NINE
Sam felt rather proud of herself. She'd gotten the exact reaction out of him that she was looking for. He was still trying to force himself to look at her face, although she kept on moving her head forward so that he could still find a distraction.
She still wanted to know why Martin was asking Kelly about Airport cameras. "Martin, are you going to tell me what you were talking about?" She asked him again.
The sound of her voice startled him back to reality. "What, um, oh yeah, right." He stuttered looking away from her and crossing the room, sitting at one of the chairs beside the couch.
"Jack was seen entering a hotel room, an hour later Rodriguez and some friends arrived, and three hours later a man who wasn't seen entering the room exited, so now we believe that Jack has changed his appearance and name and is going somewhere else, so that he won't be found." He realized the moment he finished speaking that he shouldn't have told her anything. 'Damn, women! Damn, damn, damn!' his thoughts exclaimed.
Samantha sat down properly on the couch, hating what Martin had just told her. Jack really was the man that they had all told her to be. She already knew that though, but obviously there was a small part of her that still didn't believe it.
They sat in silence. After a few moments Sam, stood walking up to the windows, crossing her arms and looking out.
Martin watched her. One of the windows was open, and the breeze was gently causing her hair to flutter around. His breath caught in his throat as he watched her, the light from outside framing her figure. She looked so beautiful, a part of him just wanted to walk up to her and kiss her, but he was smarter than that.
"Do you want something to eat?" He asked standing, not looking at her and instantly heading for the kitchen. "A sandwich or something?" He clarified.
"No thanks. I'm not that hungry." She admitted, turning to see his fleeting back enter the kitchen. She followed him in, leaning against the doorframe, watching as he rummaged through the fridge.
"Sure?" He looked up to see her, forgetting what he was doing for a moment, shaking his head and then continuing to rummage.
"A drink? Water, Soda?" He asked her, pulling a bottle of lemonade from the fridge.
"Whatever you're having." She smiled walking up to him, standing beside the fridge as he reached up to one of the cupboards above the counter, grabbing a couple of glasses.
He handed her the brimming glass without looking at her. She drank in silence, watching him make himself a sandwich.
"Martin?" She breathed, placing the half full glass on the kitchen table. He stopped what he was doing and slowly looked at her. "Thank you for doing all of this." She whispered, taking a step towards him.
He smiled weakly, looking back to his food and continuing the preparation. She looked down a little disappointed. For the past day, learning truths about Jack, Martin was starting to have an affect on her. Every time he smiled at her she felt a flutter in her stomach, every time she found herself getting lost in his eyes, she found her breathing increase. This morning, when she had woken up, when his fingers were on her skin, and she could feel his warmth against her, she could feel her heart thumping.
She wondered how many other women had felt the same way that she did. Martin was tall, brown, short hair, the cutest dimples Sam had ever seen; perfect, crystal blue eyes that when they were on you, felt like they were delving into you, a feature that made shudder whenever he looked at her; from what Sam could tell he took pride in his body, working out the right amount, to tone every muscle in his body, and ensure his fitness.
"Samantha?" Martin's voice startled her and she realized she was staring. "You're staring." He smiled when she didn't move.
She felt her cheeks heat up, and knew they were going red, so she turned her face away so that he couldn't see.
"I'm just going to the bathroom." She said, knowing she had to calm herself.
She quickly walked to Martin's bathroom, not really thinking that there was a bathroom closer to the bathroom. When she entered the bathroom, she shut the door, leaning against it, sliding down to the floor in a fit of hot flushes.
She knew she must have been sitting there for a while, so made the conscious effort to prove to Martin that she was alive. Slowly she returned to the main room, where Martin was sitting on the couch watching sport.
"Who's playing?" Sam asked entering the room a bit more to see what he was watching.
"The Knicks are playing Milwaukee." Martin responded taking a mouthful of his sandwich, not looking away from the screen, groaning in frustration as one team scored.
"Who's leading?" Sam asked joining him on the couch, sounding interested.
"Milwaukee is now." Martin mumbled through his mouthful.
"Ooo, good." Sam looked at the screen. "How much time is left?" She asked him jumping slightly as Milwaukee stole the ball.
"It's almost finished." Martin replied, watching the timer count down the remaining few minutes.
Martin glanced at her as she began to get more and more enwrapped in the final minutes of the game. He didn't know how he got lucky enough to have a beautiful woman, alone in his apartment, sitting beside him on his couch.
She turned her head feeling his eyes on her. She gave him a small smile. It was these small moments with her that Martin knew wouldn't last, but were the making of something….else.
The moment was once again broken, this time by the ringing of Martin's phone. "I'd better get that." He mumbled pointing in the direction the ringing was coming from.
Sam watched him he had his back to her most of the time, and she found ample enjoyment out of watching his ass than watching the game, already knowing that Milwaukee had an unattainable lead given the amount of time left, which was .1 of a second.
Martin found his phone, quickly answering. "Fitzgerald."
"Martin its Viv, follow up on the hotel. I had Kelly check it out, no-one has checked out, but the room's empty and cleaned up." Martin listened intently, glancing at Sam every so often. "Kelly's still looking over the airport footage, but so far he hasn't made an appearance."
"What about train and bus stations?" Martin asked.
"We're still looking into it. Danny and Michael didn't find anything contentious at Schmidt's offices, other than his partner has a tendency to overcharge when his gambling gets too much. Nothing really rock-solid." Vivian finished, knowing Martin would be disappointed.
"No I guess we don't. Well in that case we'll just hang tight here." Martin finished.
Sam had turned the TV off whilst he was talking, and was now standing in front of him. She spent most of her time there watching his lips, wondering what they would feel like to kiss.
"We've run out of leads." Martin sighed putting his phone down on the desk it was on.
Sam looked down at the floor briefly. "I know I should care," she began, "but I really don't." She looked up at him as she finished.
"Everyone's allowed to react to these kinds of situations in their own ways." Martin sighed watching her.
"I promised him on our wedding day, that I would love him forever." She sighed.
"The love that I felt for him, it wasn't an overnight thing, it wasn't even something that happened like that." She snapped her fingers as she spoke. "They were gradual. And you know what troubles me so much?" Martin shrugged. "The moment I discovered he had been lying to me for our entire marriage, I stopped. I stopped caring for him, stopped loving him." She looked back down at the floor.
"I should be expected to feel empty, or angry, but not how I do." She looked back at up at him. "I don't know why I feel like this because I don't even know you, but, hey, stranger things have happened." She shrugged, noting the changed look in his face. "I care about you, more than I should be." Sam took Martin's head in her hand.
He turned his head trying to escape her hold, but she wasn't going anywhere. "Samantha," he breathed averting his eyes from her.
Suddenly she didn't feel so sure of herself. She had lost her husband and now she was being rejected. She was being upfront with him, being honest and truthful.
"It's not that I don't want you." He breathed, she looked back at him. "I just don't want to hurt you."
"You wouldn't be hurting me. The only person who could possibly hurt me is this man." She raised her left hand, pointing to her wedding ring. "He has hurt me more than is capable." She dropped her hand, turning away from him, pulling the ring and her engagement ring off her finger.
Martin watched her confused, not knowing what she was doing. She walked to the coffee table and left the rings. As they clinked onto the table he realized what she was doing.
She turned back to face him, crossing her arms, she was getting cold. "I'm sorry if I seem to forward for you. It's just how I feel." She shrugged, heading for his bedroom to grab a sweater.
Martin watched her leave. She liked him, wow, the feelings were reciprocal; at least he figured that much when she was giving him an open invite to her cleavage. 'Damn women.' He thought to himself for the umpteenth time in the past 12 hours.