~~ ** ~~ ** ~~ ** ~~
Tuesday morning came faster than Sam had anticipated. After pounding the snooze button a couple of times, she managed to crawl out of bed and go to the gym early. She would have been better off staying in bed for as good of a workout as she got. Half assing it on the elliptical machine while reading her Kindle was not the way to start the week, but she could at least check it off of her daily to do list.
Drained from the weekend, Sam had finally come home late Monday night, after spending the entire day with Logan. Although they had relaxed, sharing some intimate moments, they had also spent a lot of time talking. So much so, she hadn’t wanted to leave, but she forced her weary body to go home, or rather, she forced Logan to take her home.
With a new week ahead of her, Sam needed to focus without the distraction of him. As if being in the same building with him wouldn’t be distracting enough. With effort, she could definitely focus. And maybe if she continued to tell herself that it would be fact.
Several hours later, Sam learned that was easier said than done. She’d been sitting at her computer, putting together her project update for the afternoon meeting that had been moved from Monday to Tuesday because of the holiday, when her instant message popped up on the screen.
[McCoy, Logan – 10:14am] Hey
She stared at the small window at the bottom of her computer monitor and couldn’t hide the smile. She certainly hadn’t expected him to utilize instant messenger to communicate with her.
[Kielty, Samantha – 10:14am] Hey back
[McCoy, Logan – 10:14am] How are you?
[Kielty, Samantha – 10:15am] Good, and you?
So far, the conversation resembled any other that she was invited to on a daily basis.
[McCoy, Logan – 10:15am] Better now that I talked to you.
[Kielty, Samantha – 10:15am] Oh, really? Why is that?
[McCoy, Logan – 10:15am] Don’t know.
[Kielty, Samantha – 10:16am] Shouldn’t you be working?
[McCoy, Logan – 10:16am] Maybe I am.
[Kielty, Samantha – 10:16am] Not if you’re playing on IM
[McCoy, Logan – 10:16am] Guess you better get your project update ready for the meeting.
[Kielty, Samantha – 10:17am] I was trying until I was so rudely interrupted.
[McCoy, Logan – 10:17am] Have lunch with me.
[Kielty, Samantha – 10:17am] What?
[McCoy, Logan – 10:17am] Lunch with me, today.
[Kielty, Samantha – 10:18am] Not a good idea.
[McCoy, Logan – 10:18am] Sure it is, you have to eat don’t you.
[Kielty, Samantha – 10:18am] Not today
[McCoy, Logan – 10:18am] Whatever, ok, no lunch. Dinner.
[Kielty, Samantha – 10:18am] Maybe. Call me after work.
[McCoy, Logan – 10:19am] Will do.
Sam closed the IM window, staring blankly at the presentation she had been working on, a lame grin on her face. If someone walked into her office at that moment, she’d be done for.
Being the first full day at work after all that had happened between them over the weekend, Sam hadn’t expected to hear from Logan. Part of her figured he would have ignored her. Instead, he had interrupted her – via IM no less – to ask her to lunch.
Obviously the little pep talk she had given herself earlier in regards to focusing on her work didn’t help so she got up from her desk and walked out of her office, going straight to Deanna’s desk.
“Do you want to go get some coffee?”
“Sure.” Deanna said with a cheery smile. She didn’t waste time getting up from her desk. “Is everything ok?”
“Just peachy. How about you?” Sam smiled as she looked over at her new found friend. In the short time Sam had been in Dallas, Deanna had become one of the closest friends she had ever had.
Aside from Liza, in the San Antonio office, Sam didn’t socialize outside of work too often. Deanna probably wasn’t the sort of friend she could share her innermost secrets to, but she was one she could enjoy some laughs with.
“Tired. It was a long weekend. The kids wanted to go and go and go. I didn’t have any time for myself. I keep wondering if I should take a vacation, but then I know I’ll miss them unless we take them with us.”
Sam couldn’t imagine what Deanna’s day to day life was like. With three kids, she imagined she was always busy, especially having a full time job. Then again, it might not be such a bad thing, but Sam had never had the desire to have children. She liked them enough, but as career driven as she had always been, she hadn’t given much thought to anything else.
