Thank you for your patience, continued interest and support and especially for your kind concern. I appreciate it more than I could say.
I do not own Glee or the characters and I honestly do not own Checkmate.
Sam smiled to himself. It shouldn't please him so much that Mercedes liked his gift. But it did.
He sighed, remembering how he actually happened upon said gift... Which all began with a pressing matter to do deal with...
When Noah called him a few hours ago to let him know that the insanely expensive coffee shop that they had been renovating last month was arguing over the bill...again, and that they were now refusing to pay, he decided to go down there and handle the matter himself.
Normally...well, in the past year at least, he'd been leaving this kind of job up to Noah, but this particular manager was trying to bullshit her way out of paying. And it was causing too much drama.
And by the time he arrived, Tammy, the manager and all around pain the ass, was in Noah's face bitching him out.
But when she caught sight of him, her whole attitude turned from flat out bitch to flirty.
Right at that moment Noah decided to split. And once he'd made his escape, Tammy invited Sam into her office where she suggested that the two of them talk this little misunderstanding over... at her house.
He politely declined, but that didn't seem to make her happy so she became more blatant about it...
She offered to make him breakfast in bed.
When he declined this offer she flat offered him a little 'relief' in the office.
She was a beautiful woman and any other guy would've probably fallen at her feet and done anything and everything she asked, but he wasn't interested.
Not in the least.
It didn't take the manager long to figure out that Mercedes was the reason why Sam wasn't interested in her.
But just to drive home the point... he told her.
The thing is, Mercedes was the main reason, but he would also never accept a quick lay to drop the price of a bill.
Still... she kept trying...
Still... Sam didn't budge. He didn't play games and Tammy quickly learned that.
Sam's jaw clenched and his eyes turned to a cold hard green as he listened to the manager's last offer...which was to get him off in exchange for a huge price drop.
After he flat out refused and asked her to have some dignity, she went back to being a bitch.
She tried to argue her way out of their contracted price and when he wouldn't budge, she flat out cried.
It annoyed the hell out of him and made him wonder why more women weren't like Mercedes. She wouldn't have cried or tried to play him to get out of the bill.
If she didn't think it was right she would've argued it and backed it up with proof. And if that didn't work, she would've tried reason, but not Tammy. She tried to use every damn ploy that she could think up to get him to drop the price by five grand, but he wasn't about to give in.
He didn't work for free and neither did his men. He offered more than fair prices to his customers and didn't lie to jack up the price.
The woman knew the price going in and had agreed that it was more than fair when she'd signed the contract. In fact, if she hadn't added a new office for herself and asked for a carport built at the back of the building to keep her car protected from the elements, the price would've been fifteen grand cheaper.
After a half hour of her bullshit, Sam finally had enough and told her to deal with his lawyer as he headed for the door.
Apparently, those were the magical words, because twenty minutes later he had a check for almost the full amount.
It turned out that she'd spent some of the money set aside for renovations on new equipment for the coffee shop.
When he spotted the large box with fancy writing in the corner of her office with the magical words Hot chocolate printed beneath the picture of the product, he decided to take pity on the woman and do a little bartering.
After a few minutes he was out a thousand bucks, but had a professional brewing machine and cabinet for Mercedes.
His plan was to give it to her in front of the trailer and make a big show of it, so that her brothers could see how well he takes care of her.
He was hoping this little stunt would soften them up towards him, but at the last minute he changed his mind.
He had five months to butter her brothers up to come work for him, so there really was no rush.
While Mercedes' assistant pouted and glared at him, Sam brought in her new cabinet and cocoa maker and did a little redecorating.
And Noah arrived a short while later with every cocoa product known to man.
Unfortunately, ten minutes later, Sam had to haul his ass out to the site to deal with the truck driver that was contracted to move and replace the dumpsters.
The man was refusing to have all the dumpsters replaced today. He was giving some bullshit story about construction materials being a problem and overtime issues.
It took almost an hour to get the man to remove the dumpsters and replace them.
The workers would've been screwed if he hadn't dumped them. They only had half of the first and second floor torn out and they desperately needed to be able to finish ripping the roof off, so they really needed those empty dumpsters.
As soon as he was done dealing with that issue, Sam went back to the trailer, anxious to see Mercedes' expression when she saw his gift.
He missed her initial reaction, but the way she settled back against him and sighed contently in his arms, more than made up for it.
And when she laid her arms over his, he was glad that he'd saved this moment for just the two of them.
