Thank you for your continued support. I appreciate it.
Standard disclaimer.
Sam relaxed back in the leather captain's chair in Noah's private plane.
He looked around the cabin, impressed as always, by the excesses of the wealthy.
His boss Jason Denver was a rich man too, but still flew commercial.
And he could easily afford to have his own private jet on call, but that wasn't how Jason operated and Sam respected him for it.
The man might close a multi-million-dollar deal one morning and stop to get groceries from the local supermarket for his wife on the way home, that evening.
Sam was wealthy in his own right as well, but didn't live a flashy lifestyle.
If there were two things he knew, money made life easier, but it also brought about its share of problems. When you had it, someone else always wanted it.
He dropped his jacket on the sofa behind him and tried not to imagine, how many women had been given more than a plane ride on it.
Noah settled into the seat across from him, dropping his briefcase on the table in front of him, before swiveling around.
The plane taxied smoothly down the runway and was soon airborne.
No matter how often he flew, Sam never got used to the feeling of his stomach dropping to his feet, as the plane climbed.
"So what's happening with you and the luscious Mercedes?" Noah asked.
Sam scowled, before he could stop himself.
"I don't think that's any of your business, and I'd appreciate it, if you would stop hitting on her."
Noah grinned, completely unperturbed by his unfriendly tone.
"Aww, come on man, it's innocent enough."
With a grimace, Sam admitted,
"It's...complicated right now."
Noah swirled the liquid, in the bottom of the crystal glass he was holding, looking pensive.
"It always is, when a woman's involved. Just a word of friendly advice...if you like the girl, then claim her. The next man might not be as nice as I am."
"Nice? Give me a break, Noah. You and I both know, that's not a word that describes you, where women are concerned."
Noah raised a brow.
"And yet, there is never a shortage of willing participants. Do you know why?"
Sam waved a hand.
"Do tell."
"It's because, all of the nice guys like you, stay safely on the fence, ensuring that there's never a shortage, for bastards like me."
Sam turned to face the other man, annoyed enough to take the gloves off.
"If you can't be with the one you love...get spanked by the one you're with? Is that saying about accurate?"
"You have no idea," Noah drawled.
"Oh, I think I do. You know, small towns...people talk. You're practically a legend."
Sam knew he was taking things too far, but the stress of the last twenty-four hours, coupled with the threat of losing Mercedes to Noah, was more than he could take.
His frustration was boiling over and Noah was an easy target.
"So how does someone get into that sort of thing? Not spanked enough as a child? Spanked too much? I've always been curious, so please enlighten me," he said.
If Sam was expecting an explosion from the other man, he was sorely disappointed.
Far from looking angry, Noah seemed greatly amused.
Sam should've remembered, that the guy loved nothing better than a good debate.
Noah moved his briefcase unhurriedly off the table, before propping his legs on it, and crossing his feet at the ankles.
"It sounds like, you've given a lot of thought to my...lifestyle. As to how it started, pick your cliché, buddy. I've got mommy and daddy issues. Fuck...I'll even throw in some granddaddy issues, just for good measure. I don't know that it means a damn thing, though. I just love women."
Sam couldn't contain his smirk.
"You mean, you love to tie up women and whip them, don't you? That's a little different from showing a girl a good time, isn't it?"
Noah gave him an answering smirk, before he spoke.
"That depends on the woman. I'll just say, I've never had a woman, who didn't want to come back for seconds. I just rarely serve them. It's not all black and white, my friend. I would think that with a brother like Stevie and a sister like Stacie, you'd know that better than anyone. It appears that your family, keeps just as many secrets as mine."
"Fuck you," Sam murmured halfheartedly.
He had a bad feeling, that it was too late, to warn the other man off his sister.
The thought of Noah punishing his sister, was more than he could bear to think of.
Stacie was just messed up enough, to look for something like that, over choosing a man, who had loved and looked out for her for years.
Damn it, he should have never started this conversation.
Noah chuckled.
