Выбрать главу

bathroom."

Frank and Cheryl were sitting on the sofa when they entered. Both of them stood up to

greet the new arrivals. Riley's body went tense as she entered the room. Sam noticed the

sudden change in body language and wrapped her arm around Riley's shoulder. Riley

looked first at Cheryl and a warm smile welcomed her.

"Hi Riley, nice to see you again." Cheryl greeted.

Sam squeezed Riley's shoulder and she relaxed slightly.

"Hi Cheryl." She reached out to shake Cheryl's hand and was surprised when the woman pulled her into a hug. She turned to face Frank.

Jess had told him all about Sam and Riley's relationship. At first he'd been very unhappy

knowing how the little doctor had treated Sam but Kim had convinced him that was in

the past. His sister was in love with this woman and needed his support, Kim insisted.

Once he got over the shock of Sam actually admitting she was in love, he decided he

wanted to see for himself how Riley treated his sister. Though he had to admit when he'd

talked to Sam on the phone, his sister had never seemed happier. Still he couldn't resist

tweaking Riley.

"Hello, Dr. Connolly. I hope you're not going to try to run me down this time." He said teasingly. He had no idea of Riley's concerns with meeting him again.

Riley's shoulders slumped and her eyes dropped to the carpet. Frank was met with four

very angry glares. His wife added a sharp jab in the ribs to display her displeasure. Frank quickly realized he'd made a mistake. He reached out and tipped up Riley's chin. He felt

terrible when he saw the worry and pain on her face. He pulled Riley out from under

Sam's protective arm. He flinched at the look his sister threw him, she was furious. He

wrapped a shocked Riley up in his arms and leaned down to whisper in her ear.

"I'm sorry; I can be such a jerk sometimes. I was just teasing you. Welcome to the

family." He said then gave her a soft kiss on the cheek. Riley was smiling when Frank

released her. Sam continued to glare at him.

"Hey Riley hasn't gotten to meet Thor yet. Why don't we go out back?" Jess suggested hoping to defuse some of the tension in the room. She threw her brother one last dirty

look. Everyone exited the room leaving Sam and Riley alone.

"Are you okay Baby? I'm so sorry about my brother. I'm going to kill him." Sam ground out.

Riley smiled at Sam and hugged her tightly. "Don't be mad at him Honey. He

apologized. He had no way of knowing I was scared of meeting him again. Just forget it

okay?" Riley could see Sam was still angry so decided to take her mind off her brother.

She pulled her head down and gently kissed her lips. When she felt Sam start to relax,

she escalated the kiss pressing her tongue into Sam's mouth. Sam was panting by the

time the kiss ended. Riley's eyes were sparkling as she watched Sam try to recover from

the passionate kiss.

"What were we talking about?" Sam asked with a grin when she got her voice back.

Riley laughed and all the remaining tension dissipated. They headed out to meet Thor.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They stepped out a sliding glass door in the family room onto a large screen enclosed

brick patio. Tucked in a corner of the patio was a large jacuzzi with its own redwood

deck. There was a BBQ grill and a redwood table under the large enclosure as well as

several chaise lounges. A large expanse of colored gravel dotted with cactus extended

out from the edge of the patio. In the center of the gravel covered area was another

smaller patio, which had a cement table and benches sitting on it with a large umbrella

over the table. There were large slopes covered with ice plant and at the base of the

slopes, there were several citrus trees. Large pepper trees lined the top of the slopes,

providing privacy for the whole area.

Everyone looked up when Sam and Riley stepped out. Frank breathed a sigh of relief at

the relaxed look on Sam's face and the smile on Riley's. He'd gotten an earful as they'd

waited for the other two women to join them.

"So where's my boy?" Sam asked grinning.

Riley jumped when Jess let out a piercing whistle. She turned at the sound of thundering

feet and gasped. The biggest animal she'd ever seen was charging straight for her and

Sam. She stepped behind Sam in a panic and gripped her belt. Sam merely laughed and

slapped the tops of her thighs.

"Come on boy." Sam encouraged.

Riley was shocked when the dog managed to skid to a halt in front of Sam. She was sure

he was going to run them both down. She hung back fearfully as Sam enthusiastically

greeted the big dog.

Kim got up and came over next to Riley. "I reacted the same way. He is kind of

intimidating but I promise he won't hurt you."

Sam looked up from where she was having her face washed. She grabbed the dog in a

headlock. "You wouldn't hurt a fly, would you boy?" Thor woofed in agreement which caused Riley to jump.

Jess was watching with interest. Thor was normally a very aloof dog. He would greet

people but wouldn't seek them out for attention once the initial greeting was over. He

normally just walked way. Sam had been around Thor since he was a puppy and he

listened and obeyed her just as he did Jess, she was part of his pack. She wondered how

he'd react to Riley. He treated Cheryl and Frank the way he did most people. He greeted

them but that was it, unless they called him over, he ignored them.

Sam stood up and pulled Riley out from behind her back. Riley gulped when she

realized the dog's head came up to her chin.

"Riley this is Thor. Thor this is my girlfriend Riley," she introduced.

Riley stood perfectly still when the big dog stepped forward and sniffed her. She met his

large dark eyes and was surprised to see the intelligence and gentleness shining there.

She reached out to stroke his ears as she'd seen Sam do.

"Hi there big guy." She greeted softly. Her eyes widened further when he moved forward to lay his head on her chest. She continued to stroke his head as he let out a big sigh and closed his eyes in pleasure.

"I'll be damned." Jess muttered.

Riley pulled her eyes away from Thor to see the shocked expressions on everyone's

faces. Sam was grinning from ear to ear. Riley took a step back when Thor pressed his

weight against her. She wrapped her arms around his neck and resumed her caresses.

"What?" she asked with a smile.

"There's only one other person besides Sam and myself he's ever reacted to like that.

Normally he'd just sniff you and walk away." Jess explained.

"That's what he does with Frank and me." Cheryl confirmed.

"Wow...really." Riley smiled brightly as she intensified her rubbing of Thor's head and ears. He groaned in pleasure never moving his head from Riley's chest. "So who was the other person?"

"Me." Kim answered with a smile of remembrance. "I think that's when Jess realized I wasn't her average date." Kim teased. "Alright come on you big moose you're crushing Riley." Kim told the big dog trying to pull him away from Riley. He wouldn't budge.

"Don't get too comfortable there big guy... that's my spot." Sam informed Thor as she helped Kim pull him away from Riley's chest. Riley blushed when everyone chuckled.

"He really wasn't hurting me." She assured Sam as they went to sit down. Thor followed Riley and as soon as she sat down, he dropped down at her feet and put his big head in

the lap.

"You're out of luck Sam, looks like he's claimed her." Jess laughingly told her sister.