The Perfect Storm (The Blake Boys Book 6) (15 page)

“This is great…” The keys to her condo. It was as if something clicked into place that had always been there, but just out of reach. He loved her and he didn’t want to lose her.

Sam continued. “You can let yourself in and don’t have to wait for me to come home. I made room in the dresser and even weeded my wardrobe so you can fit some things when you leave for work from here.”

“Thank you. But I’ll always wait for you to come home. I sleep better when I know you’re safe.” He grumbled.

“The erratic hours aren’t permanent. It’s just a strange time right now with clients.” She caressed his hand.

The thought of her putting herself in danger got the best of him. “What if I asked you to quit your job?”

“Don’t ask me to do that.” She kissed him on the cheek and left.

He wanted to stop her. Who knows what she might encounter when she got there? She downplayed a volatile situation like she was going for a jog in the park.

He slipped on his jeans, went to the kitchen, and grabbed a beer. He looked around and saw dishes strewn about. An open cereal box sat on the counter. He wondered how often she had to fly out of the house on a moment’s notice to cater to some rich, pampered jackass who couldn’t handle his own problems. He knew she was capable and good at her job, but what if someone came out, guns blazing?

J.J. held up the key. She wanted him here, in her house and in her life. What a giant leap they’d just taken. It should have been perfect. But seeing her leave in the middle of the night with her gun filled him with dread. If something happened to her, he didn’t know what he would do.

Well, there was something he could do, but he knew she wouldn’t like it.

CHAPTER TEN

J.J. watched as Tyler’s car, number nineteen, came roaring down the track. He asked Seth and Tate to accompany him to the raceway and get their opinions on their brother’s continued interest in racing. He was pleasantly surprised at how well he handled the car and the limelight, after the women in the family went on their scouting expedition and came back with positive things to say about Tyler’s aspirations. It may have seemed like the family was being obsessively overprotective, but it was done all out of love.

“Here you go.” Tate came back with beers and junk food. “So how’s he doing?”

“Really good. So far, he’s in third place and his momentum is increasing each time he does another lap.” J.J.’s eyes were glued to the track.

“Scott said he was a natural.” Seth popped a nacho in his mouth.

J.J. took a swig of his beer. “There’s only one thing left to do.”

Tyler came in second place. They waited until the crowded began to thin out and made their way down to the track. J.J. noticed Tyler’s smile brightened when he saw his brothers. He was doing a television interview, so they went over to take a look at the car while he finished up. Tate popped the hood and he and Seth began inspecting the engine. The last thing they wanted was for someone to recognize them and steal their little brother’s thunder. Tyler came over to the car after signing a few autographs.

“What are you guys doing here?” Tyler said as he approached.

“We came to see you race,” J.J. said. “After Momma and the ladies spoke so highly of your performance, we thought we’d come down and see for ourselves.”

“Congratulations.” Tate said as he poked around the engine.

“Momma came to a race?” Tyler’s eyes widened.

“Yes. Last month. Morgan thought it would help ease her reservations if she saw you in action. Lucky for you, it was a good racing day. You placed third.” J.J. smiled.

“I have to give Morgan a big kiss the next time I see her.” Tyler chuckled.

“She’s been rallying for you for a long time,” Seth said.

“I like this engine,” Tate said as he raised his head from under the hood.

“So what did you think?” Tyler scratched at his temple.

“I was impressed,” J.J. said. “You did damn good today. I apologize for discouraging you when you set out to do this. I should have given you the benefit of the doubt.”

They all looked up at him as if he were speaking another language.

“What?” J.J. asked.

“I don’t think I’ve ever heard you say so much in your whole life. Having a good woman in your life agrees with you,” Tyler remarked.

He had to admit that since Sam came into his life, he was more open to the world around him. He sang to his nephews and played with them, and he was even taking cooking lessons from his momma. There was no need to keep everything bottled up anymore and he had Sam to thank for it. That’s why the dangerous nature of her job bothered him so much. He was happy and one day she could walk into a dangerous situation and get hurt or worse.

