Page 57 of Hot For You

“Cody’s not going to hurt me.” She thought about the fact that she was supposed to be going back to Kansas City in just a couple of weeks—if anyone was going to do the hurting, it would be her. Right now she felt like she was being torn in two.

She pushed all of those thoughts aside. She wasn’t going to worry about any of it for now. She smiled. “Thank you, but I’m going to be all right. I’m a big girl.”

Sam brought her into his embrace again. “I’ve missed you, Cari. I wish I would never have let you go.”

She let him hold her for a moment, breathing in his familiar scent and feeling his comfortable embrace. She wondered if she did love him still but as she thought about him leaving and going back to Kansas, she felt nothing but fondness for him.

A click and the sound of the door opening had her pushing Sam away. She jerked her attention to the doorway to see Cody standing there, staring at her and Sam.

The look on Cody’s face was one of betrayal and anger.

“Cody.” Carilyn stepped out of Sam’s grasp. “This is not what it seems.”

“Is that him?” Sam asked.

Carilyn rounded on Sam. “This is Cody.” She turned to Cody. “Meet Sam. I’ve told you about him.”

Cody’s expression was hard. “Your ex-boyfriend. Or at least I thought he was your ex.”

“He still is.” She stepped away from Sam and went to Cody. “Sam tracked me down using the Find My iPhone app we installed back when we were dating. He surprised me.”

Cody’s eyes were narrowed. “Looks like that was quite the welcome.”

“For Heaven's sake.” Carilyn put her hands on her hips. “He was giving me a goodbye hug.”

Sam walked to where Cody stood and held out his hand. “I’m Sam Anthony.”

“Cody McBride.” Cody took Sam’s hand and the two men looked like they were going to start arm wrestling.

Carilyn swiped loose strands of hair from her face that had escaped her French braid. “Please, let’s talk this out.”

The men nodded to each other and released their grips.

Sam smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “I’m sorry I dropped in on you like this, Cari. I now know that wasn’t a good idea.”

“It’s been good to see you.” Carilyn held out her hand and Sam took it. “Give me a call later. Maybe we can all go out for dinner.”

Sam released her hand and his gaze flicked to Cody and back to Carilyn. “I doubt if that’s a good idea. I have a hotel room at the Best Western. I’ll head back there and see if I can get an early flight to Kansas tomorrow.”

Carilyn couldn’t help but feel bad that Sam had come all the way here to find she was in love with someone else. “Have a good trip back,” she said softly. “Keep in touch.”

“I will,” he said, but the look on his face told her she wasn’t likely to be hearing from him for some time, if ever again.

“Bye, Sam,” she said as he opened the door.

He gave one look at her, nodded, and closed the door behind him.

The room was silent as he turned to face Cody. He was studying her. “Something is wrong,” he said.

She frowned. “I already explained the situation with Sam.”

“I’m not talking about that.” He shook his head. “There’s something bothering you.”

“Oh. You’re right.” She walked to the bed and picked up her laptop. “I got another email from Firebug.”

They sat on the edge of the mattress as she opened her laptop, put in her password,

Her heart was pounding as she pulled up her inbox again. She moved her cursor over the sender’s name and clicked on Firebug. She held her breath as they read it.

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