He’d left her.
As unbelievable as it seemed, after helping Karena into the shower and waiting until she’d finished so he could tuck her into bed, Sam had let himself out of her apartment.
All the way to his car he could imagine Cole’s crass jokes if he’d dared tell his brother about tonight’s escapade. Luckily for him, kissing and telling was a long-gone pastime for him.
The ride back to Connecticut took less than an hour. It was late, so traffic had died down significantly. Thoughts of Karena and the events of the day circled in his mind. When he’d awakened this morning it had been to plans of playing with Romeo, maybe stopping by his parents’ house and checking in at the office late in the afternoon.
Then the phone call had come, and like a moth to a flame he’d been drawn to her. She needed him and he’d gone running. But Sam had no idea how deep Karena Lakefield’s needs actually went.
Sure there was the problem with the stolen artwork, but Sam was confident he, along with Bree and Bailey, could get to the bottom of that. On another, more personal level, however, Sam was considering his next move.
She was an intelligent woman, one who knew what she wanted and how to get it, hence her own personal vibrator. Karena didn’t need a living, breathing man, not in her career and not in her personal life. At least that’s what she wanted to believe. Sam wasn’t quite sure why.
Maybe an ex-boyfriend had broken her heart. Maybe she was just picky. From the way he’d watched her at work, she’d probably say she was too busy for men or relationships.
None of those reasons rang true for him.
Turning into his driveway, Sam switched off the ignition and sat for a moment, his decision made. Whatever was behind her half-hearted attempts to pull away from him, he was going to make her see reason. He was going to seduce Karena Lakefield. Hell, he’d already taken the first step to that tonight, so the decision was actually obvious.
The minute he opened the door Romeo was there, lumbering his big-but-lithe body over to Sam, lifting his head and sniffing.
“No snacks for you, champ. Sorry. I know it’s late.” He rubbed Romeo between his ears and turned to move toward the kitchen. “Come on, let’s get you something to eat.”
Romeo, although hungry, didn’t move. Instead he barked to get Sam’s full attention. Stopping, Sam looked down at his dog, then to the envelope on the floor near Romeo’s left paw.
“You got the mail while I was out,” he joked then bent down to pick up the envelope, wondering why it wasn’t in the locked mailbox at the end of his driveway. Somebody had come all the way to his front door and slipped the envelope beneath it. Whatever was in this letter must have been important.
Sam opened it as he walked, pausing at the threshold of the kitchen when he saw the scrawling script. It was an invitation to the Greenwich Country Club’s Fall Brunch. He was about to ball it up and toss it when the handwritten note on the back caught his eye.
“I’ve already RSVP’d for us. Give me a call to let me know what time you’re picking me up.”
Leeza. He sighed then proceeded to ball the invitation in one hand, rubbing the back of his neck with the other.
He’d broken up with Leeza months ago. Sat her down and told her that their relationship—engagement—was over. Why? Because she was driving him insane with her controlling nature.
Leeza Purdy was from a prominent family in Greenwich. She went to the best schools, wore the best clothes, drove the best car. In her mind, the struggle to be the best at all times was first and foremost. Why she wanted Sam, who was born of a great family with money of their own, but with his municipal police detective job, he hadn’t understood in the beginning.
But after dating her for a year Sam had thought their social status, rules and etiquettes were secondary to the love they shared for each other. Fortunately, Sam learned before it was too late that they were not meant to be. It was too bad that Leeza hadn’t received that memo.
“Well, I’m glad one of us is living happily ever after,” Karena said and instantly wished she’d kept her mouth shut.
She was on the phone with her best friend, Noelle Vincent, who now lived in Maryland with her boyfriend, Brock Remington. It was because of Noelle that she’d met Sam. So she could probably blame the conflicting mood she was in this morning on her. Somehow Karena knew that wasn’t going to work.
“Hmm, sounds like trouble brewing,” Noelle said. “What’s going on? Is your dad on the warpath again? Or is it Monica? Girl, when are you going to find her a man to calm her down?” Noelle chuckled.
Karena couldn’t hold back her own smile. Monica did need a man. Now, Karena knew that her older sister had been through something bad with her boyfriend, three years ago, but it was past time she let that go and moved on. Monica had never told her or any of the family what really happened with her ex, but whatever it was it had turned Monica off men totally. Karena often wondered if she should just give Monica the Web site from which she purchased all her little sex toys.
That thought alone had Karena groaning. The memory of what Sam had done with that vibrator still haunted her, causing her knees to close so tightly she heard the bones knock beneath the desk.
“There’s nothing I can do for Monica. I fear she’s a lost cause.”
“Nobody’s a lost cause.”
“Spoken like a woman in love,” Karena said with a smile. She was genuinely happy for Noelle. She liked Brock and thought the change of scenery and a mature relationship was good for her friend. Unfortunately, her life wasn’t so easily handled.
“No, spoken like an optimistic person. Why are you always looking for the bad, expecting the worse?”
Karena rubbed her temple. “Because it’s always there.”
“So is happiness, you could try searching for that.”
“Or I could stay on the path I’m already on.”
“And what’s that, the independent career woman who sleeps alone?”
“Sleeping with a man is not all it’s cracked up to be.”
