Later that evening Blade entered his condo. In a way he was glad to be back home in Houston. His meeting with J. W. Mosley had gone well and the man was looking forward to working with Madaris Construction Company. The building would be a magnificent addition to downtown Oklahoma City"s skyline.
Blade had slept through most of the flight. But right now, he was wide-awake and Sam Di Meglio was on his mind. He was convinced that the only reason he was still thinking about her was because he hadn"t met anyone quite like her. Besides her beauty, he knew there was a pa.s.sion in her just waiting to be unleashed. He saw it in her walk, was moved by it whenever their eyes met, and had felt it in their kiss that morning. He was definitely looking forward to returning to Oklahoma City, and would make it his business to see her again.
He had talked to Luke on his cell phone on the way to the airport. His cousin had given him fair warning and tried to convince him Sam wasn"t a woman a man wanted to toy with. Blade didn"t want to toy with her. He wanted to spend an entire night in bed with her. He wanted to get her out of his system. He was convinced the kiss they"d shared that morning had definitely been the reason she was still on his mind.
He had put his overnight tote and garment bag on the bed when his cell phone rang. He quickly pulled it out of his pants pocket. "This is Blade."
"I know who you are."
He couldn"t help but chuckle upon hearing his great-grandmother"s matter-of-fact voice. "Yes, ma"am, Mama Laverne, I"m sure you do. And how are you doing today?"
"As well as can be expected. And how was your trip to Oklahoma?"
Blade lifted a brow. "How did you know I went to Oklahoma?"
"Slade told me when I called to check on Skye. She"s been a little under the weather."
"Oh," Blade said, leaving his bedroom and heading for the kitchen to get a beer out of the refrigerator. He hadn"t known his sister-in-law was sick. "How is she doing?"
"She"s doing fine for someone who"s having a baby."
Blade blinked. "Excuse me? Skye"s pregnant?"
"I dreamed about fish last night, so you know what that means."
He nodded as put his great-grandmother on speakerphone, placing his cell phone on the table while he unscrewed the beer cap. Yes, he most certainly knew what that meant. Everybody in the entire Madaris family did. If Skye wasn"t pregnant, someone else was. It seemed whenever his grandmother dreamed of fish someone ended up pregnant.
"Yes, I know," he said, before tipping the beer bottle to his mouth to take a huge swallow.
"I"m guessing it"s Skye, which would be my first great-great-grand. So I"m tickled pink at the thought of that. But who knows. It might not be Skye. It just as well could be one of your girlfriends."
Blade nearly choked on the beer he"d been drinking.
"Blade? You okay?"
He coughed to keep from choking. "Yes, I"m fine. You don"t have to worry about it being one of my girlfriends. I don"t do babies."
"But you do do women and all it takes to make a baby is a man and a woman who-" women and all it takes to make a baby is a man and a woman who-"
"Excuse me, Mama Laverne, but I think I hear someone at the door," he said, quickly deciding the last thing he needed was to hear his great-grandmother"s version of how babies were made. "I need to go answer it."
"Oh, okay. Will you be at church Sunday?"
He rolled his eyes. He hadn"t planned to go. "Why? Is there something happening there this Sunday?"
"Something happens at church every Sunday, Blade."
He rolled his eyes again. "Yes, ma"am. I"ll see if I can make it."
"Elsie Fowler"s niece is back in town and she"ll be there."
Blade shook his head. Now he knew for certain that he wouldn"t make it. Elsie Fowler"s niece, Sharon what"s-her-name, was not his type. She was the clingy kind who hadn"t been all that great in bed. "Okay, Mama Laverne, I"ll talk to you later."
He hung up, glad to end the call. His great-grandmother meant well, but they had different opinions about things, namely his marital status and his social life. The old gal was a die-hard matchmaker. And from what he"d heard, she used to be good at it back in the day. Five of her seven daughters-in-laws had been handpicked. And now she was trying to step back into that role. All of her great-grandchildren were well aware that she was trying to marry them off. Blade even suspected she had something to do with Luke and Mac getting together. It was a good thing she didn"t know of his interest in Sam or she would have taken it the wrong way. The only thing he was interested in was getting her in his bed, nothing more.
After emptying his beer bottle and putting it in the recycling bin, he made his way to the living room. It was a Thursday night and in his corner of the world, the weekend didn"t start on Friday. It started tonight. He picked up the phone to call his friends Wyatt Bannister and Tanner Jamison to see if they were interested in heading over to Sisters, a restaurant where they knew single women liked to hang out. He was back on familiar turf and he felt good about it.
