Claiming What's His (33 page)

             
“Look at you all smart and all,” he teased as he walked up to her and pulled her into his arms.

             
“Yeah, you better watch out.  I’m the big, bad PI in town.”

             
He dipped his head closer.  “This town is big enough to share.  You willing to do that?”

             
She pulled her head back and stared at him.  “Does that mean you’re moving here?” She asked, her voice soft, sounding hopeful.

             
“I already am.” 

             
And he shut her up by kissing her.

             
She supposed that the decision was just that simple.

*******

              Sam and Alex walked from the parking lot and saw that the grounds surrounding the convention center had transformed into a carnival-themed park of fun. 

             
Early that day they had gotten word that the checks to H&S Properties were already cashed but they hadn’t yet been cleared.  In another day or two, they would then know who was involved in the embezzlement. 

             
She had learned that during Alex’s errand run with Dean, they had been talking about moving the office from New York to Comfort.  Alex said that Dean was already on board and liked the town enough to make the big move. 

             
Sam wondered if the move had anything to do with a certain mom and her son.  But that would be Char’s story to tell her which Sam would coax it out of her real soon.

             
The games had already begun and this was one of their local events (which every now and then, the same out-of-towners showed from the fundraiser a month ago).

             
Before, they left the condo, Sam and Alex had gotten into a fight about whether she should wear her new engagement ring. 

             
Sam didn’t think she should, claiming she was afraid she would lose it (although, it was more like not wanting to draw attention to herself and announce to the whole Comfort community that she was finally getting hitched).

             
Alex, on the other hand, thought it was a great idea to show the world that Sam was taken (and she was sure it was to shove it in other people’s faces and prove his claim).

             
After about forty minutes of bickering, kissing, clothes ripping, and hot sex, Alex won which was the reason why they were late to the festivities.

             
Sam was taking in all the fun everyone was having when a familiar voice she hadn’t heard from in a while snapped her out of her enchantment.

             
“I heard you and Alex are engaged.  Finally.” Sam turned around as she rolled her eyes when they landed on Mitch, his eyes elated and his grin plastered on his face as if it was permanently tattooed on.

             
Finally
engaged?

             
What was that supposed to mean?

             
“What do you mean,
finally
?  Were you
expecting
this to happen?  You make it sound as if we’ve been together for years and now I’m finally taking the plunge,” Sam asked incredulously.

             
“Of course I am.  You two may not have been together in the physical sense, but I always knew I wanted you with him.  He’s a good man and he’ll take care of you.  Plus, I’m not getting any younger.  I want some grandbabies running around on my land while I sit on the front porch smoking my cigar, watching them play in the sandbox together.”

             
Oh boy. 

             
Mitch was already having mental images of fake grandchildren roaming this yard while he watched.  This wasn’t a good sign.

             
“Dad, you don’t smoke cigars,” she pointed out.

             
“Well, I could once I have something to smoke about.”

             
Sam sighed. 

             
Instead of continuing the exasperated conversation with Mitch, she looked around for Maggie while Alex stayed close by, talking to Dean about baseball or golf or whatever sport it was.

             
Sam had found her talking to some guy, tall, lean, blonde hair, wearing a hunter green polo shirt and khaki slacks.  They seem to be seriously engaging in a private conversation.  She was only able to see the back of his head, but he still had a nice head.  She found that every few seconds he’d find some way to touch her and she’d do the same, though Maggie’s touching was more frequent.  It almost seemed as if they were dating, but Sam knew that couldn’t be the case because if it was, then Maggie would have told her.

             
Or would she?

             
Sam watched as Old Man Samson made his way across the lawn and climbed the stairs on the side of the stage and walked across to where the microphone stood.  He wore an all-white suit with a pale pink shirt and a pink handkerchief sticking out of his blazer pocket.              He reminded Sam of the Kentucky Fried Chicken man but with a beard and a cane.

             
“Welcome to our annual Fourth of July celebration where we celebrate our nation’s birthday with our family and friends.”  The crowded erupted with claps, hoots and hollers as he continued.   “Let’s start this celebration off with our beauty pageant.  Here are this year’s lovely contestants.”

             
One by one, the contestants came out and made their way through the side doors as the crowd cheered and whistled the catcalls.  Each year family members volunteered their teenage daughters, sisters, granddaughters, and goddaughters to participate in the annual beauty pageants.

             
Ten years ago Sam and Maggie both were bribed to participate in the pageant.  Maggie was promised an unlimited shopping spree.  Sam was promised her handgun which she got ten years later
after
she finished college. 

             
That was the year that Maggie won because Sam had purposely botched her self-tanning spray the night before and came in with orangey-brown skin and she frizzed and teased her hair until it was like Mary Shelley’s hair, times ten.  She looked like oompa loompa’s long lost cousin in a bikini with an afro.

