Chapter 9

It was the light pitter-pat of rain on the window that woke Alex from his dream. Never one to use an alarm unless he had to, he glanced first at his sleeping companion, then glanced at the bedside clock. Chuckling lightly to himself, he slipped out of bed, disarmed the alarm and walked into the bathroom. He pondered the previous couple of days while relieving himself. Samantha was a wonderful woman and it was a remarkable stroke of luck that she and Monique got on as well with each other as they did. He yawned slightly, wondering if they were going to get another wake up call this morning then quickly put the thought out of his mind in case that was all it took to bring Josephine down on them. He would rather make love with Samantha than go another two rounds with Josephine. If he was honest with himself, he would rather have a root canal without anesthetic than deal with Josephine at her most pleasant and he was unlikely to ever get that lucky again.

Sliding back into the warm nest beside Samantha, he was amazed at how things had turned out. Samantha was an attractive woman. True it was early in their relationship but he wanted to get to know her much more. She was not a fragile flower despite her initial missteps, which were understandable. She was in a new field, in a strange, foreign city and expected to make it work without any real training. That thought made him angry. Clearly someone saw potential in Samantha or they would not have hired her, but he was beginning to wonder if Rachel was supposed to be mentoring Samantha or if she expected her to pick it up as she went along. Alex was all for "deep end" immersion but only if the person had the background. He knew that Samantha was not ready, capable, but not ready. He looked down at her face, tranquil in sleep, her cheek was soft and unblemished and he gently drew his finger across it and along her jaw. He slowed his breathing and willed himself to calm down and felt the anger slowly leach out of his body. He had loved a number of women, but he had never felt a connection with any of them to the same degree that he felt with Samantha or so fast. He was not going to rush things however. He had done that with Josephine and he missed the early signs of her instability, signs that, in hindsight, Monique had warned him about and he had ignored. While not exactly gun-shy, he had stepped back from any relationship and had lived in solitude for the bulk of the summer dodging Josephine and just about every other woman who had crossed or might have crossed his path as much as he could. In fact, he had spent several weeks at a time in London and Edinburgh, rather than have to come up with excuses for Monique. He knew she understood, but he still did not like having to do it and someday he would explain it to her if she wanted to hear it.

"You look so serious," Samantha said, reaching out to take his hand, pulling it to her lips and kissing it gently.

"Good morning. Just wool gathering. Thinking about the evils of society and the good of single people," he said, dissembling. "How did you sleep?"

"Wonderfully. Better than in my own bed. It is going to be hard to go back to it," she said, still kissing his hand.

"Well, you are welcome to stay as long as you want, but right now, you have to get dressed. Monique will be here shortly."

"What time is it?"

"Eight-thirty."

"Plenty of time then. Don't go away," she said, kissing his hand before sliding out of bed and walking to the bathroom.

He snuggled down into the blankets and closed he eyes, listening to the rain and the other sounds of the building, letting his mind wander and float without direction. He must have fallen asleep or at least drifted into another dimension because he did not hear Samantha come back into the room. He did feel her kiss his ear, her tongue gently rimming the cartilage of his outer ear and nibbling the lobe, making things low down in his body swell and harden. She ran her hands along his side, raising goose bumps and making him swell faster, drawing a moan from him as she kissed his neck and slid her hand along his thigh, her nails gently raising more and more goose bumps along with desire deep inside him.