Heart & Soul: The Meeting (Heartland Series) (5 page)

The newly added second level was in darkness and
she couldn’t help but wonder what was concealed behind the chrome railings and smoky
glass that ran along the entire length of the second floor.

Compared to the daytime, the atmosphere was
decidedly sexier in the evening and Sam had been drawn to the place almost from
her first night in Toronto.
 
 
The main floor was dominated by a huge dance
floor.
 
At the moment, it was empty, but
she knew all that would change as the evening progressed.

It was still early so Sam wasn’t surprised to see that
there weren’t many people there.
 
She saw
a few people hanging around, sipping drinks as they chatted, guessing they were
enjoying a drink or two after a busy day in the office.
 
The smart business suits and ties gave away
the working professional every time.

Making her away towards the bar, she turned when
she heard a high pitched whistle and a loud male voice calling her name.

“Sammie girl, you’re on fire!”

Grinning at his words, Sam took a few steps in the
direction she’d just come from and engulfed Dominic in a tight hug.
 
It had been a few weeks since she’d seen him
and she hadn’t realised how much she had missed him. Normally they spoke
everyday and saw each other three or four times a week, but, with his new
promotion at work, he’d been in California working on an ad campaign for a new
sporting range.
 
He’d arrived back in
Toronto two days ago and this was the first chance they’d had to get together.

Pulling back when his grip loosened, she took in
his appearance.
 
Like the place they were
in, he’d gone for understated elegance in dark blue jeans and a black, button
down shirt.
 
His dirty blond hair was
swept back of his face and his bright, green eyes twinkled as he looked at her.
 
Considering they were not related, they
had the same deep, green eyes.
 
She
looked more like Dominic than she did her own brother.

Dominic would be a great catch for any woman, but
to her, he was her best friend and they’d never even come close to crossing
that line. That would be to,
ewwwww
.

Sam laughed as Dominic took her hand and lifted it
up, using his free hand to make a circle with his index finger.
 
Taking his hint, she spun round slowly and
swayed her hips, giving him a full 360 of her outfit.
 
The little black dress she wore stopped
several inches above her knees and the slinky fabric clung to her curves in all
the right places.
 
As she’d hoped,
pinning her hair up whilst in the shower had worked and she now wore it loose,
the natural curls cascading down her back like a waterfall.
 
She kept it minimal with the make-up, just
mascara and a clear lip gloss. She knew the look worked for her and she’d long
ago learned how to make the most of what her mother had given her.

“Girl, you look hot!”
 
Dominic said as he fanned his face. “If I
didn’t think of you as a little sister, I’d be on that in seconds.”

Sam couldn’t help but laugh at her friend’s words,
knowing that he felt the same way she did.
 
Their relationship was a lot of things, but sexual wasn’t one of
them.
 
Dominic was as close to her as her
real brother, she couldn’t imagine him being in her life as anything other than
a friend.

“Why thank you Dominic, you’re looking pretty
edible yourself.”
 
Sam laughed again as
Dominic gave a little bow before linking his arm with hers and practically
dragging her towards the bar.
 
“Now, what
are you drinking tonight?
Wine?
Cocktails?
Shots?
All of the above?”

She pondered his question for a few moments,
taking in the rows of spirits that lined the bar.
 
She had never been a heavy drinker, the proof
of that came flooding back as she remembered the glass of wine she’d had earlier
in the day.
 
Sighing deeply, images of
Alistair swamped her mind yet again as she recalled how good it had felt to
have his arm around her waist.
 
If that
was what a brief encounter with him could do, she could only imagine what full
on body contact would do to her.
 
She’d
probably go up in flames.

Jumping slightly when a hand waved in front of her
face, Sam turned to see Dominic looking at her, a questioning look on his face.

“Where did you go just then?” he asked her as the
barman waited to take their drinks order.

Sam ordered a glass of Chardonnay as Dominic went
for a Vodka over ice.
 
Turning back to
her friend, she leant against the bar and smiled.
 
She hadn’t mentioned anything about Alistair
to Dominic, but she knew he was going to be crazy excited when she did.
 
Dominic was a guy who was in touch with his
feminine side.
 
Whilst he loved a good
shoot
em
up as much as the next guy, every now and
then he’d watch a romantic comedy.
 
She
knew he’d seen many, probably all of Alistair’s movies, most of them with her, so
once she told him about their earlier meeting, she had no doubt that he’d give
her the third degree.

When the bartender placed their drinks in front of
them, Dominic handed over the cash and they walked over to one of the many empty
tables and sat.
 
Sam adjusted the hem of
her dress as she crossed her legs and she could sense Dominic watching her,
knowing he had picked up on her distracted state.
 
She’d been the one to ask him out for drinks
and here she was fantasising about another guy.
 

“Spill it baby girl.
 
What’s up, and don’t even try and tell me
nothing.
 
I know you remember, what’s
running through that pretty head of yours?”

Sam looked across him as he sat waiting, his hand
under his chin as he watched her.
 
The
look on his face was both concerned and curious and she broke, a smile
spreading across her face.
 
