Chapter 27
Chapter Twenty-Seven
SAM
“You know you don’t have to feed me every time I come over.”
I drop a kiss onto her lips as I set the plate down in front of her.
“I have to make sure you keep your energy up.”
“Mmm.” She wraps her hand around my neck and pulls me back in for another kiss. Another heated, mind-bending kiss.
“So fucking good.” I nip at her lip. “Now, eat. We’ve got a long day ahead.”
I sit down opposite her. It’s a gorgeous afternoon with a fall kickoff party at the ranch tonight. Hayrides through the fields. A s’mores bar. A whiskey tasting for the parents.
It’s a really fucking great idea. I’m proud of everything Kade has done to turn things around here. I love working with the horses and getting to be outside all day, every day.
“I wish we could spend all day out here.”
I tug Joey over into my lap and grab one of the carrots and bite down on it.
“You do?” I tuck a lock of hair behind her ear.
She nods. “I hate that we both have to work tonight.”
“Not the end of the world, darlin’. We have plenty of time together.”
“We have to be at the ranch in about thirty minutes.”
“Fine.” I tickle her side. “So not all the time in the world.”
“Enough time for another kiss?”
“There’s always time for that, darlin’.”
I brush my fingers over her cheek. Her face is soft and open. It’s what I love about her.
One of the many things I love about this woman.
I capture her mouth in a lingering kiss. It’s so damn perfect that I want to say fuck work and bury myself in her all day. Spend every second I can with her.
It’s all I want.
I never thought I would get this again. Because being with this incredible woman, sitting on my lap, is everything I’ve always wanted but never thought I’d get.
“Think you might be able to sneak away for a few minutes later tonight?” Joey whispers against my lips.
“You know we can’t actually do things if you’re working, right?” I ask her with a laugh.
“I mean, you could just come and keep me company. Reenie’s going to be leaving around nine.”
“So you want my company?”
“We don’t always have to be having sex.”
“Yeah, but the sex is pretty fucking fantastic.” I press a kiss to the side of her neck.
She's mostly dressed to go to the lodge, but her bare feet are stretched out into the other chair, and she’s wearing my T-shirt.
She looks so at ease that it makes me wish we started this thing a hell of a lot sooner than we did.
“The sex is pretty great,” she says, brushing her fingers over my face, “but at the same time, I just like being with you.”
I squeeze her knee. “I really like being with you, Joey. In fact—”
“Hey, Sam. You here?”
Fuck.
Fuck.
Whatever I’m going to say is lost as Greg rounds the corner to my patio.
“Oh, shit.”
Joey scrambles off my lap and bangs her knee on the table. She’s hopping on one foot as her dad comes to a sudden stop.
“What’s going on here?” His voice is deathly calm, eyes moving back and forth between the two of us.
Based on the fact that I’m shirtless and in jeans, and Joey is wearing my shirt, it’s pretty obvious, but neither of us make a move to point that out.
“What are you doing here?” Joey asks, trying to instill a level of calm that I know she isn’t feeling. Tension is radiating off her in waves.
“Well, I hadn’t heard from you, Sam, so I came by before the party to see if you were coming to the poker game this weekend.”
Joey points to me before addressing her dad. “I had to stop by and drop off the guest list for the trail rides this afternoon.”
“I wasn’t born yesterday, Josephine,” he snaps. “What the hell is going on here? Because whatever the two of you were doing, it’s not dropping off any sort of list.”
I have no idea how much he saw, but based on his red face and the way Joey goes ghostly pale, he definitely saw something.
“Look, I can explain.”
“You can explain why you’re having a relationship with my daughter?”
“It’s not like that.”
“Then how do you explain this?” He wags a finger back and forth between the two of us.
“We didn’t mean for it to happen,” I say.
Joey looks crestfallen next to me, but I have no idea what I’m supposed to say.
“You didn’t mean to sleep with my daughter?” He crosses his arms, and the look he gives me would strike down a lesser man.
“No, it’s just…”
“It’s just what?” He takes a step closer to the both of us. “What the fuck is going on here?”
“Dad, if you would just let us explain.” Joey tries to intervene with no luck.
“Unbelievable. You’re supposed to be my best friend, Sam.” He shakes his head. “Is this why we never see you anymore?”
“No. It’s not like that.”
“It’s not like what?” he repeats.
I have a feeling no matter what we say, he’s not going to be happy. At this point, I should cut my losses and just stop talking, but my mouth doesn’t get the message from my brain.
