Stay for Me (10 page)

The touch of her fingers on the slit of
his cock threatened to choke out all his air. “You’re still wet, Sam.” She
rubbed the moisture around the overly sensitive tip. “Come here,” she said
pulling his hips forward until he was throbbing back at her mouth.

He listened, letting his still-pulsing
cock dip into her mouth as she surprised him and lifted herself to suck gently
at the tip and then lick the rest of him for the remnants of his cum.

How in the world he even had the sense
to glance at the clock again he didn’t know. But he did, and they were down to
twenty minutes. Shit.

“Damn, Emma.”

“I know,” she said in a raspy voice he
adored.

He found her hand and squeezed it. She
squeezed his back.

Their lack of sufficient time to lay
there and soak up what had just happened prompted him to get up. He couldn’t
rely on mere instinct that Gabe was watching the door. He had to be sure.
Because after that inexplicable moment, Sam knew he had to take this all the
way. He had to bring back her smile. Brighten the darkness that held his best
friend in check.

“Stay.
Right here.
Don’t move. I’ll be right back,” he said.

“Okay,” was all she got out, and her
voice was damn shaky.

Sam quickly got up and tried to act calm
for her benefit. A second later and Gabe met him at the crack he made in the
door. He made sure to whisper.

“You’re still out there,” Sam said.

“Yeah um, about that,” said Gabe, low.

“What?”

Gabe looked guilty and nervous which
knotted Sam’s gut.

Gabe rubbed the back of his head and
neck. “Donovan wanted in about two minutes ago.”

“You told him the room was occupied?”

“No, not
exactly.
I didn’t want to out you two.”

“You told him what then?”

“That he
couldn’t because I was about to use it.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.
And that he
should take his guest someplace else because I was
gonna
be
in there for a while. Sorry, I panicked, man. I was
trying to buy you guys as much time as possible.”

“Nah, I appreciate it. But why do you
look so nervous? You actually did me a big favor. You bought me much-needed
time in there with her.”

“Yeah, see, that’s the part you’re not
gonna
like. Jay and his impeccable timing walked by and
told me it was time to go pose for the post-show pics. Donovan told him I
wouldn’t be making it to that because of my
S
room plans. So I need to actually
be
in
S
room. If they see me hanging
around or leaving the club, the jig is up.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.
Oh,” said Gabe.

Damn. That was a big
oh
. Sam stood there thinking, debating,
and remembering.

This was going to be the ultimate test
of trust.

But letting Gabe inside with them was
the only option they had right now.

“Give us one second,” he said to Gabe.

He needed to get her dressed. His plans
for an amazing rest of their night had effectively been cut short. He hoped he’d
done enough but knew from the way her eyes had stayed so dark that he’d failed.
Damnit
, he’d failed her.
Again.

Chapter Eight

“Sam?” she asked. “What’s going on?”

“I know this is the last place you want
to be. Get dressed and I’ll try to make it look like you were in here alone—”

She cut him off.

“Whatever’s happening right now, promise
you’re not giving up. I won’t even say if…when it hurts me, Sam. I can get
through it. I need to.”

He winced and the shadowed room painted
him as brooding and sad, even after the amazing things they’d just done. The
whites of his eyes flashed when he looked at her. He might even be afraid. “You
don’t understand. I wanted to stay in here with you, Emma. But it’s not meant
to be right now.”

Not
meant to be.
Right now.
He should just
say it.

“You mean ever. Why did you let me get
so far, Sam?”

Do.
Not. Cry.

A long pause.

She continued rubbing the ugly goose
bumps from her arms but couldn’t avoid the sinking feeling from this massive
letdown.

Then Luka’s disgustingly handsome face
reared itself. “You’re
right,
this is the last place I
wanna
be.” She paused while he stared at her, his
hand still on the doorknob. “But I’m here. And I thought you were here with
me.”

“I am,” he said. “But it’s time to go.”
He seemed antsy, his tone clipped. It looked and sounded odd on him as his grip
on the doorknob tightened, making the skin of his tanned hand taut.

By her calculations, they still had some
time. Why was he in such a hurry to leave? He bent down and tossed her the
discarded shirt-dress. She looked at the clock. Ten minutes. It was enough
time. Sam might have changed his mind about wanting her, which hurt more than
she was able to admit, but who could blame him? She’d been unable to shake the
sorrow this room gave her while they’d connected just now. It should have been
total bliss, exploring with him like that. But if she let him leave right now, who
else would she ever be able to talk to about this room? Sam was the only one.
Maybe he only wanted out so badly because he’d taken her mood to mean she
hadn’t enjoyed being here with him.
 

She had to give him the truth, no matter
how humiliating.

A ducked head and refusal to maintain
their earlier eye contact told her he could be stuck on the thought it was an
aversion to him that made her skin crawl, being under this roof. God,
Sam
was not the one she feared
.

Emma put herself in the bolted-down
chair and took a few seconds to breathe, and then forget.

After several breaths, she gave up and
scooted to sit cross-legged on the floor. She felt like a coward, but Sam
joined her, abandoning the door for now.

“I don’t know how to tell you…we have to
leave. We’re out of time,” he said. “You must get dressed.”

She
must
get dressed?

“Hold on, I just need a couple more
minutes,” she said to him.

