GAMBLING ON LOVE (Travis Series) (10 page)

“
That’s it
?”
he
said angrily
.
“Didn’t this weekend mean anything to you?”

“Sam
…
”

“You were just going to walk away,” he snarled
.
“I don’t have your phone number or address so I assume you didn’t have any intention of seeing me again.”

“Sam
…
”

“Did I do something wrong, say something to upset you
?
Damn it, Anne, I thought we had something special here.
”
He raked his fingers through his hair irritably
.
“Don’t you feel anything at all for me?”

Beth put her fingers over his lips
.
“Sam, I was only trying to make you happy
.
You told me you hated it when women got all emotional when you said good-bye.”

“Jesus, honey, is that why you’re acting so strange
? You
think this is good-bye?”

Beth nodded, unable to hold back any longer
.
Her eyes pooled with tears
.
“Don’t you know it’s killing me to leave you, Sam
?
And when you didn’t ask for my number, I just assumed you didn’t want to see me again.
”

“My beautiful Anne,” he pulled her to him in a tight embrace, “it’s tearing me apart to let you go
.
I want to be with you, sweetheart
.
Every spare minute I have, I want to spend with you.”

“I want that
,
too, Sam
.
I can hardly breathe when I think of waking in the morning and not finding you next to me
.
So what do we do now?”

“Come with me, Anne
.
Stay at my house tonight
. Tomorrow
you can just relax and do whatever you want until I get off work.”

Beth shook her head sadly
.
“I have some prep work to do for my next assignment and all my files are at the office.”

“Can’t you go get them and bring them with you?”

“Not all of them are paper files
;
some are on the computer.”

They stood there for a moment, both miserable at the thought of being apart
.
“What time will you get home tomorrow?” Sam asked.

“Three
,
maybe four o’clock
.
I could make dinner if you like or we could pack it in a basket and have a picnic on the beach.”

“God, I don’t want to let you go,” h
is voice was gruff
.
He kissed her for a long time, reluctant to let her leave, but it was getting late and he knew he had to do it
.
“
Give me
your phone number and address
.
I’ll call you when I leave the office and let you know I’m on my way.”

Beth dug in her purse
for a
business card
,
jotting down
her address, home phone
,
and cell phone number
on the back side
.
She handed it to Sam
.
“My work phone is
on
the card
.
Do you need directions to the house?”

“I think I can find it
.”
Sam glanced briefly at the handwritten address
.
“If not, I’ll give you a call when I get close.
”
He flipped the card over
,
stared at it blankly for a moment
and
then looked at Anne
.
“
Sweeney
Enterprises
?
Do you work for your
dad
or something?”

Beth laughed
.
“No, I barely even speak to my father
.
Why would you think that?”

“You have your own business?”
 

“I thought you knew, although I guess I never really told you, did I
?
I started the business about seven years ago and built it from there.”

“That’s impressive, sweetheart
.
Do you have any employees or is it just you?”

She leaned into him
.
“You don’t really want to talk about business, do you?”

“What I really want to do is get you back to the room and take you to bed.”
 

“At a thousand dollars a night?”

“You’re worth it
.” He
grinned.

Beth stood on her toes and pressed a kiss full on his lips
.
“I should go
.
You
will
call me, won’t you
,
Sam
?
Because I don’t want to be waiting by the phone for a call that won’t ever come.”

“You’ll be lucky if I don’t call you twenty times a day just to hear your voice
.
And just so you know how serious I am, I’ll give you both my cell and home phone numbers.”
 

She pulled out another
business
card
,
wrote the numbers he rattled off
and
stuffed it securely in her wallet
.
“Good-bye, Sam,” she said, opening her door once more.

He gave her one last kiss
.
“Not good-bye, Anne, just good-night.”

Beth turned off the lights and crawled into bed,
acutely
aware of how empty it felt without Sam’s muscular body next to her
.
He’d already called her twice, once just as she was pulling out of the parking garage to say he missed her already and the second time about an hour after she got home to say good-night
.
She turned on her side and punched the pillow
,
wondering how she could have ever thought it was comfortable
.
Compared
with
the firmness of Sam’s shoulder, she didn’t think anything would ever feel as good
.

