William. I’m sure anything you’ve planned will be great.”
“Why don’t you go have a drink and relax on the porch for a while? I had the chef put some delicious virgin cocktails on the menu for tonight.”
The last thing he felt like doing was sipping a nonalcoholic margarita in the sunshine, but he nodded and left. At some point, he’d have to have a more serious talk with Aunt Belle about giving his personal information out to his nemesis, but not when both their emotions were running high.
He turned sideways in the hallway so a maid could scurry past him. His shoulder brushed a framed painting. It was an amateur seascape, the initials A.L. in the corner.
He studied it for a moment. His dad had painted this, in one of the classes his mom had dragged him to, back when she’d been convinced his depressive episodes had simply been a matter of too much free time.
Samson remembered when Aleki had gifted the painting to Joe over dinner at their house. What the hell am I supposed to do with this crap? Joe had barked. The brothers had always been growling at each other, though their tight bond had been more than obvious to anyone who spent any time with them.
Aunt Belle had taken it from him and exclaimed like it was a piece of fine art, and to her, it may very well have been. Hush, Joe. It’s the view from our house, can’t you tell? I’ll cherish it forever, Aleki, thank you.
Samson scrubbed his hand over his face. The majority of the people around that dinner table were gone now, him and Belle the only ones left.
His phone vibrated in his pocket and he pulled it out. Rhi. Her text popped up under the photo of his hand.
LOL. Dork.
A ray of sunshine threatened to pierce through his fog of grief and loneliness, and his brain beat it back, even though a part of him was aware he needed it right now.
What is wrong with you? You knew this diagnosis was coming.
He shook his head, but he couldn’t dislodge the darkness, the vast emptiness that waited for him if he took a step toward it. He tucked the phone away without answering, and wished he could tuck his emotions away as easily.
The guests would be arriving soon, including Rhi, but he was in no shape to mingle with strangers now. He’d work out, go for a run on the beach.
Perhaps then, he could outpace his feelings.
Chapter Twenty
ARE YOU texting Samson?”
Rhiannon glanced around guiltily, but Lakshmi was in her ear, not in the chauffeured town car whisking her to Annabelle’s home. She switched from her messages back to the video call with Lakshmi. “No.” Not a lie. She hadn’t been texting Samson. She’d been ogling the photo he’d sent of his hand. Silly, yes, but still so fucking sexy.
“That is one goofy grin you’re sporting there.”
She consciously wiped her face clean of any kind of grin. “Fuck off.”
Lakshmi chuckled. “Can you thank him for the food and massages, if you do happen to text him?”
No one had been more grateful for the extravagant gesture of week-long lunches than her. She’d basically been sleeping at the office for the past week. Eating had been the furthest thing from her mind. She rolled her neck. The massage therapists he’d sent today had been nice too. “You don’t know where the food came from.”
“Girl, please.”
Her staff had grown curious after she’d shook off their thanks for the free lunch the first day, except for Lakshmi, who had cast her knowing looks. They’d started calling their mysterious benefactor Santa. How had Samson known that the way to her heart was to also take care of her too-dedicated employees?
Wait, not her heart. The way to her . . . sincere admiration. Yeah, that was right. She admired him.
Him and his sexy almost-dick pic. She, who could have given a keynote speech on how much she hated dick pics, had stared at the outline of his penis in his sweatpants for longer than she cared to admit. Guess it mattered who the dick was attached to.
Damn it. She liked him more today than the last time she’d seen him, when they’d had sex. How was that possible?
For all you knew, he was chatting up sweet, kind, loyal Janet when he wasn’t sending you food.
So? He had the right to do that.
Lakshmi sobered. “By the way, I’ve had all my feelers out for the past week. I still