Samantha had been back in Aspen Cove for a week, but no one would have known it because she and Dalton barely left the bed. They got up only to shower, eat, and binge-watch Supernatural.

“You’re really buying the paper mill?” Dalton’s hand rubbed her bare stomach, which was no longer concave. His skills in the kitchen came second only to his skills in the bedroom. His fingers trailed up her stomach to her chest, where she’d tattooed the word ‘Dalton’s’ over her heart.

“Yes, I’m investing in some much-needed improvements here in Aspen Cove.”

“What are you going to do here?”

She rolled her naked body on top of him. She knew he wouldn’t have much to say because he couldn’t think when they were naked.

“I’m building a recording studio. It’s a bit selfish, but I never want to leave home again.”

“Sometimes we have to be selfish.” Several times, their friends had come to the door to say hello and Dalton growled at them that he wasn’t ready to share her, but tonight was karaoke night, and he had no choice. “What else is going in the paper mill?”

She ran her hands down his chest. Goosebumps rose beneath her fingertips. “It will be the Guild Creative Center. I want it to be a place where artistic people can thrive. Wes is putting put a culinary center next to a recording studio because I like to eat. I hope this sexy chef I know will be willing to work there on the days he’s not working at Maisey’s. I’m thinking maybe you can sell ready-made meals. You know, like take-and-bake. That would be a community service. No one would have to eat Sage’s frozen lasagna again.”

Dalton laughed. “I think we can negotiate on that.”

“Now you want to negotiate?” She leaned down and bit his lip.

“No, right now I want to make love to my girlfriend. Who will be my fiancée, and then my wife, and the mother of my perfect children.”

“Confident, are you?” She felt his confidence firm and long between her thighs.

“Would you have me any other way?” He lifted her hips and set her on top of him.

“I’ll have you any way I can get you.” She loved the way his eyes rolled back when she sank onto his length. The way he moaned her name when she rocked against him. The way loved flowed through his kisses.

“I’m all yours, baby.” Dalton turned them over so he was on top. He found the perfect rhythm that made her body sing. How lucky was she to make love to a man who proved to be as yummy on the inside as he looked on the outside?

They made love right up until they had to shower and leave.

At six o’clock, they were the first to arrive for karaoke night. Cannon and Sage stood behind the bar.

“Did you come up for air?” Cannon asked.

“No, we came up for wine.” Dalton slid onto a barstool and pulled Samantha into his lap.

“Are you hungry?” Sage wore a smile. In her hands were a spatula and a pan of frozen lasagna.

“No!” they said together.

“You’re being mean. It’s perfectly fine lasagna.”

Everyone including Cannon shook their heads.

Next came Doc, followed by a white-haired woman everyone greeted as Agatha. Samantha’s heart broke when Doc turned and she saw the oxygen tank and tubes. He wouldn’t be singing “Hound Dog” tonight.

Dalton wrapped his arms around her. “Not your fault. No one blames you.”

The door opened, and in walked Bobby and Louise Williams. She proudly displayed her baby bump and walked straight for Samantha.

“Thank you.”

Samantha sucked in a big breath.

“For what?”

“I know you thought what happened was a bad thing. It wasn’t a good thing, but it wasn’t your fault. I’m thanking you because I got to have Bobby home for several weeks. We claimed some quality time together. It was like when we dated. When he was my boyfriend and I was his girlfriend.”

“Doc has a girlfriend,” Sage sang.

“Come here, you.” Doc flagged her over. As soon as she got within range, he cuffed her lightly on the side of the head. “Get my Agatha a glass of wine. I’ll have a cup of joe. Tell me again when that sister of yours is coming to take over? Louise is bound to have her last baby before then if she doesn’t hurry.”

Samantha looked to Dalton. “Doc and Agatha?”

He shrugged. “I told you love was like a virus. I got it. You caught it, and Doc caught it. Never too old to give love a chance.”

A lot had happened while she was gone. “Lydia is coming?” she asked.

“That’s the rumor, but that’s all it is until she shows up.” Dalton caught the pint of beer Cannon slid down the bar.

Next in the door were Katie and Bowie. Katie ran up to Samantha. “Did Daddy’s jet work out okay?”

Samantha blushed. They had the plane to themselves and hit the mile high club twice on the short trip home. “It was amazing.” She turned to Dalton. “Do you think we should get a plane like that?”

His eyes grew wide. “Can you afford a plane like that?”

She could see the list of possibilities running through his imagination.

“Probably.”

Dalton tucked her close to his body and set his chin on top of her head. “No … but maybe we can get a dock and a Jet Ski.”

She picked up the glass of wine Cannon had poured her and smiled over the rim. “You’re cheap,” she told him.

“I may be cheap, but I’m not easy.”

She made a pfft sound and rolled her eyes. “You are so easy.” She turned in his lap and kissed him. Her voice softened. “Easy to love.”

Katie kicked off karaoke night with another oldie but goodie. When she finished, she brought the mic to Samantha, who was happy to get up and sing for her friends, but Dalton took it and walked her to the stage. He set her on a stool in the center and looked into her eyes.

“This is a onetime deal. I’d hate to subject the town to this more than once in a lifetime.” He picked his music and turned to Samantha. “This is for you.” When he sang ‘Amazed’ by Lonestar, she nearly fell off her seat. Though Dalton’s cooking skills and bedroom skills outshined his singing skills, the song was pitch-perfect because he sang to the deepest part of her heart. The part that belonged only to him.

When he finished, she was more in love with him than she thought possible.

When Samantha had walked off that stage in Denver months ago, there were three things she wanted more than money.

She wanted a life.

She wanted to love.

She wanted the freedom that came with being invisible.

Aspen Cove gave her life.

Dalton gave her love.

And Samantha realized she’d never be invisible. Not to her fans. Not to her friends. Not to the one man who hadn’t known her and saw who she was anyway.

As she looked around Bishop’s Brewhouse, she knew without a doubt she was home.