“I will. Thanks.” Amanda flashed him a weak smile and then turned back to her car. Sam waved at her when she buckled in behind the wheel, then headed back inside toward the restaurant. When she pulled down to the mouth of the alley she checked both ways for traffic. And just before she pulled back out onto the street she could have sworn she’d seen two paparazzi on the opposite corner. She prayed to God that Sam wasn’t the one they were looking for.

* * *

Sam kept his eyes focused on the mouth of the trail ahead. He’d set out right at sunrise, taking his black mare out to start their day. He thought another long ride with Majesty would help take his mind off everything. Usually the time he spent in the saddle helped clear his head. He could take in the sounds of nature around him, or talk to Majesty about whatever he was thinking. By the time he made it back to the stables Sam would have found some sort of clarity, but today the quiet just gave him more time to overthink and overanalyze. Again and again.

He’d had one hell of a week. Getting kicked to the curb by Amanda. Being offered several roles, each more reductive and stereotypical than the next; more DMs from women like Dru Anastasia, who he had no interest in dating; running into Amanda again. Something about her had him all messed up.

He’d had every intention of leaving her alone like she’d asked. He wasn’t going to probe Helene for her number when she got back from her honeymoon. He wasn’t even going to ask how she was doing, but when he saw her in Delightly, upset as hell, something in him knew he couldn’t just let her walk away without at least checking on her. If she accepted his offer for a weekend on the ranch, he’d continue to keep his word and his distance, unless she changed her mind. He’d do the work of getting over whatever feelings he’d developed for her in the short time they’d known each other, but he realized as he and Majesty had taken their morning stroll that Walls had been onto something.

His breakup with Natalie had been what it was. A necessary end. They weren’t in the same place emotionally and it became pretty obvious to him that he didn’t want to get to that place with her. Still there may have been something to Walls’s suggestion that he’d been moping. Sulking even. Sam was unhappy and unfulfilled. And now it was clear to him love was the thing he was looking for. He’d never admit that out loud, not in those words, but it was the way he felt.