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“I love it,” Meagan said, holding out her arms, as if embracing the room. “I can only pray the upstairs is as terrific as the downstairs.”
That’s when Sam did a silent “Oh, crap.” The buttons of Meagan’s blouse were uneven, obviously hurriedly secured. If that blouse didn’t scream an announcement about what he and Meagan had been doing in his truck when Josh and Kiki arrived, he didn’t think anything would.
Cautious to appear casual, Sam sauntered toward Meagan. He stood so that his big body blocked the others’ view of the problem he knew would panic Meagan if she discovered it.
“It’s a unique setup,” he explained, two fingers pointing to the left of the living room, by the kitchen. “These stairs lead to a section of the top floor.” He then indicated the opposite side of the room, where he intended to herd Meagan and quickly. “Stairs on that side lead to a completely separate second level. Since sleeping arrangements are so important, why don’t we have a look up there now?”
Meagan’s eyes went wide, and she brushed her windblown hair from her face. “I searched everywhere for split quarters when the show was starting, and I couldn’t find anything. I had to convert a downstairs den to a bedroom in the other house.”
“So I was told by the studio,” he said. “But I can’t take credit. Josh did the legwork.” He gestured toward the stairs. The ones nowhere near Kiki. “Shall we head up?”
Meagan frowned, studying him a moment. “Okay.” She began climbing the stairs, but the instant they were behind the wall encasing the steps, she turned to him and whispered, “Now it’s my turn to ask. What’s wrong?”
Sam was shocked that she’d read his discomfort. He was special ops, trained to be unreadable. And he was cautious enough to know better than to risk her freaking out about her blouse if he told her. “Just concerned about the property,” he assured her. “If the bedroom situation won’t work, even if I approve the security profile, the house is worthless, don’t you think?”
Her brows furrowed, and she looked as if she might question him again. Instead though, she gave a little nod. “Yes. You’re right, of course.” She headed up the stairs.
For a second Sam just stared after her, wondering what this woman was doing to him, and why he was powerless to stop it. Not that he wanted to, but he wasn’t on sure footing which was unsettling. Fortunately, before leaving the main room he’d discreetly motioned to Josh to keep Kiki occupied, before he’d headed upstairs after Meagan.
MEAGAN WALKED THROUGH the spacious upstairs bedrooms, her mind on Sam, who’d officially done exactly what men like Sam—strong, dominant types—did to those around them. He had taken control. But even as the thought occurred, as she knew that she was somehow villainizing him, she admitted he didn’t deserve that from her. And that made Meagan want to scream, and not at Sam, but at herself. He wasn’t trying to be controlling, and in fact, he’d surprised her with how sensitive he was to her own need for control of the show. If he had control, it was because she’d given it to him. She was powerfully affected by everything the man did—or didn’t do, for that matter.
There was a part of her that reveled in being so blown away by Sam, and another that was reeling from him knocking her off guard. She wanted to keep her distance, but again, the logic, while smart, didn’t appeal in the slightest.
Meagan passed a bathroom and entered the large master suite, which could accommodate three contestants, but would only need to host two. And what a master it was. Huge double windows led onto what appeared to be a balcony. She needed to get Kiki up here and assign her furniture-shopping duty. With cameras rolling, that wasn’t an unimportant task.
“Meagan?” Sam’s voice and the sound of big feet climbing the stairs echoed nearby.
“In the master,” she called, and headed into the bathroom. Wow. If she were selfish, she’d find a way to make this her suite and her bathroom. There was a separate shower in a sort of rock enclave that was envy worthy, and a deep sunken tub equally so, as well as a double vanity and a huge closet. The girls would have to draw straws for the room. It would be the only fair way to manage them choosing.
Footsteps closed in on her, and her stomach fluttered with the awareness of Sam being nearby. Her stomach had actually fluttered. When in the world had that last happened with a man?
She didn’t turn, afraid she’d give away what she was feeling, but she knew the instant Sam entered the bathroom.
Meagan gasped at the daring, impossibly damning action of him shutting the door, and right then she was sure she had been wrong. Sam was bad news; Sam was still the chaos she thought he was.
She reeled at the sight of her hot soldier, all big and tall. “What are you doing? What are you thinking?”
“I’m thinking your shirt is buttoned crooked, and you need to fix it now, before Kiki notices it.”
