Just then Amanda heard her phone vibrate once on the bed.

“I missed seeing my brothers and my grandma.”

“I’m sure they are glad to have you back. Are you gonna get in on this? ’Cause I will eat the whole thing,” she said, going in for another spoonful. “This ice cream has angel tears in it or something.”

“Yeah, I’m gonna have some, but first, a toast.”

“Oh, to what!”

“Hold on.” Sam grabbed the bottle of champagne and made quick work of the foil and the wire before he twisted the cork off into his palm with a light pop. “There’s no reason to send a cork flying.”

“I agree with you.”

Amanda watched his confident hands as he filled her glass and handed it to her.

“Here’s to us,” he said.

Amanda felt her eyebrow jump up. “To us?”

“To us. And the do-over story we have to tell our grandchildren.”

Laughter sputtered out of Amanda. “What?!”

“What? You want to tell them how you seduced and then robbed me on Oscar night?”

“I mean, yeah. It’s a better story than telling we met at a wedding. Sometimes you need to know that your grandma liked to steal.”

“Like I said, to us.”

Amanda rolled her eyes as she gently clinked her glass to his. She fought the urge to toss back the champagne and took a small sip. “You know, you’re going to feel real silly when you wake up Monday morning and realize I was just a figment of your imagination.”

“Oh really!”

“You know all this is too good to be true,” Amanda said, and she flipped an imaginary hunk of hair off her shoulder. Sam laughed in response, but his deep chuckle died on his lips as Amanda slid her fingers over his thigh. She savored how nice his muscles felt under the perfectly tailored dress pants.

“Be careful now,” he said quietly.

“Or what?”

“I’m gonna sex you into a coma and make off with your horse.”

“No, please. Not my horse,” Amanda begged.

“You know what they say when you take something with you?”

“What’s that?”

“That you didn’t want to go,” Sam said.

“No, no. That’s if you leave something behind. It means you wished you could stay and you’re looking for a reason to come back. If you take something that just means that. You like. To steal.”

Sam shook his head, another smile spread over his face. “Imma kiss you now, Cha-Cha.”