The Weakness in Me (16 page)

“Oh,” he answered, sounding dejected
and just a touch angry. “So it’s true then?” he continued, his voice harder.

“What’s true?” she asked,
feeling defensive at his anger, even though she had an idea where this line of questioning was going.

“You and Wright are together,” he stated.
Samantha felt an odd sense of déjà vu settle over her as thoughts of a similar conversation with Garrett nearly twelve years ago circled in her head.

“Um, no, we aren’t,” Samantha countered, her voice flat, but her hand gripping the pen in her hand at the accusation.
She was beginning to wonder if the people of Covington really had nothing better to do than to gossip about her.

“Oh?” he sounded surprised.
“Then why not come to dinner with me?”

“Because I have a daughter, Garrett, and I have to get home to take care of her,” she rolled her eyes at him overlooking such an important reason and indicated the several pictures of Corigan throughout her office.
Frustrated by the turn of events, she grabbed her coat and purse, trying to indicate to him that the conversation was over. She almost started to whine when she realized that he didn’t seem to get it.

“Don’t you have a sitter who can stay with her?” he dismissed her reasons for turning him down.
“Of course you do! Let’s go,” he tried to take her hand, but she pulled away as they walked out of her office toward the, now empty, reception area and the front door.

“No, my sitter has a life, too, you know.
He may have plans tonight,” she said, growing more and more agitated at his inability to take no for an answer. She walked faster after ushering him outside and locking the dead bolt to her business.

“So Wright is your
manny
?” he laughed at the idea harder than appropriate as they walked through the deserted parking lot.

“No, he’s a friend helping me out on his days off work,” she snarled as she approached her car.
“And I need to get home now, but we can make an appointment for next week to continue our discussion about your
business
,” she reminded him one last time.

“Fine,” Garrett agreed, angrily.
“But, I’d love another chance with you,” he glowered, confusing her with his tone and the words. “Wright stole that opportunity from me eleven years ago. I’m not going to waste it again,” he finished, stalking off to a large, bright yellow, lifted Dodge Ram with a pair of purple truck nuts hanging off the back.

“Yeah,” Samantha mumbled to herself as she got into her car.
“It’s Jason’s fault that I wasn’t with you in high school, it had nothing to do with the fact that you were an asshole. A contracted relationship is all you can expect from me, Mr. Lewis,” she scoffed, watching him peel out of her parking lot. “And truck nuts? Seriously?” she asked her empty car, “Those do
not
instill confidence in me that you aren’t
still
a complete asshole.” Shaking her head, she started her car and headed toward the Chicken Marsala she knew was waiting on the table for her. She tried to convince herself that the dinner and coming home to her daughter was the
only
reason she was excited to go home tonight. Jason’s presence didn’t give her heart even a tiny jolt anymore, she told herself, hoping that she wasn’t lying.

“OH GOD!” Samantha moaned into Jason’s shoulder as his lips latched onto her neck, just below her ear. “I love when you do that,” she hissed.

“I know,” he said, his lips vibrating against her collarbone, as he wrapped her leg around his waist and pressed her into the tree behind her house.
“We need to figure this out before we end up naked in your backyard and I’m sure Mrs. Fitzgerald would love to look out her back window and see that,” Jason said, frantically, as his hand moved under her shirt, cupping her breast over her bra. All Samantha could do was let out a moan that felt like it had been ripped out of her chest, involuntarily.

“Why can’t we go to your house?” she asked, pushing her breast further into his hand, and thrusting her hips against his.

“Dad’s asleep and mom and the girls are home today. They think I have soccer practice, that’s why we had to sneak in the back way,” he explained. “Why can’t we go
into
yours, Sammy? No one is home.”

“But, no boys allowed, Jason,” she whined, not wanting to disobey her mother’s rules, even though she
and her sisters would be gone for, at least, another hour.

“Please,” he begged, rocking his hips in rhythm with hers until she felt like she was going to burst into flames from the contact.

“FINE!” she agreed, pushing him away from her and taking his hand. As they snuck toward her kitchen door, a familiar voice called to them from the street.

“FUCK!” he whispered, loudly, at being caught.

“What are you guys up to?” Garrett asked, jogging up to them.

“Um, we were going to go inside and start on our math homework,” Samantha answered, smiling too brightly. She felt an ache settle deep into her core, knowing that she and Jason wouldn’t get their alone time today.

“Bullshit, Sam.
I know the look on your faces,” he growled. “I think you two need to calm the fuck down.”

“How is that any of your business, Lewis?” Jason asked, puffing out his chest in challenge.

“I’m sure your mom would be none too happy to find out what you were doing, Wright! Yours either, Sam,” he said, putting his hands on his hips.

“Seriously?” Samantha asked, her jaw dropped in shock that he’d make such threats.

“You may have stole her from me, Wright, but I’ll be damned if I’m going to sit by idle while you fuck her,” he warned, before taking a seat at the table on her back patio. “Now, math homework you say? What a coincidence! I need some help with that assignment, too!” he said, grinning like the cat that ate the canary, as Jason and Samantha deflated and sat down beside him, knowing today wasn’t their day.

After nearly two years of heavy foreplay in cars and secluded areas of the park, they were both ready to take that step, but they never seemed to find an opportunity to be truly alone.
Samantha didn’t want their first time to be against a tree or in the backseat of a car. They didn’t want their relationship to play out like a high school cliché, but with constant interruptions like this, they wondered if they’d be left with no choice if they wanted to finally be together.