“Enough about me. We’ve been talking. How would you like a sponsor?” J.J. asked.

“Are you kidding me?” Tyler yelled.

“If this is what you want to do, we’re behind you one hundred percent.” Seth replied.

“We just want you be safe and happy. If you get hurt, momma is gonna have all our asses.” Tate laughed.

* * *

Sam slipped on her suit jacket and headed for the elevator. When Jack Stanton’s secretary called and said he needed to speak with her, she got a knot in her stomach. So much had been happening lately, there was a list of things he could reprimand her for. Busting into a drug den and dragging a client’s daughter out kicking and screaming, then dropping her off to a rehab treatment center instead of sending her home. Screw the publicity, the clients would have a dead child within a year if she kept his habit up, and frankly, Sam was tired of going to get her. She or one of her team took great risks each time they searched for her. Luckily no one had gotten hurt.

This time.

Sam took a deep breath and wrapped on Mr. Stanton’s door. He responded immediately for her to come in.

“You wanted to see me, Mr. Stanton?”

“Yes, Sam. We need to discuss your future here at Regency.”

* * *

Sam saw J.J.’s face appear on her cell phone screen and hit the ignore button. She was still seething about her talk with Jack Stanton. She got the shock of her life when the reprimand didn’t come, but instead, he offered her a promotion. The new position was more administrative than field work. It was less dangerous, and she’d keep bankers hours. And it had John Blake written all over it.

She was so mad at him she didn’t return his call last night. Thank goodness he didn’t come over to the house. She needed some time to process his betrayal. The dangerous nature of her job had been the sore spot in all her relationships, but she was hoping it wouldn’t be a deal breaker for J.J. She got it. He was a tough, rugged cowboy who was accustomed to protecting a woman. Eden was the quintessential damsel in distress, whom he treated like a pampered queen. But Sam didn’t need his protection. Quitting her job wasn’t an option. It was a part of who she was and she’d hoped he accept that.

Right now she had to keep her head in the game. She didn’t like these big, public events, but she tried to focus on the task at hand. Her client, an aspiring senate candidate, was a firm believer in interacting with large crowds despite the recent death threats he’d received. Regency did recon and cleared the room, and there was law enforcement present as well. But still something was gnawing at her.

As the event commenced, she could still sense something in the air she couldn’t describe and that kept her on alert from the moment she arrived. Sam stood on the side of the stage while the client took to the podium to give his speech. The noise was deafening, and she could barely hear the chatter on her ear piece. She walked onto the stage and looked to her right. There was a duffle bag sitting in a corner that hadn’t been there when they did the morning sweep.

She casually walked over and inspected the bag. She kneeled down and carefully unzipped the top.

There was a bomb in the bag, and according to the timer, it had less than ten seconds before it detonated.

“Bomb!” Sam yelled into her surveillance device as she sprinted across the stage toward her client.

She tackled her client as the bomb went off. The overhead lights on the stage came crashing down and then everything went black.

* * *

J.J. saddled up Midnight and rode out. He’d been calling Sam and she hadn’t returned his call. That could only mean that Jack Stanton offered her the promotion. He thought she’d go off the rails and yell at the top of her lungs, but instead she chose silence. He was certain that was worse.

He needed her to hear his side of the story, but he also knew she needed to cool off. A heated argument could lead to the saying of unforgivable things, and he didn’t want that.

He took the day off from work. Whether she wanted to see him tonight or not, he was going to Sam’s condo and wait for her to come home. In the distance he could see someone coming his way, riding like the world was on fire. J.J. turned Midnight around and headed that way when he realized it was Channing calling out his name.

“What’s wrong?” J.J. yelled as he came closer.

“There was some kind of explosion at a political fundraiser in the Lakemont Hotel,” Channing panted. “I thought I saw Sam on the news coming out on a stretcher.”

