Heaven and Hell (Heaven and Hell #1)(15)
My body jerked as the question came from close in a deep, rough-like-velvet voice tinged with something I didn’t quite get, impatience or annoyance, and I twisted in my wrought iron, comfily padded chair and tilted my head back to see Sam standing right beside me.
In the muted outside lights that lit the balcony but didn’t take from the view, I saw his face shift as he whispered, “Jesus, Kia.”
Oh God.
Shit!
I quickly lifted a hand and dashed it across my cheek, stupidly thinking maybe, even though his eyes were locked on my face, he’d miss it and I casually said, “Hey, Sam.”
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“Yeah, great. Just enjoying a nightcap,” I answered and his brows snapped together making him look slightly irritated.
“Are you okay?” he repeated.
“Yeah,” I replied then suddenly he bent at the waist, put one hand into the arm of my chair and his face was three inches from mine.
I sucked in breath at this move and his sudden proximity and pressed into the back of the chair but I didn’t have far to go and only gained an inch before he spoke again.
“Okay is not sittin’ alone, drinkin’ with tears in your eyes,” he stated.
Well, I had to admit, he was right about that.
“Uh…” I mumbled.
“Are you okay?” he repeated, this time gently, his eyes holding mine captive and while they did, they were looking deep.
So deep, I was mesmerized and found myself whispering, “I don’t know.”
“That’s a better answer,” he decreed on a return whisper then moved again, swiftly.
He bent to the side, reaching out a long arm; he tagged a chair and dragged it next to and facing the side of mine. Then he sat in it, leaned forward, put one elbow to his knee but reached out with the other hand, capturing mine and pulling it toward him. Then his other hand shifted and both of his hands held mine at his knees.
He did this so quickly, even when he settled I hadn’t come to terms with the fact that Sampson Cooper was holding my hand, sitting next to me and completely focused on me in an intent way that made my entire body feel warm.
“Your man?” he asked.
“What?” I asked back.
“Are you thinkin’ about your husband?”
I shook my head and answered, “No, my parents.”
His hands gave mine a squeeze that felt convulsive before he asked, “Are they okay?”
I nodded. He waited. I didn’t say anything.
His hands gave mine another squeeze, this one a clear prompt.
“It’s a long story,” I said softly and it was. It was also one he would never, ever know.
He held my eyes.
Then he guessed accurately, “You don’t wanna talk about it.”
“No,” I verified his accuracy.
“Right,” he murmured then asked, “You don’t wanna talk about that, you wanna talk about why you sat three tables away from me for three hours tonight and didn’t even smile at me, comin’ or goin’?”
I blinked but my heart started stuttering. I figured this was an improvement, at least it didn’t stop.
Then I asked, “What?”
“Baby, you saw me.”
Well, there it was. I didn’t pull one over on him.
Shit.
“I, uh… didn’t want to disturb you,” I told him.
“Bullshit,” he shot back instantly and I blinked again at the same time my hand jerked in his so his tightened around it.
“Bullshit?” I asked.
“Yeah, Kia, bullshit.”
My shoulders straightened and I didn’t even tell them to do it before my mouth accused, “Well, you didn’t smile or come say hello to me either.”
He stared at me and it occurred to me, even though I didn’t know him, like, at all, that I could sense that he had been being real but now he was getting mad.
Then he stated, “So now we’re playin’ a game.”
My shoulders got straighter and my torso turned more fully to him and I snapped, “I’m not playing a game.”
“Breakfast, totally f**kin’ transparent, f**k me, seriously refreshing and now it’s cat and mouse.” His hands squeezed mine. “Which one am I, Kia?”
Oh my God?
Did he just ask me that?
Seriously?
I yanked my hand from his and turned fully to him, declaring, “Neither, Sam, you were with another woman and I didn’t want to disturb you.”
“You came by to say hi, I could have introduced you to Luciana, who’s the widow of a buddy of mine.”
My stomach clutched.
Oh man.
Sam kept talking. “She’s beautiful, she’s sweet but she’s also not my type and even if she was, she’s my buddy’s widow so I’d never f**kin’ go there.”
Oh man!
“Sam –” I started.
“So I can decide what I’m gonna do now, I gotta know, you want me to be the cat or the mouse?”
“Neither,” I whispered.
“We done with this bullshit?” he asked practically before I finished my one word reply.
“I… well, uh…” I stammered then told him truthfully but hesitantly since he seemed kind of pissed off and definitely impatient and he was a very big guy so I didn’t want to make him more of either, “we hadn’t really started with the bullshit.”