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“Sam?” Andy’s voice cut through the shower curtain, making Sam jump hard enough that she almost slipped.
“What?” Damn, she hated when someone snuck up here on her. She could hear the door to her floor open—unless she was in the shower.
“When are you going to be ready?”
Sam rolled her eyes as she tried to spread the conditioner one-handed. Andy was driving her nuts about everything being perfect for when Celine Ruzekia arrived—which, by Sam’s calculations, wasn’t for another half hour. “When I’m damn good and ready. I’m going to need some help.” Heaven had grudgingly been helping Sam get dressed when Granny was busy. Lousy help was better than no help at all.
Andy snorted. “What about Zack?”
Sam froze, which left her arm in an awkward position. “What about him?”
“He’s getting underfoot in the kitchen.”
Whew. For a second, she thought everyone had put two and two together and she was about to be busted for breaking just about every rule in the book. But no. He was just bothering Granny. “It’s okay. I trust him.” At least he could be shunted to the living room. No one wanted a grumpy Granny.
“Oh. Okay. Do you—What?” The door pulled shut, but Sam could still hear Andy yelling something down the stairs.
Lordy, she thought as she finished rinsing her hair. This was way more drama than she was used to. Sam reviewed her game plan for the night. She was going to be happy for Andy. She was going to be sweet and kind to this Celine woman. She was going to be a good friend.
Zack popped up in her mind. Yeah, he was part of the game plan, too. She was going to be more the kind of friend he wanted to hang out with and maybe kiss, and less the kind of friend who bossed him around. Which would take some getting used to, admittedly, but she was going to give it a go.
Damn it, she couldn’t get her towel over her head. If she owned a hairdryer, she’d just air-dry her whole body. Where the hell was Heaven? At least she could get her pants on by herself.
Sam had just managed to get both arms through the bra straps and was wondering if there was any way in hell she could get the thing hooked one-handed when she heard her door open again. “About time!” Wait, she was being less of the boss-lady. She tried again. “Could you please help me?”
She turned around as the bathroom door opened. This was so humiliating, having to depend on someone else to do even the most basic tasks. Well, it wouldn’t be more than another few days before her shoulder was usable again.
Heaven pulled on the band and, after a few surprisingly awkward tries, hooked it into place. Odd, Sam thought as her back flashed hot. It’s just Heaven. “Thanks,” she said, proud of how not-bossy that came out. “Can you help with the shirt?” She pointed to where she’d set her top on the closed toilet seat.
“I like this green on you.”
At the sound of the deep, decidedly not-Heaven voice, Sam spun around so fast she tripped on the lip of the shower basin. She tried to flail, but her arm screamed in agony, and she just screamed. The tile rushed up to smack her, but that had nothing on the spike of fear that was stabbing her in the chest. How? It was all she could think as she waited for the pain.
She jerked to a stop, but not because she’d hit anything. Instead, strong arms were around her waist, and one hand was supporting her weak shoulder. Then she was against a warm chest, her near-nakedness hidden against a light blue dress shirt.
“Easy, Sam. It’s just me. Zack.” His Adam’s apple bobbed right in front of her eyes. For the second time in three days, she was in his arms, shaken and shaking, and listening to the calm sound of his voice. As fast as it had come up on her, the fear was gone.
But this time, she was in her own bathroom. Making sure she kept her chest hidden against his, she looked up at him. His pale eyes latched onto hers with a laser-like focus.
“What—uh—you—” Which, to be fair, was not bossy. Just stunned.
“Andy said you needed help.” His eyes didn’t waver. Not even a dip down to where she was in nothing but a flimsy piece of lingerie. However, the flat of his hand spread out wide against the bare skin of her lower back, and somehow, Sam got closer to his face. Specifically, his lips. The full-on charming smile spread across his face. “She said you trusted me.”
“In the house.” Her voice shook as his other hand reached up and brushed a still-wet strand of hair out of her eyes. Even with the last of the wet steam from the shower still hanging heavy in the air, she felt sparks where his fingers brushed her cheek. “I trust you in the house.”
She didn’t think it was possible, but that smile got even more charming. Her knees went all wobbly on her. “Unless I missed something, I’m pretty sure we’re still in the house.”
