Sam fought the urge to giggle as she read the text, lifting her gaze instead to see a smug smirk on his face. The whole subtle text thing was so hilariously juvenile and reminded her of secondary school days when she and her best friend, Rhidi had passed secret notes in class, talking about everything from crushes to first kisses. Only now, she was exchanging questionable texts with the man she was sleeping with and getting all hot and bothered by his words.
Sam: Do you have one now?
He shot her a pained look with raised eyebrows and this time, she couldn’t quite stop the small chuckle that bubbled from her throat. The room fell into silence as twenty pairs of curious eyes landed on her, and Sam wished the floor would open up and swallow her whole.
What was I thinking? This isn’t secondary school, Sameera and you’re not a love struck naive teenager anymore. Pull yourself together before you lose your damn job.
“Here, drink this.” Ryan broke the silence, pushing his coffee mug, which had been sitting by his elbow across to Sam. “It’s a bit cool now, but it’ll help soothe the irritation in your throat.” He looked over to where her assistant sat. “Jane, get Ms. Bhaat a glass of water, please.”
“Yeah, okay.” The assistant hurried off, her exit causing the attention to shift away from Sam.
Taking her cue from him, Sam forced a cough and lifted the mug to her lips. Like he said, the coffee had cooled down considerably but she took a sip nonetheless, grimacing at the bitter taste. She wasn’t a fan of coffee under normal circumstances and coupled with the way Ryan took his - straight with no cream or sugar - it was all she could do not to shudder in revulsion.
Honestly, what did people see in this? Give her sweetened tea over coffee any day please.
Over the rim, she saw Ryan wave at Mabel to continue talking and she shot him a grateful smile which he returned with a knowing grin. Feeling a prickle on her skin, she looked to his left to where Lola sat, staring at her with an unreadable expression. She didn’t look away even when Sam held her gaze and for several seconds a staring contest ensued until Jane’s return with a bottled water caused Sam to look away first, uneasiness settling in the pit of her stomach.
That Ryan’s assistant didn’t like her was old news. From day one, the woman had been as helpful as a pair of ice skates on a blistering hot desert, but Sam had quickly learned that she basically treated most female members of staff that way. At first, she’d suspected the incident with the missing email to be the work of the assistant in a bid to stir up trouble between her and Ryan, but a look into the matter had shown that it had been an error with the internal messaging system the office used. Since then, Sam had brushed off any thoughts that the woman had a personal bone to pick with her, but in the past week, she’d noticed Lola was always watching her intently, as though she was suspicious and waiting for Sam to slip up.
Sam had no doubt Lola would only be too happy to throw her under the bus should she find any evidence and that meant Ryan and her needed to be extra careful. No more texting during office hours...today’s incident had nearly gotten then both in trouble.
They had already taken measures to keep their affair a secret. Even though she spent every evening at his place, they never left the office or arrived together and Sam didn’t sleep over, much to Ryan’s displeasure at first. But when he’d tried to argue, she’d pointed out that it would mean arriving at the office in the same vehicle, which would definitely raise eyebrows. He’d seen reason and reluctantly agreed, though still insisted on driving her back home himself rather than calling for an Uber.
Still, she warned herself to be careful. Her career was on the line and if Lola was on the lookout, they couldn’t take any chances.
For the rest of the meeting, Sam kept her eyes firmly glued to the screen, even if her mind still wandered into the gutter at the slightest mention of erections.
They dispersed by lunchtime, Ryan remained seated while he took a call and Sam returned to her office long enough to pick up her purse and redo her makeup. She was meeting Yash and Dee for lunch at a restaurant close to Mt. Sinai today, where she planned to announce her intentions to find her own place. The agent had shown her a couple of nice prospects, one in particular - a spacious two bedroom loft in SoHo - had struck the right note with her and she was hoping to have everything settled by the coming weekend.
She was nervous, wondering how Yash would take it. Even though he’d relaxed his overprotective big brother stance over the past year, there were still times when he acted up and she earnestly prayed today would not be one of those times. Still, if he did, she planned to deploy her trump card - Dee. Sam knew full well that the only reason Dee still maintained a separate place was because Sam lived there and she didn’t want to make things too awkward by moving in as well. With the little sister out of the way, they could live together and have all the crazy, marathon sex they needed. She knew Dee would like the idea and was counting on her to bring Yash around.
She’d just slid into the backseat of her car after giving the driver directions to the restaurant, when her phone buzzed, showing a text from Ryan.
Ryan: Just heard back from Caine. Where are you?
Curiosity slammed into her. And what? They’d both been waiting to hear back from James for two weeks now and she burned to know if the news was good or bad. Forgoing texting, she called him and he picked instantly.
“Well?” Impatience made her tone brusque but she didn’t care at the moment.
“Where are you?” Rather than answer her question, the infuriating man asked for her whereabouts. If glares could be transmitted through radio waves, Sam’s glare would have done some damage.
“I’m outside. Just got in the car.” she replied. “What did James say?”
“Hold on.” The call ended, leaving her staring at the screen in disbelief.
“What the…” With a muttered curse and a promise to knock him over the head when next she saw his stupid face, she made to climb out the car when the door was yanked from her grasp and Ryan’s face appeared in the open doorway.
“Move over,” he made a shooing gesture and Sam scooted over, allowing him to slide in and shut the door. The space seemed to shrink with his presence, her senses going into hyperactivity as she inhaled the heady scent of him and in that instant, she forgot her threats of causing bodily harm. As though aware of her thoughts, he cocked his head and her and grinned. “Hey gorgeous.”
“What did James say?” Forcing her mind to focus, she narrowed her eyes at him. Her driver slid behind the wheel and started the car, taking them into traffic.
His grin widened and that was all the answer she needed. Her eyes widened in disbelief. “Oh my goodness! You got the contract?”
“We got the contract, Baby.” he stressed the word ‘we’, pulling her into an embrace.
Too ecstatic to care about the driver, Sam willingly went into his arms, flinging her own arms around his neck as she let out a laugh. “I can’t believe it! Ryan, this is the best news ever!”
His gaze warmed as he pulled back slightly to look at her, arms still locked around her waist. “Yes, it is.”