Her jaw dropped, and then her mouth formed a silent “Oh,” before she quickly started to right the buttons. “Oh, God. Oh, God. Did they see? Did Kiki see?”
“No,” he said. “Why do you think I all but shoved you toward the stairs and then sent them to inspect other parts of the house? But they will be here any minute.”
She checked her blouse in the mirror. “Thank you, Sam. Thank you so very much.” This time the appreciation came freely and without an ounce of hesitation. Time and Kiki were all that mattered. Task completed, she patted down the wild mess of her dark hair and turned to him, holding out her hands to her sides. “Please tell me I have covered all evidence of our earlier…that nothing else is where it shouldn’t be.”
“You’re perfect,” he said softly, his eyes hot, his voice warm. He yanked open the bathroom door, eliminating any chance they would be caught in a compromising position. Or so she thought. Before she knew his intentions, Sam pulled her into the enclave of the shower, melding her body to his.
“I hate that we were interrupted,” he confessed, an instant before his mouth closed down over hers. The assault on her senses was instant—a tangled ball of fear of being caught, and intense, nerve-prickling awareness. His tongue touched hers, suckling and licking, until she moaned and melted into his kiss, his body—correction—his hard masculine body.
Meagan grappled for willpower, her hands going to his shoulders, as she tried to convince herself to push away from him. He just tasted too good, and felt so wonderful.
“We shouldn’t be doing this,” she whispered, forcing her mouth from his.
His voice lowered, became husky. “And aren’t you glad we are?”
“Yes,” she whispered, her hands sliding around his neck, her breasts melding to his chest, her lips meeting his again. Meagan felt herself drift away, unable to stop it from happening. This man stole her reason, her presence of mind. There was no show, no Kiki, just her and Sam. Until there were footsteps and voices and a dart of adrenaline shot through her bloodstream.
She tried to pull away. Sam held her, and pressed his lips to her ear. “I can’t wait to finally have you to myself.” His teeth scraped her lobe before he set her away from him. She didn’t know how he planned to have her to himself, but if her trembling with need was any indication, she hoped he had a way.
“Hello! Hello!”
It was Kiki, and Meagan shook herself, quickly checking the mirror, about to rush from the bathroom, when Sam yelled, “In here, Kiki.”
Meagan turned to him and mouthed, “Are you crazy?”
He arched a brow, as if he had no idea why she would ask such a thing.
Kiki appeared in the doorway, a frown on her pretty face. “What’s going on?”
Sam indicated the sink. “Ants. If you two want this place, I’ll need to get an exterminator written into the agreement prior to move-in.”
“Oh good grief,” Kiki exclaimed. “There’s a ton of them.”
And sure enough, there were a ton of them. Meagan barely bit back a smile. Sam was a phenomenal kisser, and really brilliant to boot.
“You have to see the mother-in-law house,” Kiki said. “It has three rooms, so I can stay with you and not have to drive out every day.”
Okay, so there went her lusty, Sam-created high. “Let’s go check,” Meagan said.
She moved forward, toward Sam, and his eyes twinkled with mischief and the promise of more kisses, more touches, more fire. Promises she really wanted him to keep. Besides. She owed him a thank-you for telling her about her buttons.
Meagan exited the bathroom with him on her heels, their shared secrets somehow uniting them beyond the passion they shared. And for the first time in a long time, she admitted to herself that having someone at her back wasn’t such a bad thing, not when that someone was Sam, at least so it seemed.
The realization puzzled her. Oh sure, she’d been standing alone for a long while—beating a path through the entertainment industry with a family that didn’t approve and hardly spoke to her. And sure, she’d tried a few times to escape into a man’s arms, into a relationship with a Beta-type guy, when deep down she knew alphas appealed far more. But she also knew that alphas were demanding and controlling, and she’d seen enough of that in her small town to last a lifetime—they’d sent her running for the hills. Sam was alpha—one hundred percent all-hot alpha male. So why wasn’t she running from him?
10
ONLY FIFTEEN MINUTES after the bathroom kiss, they’d looked at the mother-in-law house and were on to the additional house a mile away that was also part of the lease. Meagan was in the backseat of Josh’s SUV, all too aware of her leg intimately pressed to Sam’s. Kiki was in the front. Kiki, who Meagan couldn’t escape, any more than she could the memories of being in Sam’s truck, and what they’d done together. It all threatened to suffocate her right here and now.
