The Perfect Storm (The Blake Boys Book 6) (9 page)

“Bo speaks very highly of you.”

“He’s a good friend.”

The sun was beginning to come out as they drove around. The first stop was Tate and Isabelle’s house. The wonderful sounds of music coming from inside sounded like the makings of a good song in progress, and she felt bad for intruding.

“You’re in for a treat today. Sounds like there’s a concert going on.” J.J. knocked then opened the door.

“Hi, J.J.” Isabelle put her violin in the case.

“Hi, darlin’. What are you doing here? I thought Tate had a gig in New Orleans?”

Isabelle chuckled. “You know how he is, can’t stay away from home too long. We’re leaving tomorrow afternoon.”

“I’d like you to meet Sam Carson,” J.J. said. “She works for Regency.”

“Nice to meet you, Sam. Pardon the mess.” Isabelle looked around the room.

There were music sheets on the strewn about on the table and Tate’s guitar was on the couch. Hardly a mess. Sam watched as Isabelle cleaned up a bit and motioned for her to sit down. J.J. wandered off on his own.

“You’re playing was lovely.” Sam beamed.

“Thank you. I’m back at seventy five percent range of motion. I’ve been getting better since my physical therapy. With any luck I can audition for the Dallas Symphony next year.”

“Well, if that’s how you sound at seventy five percent, I can’t imagine them turning you down when you feel you’re ready,” Sam replied.

She liked the cozy atmosphere of the cabin. This placed screamed of Tate. Well, of his profile on paper. She could see the subtle influences of Isabelle woven into the mix. It was nice to see the actual homes instead of the blueprints she reviewed.

“I hope you don’t mind the intrusion,” Sam said. “J.J. and I are making sure the security improvements on the ranch are in place.” Sam held up her notepad. “Did you have any problems with the new system?”

“Yes.” Isabelle laughed. “Tate played with it all night. I’m surprised no one came to see why he’d entered the house fifty times in one evening.”

Sam laughed too. “We anticipate that. We call those entries the new toy phase.”

“This has to be the safest place in Texas. I’m surprised that no groupies have ever tried to sneak onto the property to get to Tate’s cabin but he said the security is in place, even if I don’t see it.” Isabelle laughed.

“He’s right. Regency’s job is to stay in the background so your way of living isn’t disrupted.”

“That’s good to know.” Isabelle gave her a strange look. “You seem really familiar to me. I feel like we’ve met somewhere before.”

Sam was afraid this might happen. She had a close call with Isabelle when she went to Georgia to check out her ex-husband, Ned. Luckily she didn’t get a chance to answer, because J.J. and Tate had come into the living room.

“Hi Sam, I’m Tate. Nice to meet you. J.J. hasn’t stopped talking about you since he met you. It’s hard to impress him, believe me.” Tate smiled.

“I’ll take that as a compliment.” Sam ignored the evil look shot J.J. gave Tate. “I’m a big fan and I love your new CD. I like the subtle changes in the song selections. It’s refreshing to see a man open up to being emotionally available.”

Well that put a smile on Tate’s face.

“I have my muse to thank for that.” He winked at Isabelle.

“Tate has invited us to lunch to have his famous gumbo. He’s a really good cook.” J.J. said.

“Sure. It smells good.”

The four of them had a great time on the deck while dining on Tate’s terrific eats. The relationship between J.J. and Tate was a joy to watch. They teased each other, but it was all in good fun. You could tell how much Tate looked up to his big brother. Isabelle gave her a tour of the cabin and everything was in order. There were no broken windows or intricate ways a person could maneuver themselves into the house. Sam caught Isabelle looking at her again like she was trying to place her face and felt confident she wouldn’t remember their shared elevator ride. Isabelle had filed the restraining order against Ned, and Sam had followed her to the police station. She’d stayed in Georgia a few weeks to make sure Ned was cooperating. Her orders were only to intervene if necessary, but Isabelle did fine on her own.

Afterward, Sam and J.J. thanked them for lunch and headed out to inspect Seth and Morgan’s house.

“That gumbo was divine. Tate is a man of many talents.”

“Are you a closet McGill groupie?” J.J. eyed her.

“No. And before you ask, I don’t have a crush on Seth, either. It’s more of a healthy, adult admiration for one of the greatest quarterbacks of our time.”

