Chapter 51

Lilly raised her eyes to her father after she'd hung up the cell phone. Sam knew his daughter was more than a little upset about the fact that Jeremy had been invited by Chan for dinner while they hadn't. Goddammit! He was as well, just a little. But, of course, he couldn't do anything about that, could he? There was no point in dwelling on it. He was a logical man, and he knew Jeremy was simply making the boundary clear where he and Chan were standing.

Sam sighed and wondered if he'd done something very stupid. Hadn't he promised himself he wouldn't take a woman his cousin was dating? It had been clear, however, that he'd liked Chan since the moment he'd first met her. What the heck could he do about that? One couldn't really choose who one loved. It was just innate—a force of nature.

"Daddy?" Lilly's voice reached him, terminating his confused thoughts. "How come Chan only invited Uncle Jeremy for dinner? I thought we showed her we like her more with our kisses?"

Sam gathered his daughter in his arms and made her sit on his lap. "Maybe she'll invite us next time."

That put a smile on her face, and her eyes brightened with glee. "You think so?" Suddenly, she was sad again. "What if she doesn't? What if Uncle Jeremy showed her he likes her more by kissing her more? Daddy! You have to kiss Chan more and harder to tell her you like her more than Uncle Jeremy."

Sam chuckled. He hugged her tight and kissed her on her forehead. "I love you, sweetheart. You know love is unconditional and uncountable, right?"

Lilly nodded. "But how do you show somebody you like them when you can't count love?"

"Hmm…" Sam began. "You can do so through a variety of ways. Through kindness."

Lilly screwed her face in disagreement. "You're kind to Chan, but Uncle Jeremy still got invited to dinner. No." She shook her head. "I think you need to kiss her more to tell her you like her more."

Sam couldn't help himself; he laughed and started tickling his daughter. "You're such a smart little girl, Lilly. Maybe I should do just that."

Sam cocked his head to one side. Perhaps he should get a move on and declare his feelings for Chan in a more unambiguous manner, he thought.

"Right. Come on, princess, time for dinner," he said, lifting her up and carrying her over his shoulders toward the dining area. There, father and daughter sat down to have a simple meal of homemade pasta.

As they were eating, Sam's mind wandered off to Chan, and he wondered what she, her sisters, and Jeremy were having for dinner. Suddenly, his heart ached. He ached to be with her. Shit! He ached to touch and kiss her. More importantly, he ached to find out what was holding her back. Why is she so afraid?

A couple hours later, after putting Lilly to bed, he still couldn't sleep, his mind on Chan. When he did manage to fall asleep, it was fitful and short.

He awoke again at five in the morning. Restless and, oddly enough, very pissed—about what, he didn't know—he headed out to the gym and did two full hours of a workout. By the time he was done, he was exhausted, and his mood still wasn't any better.

He was just heading upstairs when Marian came in.

"Good morning, Sam," the woman greeted him.

"Morning, Marian," he replied.

"What do you want for breakfast?" she asked as she was heading toward the kitchen.

Sam was about to say pancakes when he caught himself in time. No. Not pancakes. Pancakes reminded him of Chan, and right now, he didn't want that. Seeing and eating pancakes would only make him ache for Chandra even more. Instead, he said, "Scrambled eggs and bacon on toast would be fine, Marian."

"Sure," Marian said and then disappeared into the kitchen.

Sam headed upstairs to get ready.

Needless to say, Sam's day didn't go very well. After dropping his daughter off at school, he headed to the hotel to catch up on some work. There, however, his mind kept flicking back to that night a week ago when he'd brought Chan up here to treat her sprained ankle. He kept seeing the look on her face and that slender body of hers sitting there on that very couch, her skirt riding up her thighs… He was turned on once again.

He shut the laptop with a determined click, drawing his personal assistant Jim Mane's attention.

"Is something the matter, sir?" Jim asked curiously. He didn't miss the fact the boss was restless and uninterested in work since his arrival that morning.

"I'm leaving," Sam said. "Continue work as usual," he instructed.

"Yes, sir," Jim said, nodding.

Sam took his jacket and headed out the door.