Breaking the Routine Read online

  “I can’t help it if you just look so sexy when you get uncomfortable,” he teased and she grew even angrier.

  “Stop it, just stop it! Stop playing these stupid games,” Sam snapped pushing him away from her.

  “Who said I am playing games,” he asked looking serious but she refused to fall for his tricks.

  “Don’t try and deny it,” she shot back at him standing up quickly. She had to get away from this man. “It’s late; we have to get going if we are going to be back on time!” Sam announced before marching into the bathroom her fists balled up in fists by her side. She refused to listen to any excuse he would invent to make up to keep her trapped in this game.

  Sam quickly brushed her hair and pulled it back into the in a tight bun it was in then stomped back into the living room relieved to see that David was dressed. “My father hates nothing more than people being late,” she told him as she slipped on her shoes.

  “Oh I think I know of something he would hate more,” David said with a playful smile as he pulled on his jacket.

  “Really and what would that be,” she asked frowning. He put on his tie and walked towards her wrapping his arms around her again. She attempted to remove his arms around her. God, did he not know how to respect personal space, she thought bitterly.

  “I think that the fact of how I just spent my lunch hour with his daughter would piss him off much more than my actually being late,” he teased and she froze and the all too familiar blush burned across her cheeks.

  “You wouldn’t tell him…you can’t!” She gasped and tried to push him away again but he didn’t budge as he laughed at her. So this was his plan, to make of fool of her and go running to her father and tell him all of it!

  “Of course I won’t,” he told her pulling her body up closer to his. She didn’t believe him for one moment. Sam realized if she was going to survive she needed to get far, far away from David as humanly possible without skipping town.

  “I wouldn’t do anything like that,” he added softly before giving her another intense kiss. She was most definitely doomed, she thought as she felt her defenses against him melt oh so easily. How she was going to get out of this, she wondered desperately trying to ignore the voice that was asking in a whisper did she really want to get out of it.

  Sam stormed in the office without greeting anyone. She had grown increasingly angry with herself as she drove from her home. She had to figure out how to stop David from getting to her so much. She hated that she was defenseless against him and his charms. Sam also really, really hated to admit it she was starting to fall for him, and that was very, very bad. Sam had read enough books and seen enough TV to know that this would end horribly.

  There were two possibilities, one he actually likes her but would eventually he get bored because there was no way she couldn’t keep a man like David, her past experiences with Jeff had taught her that much. So David would eventually move on to the next woman and she would end up hurt. The second possibility was he is simply playing games with her so he could tell her father what an idiot she is and she would end up hurt. In the end the outcome was the same, an outcome she had to avoid at all costs. She looked up from the papers she was preparing to file just as David was walking toward his office. He gave her a sexy smile and a wink before entering his own office. Sam felt her face turn red and she turned back to her work but she wasn’t the only one that saw it. Tabby squealed quietly racing up to her desk.

  “Aw he is absolutely too cute,” she whispered dreamily and grinning brightly at Sam. She rolled her eyes and gave her friend a sour look then turned her face to a sweet expression.

  “If you like him that much why don’t you go for him,” she suggested hopefully. Almost every man Sam had come across thought Tabby was hot. It would be perfect, he would leave her alone finally and Tabby could handle him a man like him.

  Tabby tsked Sam and shook head. “No thank you besides I know he only has eyes for one woman in this office,” she replied wagging her eyebrows at Sam.

  “He doesn’t have eyes for me; this is all some game of his,” Sam said bitterly irritated at Tabby. “He should be getting bored here pretty soon!” She insisted picking up the papers and Tabby just gave her a knowing smile.

  “And what are you going to do when time passes and he still crazy about you,” Tabby asked and Sam laughed dryly.

  “That won’t happen! Tabby this is one of those cases of where the leopard can’t change his spots,” she stated with confidence and headed toward the storage room before Tabby had a chance to respond in disagreement. If only she could figure out how to stop her body from reacting the way it did whenever he was near her, she would easily be able to stop falling for him and waiting for the unavoidable pain.