“Well, you’re possibly the only woman on the planet who doesn’t.” He tapped on the wheel.

“But he is my favorite fantasy football pick. I’d have to be a lunatic not to choose him. I do know a few women who cried when they found out he was married.”

J.J. rolled his eyes. “Totally understandable.”

“He reminds me of a quarterback that used to play for the Denver Colts. He was fast as lightening and had career stats in his short career that any football player would kill to have. He was a hell of an athlete and sports analysts still talk about him today.” J.J. pulled into the driveway, and Sam jumped out of the truck.

He grinned and headed out after her. “If I didn’t know any better I’d think you were a fan.” He mounted the steps and rang the doorbell.

“Maybe,” she said, grinning.

The door opened.

“Sam, this is my sister-in-law Morgan. Morgan, I told you Sam would be visiting today.” J.J. said.

“You said you’d be stopping by with the pretty—”

Sam couldn’t hear the rest of Morgan’s sentence because J.J. “accidentally” leaned on the doorbell.

Morgan swatted at J.J.’s arm and ushered them into the house. “Nice to meet you, Sam. Seth is in the living room with the boys. I’ll get you two some lemonade.” Morgan went in the direction of the kitchen.

“Uncle J.J.’s here.” Seth said to his boys.

As soon the boys caught sight of Uncle J.J. they made a beeline for him. He surprised her by scooping all three of them up in his arms into a big bear hug and sat on the couch. The boys got a big kick out of that.

“Sam, this is Jake, Connor and Colby.” J.J. tickled each one of them.

“Hi guys. Can the three of you get any cuter?” Sam waved at them.

“Nice to see you again Sam. I don’t think you how much you trouble you started with the new technology around here.” Seth repositioned the fort he’d made on the floor.

“That’s what I like to hear. Using it won’t be a problem since everyone is getting familiar with it.” She sat on the couch and immediately had company. Connor and Colby were climbing over J.J. to get a better look at her. Jake helped his brothers then parked next to her. “Well. Well. I’m surrounded by handsome men.”

Connor grabbed hold of her shirt with a chubby fist and tried to steady himself, inadvertently copping a feel.

“Connor Blake, let that nice lady go!” Morgan blushed with embarrassment as she came into the living room with the tray of refreshments.

“Connor’s just improvising. He didn’t see anything else to steady himself, so he went for it.” Sam laughed.

“I apologize, Sam. They have that affliction that all the Blake men have; my son’s a breast man.” Morgan shook her head.

“Babe, those boys have another year before they realize they’re doing it on purpose.” Seth flashed his wife a cheesy grin.

“I got him.” J.J. leaned over to get his nephew.

Sam held her breath as the back of J.J.’s hand brushed the top of her breast while trying to get Connor to relinquish the hold on her shirt. He tugged gently at his little hand but the baby didn’t want to let go.

J.J. wanted to buy his nephew a new car for putting up a good fight to keep his hold on Sam’s shirt. When his hand brushed against her soft skin, he had to control the ripple of shivers traveling through his body. He’d wanted to touch her since she got out of her SUV but wasn’t sure if it was a good idea. But now he had to deal with his biggest competition—his nephews. They were fascinated with Sam. Jake had managed to nestle himself between him and Sam and was showing her his toy airplane. If Jake mentioned that tree house in the back yard, he knew Sam would say yes and he would be royally screwed. He’d planned on asking Sam to take a ride with him after the audit was concluded.

“Ms. Sam,” Jake said, “you want to see my tree house?”

Jake said it innocently enough but he seemed to have a smirk on his face. Was it possible the toddler was reading his mind? There may some truth to Seth’s tales of Jake’s attempts to thwart any more procreation from his parents.

“I sure do,” Sam said. “You have a new security system on your tree house too.”

The next thing he knew, Morgan, Sam and Jake were headed outside. They weren’t out of the room five seconds before Seth started in on him.

“Is Sam going to check under your bed before she leaves? Just to make sure there aren’t any scary monsters under there?” Seth tried to suppress a grin as he put Connor and Colby on the floor.

“You’re enjoying this way too much.”

“I enjoy seeing my brother smitten with a woman.”

“Why do you think I’m smitten with Sam?”