Taking a sip
of her wine, Sam launched into the story of her day.

~ 4 ~

After reading the same line for what had to be the
hundredth time, Alistair gave up and tossed the script he’d been reading on the
couch next to him.
 
No matter how much he
tried, he couldn’t get Samantha out of his mind.
 

All attempts to purge her image from his brain had
failed, and he’d made a hell of a lot of attempts, from going to the gym right
up to cleaning the suite.
 
Cleaning!
He never cleaned.
 
Not that he couldn’t do it, he’d had plenty
of practice before he’d hit the big time, but he’d tried everything else and he
had hoped something as mundane as cleaning would do the trick.
 
He’d been wrong.
 
If anything, the boring pastime had only
served to strengthen his minds insistence that Samantha take up permanent
residency in his thoughts.

It hadn’t helped that the script he’d been reading
was for a movie that everyone had been raving about for what seemed like
forever.
 
A handsome billionaire and a naive
virgin embark on a relationship centred on BDSM.
 
His previous agent had tried to tell him it
was a tortured love story, but from what he’d read so far, he was struggling to
see it.
 
Although, he had to admit, it
was an intriguing role, one that would either catapult him further into the
stratosphere or land him back in the unemployment line.
 

As he’d read through the more erotic parts of the
script, all he’d been able to do was visualise him and Samantha in the leading
roles.
  
Whilst being dominant in the
bedroom did nothing for him, thoughts of doing some of the things described on
those pages, with Samantha as his willing submissive, hadn’t helped him one
iota.
 
If anything, they’d made the
situation even worse. Now, he had the problem of having not finished the script
but having a rather impressive erection to show for his efforts.

Alistair knew that he wouldn’t get anywhere with
the script tonight.
 
He needed to do
something to try and distract him from the redhead who didn’t seem to want to
leave his imagination anytime soon.
 
Adjusting his pants into a more comfortable position, although not
by much, he jumped up from the couch.
 
Grabbing his cell, he hit the redial button and waited for the call to
be answered.

“Christopher,
it’s
Alistair.”

“Hey buddy, you need that info real soon huh?”

“Yes, but I’m not calling about that.
 
That club you’re a member of?”

“You mean the one Downtown?”

“Yeah that’s the one. Do you think you can get me
in?”

“I may need to pull a few strings, but sure.
 
When you wanna go?”

“Tonight.”

Alistair sighed as his friend laughed.
 
With the tension he felt throughout his body,
his patience had already been pushed to the limit.
 
Biting his tongue so he wouldn’t snap down
the phone, he waited.

“Tough day bud?”

“You could say that.” Alistair replied as he
rubbed his hand over his lightly
stubbled
jaw.

“Are you looking for anything in particular?”

“Nothing specific, just something to...” Alistair
paused as he glanced down at the prominent bulge straining against the zipper
of his pants. “...distract me.”

When his friend laughed down the phone again,
Alistair considered hanging up, but soon realised that, whilst taking care of
his physical problem wouldn’t be an issue, removing the images of Samantha
would be a bit harder to resolve.
 
He
needed something to replace them, if only for a short time.

“Alrighty.
 
I’ll sort it.”

“Great. I’ll meet you in the lobby in an hour.”

Ending the call, Alistair sighed deeply and headed
in the direction of the bedroom.
 
Stripping out of his clothes, he threw open his closet.
 
Scanning his attire, he selected a pair of
charcoal dress pants and a white button down shirt.

He had no idea what to expect from the evening
that was ahead of him, all he hoped was that it provided him with a little
relief from the chaos that Samantha had caused in such a short space of time.

oOo

“Alistair, my man.”
 

Turning when he heard his name, Alistair grinned
at the guy who strode across the hotel lobby towards him.
 
At six feet six, Christopher was a few inches
taller than he was and several inches wider.
 
Tonight, he wore all black, which made his large frame look even more
intimidating.

He attracted attention wherever he went, partly
due to his size and partly due to the too long shaggy blond hair, deep brown
eyes and finely honed physique that made the woman drop at his feet.
  
He’d known him for more than twenty years
and he couldn’t remember a day when the man didn’t have women drooling all over
him.
 
Most guys found him menacing but all
women seemed to find him irresistible.
 
He’d even heard some describe his as a big teddy bear, something that
was the complete opposite to the man he knew.

Back in school, whenever the two of them went out,
they were an unstoppable force when it came to the ladies.
 
They were polar opposites when it came to
looks.
 
He was dark with a toned, lean
physique whilst Christopher was fair and more muscular.
 
No other guy got a look in as the women
flocked in their direction.
 
Even now, as he walked towards him, several heads turned,
alternating between him and his friend.

When Chris reached him, he pulled him into a
hug.
 
As they clapped their hands on the
other’s back, Alistair was almost deafened by his friends booming
laughter.
 
If they weren’t already
attracting attention by simply being there, they definitely were now.

“Good to see you Chris.” Alistair said as he pried
his friends arms from round his back. “How’ve you been?”

