buttons, she marched out only to be assailed by some aromatic smells.
“You look more relaxed now,” Damien said smiling as he stirred something in a saucepan.
“What’re you making? It smells great,” Samantha complimented him, before seating herself across from him.
“Italian. Your favorite.” Damien rolled up his sleeves and grabbed a knife from the knife block before starting to chop up some cherry tomatoes. Samantha found her eyes glued to his big, capable hands as they moved over the board and found the sight slightly arousing. Her eyes clouded as she watched the muscles strain against his dark shirt that fit him like a glove.
“You remembered.”
“Of course. How can I forget anything you say to me?”
Samantha pulled her eyes up to stare into his grey ones and found herself lost in the emotion that flooded them. It was dark, sweet and appealing just like him. She wanted to gaze into the beautiful pools of grey for as long as she could. Reaching across the counter, Damien pushed a spoon of sauce against her lips. The taste that hit her senses had her almost moaning out loud. It was authentic Italian, just the way she liked it.
“Oh my God,” she gushed. “Foodgasm. You just gave me a foodgasm.”
Damien grinned wickedly and wiped the spoon clean by putting it in his mouth. He lowered the heat of the sauce and then pulled a bottle of wine from the rack next to the refrigerator. “Come. Let’s unwind you a little before dinner.”
Samantha’s insides clenched as she detected a subtle double meaning to his words. He sat down next to her and poured the wine, his knee bumping against hers, the simple touch sending shivers through her spine.
“So where did you learn how to cook?”
“The woman at one of the foster homes I was in…she was passionate about cooking. I picked it up from there. One of my first jobs was working at a diner…sure I was a dishwasher at first but I was a very observant. One night, the cook didn’t turn up and the manager had me behind the big apron,” Damien said grinning. “And it just went from there.”
“You ever think of cooking as a career? Because let me tell you. You’re really good.”
Damien laughed softly. “It’s something I’m passionate about. I like to share it with certain people only…like you.”
He traced his thumb over the corner of her lip and slowly wiped a lingering drop of wine from it. Keeping his eyes on hers, he brought the thumb to his own mouth and sucked. Her breathing hitched and her legs started to grow restless. He placed his glass of wine carefully on the counter and placed both hands on her knees halting their movement.
“Samantha…there is something I want to tell you. Promise me you won’t run,” he said softly.
The heat of his palms burned through her pants and her breathing rate increased. She tried to calm herself down and listen to his words. Whatever he had to say, she could take it. She would not run. She was not the scared girl anymore.
“Do you promise?”
She nodded mutely.
“So I’m going to keep this simple and straightforward. Samantha Gideon, I really like you. Actually I’ve grown to more than like you. I’m pretty sure it’s love. I’ve never felt anything like this before but from what I have observed, this is love. I love you, Peaches. And I want us to be together. I want to take this forward and see where it takes us. You don’t have to say you love me or anything. All you have to do is take the chance with me and see where we go. Say you’ll take a chance with us. I promise you that it’ll be the most beautiful and wonderful thing you’ll ever experience if you say yes. I’m not asking for a lot. I’m just asking you be there with me. Be my girlfriend, Peaches.”
Samantha’s heart thundered in her chest and the butterflies in her stomach went crazy. She felt lightheaded from his confession. Somehow she had seen it coming and for the first time, she did not have the urge to flee. Hopping off the stool, she flung herself into his arms and kissed him for all his worth. The force of it nearly toppled them both but Damien slid his arm around her waist and steadied them.
“I’ll take that as a yes?” he whispered against her lips when they came up for air.
“Yes, that’s a yes. I’ll be your girlfriend, Damien,” Samantha said breathlessly. Her tongue flicked out and traced his lips making him groan.
“Thank you for not running.”
She could not stop the smile that lit up her whole face even if she wanted to. Color seeped into her cheeks and her eyes glowed from the intensity of the emotions she felt. For the first time in a very long while, she felt content. She felt so content that her heart could have burst from it. Had Damien made his little speech a few weeks back, he would have definitely seen the last of her. Or probably not. The man was one determined lover. He would have sought her out even if she had gone running. And she had gone running in the beginning. She was oddly glad that he had caught up to her.
“Stay the night,” Damien said, feeding her a breadstick.
“I would love that but I have no change of clothes or anything else on me for that matter.”
“You don’t need clothes,” he said darkly. “Anything else you need, I’ve got it all.”
