“Paula –”
“Holy crap.”
“Paula –”
“Holy freaking shit.”
“Paula!” I shouted.
“What?” she shouted back.
“How many pictures are there?” I asked.
“Like, about, two dozen.”
Oh my God.
She went on, “Most of them are you and him sitting at a table talking or drinking wine but others are of you at the same table, snuggled close talking and not drinking wine then there are three of you going at it on the sidewalk.”
Apparently, Tilda had been taking pictures of us not only after her husband came to chat but before then after Sam had given her her picture with him.
What a greedy cow. Sam had taken his time to be cool and she’d followed us.
“That greedy cow,” I griped, totally pissed and also totally forgetting Paula was just learning this mind-boggling news. “Sam was so cool with her, taking a photo with her and her husband for their son and then she followed us, took our picture while we were necking and posted them for all the world to see.”
“Uh… babe,” Paula put in, “you wanna tell me how in the hell you’re necking at all with Sampson Cooper?”
“I told you, we met and hooked up. He’s here now with me, in Crete. And he’s not Sampson Cooper, he’s Sam.”
Silence (finally).
Then, softly, “He’s there with you now?”
“Yeah.”
Then, sounding hurt, “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Oh man.
“Paula –”
“I find out on a gossip site. What’s that about?”
“I… well, honey,” I sucked in breath then I let it out and explained, “Things, in Lake Como, I… I met him and he likes me, sweetie, like, a lot and just when we met, things started to hit me, things I couldn’t push to the back of my mind anymore and, well, they started to come out and he was there and he’s…” my voice dipped, “he’s amazing, Paula, everything you can imagine Sampson Cooper to be, Sam is better. He’s been wonderful to me.”
Another moment of silence then, “Have you slept with him?”
Oh man.
“Yes,” I whispered.
“Ohmigod,” she breathed.
“Paula –”
“Is he good?” she asked.
“I… you know, I’d rather not talk about that. For Sam. He’s… women in his past… well, that’s between Sam and me, okay?”
“He’s good,” she whispered her correct guess.
I changed the subject.
“He’s coming home with me, we’re going to deal with stuff, get Memphis then I’m going to North Carolina with him.”
“Ohmigod.”
I made no response.
Then Paula said, “He’s into you.”
“Yeah,” I confirmed.
“Like, a lot.”
My belly started to get warm and I whispered, “Yeah.”
“Ohmigod, this is so… cool.”
I grinned. “Oh yeah.”
“Wow. I cannot wait to meet him. This is so cool. Rudy is already stinking flipping. I’m still at home, I showed him the pictures. He loves Coop. You know that. And Teri is gonna fah-REEK!”
“Yeah, I know and Paula, I’m going to call her and Missy just now but, just to say, I’ll be home soon, with Sam, and you guys all have to be cool about that. He is who he is to the world but he’s something else in real life and this is real life, not TV, not the internet and you all have to be cool.”
“I can be cool,” she assured me.
“No freaking out. No asking for autographs. No asking for photos. This is just Sam.”
“I can do just Sam. So can Rudy.”
We would see.
“Okay,” I said.
A pause then, “You’re happy.”
Outside the hit called on me, absolutely.
I didn’t say this; I just said a soft, “Yeah.”
“Oh honey, babe, oh God,” I heard tears in her voice, “oh my God, I love this for you. I love it. I told you your luck had changed.”
She was right and wrong about that, both in big ways.
She let out a sobbing hiccough.
“Paula, sweetie,” I whispered.
“I love this for you. I love this for you,” she said through her tears.
“And I just love you,” I replied.
Another sobbing hiccough.
I let her do her thing for awhile then I called softly, “Paula, honey, I have to go. I need to call Missy and Teri.”
I heard her pull in a steadying breath then she murmured, “Right.”
“See you soon.”
“Can’t wait.”
“Me either, sweetie,” I said quietly.
“I love you, Kia and I’m so happy for you it isn’t funny.”
“I love you too. Oh, and, let the unit go. Sam says it’s a bad investment in this market. We’ll do some viewings. I know you’ll find me something else.”
“You bet your bippy,” she told me. “And Sam’s right. This market is volatile. Now that it’s not five o’clock in the morning and I’m thinking clearly, ish, after this whole thing with you and Sam, I’m seeing that’s crazy. We’ll get you sorted. Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“All right, later, babe.”
“Later, sweetie.”
We disconnected, I drew in breath, staring at my phone then I jumped when I heard Sam say quietly, “Thank you, baby.”
My eyes flew to the door where he was leaned against the jamb, arms crossed on his chest, one foot crossed at the ankle.
Seriously, he was hot and I suspected he was so hot, I’d never get used to how hot he was.
Which was cool.
“Thank me what?” I asked.
“Your girl asked what I was like in bed, you didn’t tell her. Thank you.”
I blinked. Then I asked, “You were listening?”
“Fuck yeah.”
I felt my brows draw together.
Then I asked, “Why?”
“Mainly because I’ve had women play me in the past, I got burned, they were good, you could be the master and I gotta say I’m pretty f**kin’ pleased to find out you’re not. You’re what I thought you were. You’re just Kia.”
Okay, it kind of sucked he’d eavesdropped but then again I’d been trying to do that to his conversations all morning.
And, he had a point. Once bitten, twice shy. A gazillion times bitten, two gazillion times shy.