by Hart, Taylor
“Hello.” Janet’s voice was snooty.
“Where are you?”
“Don’t do your mental voodoo, Samantha.” Janet always called her Samantha, never the nickname everyone else used.
“Well, wherever you are, it stinks.”
She sighed. “If you must know, I’m in the hospital. I’m about to get surgery on my nose tomorrow.”
This took her aback. “Your nose?”
She gave another long sigh. “You know I’ve always hated it. You got the cute nub nose that all the boys liked. Petite. The one I’ve always hated you for.” She snickered.
Sam already wanted to throw the phone. This is why she shouldn’t concern herself with her sister. “You mean one of the things you’ve hated me for.”
“Shut up.” Her sister barked.
“Whatever.”
“Well, as long as I have you on the line, Zoey showed up last night.”
Her heart stopped beating for a second. Things must be bad if Zoey was resorting to going to Janet for help. “Okay.”
“Yeah, she came with the loser boyfriend. She asked for money.”
“And?”
“I gave her a thousand bucks and told her not to come back.”
This burned her. “Janet, we’ve talked about this. You should ask her if she needs food or go buy her groceries. If you give her money, it will all go to drugs, you know that.”
“She wouldn’t leave my doorstep, and I don’t want people seeing her in my neighborhood.”
“Ugh!”
“I have to go. The doctor’s here. Bye.”
Pulling back the phone, Sam held it tightly, wanting to crush it. Janet had promised her when she left that she would be more mindful of Zoey. Have her over. Check in on her. Just giving her money from her new husband’s estate wasn’t the solution.
Putting the phone down carefully, she pulled the folder out for Damon and put it on the table. She had planned to go over there and give him the folder and tell him to look it over and get it back to her tomorrow, but at the moment, she couldn’t handle that. She couldn’t handle anything except a run.
An hour later, she cruised down the trail, loving the way her body felt loose and free. Loving the loud rock music pounding through her earbuds. Loving the fact that she could just go out her front door and run right into nature.
As she approached her cabin, she was stopped short by Damon.
He was sitting on her porch steps, dressed in a blue t-shirt that hugged his biceps in all the right places. When he stood, she noticed how good the dark jeans looked on him too. Dang good.
Nervous butterflies filled the lower part of her gut, and she slowed down, pulling out her earbuds.
He gave her a complete up-and-down look, and the side of his lip turned up. “Have a good run?”
Suddenly, she noticed the side of his eye was black, and there were a few strips of medical tape where the crease of his eye met. She frowned. “What happened to you?”
He turned away, shaking his head. “Nothing.”
The pit of her gut told her he was lying. “What happened?”
At that moment, he stared back at her. There was a playful taunt in his eyes. “Jumped off a cliff, died on impact?”
She knew it was a quote from one of Adam Sandler’s movies, but couldn’t place it. “Okay.”
He grinned.
She rushed past him up the stairs. “I’m glad you’re here anyway. Your brother wanted me to go over some things with you.”
She pushed into the house and went directly for the file on the table.
He waited outside.
“Come in.” She waved him in.
He opened the door and looked around, looking like his eyes were scrupulously taking in everything.
“So your brother wants you to take over the day-to-day management of the cabins. Collect rents and do all that stuff.” She pushed the file at him, feeling nervous ’cause she could smell his cologne. It was like fresh cut grass after a rainstorm. His hair still looked a bit wet, and his facial hair was that perfect balance of sexy scruff. She couldn’t breathe for a second because all she could think about was kissing him.
He took the file.
“If you have questions or need help understanding the lingo, let me know.”
He grinned at her.
“What?”
He took her by surprise, pounding his chest with a thud. “Me man. Me can read.”
His joke and his wit made her suddenly laugh. She thought of the other night, taunting him with Harvard. She was embarrassed. It seemed to be a habit of hers when it came to him.
“How was the run?” he asked again.
“Good.” Now she felt disarmed, and she realized she didn’t know what to say.
He nodded. “I like those trails.”
“Do you run them?” Not that he didn’t look like he ran them; he did.
“Early.” He nodded.
“Oh.” She sighed, not knowing what to do.
He took in a breath. “Smells good.”
She was stupefied. Did he want dinner? She shrugged. “Yeah, I eat cheap. Gotta pay the student loans off, ya know. Some of us don’t own cabins and property and all that.”
For a second, he didn’t respond, and she felt like a heel for even saying anything. Then he let out a breath. “I’m training for the police and fire department boxing match.”
This was out of the blue.
“Okay.”
“You asked earlier what happened to my face.”
At that moment, she realized something. Maybe he was nervous too. Knowing that still did not help her break the awkward silence.
He began walking toward the door. “You should come at the end of the month and watch. It’ll be fun.” He opened the door and turned to her. “Have a good night.”
It unsettled her that he had this affect on her. Now her mind was whizzing with more questions than she’d had about a guy in a long time.
Without thinking, she rushed to the door and flung it back. “Do you want to eat dinner with me?”
At first, she thought he may not have heard her, but then he turned back.
She was struck again by how beautiful the man was, even with a black eye and a stitch.