Everything about this was wrong. She was wearing next to nothing, a charming man was in her bathroom, and she was unable to defend herself. She should be screaming bloody murder, fighting for her life, and inflicting some collateral damage to make sure this would never happen again.
Her breath caught as his hand slipped from her face to the back of her neck, and then down to her shoulders. His face got closer to hers. “I want to kiss you.”
Not wrong. Normal. Aside from her aching shoulder, everything about this felt profoundly normal, as if Zack had always belonged here and she’d just been waiting for him to arrive. A kiss sure sounded good to her—except for the part where she was half-naked with company due at any second. “We can’t.” Even though it was barely a whisper, the refusal seemed to echo off the bathroom walls.
All that charm didn’t falter. “Maybe later.” Inch by inch, he pulled away from her, but his fingers stayed on her skin until the very end. Sam was surprised to find herself wishing she had some of those pretty bras Heaven wore—anything other than boring white.
“Now,” he said, picking up her shirt, “let me help you out. That’s what friends are for.”
Without another word, he applied the deodorant for her, helped her get her arms in the shirt, and buttoned it for her, his fingers taking their sweet time as he worked his way up to the second from the top. The whole while, Sam stood there, stuck in the uncomfortable place between mortification—deodorant!—and seduction.
He sat her down on the closed toilet seat lid and began looking for a comb. Sam could see him studying her disorganized bathroom—a lot of lotions, but no makeup or a mirror—but he didn’t say anything. He just brushed her hair.
Something about the way he was going methodically down the list made her think, which was a welcome distraction from noting how he tucked her hair behind her ears, just the way she wore it. “You’ve done this before.”
A shadow crossed over his face. “By the time Mom had her mastectomies, Dad was long gone. We couldn’t afford a home nurse, so I had to take care of her.” He grinned. “She said it was payback for having to change my diaper when I was a baby.”
She couldn’t bring herself to grin back. And then his mom had died. She remembered that from their first real conversation, right after she’d seen him naked.
So he’d seen her in her bra. She still had the upper hand, even if he didn’t know it.
A strange emotion settled over her as he finished her hair. Everyone here had some God-awful story of pain and loss, but all of them had no one to blame but themselves. They’d made a bad choice and then usually followed it up with a few worse ones. She felt awful for them, of course, but she didn’t have a lot of pity for someone who willingly chose the wrong path.
Pity. That was it. She felt sorry for Zack. Losing his mother to cancer wasn’t his fault. Losing his job wasn’t his fault, either. But he wasn’t bitter. He wasn’t ruled by a past he couldn’t control and couldn’t change. Instead, he kept on smiling as he rolled with the punches. Oh, no. She vaguely remembered punching him.
Pity surged into admiration. Despite all the crap she’d thrown at him, he hadn’t given up on her. He saw her at her weakest, and he still looked at her like, well, like he was looking at her right now. He wanted her, but that wasn’t all. It was almost like he had faith in her. She felt...redeemable.
For the first time in a long time, Sam knew everything was going to be all right.
Taking her hands, Zack helped her stand back up. “There,” he said, smoothing her collar. “Beautiful.”
It should have sounded like a line. But the way he looked at her, the way he laced his fingers with hers, the way his grin seemed less about charm and more about intent—it wasn’t a line. He really did seem to think that was true. And what was even weirder was that, for the first time she could remember, she felt beautiful.
Admiration became attraction all over again. Before he could do the noble thing and let go of her, she stood on her tiptoes and pressed her lips to his.
His eyes widened in shock, but it didn’t last long. His arms settled around her waist, pulling her in closer so the lengths of their bodies pressed together. Heat ran down her back, and her nipples went so hard so fast that she shivered. She could feel his response, hard and thick against her stomach.
His tongue touched her lips, gently at first, but when she opened her mouth, he swept in with a passion that set her knees wobbling again. She dug her fingers into his back to steady herself. From deep in his chest, a primal-sounding growl rumbled as he kissed her harder.
He didn’t push her away, not even when she tasted his lip again. His musk hit her tongue and suddenly, she wanted to taste all of him, every single inch. He jolted, the pressure against her belly getting more intense. Yes, this was what came after the first kiss. And then...
