“Who might sleep with each other again.”
Amanda rolled her eyes and started walking down the hall, back toward the lobby. “Let’s go, Tex.”
“After you.”
Chapter 11
Amanda watched the road as they made their way back to Sam’s brother’s house. Absently she made note of every landmark and turn, the changes in fences as they passed different farms and fields. Soon the landscape cleared again and it looked like there were miles and miles of open desert between them and the snowcapped mountains up ahead. The small pup in her arms shifted and rested its head in the crook of her arm. It took all she had not to let out the most ridiculous, contented sigh. She didn’t need a spa to relax, just a clear night with a big moon in the sky and the cutest dog ever in her arms.
“She likes you,” Sam said, over the low-playing music.
Amanda looked down and scratched the scuff on the back of Poppy’s soft head before she glanced over at Sam and flashed him a confident grin.
“What’s not to like?”
“You got me there.”
“I didn’t know cowboys drove luxury sedans,” she said, changing the subject. Every moment she spent with Sam Pleasant felt like she was gambling with her self-control. She knew what she’d said and wasn’t foolish enough to lie to herself about how pushing Sam away was in direct contradiction to how she was starting to feel about him. But she knew it was less than a good idea to bring attention to the way he looked at her or the fact that they both couldn’t seem to stop flirting with each other. The car. The car was a safe subject.
“It’s a little cold for us to take the ATVs.”
“I’m just messing with you,” she replied even though she was trying to marry these two images of Sam Pleasant she had in her head. The cowboy hat and the worn jeans cut quite the figure behind the wheel of a sleek new Tesla.
“My agent told me to stop showing up for meetings in my truck after I started getting real jobs. Also I don’t know if you’ve tried to park an extended cab anywhere in LA but—”
“Actually.”
“Oh, word? Actually what?” His warm laugh filled the car.
“Back in my set PA days I drove a ten pass van for, like, three months. Finding places to park that thing was such a pain in the ass.”
“So you get it.”
“I do.”
“I gave my truck to my cousin.”
“That’s nice of you.”
A soft smile touched the corner of his lips, making Amanda think there was more to that story, but she didn’t push. “So who am I meeting tonight?”
“I think you met my brother Jesse before the wedding.”
“Briefly, yes.”
“It’s his house we’re going to. My brother Zach and his fiancée, Evie, are doing regular date night before date night extreme tomorrow. So they won’t be around.”
“Okay,” Amanda laughed.
“My cousin Lilah will be there. She’s the youngest of all the Pleasants. Well, the grandkids. There are four great-grandkids now.”
“Oh wow, how many grandkids are there?”
“Fifteen. Lilah’s the youngest of eight.”
“Double wow.”
“Did you just say double wow?”