Stay for Me (6 page)

He kept his eyes on her the whole time.
She’d started that way, too, but her eyes began to drift and roam. This was
torture.

His dick, which shouldn’t be any part of
this equation, was hard and throbbing from Emma’s curious stare. Impossible to
hide and irritating as hell, being he was a pro at keeping that crap in check
every night in front of hundreds of women. His abs clenched so tight that
breathing was leaving him light-headed, and every nerve ending in him had one
single response.
Coming alive as she watched him strip down
for her.
God, the way she was watching him, so determined to keep that
straight face. But her big brown eyes were the liars.

Finally, he stepped out of his shiny
black shoes, set them aside, and then undid the buttons of his pants and slid
them off.

The pile grew while the room felt like
it was shrinking.

He considered topping the pile off with
his booty pants, but decided the heat warming up her cheeks to that spicy rose
color right now was enough. His hands rested on his hips as he prepared to say
he was finished, and ask what now?

On second thought, screw it.

She’d insisted. It was twisted, but all
Sam could think was that the harder he pushed himself to go into this place for
her, the more proof she’d have that she was safe with him. The more raw and
real he was with her right now, and the more intimate this was, the better his
argument would be.
See?
He’d tell her
afterward.
I could have taken advantage,
and I didn’t. You, Emma, you can trust me
.

With his thumbs, he hooked each side of
his briefs and tugged down. He thought he heard her cough. He definitely saw
the heel of her right foot
raise
before she pushed it
back down to the ground. Out of her view, he blew out and then continued with
the briefs. They caught on his erection but he ignored the uncomfortable
slapping of his dick against his abdomen and stepped out of them.

The pile was complete, minus the hat and
gloves he’d left in his locker. Her jaw was loose, her eyes shiny and
unreadable.

Damn, he couldn’t take that look. If she
only knew how much it was killing him. What in the hell was he doing? Sam stepped
to her. Slowly, he lost the restraint. He needed one touch. Leaving only inches
between them, he failed and took a piece of her shirt-dress between his fingers
where it was wet. Like nothing he’d wanted this badly before, he’d live on the
streets to feel her soft breasts right now as they rose and fell with her chest
as she breathed. Instead, he fought and whispered down at her. “Is this what
you wanted, Emma? Me stripped to the bone like this with the promise I won’t
touch you?”

Her head sort of rolled back, then
finished the half circle back to the front. Did that mean yes or no? What he
did know for certain was that she was shaken but trying to hide it. Being harsh
with her was painful and wrong.

It wasn’t who he was. Not with her.

This was ending.
Now.

Decided, Sam leaned down and kissed her
forehead, picked up her dangling hand, and gave it a squeeze then let it fall.
It skimmed down his chest, killing him. Then he turned and left the room in all
his glory, willing his hard-on away. It didn’t take long as soon as the door
was between them and the cold hallway air iced his skin. His lust evaporated. On
the heels of that, the empty feeling began to sink his heart.

Gabe stood outside the door.

“Hey man, I could have sworn I saw Emma
go in ahead of you.” Gabe asked
,
his one eyebrow
hitched up.
“Everything okay?
She
still in there?
You forgot your clothes.”

Sam appreciated the frown on Gabe’s face
and the concern making his friend entirely too wordy, but right now all he
wanted was to rush back in, take her in his arms, and be with her.

Finally.

He tugged at the one side of his hair
and slammed his hands back into the door. He realized how hard he’d hit it when
the door whined at his force. He shouldn’t have left like that. He should have
stayed with his best friend, confused and acting out as she was right now.

 
“Did
anyone else see us go in?” he asked Gabe, worried about the implications and
her job.

“Nah man, I was alone.”

Sam remembered noting the monitor’s
light was turned off inside. As of right now, only Gabe, himself, and Emma knew
about this situation. Her job was safe, for the time being. He shook his head
in fierce frustration. “She’s not coming out. Damn it.” That had been his hope.
She comes out. They go across the street for thick, bitter diner coffee, and
stay awake the rest of the night talking about what just happened. He makes
sure she walks away safe and unharmed.

He could deal with the consequences of
his actions after the fallout. Yeah, it’d hurt like hell to go through all that
again but he’d do it, and this time there would be no question. He’d take one-hundred
percent of the blame and make sure she never had to deal with him in this way
again.

“You need to finish up whatever you two
have going…I’ll hang out,” Gabe said slowly toward the end and raised his brows
again like he was agreeing to watch the door.

“Nothing’s happening,” Sam stated for
the record.
The one that had to be clean and not get Emma in
trouble here at the club.
He whispered to Gabe the rest. “Going back in
there is the last thing I should be doing.” He paused, not knowing what to make
of what had just happened. And that’s when it hit him. Emma hated that room. No
way should she be holed up inside. Something else was wrong with her. He had to
go back. “She needs help. I trust you not to say anything to anyone.”

Gabe nodded in understanding. “I’ll stay
close by then. But hey, don’t forget. You don’t work here anymore, bro.” Gabe
lifted his chin to Sam like he’d just spelled out the obvious. “As far as
anyone’s concerned, all I saw was an
S
staff member take a non-employee guest inside to make use of the room. That’s
what we do here, bro. So, uh, keep that in mind.”
 

He knew Gabe only meant well, but all
that meant to Sam was that there was nothing, no rules, nothing holding him
back from Emma now. That was a big problem. He reminded himself that there
might not be any rules, but there were consequences. There always were.
Huge ones.

