Claiming What's His (17 page)

             
“He asked who the kids’ father was.  I had
suggested
we come here first so he could
see
with his eyes, but he wouldn’t hear anything of it.  He shouted and demanded I tell him who it was, and when I didn’t answer right away, he blew a gasket.  Always blowing everything out of proportion since the day we met!” she shouted.

             
Mitch turned to him, his lips quirking double time, threatening to turn to a smile.  ”So she told you about her kids?”

             
Alex’s nostrils flared from anger.  He may have calmed down a smidge, but it was only because Mitch was there.  It certainly prevented Alex from snatching Sam up and stuffing her back in the car and drive far, far away to track the guy down. 

             
Then he told Mitch, “She just mentioned them in the car.”

             
Mitch’s lips failed to contain itself, turning into a full-blown smile.  “What do you know?”

             
“Not much, only that she has two.”

             
Mitch nodded as he moved to set the rake down on the ground.  “Two girls.  Adorable little things.  Full of personality.  In fact, let me call for them.  Girls!”  

Sam stood far away from him, her arms crossing across chest, her eyes glaring him down.   

Alex turned around to the sound of a bells jingling as pile of grass shook.  Grass flew off the pile and in the air as a bark escaped from the pile.  One black and silver head popped out from the pile and sneezed.  Another head, a beige and white one, popped up six inches away and sneezed as well then barking, lolling its tongue.  Obviously, the beige and white one was happy that she was being called upon and wanting to know what excitement awaited it.

             
The two little fur balls squirmed their way out of the pile and went charging straight to Alex, hopping up and down against his legs, yapping away at him.  Their furs were covered with grass and twigs and they tried to attack and intimidate their current target, which probably gave them a new sense of accomplishment, despite their sizes.

             
Mitch smiled as he tipped his head down and introduced, “Alex, meet Sam’s daughters, Buttons and Cuddles.”

             
Alex froze.  He dipped his head down to Buttons and Cuddles, looking at them as they continued yapping, and continued staring as if they each grew an extra head, or two. 

             
Finally, he lifted his eyes to Mitch then to Sam and blinked.  ”You mean to tell me the kids you meant aren’t human but a bunch of fur balls that barely reach the height of my ankles?”

             
Sam continued her glare, refusing to see the hilarity of the situation.

             
Mitch, however, chuckled.  ”Sam hasn’t given me any real grandkids, but she’s given me these little rugrats and they’re a blast to be around.”

             
“You got anything else to say?” she snapped, sounding bitchy and full of attitude, her arms still across her chest and trying to maintain her glare, but he could see that her features softened a bit.

             
“Yeah, I do.”  Alex bent down, picking up both pups, one in each hand, and walked up to her, hoping to use them to soften her even more.  He got up, toe-to-toe with her, completely in her space, leaned in a kissed her lips (in front of Mitch) and whispered, “I’m sorry.”

             
Her facial features changed and he could see that she tried to maintain her anger (and quickly losing it because of her babies), she remarked, “You’re buying me lunch and dessert.  A big dessert!  With lots of ice cream and whip cream and cherries!”

             
He shifted Buttons to the same arm he had Cuddles (as they squirmed and bit the sleeves of his Henley) and used his free arm to wrap around her waist, pressing her against him.  

             
“Baby, you can have whatever you want...,” leaned in closer and whispered, “...and more.”

             
And more. 

Her anger immediately disappeared and now he knew she felt something more… pleasant from her shifting in his arms.

              Her eyes dropped down to his lips and the only thing he could think of was how much he wanted her to wrap her lips around his cock and suck him until he came deep in her mouth. 

             
He heard Mitch clearing his throat as he slowly made his way back to the house, but not before he caught the satisfied smirk on his face.  ”I’ll catch you later.  I’m going fishing.  You kids behave.”

             
Sam rolled her eyes and replied, “Don’t worry, they will.”

             
“I wasn’t talking about Buttons and Cuddles.”

             
Oh lord.

*******

              “I meant to ask you something,” Sam asked as she saw Conrad’s familiar building coming up at a distance.  Puppy grunts filled the car as Buttons and Cuddles attacked a blanket that sat on the floor in the backseat.

             
“What?” Alex asked, his eyes still facing the road.

             
“Who was that guy from the fundraiser?”

             
His jaw clenched as he turned his head and glanced at her then turned his head back to the windshield.  “Who, Parker?”

             
Oh, Sam had forgotten about him.  She wasn’t referring about Cole, but it was a good thing he mentioned him because there seemed to be a lot of tension and anger between them, more from Alex than Cole.

             
Mental note: ask him about Cole (later).

             
She shook her head.  “I know who Cole is, sort of, based on the fact you ordered me to stay away from him.  I do want to know about him, too, later on.  But, I was referring to the other guy who helped search for the perp that night.  The same guy who was at Cozy’s this morning with you and Nick, said his name was Dean.”