* * *

After being poked and prodded by the latest round of doctors, Sam eased off the hospital bed, anxious to see what was going on. She reached for her clothes that were hanging on a chair; she refused to flit around the ward trying to ask official questions in a hospital gown.

She eased into the hallway and saw several members from the Dallas police force and a few of her co-workers standing outside the client’s room. As soon they saw her, the clapping started.

“What the hell are you all clapping for?” she said to Kendrick.

“You saved his life. If you hadn’t gotten him out of the way, he would have died.” Kendrick patted her on the shoulder.

“Oh. Well. How is he doing?” She peeked into the room as a nurse exited.

“A few bruises, but he’s doing alright.”

“Good.” She breathed a sigh of relief.

“Samantha Jane!”

She knew that deep voice anywhere. But the hell was he doing in the hospital? She turned and saw him bearing down on her.

Sam didn’t get a chance to say anything.

“Are you OK?” J.J. grabbed her arms and looked her over.

“I’m fine, John,” she stammered.

“What happened to your head?”

“I’m fine. It’s just a scratch.”

“They told me you had a concussion.” J.J. cupped her face in his hand and examined her scratches. “I’m taking you back to your room.”

Sam could see Kendrick and the rest of her team enjoying the show. If anyone hadn’t known she was seeing him, they did now.

She dug in her heels and stopped him from urging her forward. “Did you tell Jack Stanton to give me a promotion that would remove me from field work?”

“Yes, I did, and obviously, with good reason. You were almost blown up today.” He caressed her face.

“Do you how many levels of wrong you are in this scenario? You went behind my back and embarrassed me in front of my boss. I guess he knows we’re sleeping together now. Please don’t tell me it’s because you’re concerned about my safety. You’re trying to control me.”

“Dammit, Samantha Jane, I will not apologize for loving you. I have a right to be concerned for your safety and want to keep you from harm. If that makes me seem like a controlling asshole, so be it. I went horribly wrong with my marriage to Eden because I didn’t put my foot down on important issues, and this is damned important. I need help to make this work. I need someone who wants to be an equal partner in a relationship based on mutual respect, or it won’t work.” He gave her a tender kiss on the lips, reached into his pocket to retrieve her house key, and handed it to her. “I can’t do this anymore.” Then he turned and walked out of the room.

Sam looked on, dumbfounded. The man just told her he loved and left her in the same breath. She put her hand over her mouth, suppressing the sob that was buried deep within her throat. She could tell from his face that he wasn’t coming back.

* * *

J.J. felt like a different man after returning from his month-long vacation to Denver. When he walked out on Sam at the hospital, he went home and packed a bag. He needed to be as far away from her as he could be, and his second home seemed like a logical choice. Too bad when he got there, every room he went into reminded him of her.

Maybe he was wrong for talking to Stanton about a promotion that would put her behind a desk, but dammit, he had to try to do anything in his power to protect the woman he loved.

He’d told Sam once that he still loved Eden, but love wasn’t enough if two people didn’t want the same things. It seemed he and Sam were equally doomed.

When he came back to Texas he planned on ramping up the dating campaign. No feelings involved this time; he just wanted to have a good time and get laid. Ironically, that was the advice he was given when his divorced was finalized. He could have saved himself some heartache if he’d just listened to everyone.

To quell the worry of his family about what they were calling his “erratic” behavior, he agreed to meet his dad at the Texas Tomcats stadium for lunch. John Jacob was having a golf game with T.K., the owner of the team, and they would dine together at the exclusive restaurant at the stadium.

The panoramic view of the Tomcats football field from T.K.’s office was nothing short of spectacular. J.J. remembered how awe inspiring it was to see it the first time he visited. He, like Seth, had a near miss with playing for the Tomcats, but fate stepped in the way and sent him to Colorado instead.

Irene, the owner’s executive assistant, had been a family friend for many years as well. She escorted him upstairs while cheerfully recounting the last time she saw him.

“Can I get you some coffee J.J.?”

“No thanks, Irene.” J.J. smiled at the older woman.