Sam opened the door to
S
room, prepared to deal with these huge
consequences if it meant helping Emma. His insides were torn up. He let the
door close behind him.

“Please come here, Emma,” he said to the
black walls housing them. He eyed the only piece of furniture in the darkened
room and the spot where the only real light shone on his pile of white clothes.
Slowly, he took a seat.
Tried to rock it.
It didn’t
budge. The armless chair was solid.

It
will hold both of our weight.
The vagrant thought scared and turned
him on in ways it shouldn’t.

But he knew it was true. He’d sat in the
damn thing many times before.

“I shouldn’t have left. I’m sorry,” he
said then waited, controlling his breath.

She walked out of the dark corner.
Shaken and very un-Emma like.

Clearly, he had more to prove.

Chapter Six

Emma paced forward.

She retraced her steps to the door.

She stalled and ran her hands through
her hair. It needed to be washed.

Emma stalked around the room some more.

She sat down on the floor and carefully
relocated his pile of dress whites to her side, then picked them up with the
utmost care and set them on her lap. It was too enticing not to indulge, and
she needed something to dull her nerves. On a huge inhale, Emma sank her head
nose first into his clothes. They smelled like man heaven. Sweat.
Soldier.
Sam.

Wherever he’d gone, he was naked, and
all she wanted was for him to come back so she could apologize for making him
jump through some ridiculous burning hoop and give him his clothes back.

I’ve
lost it. I’m nuts.

So he’d quit.

She hadn’t and wouldn’t. He knew why.
She just wasn’t as good a saver as he was. Managing Club
Mantasy
had become her heart’s work because of the people involved. One of these days,
she’d want to take care of her parents, and the experience of being a manager
would always get her work out here in the desert mecca of gambling and
entertainment.

Back to the
being “nuts.”
Even though Sam didn’t work here any longer, Emma was pretty sure Ellen would
frown on her using the club for personal use.

Ugh.
This place.
S
room.

Sit. Stay.

“Sam.”

Maybe saying his name out loud would
replace the ugliness of what Luka had done to her in here. “Sam,” she said
louder and slapped her hands down over his military costume. “Sam.”

She’d made a huge mistake asking him to
strip for her, but she’d go out there now, track him down, and do her best to
explain how fear ruled her every thought when it came to this small room.
The one chair.
Nowhere to hide if things went horribly wrong,
or worse, he realized just how far out of her league he was. One of these days
Sam would figure out she wasn’t as strong and smart as he saw her.

Was she willing to put their friendship
through this? How could she face him yet again if things went badly? The only
guy she trusted to erase Luka from her memory was the one person she couldn’t
play these messed up games with. Emma took too many short breaths in and out
and had to stop for a very long one. One where she thought very hard about
leaving safety behind and getting lost in the complete unknown of this room—with
Sam.

She stared at the chair and saw herself
sitting there like an idiot.
Staying.

Yeah, Sam didn’t know what Luka had done.
The jerk hadn’t lasted long as a dancer after several complaints. Gabe had kept
her secret, otherwise Sam would have without question done something to have
gotten himself jailed and probably fired a long time ago.

She shook her head and inhaled his
clothes one more time, thankful Sam didn’t know how stupid she’d been.

It would have been easy to sneak back to
her office.
To hide.
Wait him out. Let him leave.
Avoid him for a while and then seek him out after a couple weeks, hoping he’d
found a new night job and was too busy to recall her cowardice and this great
mistake she’d just made. Seeing him bare and raw like she’d just done hadn’t
left her feeling any different, stronger, or better about their situation like
she’d thought. Of course he’d be capable of taking his clothes off for her
without letting things go any further. His confidence rivaled his control.

Hers had, too, at one time.

A fresh headache started on its way to
her temples.

She glanced at the current cast’s
pictures hanging on the wall. Sam’s hung there, his face serious and seductive.

Caught up in her gazing, she only
noticed someone had entered the room with her when someone started fidgeting
with the chair. She put her hand over her heart to slow the beat. She glanced
up from the corner where she sat and saw Sam take a seat. As if on command, her
arms, legs, chest, neck, it all responded to his presence. It all left ration
behind and instead focused on being held.
Sharing his space.

“I shouldn’t have left,” he said. “I’m
sorry.”

She got up and walked to him, unable to
stay hidden in her safe corner. “I shouldn’t have asked you to strip for me.
I’m sorry more.”

A few more seconds passed before his
posture softened and his shoulders curled inward, although only just barely,
and it did nothing to make him appear smaller.

“I’d offer you a seat but…” He gestured
to his naked lap and shrugged. “Emma,” he said,
then
stopped to take in a deep breath. “I should actually get dressed.”

“Hey, this is
all my
fault. I’ve gone and made this as weird as it possibly could be. Let’s just
pretend the last half hour never happened. Okay? Chalk it up to candy corn
sugar high. And tomorrow we can go to the movies. I think
Home Alone
is playing at the theater. I’ll even spring for the
expensive candy. And
an
icee
if you’ll just promise to forget—”

****

There was no way he’d ever be able to
forget the way she’d watched him tonight, his every movement. Her deep brown
eyes had given her away. As much as he wished they could call do-over, Sam knew
that wasn’t possible. Not now.
Too late.
The can had
been opened and things they could no longer avoid were out. Literally, he’d
stripped himself for her minutes ago.

Nope, this wasn’t done, and to give her
the peace of mind she so obviously needed, Emma was going to have to suck it
up. She had to stay.
In here.
With
him.
What he needed to do became clear. His mouth warmed so much he
could chug a gallon of ice water.