From deep inside the house, the doorbell rang. Zack groaned against her lips before he pulled back. He didn’t let go, though. He kept a tight hold of her as he rested his chin on her head. “I...” his voice cracked. He cleared his throat and tried again. “I need a minute.”
Sam was willing to stand there for all eternity, but at the bottom of the stairs, the door opened. “Sam?” Andy’s anxious voice called up. “Are you ready? She’s here!”
***
Zack felt Sam tense up in his arms, and then she was away from him. Which was a very good thing, because he had to get the situation in his jeans back under control before he went anywhere.
“Coming!” Sam shouted down the stairs as she plopped onto the bed and began to cram her foot into a boot. Simple white sheets, he noted, but a nice queen-sized mattress. Plenty of room for two.
“Zack,” she said, holding out her left foot to him. “Please.”
Right. Now was not the time to be sizing up potential beds in which he had no plans to sleep. “I’ve gathered this is the first time Andy’s brought anyone out here.”
Sam smiled, a sweet thing that softened her whole face. He almost told her she was beautiful again, but the last thing he wanted was for Andy to come barreling up here and catch them en flagrante delecto. “Driving you crazy, too?”
“At least she didn’t threaten me today.” He got her boots on and then helped her back to her feet. She tucked her weak hand in her pocket. He got the feeling it was going to stay there the rest of the night. No sling for her. She wouldn’t let anyone else see her as vulnerable.
Except that she was stunningly fragile. The memory of her spilled out on the ground spliced itself with the broken confusion on her face last night when she’d tried—and failed—to tell him what the Big Secret was. From deep inside, he wanted to keep that part of her safe. And the fact that she hadn’t kneed him in the groin in the bathroom was a leading indicator that she just might let him.
He went down the narrow set of steps first so she could hold onto his shoulder for balance. When they got to the bottom, she didn’t let go. Instead, she trailed her fingers down his arm and took hold of his hand. “When Andy shows Celine the house, I want you to get the full tour, too.”
Oh, yeah, she’d kissed him.
By the time they got to the living room, Andy was finishing the introductions with Granny. Neither Heaven nor Lindy were around.
“There you...two are,” Andy said in that forced-calm kind of way, her eyes cutting to their intertwined hands. “Come and meet Celine.”
Zack felt Sam tense up, but when he looked at her, she was wearing that pretty smile again. This time, though, it looked a little strained. “Hello. I’m Sam Kenady. It’s so nice to meet you, Celine.” She let go of Zack’s hand just long enough to offer an awkward shake to a woman who looked nothing like Zack had pictured her.
“It’s a pleasure to finally meet you,” the leggy blond said in a breathy voice. “Andy just speaks the world of you.” She turned to Zack. “I’m Celine Ruzekia.”
“Zack Baker,” he said, unsure if shaking was his best choice. But Andy looked at him expectantly, so he gave Celine a brief handshake. “Sam’s friend.”
No one said anything as Sam’s hand slipped back into his. He rubbed his thumb over hers, hoping that would help keep her calm. Everyone was looking at Celine. The woman was class personified. Tight but tasteful skirt that came just below her knees, silk print blouse under a tailored jacket, four-inch heels. Zack was having a little trouble getting his head wrapped around this woman, who looked like she belonged on a runway in New York, holding hands with the likes of Andy.
At that moment, Heaven came barreling down the stairs. “Hey! Wow!” She gave Andy a brazen thumbs-up.
Zack wondered where on earth Heaven had gotten that skirt—if you could call it that. Personally, Zack would call it a potholder. Next to Celine, Heaven succeeded at looking like a former prostitute. Maybe even a current one. “It makes total sense now! You’re a lipstick lesbian!”
“Heaven!” Andy yelled.
Before Andy could strangle her, Celine let out an airy laugh that was a better fit for a tea party than an awkward set of introductions. “Darling,” she said, physically holding Andy back, “she’s fine. I am, after all.” Celine turned to Heaven, and her eyes got real sharp real fast. “It’s good to see you again, Heaven. I trust you’ve been keeping up with the terms of your conditional release?”
Even from across the room, Zack could see blood drain out of Heaven’s face as she blinked once, then twice in super-slow motion. Sam’s hand clamped down on his like a vise.