Beth closed her eyes and tried to coax herself to sleep, but the ache inside her chest kept her tossing restlessly
.
She didn’t know how long she
remained
awake just staring into the darkness
,
but exhaustion
finally
overtook her and she drifted off
.
Still, she must not have slept well because she woke in the morning
feeling
stiff and irritable.

Beth rolled out of bed and stumbled to the bathroom
.
She groaned at her reflection and was grateful that Sam wasn’t there to see her
.
Dark
circles under her eyes
had the
appalling
effect of highlighting
her
drawn and pale
skin
.
The unhappy look didn’t help either
.
How could she be happy, she thought dismally, when she wasn’t sure when or even
if
she
would
see Sam again
?
What if he changed his mind about being with her
?
What if he didn’t call
?

Peeling off the t-shirt she’d worn to bed, Beth hopped into the shower
.
Once the warm water was cascading over her face, she
began
to feel better
.
The day
was going to be hard enough with all the work she had to do after being gone so long
.  The last thing she needed was the emotional strain of
waiting for Sam’s call.
 

After a long, hot shower, she dressed quickly and darted off to work
,
where she was greeted enthusiastically by the receptionist and then by her personal assistant, Vic.

“
You been
holding the fort down for me, Vic
?”
Beth asked as she picked up the pile of correspondence he’d set aside for her personal attention.

“As always, doll face.”

Beth smiled at Vic’s casual term of endearment for her
.
“Remind me to give you a raise, Vic.”

He sighed heavily
.
“I remind you constantly but you refuse to pay me what I’m worth.”

Beth leaned down and kissed his cheek
.
“I don’t have a million dollars to spare,” she said lightheartedly
.
“Join me for some coffee and bring me up to speed.”

Vic looked horrified
.
“You know I don’t drink that harsh stuff
.
It’s strictly cappuccino for me.”

“Then bring
two
cappuccinos
. E
xcept
this time, don’t sip all the foam off mine!”
 

She entered her office and dropped into her chair, still filtering through the letters to see which were the most urgent
.
A few minutes later,
Vic set a cup of cappuccino in front of her and settl
ed
into
the
chair across from her desk.
 

Beth eyed it suspiciously
.
“It doesn’t seem as foamy as it should be,” she said with a note of accusation.

Vic shrugged, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth
.
“I think the machine must be broken.”

“
U
h, huh
.
Okay, tell me what’s been happening
.
Who is where and
why.
”

She employed twenty-three full
-
time investigators, four research assistants, a receptionist, plus six personal assistants to help the investigators, in addition to Vic
.
Whenever she returned from a job, the first thing she did was have Vic brief her on where her investigators were and what type of assignment they’d taken on
.
He had a memory for detail like nothing she’d ever seen before and she paid him handsomely for the job he did
.

He was punctual, extremely efficient, unquestionably devoted to her, and was the only person she ever talked to about her personal life
.
Until
this past weekend, there hadn’t been a whole lot to talk about
.
Once he caught
Beth
up to speed on what everyone was doing and what fires she’d need to put out before
starting
her day,
Vic
leaned back and took a sip of his foamy drink.

“So how was Greece
?
Did you meet any delicious bodybuilders while you were there?”

“Is that all you think about, Vic
?
I should rat you out to Jeffrey.”

He waved his hand dismissively
.
“Jeffrey was so last month, doll face
.
I have a new playmate now
.
I think you’ll like him
;
he’s much more suited for me than Jeffrey.”

Beth laughed
.
“That’s what you said about Jeffrey when you dumped Larry for him.”

“What can I say
?” He
grinned
.
“I get bored easily
.
So tell me how your assignment went.”

Beth told him about the Stockton case and how John Stockton’s brother, Roger, had tried to gain controlling shares of the company
.
“I’m not sure
whether
John will prosecute or just kick Roger out of the company, although he insisted he was going to prosecute no matter who it was
.
I haven’t had a chance to talk to him yet
.
I expect his payment in the account by tomorrow so be sure to let me know when it hits.”

