Chapter Eight

Meg should have thought this through. Laura could see through any excuse. She would keep wheedling away until Meg finally blurted out the truth.

Laura stared at her, waiting for a response. She sipped her coffee, desperately hoping for a stroke of genius, or a distraction. When the front door bell rang Meg glanced upward offering a silent prayer of thanks. She took a step in the direction of the hallway but Laura slid off the stool and held her hand up.

“Don’t move. I’ll get rid of them. You’re going nowhere until you tell me what the hell is going on.”

Laura’s scantily clad form disappeared around the corner. Meg put her cup on the side. She sidled out of the kitchen in the hope Laura would be too busy to notice her making her escape. She watched as Laura opened the door. A voice floating up the hallway brought her to a halt two steps from the laundry.

“Where’s Meg?”

Laura glanced over her shoulder and Meg mouthed, I’m not here. The smirk on Laura’s face gave the game away, she was about to be outed.

“She says she’s not here.”

“I suppose her car’s not parked on your front drive either?”

Meg took the last two steps to the laundry. She shoved the door open as footsteps approached and a hand clamped down on her shoulder.

“You’re not running out on me again.”

She spun around. “Sam, imagine you coming over. Did you want to see Laura about something? Because I can go and leave you alone if you like.”

He folded his arms. “You know damn well why I’m here. What happened to meeting me for coffee in five minutes?”

“I remembered I promised to meet with Laura.” Meg glanced at Laura.

“No she didn’t, she’s lying. I know something is going on, so out with it.”

Meg glared at her. “Don’t you need to be putting some clothes on?”

“I don’t have anything Sam hasn’t seen before.” Laura smiled seductively. “You don’t mind, do you, Sam?”

Sam glanced at her then back at Meg. “Why don’t you put a robe or something on while I talk to Meg in private?”

Laura humphed and flounced down the hall.

Apparently she wasn’t going to escape an in depth discussion but she didn’t intend to have it in front of Laura. Meg grabbed Sam’s hand and dragged him through to the kitchen. “Why did you follow me?”

“You promised to meet me in the kitchen and then you ran out on me. What did you think I was going to do?”

It wasn’t what he would do that scared her, but what she might do. Left alone with him, who knew how long she would be able to resist his charms. She needed to stop this before it went any further, before she ended up with a broken heart, or he had a hernia or slipped a disc. She glanced at the door. “I am not discussing anything here.”

“Where? Back at the flat then?”

Oh no, no way, not back to the flat, the scene of the crime. Who knew where things might lead, alone with him she would definitely be tempted to convince him to try fucking again. After all, he was extremely gifted.

“No, not the flat, we need to meet on neutral territory.”

“For God’s sake, Meg, we didn’t do anything wrong, we just had—” Meg slammed her hand over his mouth.

“Shh, not here. I’ll meet you at the mall.”

Laura wandered into the room wearing a black lacy robe, barely covering more than she had covered before. “What are you not discussing here?”

Meg dropped her hand from Sam’s mouth. “Nothing. Nothing. Actually I forgot I need to go to the mall.”

Sam grabbed her arm. “We need to go to the mall.”

Whatever. She wanted to get him away from Laura before he felt the need to blurt out exactly what they’d been up to. She didn’t trust him to stay silent. He was far too out there with people. He had no sense of decorum. Obviously he didn’t have a mother like hers. There was a time and place to talk about sex, and in front of Laura wasn’t it. If she found out they had slept together she would never hear the end of it.

She pulled herself free. “I’ll meet you in the food court by the, um, salad bar.”

“I’m not letting you get away again. Either you ride on the back of my motorbike or you can give me a lift.”

The thought of trying to straddle his bike made her bits ache. Not happening, not in those jeans. She should have accepted she was no longer as skinny as she once had been and worn the track pants. The determined expression on his face left her in no doubt he wasn’t going to let her get away from him again, so they would have to take her car. Grabbing Sam’s hand, she dragged him toward the front door.

“Sam will be back later to pick up his bike. You don’t mind if he leaves it here, do you?” Meg didn’t bother waiting for an answer. The less said to Laura the better. She was going to have enough trouble trying to explain away what she had overheard already.

*

Sam let her lead him outside. At least she wasn’t running away from him again. Depositing him at the passenger’s door, she walked around the vehicle. He frowned. From the way she shuffled along, and the expression on her face, he assumed she was in pain.

Surely he hadn’t been too rough for her? He had, he’d hurt her, and she’d said nothing. Though she had an orgasm, two actually, he must have injured her, and that couldn’t be any fun. How could he be so stupid? He’d tried his best to be careful. He should have reined her in when she started impaling herself on the full length of his shaft. Maybe she thought guys only got off when they were fully enveloped. No wonder she ran off, clearly the sight of his erection terrified her.

She unlocked the doors. After throwing some empty Coke cans off the passenger’s seat he climbed in, pulling on his seatbelt as she reversed out of the driveway. Where did he go with the conversation when they got to the mall? He’d intended to tell her how great last night had been and that he thought they should continue. They didn’t have a romantic relationship, but it was the best sex he’d had in years. He’d started to worry she’d get too attached to him and he’d break her heart. Funny, her heart was still intact but, apparently, he’d broken her twat. He groaned and Meg glanced at him.

“Are you okay?”

He nodded. “Yeah fine, just thinking.”

Meg turned her attention back to the road. “Do you mind if we don’t go to the mall?”

Oh God, she was still trying to get out of talking to him. He had a horrible feeling if he let things stew it would only get harder.

“You will still talk to me though?”

“Yeah, when we get home.”

He relaxed a little, relieved he would still get a chance to make amends. The rest of the journey passed in silence. He desperately tried to work out how to apologize and come out of the whole situation with some chance of remaining friends. Any hope of something more was beyond him. He’d blown it big time. Fuck, he should have kept his stallion locked in the stable.

*

Meg maneuvered the car into the space out front, turned off the engine, and carefully eased herself out of the driver’s seat. Her whole bottom half had gone numb. She wasn’t even sure she could walk unaided. Why had she believed wearing jeans this small was a good idea? Taking tiny steps, she made it to the front door. Sam followed her inside. Now that she looked at him, he seemed to have lost his burning desire to talk.

“Are you okay?”

A smile briefly touched his lips, but then his crestfallen expression slipped back into place. He took a step toward the kitchen. “You want a coffee?”

Coffee was always good. She had barely started on her cup when he showed up at Laura’s, besides they had real coffee. “Sure, but I need to do something first.”

She waddled toward the hallway, stopping when he grabbed her arm. “You aren’t planning to jump out of the window and escape again, are you?”

Jump? Was he being serious? “No, I plan to get out of these jeans before I lose the ability to procreate.”

His chuckle surprised her. Why was her being in agony so damn funny? Sticking her nose in the air, she mustered as much dignity as she could, and marched out of the room. Bloody funny, he should try wearing her pants.