Claiming What's His (22 page)

             
“I want to be able to pay my way around without having anyone take care of me.  I’ve managed to do that since I was sixteen and started working and it’s worked out fine so far.  You know that.”

             
Being able to pay her own way meant a lot to Sam.  She wanted to be independent and not rely on others to take care of her, something she had managed to do since she was sixteen.  It had taken every fiber in her to push herself to start and she wasn’t caving.  The three-months’ paid rent from her dad didn’t count because it was a ‘gift.’

             
And Sam was not caving.

             
“Fine, whatever.  Do what you must, but stop to think about this.  You know that he does what he does because he loves you.  He always have.  You’re it for him.”

             
With that, Maggie picked up her stuff and walked out.

*******

              She had been in a grumpy mood since she and Alex had their argument over the rent issue and she wasn’t backing down.  He even had Maggie try to convince her not to pay.  There was no way that Sam was
not
going to pay him.  She wasn’t his responsibility.  Just because he declared that she was his girlfriend didn’t mean that she was going to take advantage of that.  She never took advantage of anything.  She never took advantage of anyone.  She just hoped that Alex would be able to understand one day.

             
Love or not, that didn’t have anything to do with it.  It was the principal behind it.

             
On top of that, it didn’t help that Maggie said he loved her
before
the man said it himself.  She didn’t need relationship issues to mess with her head right now.

             
But, no matter how mad she was at him, she couldn’t stay mad long. 

             
Looking back at their past she was never really mad at Alex.  She was hurt.  They always had that open relationship to where they were able to saying anything to one another.  And even now, it was still the same.  She knew that there’s still stuff to be worked out between them, but it’s more about her and not him.

             
It was dark outside by the time Alex returned to pick her up and drive her home.  As they walked in, he went directly to the couch and laid down, turning the TV on.  His eyes had been on her when she dropped her stuff on the table.  She looked at him for a beat then turned and headed straight for the room.

             
She got ready for bed, pulled back the sheets and slid in.  She lay there and thought if she had taken this situation out of proportion.  She didn’t see anything wrong.  She just wanted to do things on her own without anyone’s help.  But, she supposed there wouldn’t be anything wrong if he helped out (if he really wanted to).

             
Later during the night, she felt the bed move and she knew Alex slid into bed.

             
It was weird that he wasn’t touching her.  He was the one who always did the touching and she was used to it.  She hated to admit it, but she liked it.  And she missed it.

             
Perhaps, he was still mad about the whole situation. 

             
One way to find out.

Sam sighed and asked, “Are you still mad at me?”

He was silent, and then he sighed loudly.  He turn on his side, hooked an arm around her body, pulling her side to his front.  He buried his face in her hair and muttered, “No.”

Finally.
  Her body melted into his.

Then she began to explain, “Since I was able to work, I’ve been taking care of my own stuff without Dad’s help, school tuition not included.  But, with the shopping and make-up and phone bill, I paid for it all and I’ve been doing it for so long that I’m used to it.  Now you come in and want to change everything and I don’t know if I can accept that big of a change right now.  It’s too big, too fast.”

“I get what you’re saying, but I still hold my earlier statement when I said I take care of you.”

She shook her head.  “But, with your way, it’s all or nothing, except in this case, it’s all.”

“Fine, but you realize you’re doing the same thing.”

He had a point.

“But –”

“How about an alternate solution?
  How about I don’t take your rent, but you swap services for me instead?” he offered.

She turned in his arms to face him and narrowed her eyes.  “What do you mean?”

His arms moved further around her and he pulled her closer to him, bringing her leg over his hips and sliding his hand over to her ass.  “Each time I need you, I call upon you and we work together.  Services swapped.”

“But that doesn’t tell me when or even if you’ll use me.  How is that fair?”

“That’s my only other alternate, Sam.  You take this one or I don’t take anything at all.”

“This isn’t fair.”

His eyes scanned her face before he rolled his upper body to his back, bringing the hand that rested on her ass up to his eyes and clipped, “Fuck.  Most women I know would be thrilled they didn’t have to pay for something like this.  Of course, I end up in love with the one opposite of that.  One who’s stubborn and argumentative.”

Did he just
said he
loved
her?

Sam jerked up to her elbows and gasped, “What did you say?”

His eyes sliced to hers and they lost its irritation.  Instead of answering her, he said, “Choose, Sam.  No rent or services exchanged.”

