It was fully darkwhen they left the B&B with their suitcases after they were sure the other couple was sleeping. Natalie said nothing as they hit the road for his parent’s cabin. Beside him, she was silent, and her emotions were raw. Holding her hand in the dark car, he wanted her to know he supported her. She was the most important thing to him.
Her tears had dried, though he knew they were still close to the surface. Whether it was right to leave or not, Natalie needed a break. The emotions from the moment she left her wedding until now had finally broken her, and she needed to get away from it all. Now she could start recovering from it.
He’d been relieved when he’d called his parents, and they said they had already left the cabin for home. If they were still there, he would have just gotten a hotel room for the night. He knew she didn’t need his parents hovering around after today.
The drive went quickly, and she didn’t say much during it. He knew that Della was the mother of Natalie Beckett. The girl herself might be doubting it, but he was not. Personality-wise, she had found her family, a family who would love to include her. Just look at her aunt, who was new to the family and still accepted for who she was.
But he was driving away from them all because Natalie had asked him to. And he would do anything for her. Because he had fallen in love with Natalie in just a few short days. He hoped that they could hold on to that love when they returned to their regular lives.
It was after midnight when they pulled up to his parent’s dark cabin. At some point in the last fifteen minutes, she had fallen asleep. For most of the trip, she had been silent but awake.
Quietly, he took the bag and opened the cabin with the spare key his parents always had hidden. After putting their stuff in a bedroom, he went back to get her. He tried to pick her up and not wake her, but he failed when her green eyes opened, and she smiled at him. He didn’t put her down, and she didn’t ask to be put down. He just continued carrying her through the house to the bedroom that he had chosen and set her down on the bed.
“Do you want to share a room?” he asked a little too late. Maybe he was making assumptions since they weren’t pretending to be a couple here. There were a lot of empty bedrooms, including the one she had slept in the last time they were there.
“Yes.” She got up and went to the adjoining bathroom, taking her suitcase with her.
Sam stripped down to his boxers and waited on the bed for her to come out. When she finally did, she was surprisingly wearing only her panties. No shirt to cover the scars on her chest and stomach. He loved that she trusted him with her body. Walking straight to him, she cupped his face in her hands and said, “Thank you for everything you’ve done for me. You never even ask questions; you just do what I ask. I hope one day I can do the same for you.”
Lowering her lips to his, she kissed him ever so lightly, once and then again. To his surprise, she climbed onto his lap and deepened the kiss.
His arms went around her and pulled her close to him.
The move made her moan into his mouth, and he quickly rolled her over to be on top. The move made her laugh. Her eyes sparkled at him as he said, “I have some ways in mind.”
“I think I can read your mind, sexy Sam,” she purred and ran her fingers down his back and grabbed his butt, pulling him closer to her.
Sam laughed until his mind emptied of any thoughts but her. Maybe she could read his mind because every move she made was perfect. Or maybe it was because she was just perfect for him.
CHAPTER16
The sun washigh in the sky over the lake that Sam’s parents’ cabin was on. They had been there since they had arrived in the middle of the night two days before, but today was the last day. They were heading out in the afternoon and going to Fargo and spending the night at his parent’s house, then on to Landstad on Sunday. Sam was nice enough to make a stop in the middle of the trip to rest her back. But she had to get back to Landstad for book club since her honeymoon originally only went to Friday. Nobody knew how to run the podcast program, so she had to be there, no matter how much she wanted to stay here with Sam. There was no canceling book club.
They had spent her birthday mostly making love around the cabin and some in the water. She finally got to show him what she had planned for him when he thought she was drowning him, and it had worked. It also had the effect she had hoped for, and they had made love before getting back in the boat.
He hadn’t given her a present for her birthday, but they hadn’t been separated since he had rescued her from her wedding, so she forgave him.
To celebrate he had taken her out for supper in town. Over the course of the day, she had received texts and calls of birthday wishes, and she had actually responded to them all. The book club said that she better be home on time. She had a lot of explaining to do.
Friday was a rainy day, and they had spent it inside. They watched TV and talked about everything but the future. They had not broached that subject; they needed to get back to Landstad and be a normal couple before they could say whether this would work.
Now it was Saturday, a week since she’d ran out on her wedding. She could hardly believe it had only been one week. She was thankful she had Sam the entire time. What she would have done without him, she didn’t know. And she was happy she didn’t have to find out.
This Saturday, unlike the last one, turned out to be a hot and sunny day, no rain in sight. Sam had made a quick lunch, and they had eaten on the patio looking out at the water. When Sam had come out with a deck of cards, she knew they were in for an exciting afternoon. Maybe they should play strip poker? But not on the deck.
Smiling, she took the cards and started shuffling them. He sat down, and she started dealing. With an eyebrow raised, he asked, “What game do you want to play?”
“Strip poker.” She gave him a sly grin.
“Anything you want, babe. I would love to see that body again when you lose.” Leaning down, he kissed her and asked seriously, “Are you happy?”
“Yes. I haven’t even cried in the last two days. A record for last week.” She looked at the cards in her hand.
“It’s only been a week?” he replied in awe and put his cards down.
“I bet you didn’t get me a present for that either.” She smirked at him.
He looked out at the water. “I might have something up my sleeve.”