“I can’t get over how perfect the mother-in-law house was,” Kiki said, glancing around the seats at Meagan. “We’ll be roommates.”
“Perfect.” Except for the fact that there had been only two bedrooms, one of which Kiki had excitedly claimed. “We haven’t seen the second property yet.”
“That’ll be for security,” Kiki said, glancing at Sam. “Surely you can work with whatever you get, right?”
And bless Sam, he simply said, “We’ll see,” once again, leaving the power in her hands, doing exactly the opposite of what she’d wrongly assumed he would do. She wanted to crawl into his lap and kiss him. Though she was pretty sure, he could tick her off right now, and she’d still want him just as much.
MEAGAN SOON STOOD ON the back deck of the extra house, hands on a balcony railing overlooking the dark beach. Unseen waves were crashing on the shoreline and Sam was by her side. Kiki, thankfully, was off somewhere on her cell phone.
“It works for you?” she asked him.
“I’d say the setup is about as perfect as you can get on such short notice, with such a small timeframe to move in and start filming.”
A soft purr—or more like a meow—sounded close by. “Did I just hear a cat?” Another meow, muffled but nearby. She pushed off the railing, trying to figure out where it was coming from, and Sam did the same. “Could it be trapped, Sam? Here kitty, kitty. Here kitty.” More meowing.
Sam walked down the steps that led to the beach, making a motion with his hands for her to keep calling the cat. Meagan followed him, and the sound. “Here kitty, kitty. Here kitty.”
Sam kneeled down at the bottom step, and the next thing she knew, he was holding a kitten.
Meagan rushed forward. A cute little ball of white fur in Sam’s hands. “Is it okay?”
“Let’s go up to the porch where the light is better and check it out.”
Meagan rushed up the stairs. Sam’s big hand was like a hammock cradling the kitten. “Oh, how sweet,” she said, as it curled on top of Sam’s palm. “Oh, no.” She shifted the animal a bit. “There’s a cut, Sam. It looks bad. It’s deep.”
“Yeah,” he agreed. “She needs a vet as soon as possible before infection sets in.”
Meagan glanced at him, surprised. “You’d be okay with that? With us taking it to the vet on the way back to the hotel?”
“Oh, my God!” Kiki said. “Is that a rat?”
“It’s not a rat.” Meagan grimaced. “A kitten, Kiki.”
“Well, keep it away from me,” she said. “I’m allergic.”
The look on Sam’s face said he’d had all of Kiki he could take for one night. “We should be leaving anyway,” he said. “We all have an early morning, and we need to take the cat by a vet.” The kitten meowed loudly, as if in agreement.
“That thing can’t ride with us,” Kiki said. “Seriously. I’m allergic.”
A muscle in Sam’s jaw tensed, and he spoke directly to Meagan. “How do you feel about walking back to the truck? It’s not quite a mile down the beach. The owner has beach lights we can turn on here and turn off at the other house.”
“I don’t mind walking at all.”
They wrapped the kitten in a jacket that Josh had stashed in his SUV and started toward the first house, the breeze off the ocean chilling the air. “I feel like I keep saying this tonight, but thank you for this, Sam.”
“You don’t have to thank me. I would have taken the kitten to the vet, with or without you.”
Her chest tightened with yet another unfamiliar emotion. “You keep surprising me, Sam.”
He stopped abruptly, and faced her. “What…you thought I was mean to children, elderly people and animals?”
“No!” she quickly said. “No, it’s just that—”
He started walking again. She trailed after him. “Sam.”
“We need to get to the vet,” he said. “And we both know that you made a ton of assumptions about me.” He cut her a sideways glance. “Bet you didn’t realize that Special Forces are also focused on humanitarian missions, did you? That we spend a huge portion of our careers helping people, and yes, animals, who can’t help themselves.”
Guilt slid into her gut. “No. I thought soldiers were soldiers. They fought wars.”
“Unfortunately, we often have to fight to give the aid to those who need it. But there is nothing like seeing hope in the face of someone who—regardless of age, race, sex, religion or nationality—thought the world had forgotten them. It’s something worth getting up for every day.”