She remained quiet while she stared into his eyes.  She knew she wasn’t hearing things; she knew what she heard but yet, he hadn’t repeated those words to her.  But, she knew how he felt (even without the words) because she felt the same way.  However, she wasn’t going to say them first.

She inhaled a deep breath and replied, “Services.”

“Right.
” And he moved to strip her naked and do other things that didn’t require her to do a single thing except scream.

*******

              “Maybe we could discuss what exact this is that we’re doing,” Sam asked as she traced the ridges of his chest muscle.

             
“You mean the fact that you’re naked in my arms?” Alex replied with humor.

             
She slapped his chest that earned her a chuckle.  She felt the rumble of his laugh traveling through her cheeks down to her core and she loved it.

             
“You know that’s what I’m not talking about.”

             
He dipped his down and looked at her.  “What about what we’re doing?”

             
She tipped her head back to look at him.  “What is this exactly, between us?  I mean, you stole my keys from me without telling me or asking me.  I’m assuming there’s something behind that.  And then you negotiate with me on my rent…”

“Exactly what it
is, an us.  There’s you and me, me and you, however you want to put it.  Although technically, you’ve been mine since the first day we’ve met.”

             
Sam got up to her elbows and glanced down at him, her hair falling off her shoulder in a soft, loose curl.

             
“The first day we met was the day we became enemies so that was highly unlikely that I was yours, even back then when we were always finding some way to get back at one another,” she pointed out.

             
His lips twitched for a moment for it relaxed.  “Fine, I’ll give you that.  Then let’s work with something more recent.  You’ve been mine since the first day I came back.”

             
She started, “The first night you were here was to discuss the case –”

             
“Which was what I told you, but what I really wanted to do was make up for the last six years I’ve been gone and pretend we were never apart.  Then bury myself so far deep in you that you wouldn’t be able to walk for a week,” he finished.

             
Damn.  Seriously, what do you say to that?  And was it bad that she wanted to jump him right there and then?

             
But, instead of accepting it as is, she continued to power through.  “If I had to guess the start of this relationship, it would’ve just been the first night we had sex –”

             
“Which was two days ago,” he pointed out.

             
Oh, the memory of their first time together came flooding back, the way he took her over and over and over again throughout the next.

             
“So it was,” she mumbled.

             
His head shook.  “Nah.  That first night works for me.  At least it gives me a reason for all those other times I groped you, outside during the fundraiser, after the fundraiser on your couch when Maggie, Nat, and Char caught us  –”

             
She rolled to her back and threw her hand in the air.  “Okay, fine!  That first night it is, jeez.  Actually this may be a good thing since Dad repeatedly saw you with your grimy paws all over me.  This would give him a reason not to castrate you.”

             
He rolled and came over her, his hand coming up to stroke her jaw.  He grinned.  “Do you really think he’d castrate me if that meant he couldn’t have real grandkids?”

             
She sighed.  “Probably not, since he’s been secretly pushing for grandkids.” 

             
“Speaking of kids, how many do you want?”

             
She tensed.  Kids?  Why was he mentioning kids now when they
barely
finished talking about their very
new
relationship?  Was he ready for kids before marriage?  Did he want to get married?  If he did, when?

             
He must have sensed her tension when his arms tightened around her waist and dragged her further up his body so that they were eye to eye.

             
“Sam, it was just a question.  I’m not looking to knock you up in the next day or so.  I just wanted to see for sure if kids were in your future because I really want kids, however many you give me.  I want a mini-you or a mini-me running around, driving us crazy each and every day of our lives.  If not, I’m fine with it too, just as long as I have you with me.”

             
Shit. 

             
Now she was going to cry. 

             
And she did.

             
A tear escaped the side of her eye and ran down her cheeks.  She buried her face in his neck where she cried for a short time. 

             
Sucking in a deep breath, she mustered, “I want kids.”

             
He smiled, kissed her head and settled.  “Good.  Sleep, baby.”

             
She fell asleep that night with a smile on her face and thought that there was hope for her yet.

              Sam’s body was tucked next to Alex, her front to his side and her arms sprawled over his abs with one leg thrown over his.

             
The alarm went off. 

             
She shifted to her stomach and stretched out her hand to press the snooze button.  She stayed in this position, nearly hanging off the edge of the bed.  She felt Alex move as he rolled and threw his arm over her back.  He stayed this way until the alarm went off again.

             
She reached up and tagged the snooze button again.