  It would be the solution to all her problems. She sighed placing her chin on the file cabinet thinking how easy it sounded. Maybe she could just ignore it and it would go away but that sounded too easy and highly unlikely. David was many things but ignorable wasn’t one of them. God knows she had tried and tried hard. She sighed and left the room once more wishing she could turn back time and change things.

  The week continued pretty well despite that David had once again insisted following her to lunch so she went to Dottie’s Diner to avoid the disaster that happened Monday afternoon at her house. Unfortunately their absence in the dinner that day didn’t go unnoticed. The none to discreet glances and whispering had grown even worse than it was before. Through the week Sam had tried but failed in figuring out how to get out from under David and his charms. No man had ever made her blush so much; it was really infuriating. Sam rubbed her shoulders feeling the tensions of the week really building upon her muscles when Tabby sat on the corner of her desk.

  “T-G-I-F Sammy, everyone is going out tonight for drinks,” Tabby chirped.

  “Good for you guys," she said flatly looking up from her computer screen.

  “You should come along,” Tabby told her and Sam shook her head no. “Come on, David is going,” Tabby pleaded and Sam rolled her eyes.

  “Even more reason not to go!” Sam replied with insistence. Tabby rolled her eyes this time. “Besides…” she started, “I know that everyone can’t relax with I go out with them, especially Adam. They are terrified that I will tell my dad about what they do when they are off the clock.” Sam told her friend as she began to shut down her computer. “I guess I can’t blame them really,” she finished pouting a little bit once the screen had gone back.

  “Adam is anal whether you are there or not!” Tabby whispered and eyed Sam seriously. “Come on missy, I won’t have you ducking out. Time to go and have some fun, you’re looking way to seriously lately and its going to give you wrinkles.”

  “That sounds a little too much like an order to me Ms. Mathews,” Sam said using her prude voice with a hint of a smile.

  “That is because it is Mss. Peters!” Tabby shot back smiling eagerly.

  “Yes Drill Sergeant!” Sam replied with a salute, she could never say no to Tabby when she insisted on something. In fact that was becoming a serious problem of hers, Sam thought moodily. Lately she couldn’t seem to say no to anyone.

  “That’s much better young lady, now hurry up with work, everyone is about to leave,” Tabby demanded then hoped up from her desk before she could say anything else.

  Sam rolled her eyes yet again and collected the papers she had printed out earlier and placed them in her “out” folder for Monday morning. By time she finished everyone had already left except for her father who always stayed late on Fridays. “I am going now,” She called to him with a wave which he returned with a nod.

  Dan’s Bar was crowded as Sam pushed her way through the crowd to the table where Tabby and the others sat. She sat down at the table trying to ignore as much as possible David’s presence. “Hey Sam, how are you,” Stephanie said nearly beaming at her. Stephanie was the company’s website designer and managed everything that was done online.

  “Hey Stephanie,” S
am replied feeling a little surprised at how warmly Stephanie greeted her. She sat down and eyed Adam, who obviously didn’t share Stephanie’s enthusiasm. Adam was another accountant at her father's company and Sam thought if anyone was a bigger goody two shoes than her it was without a doubt Adam.

  “What do you want to drink, Sam? It’s on me so get whatever you want.” Stephanie started waving over a waitress.

  “Um thanks” Sam said wondering what was the cause of Stephanie’s new friendly attitude, before they hardly talked.

  “Thanks to you for putting your dad in his place on the other day,” she replied and Sam smiled weakly. Of course Stephanie’s suddenly friendliness was because she acted like a bitch, she thought bitterly.

  “I only heard about it, I was stuck working out kinks that showed up with the new update for the web page. It must have been epic! I wish I could have seen it. God I would have loved to seen his face, though it didn’t seem to remove the stick from his ass,” she finished and Sam’s smile grew a little stronger.

  Adam, of course, wasn’t impressed. “You shouldn’t talk about Mr. Peters like that,” he demanded.

