5. Samantha

5

SAMANTHA

Three hours later, and I'm still fanning myself. I stare at the king-sized bed in the middle of the room and know that there is no way I'm going to survive this mission. I may have lived through combat. I may have survived being shot at in enemy territory, but I will not survive sleeping in the same bed as Bear. My eyes flick to him sitting on the balcony. As soon as we walked into the room, he took one look at the bed, dropped the bags that he insisted on carrying, and then went straight outside the balcony door.

I expected him to get on his phone or something like that, but he didn't. And I've been watching him. I hate to admit it, but I thought maybe he wanted to check out the women on the beach or by the pool, both which we have a great view of. I’ve not heard of Bear hooking up with anyone—heck, for all I know he could have a girlfriend or fiancée at home. But I don't think that's the case. He has sat in the same position ever since he got out there, staring at his hands the whole time, playing with the wedding band on his finger.

Instantly I look down at the big rock on my mine. I still can't believe that he went and bought the wedding rings. I have so many questions about it. Like what was he thinking? Who was he thinking about? What does he plan to do with them after this? Surely, he'll just return them, right? I shake my head and sit on the chair in the corner of the room. From here I have a perfect view of the bed and of Bear. Instantly a thousand images start to play in my mind, and it’s all sweaty bodies, my legs wrapped around his waist, his big hands holding mine to the bed. I have a full body tremble and shake my head to try to get the images out.

I jump up and decide that I just need to go on about my business. He can sit out there and stew on whatever it is he’s thinking about. I’m going to shower and get ready for dinner. I take my time, and at the end of it, I turn the faucet to cold to help calm my nerves. It isn't until I'm done that I realize I have not brought in any clothes.

With a towel wrapped around me, I walk out and head straight for the bags on the bed. It isn't until I'm bent over, digging in the bag that I realize Bear has taken up his position in the chair in the corner of the room. He's leaning forward with his elbows on his knees, openly staring at me.

“I'm sorry, I forgot to take my bag into the bathroom,” I tell him.

His gaze goes down my body all the way to my pink toes and then back up again. I wish I could see what he's thinking. His face is completely guarded. He grunts something, but I can't make out what it is. I almost ask him to repeat it, but I can’t get past the thickness of my throat. He has me all turned on because he keeps watching me. I don't think it's my imagination or maybe it's just hopeful thinking on my part, but my whole body comes alive underneath his gaze.

I grab a pair of panties and a sundress and hold it up, then drop it quickly, realizing I'm showing him my panties. I barely resist smacking my hand across my forehead. You are such a fool, Samantha. That’s it , just show the man your panties . Geez, you’d think I’d never been around a good-looking man before.

I walk quickly away back into the bathroom and shut the door. I dress quickly, take a few breaths, and then walk back out into the room, hoping that we can disregard and forget everything that just happened moments ago. As soon as I’m back into the bedroom, he stands up, and for a second I think he's walking toward me, and I suck in a breath and hold it. But he doesn’t come to me. Instead, he goes to the bed and grabs his bag and walks past me, completely ignoring me.

Bear

My hand is on Samantha's back as I guide her to the table for dinner. We are in the restaurant at the resort, and I'm making sure to stick as close as possible to her. Usually I can handle these things in stride and take notice of everything without it being obvious, but not now. Not with Samantha’s safety at stake. She leans toward me. “Are you okay?”

I nod and help her to her seat, holding the chair out for her. I release her long enough to go to my seat and sit down next to her. I stretch my legs out until my knee touches her outer thigh.

The server comes to us immediately, and we order our drinks.

“Are you ready to order also or should I come back?”

I don’t even think Sam looked at the menu and am about to send the server away when Sam starts to order. “I’ll take the salmon and rice. Side salad with honey mustard on the side.”

“Very well, and you, sir?” the server asks, turning to me.

“Filet, rare. Baked potato, loaded, and I’ll take a salad too. Smother it in ranch.”

The server doesn’t even flinch, simply nods and takes the menus.

“Smother it in ranch? Really?”

I resist leaning toward her with my elbows on the table. “Yeah. If I’m going to eat healthy, I need to balance it out a little.”

She smirks, and her eyes light up. Fuck, I love making her smile. Especially since it seems that most the time, I’m pissing her off.

