Pierced: Pierced Trilogy Boxed Set (50 page)

I get out of the Charger and walk around to open her door. As she’s climbing out of the car, I look up and spot Mr. Martin pulling up in his black Sedan. He takes up a position across the street from the house and turns off his car as I take Samantha by the hand and lead her to the front door of the house. I glance his way and nod an acknowledgment of his presence, and he returns the gesture while Sam remains oblivious to the exchange.

When we reach the door I glance back and notice that Paul’s minivan is already here but, I don’t see Phillip’s car. When I open the door and usher Samantha inside, I can hear Paul Jr. yelling at the football game on TV and my nervousness returns. This is really happening. I’ve actually brought a girl to Sunday dinner to meet my family.

Taking a deep breath and still holding Samantha’s hand, I lead her into the living room where my uncle and cousin are sitting watching the game. They both look up when we walk in.

“Hey, Josh.”

“Hey, Paul. How you doing?” I nod to my cousin.

“Josh,” my uncle says, waving his one good arm in my direction. It’s difficult for him to speak sometimes and he doesn’t really have control over that arm. I step over to him and take his hand.

“Hey, Uncle Paulie, how you doing?” I smile at him.

“Good.” He smiles back at me and then motions to Sam.

I take her by the hand again and introduce them. “This is Samantha. My girlfriend.”

I can see that my words take her by surprise, and I’m suddenly worried that I may have overstepped my bounds. She blinks at me and blushes slightly. Then smiles at my uncle, taking his hand.

“Hello, it’s nice to meet you.”

“You’re … lovely,” Uncle Paul manages, and Sam blushes more.

“Thank you,” she says softly, nervously tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear.

Paul Jr. stands and walks over to us. “Samantha, is it?” he asks, extending his hand, and I can see the appraising glint in his light brown eyes.

“Yes, hello,” Sam says, taking his hand.

“This is my cousin, Paul Jr.,” I tell her.

“The fireman,” she says in recognition.

“Oh, I see my reputation precedes me,” he says, jokingly flirting with her.

“Hey … don’t mack on my girl. I’m standing right here,” I smile at him. “Where’s your wife anyway?”

“She’s in the kitchen with the women folk,” he smiles. “It’s nice to meet you, Samantha.”

I take Sam’s hand and lead her from the living room, through the swinging wood door into the kitchen where mom and Aunt Celeste are busy putting the finishing touches on dinner, while Paul’s wife, Pam sits burping the baby.

“Hi, Josh,” Pam greets me with a smile, and Mom looks up anxiously.

“Hey, Pam,” I return her greeting and glance back at Mom, equally anxious. She walks away from the stove, wiping her hands on her apron, and comes over to where we stand in the middle of the kitchen. As she does, I realize that Samantha is squeezing my hand tightly.

“Hi, honey.” Mom’s smile is broad but her voice is full of nervous energy, and I’m sure the tension in this room could be cut with a knife right now.

“Hey, Mom,” I say, kissing her on the cheek.

“You must be Samantha,” Mom says, smiling at her.

“Yes,” Sam answers with a nervous smile.

“My goodness, you’re pretty! And it is so nice to meet you properly,” Mom says, grabbing Sam’s hand. “And, sweetie, I really want to apologize for what happened yesterday. That was all my fault. We have a bad habit in this family of just walking right in without ringing a doorbell. But I promise you, that will never happen again, okay?”

Sam is blushing pale pink right now and I don’t think she quite knows what to say, so I come to her rescue.

“Look, why don’t the three of us just try to move past yesterday and start all over, all right?” I say, looking at both of them.

“Yes! Absolutely. Let’s just put it behind us and start fresh,” Mom agrees and Sam smiles, nodding her agreement. Mom takes over introductions then. “Samantha, this is my big sister, Celeste.”

“Oh, will you cut the big sister crap. Four minutes! I’m four minutes older, she’s been rubbing it in my face all our lives that she’s younger and prettier than I am,” Celeste tells Sam with a smile and a roll of her eyes.

“Age before beauty, Celeste. Everyone knows that,” Mom says tauntingly, and Samantha giggles at them. Mom continues with the introductions as she turns to Pam. “And this is Celeste’s lovely daughter-in-law, Pamela. And that handsome devil in her arms is little Paul Jacob Downing III. Everyone, this is Josh’s girlfriend, Samantha.”