“Of course not if you’re just sleeping.”
They both laughed at that.
“Please, I have enough toys to start my own store. I’m not starving in the sex department.”
“No. Just the companionship department.” Noelle sighed heavily. “So is that what your mood is about? You need a man?”
“Noelle, I do not need a man. Why do all women think that? I’m complete without somebody with a penis and an arrogant attitude waking up beside me every morning. I have a job, I pay all my own bills. My apartment is nice, my car is paid for. I do not need a man to complete or define me.”
“Ooookay, let me know when you’re ready to exhale.”
Karena slammed back in her chair. It started to spin a little so that now her back was facing her closed office door. “Sorry. That wasn’t necessary. I’m just so tired of the assumption that every woman needs a man.”
“Then let’s use another word. Let’s say you want a man?”
“Yeah right, like I want the hives or a root canal.”
Noelle laughed loud and long. “Comparing a man to hives or a root canal, that can only mean one thing.”
“What?”
“That you met someone.”
“I did not meet someone.” Karena was quiet for a moment. “I already knew him.”
“I knew it! I knew it. Tell me all about him.”
She was going to regret this, she knew, but she needed somebody to talk to, and her sisters were definitely out of the question. The funny thing was just a few months ago the tables were turned. She was the one giving Noelle advice on her love life. The difference now was that Karena didn’t have a love life. What she had was a stolen painting and a man who could kiss her into an orgasm but preferred to apply double pressure with his mouth and her prized sex toy. What had she gotten herself into?
“Okay, I’m going to tell you, but again I don’t want you going overboard. This is not a love connection, Noelle. It’s just a situation. One that I need your honest advice on. So take off those love blinders you have on and give me your unbiased opinion.”
“Ooooh, this is serious.”
Karena laughed. This is why she and Noelle were good friends. Noelle was feisty and upbeat, smart and witty, bold and tenacious. All Karena could claim to be was intelligent and ambitious. The rest she sort of let her sisters handle.
“I went to Brazil and bought a painting. Now it seems the painting might be stolen. So I called Sam Desdune to investigate for me.”
“Uh-huh?”
“He came to the office yesterday. He left. Then he came back, took me to dinner and took me home.”
“And?”
Karena inhaled then let the breath out slowly. “He caught me with my vibrator in hand and used it to make me come harder and longer than I ever have before,” she said, quickly closing her eyes as if that were going to temper Noelle’s response.
“What!” Noelle screeched.
“Wait a minute, back up, rewind, he did what to you? Sam Desdune? The quiet private investigator who works with Trent? The one with the wholesome good looks and killer smile?”
“You know who he is, Noelle.”
“Yeah, I know who he is. I’m trying to get a handle on what you’ve just told me he did. So why did you have the vibrator? Was it in your purse? And what type was it, because I have one but I was thinking of getting an upgrade.”
Karena rolled her eyes. “Noelle, can you please concentrate on the matter at hand?”
“I am. I mean, I thought we were talking about Sam and the great sex you had.”
“No. I did not say we had sex. I said he used the vibrator on me and…his hands…his mouth.”
“Oooo, girl, this is too good.” Noelle was laughing again.
Karena was beginning to feel like a comedienne for all the enjoyment Noelle was getting from their conversation. “Look, Sam is supposed to find out what’s going on with this painting. Not what’s going on with me and my desires.”
“At least you’re admitting you have desires.”
“I’m not dead, Noelle. Of course I have desires. That’s why I have the toys.”
“The ones that he used on you.”
“Girl, you truly have a one-track mind.”
“Okay, okay. So your problem is that you want to keep this business-only but your libido is getting in the way.”
“Yes.”
“Well, it’s clearly too late for keeping this business. So now what you need to figure out is how to play things from here. You still want to sleep with him, don’t you?”
“There’s no need in lying, especially to you. Yes, I want to sleep with him.”
“So do it.”
“Just like that?”
“Yeah, just like that. You told me once that Brock and I were both consenting adults, so there was no real reason why we couldn’t act on our attraction to each other. Now I’m telling you the same thing.”
“But it’s different for me.”
“Why?”
“Because,” Karena got quiet. “Because I’m afraid that I could really fall for a man like Sam.”
“Really? What kind of man is he?”
“He loves his family for one and he’s loyal to them, I can tell. He’s fair and he’s confident. He’s honest.”
“And he looks good in dress clothes and jeans,” Noelle added.
“What? How do you know Ms. Two-Steps-Away-From-Being-Married?”
“I’m not blind and I’ve seen him a couple of times, so I know. Anyway, all that sounds like good stuff. What are the cons to hooking up with him?”
Because Karena had thought about this one issue all night after Sam left her apartment and then again this morning when she’d awakened, it was on the tip of her tongue when Noelle asked. And because Noelle was her closest friend and probably the only person she could talk to about this, she said, “Because I don’t want to end up like her. I don’t want to fall in love with a man and give him every part of me until there’s nothing left. I just don’t want to make that mistake.”
“What mistake don’t you want to make?”
Karena nearly jumped out of her chair, the phone receiver slipping from her hand as she turned to see none other than Noreen Lakefield standing in the doorway. “Ah…hi, Mom.”