She envied what her parents had, the figurative happily ever after. They’d shared a life together, raising two kids, and offering a strong family support system. Sam didn’t often give thought to a relationship, or a family for that matter.
She was satisfied with her life, just the way it was. She had a stable, fulfilling job, a very supportive family, and now Logan. She wouldn’t even think about how long that would or wouldn’t last though. For now, they would just enjoy one another. That was enough.
The two women made their way down to the coffee shop, ordered their midmorning coffee and sat at one of the vacant bistro tables to talk. Sam listened to the endless things Deanna had done over the three day weekend and by the end of it, Sam was exhausted for her. She couldn’t imagine having so much to do.
She kept her eye on the flocks of people coming and going from the coffee bar, and she immediately took notice when Logan walked past. He made direct eye contact and gave her his signature crooked smile. Her knees went weak, and her heart sped up, causing her to wonder how long that feeling would last. It was like being a teenager all over again and the cute guy in school had looked her way.
Damn he was sexy, and the sad thing was everyone in the coffee shop now probably knew she thought so. She needed to control that.
After about fifteen minutes had passed, Sam glanced at her watch. “We should probably get back up there. Thanks for having coffee with me.”
“No, thank you for listening to me ramble.”
“Anytime.” Sam said, thankful that the conversation had never ventured to what she had done over the long weekend. She was rather adept at keeping other people talking about themselves, and this time had been no exception.
Five o’clock finally came around, and Sam was trying to clean up some of the emails she had missed during her afternoon meetings with her project managers. Another day successfully behind her and now the only thing she wanted to do was to go home and take a nice, hot bath.
When she reached her apartment complex, she parked the Camaro in her designated spot and made her way up the two flights of stairs. With keys in hand, her bag flung over her shoulder, she worked the key in the lock as her cell phone rang from the endless abyss she called a purse.
Sliding her computer bag to the floor and dropping her keys on the bar, she rummaged through the deep, dark corners of her purse to find her phone. She managed to hit the talk button just as the last ring would have ended sending the caller to voicemail.
“Hello.” She greeted, breathless from the stairs and the endless digging, but she managed to speak.
“Hey, baby. What are you doing?”
Her heart fluttered in her chest from the sound of his voice. She dropped her purse on the bar and shut the front door behind her.
“I just made it into my apartment. What are you doing?” Sam smiled because the conversation had her thinking of the “what are you wearing” type of conversations.
“Well, I was thinking about picking you up for dinner. Any suggestions?”
“Yes. A nice, long, hot bath.”
“What?”
“Sorry, that’s my only suggestion for the evening. I want to just relax in the tub. Care to join me?”
“I wouldn’t miss it. I’ll pick up Chinese on my way over if that’s ok with you.”
“Sounds good. See you when you get here. The door will be unlocked.” She said and then hit the end button, tossing the phone on her bed on the way to the bathroom.
As usual, the sight of the enormous master bathroom, complete with the oversized Jacuzzi tub had her exhaling some of the stress built up from the day. She turned the knobs to get the water flowing, before heading back to her room.
Docking her iPod in the speaker system on the dresser, Sam turned on the music and grabbed two candles from the nightstand drawer. With a flick of her wrist, she had the lights dimmed, and then set about lighting the candles, placing them on the bathroom counter, the light flickering and reflecting off of the mirror. Quickly disrobing, she left her clothes where they landed and climbed into the tub, nearly overflowing with bubbles and blissfully hot water.
She must have dozed off because she hadn’t heard Logan come in, but she was pleasantly surprised when he made his way into the water with her. He must have removed his clothes before getting her attention because he was strikingly sexy in all of his naked glory. She let him ease into the water behind her and relaxed against him once he settled, his hands gently sliding down her arm.
“I could get used to this.”
“Definitely.” She replied as he ran his hand over her collar bone. Sam relished the way he touched her, gently and with an unusual tenderness, as he held her against him.
