Page 35 of Fall Surprises
The question was whether I'd be brave enough to fight for what we'd found, or whether I'd let my carefully planned life pull me away from the best thing I'd never planned for.
Chapter Eight
Gus
Iwoke in darkness to the soft glow of Sam's phone charging on the nightstand, her hair spread across my chest like silk. Her breath was warm against my skin, one leg tangled with mine, her hand resting over my heart.
For a moment, I just lay there, memorizing the weight of her, the way she fit against me like she'd been designed for this exact spot.
The clock read 5:23. Outside, late October darkness pressed against the windows—dawn was still over an hour away in Montana. I needed to be in the kitchen by six for breakfast prep, but I couldn't bring myself to move. The wedding was scheduled for four o'clock. In less than eleven hours, she'd be orchestrating Raven and Blaze's Halloween extravaganza while I plated hundreds of appetizers and managed the reception dinner.
But right now, none of that mattered.
Sam stirred, pressing closer, and my arms tightened around her automatically. She made a soft sound of contentment that went straight through me, settling deep in my chest.
"Morning," she murmured against my skin, her voice rough with sleep.
"Morning." I kissed the top of her head, breathing in the vanilla scent of her shampoo. "How are you feeling?"
She tilted her head up to look at me, eyes still heavy-lidded but bright. "Like I want to stay in this bed forever."
"That can be arranged."
"The wedding—"
"Will happen without us." I leaned forward to plant a soft kiss to her shoulder. "Raven probably won't even notice if we're missing in action."
She laughed, the vibration moving through both of us. "Tempting. So tempting."
I rolled us so she was beneath me, her hair fanning out on the pillow.
"Sam." I searched for the right words. "The past few days have been..."
Her expression shifted, wariness creeping in. "If you're about to say this was a mistake—"
"No." I kissed her, slow and thorough, until the tension left her body. "Never that. I was going to say—"
Her phone erupted.
Not a single buzz or ring, but a cacophony of notifications that lit up her screen like a casino jackpot. Text after text, calls coming through, the device practically vibrating off the nightstand.
"What the hell?" Sam grabbed it, her face draining of color as she read. "Oh my God."
"What is it?"
She held up the phone with shaking fingers. Stormi's name filled the screen—seven missed calls, a string of increasingly frantic texts.
SAM EMERGENCY PLEASE ANSWER RAVEN IS GONE SHE LEFT WITH JETT WHAT DO I DO??? I JUST FOUND THE NOTE THEY LEFT LAST NIGHT!!!
Before Sam could respond, the phone rang again. She answered on speaker.
"Stormi, what's happening?"
Stormi's voice came through high and hysterical. "She's gone! My sister is gone! She left a note saying she and Jett tooka three AM flight to Vegas to get married! How could she not tell me? Her own sister! I had no idea she was having an affair with him!"
My stomach dropped. Sam had gone from pale to ghostly.
"Are you sure?" Sam's professional voice kicked in, though I could feel her trembling against me. "Maybe she just—"
