Page 67 of Lucky Strike

Her phone buzzed.

“How’s the new place working?”

Sam.

She should ignore him, teach him a lesson for making her angry. Truth be told, she was more aggravated than mad. That day in his apartment had proven one thing. She could wear him down and have him physically but, other than that, he could take her or leave her without being affected too much. In the end, she’d been the one to foolishly entertain the possibility of her and Sam being something more, only for him to inform her she shouldn’t rely on him for anything substantial. She’d gotten the hint clear enough, and her heart had bolted.

But staying angry for the long term took a lot of energy. Her temper came in a burst before fizzling out quickly. She’d rather spite him instead.“Why do you care? Isn’t that Leslie’s problem now?”

“I’m not asking as a property manager.”

He had her interest.“What are you asking as then?”

He didn’t respond straight away. Perhaps she’d already pushed him too far. So much for a distraction.

Her phone buzzed and she snatched it from the couch.

“Just regular old Sam.”

“Have I interacted much with regular old Sam? How would I know the difference? Does he have less of a stick up his ass?”

“You’ve interacted with him lots of times. At the fair. The nursery. In my apartment. As far as my ass is concerned, you should know.”

Her mouth sprung ajar in shock. But she wasn’t going to make it too easy for him.“I thought your ass had too much going on.”

“My ass was being an ass.”He soon followed with:“Regular old Sam wants however much of you he can get. But we’ll keep the ball in your court. If you ever need me, you know the code.”

Luna stared at the message, rereading it several times. Did he actually mean it? Would he come if she asked? Part of her had a desire to test him, the other part only had a burning desire.

The heart inside her chest beat hard and her fingers typed,“S.O.S.”She paused briefly, hitting send before her mind could be changed. No one would ever accuse her of not being gutsy but mainly because she was curious about what would happen.

She waited a moment to see if he’d replied but there wasn’t anything. Luna wasn’t even sure what it meant or what he was offering. Was he on his way? Just in case, she should probably change her clothes into something more—

There was a knock at the door.

She jumped.

“Who is it?” she yelled with suspicion, willing her voice to sound tough.

“Sam,” came the muffled response from the porch.

Luna glanced at her phone. She’d sent the text a minute prior. Even with Schnell Ridge close by, he wouldn’t have been able to arrive any faster than if he had flown. Luna stood, touching a hand to her hair. She was the unsexiest version of herself. God, she wasn’t even wearing a bra. How was she supposed to know anS.O.S.message would be so powerful?

She peered through the peephole. It was Sam all right, right down to the old River Cats baseball hat.

“How’d you get here so fast?” Luna asked after cracking the door.

He rubbed his neck. “I was already in the neighborhood.” His motorcycle was parked across the street. She wondered if he’d been texting her from that exact spot the whole time. Despite her unsexy wardrobe situation, she welcomed him inside.

After his gaze swept the room, they locked on to the jar of peanut butter in her hand. “Am I interrupting something?”

“Yeah, you just missed the party.”

“Did I?” He helped himself to the spoon in the peanut butter jar, smearing a big glob on his middle finger before returning the spoon to the container. Keeping his eyes locked on her, he achingly, slowly, licked the peanut butter from it. Luna almost dropped the jar. Clearly, there was nothing “regular” nor “old” about Sam. Her mouth grew dry as she became more conscious about her lack of bra. Maybe he did too because his attention dropped to her bedtime-casual outfit. Those eyes had enough intensity to burn holes in the fabric.

She cleared her throat, attempting to harness some control. It didn’t seem fair the man had the ability to keep sneaking up on her. “What exactly is supposed to happen now?” she asked in a low voice.

“Whatever you need, Queenie.” He licked his lips.

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