A Chosen Destiny (The Samantha Project Series #3) (26 page)

“Will you answer honestly? Even if you know I won’t like the answer?”

“Yeah. Go ahead.”

“Do you like that Emily girl? I mean, like her as more than a friend?” I suddenly got nervous, not sure I really wanted his response. “Because if you do, then I—”

Before I could finish, Colin leaned over and kissed me. Then he pulled me toward him on the bed, sending the game board crashing to the floor. He kissed me again, in a way that made me think that he’d been wanting to do this for weeks.
 

After a few minutes, he slowly broke away. “Does that answer your question?”

I wasn’t sure how to respond. The kiss took me completely by surprise. “So are you saying that—”

“I’m not into Emily, Sam. She’s nice, smart, talented—all that stuff. But she’s not you. And whenever I was with her, all I could think about was you.”

“But you acted like . . . I just thought that—” I was so confused but also happy and relieved. A stream of tears ran down my face.

Colin held my hand. “Sam, why are you crying?”

I wiped the tears. “I don’t know. I was just so sure you were going to tell me that we were over and that I should stop trying. And when that didn’t happen, I guess it was too many different emotions all at once.”

“Come here.” He pulled me back into his arms and I snuggled into his chest. He brushed my hair aside, then lightly kissed my forehead. “I’ve missed this.”
 

“Me, too.” I closed my eyes, then quickly opened them again, lifting my head to look around. “Wait, this isn’t one of my dreams, is it?”

He laughed. “No. It’s not a dream.”

“So we’re really back together?”

“Yes, we’re really back together, Sam. Why? Are you changing your mind?”
 

“Never.” I smiled, resting on his chest again. “I love you, Colin.”

“I love you, too.”

I was still beyond shocked, especially thinking of the past week. “Not to ruin a perfect moment, but I have to ask. Why did you act so interested in her? To make me jealous?”

“You were really jealous? Sam, all I did was hang out with a girl at a coffee shop.”

“Yeah, but you couldn’t stop talking about her. And you acted like you wanted to see her all the time.”

“Well, at first, I did actually pretend that Emily and I were on a date. And Emily was really nice and easy to talk to. But when I was with her, I kept wanting you there instead.”

I sat up to look at him. “Colin, I just have to say this one last time. I’m sorry for causing this whole mess between us. I wish I could go back in time and change it all.”

“Yeah, the past few weeks have pretty much sucked, but I don’t know, maybe we needed this, Sam.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Maybe it helped us learn to appreciate each other.”

“I was the one who needed to learn that. You never did. You were the one—”

Colin silenced me with a kiss. “Can we talk about that later? ’Cause I can think of way better things to do.”
 

I smiled. “Like play Scrabble?”

We kissed again, but we both wanted more. I ripped off his t-shirt, exposing his chiseled chest and broad shoulders. He slipped off my sweater and jeans. I caught his eye and felt our connection intensify. He laced his hands with mine and coaxed me back down on the bed. I closed my eyes as his hands moved along my bare skin. His refusal to touch me the past few weeks had driven me crazy, but the wait had made this moment so much hotter.
 

“Damn, I’ve missed you,” he whispered in my ear. His hands continued to tease me as we kissed.
 

“Wait, I don’t have anything.”

“I do.” He raced to the drawer, then came back, yanking his jeans off.

“How did you get that? Were you planning on—”

“They’re not mine.” He smiled. “But I think he’ll be okay with me taking one.”

An image of Dave and Abigail popped in my head. “Well, that just killed the mood.”

Colin laughed. “Don’t think about it, Sam.” My mind returned to him as I felt his body over mine. I loved being that close to him again. I’d missed him so much.
 

Even though we’d been together before, that night was different. His touch, his kisses—everything about him was so much better than I’d remembered. Was it because I’d been in his mind? Did we have a stronger connection now? Or was it because I finally realized how much I loved him? I wasn’t sure, but something had definitely changed between us.

Later on, we heard Brittany and Erik shut the TV off. “I should go,” I whispered to Colin.

