release of pressure he hadn’t realized he’d held. In the quiet of the moment, listening to her sweet and slightly off-key voice, the day’s stress slipped away. He took a deep breath as his shoulders relaxed.
“I love you, sweetie,” he heard her whisper, her tone so full of tenderness it made his heart ache all the more.
He understood in an instant how much it meant for Julia to keep her son. Knew that she’d do anything to keep Charlie safe.
Suddenly Sam wanted that for her more than he cared about his own future. But he was a man who’d made it through life taking care of himself, protecting number one at all costs. No matter how he felt about one spirited single mother, he couldn’t afford to change that now.
Hearing footsteps, he quickly stood to clear the dishes from the table.
“I think he’s back down,” she said as she came into the kitchen.
Sam rounded on her, needing to get to the crux of the matter before he completely lost control. “You’re right,” he told her. “This deal was my idea and I’ll play the part of doting fiancé because it helps us both.”
“Doting may be pushing it,” she said, fumbling with the pizza box, clearly wary of his change in mood. “We don’t need to go overboard.”
He propped one hip on the counter. “We need to make it believable.” He kept his tone all business. “Whatever it takes.”
“Fine. We’ll make people believe we’re totally in love. I’m in. Whatever it takes to convince Jeff to drop the custody suit.”
“Will he?”
“He still hasn’t even seen Charlie. I get the impression his parents are pushing for the new custody deal. The attorney is really here to figure out if they have a viable case or not before they go public. Jeff didn’t want kids in the first place. He’d even talked about getting the big snip. They probably think Charlie is their only shot at a grandchild, someone to mold and shape in their likeness.”
“I don’t think that’s how kids work.”
She shook her head. “I don’t think they care. If we can convince Lexi that Charlie has a happy, stable home and that he’s better off here than with Jeff and his family, that’s the report she’ll give to them. It will be enough. It has to. Once I get the custody agreement—”
“You’ll dump my sorry butt,” Sam supplied.
“Or you can break it off with me.” She rinsed a plate and put it into the dishwasher. “People will expect it. You’re up for reappointment soon. It should earn extra points with some of the council members. Everyone around here knows I’m a bad bet.”
“I thought you and Ethan had been the town’s golden couple back in the day.”
“He was the golden boy,” she corrected. “I was the eye candy on his arm. But I messed that up. My first in a series of epic fails in the relationship department.”
“Does it bother you that he’s with Lainey?” Sam asked, not willing to admit how much her answer meant to him.
She smiled. “They’re perfect together in a way he and I never were. She completes him and all that.”
“Do you think there’s someone out there who’d complete you?”
“Absolutely.” She nodded. “At this moment, he’s drooling in the crib at the end of the hall.”
He took a step closer to her and tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “We’re going to make sure he stays there.”
Her lips parted as she looked up at him. Instinctively he eased toward her.
She blinked and raised her hands to his chest, almost pushing him away but not quite. “We have to establish some ground rules,” she said, sounding as breathless as he felt.
“I’m the law around these parts, ma’am,” he said in his best Southern drawl. “I make the rules.”
“Nice try.” She laughed and a thrill ran through him. “First off, no touching or kissing of any kind.”
It was his turn to throw back his head and laugh. “We’re supposed to be in love. You think people will believe you could keep your hands off me?”
She smacked his chest lightly. “I’m surprised your ego made it through the front door. Okay, if the situation calls for it you can kiss me. A little.” Her eyes narrowed. “But no tongue.”
He tried to keep a straight face. “Where’s the fun in that?”
“My best offer,” she whispered.
He traced her lips with the tip of one finger and felt himself grow heavy when they parted again. “I think we’d better practice to see if I’ll be able to manage it.”
He leaned in, but instead of claiming her mouth he tilted his head to reach the smooth column of her neck. He trailed delicate kisses up to her ear and was rewarded with a soft moan. Pushing her hair back, he cradled her face between his palms.
Her breath tingled against his skin and she looked at him, desire and self-control warring in the depths of her eyes. He wanted to keep this arrangement business but couldn’t stop his overwhelming need. As out of control as a runaway train, he captured her lips with his.
It should be illegal for a kiss to feel so good. The thought registered in Julia’s dizzy brain. Followed quickly by her body’s silent demand for more...more...more. Her arms wound around Sam’s neck and she pressed into him, the heat from his body stoking a fire deep within her. His mouth melded to hers as he drew his hands up underneath her shirt.
A man hadn’t kissed her like this in so long. As though he meant it, his mouth a promise of so much more.
A familiar voice cut through her lust-filled haze. “So, the rumors are true. Doesn’t seem right your mother should be the last to know.”
Sam’s eyes flew open as he stepped away from her. Julia let out a soft groan.
“Ever think of knocking?” she asked, pressing her hands over her eyes.
“No” was her mother’s succinct answer.
“Nice to see you, Mrs. Morgan.” Although Sam’s voice sounded a little shaky, Julia had to admire his courage in holding her mother’s gaze.
Almost unwillingly, Julia turned and met her mom’s steely glare. “I’m sorry, Mom. We wanted to keep things quiet a bit longer.”
Vera Morgan was a tiny blonde dynamo of a woman. Her hair pulled back into a neat bun, she retained the beauty of her youth mixed with the maturity of decades spent overseeing her life and everyone in it. She crossed her arms over her chest. “Until you could announce your engagement in the middle of a crowded restaurant?”
Julia cringed. “Not the exact plan.”
