CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Sami started to call Flynn’s name. She took a step toward the door, one hand lifted.
She couldn’t let him walk away. It wasn’t right. He belonged…
In her life?
In her heart.
“Let’s get these two geniuses back to their parents,” Chase said.
Sami started. She lowered her outstretched hand, gazing at her fingers as if she didn’t recognize her own flesh and bones.
“Then I’d like to take you to dinner.”
Sami nodded, though she wasn’t at all hungry.
“Why don’t you slip into something more suitable and I’ll handle the car seats,” Chase said, swinging Jadon off his bar stool.
“Suitable?”
“Thought we’d pop into Morton’s again,” Chase said. “A simple dress will do. Just not shorts and a T-shirt.” He tipped his head. “Especially not a shirt that’s inside out.”
Sami looked down at her T-shirt. Sure enough, it was inside out. Backwards, too. Well, she’d been in a rush. “Maybe we should make it another night,” she said slowly.
Chase was halfway to the door, Jamila and Jadon each holding one of his hands. “Don’t be silly, Sami. I’m dying to be with you.”
“Oh, of course,” she said. Her heart should have been fluttering. Instead she was wondering what in the world she had in her wardrobe that fit Chase’s image of a simple dress. “I’ll be right out.” In her room, she grabbed a comb, working it through her damp hair while she glared at the choices in her closet. Finally, she yanked the print sheath and short jacket from a hanger and put them on. She was pulling her hair into a gentle ponytail when she remembered that was the dress she’d worn on her first, disastrous dinner date with Chase.
Also to Morton’s.
Sami frowned and took off the jacket. The V-neckline showed her cleavage more than she felt appropriate, but the look was far less stuffy. She added a belt to cinch her waist and jammed her feet into sandals.
Looks were really all about attitude. She could be Sami the sexy, Sami the alluring, whether she was wearing a muumuu or a slinky black dress, right? Chase was in love with her. He’d said so, maybe not directly to her, but in front of the twins.
She took a deep breath and hurried to the door.
The dogs jumped up. She let them follow her outside. The caterers had completed their clean up while they’d been swimming. Kyle had said it was fine for them to be off the leash and she knew they were safe within the fenced property. They would be okay until she returned from what was actually going to be an early dinner. Chase wasn’t one to linger over a meal.
The dogs raced toward the pool. Sami paused, watching them. The way they were running, they must have sensed Flynn’s presence.
Well, that had nothing to do with her. She walked to Toya’s Volvo, where Chase had the twins ready to go.
The children fell asleep. Sami leaned her head back and enjoyed the comfortable quiet. She didn’t feel a need to chatter, which pleased her. Chase reached out his right hand and placed it over hers, giving her hand a gentle squeeze.
“Nice,” he said.
“Very,” she said.
“One day it won’t be just babysitting,” Chase said, his voice low and full of meaning.
Sami blushed. Why, she couldn’t say. After all, she and Chase wanted the same things. Marriage. Babies. A beautiful life, well-lived.
He let go of her hand and returned it to the wheel. Chase was a careful, proper driver.
Sami admired that in him, though she, of course, loved her own fairly wild driving style. She wrinkled her nose. Chase had yet to be a passenger with her behind the wheel. What would he think? Well, they had lots of time to learn more about each other.
At Toya’s, Chase carried Jadon and Sami carried Jamila up to the condo. Toya glanced up from the couch, a sheaf of papers in her hand, a pen parked between her teeth. She lowered the pen.
“Sleeping angels,” she said in a whisper. “Thank you, bless you.” Then she eyed Chase. “Well, Sami, look at you. Leave with one man and come back with another.”
“Toya, this is Chase.” Sami emphasized his name. “The other guy was just a driver.” She felt a twinge of guilt as soon as the words left her mouth. Flynn was so much more than “just” anything.
Chase nodded and murmured hello. He tipped his chin toward the sleeping child. “Where to?”
Toya pointed toward a hallway. “Sami will show you their rooms. Behold me, a beached whale.”
Sami led the way down the carpeted hall, pausing at the door to Jadon’s room. Chase carried the boy in and Sami headed to the room across the hall, where she settled Jamila on top of the bed covers. Given the high energy levels of the twins, Sami was sure they’d soon be awake and looking for their next activity. She was smoothing the hair away from Jamila’s forehead when she felt Chase watching her from the doorway. He had an intense expression in his eyes and a hint of a smile on his beautifully masculine mouth. She walked toward him.
He pulled her close and kissed her.
Sami returned the kiss, though she was surprised he’d chosen the child’s room for the embrace.
“I’ve waited so long to meet a woman like you,” Chase said, speaking softly. “We’re made for each other.”
Sami sighed and gave him a quick kiss.