             
“What time is it?” Alex murmured in his sexy, sleepy, rumbly voice against her back.

             
“Five ten,” she muttered as she wiped the drool that she thought dripped down the side of her mouth.

             
“Time to get up.”  And he moved, throwing cover back.

             
But she did not.  She stayed exactly where she was.

             
“Nope, I still have two more snoozes to push and I refuse to get up any sooner.”

             
Sam felt his gaze on her.  She was pretty sure he thought there may be something wrong with her but she didn’t care.  She liked her sleep and she was going to get as much of it as possible.  Then she felt the sheets move to her waist.

             
He swept hair off her shoulders and kissed her there.  “Why don’t you just get up now?”

             
“Because I don’t have to and I don’t want to.”  She really wished he’d stop talking.  The sooner he quit, the sooner she could dose off before the alarm went off again.

             
“Then why don’t you just set your alarm for five-thirty.”

“Because I perfected my routine from college and I don’t want to break or change it, now be quiet.”

              “Okay.  It is a little early, even for you.  When happens when you wake up at five thirty?”

             
“Workout.”

             
“I could give you a workout… now.”

             
Her eyes flew open and she saw him staring down at her from the corner of her eye, grinning.

             
“Don’t tease me when I’m still half asleep.”

He gripped her hips firmly, falling to his back and rolling her on top of him, his erection pressed between them.  He pulled her lips down to his and muttered, “Who said anything about teasing?”

*******

             
Her eyes had been twitching non-stop since the moment she got out of bed. 

             
This meant only one thing: something bad was going to happen. 

             
Or something good. 

             
According to the old wives’ tales, if the left eye twitched, something bad was going to happen.  If it was the right, then something good was going to happen.  This was both eyes so both good and bad was bound to happen today.

             
Alex parked the car in the parking garage and they walked across the street to Cozy’s, or more like he dragged her across the street since she was tired from their activity not long ago. 

             
Just as they stepped up the curb, Dom shouted her name from inside the garage, waving her over.

             
Sam walked up and saw Betty’s hood opened.  Usually when her hood was opened and she was there, it was bad news.  Always bad news.

             
“I got bad news, Sam,” Dom announced.

             
See!  The eye twitching!

             
She groaned.  “What is it this time?  Water pump?  Carborator?  A potato stuck in the exhaust pipe again?”

             
“It’s the whole engine.  The car is so old and used up that everything needs to be replaced.  And I never understood how that potato got stuck in there in the first place.”

             
She ignored the potato comment.  “
What!
  That’s gonna cost more than an arm and a leg and I don’t have any other limbs to spare, let alone the ones I have now that I need!”  Now she was shouting and she didn’t care.  This concerned the well-being of her car after all.

             
“I’m sorry.  Your only options are to replace all parts which will be expensive as hell because it’s gonna be special order parts since most manufacturers don’t keep old models around.”

             
She sighed and groaned again. 

             
“And the other option?”  She asked exasperatedly but she already knew the answer, hoping that there was another solution.  She really didn’t want to do that other thing that everyone kept insisting she did.

             
“Buy a new car.”

             
And there was the
bad
.

             
Sam gasped. 

             
I knew it
, she thought.  Just the thought of looking at another car was insulting to her and Betty.  Sam couldn’t imagine doing that… at least not yet. 

             
“She’s sitting right there!” she hissed as she pointed to her car.

             
He shook his head, lips twitching as he looked to his grease-covered shoes as if they somehow fascinated him.  “Just get a new car, Sam.  You’ll save more money in the long run and the new car will last you a while before it has to go in the shop like this.  If you keep Betty, she’ll be back here the next day, maybe next week if you’re lucky.”

             
He was right.  She knew he was right.  She didn’t want him to be right.  And she was not going to admit it.

             
Sam sighed then grumbled, “Fine.  I’ll get a new car.”

             
“I’ll take you to go look at some cars tonight,” Alex volunteered.

             
“No, I don’t want to go tonight.  I’ll go online and do research on what I like, then we’ll go look.”

             
“Fine,” Alex agreed. 

             
This was the bad beyond bad that happened to Sam.  Now, the good better be far beyond good to make this up.

             
She stomped away from the garage, heading next door to Cozy’s for an
extra
, extra-large coffee, hoping that her cup of coffee made her morning better than it was already going.

             
What she missed was the silent communication between Dom and Alex as they did chin lifts to one another.

