Chapter One

It was another hot August day in Little Rock, the kind of heat that took your breath away when you opened the car door.  That's why Sam had driven her car the three blocks to the police station instead of walking the protection order down there for them to serve, for just a few moments of air conditioning.

Mixed in with the humidity, Sam could feel the buzz in the air.  Football season was close.  It was electric, taking over not just the city, but the whole state.  Razorback fever was highly contagious.  You didn't even have to be a football fan to love the Hogs.  Non- fans still watched the news on Saturday nights to see the score and find out how the state's beloved Razorbacks did that day.


It had only been two days, but Sam was really enjoying her time spent posting on the football forum.  She really didn't know why she hadn't posted before, but was glad that she'd finally given in and done so.  New people joined in on the conversation between Sam, Lucy and JerseyCowboy (who had told them to call him Kidd), and he was flirting, and not very subtle about it either.  She was even sneaking time at work to get on the forum and talk to everyone.

The only thing that Sam was as passionate about as football was helping abused women and children.  As a prosecutor in Little Rock, Arkansas, she had gained a reputation for being a crusader for the weak and broken, a champion for the underdog.

Once she was back in her office, she took some time to log  back onto the forum.  She'd had it open all day and was reading and posting between phone calls back and forth with the judge's secretary while she was waiting on the slow poke to get around to signing her protection order.  She'd been spending so much time reading and typing that just after 3:00, her boss started looking at her funny through the glass windows surrounding her office.  He'd walked back and forth by the windows several times.  So, she told the gang, that now consisted of not only Lucy and Kidd, but also Hathor and Tarzan (GiantJunkieinLA), Kidd's best friend, that she had to go and act like she was working.  Shortly after that post, the judge's secretary called her to let her know the order had been signed, and she'd run off to pick it up and take it to the LRPD herself to save time.

Now, the conversation she 'walked' into on the forum was about the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders and the Love Boat.  She wasn't posting much, just reading - the headache that had begun as a mild irritation about mid-morning was turning into a full blown migraine.

Two Advil kept the headache in check til she could finally escape the office, but if Phillip had talked for even one more second she wouldn't have made it home before her head exploded.

She kicked her high heels off at the door, and after letting Diva outside, she started running a hot bubble bath for herself, even pouring in a healthy dose of plumeria scented body wash.  She let Diva back in, then stripped down, not even bothering to toss her clothes in the hamper; she'd get them after the bath, if it did it's job and got rid of the headache.

With a sigh, she sank gratefully into the steamy tub.  The bubbles tickled as they popped against her skin.  With a towel rolled up for a pillow on the edge of the tub, she closed her eyes, relaxed and let the stress of the day disappear with the popping bubbles.

Something wet and rough slid up her cheek waking her up and drawing her attention to the rapidly cooling water.  "Uhg, Diva!" she groaned, as she washed the dog slobber off her face.  The short power nap combined with the hot bath had reined the migraine in, once again pushing it back into the 'just a headache' box.

After pulling the plug, she smiled as she turned on the shower, intending to actually wash away the day since she hadn't actually ever gotten around to that part of her bath.  Ten minutes later, with a thick towel turban around her head and a plush purple bath sheet wrapped around her body, she scooped up the small pile of clothes and dropped them in the hamper.  She considered putting on a nightgown for all of two seconds before going into the kitchen to pop dinner in the microwave still wrapped in the bath sheet.

While the seconds ticked off on the timer, her eyes came to rest on her computer sitting all alone on the desk in the corner of the living room.  She wondered if anyone was on the forum tonight.  When the timer dinged, she pulled the nuked TV dinner out and grabbed a fork before heading to her desk.  Maybe the forum could take her mind off what was coming her way in the morning.

With a forkful of fake mashed potatoes, she typed in her password with one hand.  She walked into a strange conversation on the forum.

ChcgoBearsFan Miss Fourth of July Joined: 26 Aug 2007 Posts: 5142 : Location: In LA working on the plans for when I become...MRS ZAN!! Items	Posted: 27 Aug 2007 08:17 pm    Post subject:     JerseyCowboy7800 wrote: Tarzan, if you fly to Chicago tonight...I am NOT picking you up at the airport in the morning. And don't forget that "thing" we have tomorrow. Party pooper   What thing do you have tomorrow?
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GiantsJunkieInLA Wanted Dead or Alive Joined: 26 Aug 2007 Posts: 717 : Items	Posted: 27 Aug 2007 08:19 pm    Post subject:     just a meeting Lucy.
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GiantsJunkieInLA Wanted Dead or Alive Joined: 26 Aug 2007 Posts: 717 : Items	Posted: 27 Aug 2007 08:21 pm    Post subject:     remember the schedule negotiations? It sort of involves those.
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ChcgoBearsFan Miss Fourth of July Joined: 26 Aug 2007 Posts: 5142 : Location: In LA working on the plans for when I become...MRS ZAN!! Items	Posted: 27 Aug 2007 08:22 pm    Post subject:     Ah ok sorry didn't mean to pry...I tend to get nosey sometimes so if I do just slap me back into reality lmao
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She had no idea what they were talking about, but she made her post then decided to go back and read the previous page or two.

