“Straight down the corridor. You’ll see her office doors ahead of you.”
“Thanks.” Luciana smiled. “Good to see you again.”
“Y-Yeah. You too.”
Luciana pushed off and made her way down the corridor, the thought of seeing Sam at her business making her hot under the collar. She’d always had a thing for the older woman, but Sam…she was incredible in every sense of the word. Dinner on Saturday was amazing, both of them talking freely about anything that came to their minds, and as the end of the evening approached…the thought of leaving Sam alone in her apartment hurt Luciana’s heart.
She knocked on the heavy wooden doors, waiting to be invited in.
“Come in,” Sam’s soft voice called out and Luciana turned the handle. Sam mouthed “one minute” as she continued on a call and Luciana simply nodded, closing the door behind her and leaning against it.
“Well, I'm glad you came to your senses, Roger.” Sam rolled her eyes, smiling at Luciana. “You know you won't find a better quote than mine. At least, not without cutting corners.”
Luciana’s mouth salivated as she watched Sam stand from her seat and round her desk, her black, tailored suit fitting perfectly. Sweet Jesus!
“Okay, well I’ll be in touch.” Sam nodded. “I have business to tend to.”
Sam cut the call, her eyes finding Luciana’s as she placed her phone down on her desk. “Hi.”
“H-Hi.”
“Did you find the place okay?”
Luciana nodded, unable to form any words. Sam’s dark hair fell down one side of her face, curling ever so slightly as it sat below her breasts. The white shirt beneath her blazer showed the ideal amount of cleavage, and Luciana struggled to keep her eyes where she knew they should be.
“Hello?” Sam dipped her head. “You with me?”
“Mm?” Luciana’s head shot up. “What?”
“I said it’s great to see you.”
“Likewise,” Luciana squeaked. “H-Have you been here all morning?”
“I have. Since eight am.”
I could have been here at 8:01.
Luciana swallowed hard as Sam rested back against her desk, crossing her legs at the ankles. Everything about this woman oozed class, so Luciana was now beginning to wonder what the hell she was doing receiving attention from Sam.
“Something’s wrong.” Sam narrowed her eyes. “You seem different.”
“Me?” Luciana laughed. “I, um… I didn’t expect this.” She waved her hand in front of her, motioning up and down Sam’s body. “Phew.”
“What?” Sam’s brow creased, following Luciana’s line of sight. “The suit?”
“Mm.”
“I know it’s not very appealing but it’s the businesswoman in me, I’m sorry.”
“Not appealing?” Luciana arched an eyebrow. “Your arse, in those pants…” Luciana pinched the bridge of her nose, breathing through her arousal. “What I meant to say was…hi, how’s your day been so far?”
“Good. Better now that you’re here.” Sam held out her hand. “Come here…”
Oh God. I don’t think I can. Luciana’s breath quickened.
She moved on shaky legs, clearing her throat as she approached Sam. Taking her hand, her body was pulled between Sam’s legs, one hand settling on Luciana’s hip. “I wanted to see you yesterday…”
“I wanted to see you, too.” Luciana’s eyes flickered between Sam’s eyes and lips. “It was late when I got home. I’d already kept you awake and woke you early on Saturday.”
“But if I said I liked being kept awake by you…”
“You told me you love your sleep.” Luciana smiled. “And I don’t want to get on the wrong side of you.” She pushed a lock of Sam’s hair from her face. “And then I lay in bed last night thinking about kissing you…”
“You did, huh?”
“Thought about it every minute of the day.” Luciana’s voice dropped, her every sense heightened.
“Well, I wouldn’t want you to think about it for too long…”
“Babe, I’d spend my life thinking about it if that’s what you wanted.” Luciana searched Sam’s face for any signs of discomfort. There was a look in her eyes she didn’t recognise, but it certainly wasn’t discomfort. “Too much?”
Sam gripped the back of Luciana’s neck. “Not enough.”
Their lips met, that perfect pressure, softness. Sam could spend her entire day kissing Luciana, never wanting it to end. Her lips felt safe. Calm. Trustworthy.
