“There’s that reference to guilt again.” She gave him an odd look. “Honestly, I didn’t think you had it in you.”

“I might surprise you with my depth.”

“Doubtful,” she answered, and he didn’t let the sting of that word show on his face. She studied him for a few weighted moments. “But okay. If you’re sure your family won’t mind? It would be better than a movie marathon, that’s for sure.”

Satisfaction rolled through Sam like an easy wave. “Are you kidding? My family is going to love you.”

CHAPTER THREE

BELLA COULDN’T EXPLAIN why she felt nervous as they drove deeper into the Blue Ridge Mountains on the western side of North Carolina the following afternoon. She and Sam were friends. Other than the other teachers at school, he was the person who knew her best in Magnolia.

Somehow this felt different. She realized that before today, the only time she’d spent with him outside of hanging on the front porches of one of their respective sides of the duplex was the trip to the vet’s office with Tater.

They’d never so much as gone for a beer together in the year and a half they’d been neighbors. Not that Bella went for many beers. She spent time at school and took yoga classes at the dance studio in town. Otherwise, she realized now, she was a bit of a loner.

She didn’t really date, although she wasn’t against having a boyfriend or falling in love. She wanted those things in her life. Unfortunately, most men she knew or met in the small town couldn’t compete with her fantasies of her handsome neighbor. Even if he was a serial dater who’d shown no romantic interest in her, despite his revolving door of casual girlfriends.

It was for the best, she told herself. Bella had no interest in casual hookups and hated that Sam obviously thought he had nothing else to offer.

From what she’d heard through the grapevine at school, most of the women he’d gone out with had the same opinion of him. He was a good time, always easy with a laugh or ready to make a woman feel beautiful. But no one seemed to expect more of him.

Bella would, which was just one more reason they wouldn’t be a match.

Other than in her daydreams.

“It’s only a little farther,” he told her, his eyes trained on the curving road in front of them.

“This area is beautiful,” she murmured, pressing her fingers against the cool glass of the passenger window. “It reminds me in some ways of Colorado, although the trees are different.”

“And there’s not much snow.”

“And no craggy peaks or gobs of rich tourists.”

“I promise it will be fun without all the trappings of a Colorado mountain town,” Sam told her, his voice grave. “For you, anyway. Like I said, my family will love you.”

She cut him a look and noticed that his jaw was tense, his fingers gripping the wheel like a lifeline. “Isn’t Christmas with your family fun for you?”