A Rose in Shadow

Chapter 87

Andrew entered the kitchen just in time to see Patrick holding Samantha in a loose headlock and giving her a noogy – a knuckle rub to the top of her head, while she squealed with laughter.

"You brat" he said without heat and turned to look back when Andrew cleared his throat.

Water dripped down Patrick's face onto his t-shirt.

"She turned the tables on you, did she?" Andrew asked. He was familiar with Patrick's patented-dish-water-splashing, having had to share KP duty with him many times in the past.

Eyes twinkling, Samantha smiled at Andrew. "I have an older brother".

Chuckling Andrew gave Patrick a pitying look. "Why don't I take over for you while you go change? You can probably borrow a shirt from Greg's room".

Flicking a pile of suds at Samantha, Patrick left the two of them in the kitchen.

Andrew stepped up to grab a dish towel to finish drying while Samantha continued to wash the pots and pans. He could hear the dishwasher already on and couldn't believe how quickly she had cleaned the rest of the kitchen. The leftovers were in containers cooling on the counter, the stove top and counter tops already gleaming and his mom's scented candle burned on the window sill. All that remained to be finished were the couple of pots soaking in the water. It sometimes took hours for he and his brothers to clean up after dinner. Then again a lot of the patented-dish-water-splashing tended to slow things down considerably.

"So, tell me a bit about the work projects that you have on the go right now" Samantha asked Andrew and she continued to scrub at the roast pan.

"Well, like Patrick, my team is doing a re-stocking right now but at a lake farther up north. There has also been a lot of poaching activity in the past few months in that area so we're working with the local police and the mounted police to organize a sting operation. There's some concern about big cats being trapped for their furs. I'm going to be leaving tomorrow for a couple of weeks to get this set up".

Interested, Samantha began firing questions at Andrew and he found himself actually quite surprised by the way that her mind worked. Patrick had told him that she was very smart but he had really not expected her to be so bright. Her distinctive eyes drew him in and seemed to sharpen every so often. The questions that she asked were so intuitive that before he realized it they'd finished the dishes and had been sitting at the kitchen table talking for almost an hour before Adam came in looking for her.

The way that the two of them looked at each other gave Andrew a slight pang of jealousy. He hadn't realized how much he wanted what his parents, and now, what Adam and Samantha had. A real connection with someone else that went beyond physical attraction.

Walking over to stand behind Sam, Adam ran a hand lovingly down her hair, almost reflexively to assure himself that she was there. Samantha flashed a dimple up at him and he leaned down to kiss her softly on the lips. "Ready to go, babe?" he murmured. "You should probably take some more aspirin".

Nodding, Samantha turned back to Andrew and stood up. "Thanks for keeping me company, Andrew. I hope that I didn't bore you with my questions" Andrew couldn't help himself and he wandered over to Samantha bringing her hand to his mouth and kissing the back of it. Seeing his brother's glare, he smirked and pulled her into a warm hug, rubbing his hand down her back over the length of her silky hair. Adam's jaw clenched and Andrew couldn't contain his laughter.

Confused, Samantha leaned back to look at him. Adam grabbed her hand and pulled her to his side while Andrew continued chuckling. "Honestly. What did I miss now?" she asked indignantly.

"Just Andrew being an ass" was Adam's answer as he tugged her to the door.