Play for Me (22 page)

“Hey, little sister.” Jordan’s cheerful voice resounded over
the phone. “What’s going on? I’m in Los Angeles for a bit, and wanted to know
if you wanted to grab something to eat?”

“If I were there, I would, but I’m in Maui for a while,”
replied Sam cheerfully, glad for the interruption of Jett's crazed fans.

“Maui? What the hell are you doing there? Isn’t Jett
supposed to be on tour?” Jordan sounded confused.

“He is,” explained Sam. “However, the house he owns here on Maui is being remodeled and he wants to make sure it’s done correctly and on time. What I do
for him, I can easily do anywhere but right now, Maui is a vested interest.”

“Cool.” Jordan seemed impressed. “How long will you be
there?”

“I don’t know, maybe six months or so. I called Bunny to let
her know and she wasn’t too pleased.”

“And you thought she would be?” scoffed Jordan. “I surprised she hasn’t shown up to drag you back home.”

“Speaking of that, she might just be.” Sam started to put
two and two together for the reason her parents were coming to visit her. “She
and Dad are coming the week after next. Said she had always wanted to go to
Hawaii and the timing couldn't have been better.”

“Careful, Sam. You know how manipulative Bunny can be,”
warned Jordan.

“I know, I know. Give me some credit, I’m still here,” said
Sam defensively.

“Hey, back down,” laughed Jordan. I’m off next week, why
don’t I pay you a visit?”

“Jordan, that would be awesome. You should see this place
Jett has me in, it’s unbelievable,” cried Sam with excitement. “Let me know
what days and I can pick you up at the airport.”

“I should be there when Mom and Dad come, but I can’t make
it then.” Jordan wanted to protect his little sister.

“I’ll be good. Just give me lots of strength while you’re
here.” After ending the call, Sam started to plot about hooking Jordan and Deb
together since he hadn’t see her in a long time.

Sam worked the rest of the afternoon on Jett’s mail, and by
the time she had finished, she had a splitting headache. At least she had
whittled it down to two hundred emails. If she knocked them out tomorrow
morning, she could start on her databases with the information she had promised
Marvin. She glanced at her watch, noting the time. Sam wondered what Ian had
been doing since she hadn’t heard from him all day. Hopefully, he hadn’t fallen
off a rock cliff. Sam shuddered at the thought. She made dinner and relaxed for
the rest of the night.

****

Ian arrived home later than he expected and felt dead tired.
With all of the awesome sex, no make that love, from last night coupled with
what he had done today, he felt exhausted. Checking his watch, he knew it would
be too late to call Sam. Ian checked his messages and became disappointed there
hadn’t been one from Sam, but remembered she didn't act anything like his ex-girlfriend.
He’d give her a call in the morning. Ian fixed dinner and played with Maggie,
his trusted beagle, before going to bed. When he hit the pillow, he fell asleep
immediately. His phone rang at two in the morning waking him out of a sound
sleep.

“Ian, I know it’s late, but this happens to be the only time
I could reach you,” commented Jett. “I just got off the phone with Sam and she
said you had made some progress on the house. Cool.”

“What? She went out there?” asked Ian, now wide awake.

“Yeah. I had asked her to look at it. Remember, she’s my
eyes while I’m on tour. So, if you have any questions or concerns, just let her
know, but she needs to be able to get in there. I don’t have the code for the
gate or the key. She needs that, man.”

“Okay, okay. When I see her tomorrow, I’ll give it to her,”
mumbled Ian as he lay back down and covered his eyes with his hand. “Later,
dude.” Ian’s mind reeled about the house and Sam as well has his mission with
the drug cartel. He needed his sleep in order to tackle all of them. Just as he
fell asleep, the phone rang again. Groaning, he reached for it.

“Hope I’m not interrupting anything,” commented Rock with a
sneer.

“Only sleep, bro. What’s up?”

“No Sam?” asked Rock.

“Nope. No Sam. Trying to get some well-deserved shut eye.”

“You must have been a busy boy.” Rock snickered into the
phone.

“I know you didn’t call me about by love life, so what’s up?”
Ian had an inkling of an idea.

“We’re back on. There’s been more activity and it’s not who
they thought. I’ll pick you up at six.”

“Damn, this job sucks,” said Ian angrily. “I’ve got some
things to finish up beforehand.”