“Mrs Phillips?” A knock on the door pulled them apart and Sam sighed.
“I’m sorry.” She offered Luciana a sad smile. “Give me one minute.”
“Do your thing. I’m happy to sit here just watching you.”
“Hold that thought.” Sam winked. “Come in, Cheryl.”
Luciana backed away, dropping down onto the black leather couch against the back wall of the office.
Cheryl appeared. “I’m going to lunch, Mrs Phillips. Are you coming?”
“I’ve told you to call me Sam.”
“Oh, yes.” Cheryl blushed. “Just hard when I’ve never known you as that inside the office.”
“Well, learn it. Use it.” Sam got the impression that Cheryl was attempting to hit a nerve, but she wouldn’t rise to it. She wouldn’t play the game.
“Right, yes.” Cheryl nodded. “So, lunch?”
“I have something on right now.” Sam glanced at Luciana momentarily. “You go on.”
“Okay.” Cheryl backed up. “Bye, Alexis.”
Bitch. Luciana cringed, wanting to disappear into thin air hearing her escort name. She knew it was Cheryl’s way of claiming they once had something, but she didn’t need this right now. Not when she was trying to build something with Sam.
“Ah.” Sam laughed as her office door closed. “I forgot you two knew each other.”
“H-How did you know?” Luciana stuttered, sitting forward and running a hand through her hair.
“Cheryl can be very vocal when she wants to be.” Sam shrugged, approaching Luciana sitting on the couch.
If she comes any closer, I’m going to struggle to keep my hands to myself.
Luciana sat back against the couch, shocked as Sam straddled her legs.
“Okay, this is a completely different side to you…”
“Problem?” Sam asked, daring to be bold.
“No problem here.” Luciana’s hands fell to Sam’s thighs. “Fuck,” she muttered, her eyes closing.
“So, you and Cheryl?”
“Business,” Luciana said. “Completely business.”
“Still…my assistant has seen you naked.”
“And if you hadn’t requested dinner and conversation…you would have too,” Luciana countered. “Such a shame.”
“But there’s a difference, no?” Sam’s hands pressed firmly against the couch either side of Luciana’s head. “At least, I believe there is.”
“A huge difference.”
“And what is that difference?” Sam asked, her lips inching closer.
“I want so much more with you.” Pulling Sam impossibly close, their lips crushed into one another’s, an urgency for something more. “And I know…” Luciana pulled back. “I know we’re going slow, but fuck…you’re something else, Sam.”
“I’m not sure you realise just how good this feels.” Sam smiled into another kiss. “That night when I asked you to leave…it hurt.”
“I’m here now.” Luciana took Sam’s bottom lip between her teeth. “I’m here and I hope to be for a long time.”
“Come over tonight,” Sam said, breathless.
“I’m already there, babe.”
Twelve
Sam manoeuvred into the parking space outside her apartment, cutting the engine of her Range Rover before sitting back in her seat and closing her eyes. Her afternoon at the office had been intense and nothing she’d expected, but her bold
ness had come from somewhere. She knew it was a hint of jealousy when Cheryl appeared at her office door, but it was also something more. Something she couldn’t quite put her finger on. Luciana had shown up looking like a masterpiece in her casual clothing, and Sam felt that pull once again. The lack of time spent with her on Sunday meant that the moment she saw Luciana, Sam needed to kiss her. Yes, it may have been out of the blue for her and yes, it was Sam who had suggested they take things slow, but kissing never hurt anyone.
Sam exited her car, taking her bag from the passenger seat. Luciana was due at her apartment in the next ten minutes, so sitting in the car park and thinking about what had already happened was a waste of time. She wouldn’t dwell on it, not when she enjoyed kissing Luciana as much as she did.
Sam took the lift up to her apartment, slipping her key into the lock and releasing a deep breath.
Okay, now what do I do with myself?