Granny was the one who broke the silence with her familiar ringing laugh. “Andy, honey, I like her. She’s a pip!”
Celine began to laugh with her, and soon everyone was chuckling.
Everyone but Heaven. “I’m going to—I’ll be right back,” she said, making a break for the stairs. Zack had the feeling she’d be wearing real clothes when she got back down.
“Andy mentioned you were a prosecutor.” Sam’s voice still sounded strangled. She wasn’t upset about Heaven, was she?
“I am.” Celine and Sam shared a long look.
The tension rolling off Sam was strong enough to make Zack want to step between her and Celine. Sam seemed afraid of Andy’s girlfriend. Wait. Maybe it wasn’t Andy’s girlfriend. Andy had been to prison. Celine was a prosecutor. Everyone here had been in trouble with the law.
Was he kissing an ex-con?
Celine turned back to Andy. “I didn’t scare her too badly, did I?”
Which her?
Andy broke out in the biggest grin Zack had ever seen on the woman as she put her arm around her girlfriend. “Naw. It’s good for her. Where’s Lindy?”
The question hung in the air for a moment. “I’ll fetch her,” Granny said. She moved up the stairs with surprising grace.
Zack could still see Andy was nervous, but she was putting forth a brave face. “That’s everyone except...”
On cue, Katydid bounded into the room, her leash trailing after her. Before any of her furry paws could get near Celine’s silk shirt, she let out a scream and hid behind Andy.
“Katydid.” Granny appeared at the top of the stairs and made a clucking sound. With a low whine, Katydid loped up the stairs and leaned against Granny, waiting until Granny had found her leash. “Sorry about that, honey. Katydid just likes your perfume.”
Celine peeked out from behind Andy’s formidable shoulders. “It really is a wolf,” she whispered in disbelief. “Why do you have a wolf? On a leash?”
“She was a pup with a broken leg when Sam found her. We nursed her back to health, and ever since, she’s stuck close to me.” Granny stroked Katydid’s head. Katydid’s tongue lolled out of her mouth.
Zack turned to Sam. She took in the hopeless and the helpless. He hadn’t realized that included members of the lupus family. Just an amazing woman, he thought, giving her hand another squeeze.
“The leash reminds her that Sam and I are the bosses around here, although she will listen to Andy,” Granny added.
“Only when she feels like it.” Andy kept a protective arm around her girlfriend. “Come on. Let me give you the tour.”
As Sam and Andy showed him and Celine the house, Zack got distracted from the ex-con question by the women. Turned out, he was wrong before when he’d thought this house already had every kind of female in it, because Celine Ruzekia was definitely something different. Statuesque, that was the word. She ooh’ed and aah’ed and giggled—really and truly giggled—which had Sam shooting Zack nervous looks as they walked around the house.
Now wearing jeans, Heaven showed them her room. It was surprisingly bare. Besides the bed and dresser, the only other furniture was a small banker’s lamp on a neat writing desk.
The little group moved down the hall. Zack knew it was Lindy’s room long before they got there—the rap music was hard to miss.
Andy paused at the door. “This is...Lindy’s room,” she said. Zack could tell she was debating whether or not to open that door.
Granny bustled her way through them. “I told that girl,” she muttered, wrenching the doorknob out of Andy’s hand and plowing on ahead. Katydid followed on her heels, which made Celine shrink back.
The inside of Lindy’s room was as different from Heaven’s as possible. Posters of skinny boys with terrible hair and band names Zack didn’t recognize covered the walls. What direction was One Direction, anyway?
“What?” Lindy said from where she was curled up on her bed. She was dressed in head-to-toe black—including a stocking cap perched on the back of her hair, which was crimped. She’d obviously taken a lot of time to look as terrible as possible.
“We have a guest,” Granny announced and then, to Zack’s utter amazement, she marched over to the bed and grabbed Lindy by the ear.
How did she do that? For a blind woman, Granny seemed to be all-seeing. It wasn’t his fault that he’d missed the fact that she was blind the first time. Okay, the first two times. The woman knew where she was—and where everyone else was—at all times. Zack wouldn’t be surprised if she could hit a target with a pistol.
