Page 33 of Cameron

His mouth covered hers, and with his lips, he expressed his feelings, the way he felt about her and how he wanted her so bad.

When they broke apart, she gazed at him, her eyes filled with a heat that he’d put there.

“Will I ever see you again?”

“I hope so,” he said and meant it. “Just remember, I’m not the bad guy.”

A frown drew between her brows. “What do you mean?”

“It means that I loved the passion we experienced the other night. You mean a lot to me,” he said and kissed the tip of her nose. “Don’t hate me.”

Shaking her head, she gazed at him perplexed. “I could never hate you.”

But she could and she would.

“Good-bye, Sam,” he said. “I wish we had more time together.”

“Me too,” she said wistfully.

He had to leave now or spill his guts and tell her everything. He walked out of the closet and hurried to his room where he planned on staying until the car arrived early in the morning.

Why did it feel like he was leaving part of his heart here in Montana, here at the Mistletoe Inn? Would Sam forgive him after she learned the real reason he’d been there?

CHAPTER 12

Samantha woke this morning; this was a huge day for their wedding venue business and Tara. Their first big wedding and she hoped there would be many more.

No, she would not accept that her brother would close down her business. Until he came up with another way to make them money, she was going to continue and he could kiss her grits.

Jumping up, she ate a quick breakfast and refused to think about Cameron leaving this morning. She hoped he was already gone because seeing him would only make her chest ache with the pain of his early departure. She’d hoped to have more time with him, and yet he was leaving before the wedding.

Why? He hadn’t acted like he was a part of the wedding.

And then there was the audit which she hoped Casey would get to her sometime this morning. Time to know what she was dealing with. Even if her brother didn’t want her to speak to Casey, she’d gone behind his back and requested the audit.

Half the time, he wasn’t here, so what did it matter? For her and her mother’s sakes, she had to learn the truth.

In the barn, she helped Tara’s crew set up the wedding altar. If she were ever to marry, she would want a wedding like thisone. In a barn surrounded by family and friends. Nothing too fancy, but she wanted to wear her mother’s gown and veil.

Mainly, she wanted there to be love, trust, and happiness filling the day.

But today, she had to concentrate on Bridezilla. Tomorrow she was declaring a day of rest for everyone who worked at the inn. Her employees had worked very hard this week and they deserved the chance to rest.

“I’ll start on the chairs,” she said as she went to the closet to pull out the folding chairs for the ceremony.

Several of her workers helped and once they had the chairs in place, she covered them with the linen slipcovers and a big white bow on the back. She was halfway done when Tara walked in.

The stress the woman had endured this week showed like a train wreck on her beautiful face. It looked like she was about to cry.

“What is it?” she asked. “What’s happened now?”

A sense of dread filled Samantha. They needed this event to make their wedding venue business a success. Tara needed it for her business and Bridezilla had taxed them all to the point that a loss now would send Samantha over the edge.

“The wedding is off,” Tara said, tears welling up in her eyes. “Sterling broke up with Francesca.”

Dear God. Everything they’d done to prepare for this day was a complete loss. Samantha dropped into a chair and buried her face in her hands.

How much more could she take?

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