“Goes with the territory,” said Rock. “Either you love it or
leave it.”

“Okay, okay,” yawned Ian. “See you in a few.” Ian tried to
stretch out and forced his eyes closed. Even if he had only three hours of
sleep, it was better than none.

****

Since Jett had awakened her, Sam could not go back to sleep.
She tossed and turned, thinking about her parents and their scheme, trying to
figure out how to get Jordan and Deb together and last of all Ian. When would
she see him again? She didn't know. Getting up, she threw on her robe and went
downstairs to play the piano, thankful she didn’t have any neighbors to disturb.
Sam ran some warm up scales and then a couple of sonatas she had memorized. Cracker
glared at her for waking him up, and then trotted away from the room, the noise
bothering him.

“I’m not really that bad, Cracker,” mumbled Sam. She closed
her eyes and thought of what she and Ian had experienced. Sam’s hand flew over
the keyboard creating a song, a melody of love. Hours later, satisfied with
what she had done, she wrote down the music, knowing later she would add words.
Composing songs had been her secret passion, one she had not shared with
Jordan. Feeling satisfied, Sam stretched and went back to bed only to be
interrupted by the phone.

“How do you like the place?” boomed Marvin when Sam answered
the phone.

“It’s like I died and went to heaven,” laughed Sam. “I think
the funny thing is now that I’m in Maui, all of a sudden I’m going to have a
string of visitors.”

“Really?” asked Marvin pleased that Sam appeared happy.

“Jordan wants to scope it out as well as my girlfriend from Chicago. And let’s not forget about my parents.”

“Well, there should be enough room in case they all come at
once.”

“I can’t see Jordan with my parents here at the same time. It’s
okay when he flies home for a couple of days, but my mom can be a handful,”
laughed Sam.

“Have you seen Jett's house?” asked Marvin casually.

“I went there yesterday and they were working on the
landscaping. Jett called me this morning to check up on it so I let him know. There’s
a code I need for the front gate, so I can get in. I’ll call Ian later today
for it.”

“Jett called me, too. Were you sleeping?” growled Marvin.

“Yes,” agreed Sam. “I couldn’t get back to bed. I practiced
on the piano like Jett asked me to, by the way, Marvin, thanks for the piano.”

“My pleasure. Glad to hear you were practicing.” Marvin
hoped he didn’t sound like a nag, but Jett had asked him to check up on Sam.

“I also got through with a ton of emails. I’ll send you the
report. You’ll be pleased,” reported Sam. “I think today, I can start in on the
databases I promised you.”

“You can have fun, you know. Why don’t you take today to
explore the island? You’ve been working since you’ve landed.”

“Maybe I will,” agreed Sam. “Maybe I can sign up for some
surf lessons.”

“Now, don’t go and hurt yourself,” warned Marvin.

“I’ll be good,” promised Sam. “You can call me anytime,
please.”

“Will do, Sam. Keep in touch.” Marvin hung up, pleased with
Sam’s progress.

****

Sam took a deep breath before dialing Ian’s phone. Her
mother had always instilled in her it wasn’t polite to call the boys. They were
supposed to call you. But this involved business, right? Sam got his voice
mail. “Hey, Ian. It’s just me. I don’t know if you got Jett’s call in the early
morning hours, but I sure did. I need to have the password to get into the
house. I know you’re busy, so you can just text me with it. Like I said, sorry
to bother you.” Sam ended the call

The silence felt eerie as Sam walked around the house. She
had become so accustomed to the hustle and bustle of an office and even at
Jett’s house, people were always milling about. She felt kind of lonely. If
this was going to be the case, she needed to establish a routine. Her phone
buzzed with a text message from Ian. “
Will be out of town for a couple of
days, will call you when I’m back. Code is your birthday, funny, huh?”

“My birthday?” asked Sam, astonished. Leave it to Ian to do
something like that. Sam shook her head. Apparently, Ian would be out of town
for a while. Could it be he had another house or maybe out on a mission? It
killed her not to know, but what could she do? Life had to move on. With a
reserve she didn’t realize she had, she got up, made a list of things to do and
then headed to the shower.

Armed with a cup of coffee, which by the way, turned out to
be the best coffee she had ever had, Sam made it to Jett’s home. Pleased, Sam
saw the trucks there and the gate securely closed. Using the keypad, she
entered her birth date and got in. She wandered throughout the house while the
workmen looked at her with curiosity until she introduced herself to them.