“Ah, you know, just rolling with the punches.
 
I’ve got a car outside.
 
You ready?”

Alistair grinned at his friend.
 
Always efficient.
 
He guessed that came from the intense military
training that he’d gone through since joining up at eighteen.
 
He’d been out of the service for the last two
years due to a near fatal injury caused by an IED on his last deployment in Afghanistan.
 
With his experience, he’d found work almost
immediately, joining a private security firm.
 
Christopher was not only one of his best friends, he was also part of
his security detail and went everywhere with him when he wasn’t at home.

Gesturing for him to lead the way, Alistair
followed behind, nodding his thanks to the doorman as they stepped out onto the
sidewalk.
 
Glancing at his friend,
Alistair could see him scanning the area.
 
Even though he wasn’t working tonight, he never let his guard down.
 
He knew exactly what he was looking for and,
apart from the people pointing and whispering in his direction, something which
he had grown accustomed to, everything seemed above board.

For the first time, Alistair noticed the “car” that
was waiting for them, although he wasn’t sure whether calling it a car did it
justice.
 
The huge black hummer was one
hell of a vehicle. It was almost as wide as it was tall.
 
The combined weight of the four massive
wheels was probably double his body weight and he swore that the darkly tinted
windows were at least an inch thick.
 
It
looked like Christopher had gotten them their very own tank.

“Um, Chris, you do realise we’re only going Downtown,
not into a warzone right?” he asked lightly, causing another booming laugh to
escape his friend.

“Yeah right.
 
Have you looked in a mirror lately bud?
 
With the amount of women that try and get a
piece of you, it soon turns into a warzone.
 
They’d happily scratch each other’s eyes out just to get within a few
feet of you.
 
Personally, I have no idea
why.”

Alistair shook his head as his friend threw him a
beaming smile.
 
Climbing into the
monstrosity of a vehicle, Chris joined him a few moments later.
 
Pushing the keys into the ignition, he turned
to him.

“Wagons role!”
 
Chris exclaimed as he pulled out into traffic,
making Alistair begin to wonder whether a night with his thoughts might have
been the safer option.

oOo

Four glasses of wine down and Sam was starting to
feel the effects of the alcohol that her so called friend had poured into her
system.
 
Whilst she’d told Dominic about
her meeting with Alistair, she hadn’t gone into detail about the profound effect
he’d had on her.
 
Dominic had taken it
upon himself to loosen her tongue by plying her with more alcohol in one night
than she usually drank in a whole month.
 

Dominic had gotten his way and in her alcohol
induced state, Sam had spilled everything about what had happened that day,
right down to the meeting and how he’d made her feel.
 
She’d even told him about how she’d used her
vibrator to relieve the ache between her thighs before she’d left her apartment
that evening.
 
Dominic had collapsed into
fits of laughter when he’d heard about that, but he’d sympathised with her,
even admitting if he’d been in her shoes, he’d have probably done the exact
same thing.

Dominic had never hidden that he was bisexual, but
he didn’t advertise the fact either.
 
He’d had both male and female lovers since she’d known him, sometimes
both at the same time.
 
She wasn’t a
prude, far from it, but a small part of her, granted it was a very small part,
still had trouble getting to grips with being with more than one person at the
same time.

As she waited for Dominic to return, she looked
around and saw that the club had filled up pretty quickly.
 
Most of the tables were now occupied, as were
the booths on the other side of the room.
 
Several couples and groups took up space on the dance floor as the DJ
blasted out a mixture of old classics and new favourites.
 
She found herself tapping her foot to one of
the latest hits and, despite Dominic’s assertion that she had two left
feet,
she felt the pull of the dance floor.

Glancing round, she spotted Dominic at the bar
chatting to a petite brunette.
 
She
grinned as she watched him working his charm.
 
The young girl was practically panting as her friend slowly ran his
fingers up and down her arm.
 
The tight
red top she wore barely concealed her ample chest, something that Dominic had
clearly noticed as she watched his eyes flick between her face and the pale
skin spilling over the red fabric.
 
Sam
had to stifle a laugh when he caught her eye and winked at her.

Shaking her head, Sam manoeuvred herself from her
stool, adjusting her dress as she stood. Ensuring she was stable in her heels,
Sam made her way over to the dance floor.
 
Dancing on her own never bothered her.
 
The reason she’d come out tonight was to work off some of the tension
she still felt in her body, despite the battery induced orgasm she’d had a few
hours ago.

Moving to a spot where she could still see
Dominic, Sam began to move to the music.
 
She’d loved this song from the moment she’d first heard it.
 
It was easy to get lost in the rhythm and she
found herself doing just that as she forced herself to forget about her day and
just be in the moment.

A few minutes passed before Sam felt a shiver run
up her spine.
 
Looking around her, she
saw nothing that could account for it as she continued to move.
 
She spied Dominic sitting at their table, the
busty brunette sat next to him, her boobs pressed against his arm as he
whispered something in her ear and, judging by her smile and the blush that
filled her cheeks, he wasn’t asking what she wanted to drink.