Heaven and Hell (Heaven and Hell #1)(131)

So I went up on toes, my hands slid up his chest to his neck and I pressed my lips to his for a hard, closed-mouth kiss.

Even though it was a certainty people were looking and a possibility someone had at least a camera phone, Sam didn’t hesitate with slanting his head, his arms going tight around me and he took my hard, closed-mouth kiss straight to a hard, deep, wet, open-mouthed kiss.

Suffice it to say, my body softened even more into his and both my hands slid up to cup the back of his head.

The kiss was awesome, it was hot, it was sweet and it was very ill-timed.

“Sam, honey?” a velvety female voice called from close and Sam ended the kiss and lifted his head an inch as he turned it.

I turned mine too, slowly.

And there stood Marisela Cooper.

Damn.

There was a reason Sam and his brother were handsome. I didn’t know what his father looked like but his mother’s beautiful skin, beautiful eyes and now, seeing her beautiful, blinding white smile, she gave him the best of her and her best was the best.

She had long, thick, shining black hair pulled back at the tops and sides. At her age, which I was guessing in the mid-fifties, it was likely dyed but either she was very fortunate or she went to an awesome stylist because there was not a gray hair to be found and it didn’t look fake. She was wearing a pair of stylish, loose-fitting, white linen trousers, a pair of stylish, strappy, black high heels and a black, loose-fitting, linen man-style shirt over a white camisole. She’d added a tangle of some interesting silver necklaces that sat perfectly on her still-smooth, beautiful brown-skinned chest like they’d been arranged by a production assistant during a photo shoot.

Thank God. I was not overdressed.

I knew from Sam that she (very cool at her age back then, I thought) went to college when her son hit the big time and got herself a business degree. While doing this she’d opened her own high-class, beach boutique in Malibu which she still ran that Sam told me was very popular and turned a good profit.

And it was clear she was sporting her wares and they were evidence of why her boutique was popular. She looked fantastic.

Celeste would love her and so would my Mom.

She was perfect.

I was screwed.

“Ma,” Sam muttered, my eyes slid to him as his arms slid from around me and I saw him smiling his mother’s smile right back at her.

I watched him fold her in his arms then I watched her eyes close and my breath stuck when I saw her face get warm, soft and intense just like her son’s as her arms stole around Sam.

“Sammy,” she whispered, her eyes still closed.

Sammy.

Oh man.

She loved her boy. Really loved him.

That was beautiful.

I was totally screwed.

Sam moved away but not far. His hands went to her waist as hers shifted to his biceps and he asked, “Flight good?”

“It was long and it is over. Why you don’t move back to California so I don’t have to fly five hours to see you, I will never know,” she answered.

“Yeah, you say that then you hit the deck with a rum and coke and stop bitchin’,” Sam returned on a grin.

Her eyes slid to me, I held my breath then they went back to Sam and she admonished, “Language, Sammy, there are ladies in your midst.”

Sam stepped away from his Mom, still grinning and muttered, “Right, Ma this is –”

“Kia,” she breathed.

Yes.

Breathed.

What did I do with that?

Then she moved into me and gave me a tight hug.

At first, I was a little shocked. Then I was a little relieved. Then I pulled myself together and hugged her back.

“Hey, Mrs. Cooper,” I said into her ear. “I’m so pleased to meet you.”

She gave me a squeeze but didn’t take her arms from around me as she leaned back and smiled warmly in my face. “Maris, honey. Mrs. Cooper is my ex’s mother and she wasn’t all that nice.”

“Okay,” I whispered.

She kept smiling at me then her head turned to Sam and she noted, “No Burberry, thank God.”

I pressed my lips together.

Sam sighed.

Maris looked back at me. “Sam told me about you after he met you in Italy.”

Uh… wait.

Really? Italy?

Whoa.

Maris cut into my freak out by continuing to speak. “Then Luci told me about you and keeps telling me about you every time she calls. You’ve won Luci’s heart, Kia, an impossible feat.”

Thank God. Luci laid the road for me. I just had to travel it.

“Everyone keeps saying that but knowing Luci I find it hard to believe.”

She gave me a squeezy-hug-shake and another smile then released me.

“Right!” she said sharply and I jumped. “I will die if I do not have a chai which needs to be seen to prior to getting my bags. Let’s go.”

And it was then she hooked her arm through mine, leaned into me and commenced us walking with Sam trailing and her talking.

“Sam said he met a beautiful girl in Italy but until I saw the pictures, honey, I didn’t believe him. He has good taste but he finally found a true winner. You’re even better in the flesh. I love your shoes.”

She said the word “love” on another squeezy-hug-shake, this one of my arm and I had to admit, I was feeling all-over happy that Sam told his mother about me after he met me and that he included the word “beautiful”.