Strictly Seduction: Watch Me

Meagan frowned, studying him a moment. “Okay.” She began climbing the stairs, but the instant they were behind the wall encasing the steps, she turned to him and whispered, “Now it’s my turn to ask. What’s wrong?”

Sam was shocked that she’d read his discomfort. He was special ops, trained to be unreadable. And he was cautious enough to know better than to risk her freaking out about her blouse if he told her. “Just concerned about the property,” he assured her. “If the bedroom situation won’t work, even if I approve the security profile, the house is worthless, don’t you think?”

Her brows furrowed, and she looked as if she might question him again. Instead though, she gave a little nod. “Yes. You’re right, of course.” She headed up the stairs.

For a second Sam just stared after her, wondering what this woman was doing to him, and why he was powerless to stop it. Not that he wanted to, but he wasn’t on sure footing which was unsettling. Fortunately, before leaving the main room he’d discreetly motioned to Josh to keep Kiki occupied, before he’d headed upstairs after Meagan.

MEAGAN WALKED THROUGH the spacious upstairs bedrooms, her mind on Sam, who’d officially done exactly what men like Sam—strong, dominant types—did to those around them. He had taken control. But even as the thought occurred, as she knew that she was somehow villainizing him, she admitted he didn’t deserve that from her. And that made Meagan want to scream, and not at Sam, but at herself. He wasn’t trying to be controlling, and in fact, he’d surprised her with how sensitive he was to her own need for control of the show. If he had control, it was because she’d given it to him. She was powerfully affected by everything the man did—or didn’t do, for that matter.

There was a part of her that reveled in being so blown away by Sam, and another that was reeling from him knocking her off guard. She wanted to keep her distance, but again, the logic, while smart, didn’t appeal in the slightest.

Meagan passed a bathroom and entered the large master suite, which could accommodate three contestants, but would only need to host two. And what a master it was. Huge double windows led onto what appeared to be a balcony. She needed to get Kiki up here and assign her furniture-shopping duty. With cameras rolling, that wasn’t an unimportant task.

“Meagan?” Sam’s voice and the sound of big feet climbing the stairs echoed nearby.

“In the master,” she called, and headed into the bathroom. Wow. If she were selfish, she’d find a way to make this her suite and her bathroom. There was a separate shower in a sort of rock enclave that was envy worthy, and a deep sunken tub equally so, as well as a double vanity and a huge closet. The girls would have to draw straws for the room. It would be the only fair way to manage them choosing.

Footsteps closed in on her, and her stomach fluttered with the awareness of Sam being nearby. Her stomach had actually fluttered. When in the world had that last happened with a man?

She didn’t turn, afraid she’d give away what she was feeling, but she knew the instant Sam entered the bathroom.

Meagan gasped at the daring, impossibly damning action of him shutting the door, and right then she was sure she had been wrong. Sam was bad news; Sam was still the chaos she thought he was.

She reeled at the sight of her hot soldier, all big and tall. “What are you doing? What are you thinking?”

“I’m thinking your shirt is buttoned crooked, and you need to fix it now, before Kiki notices it.”

Her jaw dropped, and then her mouth formed a silent “Oh,” before she quickly started to right the buttons. “Oh, God. Oh, God. Did they see? Did Kiki see?”

“No,” he said. “Why do you think I all but shoved you toward the stairs and then sent them to inspect other parts of the house? But they will be here any minute.”

She checked her blouse in the mirror. “Thank you, Sam. Thank you so very much.” This time the appreciation came freely and without an ounce of hesitation. Time and Kiki were all that mattered. Task completed, she patted down the wild mess of her dark hair and turned to him, holding out her hands to her sides. “Please tell me I have covered all evidence of our earlier…that nothing else is where it shouldn’t be.”

“You’re perfect,” he said softly, his eyes hot, his voice warm. He yanked open the bathroom door, eliminating any chance they would be caught in a compromising position. Or so she thought. Before she knew his intentions, Sam pulled her into the enclave of the shower, melding her body to his.

“I hate that we were interrupted,” he confessed, an instant before his mouth closed down over hers. The assault on her senses was instant—a tangled ball of fear of being caught, and intense, nerve-prickling awareness. His tongue touched hers, suckling and licking, until she moaned and melted into his kiss, his body—correction—his hard masculine body.

Meagan grappled for willpower, her hands going to his shoulders, as she tried to convince herself to push away from him. He just tasted too good, and felt so wonderful.

“We shouldn’t be doing this,” she whispered, forcing her mouth from his.

His voice lowered, became husky. “And aren’t you glad we are?”

