Part 4 (1/2)

”Thanks, but I'll be at the hotel. It's located downtown near the courthouse where I need to transact business. There are a number of permits I need to get pulled.”

Although Luke wasn't saying anything, Blade was aware that his cousin knew enough about the construction business to know that he didn't have to come to Oklahoma City himself to pull any permits. Blade had people working for him who could have performed those tasks.

He glanced over at Luke. ”So what's for dinner?”

”A ca.s.serole.”

Blade smiled. At Morehouse that had been Luke's specialty. He, Luke and Slade had shared an apartment not far from campus, and the one thing they could look forward to was Luke's ca.s.seroles.

”You didn't say how long you plan on being in town, Blade.”

No, he hadn't, Blade thought. ”Not sure yet,” he answered. And then he added. ”I'll know by the middle of the week.”

Hopefully by then I'll have a plan, he thought. There was no way he could tell Luke that he would remain in town for as long as it took to get Sam into his bed.

The man glanced around thinking this particular restaurant seemed as good a place as any for them to meet. He glanced over at the woman who was already there waiting for him.

She looked a little different today and he immediately knew what it was. She was wearing makeup. No doubt to impress him, since she fancied herself in love with him. And she probably thought he had fallen in love with her, as well. He shrugged. What she thought wasn't his concern. But if believing such would a.s.sure that she continued to provide him with the information he needed, then so be it.

He sat in the chair across from her. ”You look pretty today.”

”Thanks.” She smiled. His compliment had pleased her, so he would make sure to shower her with more in the future. After a few minutes of small talk, in which he told her again how nice she looked, he said, ”The flowers are still being delivered.” It was a statement and not a question.

”Each week, and they are beautiful, too. She likes them and doesn't suspect a thing.”

He nodded, glad to hear it.

”She thinks she has a secret admirer.”

He couldn't help but smile at the thought of that, and thanks to Samari Di Meglio he'd had very little to smile about over the past few years. He wasn't a secret admirer-far from it. But if she wanted to think that she could certainly do so. When she discovered the truth it would be too late to do anything about it.

”How long will you continue to send the flowers to her?”

The annoyingly soft voice had interrupted his thoughts. Now she was asking a question that really wasn't any of her business. His jaw tightened. His gaze narrowed. ”For as long as I want,” he said in a chillingly cold tone.

He saw the look in her eyes, the flash of fear. He breathed in deeply, knowing that he had to get his feelings under control. The last thing he needed was to make her wary of giving him the information he needed.

He reached out and touched her hand, held it in his for a while. ”I didn't mean to scare you. But I've told you why I need to make her remember what she's done, and why she has to pay for doing it.”

The woman nodded. Of course, he hadn't told her everything. He'd told her just enough to get her sympathy to do what he needed her to do. She a.s.sumed the most he would do was scare and hara.s.s Samari Di Meglio for a while, and not do anything really serious to harm her. He smiled to himself at the thought of that. Little did the woman sitting across from him know, but he had a much bigger and more sinister plan. It was one he had worked on for years. Now the time had come and no one, and he meant no one, would stand in his way.

Chapter 5.

Sam glanced up when she heard the buzzing sound from Security. She reached over and pressed the b.u.t.ton on her intercom. ”Yes, Rita?”

”There's someone here to see you.”

Sam arched an eyebrow. The office had closed hours ago. After work, she, Mac and Peyton had gone to Twains, the bar and grill on the corner, to have a drink to celebrate Ashton's and Skye's news. They'd also ordered dinner. Afterward, Mac and Peyton had left for home, but since she had been out the past week, Sam had decided to return to the office to catch up on paperwork.

Their building was in a very busy section of town with a popular restaurant a few doors down. But that hadn't stopped someone from ransacking Mac's office last year. That incident had prompted them to hire a twenty-four hour security service, since at any time of day, any one of them might be working late at the office. Rita Wilder, one of their three security guards, worked twelve-hour s.h.i.+fts three days a week-from nine in the morning to nine at night. On occasion, however, she made extra money working overtime by staying late. Frank Denson worked the same number of days from nine at night to nine in the morning. And Marlon Fisher covered everything else. Sam was confident they had a top-notch security team, although Rita sometimes got lost in her romance novels.

