From the corner of her eye, she caught a flash of movement that let her know they weren’t alone. She turned her head, dismayed to discover a beautiful strawberry blonde standing by the sink pouring coffee.
Jake patted the chair next to his. “You’d better sit down before you fall, Sunshine. You look like hell, by the way.”
Samantha took her gaze off the blonde and turned to frown at Jake. He didn’t have to sound so cheerful. This kind of helpful input was the last thing she needed. However, seeing that her knees were as rubbery as wet noodles, she gave up the battle of standing upright and slid into the chair. Groaning, she laid her throbbing head on the hardwood of the table.
“Stop teasing her, Jacob,” the blonde scolded in a melodic, southern drawl.
Terrific, Samantha thought sourly, staring at the wood grain. They were both from the south, probably childhood sweethearts. Maybe she was here for the awards ceremony. But fathoming what the woman was doing in her kitchen took more effort than her foggy brain could manage.
“Can’t you see she doesn’t feel well?” the blonde said sweetly.
Great, she even sounded nice. What a rotten start to her day. She wasn’t about to give Jake the satisfaction of thinking she was jealous by asking who the blonde was.
“I think I’m going to die,” Samantha mumbled into the woodwork.
The chair scraped as Jake got up. Good, maybe they were going to go away and leave her alone.
No such luck.
Jake put a cup of steaming coffee in front of her. “This should fix you up,” he replied as he handed her one of her pain pills.
Samantha downed the pill, followed by a fortifying sip of coffee.
Jake sat back down. “In case you’re wondering, I had Laura come in early this morning to install an alarm system.”
Samantha choked on a mouthful of coffee. “Alarm! I never agreed to have an alarm installed. I don’t want one, and I will certainly not pay for one.” First, waking up nude, and now this. It was too much. It wasn’t so much that she objected to the idea of tighter security, but Jake’s actions were too high-handed to be tolerated.
His jaw firmed. “This isn’t up for debate. I think you need one, so I’m having it installed. Don’t worry about the cost. Please trust me to do my job properly this time around.”
She watched the cool mask of professionalism cover his face, and her heart sank. He thought he’d screwed up at the cabin and was in goon mode again. “I do trust you. And, just for the record, it’s not the cost I object to. It’s the autocratic way you went about it.”
He raised an eyebrow, and she saw red.
“Just because we slept together doesn’t give you the right to tell me what to do.”
She instantly regretted her outburst when she remembered the blonde was listening, who flashed an embarrassed glance her way.
Laura’s eyes were the same smoky silver as Jake’s. Were they related? Her guess was confirmed a moment later.
“Thanks for clearing that up,” Jake said dryly. “By the way, in case you’re wondering, Laura is my kid sister.”
“Pleased to meet you,” Laura chirped. “Don’t let him buffalo you, honey. Stick up for your rights.”
Jake swatted at her. “Don’t you have some work to finish, baby sister?”
Laura easily dodged his slap, sticking her tongue out at him. “Slave driver,” she called out as she headed for the living room.
Samantha waited for Laura to get out of earshot and then turned to Jake. “We need to set up some ground rules if you’re going to stay here.”
His eyebrow arched. “Such as?”
“Such as this.” She pointed to her lack of attire.
“Your robe?”
She wasn’t pleased with his innocent act or the grin that followed. “You know darned well what I mean. You had no right to undress me last night.”
“You were in no shape to remove your clothes yourself.” He smiled. “Besides, you asked me to.”
