Nellie closed out her texts, rolling her eyes. Well, now he’d wait until she felt good and ready to call him. That could be never. The jerk!

Sam walked out into the patio again, glancing around and up at the palm trees that surrounded the patio. He then turned and studied the building adjacent to his hotel. “Everything okay?” she asked.

He turned back to her with an instant smile. “Fine,” he waved his phone at her. “Work. Always something.” He put his phone down on the patio table and reached out his hand. “C’mere, I wanna show you something else about this room.”

Glancing back at the patio door, Nellie hesitated to take his hand. She could only hope he wasn’t taking her agreement to come back to his room with him to mean more than it was. He must’ve picked up on what she might be thinking because he motioned out toward the walkway that led around the palm trees. “It’s not in the room,” he laughed softly, confirming he had picked up on what had crossed her mind. “It’s out there.”

Feeling silly but very relieved, she smiled, taking his hand as she stood up. They strolled along the small walkway around the trees, and then they were on the sand. It was a wide open beach area but still very vacant.

“This beach is exclusive to the hotel. And my room is literally steps away from it. I’ve stayed at lot of rooms all over the country, but this is by far my favorite.” He smiled, and his incredibly light eyes nearly twinkled. “It’s a little pricey but worth every penny, I think.”

“Yes,” Nellie had to agree. “It’s beautiful.”

She was caught in his eyes for a moment, and he smiled, pulling her gently to him.

“Nellie, I know I told you this earlier this week on the phone, and I didn’t miss how quiet it made you. I hope this doesn’t freak you out, considering we’ve only known each other for a few weeks. But ever since that day I spent with you, I really haven’t been able to stop thinking about you. I know you said you’re still working on getting over your divorce, and I respect that. It took me some time to get over mine. At the risk of sounding a little pushy, would you please just give something between you and me some consideration?” He held up his hand. “Whenever you’re ready, that is. I’ll be patient. I just wanna put it out there so that we’re clear that it’s what I’m hoping for here.”

If she hadn’t been so caught up checking the photos of Abel and Rachel the day of their brunch, it might’ve been a very pleasant date. Sam was actually very sweet, attentive, and she’d since established very good-looking. And ever since their brunch, not a day had gone by that he hadn’t called or texted her. They’d even had a couple nights where they’d chatted online late into the night.

This past week, she’d come to the conclusion that Roni had been right—as usual. She wasn’t the f**k-buddy type. She’d fallen for Abel so fast and so hard that she’d like to say that was the only reason why the arrangement that they had hadn’t worked out. But she was certain now she’d never be okay dating someone who was also seeing someone else. It was a constant reminder of her inability to be enough for any man. For that reason, she was hesitant to become involved with another good-looking, obviously wealthy guy who did so much traveling.

Even as sweet as he was, and as genuinely as he was looking at her now, Abel was a perfect example of how a man could make you feel so very special as if you were the only one he ever looked at that way, when in fact . . .

“I’ve been burned really badly, Sam.” She shook her head, unable to believe she was addressing this so soon with him. “It might be a while before I’m ready to open up my heart,” she paused for a moment, exasperatingly feeling the lump in her throat. “Trust,” she whispered.

His hand caressed her cheek, and she fought the urge to pull away. Instead she leaned her face against his hand, closing her eyes. He leaned forward and kissed her forehead then lowered his hand, lifting her chin. There was no missing the alarm in his eyes when he saw the tears, but it was only for instant. Then he hugged her, and she let herself fall into his arms, hugging him back. “I get it, okay? And I promise I’ll be patient. When you do feel ready, I’ll do everything in my power to prove to you that you can trust me.”

As good as his strong arms felt around her and as much as she needed that at that moment, neither his embrace nor his words had anything on how Abel made her feel.

He pulled away, suddenly glancing around. “What’s wrong?” she asked.

“Nothing,” he frowned, still looking around, but began walking back down the pathway. “Let’s go sit down.”

Her phone was buzzing on the table where she’d left it next to his. It was her mom again. After reading Logan’s text, she’d completely forgotten that she had a missed call from her mom, and now she was calling again. “I gotta get this.” She turned to Sam, already feeling alarmed. “My mom only calls if it’s urgent.”

“Go ahead,” he said, looking a bit concerned himself.

“Mom, what is it?”

“I don’t want you getting upset, and you don’t need to come down to the emergency room or anything—”

“Emergency room?” she asked already upset. “What happened?”

Sam’s hand was instantly on her back when he saw her clutch her chest.

“Gus shoved a bean up his nose, but he’s gonna be fine. The doctors are working on getting it out. Your father and I tried to at home, and when we couldn’t, we decided to drive down here.”