Trinity was looking at him again, almost as if she couldn't quite believe he was real...or the philosophy she was now hearing. Sam tried to keep his own attention trained steadily forward. He was the middle seat, the anchor point, but the three of them were running the show together. He felt a strange surge of exhilaration at the thought of being part of such a well-oiled team. Usually he was the one expected to run things; he had never relied on anyone else in the room before.
"Any questions so far?" he asked the room.
A wave of hands went up.
"Sam!"
Sam turned where he stood on the curb outside the conference center. He watched Trinity take the steps two at a time to join him, admiring the easy way she navigated the landscape in her high heels.
"Trinity." He held up his cell. "Poor reception inside. I was just about to text William and tell him how the panel went." And send you another memo, he thought privately.
Trinity just shook her head. "You don't have to bother. I already fired off the good news myself. Besides that, the employees were buzzing after you stepped out. You can bet he'll be hearing about our success here today. Sam, did you really mean what you said in there? About compromise? And about...working as a team?"
"Every word," he agreed. Trinity stared at him for a long moment. As the seconds ticked by, Sam found himself growing increasingly uncomfortable beneath her scrutiny. There were few people who could stare him in the eyes like Trinity did. "Why? Did I say something you didn't like?"
"Hardly. That's the problem."
Sam grinned to himself, and watched as Trinity turned to continue down the sidewalk. He suddenly couldn't remember how to follow. Hell, he couldn't remember how to breathe. He was completely transfixed by her figure from behind. The red pants sheathed every twitch of her hips, and hugged the mouthwatering curves of her voluptuous ass. He couldn't identify a panty line with his eyes alone, and wondered if Trinity wore any underwear at all.
There was one easy way to answer his question.
The valet pulled his car around. Trinity raised her hand to hail a cab, and Sam snatched her wrist out of the air. He pulled the door to his own vehicle open and dragged her in the backseat after him.
"Sam!" She laughed her protestation. "What on earth—"
Much as he loved her laugh, he couldn't listen to it and kiss her at the same time. And right now, his immediate need to taste her lips trumped everything else. Sam pulled the door closed behind them and carried her down into the backseat. "Sam!" she cried out again, but his lips closed over hers and she hummed into the kiss with frustrated appreciation. His knee came up between her legs, and his hands roamed everywhere as she dragged her fingers through a few buttons of his shirt.
"Are you ballroom dancing tonight?" he asked breathlessly as he pulled away.
Trinity chuckled. "Did you come up with a new code word I'm not aware of?"
"I thought I could drop you off." Sam deliberated. "No. That's a lie. I thought I could join you."
Trinity sat up on her elbows and appeared to consider him. A shock of her dark blond hair had sprung loose from her style and fallen into her eyes. "...I don't think it's a good idea, Sam," she said finally.
"You don't sound convinced of it."
"Work might get in the way again."
"Work won't get in the way again. I promise."
"You really hurt me the other night," she insisted. "And I can't keep getting my hopes up like that. Spending all this time together outside of our professional lives...I'm just not sure it's a good idea. I think I do want it to work. I just…"
Trinity trailed off uncertainly, but in the wake of her words Sam's heart soared. She wanted to make it work. She, Trinity, the woman of his dreams who he had once had and let go. He didn't have much of an imagination when it came to a lot of things, but he had lost track of the number of times he had conceived of her saying those words since he'd come back to New York. It had gotten to the point where he had been afraid of returning home without hearing them.
"Come to L.A. with me," he said abruptly.
Trinity blinked beneath her tousled hair. "...what?"
Chapter Nine
Trinity
"I can't believe I'm doing this," Trinity muttered under her breath.
"That's the third time you've said that since you stepped off the plane," Sam mused. "I'd say you're allowed to believe it by now."
Trinity glanced across the convertible’s passenger seat at Sam. How could he look so natural, so poised and cool, sitting behind the wheel in this heat with his sunglasses on and his hair slicked back? He didn't even have his sleeves rolled up! Probably terrified of wrinkles, Trinity mused as she shaded her eyes against the glare of the sun. "Jessica's going to kill me," she said under her breath. So far she had successfully ignored the slew of texts pouring in from her best friend by being on the plane.