Sam turned to Amanda, eyebrow raised. “You wanna go to a cowboy dive bar for the most romantic night of your life?”

“Sure,” Amanda laughed. “But is it truly a dive bar, ’cause the nicest thing I brought with me is my comfy cardigan. And by nice, I mean off the Old Navy clearance rack. I don’t want to show up and your idea of a dive bar is Hamptons casual.”

“Oh no. It’s a real shithole,” Zach said.

“Try again, young man,” Miss Leona called from across the room.

“Yes, ma’am. Sorry. It’s a somewhat remodeled dump, but all the locals hang out there. Friends from high school, a lot of our people from the ranch. Cheap drinks and the music is usually good.”

“You could go in what you have on now and you’d be fine,” Evie added. “You guys should come with us.”

“You down?” Sam asked.

“Yeah, let’s do it.”

“Great.”

Amanda said her goodbyes, collecting hugs all around except from Jesse, who was still seated at the table doing something on his phone. He did however stand and shake her hand. “Here until tomorrow?” he asked all businesslike.

“Yeah, leaving in the morning so I can beat the traffic back.”

He just nodded, then went back to his phone. Amanda had no clue what to make of him. She followed Sam outside and across the cul-de-sac. Only two dogs followed them this time, but they happily trotted back to Miss Leona’s when Sam told them to get on.

“So?” Sam said when they got into his Tesla. “That wasn’t bad.”

“Oh, you missed the part where I basically confessed my undying fangirl love for your grandmother.”

“When was that?” Sam said, chuckling a bit.

“When you were in the shower. She handled it well, thank God, but yeah. I was pretty sure I’d blown it right then and there.”

“But you didn’t. She really likes you.”

“Well, I like your whole family. And Vega.” She didn’t mention how homesick it made her for her parents.

“They all liked you,” he insisted. Amanda couldn’t help but notice the sudden softness to his voice. She looked up at him through her lashes and fought the urge to sigh at what she saw. Sam Pleasant was looking at her, really looking at her. Not her tits or her ass, which were both amazing, but really looking at her and she couldn’t ignore what she saw reflected back at her. Sam liked her. Or he was starting to. She hadn’t been on the receiving end of that look in a while, but she knew when it was real. She took his hand and scooted a little closer even though the center console stopped them from getting as close as she wanted.

“I want to apologize for what I said, about your career.”