Chapter 3

Sam woke up to Jake's arm holding her tight against his body. The cold air made her shiver and snuggle closer to him. Jake woke up to her movement and smiled at her.

"Morning," he said groggily before kissing her forehead.

"Good morning to you too," Sam replied moving her hand up and down his bare chest.

"We should get to work," Jake said glancing at her clock, which read eight o'clock.

"Or we could stay in bed and have some fun," she said sitting up and shivered as the cold morning air hit her naked body. Sam smiled as Jake kissed her wrapping his arms around her waist. Her legs then moved around his body so that she was straddling him. She ignored the pain in her knee as she deepened her kiss. Sam was about to moan when the door burst open.

"Hey Jake, look at who I brought over…" Quinn started to say until he saw what was going on.

Sam screamed as Jake covered them the best he could with the sheets. Even though her face was now buried in Jake's neck Sam glanced at the doorway. She saw a red faced Quinn and a very uncomfortable Aunt Sue.

"Well I guess that answers that question," Quinn said to break the silence.

"Quinn!" Sam and Jake yelled in unison.

"We'll be downstairs while you two get dressed," Aunt Sue said yanking Quinn back down the hall.

"I can't believe that happened," Sam groaned into Jake's chest.

"I'm just glad it wasn't your dad," Jake said as Sam rolled off of him.

"But my aunt and your brother just saw us when we were about to have sex," she said lying down. "No, our future in-laws just saw us before we were about to have sex."

Jake bent down and kissed her before saying, "Sam, just put some clothes on."

"Fine."

Sam sat up looking for her clothes when they were suddenly tossed at her face. She gave a small word of thanks before putting the top on. After slipping her legs into her pajama pants she stood up. Sam had barely pulled all the way up when she fell. Jake stopped buttoning his shirt and hurried to Sam's side.

"You okay?" he asked helping her to her feet.

"Yeah, it's just my knee," she said trying to walk away from him only to start falling again.

Jake caught her in time and silently told her to sit down.

"Jake I'm fine," Sam tried to convince her as he rolled up her pants. Her knee was so badly bruised that it looked like someone had water colored black and blue paint all over her knee.

"Black and blue has never meant that someone was fine." Jake said pulling the pants back down. "You should go see a doctor."

"No, it will be fine."

"Sam, you will see one."

"But—"

"No buts," he said pulling her up. "You will see one even if I have to drag you there myself."

Sam sighed as Jake picked her up to carry her down stairs. As they entered the kitchen she held her breath. She could just feel both Quinn and Aunt Sue narrow their eyes as they took in the scene before them. Flaming warmth burned Sam's cheeks as Jake carried her to the kitchen table. Without a word Jake set her down in the chair. There was an awkward silence that filled the room as Jake moved to grab a plastic bag.

"So…did you guys eat breakfast already?" Sam asked hoping to divert the conversation to one that wouldn't ask a lot of questions.

"Damn it, no ice," Jake said drawing everyone's attention.

"Why Jake di you—" Quinn started to say was cut off by the front door slamming shut.

"Sammy!" they all heard as Cody ran into to kitchen and jumped into her lap.

"Ouch!" Sam cried as his foot slammed into her knee.

"Did I hurt you Sammy?" Cody asked with sad puppy eyes.

"No, I hurt my knee yesterday when I fell off of Ace," Sam told him as she pulled him in tight for a hug. "In fact why don't you help Dad, Jake and Quinn with the horses and gather snow for me to ice my knee."

"Can I mommy?" Cody asked Brynna as she walked into the kitchen.

"Sure," she said setting down the bags that were in her hands.

"Cody, make sure to tell dad to hurry on in, I have something I want to tell him," Sam said hoping that Quinn would also get the hint to keep his mouth shut around her dad about what he saw this morning.

"What's so important that you need to have your dad hurry inside?" Gram asked walking past Sam to give Aunt Sue a hug. "It's nice to see you Sue."

"It's nice to see you too," Aunt Sue said hugging her back.

"Well," Sam said unable to control her smiling "Jake and I are engaged. He proposed to me once we got back home."

"Congratulations honey," Gram said coming over to give her a hug.

"I knew that it was only a matter of time before he'd ask," Brynna said before hugging Sam.

"Sam, Cody told me that you have something you want to tell me," Wyatt said stomping his feet at the door. "But first I want to know why Jake asked me to bring in a bag of snow for you."

"Well, I um…fell off Ace when we went for a ride," Sam said nervous about what his reaction would be.

"When none of us were home?" he asked not sounding happy.

"Yeah, but I'm okay my knee is just banged up."

"Sam, do you know what could have happened if you didn't make it back in time before the blizzard hit?" he almost yelled.

"It was fine, Jake found me and took me back," she replied crossing her arms and jutting her jaw out in a stubborn way.

Wyatt sighed deeply, not wanting to get into an argument with Sam. In return Sam stared him down glad that he was about to drop the subject.

"Anyways, what did you want to tell me?" he asked.

"Just that I'm engaged to Jake," she said lifting up her left hand.

"Oh, well I knew that he was going to do it."

"What? How?" Sam asked standing up only to fall back into the chair.

"He asked for permission," he said as a matter of fact, "How do you think he found out your ring size?"

"Oh."

"Sam sweetie, let me take a look at that knee," Gram said motioning for her to roll her pant leg up.

Sam did as she was told. She bit her lip as everyone in the room winced as they saw her knee. Gram clicked her tongue as she gently touched Sam's knee. Sam gripped the fabric of her pants as it felt like her knee was on fire wherever Gram touched her. When Gram stood up she shook her head as Sam rolled the pants leg back down.

"Sam honey, I want you to go get your knee checked out today," Gram said.

"But it's Christmas, and I still need to help you get ready for the Christmas party," Sam protested.

"Brynna can help me out just fine," Gram told her "and I don't know how much help you would be with that knee of yours."

Sam was about to say something else when she heard the front door open and people stomping their feet.

"Jake," Wyatt said walking out of the kitchen.

"Yeah," he replied.

"Go take Sam to the ER to get her knee checked out."

"Yes sir," Jake said putting his black Stetson back on.

"Oh, and be careful on the road," Wyatt told him as he picked Cody up. "There's quit a bit of ice on it."