  Stephanie and Tabby both rolled their eyes in unison. “Relax Adam; no one here is exactly going to tell him we called him a pompous ass. God you’re such a brown noser,” Tabby said with an air of desperation. The waitress came to their table and asked what they wanted.

  “I’ll have coke,” Sam told the smiling woman.

  “A coke, come on its Friday go for something at least adult,” Tabby started desperately and Sam shook her head with determination.

  “Oh no, I think I have had enough alcohol for a while, I don’t think I do drunk very well,” she told her friend then felt the all too familiar blush rise to her cheeks as she suddenly remembered David was also at the table. She tried to ignore the irritating but somehow sexy at the same time smile on David’s face. The waitress nodded and left to get her drink and Sam prayed that he would keep his mouth shut.

  “When have you been drunk? I don’t think I have even seen you with a buzz,” Stephanie asked and Sam started to feel very uncomfortable.

  “I managed to loosen her up a bit when we went to New York and she actually did get quiet drunk,” Tabby teased with a mischievous look in her eye and Sam began to pray that they find something else to talk about.

  “Oh, did you meet any hot guys,” Stephanie asked rubbing her hands together and Sam choked on her own saliva. She noticed David looking at her with an eyebrow raised expectantly and a full blown smile across his face. Oh God, how was she supposed to answer that?

  “Oh yeah, we hooked up with some really nice hotties” Tabby said nudging her with her elbow, and Sam felt her blush darken. This can’t be happening, she thought panicked and missed with longing the days she just sat in the background while everyone else talked about their adventures.

  “Aw, wish I could have been there, so were they really hot, give me some details,” Stephanie said excitedly.

  Well just look to your left and get all the details you want, Sam thought to herself and felt a smile creep on her face as Tabby went explaining about that night in the club which thankfully she didn’t mention that the hot guy was David or the fact they had slept together. She couldn’t help but gaze at him through her lashed with her head bowed listening to that entire Tabby’s account of that night. The waitress returned with Sam’s soda and she quickly thanked the woman.

  “Sounds like super fun, next time let me tag along too, I would love to get me some of that heat too,” Stephanie said dreamily as Tabby finished.

  “Oh please, and you say men only think about sex,” Adam said grumpily with his arms crossed over his chest. Stephanie mussed up his hair.

  “You’re just jealous you don’t have a girl drooling over you like that” she told him and David tried to hide a laugh but it wasn’t working.

  “Oh wait a minute, let’s get the record straight! I have never ever drooled over anyone!” Sam exclaimed desperately and David’s face turned red as he burst out laughing. Seriously can this get any worse, she pouted, feeling so embarrassed.

  “Well, well, looks like tweedle-dee and tweedle-dum finally found some friends,” a snooty voice called out behind them and Sam cringed. She should have known better than ask how things could get worse, even only in her mind, because as soon as you do, BAM! It gets worse.

  She turned slightly to see Veronica Ramirez walking over swinging her hips exaggeratedly. “Veronica, nice to see you,” Tabby said icily with a frown on her face. Veronica and Tabby were enemies in every way possible since Tabby got the attention of the senior quarter back in her sophomore year that Veronica had been two years chasing. Veronica hated Tabby with a passion after that. Sam was guilty by association and the fact she wasn’t in Veronica’s category of important people. Veronica flipped her raven hair over her shoulder, glaring at them coldly until she saw David.

  “You must be new in town,” she purred leaning over the table just enough to allow David a good view.

  “H…hi Veronica,” Adam stuttered nervously but Veronica ignored Adam and didn’t take her eyes off of David.

  “Yes I am new in town, I am David,” he told her, only glancing her over for a second. A second was enough for Sam to feel a wave of jealousy wash over her.