An injury had stolen that from him. More guilt filled her. “I guess there’s a lot I didn’t know.”
“And a lot you assumed.”
“Yes.”
He glanced her way. “And?”
“And what?”
“And you know exactly what.”
“Fine. I’m sorry. But don’t tell me you didn’t make assumptions about me.”
“You’re right,” he agreed. “I did.”
“And?” she prodded right back, seeking her apology. They stopped a few feet from the truck.
“And I’m not apologizing because so far I’ve been right about every assumption I’ve made. You’re stubborn, controlling—”
“I am not controlling!”
“Determined, hardworking and a great kisser.” He handed her the bundle in his arms. “Hold on to her so I can turn off the beach lights and unlock the truck.”
“Her?”
“Yeah. Her.”
A female. She liked that. “Then I think I’ll call her Samantha, because she’s so sweet and cuddly—just like you.” She snorted. He arched a brow, but didn’t comment.
Instead he clicked the lock on the truck and opened the door. Meagan slid inside, careful with the meowing kitten that she stroked and talked to.
Then, to her surprise, Sam leaned into the truck and laid a sexy, hot kiss on her, his tongue delving past her lips for a slow, sensual exploration before he said, “We both know that not only am I not sweet and cuddly, you like that about me.” And then he was gone, shutting the door behind him.
He was right—he wasn’t sweet and cuddly. He was a big, sexy alpha lion, and she couldn’t wait to see if she could make him purr for her. And there it was. For the first time in a long, long time, a man was a challenge. It excited her. He excited her.
IT WAS AFTER MIDNIGHT when Sam stepped off the elevator with Meagan by his side, and headed along the hotel floor, toward her room. Samantha’s cut hadn’t been nearly as bad as they’d thought, and she’d received a thumbs-up and a follow-up appointment from the vet.
Sam carried several overstuffed bags filled with an assortment of feline supplies, including a pink bed to match the pink bag in which Meagan was carrying Samantha. Long before the trip to the 24-hour Walmart, where she’d purchased half the pet-supplies department and declared Samantha the show’s new “good luck charm,” he’d known that she was going to be heartbroken if an owner showed up to claim the tiny fur ball. While at the vet, they’d had time to talk, and they’d decided they’d fight for the property, and Sam had promised to investigate where the kitten might have come from.
They stopped at her room door and their eyes met, instant electricity crackling between them, as it had so many times tonight—and well before tonight, too.
Samantha made a soft meow, and Meagan jerked her gaze from Sam’s, swiping at the door with the plastic key she’d pulled from her pocket. She held the door open and went inside. He didn’t. Several eternal seconds passed before Meagan grabbed his arm and tugged him forward.
“Sam, damn it, hurry up, before someone sees you.” She shut the door behind him and locked it—assuming he would stay.
“I wasn’t aware I was invited in.”
She ignored the comment and sat down on the floor to let a meowing Samantha out of her bag. Sam laughed as the animal rubbed against her leg and purred up a storm.
Meagan and Sam squatted by the pink bed, where Samantha proceeded to plop down next to the catnip-enhanced stuffed animal that Meagan had bought for her, and go to sleep.
Both Sam and Meagan laughed. “She’s so cute, Sam. I hope we don’t find an owner. I want to keep her.”
Their eyes locked and the air around them seemed to thicken and capture them.
“I know you do,” he said softly. She’d told him about the pets she’d had growing up. There was something about Meagan. Something about the vulnerability beneath the guard she erected to protect herself, that spoke to him well beyond the desire he had for her. It made him prod her for pieces of her life, to understand her.
“I worked so many crazy hours in the newsroom that I didn’t feel I could have a pet,” Meagan said, stroking the kitten’s back.
“How does dance and the newsroom fit together?” he asked. “I haven’t quite figured out the connection.”
Her lashes lowered and he could feel the sudden tension in her. “One of my teachers in high school once worked at Julliard before she had a car accident and a back injury she never fully recovered from. Her family owned some property in our community so she took a job teaching English, which was her second major. Anyway, she found out how intrigued I was by ballerinas and she secretly started teaching me to dance.”
“Secretly?” he asked, sensing there was a whole lot of pain behind this story, and wanting to understand it, to understand her.