He kept hold of me, not letting me up. “Your sister can sleep alone tonight. And Dave’s not coming back. So you’re staying right here.”

“No, not tonight.” I kissed him quick. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
 

I snuck back to my room. Brittany was getting ready for bed. “Hey, Brittany. Colin and I are back together.”

“What?” She yanked my sleeve as I walked past. “When did this happen? While you were playing Scrabble?”

I laughed. “Yeah. I’ll tell you about it later. I’m going to bed. Hey, how did it go with Erik?”

“We’re just friends, Sam.” She paused, knowing I could detect her lies. “Okay, maybe we kissed. Just once or twice. Just to see.”

“Oh yeah, just to see,” I said, rolling my eyes.
 

She blushed. “Goodnight, Sam.”

The next morning, Brittany woke me up early. “Sam, Jack said some people are coming over soon. You’re supposed to get ready.”

I showered and dressed, but whoever was coming over hadn’t arrived. I went to see Colin in his room. He had jeans on and was fishing through his drawer for a shirt. He grabbed one, then came over to me.

“I was just going to see you.” He smiled. “You must’ve read my mind.”

“Yeah, funny. How’d you sleep?” I ran my hand along his bare chest. He was so hot. Just the sight of him was turning me on.
 

He dropped his t-shirt on the floor and drew me closer to him. “I would have slept better if you were over here.”
 

I smiled. “I was trying to set a good example for Brittany.”

He leaned down and whispered in my ear. “You were trying to make me want you more.”

“Okay, maybe,” I confessed.

He kissed me and it was just as hot as the night before. He led me to the bed and laid me down. He kissed my neck and slid his hand under my shirt.
 

“Colin, we can’t start this,” I whispered.
 

“
You
started it,” he whispered back.
 

“People are coming over soon.”

“They can wait. We have to make up for lost time.”
 

“But Dave could come barging in any minute now.”

He glanced at the clock. “I think we still have time.” He continued.
 

I didn’t want him to stop, but I also didn’t want Dave catching us. “No really, Colin. I’d die of embarrassment if he walked in on us. Like literally die.”

He laughed. “Okay. But we’re finishing this later.” He kissed me once more, then got up and put his t-shirt on.

“Hey, Colin. I have to ask you this. If you had got on that plane, that would have been it for us, right? I mean, you were so set on going back to Minnesota. What changed your mind?”

“You did,” he said, sitting next to me. “By driving back to get me. And telling me all that stuff. Being honest. You finally did something that showed me you actually wanted this.”

“But before that, I told you over and over again how sorry I was and how I didn’t want you to leave.”

He shrugged. “I didn’t feel like you meant it. And as much as I love you, Sam, I couldn’t spend the rest of my life waiting for you to figure out how you felt about me. But when you showed up at the airport that day, I could tell that something had changed. It was like you’d finally figured out what you wanted.”

“And I wanted you, Colin. More than anything. But then you ignored all my attempts to get you back. What was that about? You wouldn’t even let me touch you.”

He laughed. “I had to make you work for it. When you have to work for something, you appreciate it more when you actually get it. And you don’t want to let it go.”

“Well, it worked.” I wrapped my arms around him. “I’m not letting you go.”

“Hey, I’ve got something for you.” He went over to the dresser, opening up the top drawer.

“What could you possibly have—”

He raced back over, holding a ring box in his hand.

“No, it’s not that,” he said, seeing the nervous look on my face.
 

I took the box and opened it. Inside was a silver ring. I pulled it out and noticed an inscription on the inside. I held it up to the light to read it. “Together we can save the world.” The motto for our second grade science club.

“It was the Christmas gift I was never able to give you. It was supposed to make you think of me when you went to Stanford in the fall.” He laughed. “Maybe it was stupid. It seemed like a good idea at the time.”

“I love it, Colin!” I kissed him.
 

“It’s all silver. I got it at a jewelry store. But if it’s not your style, you don’t have to wear it. I never see you wear rings, so I wasn’t sure.”

I put the ring on. It was a perfect fit. “Of course I’ll wear it. It’s exactly my style. But how did you know my size?”