Sam glanced around her apartment, everything perfectly in place as it usually was. She needed to keep her hands busy and her mind free from any uncertainty. What if she’s expecting more tonight? Sam wrung her hands together, the prospect of turning down anything intimate with Luciana weighing heavy in her chest. She didn’t want to come across as the woman who’d grieved for two years, but she had. However she dressed it up, her entire world still revolved around her wife. I’m going to mess this up with her, I know I am. She sighed, lifting her long dark hair and tying it up. Tonight, Sam wanted relaxed. She wanted conversation and Luciana’s soft voice. Her body may be telling her she needed more than just that, but Sam had always been good with self-control. At times, too good. Just go with it.
The buzzer sounded, signalling Luciana’s arrival. A smile instantly settled on Sam’s lips, and as she approached the intercom, her entire body relaxed. I have nothing to worry about with this woman.
“Hey, come on up…” Sam granted Luciana access to the building, unlocking her apartment door as she did. Moving through into the kitchen, she chose a bottle of wine for later and opened it. The sound of footsteps caused her stomach to flutter, and as she turned around, Sam found Luciana standing in the doorway.
“You know, you should really keep your door locked. Anyone could walk in here…”
Sam’s heart slammed against her ribcage, Luciana’s smile beaming.
“Just you.” Sam cocked her head. “Still no plans for this evening?”
“Just you.” Luciana closed the door, her rucksack slung over her shoulder. “This may be very forward of me, and you can tell me to piss off at any point, bu—”
“You plan on staying?” Sam cut in. “The night…”
“I know it’s a ridiculous idea, and I'm not that lucky, but who knows?” Luciana shrugged.
She is expecting more. Sam’s palms became clammy, her brain unable to form any words.
“I've had a great day with you, Sam. I guess I’m just not looking forward to it ending.” The last thing Luciana wanted was to scare Sam off, but as the seconds passed, an awkwardness in the air, she suspected she was doing exactly that.
“Could you excuse me for twenty minutes?” Sam asked, keeping a slight distance between them. “I’d like to shower before we relax.”
“Sure.” Luciana narrowed her eyes as she watched Sam walk away, her back turned. “Hey, Sam?”
“Yeah?” She glanced over her shoulder.
Luciana felt an uncertainty building between them. “Should I just go?” She threw her thumb over her shoulder. “Wait to hear from you?”
“I’ll be twenty minutes, okay?”
“Right, yeah.”
***
Luciana sat perched on the edge of Sam’s super king-sized bed, a framed photo in her hands. She smiled, studying every pixel of the image. Though she loved seeing Sam happy when they spent time together, the happiness she was seeing as Sam stood beside her wife was unmistakable. It wasn’t jealously brewing inside Luciana, not at all, but she would be lying if she said she didn’t wish Sam looked at her the way she looked at her late wife. That look in Sam’s eyes was complete heart-stopping love. A love Luciana never imagined she would find in her lifetime. It hurt to know that Sam would never feel that way about her, but it was understandable. At one point this afternoon, Luciana had thought about a potential future with Sam, but now, sitting here…something felt off inside her.
“I thought you’d left.” Sam’s soft voice filled the space around Luciana. “I didn’t expect to find you in here.”
“I’m sorry.” She set the picture down and climbed to her feet, smiling as she took in Sam’s comfortable appearance. Her grey yoga pants hugged her hips like a glove, while a white jumper hung from her shoulders, her hair dragged up into a comfortable bun on top of her head. “I didn’t know what to do with myself and I just ended up here…”
“It’s okay.” Sam gripped her wrist, aware that Luciana was bearing the weight of something she couldn’t quite put her finger on. “It’s not as though I have anything to hide.”
“No, that’s not what I thought.” Luciana shook her head. “Sam, I think I should go.”
Sam hesitated. “Okay…”
“It’s not you.” She took Sam’s hand, squeezing it. “It’s me. I don’t feel so good.”
“Are you sick?” Worry flashed in Sam’s deep brown eyes.
“No.” Luciana smiled faintly, appreciative of Sam’s concern. “I’m not sick.”
“Then what is it?” Sam asked. “Something must have happened in the time I’ve been away. You came here with the intention of staying the night…but now you’re leaving.”
