Seth cleared his throat before answering. “Abby’s baby is Sam’s. I am the baby’s uncle. I wish the three of them only the best.”

Janice tossed her silk napkin down on her empty plate. “This is ridiculous!” She stormed out of the room, leaving the rest of us sitting at the table, uncomfortably silent.

I had expected Sutton Davis to play the supportive husband and follow after his wife. Instead, he signaled to the wait staff that we were ready to eat, and they scurried in to deliver our food.

The room was quiet while we ate, with the exception of Jessie, who had turned into a chatterbox. She regaled us with stories about Katie’s latest escapades and effortlessly filled the awkward void. I smiled at her gratefully a few times, but didn’t dare to speak, in fear that I would burst into tears.

When the meal was finally over and Sam and I returned to his Porsche, he said, “Glad that’s over with. Let’s get out of here. Unless you’d like to stay?”

I gawked at him, wondering if he’d lost his mind.

He gave me an ornery, crooked grin, and I knew that he was teasing me. The emotion and stress had evidently been building for too long because we both erupted into relieved, silly laughter.

27

Sam and I made sweet, tender love when we got back to my house. Our coupling was slow as we lovingly entwined our bodies and souls. We were both on our sides as we cherished each other with our fingers, lips, and tongues. I clung to him as I came, crying out his name, lost in ecstasy. He looked directly into my eyes as the orgasm swept through his body, his hands on either side of my face as he kissed me, exhaling his sensual gasp into my mouth. His breath was hot and fragrant, and I savored the feeling of sharing his air.

We stayed naked, wrapped around each other in my bed for a long while. Sam dropped soft kisses along my forehead, cheeks, nose, chin, and lips. I had never felt so adored. He treated me like a rare treasure, but I felt like I was the one who had found the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Sam was everything I could have dreamed of, and more. I just hoped that his mother would someday find it in her heart to forgive me. If Janice and I could forge some type of truce, my life with Sam would be ideal. Well, almost ideal. I was still steadfastly ignoring what he was planning to do to my town. I was also in complete denial about the other women that would evidently be a constant fixture in Sam’s life, like that trollop that I had seen sitting on his desk. Okay, maybe things weren’t quite perfect, but I did love Sam and our baby immensely.