He wasn't going to stress over a missed opportunity with her brothers, not when she felt so damn good in his arms.
"What does it do?" she asked in a reverent whisper that had him smiling.
"The machine?" he asked, ducking his head to kiss her jaw.
"Mmhmm," she said as she absently tilted her head to the side in silent demand for more...which he was more than happy to give her.
He placed another kiss against her jaw before he slowly ran his lips up to her ear and dropped a kiss just below it.
"It makes hot chocolate even creamier."
"Are you sure?" she asked, sounding hopeful.
"Very sure," he said, pressing a kiss to her neck.
"And this is for me?" she asked slowly, cautiously.
"Mmhmm," he replied, pressing another kiss against her neck. "It's for you."
Dear God, he was loving the way she felt in his arms. He could happily hold her for the rest of his life and never grow tired of it.
"Why?" Mercedes whispered, tilting her head back and to the side so that she could look up at Sam as he answered.
"Why what?" he murmured distractedly as he leaned down and brushed his lips against hers, unable to help himself.
"Why did you get that for me?" she asked quietly, following his lips as he started to make a slow retreat. But once he felt her lips touch his, he stopped moving back and simply enjoyed the way her lips teased his.
"I can take it back if you don't like it," he toyed, his lips twitching against hers when she let out a cute little growl.
"Lay one finger on it and they'll never find your body," she swore against his lips and even though she sighed softly in pleasure, he knew that she meant it.
"Does that mean that you don't want me to show you how to use it?" he asked, leaning in for another kiss when he suddenly found his arms empty.
When he spotted her standing in front of the machine, gesturing impatiently for him to get on with it, he couldn't help but chuckle.
'How could such a powerful, sexy woman be so damn cute?' he wondered as he dutifully walked over to get the little addict her next fix, pausing only long enough to place a quick kiss against her lips which earned a gagging sound from her assistant.
Sam reacted...
"Ow!" Jason whined when the small canister of Belgian cocoa powder bounced off his head.
Mercedes didn't seem to notice. The woman was too focused on her cocoa machine, barely able to stop herself from fidgeting as she ran her greedy little eyes over the machine.
Since she seemed too distracted at the moment to pay her assistant any attention, Sam decided to give her a hand.
Sam couldn't help but shake his head as he started the machine, pausing only long enough to steal another kiss from Mercedes.
As she returned the kiss, he wondered if she was even aware of how quickly they'd settled into this level of intimacy.
Kissing her felt like the most natural thing in the world to do and he wondered if it was the same for her.
"Cocoa," she murmured against his lips, making him chuckle.
After leaving one last kiss against her lips, he gave into the addict's demands and showed her how to use the machine. He didn't miss the way her assistant watched his every move and shot him murderous glares each and every time he touched her.
It wasn't too hard to figure out that the man was in love with her.
Not that he could blame him. He didn't. But that didn't mean that he was going to step back and let the man have a shot at her...
Oh hell no, that shit wasn't happening.
Even though he wasn't really dating Mercedes, he was not about to give some prick who'd already proven that he couldn't protect her a chance to hurt her.
It wasn't happening! And the sooner the man realized that, the better.
"Is it done yet?" Mercedes asked, shifting from foot to foot, trying to keep herself from reaching out and snatching up the large tan coffee cup as the flow of hot cocoa slowed down to a drip.
Sam reached out and picked up the cup, afraid that she'd burn herself, and gestured towards her office.
"You can attack it in there while we go over some paperwork," he said, smiling when she pouted.
When she reached out for it, almost as if she couldn't help herself, he raised the cup higher and moved to step around her.
But Mercedes being Mercedes, tried to reach up and take it away from him. However, he simply shook his head, sighed, raised it higher and moved past her.
He didn't even bother to look back to make sure that she was following him, he knew that she wasn't about to let the cocoa out of her sight.
As Sam stepped around Mercedes' desk he placed her mug of cocoa down and sat in her chair.
His ass had barely touched the chair when she began climbing onto his lap.
She positioned herself sideways, picked up her mug of cocoa and took a slow sip even as she settled against him.
As he put his arm around her and gently cupped her hip, he couldn't help but wonder if she even realized how comfortable she was around him.
Considering their history, the woman should be a nervous wreck whenever he was within a fifty foot radius of her. Then again, Mercedes Jones has never reacted the way he expected her to.
He smiled, then leaned in and softly kissed her neck, chuckling when she let out a little moan of pleasure.
