Sam turned his attention to his beautiful companion, who was still perched on his desk. “Em, we’ll finish this later.” Taking her queue to leave, she slid off Sam’s desk and glared down at me as she sauntered past.

Thoughts were swirling in my mind. What the hell had I been thinking coming here like this? Was ‘Em’ a nickname? How well did he know this woman? What was she doing sitting on his desk? Was he fucking her?

The thought of him touching her made me queasy. My morning sickness had eased up weeks ago, but finding Sam like this was wreaking havoc on my stomach. I swallowed, trying to keep the nausea at bay.

My face must have given away how I was feeling because Sam’s look turned to concern. “Are you okay?”

I didn’t bother to answer his question because I was too preoccupied with finding out the answer to mine. “Who was that?” I emphasized the last word and pointed in the direction she had just taken, leaving an aromatic trail of expensive perfume lingering in her wake.

“Emily is my Vice President of Sales and Marketing.” He kept his voice cool and flat. The look he gave me almost seemed like he was daring me to accuse him of something.

I had always liked the name Emily, but hearing it slide off his tongue in reference to that woman was as cringe inducing to my ears as screeching fingernails on a chalkboard. Having him refer to Emily as ‘my’ anything was almost more than I could take. The idea of her working here, spending time with Sam on a daily basis, was incredibly worrisome. I couldn’t just ignore it.

“Are you fucking her?” It was what I really wanted to know, so I decided that blunt was the way to go.

Sam looked perturbed at my question. “Of course not. She’s an employee of the firm.”

I waited for him to elaborate, but he didn’t seem inclined to do so. “If she’s just an employee, what was she doing with her butt plopped on your desk?”

“She and I spend a lot of time together. She’s comfortable with me.” I visibly winced at that revelation. “We were just talking, as you saw when you barged in here unannounced. Speaking of that,” he continued, “to what do I owe the pleasure?”

I wasn’t sure if he was being sarcastic with that last comment, and I wasn’t about to take the time to analyze it. I had been pumped up about saving Joe’s when I came here. Seeing him with Emily had only served to add fuel to my fire. “Why are you trying to buy Joe’s Bar & Grill?”