“Yes,” she whispered, her hands sliding around his neck, her breasts melding to his chest, her lips meeting his again. Meagan felt herself drift away, unable to stop it from happening. This man stole her reason, her presence of mind. There was no show, no Kiki, just her and Sam. Until there were footsteps and voices and a dart of adrenaline shot through her bloodstream.

She tried to pull away. Sam held her, and pressed his lips to her ear. “I can’t wait to finally have you to myself.” His teeth scraped her lobe before he set her away from him. She didn’t know how he planned to have her to himself, but if her trembling with need was any indication, she hoped he had a way.

“Hello! Hello!”

It was Kiki, and Meagan shook herself, quickly checking the mirror, about to rush from the bathroom, when Sam yelled, “In here, Kiki.”

Meagan turned to him and mouthed, “Are you crazy?”

He arched a brow, as if he had no idea why she would ask such a thing.

Kiki appeared in the doorway, a frown on her pretty face. “What’s going on?”

Sam indicated the sink. “Ants. If you two want this place, I’ll need to get an exterminator written into the agreement prior to move-in.”

“Oh good grief,” Kiki exclaimed. “There’s a ton of them.”

And sure enough, there were a ton of them. Meagan barely bit back a smile. Sam was a phenomenal kisser, and really brilliant to boot.

“You have to see the mother-in-law house,” Kiki said. “It has three rooms, so I can stay with you and not have to drive out every day.”

Okay, so there went her lusty, Sam-created high. “Let’s go check,” Meagan said.

She moved forward, toward Sam, and his eyes twinkled with mischief and the promise of more kisses, more touches, more fire. Promises she really wanted him to keep. Besides. She owed him a thank-you for telling her about her buttons.

Meagan exited the bathroom with him on her heels, their shared secrets somehow uniting them beyond the passion they shared. And for the first time in a long time, she admitted to herself that having someone at her back wasn’t such a bad thing, not when that someone was Sam, at least so it seemed.

The realization puzzled her. Oh sure, she’d been standing alone for a long while—beating a path through the entertainment industry with a family that didn’t approve and hardly spoke to her. And sure, she’d tried a few times to escape into a man’s arms, into a relationship with a Beta-type guy, when deep down she knew alphas appealed far more. But she also knew that alphas were demanding and controlling, and she’d seen enough of that in her small town to last a lifetime—they’d sent her running for the hills. Sam was alpha—one hundred percent all-hot alpha male. So why wasn’t she running from him?

10

ONLY FIFTEEN MINUTES after the bathroom kiss, they’d looked at the mother-in-law house and were on to the additional house a mile away that was also part of the lease. Meagan was in the backseat of Josh’s SUV, all too aware of her leg intimately pressed to Sam’s. Kiki was in the front. Kiki, who Meagan couldn’t escape, any more than she could the memories of being in Sam’s truck, and what they’d done together. It all threatened to suffocate her right here and now.

“I can’t get over how perfect the mother-in-law house was,” Kiki said, glancing around the seats at Meagan. “We’ll be roommates.”

“Perfect.” Except for the fact that there had been only two bedrooms, one of which Kiki had excitedly claimed. “We haven’t seen the second property yet.”

“That’ll be for security,” Kiki said, glancing at Sam. “Surely you can work with whatever you get, right?”

And bless Sam, he simply said, “We’ll see,” once again, leaving the power in her hands, doing exactly the opposite of what she’d wrongly assumed he would do. She wanted to crawl into his lap and kiss him. Though she was pretty sure, he could tick her off right now, and she’d still want him just as much.

MEAGAN SOON STOOD ON the back deck of the extra house, hands on a balcony railing overlooking the dark beach. Unseen waves were crashing on the shoreline and Sam was by her side. Kiki, thankfully, was off somewhere on her cell phone.

“It works for you?” she asked him.

“I’d say the setup is about as perfect as you can get on such short notice, with such a small timeframe to move in and start filming.”

A soft purr—or more like a meow—sounded close by. “Did I just hear a cat?” Another meow, muffled but nearby. She pushed off the railing, trying to figure out where it was coming from, and Sam did the same. “Could it be trapped, Sam? Here kitty, kitty. Here kitty.” More meowing.

Sam walked down the steps that led to the beach, making a motion with his hands for her to keep calling the cat. Meagan followed him, and the sound. “Here kitty, kitty. Here kitty.”

Sam kneeled down at the bottom step, and the next thing she knew, he was holding a kitten.

Meagan rushed forward. A cute little ball of white fur in Sam’s hands. “Is it okay?”