“I didn’t. But Allie did. She had it sized for me back at Christmas when you and Dave were at the cabin. When you disappeared, I kind of forgot about it. Then when we saw Allie in Minnesota before we left for Iceland, she gave it to me.”

“I thought you guys were up to something that day.” I looked down at the ring on my finger. “I love it, Colin. Really. It’s perfect.”
 

We heard people starting to arrive. I could hear Dave and Abigail talking to them. “I guess I should go. I’m not even sure what this is about.”
 

When I went in the living room, people were already discussing the plan to get the genes. Two large men I didn’t recognize were standing next to Dave. Jack, Abigail, and Erik were there as well.

“Samantha, I’m Keith.” A large older man with a buzz cut shook my hand. “And this is Mitch.” Another large man, this one completely bald, got up and also shook my hand.

“They’re retired army,” Abigail explained. “They’ve been with us for the past five years or so. They’ve helped us on many missions. Not with GlobalLife specifically, but they’re familiar with this situation. Go ahead, Mitch.”

I wondered what else this rebel group did. What were their other missions? Abigail never talked about it. Neither did Rachel or anyone else I’d met from the group.
 

“Samantha, I was just starting to tell everyone about the security features at the GlobalLife Capital Management building.” Mitch turned to Jack. “Now you’re certain that Eve has access to the vault?”
 

Jack nodded. “Yes. In those files, her name was listed as one of the few people who do. So what specific type of security are they using there?”

“Throughout the building they use retinal scans, facial recognition, voice recognition. All of that. But they don’t have the brain wave fingerprint technology there. Only Iceland and Sweden have that.”

Dave seemed surprised. “That’s it? Then Eve should be able to get the genes without any problems.”

“Well, we’re almost certain that they added a new device,” Mitch said. “They applied for a patent on it a few years back. It’s just the type of thing they would use to secure the vault. It’s basically a lie detector on steroids. You go in a small room, almost like one of those old telephone booths, and it monitors your heart rate and breathing pattern as you answer a series of questions. It even takes a blood sample to measure levels of stress hormones. If you answer wrong, the machine reads it as a lie. When that happens, an alarm sounds and locks you in.”

“What type of questions are asked?” Jack asked.

“Could be anything. They usually start with the easy stuff, like your name. And from there, the questions get harder and more personal. In fact, these machines work best with the personal stuff. It’s easy to lie about facts that have no emotion attached. It’s not as easy to lie about how you feel about something or someone. We tested a similar device on one of my overseas missions. Worked like a charm.”

“If Sam and I are controlling her, we won’t know how to answer,” Erik pointed out. “It won’t work.”

“You can do it,” Abigail assured him. “You just need to practice letting go a little when you’re in Eve’s mind. It’s like easing off on the gas pedal when driving. You just want to give Eve some control of her mind back when the questions are asked. Then you’ll listen to what she’s thinking and answer for her.”

“That doesn’t sound easy,” I said.

“We’ll try it later today. You’ll see,” she said.

Keith and Mitch continued to talk. They showed us schematics of the GBL Capital building, which they had somehow obtained. The vault was hidden in a room straight back from the entrance on the first floor. They said that the last guard left at 8 each night and that the building didn’t have overnight guards because of the many cameras and other security features. They advised us to send Eve there around midnight, when the street in front of the building would be pretty much empty.

As we went over all the details, I started to get worried. There was so much to remember and so much could go wrong. Erik didn’t seem as concerned, but I think his excitement over taking Eve down was clouding his judgment. Colin sat there quietly listening. I could tell he didn’t like the plan. Brittany stayed in her room. She preferred to pretend it wasn’t happening.
 

After a few hours, we took a break so Jack and Dave could show Abigail and our visitors what they’d found in Eve’s files. The rest of us went to the kitchen for lunch.
 

As soon as we sat down, Brittany noticed my ring. “Where did that come from?”
 

“Colin gave it to me,” I said, admiring it.

“It was supposed to be her Christmas gift,” Colin explained.