“It just sort of…happened. And while we care about each other—”
“You care about each other? How are you supposed to care for someone who is young enough to be your daughter?”
“Which means I can make my own decisions, Dad,” Joey spits out. “You don’t get to have a say in my love life.”
Greg turns his ire on Joey. “When you’re screwing around with my best friend, I do. Really, Josephine. I thought you had better judgment than this.”
Ouch.
That shouldn’t hurt as much as it does. I shouldn’t get hung up on the fact that he thinks I’m not good enough for his daughter, but it still stings.
“How can he be your friend and you say he’s not good enough for me?” Joey throws back at him, as she turns to look at me, a warm look washing over her face.
Greg is spitting fire when he looks at me.
“Absolutely not. You will not see him. My best friend. He is not suitable for you.”
“How do you know that?” Joey crosses her arms.
“I can explain,” I interject before these two start going at it.
From what I remember, Greg always said Joey would get into huge fights with her mom in high school.
Another painful reminder about the age difference between the two of us because it wasn’t that long ago.
“You don’t get to have a say in this.” He points a finger at me. “I don’t want to hear anything you have to say.”
“What, so that’s it?”
“I asked you to look out for my daughter and this is how you repay me? You throw our friendship down the drain for what? For whatever…whatever the hell this is?
“Dad!” Joey exclaims.
“I’m sorry, Joey, but I know Sam better than you do. This is the sort of thing he would do. Have an affair with someone and throw them away the first time things get hard.”
“That’s not fair,” I say, hurt lacing my voice.
“Someone has to look out for my daughter.” He turns his attention back to Joey. “You deserve someone better than this. You both do.”
“This isn’t you looking out for me, Dad. I know what I want.”
He ignores her. “I can’t believe the two of you have been seeing each other behind my back.”
“Probably because we knew you’d react like this,” Joey mutters.
“Imagine my surprise when I come to check on my friend and I see him with my daughter.” Greg shoves a hand through his hair, starting to pace. “Unbelievable.”
“Don’t blame Joey.”
“Damn right I don’t. I blame you. She’s not even old enough—”
“Don’t finish that sentence.” Joey’s voice is deadly calm. “I’m a mother. I have a child. I can make my own decisions, and you don’t get a say in this one.”
I don’t think I’ve ever seen him look so angry.
“I’d have expected better judgment from you, Sam.”
“Greg, your daughter—”
“I don’t want to hear what you think of my daughter.” He steps closer to me so we’re chest to chest.
“Then you’re the only one here that gets to have opinions?”
He shoves me backward. “I can do whatever the fuck I want when you’re screwing around with my daughter.”
“You need to leave.” I right myself and it takes everything I have not to punch him.
But that wouldn’t help the situation. Wouldn’t help Joey. I don’t want to make anything worse. Well, worse than it is right now.
“Come on, Josephine. Let’s go.”
“I’m not going anywhere.”
“Joey.” I turn to face her and damn it, if the anguish on her face doesn’t break my damn heart. “You should go. Don’t make things worse.”
“But—”
“Go.”
Greg’s jaw grinds down before he spins on his heel and walks out without looking back.
“Please don’t make me leave.” She goes to grab me, but I stop her. “We can figure this out.”
Her lip quivers and it damn near breaks me. I’m fucking pissed as hell because he stormed in here without hearing our side of the story. There’s no blame to be placed. We’re two adults who made the decision to be together.
Hell, it wasn’t even a choice. I was drawn to Joey long before I could admit it to myself. I knew it was a bad idea, but I did it anyway. Because I fucking love this woman. I only wish I’d had the balls to tell her before now. Because I don’t think I’ll ever be able to after I let her go.
“Please, Joey. Go with your dad.”
“Sam. Don’t do this.”
I shake my head, swallowing around the emotion clogging my voice. “It’s already done.”
“You’re taking the decision away from me too?” She shakes her head. “Unbelievable.”
She rushes off into the house and I drop down into the chair, shoving my hands through my hair.
Fuck me.
One minute, Joey and I are wrapped up in each other, and the next, everything is unraveling. Whatever we have is over. Joey and I are done. There’s no way we’ll ever be able to have a relationship now that we’ve been found out. If her dad has anything to say about it, we’ll never be together.
Never.
And that’s the worst fucking part of all of this, I realize as my heart finally shatters.