“Hey there,” Sam called to the foreman. “I work for the man
who owns the house so you’ll be seeing a lot of me.”

“We work for Ian,” explained the foreman. “Name is Pete, and
you are?”

“Samantha Stevens. Folks just call me Sam.” They shook hands.
Pete appeared as a large man with dark hair and big dark eyes. His massive
hands swallowed Sam’s as they shook.

“Then who owns the house?” asked Pete

“You don’t know?” asked Sam, somewhat surprised. It then
dawned on her his lack of knowledge must be for security purposes. No one had
told them the name of the owner.

“It’s all corporate,” said Sam, making it up as she went
along. “I don’t know who the man behind the corporation is. I just take orders
and do what I’m told. Besides, Ian asked me to help out.” Hoping Pete would buy
it, Sam held her breath.

“Yeah, that’s what Ian said, too,” mumbled Pete. “It's
probably some Mafioso or something, huh?”

“You’re guess is as good as mine,” agreed Sam as she finally
released her breath.

“How long are you staying around here?” asked Pete making a
point of looking at her left hand.

“As long as it takes,” said Sam lightly.

“Well, if you need me to show you around the island, I’d be
more than happy to,” said Pete.

“I appreciate the offer, but I’m good,” said Sam. “Family is
coming in so I’m pretty booked up.”

“That’s even better,” suggested Pete. “I can really show you
some out of the way places.”

“I really appreciate it, but thanks, we’re good.” Sam
stepped away and looked around while Pete kept staring at her. “Got to run,
Pete. Keep up the good work.”

“You let me know about my offer,” said Pete. “I’ll show you
how we have fun here in Maui.” His smile said it all.

“Thanks, Pete. Bye.” Sam made a hasty retreat to her car and
breathed a sigh of relief when she pulled away. Driving back into town, Sam
located the tourist information and picked up some brochures to read through
for her upcoming visitors. Finding Leoda's Kitchen and Pie Shop, Sam sat down
for some lunch.

“Just visiting?” A deep bass voice interrupted her thoughts.

“Do I look that obvious?” asked Sam as she stared into the
deep blue eyes of a man who stood at least six foot five and had the athletic
build of someone who worked out regularly. Why did everyone in Maui feel they
needed to work out? Ian included.

“Well, let’s just say a woman who is sitting alone reading
Maui brochures, I think it’s a pretty good guess,” he suggested, good-naturedly.

“What would you think if I told you I'm on assignment for a
bit?” asked Sam coyly.

“Well, that sounds interesting,” he remarked. “Mind if I
join you?”

“No,” said Sam as she gestured for him to sit down.

“I’m Bryce, you are?” He raised his eyebrow quizzically.

“Samantha, but please call me Sam,” answered Sam.

“You look familiar,” commented, Bryce studying Sam closely.

“People always say that,” laughed Sam. “I must have this
cosmic twin out there.” Sam leaned in towards him. “So, Bryce. What about you?”

“I live here. Now. Haven’t always, but once I saw this
place, my mind said to stay.”

“Where are you from originally?” asked Sam, biting
ravenously into her fish taco.

“East coast. Can’t you tell by my accent?” Bryce deepened
his New England accent.

“Ah, yes. Boston.” Sam smiled.

“You?”

“Chicago, can’t you tell?” Sam smiled.

“Cubs or White Sox?” Bryce asked her if it were a life or
death question.

“Cubs,” said Sam firmly.

“Sorry, one thing against you. I’m a die-hard Boston fan.” Bryce
shook his head.

“And vice versa.” They had a stare down contest until they
both broke out into laughter.

“Okay, okay,” said Bryce wiping the laughter tears from his
eyes. “So, what assignment are you working on?”

“Top secret,” whispered Sam solemnly.

“Top secret?” Bryce looked at her, amused. “Interesting. I
can’t think of anything on this island, top secret. Except for movie stars who
want to keep their identity private.” His eyes bored into Sam’s.

“Really?” asked Sam, nonchalantly. “I imagine this is a good
hiding place for the rich and famous, which I am neither.” She smiled
graciously at Bryce. “You mean this is not like Hollywood where I can look at
the homes of the stars?”