The panic started to set in again. Her stomach felt like it was still somewhere near the floor, and now an odd heat was creeping up her neck and wrapping around her ears. Her flight response was lacing up her sneakers. But her greater instinct to not make matters worse waving its own neon flag forced her to hold still.

Sam was famous and from the looks of things well known by virtue of being a Pleasant long before Oscar nominations had been announced. If fear forced her to walk away now that would be the end for the two of them. She couldn’t keep running and hiding.

Would this end horribly? Yes. How could it not? Zach and the proactive bar staff may have thwarted one asshole’s efforts tonight, but what about the next time? Sam’s career was on the rise and interest in him was only going to grow.

If this was going to end eventually, Amanda refused to be the one to light the fuse. She wanted to enjoy her time with Sam while she still could. She loved the way his fingers felt on her side too much to let fear ruin what could be a perfect Valentine’s Day at this perfectly weird bar.

“We’re good,” Zach said, before he ordered another round for them all.

Sam leaned closer, his eyes scanning her face. She’d made up her mind, but she realized her breathing hadn’t returned to normal. “They’re gone, but we can leave if you want to.”

“No, I—you have more experience with this than I do.” She swallowed. “We can do whatever. You wanna stay and rage, we can stay and rage. The DJ hasn’t played a single slide yet. Cha-cha or electric.”

Sam was quiet for a moment, running his teeth over his bottom lip. Amanda wanted to hug him, then kiss the hell out of him, but she was sure someone else would photograph that. Sam glanced around the room before he took off his cowboy hat and scratched the back of his head. He let out a breath and slid the hat back into place. “Let’s get out of here.”

“’Kay.” They said a quick goodbye to Zach and Evie and waved to Brit and Delfi, who were still fucking shit up on the dance floor.

“Where should we go?” Amanda asked as they pulled out of the dirt parking lot. She wasn’t sure if she’d succeeded in keeping her voice light. She didn’t want to leave the bar and she definitely didn’t want their night to end early just because location number one turned out to be a bust.

Sam let out another deep breath, a little more pained this time, a little more frustrated. He was not okay.

“If there was one place around here. One place you had to show me. Where would that be?”