"That good, huh?" he asked, keeping his hand on her hip as he leaned forward, careful not to disturb her, reached for and opened the manila folder that Mc Mann had sent over earlier.
She only took another sip, sighed and nodded.
When Mercedes settled herself more comfortably on his lap and threw her injured arm around his shoulders so that she could turn slightly and look over the files with him, Sam had to force his mind away from how good it felt to have her here like this with him.
Granted, she was only doing this because he was blackmailing her, but that was just a minor detail and he chose to ignore it.
"Did you see this before?" she asked, pausing mid-sip to nod in the direction of the file.
"No, I didn't get a chance to look at it yet," he said, pulling the file to the edge of the desk so that they could both get a better look. But when he saw Mc Mann's new request he forced himself to go back and read it again, sure that he was mistaken.
"Are you fucking kidding me?"
"He wants us to rearrange the entire wine cellar again and..." Mercedes started.
"Turn the subbasement room that you fell down, into another storage room for wine," Sam finished for her, letting out a frustrated breath as he sat back in his chair.
"That's going to make things a little more difficult," Mercedes grumbled, taking another long sip of her cocoa.
"Just a little," Sam said, dryly, mentally calculating the time and cost this addition had just added to the project. The materials would be covered by Mc Mann but this new request could kill this project.
"We're going to have to go overboard on the overtime just to meet the deadline," Mercedes said, worrying her bottom lip as she placed her empty mug on the desk.
Sam could only nod his head in agreement.
With all the other things that needed to be done in under five months that was an understatement. Even with all the men their companies employed, they were already going to have to bust their asses to make that deadline.
However, he's already figured out the amount of overtime that his company could afford on a weekly basis that would allow them to finish this project and not suffer a huge loss.
But with this added little project they'd be lucky to break even.
They'd get paid more, that wasn't the problem. The problem was labor. That was if they managed to make the deadline.
If they missed the deadline...
Hell, he didn't even want to think about that. They've both invested in this project. Not only would they lose the bonus, but they'd also lose their reputations.
The only thing that would save his company's ass would be his plan to steal the Jones brothers. And even though he'd planned on running Mercedes out of business, he didn't want to do it this way.
If this project bankrupted her, she'd lose everything... including her house and he wasn't about to let that happen.
She'd probably hate him for the rest of her life once this project was over and her brothers left her to come work for him, but that didn't mean that he wanted her out of his life completely.
Christ, he didn't even want to think about going a day without seeing her. He still planned on having her come work for him, but it wouldn't be the same if it was because she'd lost everything.
There would also be no guarantee that she would come work for him or even stay in town if that happened.
That meant that he was going to have to figure out a way to finish this project so that they didn't end up losing everything they had. And unfortunately for Mercedes, he knew exactly how to do it.
She was going to argue it, but in the end she would see that this was the only way.
"We're not going to make the deadline with this new addition," he explained slowly, trying to figure out the best way to break the news to her.
"If you have any suggestions, I'm all ears," she said with a sigh as she removed her arm from around his neck, picked up the file and stood up.
He almost stopped her, but decided that space would probably be for the best right now.
He waited a minute before he decided to just get it over with...
"Mercedes?"
"Hmm?" she said, absently, never taking her eyes away from the file as she paced the length of the office.
"We're going to have to postpone building your suites," he explained, knowing that was the only way that they were going to cut back on overtime and supplies and be able to meet the deadline with the new project.
She paused mid-stride to shoot him a frown.
"What are you talking about?"
"Your suites, Mercy. They're going to have to wait until after we finish this project," he said, once again getting to his feet. "We can't spare the men or equipment right now. But once we get the manor done, we'll complete the suites," he explained, knowing that it was going to cause a problem, but not really caring.
They needed to finish this project and he knew that she would be understandably upset, but she'd pull it together and they'd focus on the manor.
Once that was done they'd turn their attention to her project.
He hated doing this to her, but there really was no other way.
"Let me get this straight," she said, tossing the file on the desk. "You want me to wait until after all the renovations are done to build my suites?"
"It's the only way that we're going to get this project done," he explained, again.
She met his gaze head on as she said,
"No, it's not."
And so, Sam knew he was in for a big argument.
Hey all, as I said on another update I want to thank you for your concern and your comforting words. This has been a rough time but I'll get through it. Everyone does, only at different stages. Anyway, I appreciate you all and I hope this update finds you and yours happy and in great health. Much love to you.
Stay safe!