He stopped then nodded. “Yes, but not tonight. How about I pick you up tomorrow night at seven?”
Her heart raced. A date? No, no, no. But hadn’t she just asked him to eat dinner here? She meant the stupid crockpot chicken, not an official date.
He spread his hands, and his grin widened. “I mean, I’m not a Harvard man, but I can still swing dinner.” He winked at her.
She was all out of sorts. “Fine,” she said, rushing back into the house and shutting the door behind her.
It annoyed her that she could hear him laughing through the open windows.
7
The next evening, Damon climbed into his Jeep to pick up Sam.
What was he doing? He’d been asking himself that question all day. He drove the not even quarter of a mile down to her cabin. Pulling in, he took in a long breath and decided not to over think it. It was just a date. She didn’t have to know all his stuff. She didn’t have to get drawn into his crapfest of a life.
He wouldn’t have to tell her about the past six months. Would he? No. Not a first date thing.
To be honest, he didn’t know what a first date thing was anymore. It’d been over a year since he’d had a date. He had gotten tired of the same ol’ same ol’. Then everything happened with work, and he hadn’t even thought about dating.
His hands shook, and he clenched them around the steering wheel. Lately, they’d been shaking sometimes. He didn’t know if it was a nervous twitch or what, but he didn’t appreciate it. He let out another long breath and watched her cabin. Her blinds were drawn, so he couldn’t see anything, but he saw light seeping out of the cracks. He’d been off shift today, and he’d started the project of cleaning up the cabins. He’d borrowed Nick’s truck and taken a c
ouple of trips to the dump with a bunch of underbrush and trees that needed clearing. The property was disappointingly overgrown. Granted, he had no one to blame but himself.
Even after all the exertion, he was still feeling punchy. He’d gone for a long run this morning, but he felt like he could easily do another one right now.
“Suck it up, Freestone.” He whispered to himself, looking at his eyes in the rearview mirror. It was just one dinner.
He was halfway up her stairs when he realized he probably should have brought flowers. Chocolates. He didn’t know; he was all out of sorts. The only thing he knew was that Samantha Worthington was the only woman he’d been halfway interested in since … everything. And she had asked him to dinner. Okay, he knew she’d been talking about the crockpot. From the way she’d asked him, he felt it was almost out of pity.
He didn’t need pity. So he’d asked her on an official date.
He banged on the door, and it came out too loudly. He took a step back.
It wasn’t two seconds before the door was open, but she had the phone to her ear. “I have to go Zoey, but I mean it, don’t do anything stupid, okay?” She pulled the door shut behind her. “I love you,” she said just before hanging up.
Even though he hadn’t expected her to be on the phone, he was a bit glad because it unnerved him how good she looked. She wore a white sundress with a small jean jacket. She had flip-flops on, so she was quite a bit shorter than him. Her brilliant red hair was straight and fancy tonight. He thought about the fuzzy, curls she’d had the day he met her, and something stirred inside of him. When their eyes met, he felt caught in a trance.
“Hey.” She halfway smiled, and all he wanted to do was pull her into him and kiss her. The smell of her. Lemony right now, but he knew if he put his face into her neck he would smell that strawberry shampoo again. That’s all he wanted to do.
“Hey.” She frowned.
He shook his head and tried not to have a rubbery smile or think about how amazing she looked. “Are you ready?”
She gave him another look like he was an idiot. “Yes.”
“Right.” He wondered if he should take her hand or something, but then gingerly climbed down the steps without reaching out. “Then let’s go.” The last stair on the steps gave a bit, and he stumbled.
Without missing a beat, she smiled and went for the passenger side of his Jeep. “Yeah, talk to the landlord about that, would ya?”
It struck him that he was responsible for her home being in disrepair, and he didn’t like it. He rushed up to her side and opened her door just as she reached out for it.
She paused, turning and cocking an eyebrow at him. “Thanks.”
“I’ll get that step fixed.” He promised before shutting the door and jogging to the other side.
When he got in, the smell of her in the closed space was even more intoxicating.
He started the Jeep and put it into gear.
She didn’t speak, so he searched for something to say. “So was that your sister on the phone or something?”
Looking a bit surprised, she nodded. “Yep.”
He wanted to ask more because it felt like she’d been worried about her, but he didn’t know what to ask.
“So this isn’t really a date, right?”
It struck him at that moment she was nervous too.
“I mean, I just have this policy about not dating at this point in my life because I’m trying to get my loans paid off and stay focused. I mean, I’m not going to be staying in Park City or anything, and I didn’t want to get attached.”
He didn’t know how to take this woman, but found her a bit funny. On the outside, she looked so calm and collected, but he saw the way her leg tapped nervously, and now she was twisting her hair. He didn’t say anything, which seemed to make her more nervous.
“Right?” She pressed.
“Okay, whatever you want. This is just a neighborly date.” He conceded.
“I mean, I know we kissed the other day—”
“You kissed me.” He insisted, interrupting.
She sucked in a long breath and then let it out in a skittering laugh. “Ah, no. I didn’t.”