She hadn’t realized how enjoyable it felt to be held by a man. Not just any man though. Her previous relationships hadn’t been like this. The feelings he stirred inside of her when he was around were different from any she had ever had before. She relaxed even more in his arms and let the warm water soothe her.
“So, what are your plans for this weekend?” He asked, brushing her hair to the side and placing gentle licks on her skin.
“Mmmm. Don’t know.” She moaned as she tilted her head to the side, offering him better access. He knew exactly what to do to drive her wild.
“If you’re a good girl, maybe I’ll give you a special treat.”
“A special treat, huh? I wonder what that could be.” She smiled as he continued to kiss down her neck, lightly sucking at times. She could feel his erection stirring at her back and her internal muscles clinched with anticipation.
“I guess you’ll just have to wait and see.” He whispered as he leaned back against the tub and held her close to him. He was hard, definitely, but he seemed content to just sit there, which was just fine with her.
After an hour in the tub, with repeated refills to keep the water warm, the two of them decided they’d put off dinner long enough when Sam’s stomach growled in protest.
They were both pruning from the long exposure to the water, but it had been relaxing. Logan helped her dry off, then handed her the clothes she had laid out on the counter before putting his own back on.
As much as she wanted to make love to him tonight, she had a feeling he wasn’t going to indulge her. On Monday, he’d seemed overly concerned that she needed to rest, and he appeared to be in the same mood tonight. With a resigned shrug, Sam headed to the kitchen to put their dinner together. They didn’t waste time, both of them gorged on the food he brought, very little small talk to go along with it.
“Well, thank you for dinner.” He said, pushing his empty plate aside and pushing back from the table.
“No, I should be thanking you. You brought it over.” Sam replied, watching him as he took their plates to the kitchen sink and proceeded to rinse them off. “I can get the dishes; you don’t have to worry about that.”
It was strange to see him in her kitchen, it was strange to see him acting so at home in her apartment. It was the first time they had actually spent much time at her place, and she knew why. She was having a hard time with him being there, bringing back memories of when she and Nick were together.
Not that the two men had anything in common. To the contrary, they were exact opposites, but that didn’t stop her heart from hurting. She was worried about the fallout that she knew would be inevitable. Her relationships didn’t work out. It was just a fact of life. Sooner or later it would come to a screeching end, and she would be devastated.
Wow, talk about pessimistic thinking.
She frowned at where her thoughts were deviating to.
“What are you thinking about?” Logan asked, joining her at the counter.
“Huh? What? Oh… um… sorry. It’s nothing really. Thank you for dinner. Thank you for coming over here tonight.” Sam hoped to change the subject, not wanting to delve into her renewed doubts about things that were better left alone.
“Well, I’m glad I came. Now, I have to get going so you can get some sleep.” His fingers trailed a path of fire down her cheek as he brushed back a strand of her hair.
Well, ok. She didn’t know why he was so quick to rush off, but she wasn’t going to put up a fight. Not tonight. Hell, probably not ever. She didn’t want the complications, but she couldn’t dispute the fact that she wanted this man.
With a devastating intensity.
Where the hell had that train of thought come from? They’d shared a perfectly lovely evening, so the doom and gloom she had brought down on the party was unnecessary. Anticipating the end of their relationship was something she needed to do in private, not with Logan standing there, staring at her.
“I’m going to head home. Good night, Sam.” He whispered, placing a soft kiss on her lips, then turning to the door.
“Good night. I’ll see you at the office tomorrow?”
“I have some meetings tomorrow that will keep me out of the office for most, if not all, of the day. I’ll call you tomorrow night.”
Well, wasn’t that depressing.
“Sure.” She said as she followed him to the door. “Talk to you tomorrow then.”
~*~*~
Logan walked down the steps, toward the parking lot. He wasn’t sure what the hell just happened, but something certainly had. He must be tired. It had been a long weekend, followed by one hellacious day. He hadn’t wanted to leave tonight, but he could tell she was tired and needed to get a full night’s sleep. If he stayed, they wouldn’t have done much sleeping.
It was the strangest sensation – Logan wanted to spend more time with her, and he felt as though she wanted to be away from him.
Damn.
This couldn’t be good.