The atmosphere in the kitchen lightens tremendously then as Sam is welcomed by the ladies and I can feel her lingering anxiety melt away as we stand around the island and chat. Aunt Celeste, of course, wants to know all about how we met and it’s a topic that neither Sam nor I want to think too much about today. I don’t want Sam to dwell on her stalker issues right now. I want her to relax and have a good time. So, I keep it simple and tell Celeste that we met while I was working on an assault case. I don’t tell her that the case was Samantha’s and really, it’s none of her business anyway.

The conversation is light and probing as Sam comments on how great dinner smells, and Mom and Aunt Celeste pepper Sam with questions about her ability in the kitchen. They’re happily surprised when Sam says she loves to cook and I see my mom’s questioning glance in my direction. She wants to know what the daughter of a billionaire is doing cooking her own meals but, she won’t ask, and I chuckle at her. She gets sidetracked when Sam says that she’s always wanted to learn how to make fresh pasta and they are off and running, Mom and Aunt Celeste insisting that is really easy and so much better for you and tastier than anything you could buy in a store.

“We should get together in the kitchen sometime, Samantha. I would be happy to teach you how to make homemade pasta,” Mom says.

“Really? I would love that, Mrs. Pierce,” Sam gushes.

“Oh, honey, please call me Olivia.” They smile at each other and I can tell that my mom seems impressed by Samantha. She’s not the empty-headed princess that Mom was expecting.

“Well, Josh, I know that Samantha has cooked for you at least once so … what’s her specialty?” Mom asks, putting me on the spot instead of Sam.

I smile as I think about all the meals Sam has cooked for me. “Mmm, I don’t know if it’s her specialty or not but, she makes damn fine steak,” I say looking at Samantha appraisingly and she smiles back at me. “Oh, and her homemade vegetable soup is out of this world!”

“Really?” Sam says, and she sounds surprised.

“Yes, really,” I answer her softly, smiling as her green eyes sparkle at me. “Did you think I ate two bowls just to be polite?” She smiles shyly at me, blushing as she chews on her bottom lip.

As I turn away with a goofy grin, I catch Mom watching us intently, a strange expression on her face. She looks away nervously when she sees that she’s been caught.

“How old is he?” Sam asks suddenly, watching Pamela with the baby.

“He’s five months old,” Pam answers, brushing her dark red hair out of her eyes.

“Josh says you and Paul tried for a long time?”

“About three years,” Pam replies. “There for a while, it was nothing but ovulation charts and hysterical tears every time the stick didn’t turn blue. Finally, we just gave up. Stopped trying. We talked about IVF and adoption but, both options are just so expensive. But then … just when I thought I’d go nuts from the stress of it all, there he was! This little guy saved mommy’s sanity, didn’t you?”

Sam smiles compassionately at her as she lightly tugs on the baby’s foot.

“Would you like to hold him for a minute while I go to the bathroom?”

“Sure,” Sam smiles brightly, and I watch as Pam gently hands over the cooing baby. He’s sucking on a pacifier and looking around with big light brown eyes, just like Paul’s. But he’s got a light dusting of his mother’s dark red hair on his head. He’s a cute kid, I guess.

Pam heads off to the bathroom and all is quiet in the kitchen for a moment, and I watch as Sam lightly strokes the baby’s hair. She looks as if she’s fascinated with him, and I am fascinated by her as I watch.

“You look like a real natural there, Samantha,” Mom says softly, a knowing smile on her face. “That little boy seems very content in your arms.”

Sam blushes softly, right on cue, and for some reason I don’t fully understand, Mom’s words make me uncomfortable. What is she implying?

While my mind is busy trying to figure that one out, Phillip and his girlfriend finally arrive and, after a few more introductions, everyone moves into the large dining room where Mom and Aunt Celeste have already set the table. Uncle Paul is seated at the head of the table in his wheelchair and Aunt Celeste sits by his side so that she can feed him while she also eats her own dinner. Mom is at the other end of the table and Samantha sits to her right and then me.

The conversation is lively as Mom and Aunt Celeste want to hear about how things are going in all their boy’s lives. So, over a hearty dinner of capellini with meat sauce, Phillip tells us how his store is doing and how they’re already preparing for the upcoming holiday season. His girlfriend, Sherry, lets it slip that Phil is being considered for some big promotion that would put him in charge of not just one, but three stores in his district. She makes it sound like it’s a really big deal, although Phillip downplays it, and Aunt Celeste gushes over him. Freaking momma’s boy.

