Chapter 4

He'd been gone six months straight this time. Trudy shook her head as she watched Sam get out of the little Neon and head for his room.

"Well, look at that," she muttered. "You've got yourself some wheels. Or did a lady friend give you that as a souvenir?" There was a little bite in her tone and in the morning air as she left the office and met him on the walkway in front of the door where he stuck his key into the lock.

"Samuel." She smiled at him and unclenched her arms from around herself, opening them wide.

"Trudy." Sam hung his head, unable to look at her. He picked up his suitcase and duffel and prepared to go inside.

"Oh, come on now! Drop those things this minute and give me a hug! I missed you!"

A sheepish smile graced Sam's lips. He tossed his bags just inside the door, turned, and allowed her to take him into her arms. She was so short, he had to bend over to hug her in response. She sighed deeply as she tightened her grip and kissed his cheek in a motherly fashion. Then she pulled away and studied the wounded look on his face.

"This one must have been special. If I'd known you were going to be gone this long, I wouldn't have told you to keep the key. But I was tired of asking for it back, only to have you come around again not long after and need it again." She paused and added, "You fell in love this time, didn't you?"

His eyelids fluttered closed and his head dipped even more.

She reached up and caressed his cheek. "Ohhh, Samuel. That's what happens when you play with matters of the heart. Sometimes you're going to get burned." Trudy paused, wondering whether she should go further. But she cared too much for Samuel. He needed to hear it. "Now you know how the women feel when they've fallen hard for you!" He stared at her, incomprehension in his expression. "Don't give me that look! You mean you've never thought about how they feel?"

"No, I haven't." He closed his eyes a moment, opened them again, and looked at her. "When we get involved, they know what they're in for. I can't make that commitment."

"Do they really know that, or are you just trying to ease your conscience?"

He tore his gaze away, sighed, and planted his hands firmly on his hips. "I don't really wanna talk about this, Trud. Okay?" He turned toward the door and asked over his shoulder. "How's the lawnmower been?"

She planted a fist on her hip and replied in a clipped tone. "It's fine."

"Great. I'll, uh, cut the grass after I'm settled in, unless you've got somebody else doing that now."

"I pay a college kid to do it when he has time, but he's unreliable. When you're around, I can always count on you."

Ouch, that hurt! "Okay, well, I don't plan on going anywhere for awhile. I'll take care of it."

As the days and weeks passed, Sam was true to his word. He limited his time at Carlito's and confined his activities to drinking, studying the women, but not looking for a good time. He kept in better touch with Lucy and tried to get some cases from her.

"Sam, I don't know..."

"You can trust me to get the jobs done, Luce. If it's the women that you've got a problem with, well, I've sworn them off for an indefinite period." Even Lucy couldn't discount the defeated tone in his voice and body language.

"I could have told you this would happen." Lucy scolded him, and he took it because he knew he deserved it. "I'll see if I can throw a few more things your way to help you get your mind off... things."

"Thanks, Lucy. I owe you."

She smiled. "I wish I knew how to collect."

If he'd been in a better mood, he might have suggested some ways, but every one was out of the question. He respected Lucy too much to have a fling with her. Besides, other than Trudy, she was the only friend he had in Miami at the moment. He needed all the buddies he could get, because he was feeling pretty low.

"I've got one here. A lawyer, thinks his wife has been embezzling his practice's funds. Check it out." She tossed him the file folder across the desk. "She lives here in Miami part time, although it's winter now, so she'll be around until things warm up again in New York."

"She'll be easy enough to find, then."

"Sam." He tore his attention from the folder and looked up at her with questioning eyes. She continued, "I know this is a really bad time to be asking you this, but it may be important to this case. Can you use your Sam Axe charm on her, get her into an affair with you?"

He paled. "What? Are you serious?"

"Yes. If you can get her interested, it'll allow you unique access so you can find out what's really going on."

"Lucy, I try to make it a point not to mess with married women." He saw the doubt parade across her face. "I usually find out later, and then I'm gone! Scout's honor!"

"If there's any other way, do it. But if you have to get... closer..."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. I'll see what I can do."

The file made it easy to find Alexis. He checked out all her favorite restaurants and clubs, where she liked to shop, and even the pilates studio where she worked out. He followed her for several days until he knew her routine. He didn't see any opportunities for her to cook the books and pocket her husband's profits, but then he didn't have access to her condo. He didn't know what she did there when she wasn't out spending money. Like preparing to dive into ice cold water, Sam took another couple of days to acclimate himself to the idea that he was risking a lot. This time, however, he would be careful and shield his heart.

He met Alexis at the beach. She didn't seem that interested at first, but then he stumbled upon a breakthrough. He could tell by the shape of her feet that she spent many hours in heels, so he took a chance and mentioned that he could dance. Her face lit up as she said, "I love to dance! There's this little club I like to go to where I'm on my feet all night, kicking up my heels!"

"Do you have a partner?"

Her eyes peered over her sunglasses and a sly smile slashed across her face. "Why? Are you volunteering?"

"Baby, I thought you'd never ask." He winked.

