Zurlo, Michele - Two Masters for Samantha [Awakenings 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (20 page)

Alyssa expertly turned over a patch of earth and dislodged a weed. “You know Amanda’s pregnant, right?”

Samantha shook her head. First Sabrina, then Ellen, and now Amanda. “I haven’t talked to her, but I’m happy for her. I know she and Rich want three. When is she due?”

“The beginning of May.”

“Ellen’s due in April. Sabrina’s due in March.” Sam shivered. She felt an insane urge to travel for the entire first half of the next year. While she liked babies, she preferred them older, when they could walk and talk and blow their own noses.

Alyssa laughed as she wiped her trowel on the grass. “Don’t worry, Sammy. Nobody is pressuring you. How about a glass of ice-cold lemonade? You can tell me all about your trip and what’s put that sparkle in your eyes.”

Sam watched her mother disappear into the garage. She wondered how she might explain away that sparkle. Her mother knew all about Jonas. After Helene’s damaging accusations, Alyssa had demanded answers from her son.

It had taken her some time to accept her son’s sexual preferences, but Alyssa had eventually come to terms with it. How could she get her mother to accept the fact that Sam needed two men in her life to put this sparkle in her eyes?

Inside the house, Alyssa washed her hands while Sam poured the drinks. It was the frozen stuff, full of sugar and exactly what Sam wanted.

“So, what’s his name?” When Sam didn’t immediately answer, Alyssa adjusted. “Or her name?”

Samantha rolled her eyes. Ever since her mother had met Sabrina’s sister, she had gone out of her way to assure Samantha that she was okay with her dating women as long as she was happy. Apparently, Sam’s inability to meet the right man meant she was a lesbian. Samantha didn’t have a problem with it, but she did wish Alyssa would leave the topic alone. The message had been received.

If she said Alexei’s name, what did that mean for Stefano? It wasn’t fair. She could do this. She could tell her mother that she intended to pursue...No, she couldn’t. Taking a deep breath, Sam chose Alexei because he was the first one she met. “Alexei Morozov. I met him at the wedding.”

Alyssa slid into the chair across the table from Sam. “Tall, dark hair, blue eyes?” At Sam’s nod, her mother grinned. “Oh, Sammy, he’s very handsome.”

“Yes,” Samantha agreed. She felt like shit, not only for her lack of courage, but because of the slight she dealt to Stefano. “But he’s heading back home to
Florida
this weekend. I think he lives someplace near
Miami
.”

Alyssa swallowed a sip of lemonade and nodded. “You always did go for the ones that aren’t local. At least you give your father impetus to travel more than he’d like. It’s still less than I’d like, but I’m not complaining.”

Did Sam say something she hadn’t intended? Why did her mother think she was going to up and move in with a man she just met? When she had moved to
Toronto
last year to be with her boyfriend, it had been after almost a year of dating. Even then, the lure of
Toronto
’s art community had been the stronger magnet.

“I wasn’t planning to move anytime soon,” Samantha said. Sweat from the cold glass coated her fingertips. “I have a life here.”

“Tell me about this man, Sammy. Besides the fact that he’s cute, I don’t know anything about him.”

Samantha bit her lip. She had always enjoyed a special closeness with her mother. Ever since she had reached adulthood, they had been friends. If Sam was going to be honest, her mother was her best friend. Still, she was her mother, and Sam felt a daughter’s reticence over sharing too much.

“He owns a company. I don’t know what the company does. Sabrina said she’s known him her whole life, but they aren’t close. Their parents were friends, and Lex was friends with Sabrina’s boyfriend in high school.”

She fell into silence, wanting to say more, but afraid to do it.

“Okay.” Her mother drew out the word. “What’s wrong with him?”

Sam leapt to his defense. Her hand tightened around her drink. “There’s nothing wrong with him. It’s just...He’s a lot like Jonas.”

Alyssa froze, staring at Sam with a wary expression on her face. Finally, the wariness cracked. “Do you mean that he’s been hurt and he’s vulnerable, or that he has a great sense of humor, or that he feels the constant need to prove himself?”

A strand of hair fell forward as Sam’s head dropped to hide her shame. “No, Mom. You know what I mean. He’s a Dom.”

From the tortured expression on her mother’s face, Samantha guessed Alyssa would have preferred to hear she was a lesbian. Her mother had been ready to accept that.

Alyssa pushed her chair away from the table and crossed to the sink. She gripped the edge of the counter and stared out the window.

Samantha watched her mother’s knuckles turn white. Her mouth was suddenly parched in a way that a gulp of lemonade didn’t cure. “Mom, please don’t be mad.”

Alyssa’s shoulders rose and fell with one deep breath after another. “I’m not mad, Sam. I’m dreading knowing more, and I’m dreading not knowing more. Please tell me he isn’t one of those people who has to control every aspect of your life. I know a lot more about this lifestyle than you think I do. Jonas and Ellen live on the lighter side of things. I don’t want to find out that you’ve spent your days chained to the floor or locked inside a cage.”

Stones materialized inside Sammy’s stomach. She didn’t want those things, either. “I wouldn’t consent to that.”

“You don’t always have a choice.” Alyssa’s gaze was firmly locked on something not in the room, but Sam had no doubt her attention was completely on Samantha.