"This all started with a simple question. It's not my fault that you choose the hard way around answering. I won't pursue Mercedes. In avoiding the question, you told me all I needed to know. Don't screw around, though, if you care about her. Trust me, even the most faithful people, get tired of someone who runs from the truth."
Sam looked at Noah in confusion, but the other man was back to staring in his drink, almost as if, seeking answers to some unknown questions there.
Maybe, he was completely off base with his assumption, that Noah's family, caused him to be the way he was.
Maybe, it was much more basic, more simple.
Could he have loved and lost someone?
It happened every day and maybe Noah was no exception.
He had been right about one thing, though. It would be so easy to lose Mercedes, especially with the uncertainty, that Quinn had unleashed in his life.
Just the thought of it, was enough to make a surge of panic race through his system.
He just prayed he could keep it all together, until he had a clue as to what to do.
"I totally love you, Marlene...you know that, right?"
'Oh God, am I slurring already?' Mercedes wondered.
This was only her second...or was it third...drink?
Lana had given them an update on Lisa earlier and the first round, had been to ease some of the sadness they all felt, for someone who was dear to each of them.
Beside her on the couch, Lana nodded her agreement.
"Isn't she the best? She can't drink right now and she still fixed us this big-ass pitcher of margaritas. Who does that?"
Marlene smiled indulgently at them.
"You girls really needed it. You both looked like you were either fixing to cry, or have a breakdown. You are much happier drunk."
Mercedes held her glass up in the air and said,
"I'll drink to that. If Sam had never done me with his sexy-ass body, I wouldn't be in this condition. I would be happily hating him, instead of remembering what a big..."
"Personality he has?" Lana added, before falling over in laughter.
"It must run in the family, because Stevie has a really big...personality, too." When both Mercedes and Lana gaped at her, Marlene's face flamed. "Well, he does," she murmured under her breath.
Lana took another sip from her glass, then added,
"Winston's no slouch in that area either. When I finally got the release to have sex again, after having Henry, I couldn't walk right for a week. Henry's staying the night with the grandparents tonight, too, so when I go home...oh yeah, baby."
Mercedes giggled.
"I really should hate you right now. I don't even have a vibrator to go home to. The Miami airport kept my pink rabbit for evidence. I should have picked those pills off it and taken the damn thing with me. Of course, after the drug dog slobbered all over it, that would have been kind of gross."
"Did you want to...do it more when you were pregnant?" Marlene asked Lana.
"Mm-hmm," Lana said and laughed. "I was constantly horny and Winston loved it."
"I'm not pregnant, but I am constantly horny, between the hours of eight and five now," Mercedes moaned. "When Sam shows up, in one of his uptight suits, I almost orgasm. Things were much easier, before I knew what was under his clothes."
"I bet he feels the same way," Lana offered. "Men can't get caught in a stiff wind, without getting hard. It must be torture for him to see you every day and not throw you down on the desk."
Mercedes fanned herself, saying,
"Oh, how I wish he would."
"I still have that fantasy about Stevie," Marlene added. "I've always dreamed of him throwing me on top of my desk and taking what he wants. Of course, being that I work in reception, where a hundred people walk back and forth during the day, we'd be sure to have an audience."
"At this point, I don't think I'd care if Jason Denver himself watched Sam and I, as long as I could have him."
Lana wiggled her brow suggestively.
"Maybe, you'd just like for Jason to join in. Come on, I wouldn't admit it to Cathy but...haven't we all had a fantasy or two about that man?"
Mercedes raised her hand.
"Guilty as charged."
When Marlene looked around the room without answering, Lana said,
"Oh, come on, Marls, you can't tell me, you've never had some dirty thoughts about Jason. Every woman who works for Denver, has had them. The whole rich, powerful man in charge thing, is a real panty-dropper."
Mercedes snickered, nodding.
And Marlene looked like a kid, with her hand in the cookie jar, when she asked,
"You both promise, you will never tell Cathy I said this, right?"
Mercedes crossed her chest, before taking a vow of silence, along with Lana.