“And we’ve all told you to tidy this room,” Granny went on. “You can’t take care of your things, you don’t get to have things.”
“This is exactly why we can’t have nice things,” Heaven whispered, although Zack wasn’t sure who she was talking to.
“I’m coming back with a shovel,” Granny added as she lifted Lindy to her feet, seemingly through sheer force of will. Lindy squeaked but had the good sense to not say anything.
Yeah, pissing Granny off was very low on Zack’s to-do list.
Granny stood Lindy in front of Andy, which would have to do since Celine was still hiding from Katydid. “This here is Lindy,” she said, finally letting go of the girl. “Lindy, if you don’t clean up your act, you’re going to find yourself across the courtroom from Miz Ruzekia, right before she sends you to jail.”
“That’d be a shame,” Celine said in the kind of voice that made it clear she sent people to jail all the time and enjoyed doing it. “But I’m sure it won’t come to that. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Lindy.”
Granny poked Lindy in the ribs. “Ow! Um, likewise,” Lindy muttered.
“Let’s move on. My room is next,” Andy said. Her voice was tight, like she’d been squeezed into an extra-small elevator.
Zack looked at Sam as they stepped back so everyone—everyone but Lindy—could reorganize themselves and head toward Andy’s room. Sam was practically as white as a sheet and he wasn’t sure she was breathing. He’d love to slip back up the stairs to her room and give her a chance to calm down—or at least give her another kiss or two. Or three. But that wasn’t going to happen.
Granny headed downstairs to check on her dinner and Katydid went with her. Celine visibly relaxed when the wolf was out of sight. Before they got to Andy’s room, they looked at another bedroom that sat unused. Andy’s room was at the end of the hall, and bigger than the others. Andy had a queen-sized bed covered in an old-fashioned chenille bedspread. The furniture was all warm oak, and an easy chair with a footstool was tucked into a bay window. Zack found it odd that the wallpaper was pink roses, but Celine just gushed about how pretty and cozy it was, which made Andy blush, and made Sam clamp down on his hand a little harder.
Then they came to Sam’s door, Celine turned to Sam. “Andy’s told me how private you are.”
Sam was in grave danger of accidentally breaking at least one of Zack’s fingers. Why was she so worked up over this? He rubbed his thumb over her knuckles in self-defense. It didn’t help.
“I prefer to keep to myself,” Sam got out, and the pressure eased back a little.
Celine’s smile was kind. “I don’t want to intrude.”
She knows, Zack realized. Sam couldn’t even tell him, but this woman knew. Andy must’ve told her.
Sam turned to him, looking far too much like she had when she’d bolted away from him two nights ago. Zack liked a lot of things on her, but terror wasn’t one of them. He didn’t know if it was his place to talk for her or not, but he couldn’t just let her stand there and be scared. “It’s no trouble at all, but Granny’s probably waiting dinner on us,” he said, surprised at how easily it came out.
Celine looked at him and then back to Sam. He thought he saw a measure of appreciation in her eyes. “Of course.”
Andy gave him a short nod that Zack took as a compliment. “You don’t want to miss Granny’s biscuits,” she told Celine. Hands linked, the two of them made their way downstairs.
Only after their footsteps had finished echoing down the stairwell did Sam let out a ragged breath. He asked, “You okay?” even though he already knew what the answer was.
“I just...froze.” Her mouth twisted into a scowl, but she held tight to his hand.
“It’s okay.” He lifted her hand and kissed her knuckles. “You’re being a gracious hostess.”
“I am?” That got him a smile—a nervous one, but a smile nonetheless. “But Lindy...”
“Don’t worry about her.” He meant it, too. “Will Granny really get a shovel?”
She nodded, but then sighed and kind of leaned into him. “I don’t think I could do this without you. Thank you.”
He shouldn’t kiss her, not in the middle of the hallway, not while company was here, but he couldn’t help it. Just a short kiss, he promised himself. His lips brushed her cheek, then he found her mouth. She opened just a little for him, giving him a taste of her sweetness before he broke it off. “That’s what friends are for.”
“Zack,” she said, her eyes tracing his face with more openness than he’d ever seen from her before, “you’re a good friend.”