The Weakness in Me (9 page)

“You employ brilliant people, Sammy.
You need to trust that they aren’t going to run your business into the ground over the next month,” Jason smiled. The only sign that she’d heard him was the slight falter in her fingers flying across her keyboard.

“I do trust them,” she said, flatly, not looking up from the screen, “but they still need guidance and supervision.”

“They’ve successfully manned the day to day for nearly five months now, you haven’t lost a single client. In fact, haven’t you signed two more?” Jason pointed out.

“And?
You don’t think I had a hand in that, too?” he watched her quirk her eyebrow in challenge, but still not even glimpsing in his direction.

“Of course you did, because you are a workaholic, but you’ve trained your staff well and need to concentrate on healing as opposed to stressing yourself out daily,” Jason said, pouring Corigan’s lukewarm lunch into a
bowl and moving to the island to grab a tiny spoon, frustrated that she wasn’t playing along with the conversation.

“If I didn’t, you know I’d be stressing out hourly,” Sammy said,
still not
lifting her eyes from that damn screen. This was going to prove more difficult than he thought! In the past, challenging Sammy like he was would have had her in his face already, fussing and fuming. Not that he wanted her to be angry with him, but he wanted her to outwardly show
some
emotion!

“What do I have to do to get you off of that computer for the afternoon?”
he finally asked point blank, sick of beating around the bush about what he was trying to do.

“I’ll be off as soon as I’m finished sorting through this contract.”

“What if I said I was naked?” he lifted an eyebrow in suggestion, changing the direction of the game he was trying to play with her.

“You aren’t,” she said, flatly.

“How do you know, you haven’t looked up?” he put Corigan’s lunch in front of her just in time for her to dig her spoon into the small bowl.

“You just brought my daughter up from her nap for lunch; I’d hope you weren’t naked.
I don’t need to look up to verify that I know you aren’t stupid,” she muttered.

“Fine, I’m not naked…yet!” he screamed and ran for her bedroom door, toward her en suite
, stripping off his button down shirt on the way and leaving it on the floor.

“What are you doing?!” she screeched and he knew her control was teetering on the edge.
Hearing her chair scrape along the kitchen tile, he knew he’d finally incited her to take
some
action. Her anger from the phone call should have
pushed her to the brink, and he hoped this interaction would get her to snap so she could let go of all the emotion she was trying to hold on to and
finally
let go!

“I’ve decided I need some quality time with your spa tub,” he yelled,
before walking to the faucet and turning on the hot water. “Five…four…three...two-,” Jason whispered to the empty bathroom.

“You wouldn’t!” she said, coming to a stop in the doorway, seeing him sitting,
still in his undershirt and jeans, on the edge of the tub, smirking in satisfaction. The wild look in her eyes and the grin that slipped as she took in his appearance told him all he needed to know about whether or not the old Sammy was still somewhere inside of her. It,
definitely
, was.

“I win,” he announced before turning off the water and moving back toward the kitchen to check on Corrigan’s progress.
Seeing that she was covered in marinara sauce, he recognized he’d made a mistake allowing her to dine in her clothes. “What am I going to do with you?” He shook his head at her, when she smiled up at him before shoveling another spoon full of the circular pasta into her mouth.

“What did you win?” Sammy asked, materializing behind him again
, holding his shirt out to him, but not moving back toward the computer. He frowned, slightly, as he collected his shirt from her. He could see that her mask of indifference was already sliding back into place, and he knew he only had precious minutes before the wall was up again and he had to start from square one.

“I wondered if I could get you away from the laptop, and I did.
Secondarily, I wondered if I could get you to break some of that intense control you have over your emotions and everything around you. I won that, too.”

“I didn’t lose control,” she
stated, matter-of-fact, but blinking in what had to be shock that he’d called her out. Everyone had been treating her with kid gloves these last four and a half months, thinking she would break, while she retreated further away from everyone. He was done with that, she needed to be coaxed back from the brink.

“
Are you kidding?! The minute you ran to see if I was naked in your bathroom, I knew I had you! I saw that smile on your face when you got to me,” he shot her his most dazzling smile. “You were disappointed I was still dressed,” Jason concluded with a wink.

“No,
” she protested, “I was laughing at the thought of you trying to find your way through my bath oils and exfoliation scrubs. It was a very funny image, but you shattered it by sitting there so calmly,” she shook her head in mock disappointment. “I can’t believe you let me call your bluff. That’s not the Jason I used to know,” she folded her arms across her chest and leaned against the kitchen island in what Jason could only assume was a challenge. He almost jumped for joy at the life sparkling behind her eyes at their interaction.

Restraining himself from an inopportune fist pump, he grabbed a sponge from the sink and started walking toward Corigan again.
“You’re right, I would’ve been completely naked in that bath tub, looking for the lilac body scrub you used to have,
if
I didn’t think I would’ve been thrown out on my ass for my presumption,” Jason answered, picking up the now empty bowl from the high chair and handing it to Sammy so he could wipe away some of the mess on the tray.

“Oh my!
You are a messy little girl, aren’t you?” Sammy laughed, looking down at her daughter. “It’s a good thing I’m done with my email for the afternoon, you need a bath!” she crossed to put the bowl in the sink, before coming back to her daughter and Jason. “Shall I draw you one, too, Jason?” she bumped his shoulder with hers and raised her eyebrow at him.