“Yeah, you did.” He shifted gears and swerved out of the cabins and onto the main highway, heading into town. He didn’t know exactly where to take her. He hadn’t been out for a while. Well, not for more than a burger or pizza, and he suddenly wanted to really take this girl out. Obviously, she didn’t date that much. Probably hadn’t had a nice dinner in a long time.
“Look, all I’m saying is I don’t want you—”
“To get the wrong idea?” He filled in for her and flashed her a smile, liking the idea that he was flirting with her. He hadn’t flirted in a long time.
“I don’t …”
He cut her off, not wanting to fight about the fact that she had kissed him. He only wanted to figure out a way to kiss her again. Kiss her a lot. Maybe even … he pushed those thoughts away. One moment. He had to be in this moment. “Tell me about your sister.”
“What?” This stopped her short.
“Tell me about your sister. You’re clearly worried about her.”
When she looked out the window, he could tell she was debating if she should tell him or not.
“Look. You don’t have to. I just thought we could be neighborly.”
Abruptly, she turned back to him. “Right. Neighborly. Where are you taking me?”
Knowing she was trying to deflect, he messed with her. “I think this is the part of the book where I kill you and hide the body, right?”
She let out a puff of breath and gently pushed his shoulder, which he liked. “Seriously, where are we going?”
Until that moment, he hadn’t really known, but just then, they came upon one of the best steak houses in Park City—Ruth’s Chris. He swerved to swing into the parking lot. “Here.”
She frowned and looked at it. “It looks expensive.”
He appreciated that she wasn’t entitled and prissy. “So?”
“Well, it just looks expensive.”
Parking his Jeep, he turned to her. “It’s okay. I invited you for dinner, so I’m paying.”
Looking skeptical, she started to open her door to get out.
“Wait.” He pointed to her door, dashed out his side, and ran around to open her door.
She stared down at him, clearly not knowing how to take him.
He reached up for her hand.
She let him help her down. Once again, they were close to each other. Kissable close. He swore he could smell strawberries. Maybe. But he might need to be a bit closer to her.
Hesitating only briefly, he felt the tension between them. He knew himself. He’d never been the type to draw out the dating thing. Once he decided he liked a woman, he went for it. Kind of like deciding he wouldn’t back down from a fire. If he was in, he was in. He felt himself already on the scorch line with her.
Unfortunately, she quickly moved away. “Thank you for opening my door.”
Shutting the door, he locked it then caught up to her, matching her stride. “So, your sister.”
Finally, she started talking. “My sister is back in Denver. She used to live with me. My parents died when I was seventeen, and it’s a complicated story.”
“Everyone has a past,” he said quietly.
She stopped talking as they walked through the convention center lobby of the hotel and straight back to the restaurant.
They got to the front, and he noticed it was pretty packed.
“Do you have a reservation?” the hostess asked.
He shook his head. “Nope.”
Frowning at him, she looked over her floor chart.
He didn’t like the uppity way she seemed to be deciding if she would let them in or not. So he did the thing he’d never liked doing growing up. He really didn’t even deserve to do it because he hadn’t been here for ten years, but he knew it would get them a table.
“Look for a reservat
ion for Freestone.”
Her head jerked up, and her eyes narrowed. “Well, there are always certain reservations we hold for VIPs.” She hesitated. “Are you a Freestone?”
Her response made him put on the airs he’d seen his father put on a hundred times. Giving her an annoyed, elitist look, he flashed a grin. “A thoroughbred, you might say. I’m the oldest of the Freestones. Damon.”
Her eyes widened. “Oh, right.” She scrambled and penned something onto the seating chart in front of her. “Your … another Freestone is here, but we can accommodate you. Of course. Let me get you to an excellent table.”
Sam only cracked a half smile, clearly in on the game. They followed the hostess to a beautiful part of the restaurant with huge windows that opened up into the forest. Even though the sun was setting, the gazebo in the gardens was lit up, and it looked breathtaking. He remembered coming as a kid, or meeting his father for lunches or a plethora of other events.
Unsurprisingly, Luke was the Freestone that was there, but luckily, he was leaving with his date. Someone Damon didn’t recognize.
Luke paused next to him, giving him a once-over and then rolling his eyes.
“Hey, bro.” Damon tried to sound obnoxious, and it worked.
The side of Luke’s jaw tightened, but he smiled politely. “Damon. Imagine seeing you here.” Then he flashed a surprised look at Sam. “Samantha.”
Sam held his gaze, and Damon was proud of her for not looking embarrassed. “Luke.”
They moved past, and Luke called after him. “Damon.” He started back to him.
Damon held his ground, but Luke waited halfway, clearly not wanting either of the women to hear.
Damon met him. “Yeah?” He didn’t like to be called like some lapdog.
Luke leaned in. “Don’t think you get to come back and enjoy all the perks of being a Freestone. You walked away, remember?”
Damon glared at him. “Oh, okay, bro. I won’t take your reservation again. Happy?”
Luke glared back. “Not since you got back, I’m not.” Then he turned and walked away.
Damon shook his head, trying to let go of the anger his brother could bring to life inside of him.
