Strictly Seduction: Watch Me

A door slammed. That they’d been alone this long was a miracle. Now there was no time to talk to Meagan, and make his position clear, though he fully intended to. Just like he didn’t run from things, he didn’t play games, or talk in circles.

“Let’s check out the property,” he said, before they were interrupted. He quickly brushed his mouth over hers, silently reassuring her that he welcomed their intimacy. He then pushed to his feet and pulled her with him.

“Sam—” she started, looking surprisingly vulnerable, an emotion he hadn’t often seen in her.

Josh entered the room. “We’re fine in…Oh, hey, Meagan. I bet you’re glad to finally be moving in.”

“Very,” she agreed and exchanged some small talk with him, before Sam had Josh finish up under the cabinet.

A few minutes later, they’d reviewed the in-house cameras, and were standing on the porch. “If we walk up the beach, I can show you where we set up cameras.”

“There are cameras on the actual beach?”

“That’s right,” he said. “It allows us to ensure we don’t have any trespassers, and it gives you some extra unscripted footage to weed through.”

“That’s more than I could have asked for,” she said. “I know this must be a huge change from the army for you, Sam, but if it’s any consolation, you’re good at what you do.”

“I aim to please,” he said, leaning on the railing. “I’m focused on the future, not the past. I’m simply not one to linger on what I’ve lost.”

“But an injury took your career,” she said. “Doesn’t that ever make you angry?”

“Sure. I was angry when it happened. I was angry as hell. But it happened, and I can’t change history. You climb inside yourself, duke it out, and move on. And is this where I think I’ll end up? Only if I decide I have real value, if I feel I’m contributing. And right now, I’m pretty okay with just helping you succeed.”

Surprise overtook her expression. “Sam.”

“This matters to you on some deep level that I know I don’t understand. But I want to. And things that matter to people the way this matters to you, matters to me.” He realized something that had been in the back of his mind for a while. “What are you having trouble letting go of, Meagan?”

She inhaled sharply. “Why would you ask me that?”

“Because I can sense there’s something you cling to, something that you carry around like a concrete block,” he said. “And because I want to know what makes you tick.”

He half expected her to withdraw, but she didn’t. Instead, still facing him, she pressed her palm against the railing he was leaning on. “This first season is like standing on a rug, certain it’s going to be yanked out from underneath you. For me, I feel like this is it. If this show doesn’t make it, I need to reevaluate and figure out where I fit, if I fit, in this industry.” She paused. “Did you say let’s walk? I think walking would be good right now.”

They headed down the beach. Dim lights illuminated their path, as they strolled in silence laden with unspoken questions and untouched passion.

“You asked why I kissed you tonight,” Meagan blurted, turning to him.

“Tell me,” he encouraged, not surprised by her directness, or how much it appealed to him.

“I like you, Sam Kellar.”

She couldn’t have said anything more perfect. It was exactly what he’d been thinking in the kitchen. “I like you, too, Meagan Tippan.” He stepped close to her, wrapping her in his arms. “So where does that leave us?”

The lights around them flickered, and someone shouted, with footsteps running along the beach. “Apparently,” she said, “with nowhere to hide.”

Good, he thought. Because he wasn’t going to let her hide. She’d opened the door to let him inside her life, and he was coming in, armed and ready to get to know every intimate detail.

“Let me finish up here, and then we’ll…talk.”

She smiled, mischief in her eyes. “Good. I’m up for a good argument.”

“Me, too,” he assured her. “That is, as long as we get to kiss and make up.”

16

MEAGAN WAS NERVOUS. Nervous! How insane was that? But she and Sam had taken their connection to a new level tonight. Meagan had no idea she was going to kiss Sam while they were on the kitchen floor, but she was glad she had. She was so tired of controlling everything around her, and, despite her spent nerves, it was almost a relief to have her wild desire for Sam become a fact.

Her cell phone rang, and she quickly stuck her headset in her ear and hit the answer button without taking her eyes off the road. She was driving back to the hotel with Sam in his vehicle behind her. She’d been trying to reach Kiki or Shayla all evening with no answer, and that worried her.

“Hello.”

“Why do you sound like you want to bite my head off?”

She laughed instantly at the sound of Sam’s voice, which was a testament to how much she needed the distraction that was this man. To think she’d believed it would be a bad thing. “I didn’t know I did. Sorry. I’ve been trying to reach Kiki and Shayla and I can’t. Considering her track record, silence from Kiki still twists me in knots.”

“And you want to let her live in the mother-in-law house with you?” he asked, reminding her of the decision she’d shared with him earlier in the evening.

“I need her under thumb, where I can watch her.”

“If she’s at the second house, she’ll be under my thumb and…on second thought, I think she should stay with you.”

“Yeah, I bet you do,” Meagan said. “I’m not so sure Josh would agree. He seems to get all hot and bothered when she’s near.”

“Josh’s no fool, or he wouldn’t work for me. He knows what Kiki’s really about,” he said.

She sighed and went back to the prior subject. “I can’t believe they aren’t taking my calls.”

“Don’t assume the worst,” he said. “I think we should get your mind off of it.”

“How do you propose we do that?”

“By talking about something else. What’s your favorite color?”

“Are you serious?”

“As a heart attack. So—what is it?”

She laughed softly. “Fine. It’s red.”

“Why?”

“It’s bold and daring like I dreamt of being when I was growing up in a small conservative Texas town. What about you?”

“Orange.”

“Like the Texas Longhorns?”

“Only a Texan would turn orange into Texas Long-horn burnt orange,” he said. “I’m talking California orange—a new day’s sun burning over the ocean. I was born here, you know. Those sunrises were one of the things I missed when I was gone. Us soldiers see more dirt and grunge than we do oceans and sunrises.”