Chapter Sixteen

 

Sam knew their idyllic time together was coming to an end when Church and Cage came by and told them everything had been taken care of. The fire in Miner’s Hollow had been discovered, but only after it was too late to do anything about it. According to official reports, the fire had been blamed as a suicide attempt of an unidentified person, the only known victim of the blaze.

Anthony was dead, killed by his precious fire.

She had asked Cage to let her read the file he had created on Anthony before he destroyed it. Anthony’s early years hadn’t been easy. When his mom had gotten pregnant at the age of fifteen, her parents hadn’t handled it well and made life hell for her and Anthony until she finally saved up enough money from working odd jobs to move away. Some of the doctors at the facility where he had been placed later theorized that abuse by his grandfather might have altered an otherwise highly intelligent boy.

Despite everything, she couldn’t help feeling a little sorry for the man he might have been under different circumstances. Living with misunderstood mental illness was something Sam was all too familiar with. Her mother had battled a severe bipolar disorder and hadn’t gotten the treatment she needed because Sam’s grandparents had refused to recognize it as a “real” problem until it was too late. Something else her mother and Anthony had in common—they had both died at their own hands when they couldn’t see another way out.

The formal charges against Steve had been dropped after a few discreet phone calls. A thorough inspection proved that his brake lines had been tampered with, negating claims that he had deliberately and willfully led police on a high-speed car chase, endangering the lives of the officers and innocent civilians in the process.

Subduing two local cops and absconding with their cruiser was more difficult to explain away, but somehow, those charges were dropped, too. Officers Joe and Lenny reportedly weren’t too happy about it, but the directive had come from pretty high up. Sam didn’t ask too many questions, figuring men who had been SEALs for as long as they had, had earned a few markers to cash in when the need arose.

Cage had already managed to exonerate her for the fire at the coffee shop by obtaining security camera footage from one of the adjacent businesses, something the police should have done. The video clearly showed an “unidentified male” breaking into the back entrance of the shop and leaving again moments before the fire.

Neither Chief Freed nor Chief Petraski seemed pleased by that. Sam had a feeling they would much rather have continued to cast suspicion her way. Well, that was too bad for them. She hadn’t done anything wrong, and she refused to be bullied by them or their small-town, small-minded mentality.

She did ask about Mr. Santori. Despite everything that had happened, she felt a pang of sympathy for him. Cage assured her that as soon as the official investigation wrapped up, the old man would be collecting a tidy sum in insurance money and have no trouble moving forward with his retirement plans.

What had happened at the apartment complex was a bit trickier. According to Church, both the fire chief and the police chief wanted to question Sam about the fire and her whereabouts that night. Steve wasn’t happy about that. He wanted Cage to do something, but she had told him she wanted to handle it on her own.

She couldn’t tell them the truth about everything that had happened that night, not without raising even more questions and prompting an official investigation. That meant revealing the parts Steve, Church, and the rest of them had played, and there was no way she was going to do that, not when they had gone to such lengths for her.

In the end, the apartment fire was ruled an accident, and charges were not filed. She agreed to give up her security deposit to pay for a professional cleaning service to come in and take care of the smoke damage.

With everything taken care of, reality crashed back into her life with a vengeance. She was unemployed, essentially homeless, and her tiny nest egg was dwindling quickly.

As wonderful as her time with Steve had been, it couldn’t last forever. She had known that and had been trying to prepare herself. She had to salvage what she could and move on. She wasn’t sure where she was going to go. She just knew there wasn’t much left in Sumneyville for her any longer. Her dreams of owning the coffee shop were gone, and while she had officially been cleared of any wrongdoing, the people there would always look upon her with suspicion.

She and Steve hadn’t really talked much about what would happen next. They hadn’t really talked about much of anything. He, like she, seemed content to make the most of the time they had together.

Their futures, though, couldn’t have been more different. He had a job and a place waiting for him. She had overheard Church tell him that they had been working double-time on getting a small cabin habitable for him at the resort and it was almost finished. Sam was happy for him. She really was. He had his team and a purpose. He was a good man, and he deserved nothing less.

Her? Well, she would do what she always did. She would find a way to deal with what life handed her and move on. This wasn’t the first time in her life she’d had to start over. She just had to convince herself that this was a new opportunity. When one door closed, another opened, right?

Leaving Steve and Church to talk, she made a cup of tea and went into the bedroom to pack.

* * *

“What’s up with Sam?” Church asked once the bedroom door closed behind her. “She’s not happy with the offer?”

Steve shook his head. “I haven’t told her yet.”

Church lifted a brow. “Why the hell not?”

“I don’t know.”

“Bullshit.”

Church was right. It was bullshit. Steve knew exactly why he hadn’t said anything to Sam about Church’s idea for her to move up to the resort—he wasn’t sure she would say yes.

He didn’t know how she would feel about essentially moving in with him. Sure, the last few days had been amazing, but just because he was ready for the next step, didn’t mean she was.

He had always gone with his gut, and lately, it had been screaming for him to grab her with both hands and never let go. She made him feel things no other woman ever had, and when he thought about what might have happened if they hadn’t found her in time, well, he didn’t like to think about that.

He wasn’t the easiest guy to get along with. He was still dealing with his demons, though admittedly, that had become a lot easier with Sam around. When he had woken up in the grips of a panic attack, it was to find her stroking his back and whispering calming words.

