Free 120 days... by M. Stratton

him.

    Sam sat on the ground in the park with her back resting against a tree, her tablet on her lap and cell phone in one hand, while she tried to keep an eye on everyone and run her business. The developers were trying to get her land again. It seemed like every couple of years, they’d try to pull something, or offer some outrageous amount to get her to sell. Last time, she’d ended up having to get the police involved since they’d been sabotaging her vehicles and buildings, trying to put her out of business and needing to sell. She didn’t want that to happen again. But with the mystery of the abandoned gold mine somewhere on her property, she knew it was never going to go away. She shook her head. Didn’t they realize as the owner, she already spent a lot of time and money looking for it? If there was a gold mine, a lot of her worries would be gone. She’d never have to stress about paying bills and the resort could run for as long as it needed without emptying her bank accounts. She sighed, thinking it would be wonderful if they could find a cure for all cancer so her resort would never be needed again. But that was wishful thinking, and not going to happen any time soon, so she had to get back to work.
    The weather looked like it was going to be pleasant for the next few days, which was good. They had the rehearsals, and then the show, not to mention a campfire cookout planned for the following night. Quickly taking care of a couple of emails, she noticed how Ethan stayed in the background, never actively involved in anything. Sam also noticed time and again, if anyone needed help, he was right there.
    She was under the impression from what Evan had said that Ethan no longer cared about anyone else but himself, and money. He liked to make it, and invest it in developments. Cocking her head to the side, she narrowed her eyes at him, wondering once more why he had applied for the job in the first place. Her first instinct was always to believe what people told her. Most of the time it all worked out, but there were the times people were trying to scam her, and she ended up in shock someone would do that to her.
    Tapping her finger on her bottom lip, she considered doing some digging on Mr. Ethan McGregor. Seeing Patty walk across the stage like a queen, she knew she had to. If he was here to find out if she was ripe for the picking and would try to get the land from her, by any means possible, she had to know.
    Her eyes darted around. She felt guilty for doing it, but there were so many people who needed the resort and she wasn’t going to have it fall into the wrong hands. Pulling up the information Ethan had supplied her with when he’d signed his contract, she skimmed the documents for his general details, her eyes landing on the next of kin section, which was blank. Once she found his company information, she put that into a search engine and quickly looked to see what type of developments they typically dealt in. She was relieved when she didn’t recognize the properties he’d bought and sold, and that they were mostly in the city, in areas which were up and coming, not rural developments.
    Her finger hovered over the About section of their website, wondering what else it might tell her about Ethan. Before she could talk herself out of it, Sam tapped it and blinked a few times as his image filled the screen. Holy moly, he cleaned up nicely. Who would have thought this man could wear a suit like it was a second skin? A second, very sexy skin.
    Closing her eyes, she let out the breath she had been holding. She really didn’t want him to be the bad guy. While he might not be the knight in shining armor, the fact that he seemed to tip the scales toward the good side made her feel better.

    Ethan had stayed backstage, making sure the guests all knew where they had to go and had everything they needed. It also gave him an opportunity to watch Samantha while she didn’t know he was. He had to admit that, even