“My parents wouldn’t have approved,” she said. “When I told you the town I grew up in was like the town in the movie Footloose, I wasn’t joking. When I started dancing in college my parents were sure the devil had stolen their only child’s soul to test their faith. It was…difficult.” She waved a hand as if to wave away the problem. “Long story short, when a television station came to a career day at my college, I hit it off with one of their recruiters, and they offered me a job. It wasn’t dancing, but the production end of things really struck a chord with me. I like making things come together.”
“It seems pretty darn stressful.”
“It is, although that only makes it all the more rewarding when everything does come together.” The kitten meowed and the shadows in Meagan’s eyes disappeared. “She’s just too cute. I think I’m in love.”
In love. The words hit him hard. He’d never been in love. He’d never before even said the word in the same sentence as he had a woman’s name. But Meagan…there was something about her. She made him feel things he’d never felt. One night. Right. That had been a joke. There was no way one night would ever be enough with this woman. These past few hours had proven that to him.
Sam watched her playing with the kitten, digesting what she’d told him, wanting to press for more. And there was more. He knew there was, but he forced himself to take things slow, not to pressure her. He got why this show meant so much to her now though. She has a passion for dance that she’d had to walk away from, and now had a chance to experience again in some way.
“I think your new cat needs a dog pal,” Sam said.
“A Lab, right?” she asked. “A cat and a Lab, like you said you had on the military base.”
He liked her reference to what he’d shared with her during the vet visit. “Exactly.”
“Well, then,” she said. “If the show gets renewed for a second season, I’ll get Sam a Lab to celebrate.”
“Sam? As in me or the cat?”
“I guess you could share.” She looked away, as if she realized she’d inferred he’d still be around then, involved in her life. And if she didn’t, he sure did.
Sam slid a finger under her chin, lifting her gaze to his. “That sounds like a deal to me.”
Suddenly, they both moved into each other’s arms and were kissing wildly, passionately, hands roaming, tongues teasing.
“Either tell me to leave now, Meagan,” he rasped near her ear, “or tell me to stay and make love to you.”
Her fingers stabbed into his short hair, shoving his head back so she could search his face. “I know I should tell you to go. I do. Every piece of me says that work and pleasure are a bad combination but—”
“Stay or go, sweetheart.”
Seconds ticked by like hours before she whispered, “Stay, Sam. I want you to stay.”
11
SAM CONFUSED HER. He seduced her. And with his big body pressed to hers, her skirt up to her hips, his hot mouth devouring hers, he consumed her. She didn’t want to be consumed by Sam, but at the same time, it was all she wanted—and she wanted it so badly, wanted him so badly, the mere existence of clothing between them was like sandpaper against her skin.
“One night,” Meagan panted against his lips. “We do what you said in the restaurant. We get this thing between us out of our systems.” But even as she made the declaration, she doubted that possibility. There was something about this man that drew her, that reached insider her and spoke to her.
“We can try,” he replied, and before she could question his answer, his mouth slanted over hers. Meagan’s resistance to that kiss lasted all of a second. She’d fought this attraction to Sam for so very long, and she had no more fight in her, not where he was concerned.
His tongue caressing hers, and she could taste the hot coffee they’d drank at the vet clinic. It reminded her of how he’d been there for her, both when Kiki jabbed at her, and when she’d wanted to help the kitten.
Meagan didn’t resist as Sam pulled her to her feet and picked her up. He was big and strong, and it felt good to just be with him. To just forget everything except for what was happening right now.
They went down on the bed together, him on top of her, the weight of him, the feel of him, as erotic as anything she’d ever felt. As right as anything she’d ever felt. Again she thought of him by her side tonight, facing challenges with her, and it had been good. Too good. It scared her. He scared her. She’d never had anyone create this kind of feeling in her. She could lose herself to this man, her identify, and just then, she didn’t care.
“I’ve wanted you since the first time I saw you,” he whispered, his lips by her ear, his hand sliding through her hair, down her shoulder, over her breast. “Do you remember when that was?”
“Yes,” she said, barely finding her voice as he pressed kisses along her jaw. She could feel his arousal, thick and hard between her legs. She could feel herself shaking with desire. She couldn’t believe she was here, like this, with Sam. “You tried to take the Dr. Pepper I’d paid for, that had gotten lodged in the machine.”