It wasn’t like he had a lot to offer her, either. Asking her to move into a cabin with him wasn’t exactly wine and roses. They wouldn’t have a lot of luxuries, and the next year or so would be a lot of hard work. Even the promise of giving her free rein over the new kitchen and eating area to create her own place might not be enough.

“If you don’t ask her, I will,” Church told him. “The guys are already threatening to stage a protest if she doesn’t come on board.”

Steve’s lips quirked. There were those blurred lines and crossed boundaries coming back to bite him in the ass again. This time, though, he didn’t mind so much.

“They’d choose her over me?”

“In a red-hot minute,” Church told him with a quirk of his own. “Of course, the ideal is to have you both on the team, if you can take your balls out of your purse long enough to convince her of that. And if you can’t handle the job, Heff’s offered to—”

“The hell he will!”

Church gave him a rare but genuine smile. “Yeah, I thought so. Seriously, Smoke, what gives? You two are the real deal, man. You’d be an idiot to let her walk away.”

“I know. But it’s a lot to ask.”

“I take it back. You are an idiot. The way she looks at you? She’d follow you to the ends of the earth if you asked her to.”

“You think?”

“No question. But she’s not the kind of woman who’d do so blindly. She needs to know you want her there. Do you?”

“The truth? I can’t imagine my life without her.”

“Then what the hell are you waiting for?” Church stood up. “Go talk to your woman. Do what you gotta do—beg if you have to—but don’t let her walk away. We’ll be waiting on you. Both of you.”

Was Church right? Would Sam be willing to follow him—or better yet, walk beside him—into the next chapter?

Well, there was only one way to find out.

Steve stalked to the bedroom door and took a deep, fortifying breath. He could do this. He was a SEAL. And more importantly, he was a man who had found his one.

“Come in,” Sam called out after he knocked.

He pushed the door open to find her sitting on the edge of the bed, a small bag beside her, her expression unreadable.

“Is it time to go?”

“Yeah, just about. But there’s something I wanted to talk to you about first.”

Something like pain flashed in her pretty eyes, but it was gone before he could be sure. Some of his confidence faltered. Did she know what he was going to say?

“It’s okay, Steve.”

“What is?”

She shrugged, picking a non-existent piece of something from her jeans. “I understand.”

He blinked in confusion. “What do you understand?”

“That it’s been great, but it’s time to move on.” She summoned a weak smile, but he wasn’t fooled. She wasn’t any happier about leaving than he was.

Deep in his chest, his heart thudded with hope, and his confidence surged again. If she dared to look him in the eyes, she might see them glistening.

“Yes, it is,” he agreed.

She winced slightly, and his heart soared.

“Your friends are counting on you, and they’re a great bunch of guys.”

“Yes, they are.”

“Church’s vision is going to be a great success. I know it is.”

“Yes, it will.”

With each ready agreement, her frown intensified. He could barely contain his glee.

Finally, he decided he had let her go on long enough. “That’s what I wanted to talk to you about. See, Church … well, all of us, really, agree that we need the kitchens up and running as soon as possible. And we also agree that you are the best person for the job.”

Her eyes lifted. “Really?”

“Really. They’ve been suffering withdrawals, forced to rely on mini-mart coffee and mass-produced pastries. It’s been awful.”

“I bet,” she murmured.

“And with your business experience, you’re the perfect choice. None of us know the first thing about running a restaurant, and it’s one less thing for Church to worry about. He could hire from the outside, but he likes to keep things close and personal, you know? And he already considers you part of the team.”

“He does?” Her eyes filled with surprise.

“Yep. There is the issue of housing, though. You might have noticed that on-site accommodations are in short supply.” When her burgeoning smile faded a little, he was quick to add, “That’s why you should move in with me.”

“What?”

He almost smiled at how large her eyes became, but he was afraid she might misinterpret it and think he wasn’t one hundred percent serious.

“Yeah. Church told me this morning that they’ve managed to make one of the cabins habitable. It’s nothing like this”—he waved his arm around the hotel room—“but it has working plumbing and electricity. Of course, the downside is, you’d be stuck with me for the foreseeable future. Do you think you can handle that?”

“That depends,” she said slowly.

“On what?”

“On how you feel about that,” she said carefully.

“Oh, well, that’s a no-brainer for me. I’ve already told Church that it’s a package deal. If you’re not coming, I’m not coming.”

Her eyes grew even larger. “Why would you do that?”

“Because I’m falling in love with you, Sam. Did I forget to mention that?”

“Yes. You did.”

“Oh. Well, I am. Listen, Sam, I realize this is a big step, maybe one you’re not ready for, but—”

“Yes.” Tears welled in her eyes, but he pushed forward, needing her to understand how serious he was.

“—I think we can make this work. I … Wait. What did you say?”

Her expression softened, and she smiled at him. “I said yes, Steve.”

“Yes to what part?” he asked cautiously. He wanted to be absolutely, one hundred percent certain she was saying what he hoped she was saying.

“All of it,” she said, rising to slip her arms around his waist. “Yes to the job. Yes to the cabin. Yes to you.”

Relief flooded through him. He lowered his head and branded her with a soul-searing kiss. “Yeah?”

“Yeah. Think you can handle that?”

“Baby, I’m a SEAL. And with you by my side, I can handle anything.”