something I couldn’t give myself, no matter how hard I’d tried.
Bouncing around inside the rolling jail with the two cops sitting in front of me suddenly yanked me painfully out of my private reverie.
Bars, handcuffs, no escape.
I struggled to keep my feelings for Samantha protected from my grim predicament. I didn’t want my current situation tarnishing my memories of her in any way. After taking a deep, calming breath, I dove back into comforting reminiscence.
I recalled Samantha’s surprise when we’d first locked eyes in Life Drawing class. Watching her struggle not to stare at my package while she’d been drawing me naked was probably the comedy highlight of my year. She’d been ready to boil over with embarrassment.
Despite her nearly perpetual awkwardness, I totally dug her, no matter how off-kilter her mood.
Stalking her at the Eleanor M. Westbrook art museum was probably the calmest I’d seen her. The deserted museum was a quiet and relaxing cocoon, making it easy to let your guard down. I’m sure Samantha was so busy marveling at the paintings, her worries had fallen away. I knew the experience well. I felt it every time I went to a great art museum myself, and slid into the colors and shapes of the paintings, escaping my own inner turmoil for brief moments.
While Samantha had stood mesmerized in front of my grandfather’s painting, Shrouded Paradise, I witnessed her truest beauty come out of hiding for the first time, like some timid field mouse sniffing the air for danger. That crazy beauty was such a fragile, fleeting thing, like a snowflake or a perfect sunset. You could only appreciate it if you stopped yourself and really took it in before it was gone, maybe forever.
I wanted desperately to protect Samantha from whatever haunted her because I knew her insecurity ran deep, just like mine. The only difference between me and her was that I hid it, and she didn’t.
I couldn’t decide if she was the bravest person I’d ever met, or the craziest.
It didn’t matter.
I wanted to wash away her tears and fears so that the amazing young woman I sensed beneath her teenaged anxiety could finally emerge.
I already knew beyond all doubt that I would do anything to help Samantha find her way in life.
The fact I was parked in the back of a squad car because of her, ten hours after we’d met, was living proof.
I sighed heavily again, my heart accelerating while my chest tightened around it. Man, I knew Samantha was going to be trouble for me. Maybe even more trouble than where I was heading in this black-and-white. I grinned to myself. The good news was, this shit was temporary.
I looked forward to finding out how much trouble Samantha could be the second I got out of whatever steaming mess I’d tripped into with the cops.
Because whatever was brewing between me and Samantha felt permanent.
Eternal.
Chapter 1
SAMANTHA
PRESENT DAY
I still couldn’t get over how hot Christos was. His tattooed arms flexed hypnotically and his body gyrated only inches from mine.
“Oh, it’s so wet,” Christos said.
“Can you get it in all the way?” I asked nervously.
“It’s so tight. I don’t know if it’ll fit.”
“Push it in all the way. Go deep.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’ve waited long enough. Just do it.”
“Okay, but I’ll go slow, just in case.” He eased it in. All the way.
“Oooh, yeah,” I purred, “I think that’s going to do it. Just like that. Smooth and easy.” I totally needed this. I’d been waiting for what seemed like my entire life.
“You like it when I do this, don’t you?” he smirked.
“Why wouldn’t I?” I grinned back.
“I don’t know, I thought maybe you were afraid it would ruin things. You want me to go faster?”
“Yes. Do it, Christos. I trust you. As fast as you can.”
His entire body flexed in a choreographed symphony of poetic movement. “Like this?”
“Oh yes, Christos. Just like that. Harder.”
Things were so wet down there, it made a sucking sound as it went in and out, in and out.
“Here it comes!” he grunted. “It’s gonna pop!”
“Faster! Harder! Keep it in deep or it’ll gush everywhere!”
“Now!”
“Yes, that’s it! Flush it!”
I pressed the lever while Christos gave the rubber plunger a final thrust into the toilet bowl. The water swirled and gurgled. “We did it!” I squealed.
He high-fived me as my toilet bowl finally drained.
“What’ve you been throwing in that thing?” he asked skeptically. “Paper towels? It’s not a garbage disposal.”
“I don’t know, regular stuff?”
“Regular stuff doesn’t clog the pipes.”
I wiped sweat from my brow. This conversation was making me feel guilty of some sort of heinous pooping problem. I needed to steer the heat onto a likely target. “Maybe my neighbor’s pet elephant has been sneaking into my bathroom in the middle of the night and is clogging up my pipes with its elephant dumps?”
“I’ll totally buy that if you can convince me how the elephant gets past your bedroom door without you noticing.”
“It tiptoes?”
Christos lifted a doubtful eyebrow.
“Elephants are very light on their feet. It probably wears ballet slippers, which are perfect for sneaking around.”
Christos’ eyebrow ratcheted up another notch.
“Have you ever
Christos’ other eyebrow joined its twin.
“I swear! It wasn’t me! It flushed fine before I went to D.C.!”
Christos smiled broadly, finally letting me off the hook.
“Jerk!” I tiptoed and kissed him on the cheek. “Anyway, thank you for helping.”
“My pleasure.” Wrapping an arm around my shoulder, he kissed me affectionately on the cheek. “While I’m at it, do you have any toilet bowl cleaner?”
“What for?” I asked.
“May as well give the bowl a quick once-over while I’m already in here.”
I grabbed a bottle of toilet bowl cleaner from under the sink. He squirted a blue ring under the rim and went to work.
“Christos, why is it I get all turned on when I see you scrubbing things?”
“All women have an elbow-grease fetish.” He cocked his head and flashed his now-legendary dimpled grin. “It’s a proven fact.” Christos put the bowl brush away and washed his hands. After toweling them dry, he leaned toward me, wrapping his arms around my waist. “Now that I’ve got you all worked up…” he said suggestively.
“Christos,” I rolled my eyes demurely, “Romeo and Kamiko are going to be here any minute. We don’t have