Vic nodded
.
“I suppose you spent the whole weekend in bed just trying to catch up on your sleep.”

Beth couldn’t stop the soft smile that came to her lips when she thought about her weekend with Sam
.
“I spent a lot of time in bed, yes,” she replied earnestly.

He leaned forward and stared at her for a moment
.
“Oh
,
my Lord,” he drawled dramatically, “it finally happened
!
Who is he
?
What does he do for a living
?
Is he tall, rich, handsome
?
Spill the beans, doll face, so I can wire the press
and get it on the evening new
s.”

Beth giggled
like a school girl.
“He’s wonderful, Vic
.
His name is Sam
.
He does the marketing pitches to big corporations
.
He’s tall, dark
,
and handsome and has the most hypnotic green eyes.”

“How did you meet?”

“I met him on the plane coming back from Greece
.
I
was seated beside
the most annoying passenger so Sam let me take the seat
next to
him
.
One thing led to another and I ended up going to a dinner party where he was giving a presentation.”

“And you ended up in bed with him didn’t you, you naughty girl!”

Beth grinned
.
“I don’t kiss and tell.”

Vic arched a brow
.
“That’s because until now, you
haven’t been properly
kissed so there wasn’t anything to tell!”

“Now that hurts, Vic.”

He stood and headed for the door
.
“Keep your secrets
and
see if I care
. 
Although…
you might want to
keep in mind
that I’m the one who puts your calls through.
”
He glanced back meaningfully
.
“Of course, sometimes those calls accidentally get dropped.”

Beth leaned back in her chair and laughed
.
“You’re all wind and no sail,” she hollered after him.
 

She spent most of the morning going through the stack of papers
Vic
had given her and making phone calls
.
After finishing the report on the Stockton case, she passed it off to Vic
and
then started reviewing requests for their services to
determine
which
ones
they
would
accept
.
In between the paperwork, her time
was
consumed with taking calls and interruptions from her people when they stopped by to welcome her back and ask how it went.
 

Every time one left, Vic would call out from his desk, “
Your
secret’s safe with me.”
 

Beth chose to ignore him for the most part, but occasionally she’d threaten to take away his gas card or shorten his vacation time
.
By early afternoon, she’d finished with the stack of potential clients and brought them to Vic.
 

“Here’s the no go pile,” she handed him a small stack of papers
.
“And here
are
the ones we’ll take and who I want assigned to them.”

Vic looked through them briefly and pulled two from the pile
.
“Gina won’t be back in time for this one but I can put Carrie on it.
”
When Beth nodded her approval, he glanced at the second one he’d pulled from the file
.
“You’ve put Tom on this one, but Mel is much better at financial institutions.”

Beth planted her hands on her hips
.
“Is there any reason you give them to me to sort
when
you make the final decisions anyway?”

“Well, of course, doll face
.” He
gr
inned
.
“I want you to feel needed.”

“I should write you up for insubordination,” she threatened.

“You could,” he said indifferently, “but you won’t.”

“What makes you think I won’t?”

“Two reasons
.
One, you hate paperwork and writing me up would definitely cause you paperwork and two, you’ve got a secret and I know what it is.”

“But I haven’t told you hardly anything!”

“You told me enough
;
I can make up the rest.”

“Okay, okay, you win,” Beth caved
.
She checked her watch and was surprised to see it was already two o’clock
.
“I guess I’ll go grab some lunch.”

“Too late
.”
He
tapped her
appointment
book
.
“Staff meeting in fifteen minutes.”

Beth groaned
.
“Do I have to go?”

Vic sighed in exasperation
.
“Beth, you’re the
president
;
of course you have to go
.
You have to announce Mel’s promotion to
senior investigator
and discuss the profit
-
sharing plan we’re putting in place.”

“I don’t know why you can’t do it,” she pouted
.
“
You
know more about it than I do anyway.”

He held up his nameplate and pointed with his pen
.
“See this
?
It says Vic Colter,
senior account executive
.
It does
not
say
president
.”