I got a call from a classmate who heard about it all because he worked for one of the companies that had put in an offer. He told me he could get me a job and come into Houston for an interview. Driving into Houston, I was on autopilot I said the right things and I got the job but as I walked out of the building I just wandered the city. I walked and walked until my feet were killing me and I stopped at a coffee shop. Across the way was an Army recruitment center and as I drank my coffee I thought about what my life might turn into if I stayed and I stared at the center and just knew it wasn’t what I deserved. The nice house in the burbs, a couple of kids running around, I hadn’t earned that life that my mother paid for with an early death. I walked across and joined that day. I shipped out a week later.

I was only in about a year when I was encouraged slash ordered to sign up for the Rangers where I belonged. And it was, it was where I finally felt alive. Where I became me, just like Austin was where you became you.”

His phone went off, indicating he’d gotten a text, but he ignores it. Instead he sighs and his arms tighten around me for a moment before he sits up. “We have to get going, I don’t want to speed with you in the car but I’ll be cutting it close.”

Slowly, we both slide out of the back and then put the cover back on and he slides my paintings underneath. Back in the truck he holds out his hand for mine and I give it to him. The drive back to Austin feels quicker than it had leaving it and he pulls into the driveway and comes around to help me down and gives me the paintings. I take them and he brushes a kiss across my cheek but he doesn’t say goodbye and neither do I. I’m on the porch and I turn and watch until he’s out of sight.

Once I’m inside I put the paintings back and look around and notice the empty spots that were only there because of Sam. They were gone but in their place was something else, hope. Hope that they would sell and happiness that they were finally being seen by someone else besides me.

I’m tired and as I prepare for bed it takes longer than normal and laying in bed, even though he’s not here the memory and scent of Sam is all around me. I want to sleep but I can’t because I finally understand why everything has felt so different. This is what love feels like, now my only question is now that I’ve found it, how do I keep it?

Chapter Sixteen

Three weeks later and I’m hanging up with Dale, all four of my paintings had sold. I’m stunned and so happy I want to call Sam but I eye the clock and decide against it. I know he would be trying to sleep, that didn’t mean he would be asleep, only that he was trying. I’m starting to get worried about him, he only seemed to sleep deeply once I had come home and we drifted to our room after dinner.

Quincy Tucker had worked out and been staying at the house, he’s a nice guy but Sam didn’t like me without a bra in front of anyone but him. So I wore a bra after I changed out of my work clothes and we would usually all eat dinner together and then Sam would pull me into our room and remove the bra I wore. Many times it would lead to making love but not always and we just lay in bed, wrapped around each other, talking about our day or sharing memories. Then he would fall asleep and sleep deeply. I couldn’t always fall asleep but I loved to watch him

and sometimes I could escape just enough to reach my ereader and read the night away in his arms.

“Did you get a call back on that prospect?” Taylor comes out of his office, he’s tense. We hadn’t found someone since Quincy Tucker.

“It’s a no, drug abuse. Maybe we should reach out to Dean? The way things ended between you two, he won’t be rushing back to admit he made a mistake. Yet, I heard from gossip that he and the slut broke up for the fourth and what has to be the final time. If I approached him, it might be easier for him to save face. Tomorrow is Saturday, I don’t mind going tomorrow instead of waiting for Monday.”

“Hmm, maybe.”

“What?”

“I don’t know if Sam would be okay with that.”

Instinctively, I hate the idea of being limited by anyone telling me what I could or couldn’t do. After I exhale and think about it, I know Taylor is right, Sam would not be happy about me going up to Dallas to see Dean. How the hell did Taylor know Sam so well, and that it would matter so much to me about making Sam angry?

“Let me deal with Sam. If I can get Dean back, I want Sam on days. He’s not getting sleep and I don’t like how tired he looks all the time.”

Taylor doesn’t like demands, hates them, but he just looks at me for a long minute and then he nods. “Bring back Dean and Dean will go to nights and Sam will go to days.”

“Maybe on the drive up to Dallas you can pump Sam for another recruit.”

This time I just look at him until he walks away. He was right, Sam would be with me when I went to Dallas. After the way we had met Sam wouldn’t allow me to try and talk someone into a job without him right behind me the whole way through.

When I get home, Sam isn’t in the living room or our bedroom, I find him in my studio. He has a laptop open and he looks up when I step inside.

“Perfect timing, come take a look.” Sam moves away from the computer and I look at the screen and freeze.

It’s my website but it looks amazing. Pretty, wispy font and four different types of paintings can be clicked on to take a look through. In the middle of the page an automatic run of every painting loads and then cycles back through. I turn to him and I burst into tears.

His arms come around my middle and he picks me up and walks me to our bedroom. He settles on the bed and holds me while I cry.

I’m finally able to form words. “Thank you, you didn’t have to do that. How did you do all of that?”

“I’m going to tell you right now, the sight of you in tears is extremely painful to me so you are going to have to learn how to smile and laugh when I make you happy. It was easier than I thought, I found the guy for the photography, his card is taped up in your studio. I went through your browser history and found the web page. The girl who built the page was nice and promised a web page quick and easy to use. You can call her when ever you need something. Her fee includes unlimited calls for the first month, after that she’ll charge per hour.”

“Sam! I can’t help it, I’m not used to being so happy! I was going to tell you I sold the paintings at the gallery and I was already happy about that but then I come home to this.

This is too much. All of that work and money, I don’t want you to take care of all of this, I can take care of myself. I’ll pay you back, with the money from the sales I know I can pay you back.”

He throws back his head and laughs and pulls me closer to him, so that I’m straddling him. “You aren’t paying me back and I’m calling bullshit and taking care of you.” His mouth comes down on mine and his kiss is demanding. I give in without a thought. When he breaks the kiss, the world is still hazy for me. “I believe we had this discussion before. Who does your body belong to? Who, Zoe, who does your body belong to?”

Wet heat floods me, “You.”

Tags: Fiona Murphy Erotic
Source: readsnovelonline.net