“I’ll book a room with Naomi.” Amanda watched Sam’s face closely, noting the hurt he was trying to hide. Finally he gave her a little nod, letting her know he understood, that he wouldn’t push her any further. She dropped her gaze to the knot of his tie, and they spent the rest of the song swaying together in their own corner of the dance floor. When the song ended she wanted to leave him with a final bit of advice, maybe hint at the idea that he should ignore any DMs he received from Dru, but she decided to stay out of it. If he took her up on her offer, it would just serve as further proof that Amanda had no business messing with Sam. She stepped back, taking his hand as it slipped from her waist.

She reached up and slowly, but playfully drew the backs of her fingers down his cheeks.

“You’ll find another girl like me, Tex. I promise,” she said in a deep Southern drawl.

“Don’t make this worse than it already is. You best go, missy. Leave a cowboy to his broken heart,” he responded in kind. Amanda chuckled a bit as she gave his fingers a light squeeze, then walked away. This was how they needed to leave it, with laughs and no hard feelings. Nothing had really happened between them anyway, just some pelvis-quaking sex and part of a really decadent dessert. Speaking of which . . .

Amanda grabbed a piece of cake and headed back to her table, where Helene’s actual cousin was sitting, rocking her sleeping toddler. She could still see Sam on the other side of the room. The smile had returned to his face as Loud Mouth stepped up and started to dance with him.

“Oh, I haven’t had any cake yet,” Helene’s cousin said as Amanda made herself comfortable.

“You want me to grab you a slice? Your hands are full with the baby,” Amanda replied.

“No. I’ll get one before we head back to our room. Are you having fun?”

“I am,” Amanda said, even if it wasn’t the whole truth. For once, she couldn’t wait to get back to LA, where her regular life was underwhelming and exceedingly less complicated.

* * *