In the end, he managed to convince her to stay and once they had feasted on his dinner, Samantha asked if she could take a quick shower. She did not want to go to bed with the entire day’s work on her. Standing beneath the hot spray, her muscles started to unwind and she lost herself in the sensation. She did not hear the sliding door open behind her and almost jumped out of her skin when large, rough hands landed on her shoulders and started to knead the taut muscles there. She threw her head back and moaned as they worked their magic. Damien slowly spun her around and tangling his hands in her wet long hair, he tipped her head back to capture her lips.
The hard wet body pressed her own slick body up against the cool tiles, the contrast making her shudder. His hand moved down to caress the nipple that stood to attention and then his mouth followed. Like a greedy man deprived of his basic needs, he feasted upon the mounds of flesh till Samantha was crying out and digging her fingers into his scalp.
“Turn around and put your hands on the tiles,” he roughly commanded.
She moved instantly and wordlessly, placing her hands on the wet tiles, her breath like a fog in the closed heated up stall. He commanded and took her as she cried out her approval. Every thrust of his hips met with a thrust of her own as the sounds of their lovemaking rebounded across the tiles.
“You’re so beautiful, Peaches. So beautiful,” Damien groaned out as his pace changed to frantic.
Pleasure wrapped itself around them like a cocoon and they reveled in its warmth as it hit its peak. Flesh dug into flesh as colors burst before their eyes, the hint of pain welcoming in all the pleasure.
As Samantha came to, she turned around and placed her head over his hammering chest and whispered, “I love you, Damien.”
Chapter 6
Damien stared in amusement at the squirming man sitting across him. The second he had entered the room, there had been visible shift in the atmosphere. The tension was thick enough to cut with a knife. He sat down with the ease of a man just getting lunch with a friend.
“Finn, right?” He already knew that. He had already known who Finn was before Samantha had introduced them to each other and he had a feeling that the agent thought he knew about him. The set up for the meeting was in a discreet area, less chance of running into anyone they knew.
“Damien Black, I presume?”
Damien cocked his head in acknowledgement. “You presume right. What can I do for you, Agent Owens?”
The man’s lips tightened almost imperceptibly. He slid a folder across the table. “Have a look.”
Reaching for the folder, Damien kept his eyes on Finn Owens. He opened it slowly and only then looked away. His face did not change a bit as he speed-read through it. Once he was done, which was rather quickly, he placed it casually back on the table.
Finn raised an eyebrow when Damien made no comment on what he had read. “You realize what this means right?”
“I do not. What don’t you enlighten me?” Damien said lightly.
“We’re on to you. We’re going to get you. Just because of what you do, it doesn’t make you above the law,” Finn told him in a low voice.
Damien leaned forward slowly, not breaking eye contact. His grey ones bored into Finn’s, his expression still not changing. It was as though none of this ruffled his feathers. He was not scared of Finn or the FBI but he knew where Finn was going to take it. He was going to drag Samantha into it. And Damien did not want Samantha dragged into it.
“I do not think of myself above the law. When you actually get something on me, come and get me,” he replied, the challenge clear in his voice. He got up and made to walk away when Finn’s voice stopped him.
“Stay away from Sam. She doesn’t deserve to get caught in the middle of this. Leave her alone before she gets hurt.”
A strange emotion gripped Damien and he suddenly felt like someone had reached inside his chest and wrapped a fist around his heart. His hand shook slightly and he curled it into a fist and took a deep breath before uncurling it.
“Don’t try and get between us, Agent,” he said without turning around. “You’re the only one who’ll get hurt in the end.”
With that he walked out, leaving the grim faced Finn still sitting there lost for words. He knew the agent wanted to say so much more. But was being cautious. Good for him. He would do well to be cautious where Damien was concerned. His heart was set and he was not going to budge. No matter what some conceited ass thought he could say to sway him.
Finn glared at the retreating figure and resisted the urge to hit something. That was not how the meeting was supposed to go. He had wanted the bastard cowering and willing to listen to him, not walking away arrogantly. He found himself shooting the targets at the range and after a good hour there, he walked out, his decision made.
He was not going to take a backseat while his friend, his partner stayed in the dark and suffered because of it. He was going to bring her into the light no matter how much it was going to hurt her. It was better to hurt like that than to be dead when it all came to a close. He had to protect her. He had taken an oath to always have her back and that’s what he was going to do. He was going to tell Samantha the truth about Damien.
Samantha willed her hands to stop shaking so much. The urge to throw up was stifling her senses. She leaned forward and placed her damp forehead against the cool tile. Since she had found out, she had locked herself up in the bathroom. The floor was littered with opened and unopened packages of pregnancy tests from different companies. She was waiting for the fourth one to show its sign.
Three positive ones. Her chest constricted painfully. She forced herself to breathe deeply. Having a panic attack would not solve anything. But the word ‘positive’ just kept flashing in her mind. She could not be pregnant. She just could not. They had used a condom. And she was on the pill. It was like double protection. How had that failed then?