H
e didn’t miss the slight blush that settled on her cheeks at the suggestion, even though she turned her face from him quickly after the comment. After wiping her hands and face, Sammy stripped Corigan down to her diaper in the high chair before letting Jason carry her toward the bathroom. Sammy trailed behind and deposited the soiled clothes in the laundry room on the way.

“What do you want to do for dinner tonight?” she asked as she turned on the water in Corigan’s bathroom.
Excited to see her with more life in her than he’d seen since he found her in the car, he wanted to do anything he could to keep her in this moment. He stifled a sigh at the bliss he was feeling at his success before answering.

“I’ve got to head home for an hour or so to pick up a few things and help my neighbor install his new sound system.
I can pick something up on the way back?” he offered, hoping his slight absence wouldn’t derail all the progress he’d made today.

“Nah, we’ve had enough take out lately.
I can cook,” she said, setting Corigan into the tub and wetting her brown curls. She smiled at him, softly, seemingly getting lost in their connection, before shaking her head slightly, and returning to her task. If he didn’t know any better, he would’ve thought they’d just shared a moment.

“Are you sure you are up for that?”
he passed her the baby shampoo, delighting in her suggestion.

“Yeah, I’m headed back to work in a few weeks anyway.
I need to get back into some semblance of a normal routine, right?” she rinsed the suds out of Corigan’s hair, trying to play off her suggestion as no big deal.

“I guess,” he
shrugged, passing her a wash cloth and suppressing the urge to do a happy dance at her words. He wondered how long it would take her to figure out how easy their domestic interaction had become over the last couple of months as he watched her pull Corigan out of the bath and dry her. Passing the baby to him, she walked out of the bathroom to grab fresh clothes for Jason to change her in to after she was diapered. They seemed to be flowing in a flawlessly executed choreography that neither of them questioned. Her use of the word ‘normal’ without blanching or sneering signified a major breakthrough in his eyes and he hoped that he could continue to help her meet these milestones of picking up the pieces.

**

“Ugh!” she heard Jason groan from behind her as she stepped toward her cabinets and away from the stovetop. Turning back again, she saw him looking down at the dish of chicken casserole she’d just pulled from the oven.

“What?” she asked, as she went back to retrieving plates from the cupboards beside her sink.

“You said you’d cook tonight, but you failed to mention that you haven’t actually learned how in the last five years,” he teased, scooping a portion on to the plate she’d handed him.

“I can cook,” she pouted, grabb
ing the broccoli from the microwave.

“No, you know how to use a can opener and a microwave—”

“And speed dial for take out!” she reminded, handing him a fork from the drawer in the kitchen island and ignoring the jolt of electricity that shot through her as their fingers touched at the exchange.

“Yup, you are a regular five-star chef!” he laughed.

“You can always eat somewhere else,” she offered, teasingly, trying to remind herself that nearly five months without being touched was the only reason she’d felt anything from the incidental contact.

“And miss my recommended daily allowance of sodium and canned chicken? Never!” he said as he spooned broccoli onto his plate.
She could see the glimmer of something in his eyes that she recognized, but wasn’t ready to call attention to.

“Says the man who gives my daughter canned pasta for lunch,” she brushed her bangs out of her face and narrowed her eyes at him in question, before starting to make a bowl of food for Corigan.

“It was on Sara’s list when we planned the first shopping trip,” he defended, before pausing and turning back to her. “Wait! How did you get the ingredients for casserole? I don’t remember picking them up at the store?” he eyed his plate, suspiciously.

“Sara went for us last week, when you had that medical refresher,” she explained.
“You used to love my chicken casserole!” she reminded, following him to the kitchen table with hers and Corigan’s dinner. After clearing her hands of the plates, she found Jason behind her, holding her glass of wine she was about to return to the counter to grab. “Thank you,” she said, taking the glass from him and sitting beside Corigan’s high chair. Her daughter was already scooping giant bites into her mouth with a toothy grin.

“W
eellll,” Jason started, pushing his broccoli around the plate and avoiding eye contact.

“You lied?” she asked, looking at him, sharply.

“No, we were, well…” he took a deep breath.

“We were what?
What could possibly give you a reason to claim to like something when you don’t?” she growled, hating that she’d found another instance where she might not be able to trust him, after all.

“We were sleeping with each other then,” he confessed. “I would’ve loved cold dog food if that was all you could cook. Good sex with the woman you love can make just about everything taste better,” he mumbled into his plate, making Samantha pause in shock at the boldness of his words. Lifting his eyes to hers, all she could see were memories of what they’d once had and a look of longing that seemed to pulse in the air. Giving her a sad smile, he broke the moment they’d shared at his honesty. “Never mind, we shouldn’t be talking about this… Thank you for dinner,” he sighed, digging in to his food.

“Oh,” was the only coherent words that could form in Samantha’s head in response.
She knew she had to look dumbfounded at his confession, but she knew he was telling her the truth and her previous anger was silly and unnecessary. “You’re welcome,” she said, before focusing on the plate in front of her.

Suddenly, she wasn’t that hungry,
as visions of her reaction to their brief contact swum in her head, mixing with his revelations about their past sex life. Pushing her food around the plate and taking small bites, she tried to push down her growing apprehension over the direction the conversation took. Their growing comfort with each other had led them to mention their past more than usual, lately. After spending a small amount of time deep in thought, she decided the best thing for
everyone
was to chalk it up to being lonely. Telling herself this behavior was
not
a resurrection of long dead romantic feelings for Jason, she was finally able to finish her dinner. She just hoped that he didn’t notice that his honest confession had sent her into a small tailspin.