MIA wasn’t sure how to read Sam. One minute he was sweet and funny, the next he seemed to pull away, a dark cloud settling over his face that she found impossible to decipher.
“Thanks for the spaghetti,” Sam said, standing up and stretching. “And the beers.”
She smiled. “Glad you liked it.” She was also glad about something else they’d done, and was wondering if there was going to be a round two. Her stomach had gone all fluttery, her skin tingling, wondering if he was going to take her by the hand and lead her back to bed. Or to the kitchen counter. Or the sofa. Or … she crossed her legs and dug her fingernails into her palms. Enough.
“You’re leaving?” she asked, trying to hide her disappointment as he collected his car keys from the counter.
“Yeah, I need to get back,” he said.
“Right, of course,” she said, standing and wondering whether she should kiss him or just awkwardly stand there. What did you do in a no-strings deal? Could she kiss him before he left or was that something you only did in a relationship? The last thing she wanted was to come across as needy.
“Come here,” he said, taking the decision out of her hands with his gruff words, his hand claiming her waist as his lips warmed hers and reminded her exactly why she’d hoped he’d be staying over.
Mia kissed him back, mouth moving in time with his, wishing there was more to come instead of it being goodbye.
“See you tomorrow,” he said, pulling away and giving her a long, slow smile. “Oh wait, tomorrow’s Sunday. I’ll catch you Monday then?”
Mia watched him gather his things and go, and she decided not to follow him out and watch him like a puppy that was being left behind. She was a grown woman and she’d entered into an agreement with him knowing full well it was about physical needs above all else.
“Yeah, see you Monday,” she replied, walking a few steps and leaning against the wall, trying to act like she didn’t give a damn. “And bring your overnight bag next time. This was too short for my liking.”
He smiled and nodded, winking as he opened the door and disappeared out into the night. She waited, held her breath, then turned the interior lights off so she could see his silhouette illuminated by the external lighting. When she was certain he’d gone, she slipped down the wall and sank to the floor.
What the hell was she doing? What had she gotten herself into? And how the hell could he leave like that after the evening they’d had? Mia took a deep breath and forced herself back up. She couldn’t sit there like a forlorn puddle on the floor all night, and she definitely wasn’t about to start feeling sorry for herself. The trouble was, she liked Sam, a lot. And although she knew that he liked her back—he had to—she also knew that it was only about one thing to him; he’d made that abundantly obvious. She needed to be sensible though. He had animals in his care, and he probably needed to get back to them.
Her phone was vibrating, she could hear it chirping away somewhere in the kitchen, so she went off to find it. By the time she did, it had long ceased ringing, but she noticed there were text messages from Kat. A lot of them. She went into the fridge and pulled out a bottle of wine, retrieved a glass and poured herself a generous amount. Then she made her way over to the sofa, tucked her feet up and dialed her friend.
“Oh, it’s the heartbreaker,” Kat answered.
“Ha-ha, very funny,” she replied, taking a sip and sinking back into her cushions. She looked out, wishing she was still sitting poolside with Sam instead of wondering why he’d left so fast, like he was suddenly in a hurry.
“Seriously, I thought you’d get on well together. What was wrong with him?”
Mia went to reply that nothing was wrong with him, when she realized they were talking about different men.
“There’s someone else,” she admitted. “I’ve kind of, well, entered into an arrangement.” Mia cringed. It sounded terrible calling it that, but she always told Kat everything and she wasn’t going to start lying to her now.
“An arrangement?” Kat asked. “What the heck does that mean, and who is he?”
Mia blew out a breath and took another sip of wine for courage.
“Ohmygod, it’s that horse trainer, isn’t it?”
Mia sighed. “The one and only.”
“I’m coming over. I want to hear everything.” Kat’s laugh echoed down the line. “And don’t drink all the wine before I get there.”
* * *
Sam walked up the steps of his sister’s home the next day and knocked lightly on the door. He’d been scolded before when he’d knocked too loudly and woken sleeping babies, and after ending up with an infant in his arms crying inconsolably, he wasn’t about to make that mistake again.
“Hey!”
Nate opened the door with one of the tiny humans in his arms. Sam knew better than to get too close, or he’d end up having to pretend he knew what he was doing with her. “Something smells good.”
“That’d be the meat,” Nate quipped. “We have half a cow out there on the grill, seriously.”
Sam didn’t doubt him. The King family dinners were big, and with three growing families to feed, they always went through a lot of food.
“You know, I think you’ve forgotten how to knock like a man,” Nate teased, leaning close like he was whispering a secret to him. “You’re supposed to actually make some noise on the timber. You’re lucky I even knew to let you in.”