“Alexei isn’t like that, Mom. He’s very conscientious of safety. He said that anything that happens is my choice.” Technically, Stefano had said that. Sam flinched again as guilt pinched at her gut.

To assuage that guilt and to reassure her mother, Sam crossed the room and slipped her arms around her mother’s waist. She rested her head on her mother’s shoulder. “He cares about me, Mom. When I said he was like Jonas, I meant it. And Ellen had him checked out, too.”

Alyssa put a hand on Sam’s cheek to hug her close and she pressed a kiss to her daughter’s forehead. “That makes me feel better. Ellen has mafia-like connections. If there’s dirt on someone, she’ll find it. Just promise you’ll call if there’s a problem. We’ll come get you, Sammy. No judgments, no recriminations.”

“I don’t think it’ll be necessary, Mom. I haven’t decided whether or not I’ll see him again. But I will call you if I need you.” She released Alyssa and returned to finish her lemonade. Now that the uncomfortable part of the conversation was over, Sam breathed easier. She’d give her mother some time to adjust to this before she told her about Stefano.

That breath was short-lived.

“Have you called Treva Andreas?”

Sam sucked on a piece of ice. She rolled it around her tongue. “Who?”

Rolling her eyes, Alyssa sighed. “Sabrina’s friend who owns that art gallery in
Ann Arbor
. Sabrina was telling me that Treva was impressed with the painting hanging in her foyer. She wants to see more of your work.”

It was coming back to Sam now. Sabrina had gushed over some of Samantha’s paintings and photographs. She had purchased two of them. One hung in her home and the other hung in her office. Samantha had been touched by the gesture, but she recognized it for what it was. Sabrina was a nice person. The purchase of art had been a show of support. That support would be forthcoming whether or not Sabrina thought Samantha had any real talent.

That support included contacting an acquaintance in the art community. Most of Sabrina’s art contacts were limited to graphic artists, which was a completely different arena.

“Mom, I’m sure she’s just being polite.”

Alyssa snorted and tossed her ponytail. She settled back into the chair across from Samantha, crossing her leg under her bottom and letting the other swing free. “You can’t know that until you call her. Samantha, chances like this don’t come along frequently. Take the chance. Call her.”

When she left an hour later to finish her errands, she didn’t feel much better. Though her mother seemed to accept her word that Alexei was a good man and a loving Dom, she hadn’t let up on her conviction that Sam needed to call Treva.

Samantha was divided on the issue. On one hand, she didn’t want a pity showing. She didn’t want to set up all of her work just to have people wander through the rooms, whispering bad things about her work, or worse, misunderstanding it completely. On the other hand, what if they liked it? What if she sold pieces? What if that showing launched her career?

Samantha was afraid of success. It changed things. Right now, she was comfortable in her life. Meeting Alexei and Stefano had changed a lot for her, but she was adjusting. She wasn’t sure she could handle rejection, either.

She chose to deal with this the best way she could. She put it off. Procrastination had often worked for her in the past. It should do the trick now.

* * * *

“Lex?”

Stefano stared out the dark window of the car. It was their father’s car, the same one in which they had sent Samantha home. Their reasoning wasn’t completely driven by manners or upbringing. This way, they would be assured of having her address. Their father’s driver wouldn’t keep that information from them. If they wanted to pursue anything further with Sammy, they would need to follow up on their time together. They always sent roses first.

Alexei stared out the opposite window. “Can we call her?”

“I would rather she called us. She’s vulnerable right now. We could influence her to make decisions she isn’t ready to make.” It killed Stef to say it, but it was true. He wanted Sammy every bit as much as Alexei did.

“What if she doesn’t call?”

Stefano sighed. That was his fear, as well. They had asked to see her again, but she hadn’t answered. The best they had been able to do was to extract a promise from her that she’d think about it. “How about we give it until we’re back from
New York
? If she hasn’t called us by then, we’ll call her. We’re going to be busy anyway.”

Running the company they had inherited from their father was fulfilling, but it also demanded vast amounts of time. Their sister, Ana, had escaped responsibility because she was a woman. She had used their father’s sexism to her advantage, arguing that she was cut out to be a NICU nurse. However, she still raked in one-quarter of the profits, and she had a corresponding vote on the board.

“I want to train her, Stef. I want her to be ours.”

Stefano nodded. He understood what a huge step this was for Alexei. Ever since their mother died, Lex had blamed their father’s style of dominating her for killing her. Stefano knew their father wasn’t to blame. Their mother suffered from OCD. That forced the elder Morozov to be a little stricter with her. Otherwise, she would have washed the skin off her hands after using the bathroom, among other things.

“We told her we wanted to see her again. Now we wait. I want it to be her choice, Lex. I want her to choose to be with us.”

Samantha’s excursion had been wonderfully uneventful. Though it had been a working trip, she found peace in the beauty of the unspoiled wilderness and in watching the whitecaps ripple across the frigid ocean surface, especially at dawn. Each morning, the sunrise only grew more breathtaking. She had taken a number of promising photographs, and she had sketched out a few paintings she couldn’t wait to start.

Unfortunately, she couldn’t start for another week. Now that she was home from her working vacation, she had a real vacation planned.

Her phone rang as she snagged her luggage from the claim area. For so much of her trip, her phone had been out of range. At first, the silence and lack of internet had been lonely. Now that she was used to it, the sound startled her.