Mistaken Identity (10 page)

“Opinions are not always a good thing.”

“If you spray the ass with perfume it will smell better.”

I arch my right eyebrow at her biting my lower lip to contain my laughter. “No it masks the smell.”

“Making the opinion more feasible.” She slaps her knees like she just made the perfect point to a set of jurors.

This girl has lost her mind today. “No—”

“Yes!” she interrupts me holding back her laugh, “No one likes a smelly butt or shitty opinions. Spray it down and make it flowery or something.” Her shoulders begin to shake, her blonde messy bun bouncing with them and I realize she’s doing the best thing Jess does—cheering me up. Good. I was beginning to think she needed to take a trip down to the crazy house.

Chapter 15

Work drags by today, normal for a Friday. Adam did finally place psycho zombie Jeff in the position he was hired for, which, thank God, is nowhere close to me. Matter of fact he’s on the fourth floor and I barely ever have the need to stop there. Now I can turn my focus back on work instead of being paranoid of his eat-my-flesh stares.

Adam rushes out of his office. When his eyes hit me, a pleased but irritated shock washes over his face. “Go home, Sam.”

“I have a few more things to finish, sir, and I’ll be heading home.” I check the clock on the wall. Five thirty. Damn. I’ve been submerged all day.

“I’m telling you to get out of this office and go home. You have been buried all week.” He scolds but fights back a playful smile.

Just a few more minutes and I’m sure I’ll be done.
“But sir, I have—”

“Did I stutter?” He interrupts me, his voice stern. His seaweed green eyes tighten just a fraction.

I’m defeated. How do you argue with your boss? You can’t, so I give up. “No, sir, you didn’t.”

He’s pleased, his victorious smile dances across his face, “Have a great weekend.”

Honestly, I’m glad he’s telling me to leave. I’m exhausted. I’ve put some pretty long hours in this week due to a few projects Adam is working on, and sleep is evading me. Work, creepy notes, Tanner…too many things run through my mind at night.

Home has never felt as great after work as it does today. My brain is tired, my fingers ache from typing, and my feet are screaming bloody murder from being cramped in these heels all day. I’ve convinced myself that a shower is needed to wash away the rest of the exhaustion.

I head back to my bedroom, wrapped in a towel, padding lightly down the hall. I want nothing but to be lazy, maybe read a few pages in a book and then hit the sack. I open my bedroom door and shriek, pulling my towel tightly to my chest when I see a man looking at the pictures on the mirror of my dresser.

Tanner jerks around. His eyes go wide then quickly drop to the floor, “I didn’t mean to startle you. Let me step out of here so you can get dressed,” he says, panicking and advances toward the door.

I motion for him to sit on the bed, “Stay. I’ll just dress in the closet.” If I thought Tanner’s eyes were wide when I walked in, I was substantially mistaken. Impure appreciation explodes in his azure marbles. He’s undressing me in his mind, but thanking me for trusting him all in one glance. I step into my closet and shut the door behind me taking a breath. My nerves are disorderly. He’s just a few feet away through a wall, but the feeling of him watching me dress is there. It’s impossible, but it’s still in my mind.

Tanner is sitting on the bed when I return from the closet a few moments later, fully dressed. Compared to his finer ways of living, my room feels inferior with him in it. Jess about murdered me when we first moved in here and I painted my walls a light shade of grey. She fussed so much that it looked like a dungeon that I hung some light pink curtains just to please her. It worked, but now, with a man of Tanner’s stature in it, it feels inadequate.

“I didn’t mean to startle you. Jess let me in. If I knew you would have been...well if I had known, I would have waited in the living room.”

I feel awkward not sure what to do. If I sit beside him, we both know that the sparks will start to fly and who knows what will happen after that, so I just stand, arms at my side. “It’s fine, I just didn’t expect anyone to be here.”