Tenderness replaced the brooding, but
she still saw traces of uncertainty on his handsome face.

“I’m not in any way afraid of you. Come
on, you’re the guy I sit on the balcony with while we compare toe sizes and
personalities. Clearly I’m comfortable with you. What we just started, in here—”

“Bossy,” he said through the crack of a
grin he probably hadn’t wanted to let slip. He kept checking the door.
“And stubborn.”
He didn’t smile yet but his eyes were more
of the green and less white.

Yes, that’s what the wives tales said
about her toes. “Touché,” she said.

Sam shifted his eyes to hers. “I’m sorry
I took people in here.
In front of you.”

That had just come out of nowhere, but he
hadn’t said he was merely sorry for being walked in on so she appreciated it.

Because her best
friend wasn’t a coward who would cop out like that.

“Sam, you’re so strong. I need you to be
that brave guy who doesn’t back down when things get tough.”

“There’s nothing brave about hurting you
again, Emma. No matter how bad I want you.” He pinned her with a longing that
made her want to crawl up into his lap and suffer whatever might come of them
trying again. “Make no mistake about it, I want you.” So why
was
he
so darn eager to get out of here before their time was up?

Time for the
truth.

“I’ve tried, you know.
To be with someone else.”
Yes, that was the unforgettable
mistake named Luka, the one attempt to prove she wasn’t defective. But nothing
about that one time was good, only all wrong. He looked away from her and
stared off, like the blank walls of
S
room hurt less than her words had just now.

“I just, I thought I was proving
something then, to
who
, I don’t know. But…” The words
weren’t ready to jump off her tongue yet. She would have to force them out. “He
hurt me. Bad.”

Sam’s neck tensed as he whipped his head
back around to face her, abandoning his visual assault on the door. The veins
running up his tanned, corded flesh toward his jaw stood out. He began to
mutter something but she stopped him.

“He brought me inside this room, told me
I was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen, and then told me to stay seated
in that chair.
That he’d be right back.”

“Only dancers and staff have access to
S.
Who did this to you, Emma?”

That’s right. She’d never said anything
to Sam about it. Hadn’t even spoken Luka’s name out loud since it
happened.

“I...”

“Why didn’t you tell me?
When?”

She waited to make sure he’d finished,
but then
paused
this unhappy slew of questions with a
finger to his full lips.

“This summer.
One of your nights off.
God, I couldn’t have done it if
you’d been here.
No way.”
She didn’t know what good,
if any, telling him that would do but wanted him to understand that much.

“Who, Emma?”

He was stuck again.

Who didn’t matter
now.

“Someone who
didn’t last long here because he turned out to be a jerk.
And the reason
I stay here and love this job. We don’t tolerate jerks once they’re
outed
.”

The current cast of dancers had all been
here two years or more. No jerks.
All good men.

“Tell me exactly what he did to you.”

“That’s easy. He forgot about me.”

Could she come completely clean? She’d
gone this far. She let out a loud breath which made him tense all the more.

“Shit, Emma, there’s more. I can read
you.”

Sam’s jaw tensed as he worked out his
clear anger, most likely calculating the vague time frame she’d given him. And
then because her best friend was smarter than most people gave him credit for
but she knew all along, he figured it out.

“Luka?” he asked.

Her cheeks puffed up with air as she
felt the shame creeping up.

Sam had her crumpled in a tight hug in
the very next second.

“You know what all he did, don’t you?”
she asked him. Emma didn’t know how, but Sam only got this protective when he
knew she needed it. Otherwise, and as asked, he always tried to let her work
things out
on her own
.

He nodded, and the anger working at his
temples and jaw confirmed he knew about the girl who’d been left naked and
locked inside
S
room, tied to the
chair with suspenders from the Hero military uniform, while their new dancer
recruit had gone off with a group of divorcees. She’d been left in those
restraints for so long that the suspenders had cut into her skin.

Emma thought the incident hadn’t gone
any further than Ellen, herself, and Gabe who had been the one to find her and
let her out. Apparently, she was wrong.

“Does everyone know?” she asked as Sam’s
hair became less and less neat-looking. The prim and proper military cut he kept
had no chance against those course fingers of his.

“I only know because I saw Gabe shoving
him out the back door one night. I asked what it was all about.”

“And he told you?”

Sam shook his head no. “Just what Luka
had done, not to
who
. Dammit Emma, you should have
told me it was you.”

“You mean you’re not mad that otherwise
I would have been with him?” She still couldn’t plug Luka’s name into that
sentence out loud.

“It’s not the best news I’ve gotten
today. Hell, I’d take getting fired a few more times over that. But no, I’m not
mad at you.
Maybe a little.
This is my fault.”

“It was my own dumb mistake. I got
myself humiliated, not you.”

“No, not your
fault.
Don’t say that.” His gaze turned midnight green. “That time you saw me in here,
Emma. I swear to you, on my father’s grave, I’ve never used Luka’s treatment on
any woman.
Ever.
And I’m sorry for the time you saw
what you did. It’s hard to be discreet, but I tried. All that crap was just for
fun.” He paused. “I couldn’t have you…”

“So you had them.” Emma’s emotions slipped.
Sam wouldn’t have made women feel like
nothing
.
He would have made them feel like
everything.
Everything good and sexy and whole and capable.
That’s
who her best friend was, and that’s what he did.