Chapter Fourteen

Samantha woke before dawn, stirring gently before she realized she was still entwined in Richie's arms. He was sleeping peacefully, breathing softly in her ear. She watched him sleep, the soft beams from the sleepy moon gently illuminating his face, and she smiled. She slipped quietly from his arms and into her robe, which was hanging on the back of the door. Their clothes were still scattered all over the floor, trailing to the living room. Samantha’s stomach flipped as she remembered the night before, and the passion that had emerged from deep within her, as if buried long ago and hidden since.

She made her way to the kitchen and heated a pot of coffee in the moonlight. When it was ready, she pulled a chair from the table over to the window and sat down, gazing out at the twinkling stars and moon.

Richie had been so sweet to her through the night, she thought, kind and gentle and alert to her every desire and need. She had never met a man quite like him, and had certainly never been treated the way he treated her - whether in daily life or an intimate setting. But of course, he always was that way with everything they did together. He always made her his top priority, his priceless treasure to be cared for, and that was entirely new to Samantha.

Shane was never as tender and loving as Richie was…ever. He was kind, sure, and romantic and charming, but he was sly and always slightly cocky. He assumed Samantha wanted him as much as he wanted her, and Samantha, blinded by youth and hormones, as was everyone her age, happily obliged to his advances. She enjoyed being desired and feeling sexy, but the fact was that making love to Shane was never as meaningful and special as the past night with Richie was, even after she and Shane were married. Samantha furrowed her brow at this realization, wondering what it meant.

Was she actually falling in love with Richie? She had pondered the depth of her feelings over the last few weeks, but she hadn’t actually considered being in love until now. Love was such a strong word for her – a deep, meaningful, and quite frankly, frightening concept since what had happened ten years ago. The very idea made her feel vulnerable. Being in love meant exposing your deepest innermost self, offering your most private possession – your heart – to another in the dangerous hope of having the feeling and offering reciprocated. And if it wasn’t, your heart would shatter and ache, causing you to retreat back within yourself and lick your wounds, pained and blinded by illusion. It was a terrible, demoralizing feeling, and Samantha refused to experience it again.

She hadn’t known Richie long enough to be truly in love with him, she reasoned with herself. She just felt strongly for him – very strongly, she admitted – and she couldn’t deny that these last few months had been extremely special…but she wasn’t in love.

Right?

___________________________________

“What do you think – the black or the tan?” James held up two different dress shirts and looked at Samantha.

“Black,” Samantha said, hardly paying attention. She was flipping through sweaters on a rack, a dreamy expression on her face. It was just before noon, and she and James were at a department store on 5th picking out an outfit for him to wear to Katie’s parents’ 50th anniversary dinner celebration that night. James had called Sam at nine o’clock, much to her chagrin, and begged her to help him. Men, she thought. Why do they always leave everything until the last minute? Richie had awakened by then, agreed to wait for her at her place, and Samantha could not wait to get back home.

James blinked at her. “Okay, then which color pants? Red or yellow?”

“Mmm, yellow,” she answered, continuing to flip through the sweaters absent-mindedly.

“And which one of these man-thongs should I get? The leopard print or zebra striped?”

“Whichever you…man thong?!” Samantha snapped to attention and stared at her brother.

“Finally. I wondered how embarrassing of an outfit I’d have to assemble before you noticed.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, James, I just…my mind’s on something else today,” she apologized. James gasped in feigned surprise.

“Really? I hadn’t noticed.”

Samantha smiled sheepishly. “Get the black top, white trousers, and white tie. And don’t ever put the image of you in a man-thong in my mind again.”

James paid for the clothes and they left the store. Samantha started down the sidewalk in search of a cab, but James steered her into a nearby pub, “It’s lunchtime, and I’m buying because I dragged you out of bed at an ungodly hour on a Saturday. So sit with your brother and eat.”

Samantha sighed and batted him away. “Thanks, James, but I really need to get home…”

“Why? Have a date?”

Samantha blushed. “Well, sort of. Richie’s waiting for me.”

James stopped and looked at her. One corner of his mouth turned up in a playful smile and he raised an eyebrow. “Oh, really? Well, then, Sammy, we absolutely need to have lunch because you have got to fill in your brother on all the juicy gossip he’s been missing.”

Samantha exhaled sharply. “And why would we do this while he’s waiting for me?”

“Because he may be your new boy toy, but I am your brother, and therefore I am more important by default.”

Samantha rolled her eyes and suppressed a smile. “James…”

“Just real quick, Sam. He can think we’re still shopping.”
Samantha reluctantly gave in, and they found a table in the corner of the pub.