**

After their initial meeting, Samantha set Garrett up with Joe, one of her senior account reps and a hunting aficionado. She hoped it would get him to back off, but it seemed to make him think he had a shot with her. She wondered if he thought that she’d passed him to another member of her team so that there would be no conflict in their possibility of dating.

After t
wo and a half months of hard work, the campaign was officially ready for launch and Garrett had all of his backers in place for his new expedition company. She had no doubt he was going to be wildly successful in the venture. However, he was getting more and more agitated at her refusal as the days and weeks wore on. Everything finally came to a head in late March the week after the business officially launched and the press kits were all sent out.

“What the fuck are you doing, Castle?” Garrett demanded, pushing his way through her door, Laura on his heels, looking apologetic.

Samantha looked up from her email at the commotion as Laura started, “I’m sorry Mrs. McKenzie! He wouldn’t take no for an answer.”

Samantha waved her off and rolled her eyes at Garrett.
“What can I do for you today, Mr. Lewis?” she adopted her most civil tone, though inside she wanted to rip him apart for the intrusion.

“It’s been over two months since I asked you to dinner, and you’ve done nothing but avoid me since then.
I’m starting to think I was right in my initial judgment that you and Wright are together,” he put his hand on her desk and leaned across to look in her eyes. She recognized the hurt and accusation in his deep blue eyes immediately. Involuntarily, she exhaled sharply and frowned at the momentary loss of control.

“Jason and I are friends.
You and I are friends. I’m not seeing
anyone
,” she responded, her voice more steady than she thought possible in a situation where she wanted nothing more than to talk to him as if he were a third grader.

“Come on, Samantha!
Who do you think you are talking to? You’ve been single for eight months now! You can’t tell me that Wright isn’t hitting that,” the curl of his lip told her that it wouldn’t matter what she said, his mind was made up.

“You act like I dumped my husband eight months ago, Garrett!” she yelled.
“I didn’t dump him, nor was I dumped! He was taken from me! And I’m not single, I’m a fucking widow!” she continued her tirade unchecked, before lowering her voice to a dangerous level of calm. “I don’t want to be without him, we promised we’d be together forever. How do you not
get
that?” Samantha poured all of her frustration into her words, at the thought that people could think so little of her that she’d shack up with Jason right after being discharged from the hospital. “It’s not something you just
get
over
! It takes time, Garrett.”

She’d hoped she deflated his bravado a little at her words, but was disappointed when she moved around the desk to kick him out of her office.
Without a warning, she found her back against the door and his hands yanking her face to his. Overloaded by the smell of his cologne, she was disgusted at the situation when she recognized that it was the same brand Caleb wore. His lips descended on hers as she struggled in his embrace, finally bringing her knee up to connect with his favorite body part. She knew she wouldn’t be able to forgive Garrett for ruining such a comforting scent.

“What the fuck, Samantha?” he doubled over, allowing her to remove herself from his hold on her.

“Why did you do that? I didn’t make any overtures that something like that would be welcome,” Samantha yanked the door to her office open, preferring to have the rest of the conversation with witnesses.

“She said you were weepy and would be easy pickings for Wright to swoop back in.
She said I needed to protect you, that he would hurt you again, that you deserved better,” he admitted, softly, dropping his earlier confidence.

“Who?” Samantha asked, cautiously, hoping she was wrong about what her gut was telling her about the situation in front of her.

“Missy. She said even though you don’t talk to her anymore, she still considers you her best friend. She said you needed a strong man to take care of you, protect you from vultures trying to take advantage,” his words now spilling out in a rush. “Look, I’m really sorry, Samantha. I think you are a really nice woman, and you know I’ve always wanted another shot with you. I’m sorry I went about it like this, she said it was the only way.”

“Thank you for your honesty, at last!” she threw her hands up, exasperated at getting to the damn point of all of his persistence in trying to get her to go out with him.
“I can’t believe her!”

“What?” he asked.

“She was wrong.
Please leave now,” she took a deep breath, pushing her anger down and showing him the door. “Because of your honesty, if you need our services again, Joe will be happy to help you. Please call him directly from now on.” Flashing her best fake smile, she watched him nod, still looking slightly shell shocked, as he walked into the parking lot.

“Why didn’t you dump him as a client for that?” Laura asked from beside her.

“Because, he was under the influence of a very persuasive bitch. I can’t place all of the blame on him. Besides, I’m not one to turn down an opportunity to have Joe network with some of the clients his business could attract for us,” she said, walking back into her office from the reception area to collect her things. “I’m going home for the rest of the day, Laura. Please cancel my afternoon appointments.”

It was all Samantha could do to make it to her car before breaking down completely.
Thankful that Jason wasn’t there this time, she allowed herself to cry a few minutes before drying her eyes and heading home.

“Call Jason,” she said, activating her hand-free device and listening to the phone ring twice before she was greeted with his voice.

“Sammy,” he answered, brightly, and a deeper calm than she was willing to give him credit for settled over her.

“How would you feel about lunch in the garden with Corigan and me today?” she asked, hoping her voice didn’t give away how upset she’d been just minutes earlier.

“You’re coming home for lunch?” he asked, confused, knowing she never left her office during the business day.

“I’m taking the afternoon off, actually,” she told him as she pulled o
n the freeway.

“Oh!” his voice sounded pleasantly surprised, but after a pause, it changed to concern, “What happened?”

“Can’t I just want to spend the first day of spring without rain with my daughter?” Samantha answered a little too brightly.