             
He was hesitant for a while before he answered, “It wasn’t an order, Sam, more like a really strong suggestion.  I’ll tell you about Cole some other time.  As for the other guy, as you know, his name is Dean Sanders.  He and I have been friends since college.  He and I now work together.  And the other guy that was there, but more of the quiet one, was his brother, Sean.”

             
Damn, she had forgotten about him too.  It wasn’t like her to not notice these things, but she definitely needs to get back in her game.

             
“Call it whatever you want – it was an order to me.  And, you
work
together?  Yes, I’m aware of that since he said he was working there at Conrad also.”

             
His eyes flicked to hers.  “I don’t mean at Conrad, Sam.  We own a company together.”

             
It was her turn to face him and stare.  She waited a beat before she asked, “You own a company together?  What kind of company?  Doing what?  And, I thought you came back to be VP at Conrad.”

             
He turned to look at her.  With this, her gut told her there was more to it than just becoming VP. 

             
Much more.

             
“That’s just my cover, like yours,” he told her.

             
Sam was right.  This was news.

             
“Then, what is it that you do?”

             
“You really don’t know?”  She shook her head.  “Sam, I have my own company.  Dean and I are business partners.  He initially ran an investigation company.  My company was security.  We worked together on some cases when we needed others’ services.  We decided to join forces and become one company, providing all services for our clients.  This meant all our employees are available to do all jobs instead of focused only on a certain aspect.”

             
Her mouth was O-shaped as she shifted to face forward before she muttered, “Oh.”

             
“And, just so you’d know, Dad called me last week to run the case with you, thinking you might need help.”

             
She lost the interest in his company and her head turned to face him as her eyes narrowed.  “You mean he called you here so you can
babysit
me and make sure I stayed out of trouble with Maggie.”

             
“Something like that,” he muttered without turning to look at her.

             
She sighed.

             
He reached into his cup holder and handed her a business card.

             
She took it and read out loud.  “Alex Conrad.  CEO.  Conrad Security Investigations.”  She paused and turned her head to stare at him.

             
He must’ve felt the stare because he asked, “What?”

             
“C.S.I., really?”

             
He chuckled and shrugged as if that said it all.  “Coincidence.”

             
“How did you guys come to agree to use your last name instead of his?”

             
“Flipped a coin and won,” he told her as they did this sort of thing often.

             
Her lips twitched.  “You flipped a coin and won?”  He nodded.  “So if you had lost, than it would’ve been Sanders Security Investigations?”

             
“No, Sanders Investigations.  Mine was already Conrad Security Investigations.  We each kept our names when we flipped the coin.  Whoever won just got to keep their names on the letter head.  The other name got tossed out, or pushed aside.”

             
She turned back to face the road.  “Okay.  So, your office is New York?”

             
He nodded.  “Yeah, my office is in New York.”  

             
It was then that this was her one opportunity to ask him.  Each and every day for so long, she had assumed that she was the cause of it.  The one thing she had always wondered, why he left Comfort for New York.  She had to know, and she had to know now.

             
“Alex?” she called.

             
“Yeah.”

             
“Why did you leave Comfort?  Why did you go to New York?”

             
His answer was instant.  “Because I had a job waiting for me there.”

             
She slowly turned her head and blinked. 

             
He left Comfort for a job?  He left his family and friends for a job?  There weren’t any hidden messages or agendas with that.  He had a job waiting and he left.  Or was there something else that he wasn’t telling her, something that he was shielding from her?  Or maybe he had another woman waiting for him over there.  It could’ve been other things that he wasn’t telling her.

             
Panic crept up her from over-thinking this and she felt it cross her face, but she tried her hardest not to let it appear on her.

             
He must’ve sensed the look across her face because it was then he spoke.  “It’s not what you’re thinking, Sam.”  His voice was calm and soft and she could hear that there was something in his voice, something in him that he needed to tell her.

             
She slowly took in a huge breath and slowly exhaled.  “Okay, then explain it to me.”

             
“I didn’t leave home or my family… or you… out of the blue, although it does seem like it.  School just wasn’t my thing.  I talked to Dad about it and he said he supported me with whatever decision I decided.  And during that time, I decided that school wasn’t my thing so I dropped out.  That same day Dean gets a call from one of his friends that they needed a few guys to work for them.  Top pay.  You make your own hours.  Work as little or as much as you want.  From that alone, who wouldn’t want that kind of job.  Figured I’d give that a try.  If I didn’t like it, I could always come back home and work for Dad or find something else.  Next day, Dean and I are headed to New York.  Worked it for a few months and found out I liked it, I really liked it.  Somewhere about two and a half years later, I got out and started doing security of all sorts, surveillance room, bodyguard, you name it, we did it.  Dean got out about two months after I did and started his group up.  Started working together from the very beginning.  A year later, we sat it over peanuts and beer one night and decided to join forces.  Six years later, I’m back home.”

             
Sam was trying her hardest to process this new information.  The fact that he had spoken with George first regarding his decision shouldn’t have surprised her (but it did).  Then it was the other fact that Maggie never told her that Alex did any talking with George in the first place and had considered leaving.