“We belong to the Internet.”
“Bitch, we belong to the Internet.”
“I get it. I don’t want that either.”
“Listen, you introduced me to your family, day one. You introduced me to your horse.”
“That’s huge. You don’t even know.”
“So, I met your horse. I met your grandma. I’m a little less terrified of your brother Jesse, and Evie, well, she loves me.”
“How could she not?”
“My mom can’t keep a secret for shit so maybe I won’t tell her right away, but as soon as Helene and Ignacio are back from their honeymoon I’ll tell Helene. And then maybe we can go double-dating on Ignacio’s yacht or, like, go window-shopping for exotic animals and buy the most illegal one. I don’t know what rich people do with their free time,” she teased.
“We’re rich. Not white.”
“True. Tex, let’s just protect this from the Internet for as long as possible.”
“Anything for you, Cha-Cha. Anything you want.”
“I want to sleep with you again. And then probably again.”
“Oh, we can definitely do that.”
“Why don’t we head back to my room. Like now. My front is very warm but my butt is freezing.”
Amanda felt Sam’s hands ease down her hips before he reached around and grabbed her ass in his firm grip. “Better?”
“Much. But we still can’t do this outside.”
“Okay,” Sam laughed. “Let’s go.”
Chapter 17
Sam pulled back up to the front of the lodge and tried to ignore the clock on his dashboard. Their night wasn’t over, but he didn’t expect to be back at the ranch just before nine p.m. He needed to turn his mood around and enjoy the time he had left with Amanda before their weekend was over. He glanced through the front doors and caught the shadows of a couple walking through the lobby.
“Head on in. I’ll go park.”
“I can come with you,” Amanda replied, her voice light. Sam could tell she was trying to make him feel better and he really appreciated it. He reached over and took her hand so he could lay a warm kiss on her cold fingers.
“I’d love the company, but in the interest of our collective privacy—”
“Right.” Other guests might have seen them together earlier, but things felt different now. Things between them were different and he wasn’t coming up just to say goodnight. He wasn’t planning on walking back out. “Well, in that case, let me just go freshen up. I’ve never said that before.” She wiggled her eyebrows, so damn proud of herself. Sam chuckled quietly before kissing the back of Amanda’s hand one more time.
“Text me when you’re feeling fresh enough.”
“Oh, I will, baby.” She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek, then climbed out of the car. He waited until she was safely inside before he pulled out of the curved drive. He took a U-turn and drove behind the lodge so he could leave his car in Zach’s parking space. He took his time walking back to the front, breathing in the night air, wondering where exactly he had gone wrong. The truth was that he’d done the best work of his career and been rewarded for it and as a result he was now a thing. He thought he’d been prepared. He couldn’t go anywhere in a hundred-mile radius without someone recognizing him as Jesse Pleasant Sr.’s boy or Zach and Jesse’s little brother, but that kind of notoriety had never impacted his love life before. He had never come close to scaring off someone he was starting to care deeply for.
And yeah, even though Amanda had stuck around, handling the whole situation at Claim Jumpers like a champ, he didn’t miss the shock and hesitation in her eyes. She was so close to hightailing it back to the city. Things were fresh, but so easy between them. He didn’t want to lose her. Not again. All he could do was be cautious and show her that she was his focus now. He stepped into the lobby and greeted the young lady at the front desk with a nod and tip of his hat. He thought about taking a seat in one of the available chairs in front of the central fireplace, but decided against it. Privacy was a firm policy at Big Rock, but at the moment he wasn’t in the mood to even risk being recognized. He headed down the hallway toward Amanda’s room.
He pulled out his phone as he waited outside her door and thought about braving a look at his social media. He wasn’t in the mood for whatever comments were waiting for him on Instagram, but Twitter usually delivered the appropriate levels of humor at a time like this. Sure enough the first thing was that photo that was turned into a meme of Jason Derulo falling backward down the Met Gala stairs almost ten years ago. JASON DERULO FALLS DOWN THE STAIRS ON HIS WAY TO VOTE IN THE DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY. Sam laughed quietly to himself as he ignored the thousands of tweets hanging out in his mentions and kept scrolling. A few minutes later a text from Amanda popped up on his screen.
Okay I’m ready.
I’m right outside your door.
He rolled his shoulder along the wall reaching over to knock lightly on the door. It cracked open a moment later. Amanda’s smiling face was visible through the small opening. He couldn’t help but smile back.
“Hi,” she said with a hint of playful seduction in her voice.
“Hi.”
“You wanna come in?”
“Yeah, I’d like that.”
“’Kay.” She opened the door all the way revealing the beautiful fact that she was wearing nothing but a white ranch towel that left almost nothing to the imagination. Her cleavage spilled out over the edge of the white fabric that she was holding together with a death grip in