As if realizing she’s let her guard down, the smile falls from her face, and she sits back in the chair, putting distance between us. There's an uncomfortable silence, and I know I can’t just sit here and stare at her, so I let my gaze sweep the room. I know that I'm looking at everyone as if they're a threat, quite possibly because they probably are. Sam leans across the table. “I don't know why you insisted on coming. You're going to ruin the whole operation,” she hisses under her breath.

I press my lips together. And here I thought it was going so well. “I’m sorry.”

She just shakes her head. “I don’t know how Nash thought this was a good idea.”

I lean up, and we’re so close that to others, it probably looks like we’re just whispering sweet things to each other, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. “Is it so unbelievable that someone like you would be with someone like me? I'm sorry if me being here instead of Logan offends you so much.”

She leans back in her chair and looks at me as if she's just seeing me for the very first time. She crosses her arms over her chest, making it obvious how mad she is. And then as if realizing what she's done, she releases her hands, leans across the table, and puts one hand on top of mine. She’s gritting her teeth, and I know we may not appear to be the perfect couple, but at least she's trying. I probably need to do the same.

It isn't long before the waiter brings back our salads, and we both start to eat. She finishes her first bite, opens her mouth to say something, and closes it again.

Finally, I can't take it any longer. “Just say it. I know you're dying to.”

She smiles sweetly, and I’m expecting something smart-alecky to come out of her pretty mouth. “No, it's not hard to imagine us together. I mean, you have to know you're like every woman's dream, Bear.”

I drop my fork, and the loud noise of it hitting my plate has the people at the next table spinning around to look at us. I smile at them while picking the fork back up, and then I look Sam square in the eye. There's no way she's serious. I’m just about to call her out when she leans forward.

“That's right, Bear. I've thought about us—about me and you together. I mean, I know we can never act on it since we work together and all, but yeah, it's not hard to imagine the two of us together.”

She pauses, and the words sink in. I swallow as my trousers get tighter. She moves in even farther, her breasts being pushed up as she leans on the table. “But obviously you can’t. You can barely look at me. I talk, and it's like you wish I’d shut up.” She lets out a disappointed sigh. “So however you feel about me, that's fine, but I'm here to do a job, and part of that is us being a happily married couple, so that's what I'm going to do.”

She forks a piece of her salmon, and I'm waiting for her to put it between her lips, but she surprises me and holds it out to me. “Here, try this.”

Now I typically don’t like salmon. I eat steak and potatoes, but I’m realizing that Sam could hold out something gross like octopus or squid or something like that, and I'd probably eat it. I lean forward and take a bite. She starts to withdraw her hand, and I grab it. With my other hand, I grab the chair she’s sitting in and pull her closer to me. It makes a loud noise, but I don’t even care. I need her closer. Her eyes widen and start to sparkle. Sam may say she’s independent, but she likes this; she likes me manhandling her like this.

I take the fork from her hand and pierce a piece of steak from my plate and hold it out to her lips. She takes a bite, and right then I swear that's what I want from now on. I want to feed her for the rest of our lives. If it was possible, I would find a way for her to be in my lap when doing so.

There's a calmness that comes over me at her admission. I never dreamt or even let myself hope that she could possibly have feelings for me too, but I know I heard her right. She admitted that she’s thought about us, and just knowing that makes it seem as if everything is going to be okay.

We continue to eat our meal, but I hold her hand the rest of the time. When she gets up to go powder her nose, I get up too.

“What are you doing?” she asks.

“I'm going with you.”

She shakes her head, laughing that cute way that she does when I’m being overprotective. It’s like she doesn’t think she should like it, but obviously she does. “I can go on my own.”

I hold on to her hand tightly. She doesn't have a clue. But there's no way I'm letting her out of my sight. Knowing that the country’s most wanted human traffickers are here on this property, in this resort with their eyes most likely on us—yeah, there’s no fucking way I’m letting her go. There's no way I would ever risk anything happening to her.

I lean over and press my lips to her neck. She arches her chin as she sucks in a breath. I whisper in her ear, “I’m not letting you out of sight.”

Thank fuck, she agrees, “Okay.” I sign the ticket with our room number and then follow her out of the restaurant. Thank goodness we still have the poker game to go to and a room full of people because I don’t trust myself to be alone with her. Not right now. Fuck, probably ever.