             
If that hadn’t been enough, Sam rigged the sprinkler system and made it go off every fifteen minutes and took full responsibility, getting disqualified from the pageant.

             
Maggie was angry that Sam didn’t even try and that she got her hair wet, George got upset that the water got his new Porsche wet (since he had left the roof down), and Mitch had a good laugh even though he was soaking wet.

             
They were over it within the next week.

             
Winning Comfort’s Fourth of July pageant wasn’t like winning those beauty pageants on TV like Miss USA or Miss Universe.  Contestants won a thousand dollar college scholarship (it’s decreased down to two hundred if the winner didn’t go to college) and contestants did not have to travel and do charity work all over the world.  The only thing they mostly got was a discount to local stores for a year which wasn’t bad.  Maggie and Sam had taken advantage of Maggie’s crowning year to its fullest.

             
Over the years, the contestants’ ages decreased because as a citizen of Comfort, there were so many teenage girls used for the beauty pageants.  And, the one rule they always abide by was that the contestants cannot participate two consecutive years (in the case that the same person could win two years in a row). 

             
For the past five years, the committee allowed contestants from the nearby counties to participate but with a special fee (on top of the application fee) to pay because they were not a citizen of Comfort.

             
As the girls made their way out, Sam only recognized a few faces, one of them being Mandy Thomas and another being Missy Stanton, prestigious lawyer Henry Stanton’s daughter and Mandy’s nemesis (according to gossip).

             
Strong arms slipped through her from behind and held her in a tight embrace, pulling her back to a body she was very familiar with.

             
Alex shifted her hair back with his chin and rested it on her shoulders.  “Miss me?”

             
“Not really.  Besides, weren’t you only gone for like two minutes?” she asked.

             
“Something like that.  Let’s go play some games and win you a big panda bear.”

             
Before Sam could answer, he dragged her to the intermix of games and started playing.

*******

              Half an hour later, Alex didn’t win her a big panda bear.

             
He won her a yellow Minion!

             
Sam loved those little yellow guys and their gibberish language.  She had seen the movie
Despicable Me
so many times that she could clearly recite all the lines in the movie.  Pathetic.  But, it was all fun for her.  She was twenty-five and she didn’t care that she still watched cartoons.

             
As they approached the basketball station, Alex turned to her and stated, “Let’s make this interesting.  You versus me.  If you beat me, I’ll do whatever you want for a week.  If I win, you do whatever I want for a week.”

             
Sam raised her brow.  “Let me get this straight.  If I win, you do want I want for a week and if you win, same goes for you.”

             
“You got it.”

             
Hmm, she could use that time to have him stay away from her for a week and then secretly move far, far away where he couldn’t find her.  Maybe more of find an apartment across town.  She shouldn’t be dramatic and move
that
far away.  She did have Mitch to think about.

             
Or, she could use that time and work on the case alone without him constantly with her.

             
Alex saw a smile slowly crept up as she blinked and muttered, “Deal.”

             
This would be interesting.  It had been a few months since he played but ever since high school, he and the guys managed to play basketball every weekend (mostly to sweat up a storm to get girls back then), but now with their schedules, they only had time to play once a month (if they were lucky).  Since being here in Comfort, he had the opportunity to play one-on-one with Dean a few times.

             
Now with this bet, there were so many things he wanted to do to Sam, in and out of bed.  Many ideas drifted in and out of his head.

             
The fake coach who manned the station double-blew his whistle and nearly shouted, “Alright, you two.  It’s simple.  You have thirty seconds to get as many balls in the hoop as possible.  The one with the most baskets win.  Are you ready?”

*******

              Alex and Sam both held their position, their hands extended out getting ready to grab a basketball.

             
His heartbeat slowly increased awaiting the anticipation of their competition against each other.

             
Fake coach blew his whistle and they were off.

             
Reaching to grab a ball and shot it at the hoop.  First ball, good.

             
He repeated the shot.  Second ball, good.

             
He did it again.  Third ball, failed.

             
Fuck!

             
His heart pounded as he noticed out of the corner of his eye that Sam hadn’t missed a shot yet.

             
Each shot going through one after another.

             
And he had already missed one.

             
Shit.

             
He was the one who made the bet.  He had plans for her.  Specific plans.  Plans that included a few days of doing nothing but staying in bed and her screaming his name.  Maybe he would allow her to get up every now and then to eat, only so she could keep up her strength with everything he had in mind.

             
He
could not
lose.

             
The clock was ticking and his heart beat faster praying that she would miss a shot that would give him a chance to catch up.  So, far, she hadn’t missed one.

             
With a quick glance, he had five seconds left, four, three, two…

             
“Fuck!”

             
Someone behind them angrily shouted, “
Fuck!
  Where’s the box of money?  Someone stole the money box!”