“So he spent the night.” James said it as a fact, and Samantha didn’t bother denying it.

“Yes, he spent the night.”

“And does Mom know?”

“Why would she? And I’d like to keep it that way for a while. She already thought we got together when I stayed the night at Jon’s place. It’s none of her business anyway. It’s none of yours either, as a matter of fact!” she laughed.

“But I’m your brother. Everything you do, say, and think is my business.”

“It’s a good thing I like you, or we so would not be having this conversation.”

“So is he good?”

Samantha started. “James!”

Her brother shrugged. “I’m just asking. He’s a rock star; he’s supposed to be good. If he sucks, you can totally ruin his reputation.”

“I have no intention of ruining his reputation, thank you.”

James’ eyes widened. “So he’s bad?”

Samantha blushed. “No! He’s…will you stop it?”

James laughed. “All right, all right. Are you okay though? I mean, you wanted this to happen?”

“Yeah…I did.”

James watched her carefully. “Good. You’re good for each other.”

Samantha raised an eyebrow. “What makes you say that? You’ve never met him.”
“I know, but it’s obvious how happy he makes you. And you – well, face it, Sam, you’re good for anybody.”

Samantha smiled, and then remembered her conversation with their mother earlier that week. “Not for Shane,” she murmured quietly.

James’s face hardened. If Samantha was hurt and angry by Shane’s actions at the end, James was livid. He hated the man, and brotherly instinct flared to full force every time the subject was brought up.

“Yeah, well that bastard can go to hell, and you know that. Don’t you dare let him make you feel inadequate.”

“I know…”

“Richie’s twice the man Shane could ever hope to be. Besides, what he did to you will come back and bite him in the ass.”

“I know, I know, it just hurt. It doesn’t usually get to me, but whether I like it or not, he bruised my ego. Majorly.”

“I know he did, and that’s why I hate him.”

Samantha looked at her brother and felt a surge of love. She didn’t know what she’d do without him – he was so involved, so dependable, so protective – and she took it for granted most of the time. It was times like these that made her realize how lucky she was.

They each ordered a salad and finished quickly. James made the excuse that he had to start getting ready for the dinner, but Samantha knew he was just being nice so she could get home to Richie. And she appreciated it.

She jumped in the nearest cab outside and got home around 1:00. Richie was sitting on the couch watching television; the dogs sprawled out next to him. He turned as she came in, and Samantha felt her stomach jump when she noticed he was wearing nothing but a pair of boxer shorts, his flat stomach and strong chest moving gently up and down as he breathed. His brown hair was tousled, but she thought it looked just right atop his handsome face and liquid brown eyes. He smiled, and she suddenly wanted to rip the shorts right off him again.

“Hi baby,” he said, getting up slowly. She inhaled sharply as his muscles rippled, and she found herself staring as he made his way over to her. “Did you have fun?”

“You bet I did,” she purred, wrapping her arms around him. He laughed and whispered in her ear, “I meant did you have fun shopping with your brother this morning.”

Samantha smiled. “Well sure, shopping for dress clothes for a guy is always buckets of excitement. Makes last night seem tame.”

Richie raised an eyebrow. “Tame, huh? I guess I’ll have to change things up next time.”

Samantha’s stomach jumped again, and she led Richie over to the couch. “What are you watching?”

Richie shrugged. “I don’t even know – I was just channel surfing.”

“I’m sorry I took so long with James – I tried to get away but he needed my help.”

Richie put his arm around her. “I know, baby, don’t worry about it. I went back to sleep after you left – caught up on some much-needed rest.” He winked.

“Good – I could use some rest myself,” Samantha smirked. She glanced at the TV screen and absent-mindedly watched a commercial for detergent. Out of the corner of her eye she admired Richie’s profile and features.

God, this man is going to kill me, she thought. He looked so damn sexy sitting there next to her with his damn tanned skin and damn toned muscles and damn beautiful eyes. And those damn boxer shorts made his legs look so damn good…

Samantha fought the urge to attack him. So she kissed him instead. As the kiss became longer and more passionate, and Richie slid his hands down her legs and then leaned forward, and Samantha leaned backward, and Richie pinned her to the couch, and Samantha suddenly felt his weight on her, she gave up and attacked him. And he attacked her right back.

__________________________

“Holy SHIT!” Alex screamed so loud into the phone that Samantha nearly dropped it.

“Jesus, Alex, keep it down.”