Paul Jr. regales us with tales of a recent apartment fire downtown that’s been all over the news for the past couple of days. The twenty-story building burned to the ground but, not before the firefighters put many of their own lives in jeopardy in order to get everyone out safely. I shake my head as I listen to him talk.

“I just don’t get it, man,” I tell him, setting my fork down. “What in God’s name would make an otherwise sane person want to run
into
a burning building to save someone else? Only a crazy ass person would do that shit!”

“Oh, here we go,” Paul Jr. smiles and gives an exaggerated wave of his hand. “And what kind of crazy fucker does it take to run around chasing bad guys with guns, possibly taking a chance on getting shot, getting jumped … people hate cops! But…”

“Everybody loves a fireman!”

The entire table joins in on this mantra and I chuckle. It’s a friendly argument that Paul Jr. and I have had since … well, forever. And the real truth of the matter is that, even though you couldn’t get us to swap professions for the world, we both have a huge amount of respect for the job the other does. Most police officers and firefighters would say the same. It’s an often symbiotic, sometimes grudging, mutual admiration society.

“Yeah, yeah,” I say with a sarcastic roll of my eyes and a smirk. And when I glance over at Samantha she is looking around the table and grinning. She smiles broadly at me and I don’t know what she’s thinking but, she appears to be enjoying our banter.

“What about you, Josh?” Paul Jr. asks, taking a bite of his pasta. “Any interesting cases come your way lately?”

“Yeah, one or two,” I shrug, not really wanting to talk about me. “Finally caught the two assholes who did that home invasion a month ago.”

“Oh, yeah. The one with the woman and the baby girl,” he asks, his face twisted into a grimace.

“Yeah,” I nod hesitantly, thinking about the gruesome details of the case as I take a mouthful of pasta.

“I saw on the news where those guys had been caught. That was you?”

“Yeah, that was me and Dave.” I answer him.

“Okay, let’s not talk about anything gory at the dinner table, please,” Mom speaks up.

Suddenly Sam touches my thigh, lightly running her hand down to my knee. It’s an innocent gesture as she asks me a question but, it takes me by surprise and my cock twitches involuntarily. “Is that the case you wouldn’t tell me about last week?” she asks softly, and I silently nod my head at her.

“On the news they said there was some kind skirmish when those guys were arrested,” Paul Jr. continues. “Shots fired or something, and a scuffle?”

I smirk at him. “Yeah, let’s just say they didn’t give up willingly.”

“See what I mean?” Paul Jr. says with a small smile. “Crazy motherfucker, volunteering to walk into a gun fight. Burning building might be hot but, at least nobody’s shooting at me.”

I laugh at his smartass comment as I sit my glass down. When I glance over at Samantha, she is looking at me with big, concerned eyes. “What’s wrong, Sam?” I frown at her.

She hesitates for a second and then says softly, “I just hadn’t realized you were in danger when you caught those two men.” The worry in her voice takes me by surprise, and I want to erase the fear I see in her gorgeous eyes.

“I was never in any real danger, baby,” I say quietly, trying to reassure her. I’m not sure she believes me though, and she just stares at me, saying nothing.

“So, Samantha, do you work at your family’s company?” Mom asks, and I know she’s just eager to change the subject. She doesn’t like to hear about the dangerous part of my job either.

“Um, no, I don’t,” Sam answers distractedly. “I actually know very little about drilling bits or the inner workings of my family’s company. I work as a docent at the Pryor Art Museum.”

“Oh.” I can hear the surprise in Mom’s voice.

“Wait a minute,” Paul Jr. says, his face frowning from curiosity as he puts it all together. “Drilling bits?” Sam and I glance at each other as he’s still figuring it out. “Your family’s company is … into drilling bits?”

“Yes.” Sam looks anxiously at me again and I give her a small reassuring smile. “Colby Coring.” Her voice sounds small and hesitant to me and I wonder why she’s so nervous. I look over at Paul and his eyebrows have disappeared behind the light brown hair that hangs over his forehead. A quick glance around the table tells me that everyone is stunned by this news. Everyone except Mom, that is.

“Colby Coring! No shit?” Phillip asks, looking past me to Samantha

“So, your family is … I mean, you’re … Samantha …
Colby?
” Paul Jr. is staring at her as if she’s sprouted antennae on the top of her head or something.