"I did have a crush on him when I first started. It was nothing like how I felt when I met Stevie, but I would get to work early every day, just so I could see him walk in the lobby and to the elevator. He had the best butt I had ever seen."
They all howled with laughter.
Mercedes spilled some of her drink on her shirt and did her best to wipe it off with her hand.
Beside her, Lana had slumped from her chair and onto the floor, still giggling.
"All right, I've got one for you," Lana gasped out. "This is a pinkie-swear, that you not tell anyone."
When everyone agreed, she confessed,
"Winston dances for me sometimes. I bought him a pair of red thong underwear for Valentine's Day and he likes to wear them and dance to the song 'Sexy and I Know It.' He thrusts his hips better than a Chippendale dancer."
"No-o-o," Marlene sputtered.
"Oh yes." Lana smirked. "I even put dollar bills in his underwear sometimes. He's got this really dirty thing, where he rubs his..."
At that moment, the front door opened and they all jumped. Stevie walked in, with Winston not far behind him.
Marlene bolted up from the couch, looking flustered and guilty.
"What are you doing home so early?" she stammered.
Stevie walked over to his wife, curving an arm protectively around her waist. He gave her a hard kiss on the lips.
"It's not early, baby. I'm actually running a little late. Ethan wanted me to come in and see his new science kit. Winston was pulling in behind me when I got here."
"Oh," she said, clearly at a loss, as to what to say next.
Mercedes jumped up and then grabbed the back of a chair, when she swayed on her feet.
"Whew, I think I should have skipped that last one. I need to head home."
"Oh no, you don't," Winston said. "We can't let you drive yourself home. Lana and I will drop you."
Lana snuggled up against him, giving him a smacking kiss on his neck.
'Great,' Mercedes thought, 'Now I have to watch them grope each other, all the way home.'
"I'll run Mercedes home," Stevie offered. "I forgot Marlene's orange juice, so I need to go back out anyway."
"You're my hero." Mercedes beamed at him.
When she saw Lana cup Winston's butt on the way out the door, she knew she had been saved, from some awkward moments.
She hugged Marlene and stumbled towards the door.
Stevie embraced his wife once again, causing a lump to form in Mercedes' throat.
You would have to be blind, not to see how much he loved his wife.
She wondered, what it would feel like, to have someone waiting for her, at the end of the day?
Next thing Mercedes knew, Stevie had taken her arm and was leading her towards his truck.
Just as she settled into the passenger seat and he closed the door, her phone rang.
She rummaged through her handbag, with what seemed like five thumbs, before finally pulling it out.
"Yes?"
"Mercedes?" Her heart skipped, as she heard Sam's voice on the other end.
"Hey! Where are you?"
"Uh...still in South Carolina. Greenville, actually. Noah needed to make a stop here, before heading on to Boston. We're staying at the Hyatt on Main Street."
He was quiet for a moment, then asked,
"Where are you?"
"Oh, I'm with your brother. Did you want to talk to him?"
Mercedes had just started to pass the phone to a surprised Stevie, when Sam said hurriedly,
"No, but what are you doing with him? Is Marlene with you?"
"Marlene? No, she's at home. It's just Stevie and me."
Sam almost sounded angry as he demanded,
"What are you doing with him? It's midnight."
Surprised, Mercedes said,
"Really? Wow, that is late. It's okay, though, because, we're going to my place now."
"What the fuck!" Sam exploded.
Stevie, obviously hearing his brother's loud curse, held his hand out for her phone.
Relieved, she handed it over and said,
"Good luck, the stick's back up his ass tonight."
The corners of Stevie's mouth twitched and it looked like he was trying hard not to laugh. He put the phone up to his ear.
"Hello, brother." He listened for a moment, before he said, "Will you chill out? She was with Marlene and Lana tonight, at my house. I wasn't even home. She had a few drinks, so I didn't think she should be driving. I'm just dropping her off at home, on the way to the store for Marls."