”Who is it, Rita?” she asked. She couldn't imagine anyone dropping by the office this late. If anyone glanced in the window, however, they would see the lights were still on in her office and her car was still parked outside.

”He says his name is Blade Madaris.”

The air in the room seemed to suddenly evaporate, and she could hear the pounding of her heart in her chest. What was Blade doing here? When had he returned to Oklahoma City? The last time she'd seen him, his parting words had been that he would see her in three weeks, and it hadn't been three weeks yet.

”Ms. Di Meglio?”

She could tell from the sound of Rita's voice that she was probably annoyed that someone had interrupted her novel. ”Yes, Rita?”

”Well, do you want me to send him up or not?”

Sam's first impulse was to say no, to tell Rita to advise him to come back during regular business hours. A smile touched Sam's lips at how that sort of message would be received. It definitely wouldn't go over well.

She wouldn't put it past him to sit in the parking lot and wait until she finally left the building, since he knew she wouldn't be working all night. Against her better judgment, she inhaled a deep breath and said, ”Yes, Rita. Let him in.”

Realizing the impact of her words made her blood surge through her veins. There was a tightness that wedged in her chest. Suddenly, her tongue remembered the taste of him and she forced herself to swallow hard, to fight back the tingling sensation that was sweeping through her body.

Her ears perked up. She could hear the sound of his footsteps as he walked down the hall toward her office. They were paced with practiced precision. The sound of his feet making contact with the floor was hypnotic. She could just imagine the swagger in his every step.

Sam turned to her computer to save the doc.u.ment she'd been working on, and began wondering why Blade was here in her office. Deep down she knew the reason. She had explained it all to Mac a week ago. He saw her as the one who got away. The one he wasn't finished with yet. The one who refused to let him get to first base. And for a man who was used to hitting home runs, a strikeout was unacceptable.

Usually she would enjoy flirting with a man, especially one who was a player and who she intended to set up for a fall, but not tonight. Blade had a way of unnerving her, and she knew she had to be on her guard around him.

She pushed her chair back and stood, deciding she needed to be on her feet when he entered her office. He was a lot taller than she was, and she still had to look up at him, but not as far.

She came around her desk and leaned her bottom against it. Too late, she realized this was the exact position he'd left her in the last time he'd seen her two weeks ago. The very same day he had kissed her senseless.

Before she could change positions or move to another spot in the room, she heard him take the final step down the hall, and when she looked toward her door, he was there. Her eyes locked on his face, but her breath took in all of him. His manly scent was forcing her to exert a degree of self-control she hadn't had to exercise in a long time.

She allowed her gaze, just for a moment, to take in his entire body. He wore a pair of dark tailored trousers, an expensive looking dress s.h.i.+rt, a designer sports coat and Italian loafers. As usual, he looked far too s.e.xy for his own good and for hers. He had a body built for whatever he wanted to use it for, and she had more than an idea just what that was.

She inhaled deeply, remembering two could play his game, and at that moment she decided that yes, she would play. And win. She had given him fair warning and he hadn't heeded it. Instead, the last time they were together he had taken her mouth and done delicious things to it, things she was still losing sleep over. His kiss had been greedy. He'd made it wet. He had flavored it with desire and seduction and then delivered it with a tongue that should be outlawed. But she couldn't think about any of those things now. This was war.

”Blade, what are you doing here?”

He leaned in the doorway, showcasing impressive muscles, a sleek build and a flabless, taut body that most men would give just about anything to have.

”I came to see you.”

His deep, s.e.xy voice was as potent as anything she'd ever heard, and it sent a yearning, a kind she'd never felt before, through her. Deciding that standing on her feet wasn't such a good idea, after all, she forced her legs to move as she went back to sit behind her desk.