Thank you for your constant reviews, your continued interest and your kind support. I appreciate it.
I do not own Glee or the characters, neither do I own Serving The Billionaire.
This is the last chapter in this book but the story continues...
The next chapter will be under the title The Billionaire's Embrace also written by Bec Linder.
MERCEDES
Life after Sam was very quiet...
Without really meaning to, I began dividing my internal chronology into two eras... Before Sam and After Sam.
It was a terrible idea, because it constantly reminded me of him and of what I'd given up. But by the time I realized what I was doing, it was too late.
Before Sam, I'd been a quiet, hard-working nobody...a silent mouse of a person...grinding through week after week and year after year of a dull, meaningless existence.
But I hadn't known it. And it was just the way things were.
After Sam, I knew it...
And it became hard to get up in the afternoon and go to work, with nothing to look forward to except years of loneliness and drudgery.
Maybe that was a little dramatic.
I felt dramatic, though.
I felt like the heroine in a romantic tragedy, so much so, I wanted to put on a long white dress and amble across rain-drenched moors.
Eventually, I would catch a fever and waste elegantly away before I finally expired, in a heart-rending scene near the end of the novel...
Joss was probably right... I read too many books.
I spent Thanksgiving with Joss and her boyfriend, clustered around the table in her tiny apartment. And all the while I wondered what Sam was doing.
He was probably at his mother's penthouse on the Upper East Side, eating a turducken and drinking expensive wine and laughing...
He had only mentioned his mother to me once, but his affection for her had been obvious.
I hoped he was happy, though.
I wasn't, and couldn't imagine that I ever would be again.
I missed him all the time...
And work was no escape... I kept thinking I would turn around and see him there, looking at me from across the room, lifting his chin as a signal to let me know he wanted a drink.
I even thought I saw him once, from behind, but then the guy turned and it wasn't him at all, just someone else wearing a suit.
I really missed him...
Two weeks after Sam came to my apartment, I arrived at work just before four and stashed my things behind the bar, just as always.
I greeted the other waitresses and the few dancers who were loitering around, just as always. And then Brittany came out of her office and said,
"Mercedes, a word."
I followed her in, feeling numb.
Being summoned to her office always filled me with nameless dread; I would probably never stop being convinced that she was about to fire me...
But this time, instead of handing me my last paycheck, she said,
"There's a gentleman in room four who would like to speak with you."
My heart leaped into my throat...
It had to be Sam. There was no one else it could be.
Still, I asked,
"Can you tell me who it is?"
She raised her eyebrows at me...
"I think you should go see for yourself."
With my heart pounding and my palms sweating, I left Brittany's office and crossed the club to room four.
As I approached, I wasn't sure what I was more afraid of... That it was Sam, or that it wasn't.
The door was closed, so I pushed it open without knocking.
The man inside turned...
Then he turned towards me, and it was Sam... His blonde hair, his green eyes, his handsome face looking at me from across the room.
"Mercedes," he said, and my knees turned to jelly beneath me...
I quickly took a seat on the nearest sofa because I didn't trust my legs to hold me up.
Seeing Sam again was like having a hot fire lit in my belly. And I didn't know why I'd ever told him to stay away.
That wasn't true...
I knew exactly why. But all of my reasons seemed unimportant now.
"I'm sorry to corner you like this at work," he said, before I could say anything. "You told me that nobody has ever told me no, and maybe that's true. I like getting my way. But I'm not willing to let you go without a fight."
"Oh," I said.
I went blank...
Numb...
"It's true that we don't know each other very well," he said. "But you've had some sort of pull on me ever since the first time I saw you. And I know you feel it too." He spoke quickly, like he had rehearsed his words. "If you really don't want to have anything to do with me, just say the word, and I'll walk out that door and never speak to you again. But... I'd really like to take you out for dinner tomorrow night."
"To dinner," I said. "Like a date?"
He smiled then, and I knew what my answer would be.
The last two weeks had been horrible and I never wanted to be away from him again.
"Like a date," he agreed. "We can just... talk. And get to know each other. Maybe eat some good food while we're at it. What do you say?"
I closed my eyes, feeling joy rise up within me. Irresistible joy. It was like that moment on a diving board right before you leap.
"Yes," I said.
"Yes what," Sam said.
"Yes, I will go on a date with you," I replied. And I opened my eyes and smiled at him.
"Christ!" he said, and crossed the room in two strides... He sunk onto the sofa beside me and gathered me against him, wrapping his arms around me and kissing my hair. "Mercedes..."
I clung to him, overwhelmed, burying my face against his chest. He smelled so familiar... And I didn't know how I had survived without him.
"I wish you would quit this job and let me take care of you, but I won't ask you to do that," he said, his cheek pressed against my hair. "I know you value your independence, and you've worked hard to get to where you are. And I don't want to take that away from you."
"Okay," I said.
Then I turned my face up towards him, and he kissed me on the corner of my mouth, warm and deliberate.
Next, he kissed my cheek and the corner of my eye, and then my mouth...gently at first...soft, tender kisses that quickly became more heated.
Finally, he slid one hand into my hair and tugged my head back, holding me in place as he claimed my mouth with his own...
I had missed this... I needed this... I needed him.
Sam's hands slid down my body, skimming over my breasts and waist, to curl around my hips, drawing me close.
I felt my body responding to him as it always did... eagerly...a sweet, yielding warmth spreading through me.
It would be so easy to give in, to let him push me down onto the sofa and unbutton my blouse, shove my skirt up around my waist...
Reluctantly, I pushed him away.
"I have to work," I said.
He exhaled and drew one hand through his hair.
"Right. That." He grinned at me, a quick flash of white teeth. "I forgot."
"I figured," I said. Then I leaned in and kissed him quickly, because I could do that now.
I belonged to him...
We belonged to each other...
I stood up and straightened my skirt.
"Tomorrow night," I said. "I can meet you somewhere, or..."
"I'll come pick you up," he said. "If that's okay with you."
He was being so careful not to do anything wrong.
"That would be great," I said.
If someone had walked into the room at that point, they would've seen us smiling foolishly at each other, frozen there, me standing and him sitting on the sofa, both of our faces full of joy, unable to look away from each other.
I couldn't remember ever being so happy...
And maybe things wouldn't work out; maybe we would realize that we just didn't have enough in common, or maybe he chewed with his mouth open, or had really terrible political beliefs, or talked during movies...
Maybe we would date for a while and then go our separate ways. I didn't think that would happen, but there was always that chance.
But even so, even if we didn't spend our lives together, this was still my fairy tale ending.
Sam was worth the risk.
I bent down and kissed him again, unable to help myself.
"Tomorrow night," I repeated.
"Tomorrow," he said.
As I left the room, I turned in the doorway to see him watching me, his eyes dark and full of promises that I knew he would keep.
Feeling bold, I blew him a kiss.
Then I went out into the club as buoyant as a helium balloon. I would work and go home. And tomorrow...
Tomorrow...
I'd always thought I wasn't a lucky person, that I was born under a bad star. But the way that Sam looked at me, like I was the only thing he wanted to see, I thought that maybe I had been wrong.
I was lucky...
I was luckier than I had any right to be.
And I couldn't wait to find out what happened next.
Pleasant reminder: The next chapter will be under the title: The Billionaire's Embrace.
A very Happy Birthday/Happy Belated Birthday to all who've had birthdays or whose birthday is coming up.
Please bear with me guys as I'm not sure when the next chapter will be out. Two of my boys are a bit under the weather and the third fell and hurt his foot.
Stay safe!