“Just…got some stuff on my mind.” Luciana lifted Sam’s hand, pressing a kiss to her knuckles. “I’ll call you, okay?”
“Sure.” Sam pulled her hand from Luciana’s, backing up out of her bedroom. “I don’t expect a call, but whatever you want to do.”
“Sam…”
“I don’t know what’s changed, but I find you in my bedroom and now you’re just about ready to run out the door.”
“Your wife…” Luciana smiled. “Absolutely gorgeous.”
“Yet, she’s still dead.” Sam laughed. “You really don’t have to worry about her coming in here and demanding me back.”
“I’m just worried that I won’t live up to what you’d expect of me.” Luciana couldn’t believe what she was saying. She was young, confident. Where had this insecurity come from? I just don’t want to mess this up with her, she sighed.
“All I expect…” Sam faced Luciana fully. “Is your honesty and your respect.”
“You have that one hundred percent.” Luciana nodded. “But you said it yourself the night you asked me to leave. You told me you’d had the incredible life.”
“I did,” Sam agreed.
“So, what could I possibly give you that would even come close to what you had?” Luciana asked. “How could I make you happy when your wife is your everything?”
“I haven’t kissed another woman since the first date I had with Lucia thirteen years ago.” Sam dropped down onto the couch, running her fingers through her hair. “I’ve never had another woman in my home, or my office, or in my life.” Luciana’s heart fluttered. “I don’t know what I want out of this with you because until last week, I hadn’t even looked at anyone else.”
“May I sit?” Luciana decided that it wasn’t time to run out on Sam. Not when she was opening up to her. They had to be mature about this. It wouldn’t work otherwise.
Sam nodded. “If you want the absolute truth, I’m simply enjoying my time with you and waiting for it to crash and burn.”
“What?”
“Oh, come on.” Sam laughed. “It’s only a matter of time before someone else catches your attention. Someone younger. Someone who wants to see the world and enjoy festivals. Clubs. Whatever it is twenty-something women do these days.”
“That’s not me.”
“Maybe not, but I still expect you to walk a
way from this someday. I expect it and I’m okay with it.”
“You are?” Luciana’s eyebrow rose. “Because I’m not.”
“I’m nearing forty.” Sam gave Luciana a knowing look. “I’m a businesswoman who comes home to an empty apartment every night and doesn’t bother to contact her friends anymore.”
“I don’t like knowing you’re alone.”
Sam shrugged, her eyes focused on her hands in her lap.
“I don’t like knowing you’re feeling any of this.”
“What I’m saying, is that I want to enjoy this time with you. Explore the woman I used to be…”
“I want that too.”
Sam glanced up. “But you’ve just said you needed to leave.”
“A moment of insecurity.” Luciana offered Sam a sad smile. “Forgive me?”
“Did you really want to stay the night?” Sam’s eyebrows drew together.
“What can I say?” Luciana smirked. “I like to chance my luck.”
“You’re too much.” Sam laughed, tugging the cuff of her sweater. “Maybe we could just see how the night goes?”
“Sounds like the perfect evening to me.” Luciana settled her hand over Sam’s. “Just so you know, I don’t plan on having my head turned by anyone else.”
“Day by day.” Sam leaned in, kissing Luciana softly. “Day by day is how I’m taking this.”
I really wish she would give me more credit.
***
Sam felt Luciana’s eyes on her, an intensity growing between them as the moments passed. Deep down, she wanted her to be the woman she spent her nights with, but Sam had been around long enough to know that it likely wouldn’t happen. She also recognised just how beautiful the younger woman was, with the option of having the pick of the women in the city. Yet here she was, sitting beside Sam and seemingly content with doing so. Her hand hadn’t left Sam’s since they sat down together after dinner, and her touch, light as a feather, was soothing. If she could enjoy this feeling for more than a brief moment, it would be all she could ask for. Luciana had noticed her, had become attracted to her, so she knew she still had something to give down the line. Not with Luciana—she wasn’t that lucky—but there was apparently life left in her yet.
The Arrangement Page 12