“Fuck you,” Sam swore good-naturedly, wishing he could punch Nate, but there was the slight problem of the small child in the way.
“Hey, man, could you…”
Sam turned to listen to Nate, groaning when his friend passed him the baby. “Dammit, Nate!” he protested, awkwardly trying to reposition his niece.
“Hey, Sam.” Faith came past, with her long dark hair loose, barefoot and wearing jeans and a shirt. She looked like she had every time he’d seen her with Nate: relaxed, happy, barefoot and smiling. He hated to admit it, but Nate had been damn good for his little sister. “See you’ve got your arms full there.”
“Your goddamn husband seems to offload to me every time I’m here.” He kissed his sister’s cheek. “Why do I always feel like I’m going to break her or something?”
He stared down at the sleeping child in his arms, his blood pressure rising when she stretched and opened her eyes. Shit.
“You’re not going to break her,” Faith said easily, as if she had every confidence in him. “She’s way past the tiny limb breakable stage, okay? So long as you don’t drop her, you’ll be fine.”
Great. So all he had to do was not drop her when she started squirming. Easier said than done.
“I hear you’ve got it bad for one of the Ford girls?” Faith teased, her voice low as they walked outside where the others were. “I don’t think I’ve met her.”
Sam took a deep breath, fighting to keep a lid on his feelings. “I’ll kill Nate for that,” he muttered. “And no, I don’t have it bad. She’s a nice girl and I’m working there. That’s it.”
She was also damn beautiful and he’d thought of little else other than getting her back between the sheets since the night before, but he wasn’t about to tell his sister that. He also felt like shit for walking out on her so abruptly, but if he’d had to extract himself from her bed even later in the evening, it would have been worse trying to explain himself. He wasn’t staying the night with her, not now, not ever.
“So what’s she like?” Faith asked. “Come on, tell me!”
“She’s nice,” Sam said, knowing he had to give his sister something. If he didn’t, she’d be like a dog with a bone.
“And?”
Faith was staring up at him, and just when he pulled his gaze from hers, a tiny, chubby hand reached up and touched his jaw, little fingers playing across his skin. She had him then. His tiny, cherubic little niece, the one who could be so charming and other times cry her damn eyes out when he held her, was looking up at him with such a sweet expression on her face that it nearly choked him.
“And nothing,” he said quietly. “The only members of the opposite sex that I’ll be falling for, Faith, are these two girls. They can have me wrapped around their little fingers and I will love them forever, but there’s no room for anyone else. You know that.”
She shook her head, like she was disappointed in him, but he knew that wasn’t what she meant. Faith was happy and she wanted the same for him, she’d already told him as much.
“It doesn’t have to be that way forever,” she said, leaning into him and putting her head to his arm. “Just because you’ve been hurt once…”
Sam stiffened. “What you and Nate have is one in a million, and I couldn’t be happier for you. But it’s not going to happen to me, Faith, so stop pushing.”
She nodded and when she stood on tiptoe to kiss his cheek he bent to let her and gave her a one-armed hug.
“I’m gonna find a seat in the shade so I can have a good chat with my niece,” Sam said, smiling, wishing Faith would stop worrying about him.
“If you ever want to invite her for dinner…”
Sam gave Faith a look that he hoped was full of enough fury to get her to back off, but she just laughed at him and disappeared back into the other room. Which left Sam still with a baby in his arms, who seemed to be drifting back off to sleep, and a lineup of King brothers, beer bottles in hand, standing around talking shit and laughing.
Sam nodded when Nate plucked a beer from the ice bucket he had outside, walking closer to take it from him.
“Thanks. Just what I need.”
He smiled at Chase and then nodded to Nate’s youngest brother Ryder as he sank down into a chair and took a long pull of beer. For a moment he wondered what Mia was doing, whether she was out walking horses or relaxing poolside in the late afternoon sun.
“I hear you’re all bent out of shape about Mia Ford,” Chase said, grinning with his beer bottle hovering in front of his mouth.
“Oh, been there, done that,” Ryder said, shaking his head. “Poor bastard.”
Sam’s face heated, like a volcano had erupted under his skin as he stared back at Ryder. “What did you say?” he asked, voice so low it was a wonder Ryder even heard him.
“Easy,” Nate cautioned, moving closer and putting a firm hand on Sam’s shoulder.
“Oh fuck, no I didn’t mean I’d been there done her.” Ryder chuckled. “I meant been there in the all messed up over a woman department.” Ryder gestured inside to his wife. “With her.”