She glanced up at the clock. It was time. Lifting her arm that felt too heavy, she swiped the test from the counter and looked down at it. Negative. Her eyes widened. It showed negative. Her heart beat erratically. Scrambling to her feet, she ripped the last package. The odds were not good but miracles did happen. These tests were not that accurate after all.
After another half an hour behind the locked door, she dragged herself out. She was drenched to the skin in sweat. Probability did not work in her favor. It was three is to two. Swallowing hard, she scrolled through her contact list and called up her gynecologist to make an appointment. She had to find out for sure before she told him. The thought of informing him made fresh sweat break across her skin. But if it came to that, she would tell him. Hiding would not help anything or anyone.
A sharp rap on the door made her nearly jump a mile in the air. She glanced at herself in the mirror and winced. Her face looked bruised, her hair was sticking in clamps and she probably smelled. The urgent knocking called to her attention. Hastily running her fingers through her hair, she pulled it up in a ponytail.
“Coming!” she called out. Unchaining the link from the door, she twisted the handle and pulled open the door. “Finn?”
Finn stood in front of the door, his hand raised to knock again. He had a frantic look on his face which changed to surprise upon seeing her.
“Sam? You okay?”
Samantha forced a smile on her face. “Yeah. I was just…working out. What’s up?”
“Haley found something,” his face morphed into a queer expression.
“That’s great!” Samantha frowned at him. “Isn’t it?”
“Can I come in?”
“Oh, of course. Come on in.”
Finn stepped inside and she shut the door. Something was wrong. Her stomach churned in warning. Whatever Haley had discovered could not be good.
“Sit, Sam.”
The tremor returned to her hands. She clenched her fingers tightly against her palms and tried to bring her rapidly beating heart to normalcy. “What’s going on, Finn?”
“Haley found the connection between the graffiti and the bodies.” Finn kept talking. He spilled everything out. All the information he and Haley had put together neatly in a file came out of his mouth. His palms grew sweaty as he watched Samantha’s already pale face whiten some more. He hated the words that were about to come out of his mouth next but he had to say them. It was the only way.
“Sam, I’m sorry to tell you this, but Damien is involved with them. He’s the one leaving behind the bodies and the art.”
The Hitman: An Impossible Chase
Chapter 1
Samantha was in a daze. Her ears were ringing and her head felt heavy. Nausea welled up inside her as she fought to control the onslaught of emotions. Right after Finn had left the apartment, she had thrown up, barely making it to the toilet. Resting her head against the cool tile, she glanced at the box of files her partner had left behind.
“You’ll find what you’re looking for in there,” he had said.
She had not been looking for anything. She did not want to look for anything. Her heart had been content and now it felt like someone had taken a hammer to it. Was she cursed? Was that it? Whenever happiness started to be a part of her life, it was snatched away. Rather brutally.
She managed lift herself off th
e floor and reached for the phone. She had to call in reinforcements before she did anything else. Not that she had any strength left to do anything then. A few words into the phone and then she waited. Almost ten minutes later, the front door opened and a worried flurry of Gina rushed inside.
“What happened, sweetie?” her eyes crinkled in worried as she took in Samantha’s wracked frame.
Samantha’s lips trembled and her eyes welled up again. The tsunami finally hit and she broke down. Alarmed, Gina dropped to her knees beside her and pulled her into a tight hug. That only made her blubber more. She tried to pull herself together and form words but only nonsense spurted from her mouth. She had thoroughly soaked Gina’s shoulder by the time she could gather herself.
“I’m sorry,” she sniffled, pulling back and wiping a hand across her face.
“Shh, don’t say that.” Gina reached up on the counter for the tissues before handing them to her friend. “Take deep breaths. Whatever has happened, it can be fixed. Just breathe, okay?”
Grabbing a bunch of tissues, Samantha noisily blew her nose and shook her head. “None of this can be fixed, Gina. Nothing at all.”
Gina’s attention then went to the bathroom floor and saw the litter of boxes all around. Her eyes widened and her mouth formed an ‘o’. She turned sharply towards Samantha and asked in a strangled voice, “Are you pregnant?”
Not trusting herself to talk, Samantha nodded mutely.
“Oh Sam,” Gina said softly pulling her into another tight hug. “It’s going to be okay. It’s not that bad. You have options. You’re in control.”
Control. That was funny. She choked back hysterical laughter. She was hardly in control. If she had been control, she would not have been dealt such a terrible hand. She would have not gotten her heart broken.
Promised Box Set Page 89