“It took you ten minutes to remove Connor’s hand from her shirt. Wait until I tell the boys you’re using your nephews as your wing men.” Seth laughed.

J.J., Seth and the twins joined them outside. Sam was serious when she said she covered all the bases. He wasn’t aware she’d had the tree house outfitted with its own system.

“Jake, put your hand on the screen.” Sam showed him what to do.

The security system acknowledged Jake’s handprint and stated, “Handprint identification of Seth Jacob Blake Jr. confirmed. Welcome back, Jake.”

“That is so cool.” Morgan beamed.

“Morgan, it’s your turn.” Sam instructed her to put her palm on the scanner.

The security system stated, “Handprint identification pending, you are not Seth Jacob Blake Jr.”

“Morgan and Seth, you should be getting a notification from your Regency app right now.” Sam said.

Morgan looked at her phone and there was a message from Regency asking permission to let her into the tree house.

“You confirm yes and the system continues in ten seconds.” Sam looked at the screen.

The security system stated, “Handprint confirmed, welcome back Jake’s mom.”

J.J. looked on as the family played with the device. Sam explained that Connor and Colby’s prints were in the system too and would be updated as they grew. He had to hand it to her, she was good at her job.

“Your new house will be equipped with the same features,” Sam said to him.

“I’m surprised you don’t have thermal image scanning equipment,” he joked.

“The cameras at the stables are equipped with it,” she replied.

“Damn, you’re good.”

* * *

Sam didn’t want to leave the boys, but there was still work to be done. The next stop was the stables, and J.J. gave her a tour and introduced her to his horse Midnight. When he asked if she wanted to take a ride to the site of new house, she happily said yes. A ranch hand saddled a horse named Blue for her, and J.J. looked on in shock when she easily mounted.

“Yes, I know how to ride.” She stuck her tongue out at him.

“There may be hope for you yet.” He laughed.

The site for his house was just a few miles down the road. J.J. gripped her by the waist and helped her off the horse. When she grabbed onto his shoulders to steady herself, the scent of her perfume traveled up his nose. From the look of the floor plans the house, it was going to be an impressive piece of architecture. The foundation had been laid, the frame was in place and the steps were completed.

“When will construction be complete?”

“We’re looking at October.” He tapped on one of the wood beams.

“There’s a state of the art alarm system I tested the other day. I think it would be a good fit for your house. It has all the bell and whistles and handprint verifier like the other houses. We could start the wiring now provided you approve of it.”

“OK, I’ll take it.”

“Don’t you need to see a demonstration first?” She raised an eyebrow.

“I trust your judgment.” He moved closer to her. “Isabelle seemed sure she’d seen you before in Georgia. Did my father send you down there?”

She nodded. “I went to Atlanta to investigate Isabelle’s ex-husband. I was at the police station when she filed the restraining order. We had a near miss in an elevator. I think she recognized me this afternoon.”

“What did you learn about her ex?” J.J.’s jaw ticked.

“There was a history of violence.”

“So, he’s abused women before.”

“Yes. But he got the message to stay away from her. I made sure of it.”

J.J. shook his head. “I can only imagine what you said to him.”

“I just pushed a few of Ned’s buttons and he became belligerent. He’s an intimidating little bastard when he’s not getting his way.”

“Did he put his hands on you?” J.J. caressed her cheek.

“No, he did not.” She put her hand over his. “I had two team members in the restaurant as back up, but I didn’t need their help. I handled it. I’m pretty good at what I do.”

“I saw how capable you were in the restaurant with the pick pocket, but that doesn’t mean you should confront dangerous men alone.”

“I was on the Dallas police force for six years. I’m an excellent marksman and have extensive hand-to-hand combat training. I bet I can even kick your ass, Blake.”

Sam turned to walk away when she felt J.J.’s hand on her shoulder. This was the perfect opportunity to prove her point. She twisted out of his grasp and flipped him onto the floor. But her victory was short-lived. J.J. grabbed her leg and she tumbled and fell on top of him. Sam giggled when J.J. grabbed her ass and pulled her onto his erection.

So maybe he wanted to kiss her today too.

She slid her hand under his shirt and let her hand glide over the smooth skin of his chest.

“Now we’re both on the floor.” J.J. murmured as he leaned up for a kiss.

Sam sighed. “I’ve been waiting for you to kiss me since Denver, you jerk.”