Chapter 4.
"Welcome back, Sam. How did things go with your parents?" Mac asked as soon as Sam walked into the conference room.
She made a face as she sat down in one of the chairs at the large oval table.
"Mmm, that bad?" Peyton inquired as a grin spread across her lips.
"Worse. They weren"t expecting me, so I figured I would have the element of surprise on my side, but that wasn"t the case. Even with such short notice they were able to make sure Cash Larkin made an appearance."
"Cash Larkin?" Peyton asked as she spread cream cheese on her bagel. "Who"s Cash Larkin?"
"He"s a new attorney at the firm. He"s been there for about six months or so. My parents think he has a promising career and is just the man to marry their daughter. Sound familiar?"
"Will they ever learn?" Peyton asked, smiling.
"Apparently not."
Mac shook her head and then asked, "Did you accomplish what you set out to do?"
"With my parents, maybe. But I"m not sure about Cash. I don"t know what my parents said to him, but I think he a.s.sumed that a serious relationship with me was a done deal. I hate to burst his bubble because he is a cutie."
"If he"s a cutie then why burst his bubble?" Peyton asked with a serious expression on her face. "You shouldn"t a.s.sume he"ll be like Guy. Who knows? He just might be the one."
Sam didn"t reply, since Peyton was only echoing what her parents had said. She couldn"t go through life blaming every man for what Guy had done to her. All men weren"t like him.
"It doesn"t matter if he"s nothing like Guy," she finally said. "I"m not interested in Cash. Besides, there wasn"t any chemistry between us. No heat."
Peyton raised an eyebrow. "None?"
"Not enough to make me pause. Like I said, he"s good-looking. He has a good body, nice teeth, but that"s about it," she said. What she wouldn"t say was that compared to Blade Madaris he lacked just about everything. He didn"t have that swagger, that intense look in his eyes, and when she shook Cash"s hand, all she felt was a warm, clammy palm-not a spark of hot desire.
"How does he kiss?" Mac asked.
Sam shrugged. "Don"t know. We didn"t get that far." And it wasn"t for lack of trying on his part, she thought, remembering the couple of times he tried to get her alone. She just wasn"t feeling him. Maybe it had been the wrong thing to do, but she had compared Cash to Blade. There had been more than just chemistry between her and Blade, even when she hadn"t wanted to admit it. Even when she had denied it to herself and to him.
The moment he"d showed up at Mac"s rehearsal dinner, Sam knew he would be trouble. She had watched him out of the corner of her eye as he smoothly checked out the women, mostly single female friends of Mac. And she knew the moment his gaze landed on her. Later that night, when everyone left the church for the rehearsal dinner, he"d approached her to make small talk. But she"d stopped him cold with an icy look before he could even get in a word.
"Well, I hate to change the subject, but I have some good news to share with everyone," Mac said.
Sam sat up straight and looked over at her expectantly. "What"s your good news?"
Mac was beaming brightly. "Well, it"s not really my my good news personally, but good news about people I care about. First, Ashton called yesterday to say that Nettie is expecting." good news personally, but good news about people I care about. First, Ashton called yesterday to say that Nettie is expecting."
"Wow!" Peyton said, clapping her hands. "That"s wonderful!"
"He didn"t predict triplets again?" Sam asked, smiling. Everyone knew the story of how Mac"s cousin had said Nettie would be having triplets-three sons-even after the doctor had convinced Nettie she would never have children.
"No, he says it"s just one baby this time. A daughter," Mac said, chuckling. "And," she continued, "Luke talked to Slade last night. He and Skye are expecting."
"I think we really do have a reason to go over to Twains after work to celebrate," Sam said. She had met Skye at one of Mac"s bridal showers and had immediately liked her. She was down-to-earth and friendly.
"I agree," Peyton interjected.
Mac chuckled. "Count me in."
Sam nodded. She was happy for Nettie and Skye. They had fallen in love and married good men. Sam had met Ashton while she and Mac were roommates in law school. Sam had had a crush on him for a while. It was a man-in-uniform thing. As far as Slade was concerned, although he was Blade"s twin brother, the two looked and acted nothing alike. Slade was handsome in his own right, but his disposition was entirely different from Blade"s. They were like night and day. It was easy to see that Blade was a man who enjoyed women, and it was just as obvious that Slade was a man who could be loyal to only one woman. It was there in his eyes whenever he looked at his wife. Blade wouldn"t know how to look at a woman like that. He wouldn"t know the first thing about making a woman feel like she was the only one, mainly because with him she wouldn"t be.
