“We are so not talking about this again,” Shabina said. “I’m going to get dessert. Raine? Did you order?”
“I wasn’t hungry for lunch, but asked for coffee. Would love dessert, whatever you made as the special.”
Shabina stood up and did her best to glare at Zahra. “Don’t you dare talk about me while I’m gone or you don’t get any dessert. It just so happens to be your favorite.”
Zahra flashed her impish smirk, the one that let her get away with just about anything. Shabina hurried away, glancing over her shoulder several times, trying to look stern.
Raine burst out laughing. “I take it Craig Hollister came in, and technically, that’s talking about him, not Shabina.”
Zahra’s eyes lit up. “That’s true. Yes, Craig came, but she didn’t embellish much. You didn’t happen to look into Craig’s background, did you, Raine?”
Raine looked indignant. “Well, I haven’t looked into his background yet because he likes Shabina but I’m not entirely certain she’s that interested in him. If I was going to snoop, it would have to be a far more interesting person.”
Zahra shook her head. “Sam. I would think you would find him totally intriguing, Raine.”
Stella’s breath caught in her throat. She didn’t want the spotlight on Sam. She didn’t know why, but she didn’t want Raine to suddenly train her computer skills on him. She kept quiet. Sam was a loner. He could hunt. Fish. Climb. He could use scuba gear. He wasn’t an expert in any of those things, but he wouldn’t have to be.
Raine made a face. “Sam’s boring. He doesn’t even talk, Zahra. He’s worse than Bruce.”
“No one is worse than Bruce,” Zahra declared. “Sam doesn’t dance with anyone but Stella, and that’s romantic.”
Raine laughed. “Or she tolerates him stepping on her feet.”
Sam had never stepped on her feet. Not once. She couldn’t imagine it ever happening. He was far too aware of where his feet were placed at all times— and she wasn’t altogether certain Raine was telling the truth. Raine noticed everything about everyone. Sam would be interesting to her just because he was such a loner and he was so quiet, so why wasn’t she admitting it?
CHAPTER FOUR
Harlow and Vienna were able to drive out to the location and set up their tents with Raine and Zahra as well as Stella, staking out the campsite for their own. Stella wanted to make it clear to any of the fishermen that the spot was overrun with campers. They moved the picnic table close to the firepit and pulled out lounge chairs to arrange around the pit, which they filled with firewood in preparation for evening or morning.
Stella knew few people ever went down that particular very pitted dirt road even to fish, so she wasn’t worried their tents would be disturbed while they were gone. So if this location was so remote that only Denver and Bruce fished there regularly, was one of them the target?
Her backpack and sleeping bag were in her rig, along with her cooler, when she parked in front of the Grill, where she was meeting Zahra, Raine and Shabina. Vienna and Harlow promised they would meet them in the morning after their shifts at the hospital ended. The music blared loudly, reverberating through the building as it always did, inviting everyone to get up out of their chairs and dance.
Zahra waved wildly, nearly falling off her chair. She’d managed to grab the largest round table closest to the bar just to the right of where the band played. It was their favorite place to sit because it could accommodate most of them and the others could sit at the bar or even on the ledge surrounding the plants behind the table. Bruce and Denver sat at the bar in front of the table. Sam was at the bar as well, but on his usual corner stool. Raine and Shabina were already at the table with Zahra, so Stella waved and then made her way to Sam.
“Hey.” She shifted one hip onto the barstool beside him. He was always warm. She didn’t know if it was because he was so dense, his muscles making his body thicker than he actually appeared, or if he was just naturally hot. When she got near him, he seemed to elevate her body temperature by several degrees.
His dark eyes moved over her in that way he had, as if he saw everything about her, things no one else saw. “Stella.”
“We wanted to go camping tonight. There’s a spot we staked out already, our tents are there. I’m worried we’ll drink too much and not make it out there.” She put her elbow on the bar and leaned her chin on the heel of her hand, looking up at him. She’d never seen Sam drink too much. He’d never had more than a beer, two at most on a hot day. He was a water man and mostly stuck to that, unless it was coffee in the morning. Even that was sparingly.
“You planning on drinking tonight?”
“I wanted to, but I don’t have to, Sam, not if it’s an inconvenience.”
“Where’s the campground?”
She told him, watching his face closely. She should have known it wouldn’t do much good. Sam’s face didn’t give much away.
“Satine, that isn’t a campground. It’s a fishing spot. Denver showed it to me a year ago. No one goes out there.”
“Exactly. It’s a gorgeous spot when the sun comes up. It has a picnic table and firepit and we’ll be on our own, no one around to bother us.”
He held out his hand. “The four of you? Where are the other two?”
She dropped the keys to her rig into his palm. “Working. They’ll meet us there in the morning. Thanks, Sam.”
“No problem.”
She slid off the barstool and then stopped and turned back, although she didn’t know why. She shouldn’t have. “Are you going to dance with me tonight?”
Again, his dark gaze drifted over her. This time, she could have sworn there was a hint of possession in his eyes, but it could have been a trick of the light. A frisson of awareness slid down her spine as if every nerve ending suddenly woke up and went on high alert. Her heart accelerated and she just managed to stop herself from pressing her palm over her chest.
She had never asked him to dance before. Never. He’d already called her on acting out of character. This was really out of character. She wasn’t certain why she wanted to see his reaction. He hadn’t made a fuss over the campsite except for one comment, and now he was looking at her with exactly the same expression on his face, except … different.
“Don’t I always dance with you?”
He did. One dance. It wasn’t what she was asking for, was it? She didn’t know. She nodded, suddenly confused. Upset all over again by the nightmares. By the fact that she was so certain a serial killer was creeping close to her friends— Sam included. By her suddenly mixed-up feelings.
Sam reached out to run his palm very gently over her hair. Barely there. A whisper of a touch, yet she felt it like a sword of pure heat piercing her skull and rushing over her to sweep through her body, growing hotter the lower the ball of raging need went. Finally it settled, low and wicked, a seething pool of hunger and passion in her very core, her sex clenching and aching for him. She touched the tip of her tongue to her lip and stepped back, shocked at her reaction to him. What. The. Hell. She hadn’t drunk anything, so no one put anything in her drink. She’d just reacted like that to his touch.