“Sorry.” She shifted closer to Lilah, putting a little distance between herself and Sam’s muscular legs. Those jeans should have been illegal. He didn’t say anything, but she heard the small rush of breath leaving his nose as he scooted to the other end of the couch. Same, bro, she wanted to joke. The frustration had been building inside her from the moment she saw him in the lobby of the lodge. Normally Amanda was confident in her decisions, but as Lilah offered her a throw blanket from the back of the couch, another twinge of regret hit her. She could think of much better sources of warmth.
It was a little after one a.m. when Jason Voorhees finally met his way overdue end in the sewers under Manhattan. Lilah and Vega passed out halfway into the ridiculous slasher flick. Amanda envied them. Corie and Jesse had jokes for days, but the weight of the week and the long drive had finally caught up with her somewhere around the hour mark where Jason was terrorizing teens on a boat miles away from New York City. All she wanted was to hop a train to Snoozeville. The warm and restless energy emanating from Sam’s end of the couch was the only thing keeping her awake. She could sense his every breath, every small shift of his body. Focusing on Jason’s rampage was the only thing keeping her from thinking of how differently the night would have gone if she hadn’t cut him off so unceremoniously.
Jesse hit stop as the credits rolled and the familiar groans and stretches started around the room. Amanda looked away as Corie leaned over and kissed Vega awake.
Sam eased to the edge of the couch, toying with his cowboy hat perched on his knee before he turned to her. “Ready to head back?” Amanda almost twitched at the raw edge to his voice. Sleepy looked good on him.
“Yeah sure.” She stood and shrugged on her coat. “Thanks for having me over,” she whispered to Jesse.
“Anytime. Corie, take Lilah with you. She’s gonna wake up at four a.m. all confused.”
“Copy that. Babe, come on,” she said, helping a sleepwalking Vega off the love seat. They all made their way back to the foyer and said their goodnights as they found their shoes. The girls headed in the direction of one of the other houses as Amanda followed Sam back to his Tesla. They were quiet on the way back to the ranch. Amanda attributed it to the quiet beauty of the night. The sky was so clear and the stars so bright she didn’t want to interrupt them. Sam didn’t seem to mind. He didn’t say a word until they pulled to a stop in front of the lodge’s front doors. No bellhops at this hour.
Amanda’s pulse quickened when Sam turned to her, a gentle, kind smile touching his lips. “I’ll walk you in.”
“Okay,” she managed to squeak out. It was quiet between them again as they made their way through the lobby and the winding hallways back to her room. She dug out her keycard when they finally reached the door, then dug a little deeper for the nerve she needed to say the words that were on the tip of her tongue.
“Hey, Sam?”
“Hey, Amanda.”
“Uh, hypothetically, how do you feel about second chances?”
“Well, I would need a hypothetical scenario. What kind of second chances are we hypothetically talking about?”
“Like say a girl, a cute girl much like myself, was a little overwhelmed, by a lot of things, and she thought it would be better to spend time with a cute boy as friends, but then they spent time together as friends and she realized how badly she wanted him to kiss her goodnight. Second chances like that. Hypothetically.”
“Hmm, that’s tough. If it was a devastatingly handsome man like myself and a woman, one like you, for example.”
“Yeah?”
“I’d remind her that I’m a man with feelings too, so while I’d be down for second chances, I don’t think I could swing third or fourth.”
“Oh no yeah. No, that’s totally fair. Hypothetically.”
“Come on, Cha-Cha. What’s on your mind?”
Amanda felt her cheeks warm at the sound of the silly nickname. “I do like you. I just—just I need to go slow. And yes, I know how that sounds considering we fucked before you knew my name.”
“I’m telling you, it’s a great story for the grandkids.”
“Anyway.”
“Listen—”
“Who was your last relationship with?” She instantly regretted it. “Sorry. That was—I don’t know what the hell that was.”
“It’s okay. I was with Natalie Burke and we ended it because things were moving a little too fast for me.”
“I’ve been single for a while and I wasn’t expecting to meet anyone, but here we are. And I do like you—”
“We can take it slow.”
“Good.”
“Do you have any Valentine’s Day plans?”
“I really want to meet your horse.” She laughed. “I never thought I’d say that.”
“I’m going for a ride at seven a.m. if you want to join me.”
“I do not,” Amanda laughed again.
“How about I text you when we get back and we can meet up for breakfast?”
“That sounds perfect,” Amanda said as a yawn broke up the mood. “Sorry.”
“Go to sleep.” Sam stepped closer, pulling her in tighter with an arm around her waist. There was no elaborate updo and no sparkly jumpsuit, no tux. But there was another quiet hotel hallway and the shadow of a sexy-as-fuck cowboy hat that covered both their faces as he leaned down to kiss her. In the back of her mind, Amanda knew all she had to do was keep Sam Pleasant close to her chest and away from Dru’s life-ruining clutches. As he groaned into her mouth she had a feeling that wouldn’t be a problem.
Chapter 12
Sam checked the dozen or so photos he’d just taken during their slow morning ride before he glanced over at Evie. She handed Bam Bam’s reins to Chris, one of the stable