FemFBFan4Life Layin' in a Bed of Roses Joined: 25 Aug 2007 Posts: 1362 : Items	Posted: 27 Aug 2007 08:31 pm    Post subject:     Good evening everyone! Sorry I didn't get right back here after work, but real life intruded. I had a terrible headache by the time I got home, and took a hot bubble bath. The relaxing in the hot tub helped, but the headache's still a twinge.
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The others responded quickly with some more confusing posts.

ChcgoBearsFan Miss Fourth of July Joined: 26 Aug 2007 Posts: 5142 : Location: In LA working on the plans for when I become...MRS ZAN!! Items	Posted: 27 Aug 2007 08:33 pm    Post subject:     FemFBFan4Life wrote: Good evening everyone! Sorry I didn't get right back here after work, but real life intruded. I had a terrible headache by the time I got home, and took a hot bubble bath. The relaxing in the hot tub helped, but the headaches still a twinge. Awwww sorry to hear that Sam...but something tells me Kidd's jeans are gonna be getting a lil tight soon too. lol   (payback's a bitch party pooper lmao)
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JerseyCowboy7800 Takin' Bad Medicine Joined: 25 Aug 2007 Posts: 857 : Items	Posted: 27 Aug 2007 08:34 pm    Post subject:     Ah the picture you've put in my head, Sam. Now, MY jeans are just a little tighter. Need someone to rub your neck?
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GiantsJunkieInLA Wanted Dead or Alive Joined: 26 Aug 2007 Posts: 717 : Items	Posted: 27 Aug 2007 08:36 pm    Post subject:     Go ahead, Kidd...fly to Arkansas. Like the true friend I am, I WILL pick you up at the airport in the morning. Unless of course you wanna cancel the thing?
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What "thing" were they talking about?

Sam quickly went back and skimmed the previous pages.  Apparently, the men had some kind of appointment the next morning that was some sort of top secret something.  A "thing" that they weren't willing to share too many details about.  The prosecutor in Sam was curious.

ChcgoBearsFan Miss Fourth of July Joined: 26 Aug 2007 Posts: 5142 : Location: In LA working on the plans for when I become...MRS ZAN!! Items	Posted: 27 Aug 2007 08:37 pm    Post subject:     GiantsJunkieInLA wrote: Go ahead, Kidd...fly to Arkansas. Like the true friend I am, I WILL pick you up at the airport in the morning. Unless of course you wanna cancel the thing? Do I get a vote??? My vote is to cancel lmao
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FemFBFan4Life Layin' in a Bed of Roses Joined: 25 Aug 2007 Posts: 1362 : Items	Posted: 27 Aug 2007 08:42 pm    Post subject:     Do I get a vote? Because, a) I'd like someone to rub my neck, but b) my house is a wreck, so I'm not ready for company, and c) and this is the doozey....I need to shave my legs!
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ChcgoBearsFan Miss Fourth of July Joined: 26 Aug 2007 Posts: 5142 : Location: In LA working on the plans for when I become...MRS ZAN!! Items

Posted: 27 Aug 2007 08:45 pm    Post subject:     FemFBFan4Life wrote: Do I get a vote? Because, a) I'd like someone to rub my neck, but b) my house is a wreck, so I'm not ready for company, and c) and this is the doozey....I need to shave my legs! OK well hello You got plenty of time to clean the house he is in NJ, then after the house is cleaned shave your legs lmao I'd offer to help but it take me longer to get there from Chi-town then for him to fly there so....Multitask GF

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JerseyCowboy7800 Takin' Bad Medicine Joined: 25 Aug 2007 Posts: 857 : Items	Posted: 27 Aug 2007 08:46 pm    Post subject:     Sam, it's a long flight, surely you could manage to shave your legs and tidy up around the place before I could get there.
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Were they fucking serious?  Sam's laughter echoed off the walls of the spotlessly clean house.  Like she'd actually let some stranger fly there from New Jersey, or any where for that matter, for a little visit...of any kind, much less one that would require a shaving of her legs!  Then the post came that called bullshit to it all.

JerseyCowboy7800 Takin' Bad Medicine Joined: 25 Aug 2007 Posts: 857 : Items	Posted: 27 Aug 2007 09:07 pm    Post subject:     I can't cancel the meeting, contractual obligations, more's the pity.
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Ah.  OK.  So he had just been playing along as well.  But then he ruined all the fun, wiping the smile off her face, when he got serious.