*******

              With her morning grumpiness fading and her extra large coffee in her system, she was in full power mode, whizzing through the finance reports, month after month, finding a few small discrepancies and making notes. 

             
Then she found one that caught her eye:  a few hotels nights stay in Dallas. 

             
If memory served her correctly, Conrad didn’t have any offices in that area.  At least she didn’t think so.

             
The door flying open startled her as Maggie poked her head in and smiled.  “Hey you.  How’s it going?  You’re in here all the time and leaving me outside all by myself.”

             
“Would you like me to leave the door open so you could yell inside?” Sam asked as she rolled her eyes.

             
“Would you?”  Sam wasn’t sure if Maggie caught the sarcasm or not but she didn’t seem to care even if she did.  “Found anything yet?”

             
“I think I may have found something.  Out of curiosity, do you guys have an office in Dallas?” she asked.

             
“We have a small office, about half the size of ours across the street.  They’re a sales office.  Why?”

             
“I found hotel charges for the Dallas area.  Would anyone have any reason to go there?”

             
Maggie thought for a moment she answered, “Not that I’m aware of.  Only Uncle George maybe, but he hasn’t gone anywhere recently.”

             
Sam nodded, biting on the tip of the highlighter.  She then dropped the highlighter and picked the pen up to make more notes.

             
“Where’s Alex?” Maggie asked.

             
Sam looked up and replied, “I think across the street at the other office with Corey.”

             
Maggie glanced down at her watch.  “It’s time for lunch.  Wanna go?”

             
“Yes!  I’ve been looking at numbers all day and I think I’m going to get cross-eyed.”

             
Maggie laughed.

             
They took the elevator down to the first floor and walked out to find the most beautiful car Sam had ever seen.  Her mouth gaped open and she didn’t realize it.  She was so mesmerized that she didn’t know Maggie had spoken to her until she felt a nudge to her side.

             
“Sam!”

             
Snapping out of her hazy dreamland, she snipped, “What?”

             
“Stop drooling.  It isn’t your car.  Plus, you’re betraying Betty.”

             
“I know it’s not my car.  And Dom said that Betty can’t be revived so I should get a new car.  So technically I’m not betraying.  But, can’t I just gaze and admire from a distance?”

             
Alex walked out of the building and shook hands with the truck driver while they carried a short conversation. 

             
Maggie and Sam turned their heads to look at each other then darted across the street.

             
When they were a few feet from Alex, Maggie shouted, “Alex, whose car is this?”

             
Alex turned his head and smiled.  “Mine.”

             
“Yours?” they asked at the same time in shock.

             
“Yeah.  Nice, huh?” he asked with a wink.

             
“Oh… my… God!  That’s the hottest car I’ve ever seen!” Sam nearly shrieked in excitement.

             
“Better than Betty?” he teased, wagging his brow.

             
She partially lost her excitement and narrowed her eyes.  “Hey!  Don’t bring up Betty, even if it’s true.  I have to give her a proper funeral and send her to car heaven.  What is it anyways?”

             
“It’s the 2014 Chevy Corvette Stingray.”

             
The Chevy Corvette Stingray.

             
Drool.

             
“Are you getting rid of the Suburban?” Sam asked.

             
“Nope.”

             
Her left brow went up.  “So you’re going to have two cars?”

             
“One for work, one for fun.”

             
“One for work and one for fun?” she repeated slowly as if that would help her comprehend what he just said.

             
“Yeah.  You should do that too.”

             
“Let me get right on that,” she said sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

             
He chuckled.

             
The truck guy lowered the car to the ground, handed a clipboard for Alex to sign and gave him the keys.  He then got in the truck and drove off, all while she and Maggie watched.

             
“Wanna go for a spin?” he asked.

             
Her eyes widened with excitement as she breathed, “Seriously?”

             
He chuckled.  “Yeah, why not?”

             
“You guys go.  I’ll go grab some sandwiches down the street.  You guys want?” Maggie offered.

             
“Yes, I’m starving, but I want to ride in the Stingray.”  Sam turned to Alex.  “You want?”

             
“Yeah.  Surprise me.”

             
“You’re paying.” Maggie replied sweetly, holding her hand out for money from Alex.

             
Without hesitation, he pulled out his wallet and handed her a hundred dollar bill. 

             
“Stores don’t take any bills larger than a twenty.”

             
“That’s all I’ve got.  You can give it –”