He stands and wraps his arms around my shoulders, placing a kiss to the top of my head. Shivers run down my spine, the electric spark ignites my insides. “I came by since I wasn’t able to see you at work today. I wanted to ask you if you would like to have lunch at my house tomorrow.”

“Did you know there’s a cool contraption called a phone?” I tease wrapping my arms around his waist. He takes a choppy breath and his muscles tense. There’s so much electricity between us we could light up a whole city block from a hug alone.

He leans back with a cheeky smile, his eyes latched on mine. “I guess I’ve been busted for wanting to see you?”

I’ve been so caught up with him being in my room, on my bed, and around me while I was naked that I’ve just taken notice of his light grey tailored suit sporting a black tie. “Did you just get off of work?”

The sparkle fizzles out from his eyes and is replaced with unease. I feel like kicking my own ass, “I’ve been in a meeting.”

It’s almost eight at night, but seeing the dismay in his eyes, I decide not to press it any further. I don’t understand why he doesn’t like to talk about work. “Yeah. I’d love to see you tomorrow.” I change the subject by answering his question he came for.

“Wear jeans again, okay?” He places a lingering kiss on my forehead that makes my lips ache for him. I swear he’s avoiding my lips because he won’t be able to contain himself or at least I’m hoping that’s it. My chest pulls at me yet again. It’s lust I keep telling myself.

He releases his hug and starts for the door. “Wait. You’re leaving?” I ask quickly.

“Yes, I have things to do tonight. I’ll see you tomorrow.” He winks pulling the door closed behind him. That was criminally carnal.

I’m pretty disappointed that he couldn’t stay around for a while. Jess is out with Marty leaving me alone in the apartment with nothing to do. I know I said I was going to have a lazy night, but since seeing Tanner, all my thoughts have been circling around. Without any distractions, they come back to him. Ice cream—Tanner. Chips—Tanner. Phone—Tanner. It’s insane, but eventually, I succumb to the pages of a book and slowly drift off to sleep.

Chapter 16

My eyes flutter open to the smell of my superpower taking the occupants of our apartment hostage in its influential aroma. Like it grabbed me by the nose, it leads me out my door to the kitchen where Jess is dancing around, listening to music on her IPod. She jumps when she sees me, then she slowly pulls her ear buds out with her worried eyes glued to me.

“What’s wrong?” I ask wondering if I just destroyed her dreams of becoming a kitchen stripper.

“You got another letter last night. It was slid under the door when I got up.”

She nods toward the white envelope sitting in the middle of our round kitchen table. The sight of it discharges a froth of fear through my body. This ridiculous situation is escalating into a trip down Terror Lane quickly.

MY Samantha. I can’t wait.

“Who the fuck are you?” I scream at the note wishing it held a clue to who it’s from.

Jess yanks the note from my trembling hands shaking it at me. “Sam, this is scary shit.”

“You fucking think?” I snarl. Realizing I shouldn’t have snapped at my best friend, the one who’s been there for me for most of my life. I take a slow deep breath. “I’m sorry, Jess.”

“Girl, you don’t have to apologize. This shit is crazy. Maybe you should call the police?”

“First, I’m going to show Tanner today. Maybe he can help me figure out what I should do.”

“You really like Tanner huh?”

“I do.”
Really I do. A little too much.

She jumps, clapping her hands excitedly, “You’re falling for him!” she squeals in delight.

“I can tell I’m in the process of it.” I squint at her, “Leave it alone though. You know it’s fresh to me.”

I haven’t given anyone a chance after Robbie pulled the stunts he did, afraid to go back through the pain. I decided that dating wasn’t for me and it was just better to be alone, never having to worry what someone else is doing or what they think about me. I didn’t realize that I missed this feeling as much as I have until recently with Tanner pulling at strings in my chest that I thought I put away.