“I know it’s not the place,” he said, “but watching you with Jamila, the perfect picture of love and motherhood, I couldn’t help myself.” He let her go.
Sami hesitated. The moment called for a stronger reaction from her but the awkwardness of time and place kept her silent. So she smiled at Chase and headed back to Toya.
Back to normalcy, she realized.
She should have been thrilled with Chase’s affection, but instead she was confused.
Not confused.
Trapped.
In over her head.
She stumbled, and Chase steadied her with a quick hand to her shoulder.
“I can’t thank you two enough,” Toya said. “And Flynn.”
“Any time,” Sami said. “They loved the pool. They couldn’t get enough of water polo.”
“You are a saint,” Toya said, smiling at Chase.
“Not I,” he said. “The other chap gets that credit.”
“Oh,” Toya said, looking from Sami to Chase. “Sami, call me tomorrow. Early.”
The last thing Sami wanted was a cross-examination from one of the smartest lawyers she knew. She didn’t think her confused thoughts and feelings could withstand too careful questioning. She blew a kiss in Toya’s direction and led Chase out of the condo.
As soon as they were seated at Morton’s—at the same table as their first dinner date—Chase took both her hands in his and, ignoring the menu and the hovering waiter, leaned over and kissed her.
“I do feel that I’m the luckiest guy in the world,” he said. Stroking her left hand, he added, “I realize this has all happened so fast, which by the way, is something your father pointed out to me while we were out on the lake.”
“Emile said that?”
Chase nodded. “We agreed the five of us would have dinner this coming Friday. I assured him he’d see how perfect we are together.”
“Five?” Sami said, wondering why she couldn’t bring herself to share with Chase that Emile was her life-father but not her birth-father. The truth of it was so recent that she felt a need to hold the knowledge tucked inside her.
Of course, Flynn knew. Because she’d wanted to share the truth with him.
Somehow Flynn seemed to know so much about her. In almost as short of time as she had known Chase.
“Mam’s going to be in town,” Chase said. “I’ll book a table at Husk.”
The waiter passed by again, attentive but not intrusive. Chase lifted one hand from Sami’s, beckoned him over and ordered champagne.
Chase took her left hand in his, still gazing into her eyes and stroking her fingers, especially her left ring finger. “Mam’s bringing a family heirloom with her.”
“Oh,” Sami said. She ought to say something else. Something stronger. Or jump up and dash out of the restaurant.
“After dinner tonight, I’d like to show you my condo. It’s in the Bennie Dillon building, practically next door.”
“Bennie Dillon is a gorgeous example of Art Deco,” Sami said, managing to extricate her hand. “Are you aware that building was once a commercial property with doctors and dentists’ offices?”
Chase nodded. “I take it you’re familiar with the building?”
“I had a friend in graduate school whose parents owned one of the units. They rotated the kids in and out as they went through college.”
“It’s perfect for a single person,” Chase said, now toying with her fingertips. “We’ll want something more suburban soon. But the market’s hot. I’ll have no problem selling at a good profit.”
Sami was getting more and more uncomfortable. Uncomfortable? Her pulse had started beating double time and she was having trouble breathing steadily. She stared at Chase. “I live in New Orleans.”
“Well, now you do.” He squeezed her hand. “Long distance relationships don’t work.”
The waiter delivered an ice bucket and held out a bottle to Chase, who nodded. The waiter took care of the business end of popping the cork and filling their glasses.
Chase lifted his. Sami pulled her left hand free and picked up her glass.
“To us,” Chase said.
“To us,” Sami echoed. She took a sip, then another. “Delicious,” she said.
“Just like you, Sami,” Chase said, his gaze on her breasts.
Sami laughed, a weak-sounding giggle, and swallowed another taste of the bubbly wine. She had to do something, and fast. If Chase proposed to her, what was she going to do? She couldn’t say yes, not yet, not without getting to know him better, and yet she didn’t know if she could force the word ‘no’ through her lips. She could just hear what Nathalie would have to say if she let Chase, the perfect son-in-law, slip through her fingers.
But Emile would support her decision, whatever it turned out to be. Why she knew that, she couldn’t say. He’d opened up since learning she knew about Philippe. He was truly a loving father who’d be there for her. Perhaps as Flynn had said that sense of acceptance was the most important emotional support. But she shouldn’t be thinking about anything Flynn said, not when she was with Chase. Not ever, she reminded herself.
Sami made it through dinner by encouraging Chase to talk and hanging on his every word. Chase got started on a long and involved description of an interesting case from the past week and Sami tried not to think about what she’d put in motion.
Chase was one of the most handsome men she’d ever met. He had a perfect patrician profile and a wide mouth designed for kissing. She knew from the afternoon sailing that his body was buff perfect. He was smart and successful and had loving and caring parents.
