“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

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.