Catching Sam: Book 2 of 5: The MacDonald Brothers by Emily Matthews (best mystery novels of all time TXT) 📗

Well, that was assuming Sam left. She still didn’t know where things stood with them, but she’d just keep taking each day as it came. The fact that he was coming over later was what got her through the day.

She’d completely lost track of time. When the doorbell chimed at exactly six, it startled her. Jumping up from the sea of boxes and bubble wrap, she jogged to the door.

She opened it and froze. He was so handsome. His short, dirty blond hair was slightly wind-blown, but he was still perfectly put together. He pulled off his sunglasses, and sea-green eyes met hers.

She licked her lips. The food he held smelled good, but that wasn’t what she wanted to gobble up.

“Hope you like your Mexican food authentic,” he said as he held up bags covered in Spanish words. “I was close enough to the border I figured I might as well get the real thing.”

His smile was her undoing. She all but jumped into his arms and kissed him hard. He returned the kiss with fervor and wrapped his free arm around her awkwardly, trying to hug her without dropping the bags of food.

She finally pulled back, a massive smile on her face.

“Guess you really like Mexican food,” he said with a chuckle. She laughed and took one of the bags from him.

“You seriously went to Mexico for dinner?” she asked as she motioned for him to follow her inside. “You’re nuts. You know that, right? I do like Mexican food, but the kiss was mainly because you looked so good standing there. Sorry if that was too forward.”

“You won’t hear me complaining,” he said. “You can kiss me anytime you want.” He put his bag of food on the counter, and she did the same with hers. He closed the gap and pulled her into his arms. “Now I can do this properly.”

He bent to kiss her, and she melted into him. All the shit she’d been dealing with fell away. Finding out she was still married. Wayne getting out of prison and his intention to find her. Trying to get her house put together. She put it all in the back of her mind and leaned into Sam.

Sam pushed her up against the counter and planted soft kisses down her neck. A moan escaped her lips. Then she caught a whiff of the food, and her stomach let out a long, loud growl.

Sam backed off and laughed. “Perhaps we should eat?”

“Yeah, I suppose. I just realized I haven’t eaten since lunch, and this smells heavenly.” She gave him one last kiss and dove into the bags. As they ate, she told him all about her new online shopping addiction, going on and on about how easy and convenient it was.

“Did you know you can purchase just about anything and have it dropped at your door within a matter of days? Sometimes just one day!”

“I knew all women liked shopping,” he mused, and she laughed.

“Speaking of shopping, I’m taking Beckie, and maybe her mom, if she feels up to it, shopping for the fundraiser tomorrow. Sam, seriously, what you did for her was so incredible. I didn’t mention this before, but she couldn’t stop crying when I told her about the promotion. She is so grateful. And so am I. I almost didn’t tell you about all her problems, but I’m glad I did.”

“Why wouldn’t you say something?”

“We hardly knew each other, and I didn’t know how you’d react. You walk in as I’m trying to steal someone’s assistant. You could have been a total asshole about it. Thank you for taking the time to let me explain.”

“No problem. Look, while we’re on the subject of the fundraiser. There’s something I need to tell you.”

His tone instantly put her on edge. “Okaaay.”

“Phil has been after me to sign up for this ultra-wealthy dating website. Since I couldn’t tell him about us, I told him to go ahead and sign me up, thinking I could just get out of whatever he tried to set me up with.”

“He got you a date for the fundraiser.” It wasn’t a question.

“Yes, but, Annie—”

“Don’t worry about it,” she interrupted. “It’s not like it was going to be a date for us anyway.”

“I wish it could be. Why don’t I cancel this Internet date and you and I go together? Maybe it’s time to go public.”

“I’m not sure that’s a good idea, Sam. Why don’t we wait a little longer?” She couldn’t tell him that now was the worst possible time to be seen together. “There’s still a lot about me you should know before you make that decision.”

“Like what?” He turned to face her.

“Like stuff I’m not quite ready to share.”

The look on his face said he was hurt, but she couldn’t tell him until she felt more secure about their relationship. “Yet,” she assured him. “I just need a little more time.”

“Take all the time you need,” he said as he pulled her into a hug.

“Thank you. Hey, wanna see all the stuff I got?” She quickly put the leftovers away and then proceeded to show him all the great deals she’d scored. While she was explaining how much she’d saved on each item, the clothes dryer buzzed.

“You have laundry going too? Geez, girl. You need to rest.”

“I only washed the sheets because I want a soft, clean place to land tonight. Wanna help me make the bed?” she asked over her shoulder as she headed to the laundry room.

“Of course,” he said, then lowered his voice. “I wanna land on a soft place tonight.”

“I heard that,” she yelled, opening the dryer door and pulling out the warm sheets.

“Shit.” He laughed. “Do you have bionic hearing or something?”

“What?” she said, pretending not to hear that. She walked past him with an armload of ivory-colored sheets. “Follow me,” she ordered.

“Yes, ma’am,” he said, pulling himself off the couch and up the stairs behind her.

“This is