She threw her head back and laughed. "Well, that's settled. I'll meet you at the Coconut Grove Ballroom at seven tonight, Sam."

He took her hand and placed a light kiss on it. "I'll be there with dancing shoes on, Alexis!"

One night of hot sexy ballroom dancing, and he had Alexis eating out of the palm of his hand, so to speak. It was almost too easy, but it boosted his ego. He just had to be careful and keep his heart protected. This was a job, plain and simple. Remembering that helped the passion become even more impersonal, but still just as delicious. She was older, still well preserved, and he again found himself being called a 'boy toy'. He was getting used to it, and he was learning how to act the part. It became easier as time went by to take what the women gave in return for a little romance. He laced his interactions with chivalry and personal knowledge of what drove a woman crazy with desire, not one of them walked away disappointed, and he had a lot of fun and satisfied his libido. Alexis was just another conquest, but with a twist. He had to find out if she was stealing from her husband.

Getting access to her condo, it quickly became apparent that she wasn't skimming off her husband's business. She had one of her own that he had no knowledge of, but when he found out, and discovered that his wife and Sam were having an affair, Alexis soon found herself served with divorce papers.

"I'm sorry about that," Sam said as he held her back against his body, and they stared down at the legal papers.

"It was bound to happen sooner or later, Sam. His practice was a lot more important than I was to him. He never even knew when I left for Miami." She shook her head, broke out of Sam's arms and threw the papers on the table. She turned to him, anger still flashing in her eyes, and she said, "Come on, let's go. I've got a headache and it needs something to make it go away." Her eyebrow rose.

Sam still felt uneasy about his role in the breakdown of her marriage. Some may have thought he was a careless womanizer, but he always drew the line at married women. Especially after what happened with the admiral's wife. No woman was ever going to screw up his life again, and avoiding the married ones saved him a lot of headaches.

"Come on, Sammy," Alexis said with a pout. She pulled on his hand and led him to the bedroom.

"Okay." He drew out the syllable as he allowed her to pull him into the room.

With the case on Alexis completed, he didn't have to see her anymore. At first, he resisted her calls, but all it took was one moment of weakness and he was hers again. She gave him an apartment and expected him to be at her beck and call. This time, however, he kept his place at Trudy's and spent more time there. The apartment was for his trysts with Alexis. Fortunately, with her own business to run, she didn't have a lot of time for him and it was almost as if they weren't even together, which helped to ease his conscience.

"Sam, you're an idiot."

"Gee, thanks, friend," Sam snapped at Lucy as he sat in her office.

She dropped into her chair and swiveled it as she stared at him. "I thought you were done with women for awhile. You went and slept with a client! How could you?"

"You asked me to have an affair with her. How else could I make it real enough?"

"Too real, apparently."

"Yeah, I didn't expect it to go over that well." He glanced up at Lucy and gave her a quirky smile. "Hey, Alexis is usually too busy to spend time with me, anyway. And she says her marriage was over a long time ago, so I didn't really do any damage..."

"I can't believe that actually helps you sleep at night." Lucy's narrowed eyes bored into him, and he swore he could feel the laser like heat. "What is wrong with you? You used to be a man of integrity, Sam, and now you'll jump into bed with any skirt that looks at you the right way." He opened his mouth to speak, but she held up a hand and interrupted him. "Don't even try the 'I'm just having fun, winding down from the pressure and stress of my SEAL days, blah blah blah.' That doesn't fly with me."

He shrugged. "Well then, I guess there's nothing to talk about." He stood and turned toward the door. He made it there in four strides, but he found the petite woman standing ground in front of it when he got there. "What? What do you want from me, Luce?"

"I want you to talk to someone about this." She reached into her pocket and pulled out a card, grabbed his hand, and placed it in his palm.

"This is a shrink. I don't need that kind of help!"

"I think you do. This has gone way beyond the old days on shore leave. You're playing with emotions, Sam, and it's not fair to them. It's not right." She paused, looked up into his eyes, and said, "Think about your self-respect, Sam. The guy I knew would be ashamed of himself now."

"Well, I'm not that man anymore, Lucy. The admiral made sure of that." His hand closed on the card and he dropped it into his pocket. "Will it make you feel better if I talk to someone about this? Maybe not this guy, but..."

"Anybody. I don't care if it's your grandma, if she can help you see what you're doing to these women and yourself by playing Russian roulette with emotions, I'm all for it."

"Alright. Now, about that job?"

Lucy sighed and led Sam back to her desk. She pulled the file and set it before him. "This is small time stuff, Sam. I can't put anybody on this, because the guy doesn't have the kind of cash we'd be asking for to clear his name."

Sam picked up the file and skimmed it. "Okay, I'll do it. But I'd like to get a partner on this one."

"Who?"

"I don't know. Give me a couple days to find somebody."

She nodded. "Just keep in mind that right now, Javier is a 'person of interest' in this burglary. The cops might arrest him at any time, and he's a widower with a kid. Just think what'll happen to his son if he winds up behind bars."

"Don't worry."

Sam left her office and Lucy watched him go with doubt in her eyes. Yeah, don't worry. I used to be able to trust you, Sam, but with this whole woman business, now I'm not so sure.