Dazzled by Silver by Lacey Silks

little.
    “Opportunity. My mother’s in a nursing home battling Alzheimer’s. She’s part of a NYU Disease Center study. My father died from a shark attack when I was five. I never stepped in the ocean again. My mother saved the insurance money to cover her treatment, but it ran out fast. My job pays just enough for me to help her and pay some bills.”
    I had no one else. With my father’s early death my mother never remarried. As a single child I learned how to be on my own too quickly.
    “I’m sorry.”
    I yawned, my eyelids feeling heavier. “It’s life. Nothing I can do about it except move forward. What about you?”
    “There’s not much to tell.”
    “I doubt that, Mr. Silver.”
    “I’m fortunate to have a career I love.” He shrugged.
    I didn’t press for more. Anything more tonight would feel too intrusive, too close for a no strings attached deal.
    The next time I opened my eyes, the sun was rising.
    Gabe had kept his word. He had stayed with me until dawn, and now it was all over. I was grateful my one night stand with Gabriel Silver had been extended but for how long? I wished I could escape with him to the other side of the world. Little did I know, my wish was about to come true.
     

C HAPTER 8
     
    After breakfast, Gabe dropped me off at my house.
    In less than eight hours, I was to be dressed and ready for dinner. Unfortunately, my bedroom looked like a tornado had rampaged through it. I tried on every dress and shirt and skirt combination possible, but nothing seemed to match. My hands rifled the drawers as I threw blouse after blouse over my chaise. A dress or two landed on the lamp shade. It was just a damn dinner and yet I was as nervous as I had been when Kevin asked me to go to the prom: an event we’d never attended.
    This is not a date, Sam. Get a grip on yourself.
    I’ve already had beautiful sex with a very giving man who offered exactly what I was looking for. A no strings attached relationship which I chose to call friendship . Gabe was an awesome friend whom I trusted, and who understood me. Was this why my heart was beating like I’d won the lottery?
    I left the chaos in my apartment and went for a run. The morning sky was almost clear. A few sun rays streaked through where white clouds littered the heavens. I pushed myself hard, jogging along the path in the park. Nothing else would matter as soon as my legs ached, sweat dripped and lungs burned. I ran even faster when I reached the final mile before the path’s end.
    Near the park’s exit, exactly where I was heading, a man blocked the way. He stood with his hands in his pocket. Not a relaxed kind of stance, but determined. I swooshed to the left, and he stepped to the same side. I turned to the right, slowing down, and he blocked my way again, forcing me to halt my run.
    “Can I help you?” I asked, feeling buckets of sweat pour down my back. My chest heaved and I bopped up and down, jogging in place, cooling my heart rate.
    The man smelled of a day-old cigar mixed with a stronger stench of underarm sweat than mine. His tie was off center, and it didn’t match his outfit at all. The bushy eyebrows obviously had never been plucked.
    I frowned seeing the stubble on his face. Nothing turned me off more than an unshaven man. There was something untruthful and dirty about the little bristles.
    “Samantha Connor?” he asked in a thick Spanish accent.
    I stopped my jogging in place. “Yes, and you are?”
    “Smith, John Smith. I’m a friend of Kendra’s.”
    Although we didn’t hang around the same crowd, something told me Kendra wouldn’t consider him a friend. Instinctively, I stepped back
    He moved forward.
    “Kendra invested some money in a business venture,” he said.
    “Kendra’s business should be discussed with her. I don’t understand why you’re telling me this.” My mind went into overdrive. This man was creepy and starting to give me the heebie-jeebies. He knew my name but there was no way Kendra