It was Monday afternoon and Samantha was supposed to be working. Instead, she was twirling her pen at her desk, her thoughts on Richie and his bare abs. Giving up all hope on concentrating on editing articles, she had called Alex, whom she hadn’t talked to in what seemed forever. They caught up in about twenty minutes, and the latest update on Samantha’s life had Alex in a frenzy.

“How the hell am I supposed to keep it down when my best friend is sleeping with Richie Sambora? Oh my GOD!” she was insanely excited, and Samantha almost regretted telling her.

“Well, you need to keep it down or I’m going to be on the cover of People next week and cameramen are going to start stalking my apartment.”

Alex laughed. “All right, I’ll shut up. But damn, woman, you’re one lucky bitch.”

Samantha smiled. “So anyway, the main reason I called was to find out if you want to get together sometime this week? I have a light week at the office and – ”

“Will Richie be there?” Alex asked slyly.

“No…I thought we could use some one-on-one time. Don’t you want to see me?” Samantha feigned offense.

“Of course I do, sweetie! But you can’t blame me for wanting to see Richie again – remember, you may have him all to yourself now, but I’m still the lowly lovesick fan we both used to be.”

Samantha could just picture the wink in her friend’s eye.

“What about Jon? I thought he was your favorite?”

“Yeah, well, Richie’s batting second right now.”

Samantha laughed. “I’ll bring him along next time. For now, I need me some girl time.” She reached for her Starbucks frappuccino from lunch and sipped while Alex rambled on.

“I’m always up for girl time. Why don’t we hit up 5th and spend the afternoon doing serious damage to the plastic? My credit card’s getting a little lonely, anyway.”

“Sounds good to me – how about Thursday?” Samantha glanced at her calendar.

“Thursday it is,” Alex agreed.

They finished up quickly and hung up just as there was a knock at Samantha’s door. Scribbling down her date with Alex on the calendar, she called out that it was open.

Charlie burst in, carrying a monstrous stack of papers. He handed her the top one, a page printed off some website, and smiled. “New story,” he explained. “Nancy just gave it to me and asked if I’d run it by you. She has an interview in five minutes.”

Samantha picked up the paper and read the headline: ‘New Jersey contractor to partner with Habitat For Humanity’. She looked up.

Charlie smiled, “Isn’t that the charity organization your new boyfriend works with?”

Samantha was surprised. “How do you know who my boyfriend is?”

Charlie snorted and rolled his eyes. “Samantha, everybody here knows you’re dating the Bon Jovi guitarist. You can’t keep a secret like that in a magazine office.” He winked. “What do you think of the story?”

Samantha blinked at him, still taken aback that “everybody” knew of her relationship. "Uh..." she read the headline again. “What exactly do you want to cover?”

“The article says the contractor is partnering with Habitat and building new homes throughout the entire tri-state area. I thought we could do a story on the project with a focus on the families that’ll be moving in. People love reading about charity and philanthropy. We could even interview the celebrity sponsors – they shouldn’t be too hard to get a hold of,” Charlie chuckled at his own joke.

Samantha managed a small smile. “All right, that does sound like a good idea. We could do an introductory spread in the next issue perhaps. I’ll work on it. Thanks, Charlie.”

“No problem, boss. It’s what I’m here for.” He backed out of the office, still balancing the mountain of papers, and headed off to finish office errands.

Samantha watched him leave, wondering how everyone had found out about Richie. She had never mentioned him to anyone there…she hadn’t even mentioned that she was dating. Except for that one time she ran into Marge, she remembered. But how had they figured out it was Richie?

Shaking her head, she figured they would have found out soon enough anyway, and there was no point in trying to keep her relationship totally private. She was dating a rather famous musical icon, after all.

To focus on something else, she looked over the article brief and saw that Charlie had pretty much summed it up: the famous charity organization was launching a project of 100 homes in the lower income neighborhoods of the tri-state area, and some big contractor from New Jersey had just signed a deal with them for the construction. Sam was mildly interested – Jon and Richie worked with Habitat extensively, after all, and she was an advocate for charity herself – but wondered if Dream could get a good enough story out of it. She supposed if they really did focus on the families and the philanthropic aspect of it all rather than the fact that a local contractor had the business, they’d get a good response. But this article was all about the legalities, and therefore the contractor was the primary subject.

Samantha continued skimming absent-mindedly, nursing her frappuccino, until two words near the beginning of the article caught her eye and made her choke. She stared in horror at the small black print: to anyone else, the words simply comprised a name, but they made Samantha's stomach turn over.

'Shane Michaels' was the name of the contractor.