_________________________

I pull into Tanner’s, a little nervous about what he has planned for the day. Per his instructions I’ve worn jeans and feeling a little more risky, I threw on a pair of my grey Chucks. I hate that he never tells me what he’s planning, but just in case, I have a pair of heels in the back floorboard. My red Jetta seems small compared to Tanner’s jacked up Chevrolet truck when I pull up beside it. Side by side it looks hilarious really.

I’m shoving the notes in my purse when Tanner steps around the house with a warm smile. I’m relieved to see him in jeans and sneakers. I made the right choice with my risky decision.

“You can leave your purse in the car. No one will mess with it here. Come on, I have something for you.” He clutches my hand yanking me out of the car excited like a little boy on the playground trying to show off his bug he’s cornered on the slide. I’m almost in a jog trying to keep up with his long quick steps when we come around the house.

Onyx and Belle are saddled up and tied to the gate of the pasture. Tanner turns to me sensing my hesitation, “I want to take you for a ride.”

I’m no longer hesitating. I’m in a full blown stop digging my heels in the ground. “Tanner, I’ve never ridden a horse before!”

“Samantha, I’ll take care of you and so will Belle. She’s the sweetheart, remember?” A boyish grin flourishes across his lips, and of course, I fall prey to his marvelous looks, trusting instantly.

He shows me where to put my feet in the stirrups as he hoists me up by my hips, more gentlemen-like than I really wanted. He jumps up on Onyx and steadies himself alongside me and Belle, leading us around the back of the pasture allowing me to become more relaxed and confident. He goes over how to handle her, almost etching it in my brain.
If you tighten your knees and squeeze she will end up getting a trot in her step and possibly sending her into a gallop. You’re not ready for that yet.

“Looks like you’re getting the hang of it,” he says riding beside me. He’s proud, you can see it in his eyes, and his smile lights up his clean-shaven face.

“More like she’s gotten used to a sack of nerves on her back.”

“You look good on a horse.” There’s provocative edge his voice holds and it sends a jolting clench straight to my sex. It was in Morse code, beep, beep, click, click—you’re ready for him, Samantha, it said.

We travel deeper into the woods, along a small trail, ducking under trees and walking through a creek no deeper than the horses’ hooves. The trees start to thin out giving way to an open field. Long flowing grass, a larger creek with massive rocks dipping into the water, birds chirping, tall white oak and dogwood trees placed perfectly make the mountains in the distance look abstract. I become mesmerized by the beauty before me. Tanner helps me off then leads the horses to the water letting them drink while I soak in everything around me.

He steps in behind me wrapping his arms around my shoulders. I lean back into his chest, his muscles like a wall holding me up.

“You like it?”

“It’s beautiful,” I say.

When he pulls away my body instantly misses the warmth of his skin, the comfort he makes me feel. Even his hand placed on the small of my back, guiding me to a small hill to sit, doesn’t replace the indescribable feeling of being wrapped in his arms.

He sits in the grass pulling his knees up to his chest and draping his arms off of them, “Sit,” he says patting the grass beside him. I do so without hesitation. I enjoy being this close, but soon my nerves become well aware that he’s not as confident as usual.

After several long moments of silence, he clears his throat. “Samantha?” His blue gems absorbed in a gentleness that makes my heart skip around my ribs, “I like you being here.”

I’m glad he does. It would be awkward if he didn’t, now wouldn’t it? That pull in my chest happens again, and my cheeks begin to heat up. “I like being here too.”

He kisses me tenderly never allowing our tongues to dance with each other, then leans back smiling from ear to ear.

I can see his thoughts racing in his mind, his eyes studying me. “Whatcha thinking about?” I ask.

He shakes his head, “What are we?”

“What do you mean?”

He nervously fiddles with a piece of grass throwing it back out in front of him. “I want to be exclusive with you. I want more.”

“You do?” I say taken aback from his admittance.

He lets out a hearty laugh, “Yes, I do. Surprises the hell out of me too.”

I jump on his lap straddling his legs, taking his face between my hands, “You want me to be your girlfriend?” I tease trying to relieve some of his nervous energy.