So why did she feel like excusing herself to the ladies room and slipping out the back door?
Why did she feel a desperate need to run in the opposite direction?
He was going to propose. His mother was delivering what had to be a family ring, no doubt gorgeous. Priceless. A ring she couldn’t accept, feeling as confused as she did.
Sami pulled her thoughts together and gazed down at the plate that had at some point been set in front of her. She didn’t recall ordering or even looking at a menu.
Chase cut into his steak.
He’d ordered for them.
“Chase,” Sami said, her voice breaking into a cowardly quaver.
“Yes, Sami?”
“I’m uh, I’m not feeling very well.” She was a coward.
He put his fork down. “We should have put you through a concussion protocol yesterday. I won’t forgive myself.”
She shook her head slightly. “No, I’m sure that’s not it. Maybe, maybe it was too much sun this afternoon.” Or too much Flynn. Or not enough Flynn.
Tell him you need to go home. Tell him you’re feeling rushed into a relationship you’re not so sure is right for you.
Chase summoned the waiter and asked for the check. He glanced at her untouched plate and frowned. “You’re not well,” he said. “You always have a healthy appetite.”
Sami wasn’t sure how to take that comment.
He paid the check and helped Sami out of her chair. “I’ll drive you home. You’ll have to see my place another night.”
“I’m very sorry,” she said. And she was. She wanted to feel all the same feelings he described. But she didn’t. Flattered, yes. Pleased, yes. Relieved someone as great as Chase wanted her as not only girlfriend, but prospective bride. She’d broken through the desert of her dating life. She’d learned to be cute and personable—a woman guys wanted to date.
But it was all pretend.
She wasn’t being herself.
Chase had fallen in love with an image, an idealized paper doll. And she couldn’t blame him. She was the one who’d created the paper doll.
Flynn was heading back from a long walk in the woods with the dogs when he heard a car drive in and stop near the garage. Sami and That Guy? He kept moving, but halted where the trees opened into the grassy area near the apartment. He didn’t want to see them together.
Not now.
Not ever.
Sami’s voice drifted to his ears. He couldn’t make out the words but the Lab and the beagle bounded forward.
As if he had no will of his own, coward that he was, Flynn edged forward, close enough to watch as That Guy got out of the car, rounded to the passenger side, and reached in. Though she seemed be objecting at first, she eventually slipped her hands around his neck and he carried her, smiling down at her, up the stairs.
The two dogs raced after them.
The door closed.
No lights came on.
He gritted his teeth.
What in the hell did he expect? Flynn had thrust Sami into his arms, his number one thought to do whatever it took to remove her tempting self from his reach.
Now That Guy was up there in her bedroom.
He let out a sound close to a howl.
He wouldn’t let him have her.
He’d—Flynn stopped. Just what was he planning to do? Kick That Guy down the stairs and claim Sami for one more night of passion?
And slink out before the sun came up?
“You shit,” he said aloud.
Then he realized only two dogs had raced up the stairs. And there’d been no barking.
Flynn whirled around, running into the woods, calling Ruby. True, he’d been lost in his thoughts during the long walk, but he’d assumed all three dogs were together. They formed their pack and traveled as such.
He plunged deeper into the densely wooded section, yanking out his phone and switching on the flashlight. He’d made it almost to the end of the property when he heard a swish of tires on roadway, typically not heard from the path. Edging toward the sound, he spotted a tree limb that had fallen onto the wooden fence that surrounded the property.
A gash about as wide as the Corgi gaped in the fence.
He swore and plunged toward the opening. He’d never forgive himself if something had happened to that pesky dog. As annoying as she could be, Flynn realized he’d been smitten by her ever-friendly, tirelessly active personality.
After his brother’s death, he’d thought he’d never want to see a dog again.
And damned if he hadn’t fallen for this Corgi.
Just as he’d fallen for Sami.
Flynn heard his slacks rip as they snagged on a nail, felt the quick sting as the nail opened his skin and even as the pain hit, he admitted to himself that if it hadn’t been for Sami, he wouldn’t feel this way about her pain-in-the-ass dog.
Sami brought him to life.
Sami challenged him to consider possibilities he’d closed off.
Sami made him a better person.
For all these reasons and so much more, he loved Sami. He loved her.
Flynn clapped his hands to his head, looking in every direction, still calling Ruby.
He loved Sami and yet he’d run away from trying to win her.
Car lights rounded a curve in the road and in the arc of illumination, Flynn spotted movement near the edge of the pavement, and heard the piercing Corgi bark.
He plunged across the low growth, shouting Ruby’s name.
The dog ran into the road.
Flynn ran after her.
The last thing he heard as he tripped and fell forward onto the road was the shriek of brakes, metal biting metal, and a wildly barking dog.