Double Dare by Rhonda Nelson Page A

job.
    Sam could see his dream of marriage and
family, his hard-earned success, being smashed beneath James
Honeycutt’s Gucci loafer-shod heel.
    Obviously Lou’s private talk with her sire
hadn’t worked. She’d have to try again—and this time he’d be there
to witness the exchange.
     
***
     
    Sam was late.
    Lou struggled to keep her panic under
control, but she couldn’t—not really. Had she gone too far with
that last kiss last night? Had he been more upset than she’d
realized? He could have pushed her away, he could have stepped back
and asked her to stop.
    But he hadn’t.
    Oh, no. He’d responded like a match to dry
timber. His hot mouth had melded with hers instantly. Lou’s knees
weakened at the mere thought of his kiss, his talented lips and
tongue.
    No, she decided. She couldn’t have misread
him. Still, Lou thought, he’d told her that it couldn’t happen
again. And instead of simply letting him come around to the idea on
his own, she’d grabbed him like a sex-starved maniac—which she
was—and hauled him to her with all the finesse of a hormonally
charged adolescent.
    Given her new seize-the-day attitude, it had
seemed to be the best way. Now uncertainty plagued her.
    What if he’d decided that guiding her
adventure had been more trouble than it was worth? That her
additional compensation didn’t justify her spirited advances? What
if Sam had taken off last night and simply left her a note at the
front desk?
    Lou’s heart stumbled in her chest and her
stomach roiled at the thought. He couldn’t do that now. She needed
him. She’d only started this adventure and she desperately needed
his guidance to complete it.
    Lou knew she’d attached entirely too much
importance on Sam’s participation, but she couldn’t seem to help
herself. The idea that he’d left, that he wouldn’t help her finish
what they’d started, resulted in an unreasonably profound sense of
loss. A revelation lurked in that thought, but she was too
overwrought to deal with it right now.
    Biting her lip, Lou paced back and forth in
front of the beds, then crossed to the door and peered out the
peephole.
    No Sam.
    Damn. What was wrong? Another thought
occurred to Lou, sending a bolt of fear straight to her heart.
Could something have happened to him? Had he fallen in the shower?
Dear heaven, could he be over there now in need of help?
    The thought had no sooner formed when Lou
bolted from her room and next door to his.
    “ She pounded on the door.
“Sam. Sam?” she called. Another wave of fear washed over her. “Sam?
Can you hear me?”
    “ I’d have to be deaf not to
hear you and I’m sure everyone on this floor and those above and
below us can as well. What’s wrong?”
    Lou whirled to face him. “I-I thought maybe
you’d left.”
    Sam gave her an odd look. “I did. I went to
the grocery store.” He frowned suddenly. “Speaking of which—”
    “ You mean you’re still going
to go through with my adventure?” Lou hated the vulnerable tone of
her voice, but she desperately needed to hear him say that he
wouldn’t desert her. That he’d see her adventure through to the
end.
    Sam studied her expression for a moment—a
very long moment. She felt his gaze trace her face, graze her lips
and return to her worried eyes.
    He sighed heavily. “I’m going through with
it,” he said at last. “But I shouldn’t. Come on, let’s go in my
room.”
    Lou released a pent-up breath and followed
him inside. His room was remarkably clean, much more tidy than
hers. His suitcases were packed and waiting by the door.
Fudgy-Nutty boxes and wrappers filled the wastebasket, making Lou
smile in spite of her recent worry.
    “ We have to
talk.”
    Again? Funny, but Lou had always been under
the impression that men hated “talking” more than anything.
Apparently not Sam.
    Lou braced herself for the no-more-kissing
speech. “Okay,” she said, smoothing her dampened palms over her
linen shorts.
    His expression grim, Sam