  Oh God, no, Sam thought feeling her face go pale with horrified realization that she just felt jealous. She couldn’t feel jealous; jealousy meant she actually had fallen for him and she couldn’t fall for him! Sam attempted to swallow the evil unwanted emotion and realized Veronica was the perfect person to have around, the solution to her all her nasty problems. Veronica Ramirez was one of those women who had all the right things in all the right places and she knew how to use it to get what she wanted. So if Veronica wanted David she would get him and that would make him finally leave Sam alone!

  Sam watched Veronica walked over to his side with a strange mixture of jealousy and hope. “It’s nice to meet you David,” Veronica said as she walked over slowly exaggerating every movement she made till she was by his side. With a seductive look on her face she gently leaned against him and Sam focused her attention on her drink losing her battle against not feeling jealous. Veronica whispered something in his ear and Tabby was glaring at her disdainfully.

  David leaned away from Veronica. “Sorry but I am afraid I already have a girlfriend,” he stated coolly and Sam’s breath froze in her throat. He had a girlfriend? She felt her stomach clench painfully. She felt angry and sick at the same time. Why he had slept with her twice if he already had a girlfriend, she thought angrily. Well she had finally figured a way to get over him. He was a complete douche bag and she was a complete idiot.

  “I won’t tell if you won’t,” Veronica said leaning over him again and he moved his chair away from her.

  “No thanks,” he said coldly. Sam wasn’t sure who was more shocked, her or Veronica. No one had ever rejected Veronica before, especially douche bags like him.

  “Well if you change your mind I will be over by the bar,” she purred and everyone was smirking and laughing silently as she stalked off in a huff but Sam quickly turned her gaze back into her glass and did her best not to appear angry.

  Tabby gave David a hard pat on the back. “Your officially part of the town now that the town slut has tried to get her claws into you,” she teased.

  “Gee great,” David mused sourly and Sam felt the corner of her lips turn upward at his sour tone.

  “She isn’t a slut,” Adam snapped frowning at Tabby, “just because you don’t like her doesn’t make her a slut!”

  “No but the fact that she slept with pretty much every single man in town and even a few that aren’t makes her a slut. You being hot for her don’t make her a good girl either,” Stephanie stepped in, then slung her arm around him and gave him a little hug. “You’re too good for her,” she told him reassuringly.

  “I agree you’re not so bad in a geeky sort of way,” Tabby added and Sam tried to gi
ve him a reassuring smile. She really felt sorry for the guy; it must really suck to be crazy with someone who won’t even give you the time of day. Adam shrugged not looking any happier.

  “Come dance with me Adam maybe that will get that grouchy look off your face,” Stephanie told him grabbing his hand and pulling him towards the small dance area ignoring his protests. Sam couldn’t help but laugh watching him attempt to escape Stephanie but that obviously wasn’t going to happen.

  “Well my glass is empty,” Tabby said getting up moving to the bar winking at Sam leaving her alone with David, which was exactly what she didn’t want to be. Sam frowned as she turned her attention down to her glass.

  David got up from his chair and sat down in the one next to Sam. He leaned in close to her and Sam thought about elbowing him in the face to satisfy her anger and jealousy but she reminded herself she wasn’t a violent person yet again even if it would make her feel a whole lot better. “I hope you don’t mind that I called you my girlfriend, I know we haven’t really been officially dating,” he started quietly and she looked at him shocked. What the hell was he talking about?

  “What do you mean,” Sam asked confused. “You were referring to me when you told Veronica you had a girlfriend?” She asked him as she eyed him suspiciously and he began laughing.

  “Of course I was referring to you who else,” he replied once he stopped laughing and she tried to ignore the butterflies in her stomach.

  “I don’t know how many women you have awaiting your calls Mister,” she said acidly turning her attention back to her drink and he started laughing again and threw his arm over her shoulders.

  “Awe, are you jealous,” he teased with an evil glint in his eye and she pushed him arm off of her.

  “I am most certainly not jealous; I just don’t want to be a part these silly games of yours. I am seriously sick and tired of it,” she said crossing her arms and raising her chin up high. He replaced his arm on her shoulder and cupped her face forcing her to look towards him.