"Okay, it"s time to get down to business," Mac said.
Sam put her case files on the table. Mac was right. It was time to get down to business and that meant eliminating any thoughts of Blade Madaris.
Blade drove the rental car to the rodeo construction site. After he parked the car, he turned his attention to the men from Madaris Construction who were hard at work on what would be Luke"s rodeo school.
Weather permitting, the project would be completed on time, and Luke"s school would be finished by the end of the month. Mac was hoping to host a grand opening the first of June, which meant landscape work had to be finished by then, as well. The timing was good, since some of the same men on Luke"s project would be working on the Mosley Building.
Blade got out of the car and pushed his Stetson back off of his forehead with his thumb. He hadn"t had time to drop by and check on the progress at the site when he"d been in Oklahoma City a couple of weeks ago. In fact, he hadn"t been to the construction site since the foundation had been poured.
The building was huge and consisted of two floors, which would give Luke all the s.p.a.ce he needed to teach others what he had been taught. From what Blade had heard, there was already a waiting list of eager rodeo students.
"You"re back?"
Blade turned and saw Luke coming out of the barn. He couldn"t help but chuckle and say, "Hey, you could act like you"re glad to see me."
"Whatever," Luke said, giving him a bear hug. "Like I don"t know the real reason you returned."
Blade looked away and observed one of the men installing a window on the second floor. His cousin was the last person he would have told that he hadn"t been himself lately. He"d done what he always did when he"d returned to Houston and had gone out with Wyatt and Tanner to their usual spots. But he hadn"t had a burning desire to sleep with any of the women he saw there. He actually thought he was coming down with something until he"d figured out just what was wrong with him. The kiss he"d shared with Sam had done him in. He"d never kissed a woman that way without the two of them ending up in bed. That meant that he and Sam had unfinished business. In order for him to move on, he needed to get her out of his system.
"Any news from the home front?" Luke asked, prompting Blade to turn around and look at him.
Blade couldn"t help but smile. "I"m sure you"ve heard about Ashton and Slade."
Luke nodded.
"And I don"t know if you"ve heard about it yet, but Reese got a promotion," Blade added.
"No, I hadn"t heard," said Luke. "A promotion to what?"
"He"s foreman of Madaris Explorations."
Luke frowned. "But that"s Trevor"s job."
Blade chuckled. "Not anymore." Trevor was a family friend and had worked as their cousin Dex"s foreman for years.
"Trevor is opening a facility to train ex-military men. It"s for those interested in tactical military operations."
"Sounds deep."
Blade laughed as he shoved his hands into his pockets. "Knowing Trevor, it will be. And I understand Drake Warren might be working with him at some point. And if Ashton ever decides to retire from the military, he"ll be joining them, as well."
Luke leaned back against the post. Blade could feel his cousin studying him. He looked at him. "What"s wrong?"
"You tell me. Why are you back?"
Blade took a breath and looked away momentarily to where three of his men were working on the roof of the building, installing shingles. There was no way he was going to confess to Luke the real reason he was back in town, especially since Sam was Mac"s best friend. Since getting married, Luke had become a d.a.m.n knight in shining armor.
He glanced back at his cousin. "I told you I would be coming back."
"You said in three weeks, not two."
Blade leaned against the post that was supporting Luke"s weight. "There are more permits I need to file at the courthouse for the Mosley Building," he said. He didn"t like having to explain his reasons for anything he did to anyone, not even Luke.
"That"s it?"
Blade met Luke"s gaze directly. "Is there supposed to be more?"
"You tell me."
Blade knew he couldn"t very well do that. The less Luke knew of his plans for Sam the better. Besides, there were certain things he couldn"t explain to Luke because he didn"t understand them himself. Like why the women back in Houston had suddenly become uninteresting to him. While he had been home, he had begun to take a closer look at the women he"d been dating and had found them lacking, except in the bedroom. But now even that wasn"t enough to hold his interest.
"There"s nothing to tell. When is Mac coming home?" he asked, changing the subject.
The look Luke gave him let Blade know his cousin knew exactly what he was doing and that he wasn"t taking the bait.
"Usually she"s home by now, but she called a few minutes ago to say that she, Peyton and Sam are going for drinks after work to celebrate."
"To celebrate what?"
"Ashton and Skye"s news. They"ll be going somewhere to eat afterward, so if you haven"t eaten yet you might as well join me for dinner. And if you don"t have a place to stay while you"re in town, you know you"re welcome to stay here."