Sam settled, the temperature cooling, no longer feeling like he was going to explode.
“Yeah, well, either way you can all fuck off, because I’m not messed up over her. Nothing’s going on.”
Nate and his two brothers burst out laughing. “Yeah right,” Nate said through his laughter, “and watch the F-bombs around my daughter, would you?”
Sam looked down at the child in his arms. He bet she’d heard a lot worse, but he said a silent apology to his niece and stretched his legs out in front of him. So much for a quiet night with friends to keep his mind off Mia. If it wasn’t for his nieces, he’d have told the lot of them to go to hell and stormed off back home.
“Seriously, if you like her? Go for it,” Nate said, sounding nothing like his best friend since elementary school. “Life’s complicated, but your love life doesn’t have to be.”
Sam scoffed. He was about to tell him that Nate had had the most complicated love life on the planet before he’d married Faith, but he held his tongue. They didn’t need to rehash that conversation.
“You remember you used to have that rule of no women coming back to your place?” Sam asked.
Nate nodded. The other two were already in conversation about something else, so it was just the two of them now.
“Well, rules exist for a reason, and I have the same kind of rule. Whatever happens between me and Mia? It doesn’t mean anything.” Which was why he wasn’t planning on seeing her until Monday. He didn’t want to get too close to her, and that meant respecting their boundaries.
Nate swilled his beer and Sam leaned back.
“I get it,” Nate finally said. “Trust me, I get it. And so do these other two meatheads here. But sometimes it’s worth risking…”
Sam shook his head. “This conversation is over. I don’t need all the goddamn sensitive, new-age bullshit from you.”
Nate shrugged. “Fine. Come watch me turn some steaks. I won’t mention her again.
“Good,” Sam replied.
Steaks sounded great. He could stand there, stare at the meat and watch Nate. And he could eat it, then he could get the hell away from all the people trying to matchmake him and make a getaway for home.
His phone buzzed in his pocket and he grudgingly retrieved it. Whoever was calling him on Sunday could go to hell; it was probably his agent and … damn. The one person he was trying not to think about.
Sam cleared his throat, wondering if he should have just let it go to voicemail.
“Hey, Mia,” he said, shooting Nate a sharp glare when he turned to face him. Trust him to be listening.
“Sam, I’m sorry, I didn’t want to call you but there’s been an accident.”
Her voice was flat, cold, quiet. The hairs on his arms bristled in response, his throat catching. “What’s happened? Are you ok?”
“I’m fine,” she said quickly. “It’s Tex. He’s had an accident and he’s behaving terribly. The vet won’t treat him.”
Sam relaxed, instantly calming when he realized she was fine. The horse he could deal with, but not her.
“I’ll drive over now, but it’ll take me an hour, maybe just under.”
“Thanks, Sam. I really didn’t mean to trouble you on a Sunday.”
He nodded even though she couldn’t see him. “It’s fine. I’ll see you soon, and just leave him be. He’ll be calmest with no one around him.”
Sam hung up and turned around, and found Nate standing and staring quizzically at him.
“What?” Sam scowled.
“Nothin’. Just sounded like you were about to leave.”
Sam grimaced. “I am. The stallion I’ve been working, he’s … Nothing. I just have to go.”
“You’re leaving already?” Faith appeared in the doorway, her other daughter on her hip, pudgy little legs wrapped around her waist. “We’re about to eat.”
“Any chance I can take it to go?” he asked, giving his sister what he hoped was an apologetic look as he passed his half-asleep niece to Nate.
She nodded. “Let me grab you a container. Nate, get a couple of steaks off and you can help yourself to the salad and potatoes on the counter inside.”
Sam felt bad for leaving, he hadn’t seen Nate and Faith a lot since work had exploded for him, but he couldn’t leave Mia to deal with an out of control stallion on her own.
He took the container offered, filled it, and stopped to give his sister a hug. “I’m sorry. I’ll make it up to you.”
“Just be happy,” she said with a smile. “So long as you’re happy, I’m happy. You don’t have anything to apologize for, okay?”
If only everyone was as accepting and kind as his sister. When he’d come home from Iraq, she’d helped to pull him through the worst of it, and it had made him doubly protective of her. But it also meant that he always felt like he’d let her down for not being there more to help her when she’d needed it the most, and he’d never forgiven himself for that.
He pushed thoughts of his sister aside as he jumped in his car. It was time to deal with a stallion and to pretend he wasn’t secretly pleased to have an excuse to escape the family dinner and see Mia again.