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Chapter 18
Apressure on his chest woke Sam with a start. He opened his eyes and found himself staring into the unblinking green eyes of a hefty calico cat who, whiskers quivering, was apparently inspecting the big, strange creature taking up more than half of her mistress’s bed. Sam suspected he’d probably usurped the cat’s usual sleeping spot.
“Hey,” he greeted.
Jojo pawed at his chest and let out a little mewl. Sam glanced beside him, where Brooke was nestled underneath four layers of bedding and surrounded by half a dozen pillows. Her hair spilled in all directions, and there was a mark on her smooth, bare shoulder from his overzealous attention.
Since he’d already woken her last night, he forced aside the urge to touch her again. He plucked the cat off his chest and went to retrieve his T-shirt and track pants from the living room. Jojo meowed, more stridently this time.
“What?” Sam returned to the bedroom and studied the cat. She meowed again.
In the event that Jojo began caterwauling and woke Brooke, Sam hefted the cat off the bed and carried her out of the room. He closed the door behind them and set Jojo down in the hallway. The cat darted into the kitchen and began stalking around two purple ceramic dishes on the floor.
Ah. Message received.
He rummaged in the cupboards and refilled the cat’s food and water. He couldn’t find any coffee, so he scribbled a note and put it beside Brooke’s pillows. He took her keys from the table by the door and headed out to a nearby café.
As he waited for the order, his phone buzzed. A text from his agent popped up:
The main investor was Fred Pierson, Omnibus Corp. Daughter Candace Pierson.
His spine tensed. He typedCandace Piersoninto a search engine. Sure enough, images of the polished blonde appeared. In many of the photos, a blond guy was at her side—blinding white smile, curly hair, movie-star features.
Sam cleared the browser history and stuck his phone back into his pocket. Though he wasn’t surprised by the confirmation, it fueled his anger all over again.
An anger that was shocking the hell out of him.
Any decent human being would be upset knowing that good-hearted Brooke with her loving family, blanket forts, and plucky attitude had gotten taken by a dickhead opportunist. No one liked to see the bad guy win.
But Sam couldn’t stop thinking about the fact that, in this case, the bad guy winning meant that Brooke lost. She’d picked herself up and gotten on with it because that was what she did, but she shouldn’t have to fight so hard. She shouldn’t have to rely on her shitty ex to open a door for her.
He picked up his order and returned to the apartment. The water was running in the bathroom. Jojo slinked around his legs as he set the muffins on a plate and put it on the table with the coffee tray.
“Morning.” Brooke’s voice slid over his skin.
Sam turned. The breath rushed out of his lungs. He’d seen her disheveled and sleepy before, but now…with her hair a tumbled mess, her eyes heavy-lidded with satisfaction, her lips still reddened from his kisses…the sight of her hit him like a bolt of concentrated sunlight.
He almost went weak in the knees.
Crossing the room, he grabbed her hips and pulled her hard against him. She widened her eyes the instant before he kissed her. He intended for it to be a warm, “good morning” kiss, but the instant he touched her soft lips, his control snapped like a twig.
He tightened his grip on her hips, urged her mouth open, devoured her with hot, greedy possession. A murmur escaped her throat. Backing her up against the wall, he caged her in with his arms and kissed her thoroughly. Her strawberry scent filled his head. She curled her fingers into his shirt.
He couldn’t get enough of her. He didn’t want there ever to beenough. She was his golden ticket, and he was the kid running as fast as he could into the chocolate factory with its endless treats and prizes.
A loudmeowbroke his intense fervor. He lifted his head, his breathing hard, and stared into Brooke’s dazed brown eyes.
“Oh my.” She darted her tongue out to lick her lips. “I’m going back to sleep.”
“Back to sleep?”
“So I can wake up and get anothergood morninglike that.” She patted his chest and gave him a smile filled with both warmth and desire.
Sam huffed out a laugh and straightened her robe, which had started to slip from her shoulders. “Next time, I’ll try to be more polite. No promises, though.”
“No need for politeness when it comes to good-morning kisses.” She stood on tiptoe to kiss him when Jojo yelped again. Brooke glanced past his shoulder to the kitchen. “Oh, she needs her viewing spot. Excuse me.”
She slipped away from him and hurried into the living room to open the blinds. Sunlight streamed into the room. Swishing her tail, Jojo jumped on the windowsill and peered out on to the world like a queen surveying her domain.