Stevie finally ended the call and handed Mercedes the phone back.
"You're supposed to call Daddy back when you get home," he said, with a smirk.
For some reason, that struck her as funny and she laughed, until tears ran down her cheeks.
"God," she gasped out, "Why couldn't I have slept with the funny brother? Whoops, maybe that came out wrong. I'm not saying you specifically, just that, I could use a man with a sense of humor, you know?"
"Er...yeah, I think so."
Instead of looking offended, he looked vastly amused.
"I've been accused of having a stick up my ass a time or two, though. Most men lose their sense of humor, when another man is driving their woman home in the middle of the night."
"That might be true, if the same man didn't have his old girlfriend living with him. Isn't that all brick houses and stones?"
Stevie looked puzzled for a moment before saying,
"Ah, I think you mean glass houses and stones. I'll admit that's a little fu...messed up, but there is one thing I can say with absolute certainty...if Sam's with you, then he isn't with her. I'm not just saying that, because, he's my brother either. He just isn't built that way. After Quinn took off, he stayed closed off for a long time. Sam is a stand-up guy. As messed up as it may be, if Quinn is having problems, then he will help her out, regardless of how she screwed him over in the past."
"I had a few stalker lapses but, strangely enough, I do trust him. I even love him most days, stick up his ass and all."
Stevie chuckled.
"Well, there you go. If you can love someone at his worst, then, loving them at their best, is a breeze."
Mercedes turned her head and without any of the jealousy she had felt earlier, she said,
"Marls is a very lucky woman to have you."
Sam stalked around his hotel room, scowling at his silent cell phone.
How long did it take for Mercedes to get home from his brother's house?
In the back of his mind, he knew he was being unreasonable.
Stevie is crazy about Marlene, so there was no one that Mercedes was safer with, than his besotted brother.
It still rankled him, though, that Stevie was with her, while he was miles away in a hotel room...alone.
Shit, like he had a right to be pissed. Hadn't he just gotten off the phone with Quinn?
She had pretty much listed every good time they had ever had together...but the one thing she hadn't touched on, was how horribly things had ended between them.
A part of him would always be tied to her, but since getting some distance between them, he was starting to feel more and more certain, she belonged in his past.
Mercedes was his future. And damn it, he needed to hear her voice.
He looked down at his watch, only to see that she'd had more than enough time to make it home.
He punched in her number and waited, while the phone rang numerous times, before an obviously sleepy Mercedes murmured.
"Hmm?"
"Mercedes?"
"Hmm?"
"Why didn't you call me when you got home? You are home, aren't you?"
After a big yawn, she said,
"Yep. All safe and sound."
He sighed in exasperation.
"I was worried about you."
Her voice still sleepy, she cooed,
"Aww, that's so sweet. I miss you. I wish you were here."
Sam dropped back on his bed, feeling the stress of the evening drain away.
"I miss you, too, baby. Trust me, I'd much rather be with you, than with Puckerman."
He smiled as she giggled.
"You guys aren't spooning, are you?" she asked.
"God, no." Sam shuddered. "He's up in the penthouse suite, probably doing unspeakable things to some woman he picked up in the bar, while I'm down here where the poor people stay."
She giggled again.
"So how's Boston?" she asked.
Sam could tell that she was struggling to stay awake. He'd love to be there curled around her while she slept.
"I'm in Greenville, remember?"
"Oh yeah, that's right. When are you coming home?"
"Probably sometime next week."
"I'm going to miss you," she said.
"Me too, baby. Why don't you get some sleep and I'll call you tomorrow?"
"Mmm, 'kay. I love you," she ended.
The breath hitched in Sam's chest, as Mercedes ended the call.
He wondered for a moment, if he was hearing things that weren't there. No, he knew what she had said.
Surprisingly, he found himself hoping, that she meant the words and that it wasn't just the result of too much alcohol.
There were two women wanting to be a part of his life, but there was only one, from whom he wanted to hear words of love...the woman who had just spoken them to him.
Stay safe!