Free Back Road Chances (Roughneck #2) by Nicole Hart Page A

their mouth about things they don’t understand.”
    Sam and I both just laughed as she walked away.
    “Thank you for my rose again this morning,” Sam said, after we ordered our dinner.
    “My pleasure,” I said.
    “How did you manage to do that once you left for work?” She asked with a raised eyebrow.
    “I have my ways,” I replied, and gave her a wink.
    “Yes, you do,” she said, and winked back at me. I knew I would explain the roses after one more day, so I changed the subject before I ruined my plan.  I reached into my pocket inside my coveralls and pulled out the envelope.
    “What’s this?” Sam asked after I handed it to her.
    “It’s a spa day for tomorrow. I don’t want you to have to sit in the motel again all day. So go pamper yourself, or whatever the hell it is they call it. It’s the works package - it has a massage and all that other stuff.” She stared down at the envelope for a minute and didn’t say anything. My dad assured me this was a good idea. He said all women love this kind of shit. I hope he was right.
    “I mean, if you want to,” I said when she still didn’t speak.
    “Oh yeah, I definitely want to,” She said, and looked at me with a smile. Those blue eyes of hers sparkled. She was so beautiful. “I’ve always wanted to do this, but never wanted to spend that kind of money on myself.”
    “Well now you don’t have to. I’ll do whatever you want if it makes you happy,” I said, knowing damn well I wasn’t talking about the massage.
    “Thank you, Moon,” Sam said quietly, then got out of her chair and walked over to me. She straddled my lap and wrapped her arms around my neck. I didn’t care that I could feel people staring at us. I put my arms around her as I kissed those beautiful lips of hers.
    “You’re gonna get all dirty,” I told her, remembering I was still in my coveralls.
    “I like it dirty,” Sam whispered in my ear. Aw hell.
    “That food better hurry the fuck up,” I said with a laugh.

It was almost midnight; Sam would be leaving tomorrow, or technically today. We were in bed, naked and exhausted. But I knew it was time to tell her. I had been holding on to this secret for too long. She needed to know. I just hoped it didn’t ruin everything and she didn’t run. Fuck, what if she ran? What if this ruined us? It wouldn’t. I knew she cared about me and wanted us to work. And if she couldn’t handle this, it was a chance I had to take. I loved this woman and I couldn’t wait any longer to tell her the truth. Here goes nothing. I scooted out of bed and walked over to my bag and grabbed the last white rose out of it. I had left one this morning on the bed so Sam would find it when she woke up. When she saw me pull it out of my bag, her smile brightened the whole fucking room.
    “I already got one today,” she said, and held her hand out to take it from me. I took a deep breath and lay down beside her again.
    “It’s almost midnight, close enough. And this is the last one,” I said, and then paused. Sam looked at me, she seemed confused.
    “Well not forever, because if you want flowers, I’ll buy you fucking flowers every day of your life. But the single rose every day, today is the last day for that.”
    “I’m not following, Moon,” she said, as she stared into my eyes. It always seemed like she was waiting for bad news. She always seemed to be bracing herself for the worst.
    “There’s a reason behind the number of roses,” I said.
    “17,” Sam said immediately.
    “You’ve been counting them?” I asked a little surprised.
    “Of course, I was waiting for them to stop.” That made me a little sad. I hated the way she always thought the good things were going to disappear.
    “Yeah, 17,” I said, and then took another deep breath, here we go. I grabbed her hand and squeezed it. Maybe if I held on tight enough, she wouldn’t dart out of this bed and out the door. She was staring at me intently, waiting.
    “That’s when it