Page 16 of Theirs to Treasure

“Baby, are you sure you’re okay to work? Maybe you took too much medicine.” He brushed a tendril of hair that seemed to have a will of its own back from her face. She looked up at him, her gaze clearing, and a bright smile came over her face.

“You just took me by surprise, Sam. I’m really fine. I know what I can take and still work. I just can’t run the cash register when I take two pain pills.” Josie stood up, and Sam was relieved to see she was walking much more comfortably as she went to her closet and pulled out black slacks and a white top. “The problem was that I let the pain get ahead of me. Why don’t you come down to Sweet Dreams and I’ll get you a low-fat raspberry scone before you jog back to your house? Your doctors would approve.”

In less than ten minutes, Sam found himself eating his scone, surrounded by eight others who were placing orders and milling around the little bakery. The last time he’d been in the Matushkas’ bakery, it hadn’t been this busy. But, after eating something so good that was healthy, he could understand why Josie’s business was thriving. His girl was quite talented.

After he finished, he started his jog back to the house, and mulled over the weird thought of having Josie convalescing at his and Chance’s home after a surgery. This woman pulled him in like no woman ever had before. He had to be careful, with the considerable baggage he had hanging around his neck, he didn’t want to end up hurting her. At the same time, who said they couldn’t have some fun together?

Chapter 7

By the time Sam saw Josie again at the Saturday afternoon yoga class, he was more than a little frustrated. He had called her three different times to see if he could take her out, and she rebuffed him each time. Granted, she had done it nicely, but still she was actively avoiding him, and Sam wasn’t used to being avoided by a woman that he was pursuing, let alone one that he was really interested in.

He got to the yoga studio early, so he could be waiting for her when she pulled into the parking lot. As soon as he saw her VW Bug pull up, he was at her door opening it for her. He gave her his best smile, but all he received in return was a look of resignation.

“Sam, come on, you can’t mean to continue this farce.” She got out of the car and moved around to her trunk. He grabbed her stuff before she had a chance to get it.

“I don’t know what you’re calling a farce. We still have a conversation to finish, and you’ve been avoiding me.” He opened the door to the studio for her, and she went in. He could see she was trying to figure out a way to avoid him, but he was determined not to allow that to happen. They had an hour and a half together, and he was going to make good use of this time. He decided to change tactics.

“I actually wondered if you could help me out with a problem I’ve been having. You do a lot of the modified positions. I was hoping you could show me some of them, because right now some of the full positions have been leaving me with a headache at the end of class.” Josie turned to him, her face full of concern.

“Have you talked to Julia about this? You should always feel physically tired after a class, but not unwell.” Sam liked the way she rested her hand on his bicep, and stroked down lightly, as if to soothe away his pain.

“I was planning to talk to her, but I figured you would understand maybe a little better. It’s the poses that have my head down toward the floor. Do you have any idea the best way to modify those?”

“Why don’t you and I work out beside one another today, and I can show you.” Sam looked into her beautiful brown eyes and didn’t feel the slightest bit of guilt at finagling the situation. Anything that got her talking to him was worth it in his book.

By the time the class ended, Josie had lost all her tension around him. He was about to suggest they head out for a bite to eat when he realized that she needed to go back to her apartment and put on her brace. He could easily tell from the way her shirt molded to her body as she went through her poses that she hadn’t been wearing it during the yoga class, and the last thing he wanted was for her to end up in pain again. He walked her back to her car and helped her into the driver’s seat. Before he shut the door, he squatted down in the open car door and pulled the seatbelt over her and secured it. Then he took her hand in his and looked at her, making sure that she was really seeing him.

“Josie, I would really like to answer your questions. I want to tell you about my injuries, and have you tell me about yours. I want to really get to know you. Could we do that this evening?”

He watched as her eyes darkened. She ran her hand down her face, ending with the tip of her thumb in her mouth, delicately biting at it as she tried to decide. The eroticism of the act damn near killed him. She finally stopped nibbling and looked up at him.

“Sam, sharing our pasts makes no sense. I don’t know where we’re going, what we’re trying to accomplish. I also have to get up really early in the morning to start baking.” He didn’t like seeing that look of confusion and sadness on her face. He could tell she was just bracing herself for expected pain, and he knew deep in his gut that people before him, starting with her mom, had conditioned her to expect that pain.

“Baby, I’m begging you for just a little bit of trust. I haven’t done anything to betray you, have I? When you’ve talked to people around town, have you heard anything bad about me? You know Chance, right? When he comes back the day after tomorrow, you can ask him about me.” Sam waited to see if that made a difference. He felt her grip on his hand tighten.

“The only people that I really know here in town are Butch and Betty Hutchins,” she whispered softly.

Sam shifted back on his heels, stunned to find out that this woman knew his foster parents. “How do you know Betty and Butch, Baby?”

“They fostered me, when I was four to the age of eight.”

“Down in San Clemente?”

“Yeah.” She nodded slowly. It was clear she was confused about his excitement.

“Did you know Chance back then, too?” Sam didn’t even have to see her nod her head. Everything clicked into place. No wonder she knew of Chance when she had come to their house. He even figured out why Chance had been abstinent for the last six months.

He’d heard Chance and Betty talking about one of Betty’s former foster kids coming to town, but he’d been so deep in his own shit, he hadn’t given it a second thought. Now he realized this was one big Chance Scheme, and that Josie was a woman that Chance had his eye on. Scratch that, Josie was the woman Chance had his eye on. Well to hell with that. Josie was going to belong to Sam.

“I’ve got an idea, Baby. Why don’t you go home and change, and I’ll come pick you up in a half hour, and we’ll go over to Betty and Butch’s. I’m sure they would love it if we dropped by.” Sam watched as Josie’s head jerked up and a smile as bright as sunshine crossed her face.

“You know Betty and Butch that well? That’d be great. Oh, we need to call first.” In a heartbeat, Sam had his phone out and was handing it to her.

She laughed.

“I’ll call them. If we can’t go over, I’ll call you and the whole deal is off. Otherwise, expect me at your house in a half hour, okay?” She nodded and Sam stood up and got ready to shut the door.

“I hope we get to see them. I haven’t gotten to see them much since I arrived in Fate Harbor, and they were the reason I moved. To make matters worse, they weren’t even here the first week I arrived,” she pouted.