Page 73 of Sawyer

“You figured all that out after one cup of coffee, huh?”

“You wear your heart on your sleeve. It’s a big heart, Sawyer.”

That same heart is going apeshit inside my chest. “Because I’m a gentleman, I won’t make a joke about the other big problem I have in my pants right now.”

Ava’s mouth falls open, her eyes going wide. “Oh, no, you pooped, didn’t you? I have wipes in the car?—”

“Stop.” Laughing, I pull my hand out of my pocket and curl it around her upper arm. I give her a gentle shove, which she returns, the two of us clearly still eager to have our hands all over each other.

“You think your heart is a problem?” Her palm rests on my forearm.

“I don’t know. Maybe. Makes life more complicated, I’ll tell you that much.”

She looks at me, strands of her hair catching in the crisp winter breeze. “Big hearts and boundaries are a tough pairing to figure out, I’m sure. Stressful.”

I’m smiling for what feels like the hundredth time this morning. “Very.”

“You might need some relief.”

“I just might, yeah.”

The sun slants onto the porch and warms the front of my legs. I feel that same warmth in my chest as Ava looks at me and I look back.

“Let me take you out.” I glance over my shoulder, making sure Duke isn’t watching us through the nearby window. “Someplace where we won’t be interrupted. Dinner sound good?”

Ava does that thing where she digs her teeth into her bottom lip. “Is there a place to get dinner in Hartsville?”

“I’ll figure something out. Just—I’m not letting you walk away again without getting your number.”

After a beat of heated, extended eye contact, she nods. “Okay. Yeah. I’d love to go out with you.”

“Here.” I start down the steps. “Let me grab my phone. How do I not have your number, by the way?”

Following me, Ava smiles. “I was wondering the same thing.”

“Thank God I finally grew a pair and asked for it.”

“Thank God I’m still alive to give it to you.”

I open the driver’s door of my truck and take my phone off the dash. “Not the kind of killer you thought, right?”

Her eyes glimmer when she replies, “Not in the slightest.”

She gives me her number, and then I slide my phone into my back pocket.

“So,” she says.

“So.” I put my hands on my hips. I have no idea what to do with them. Do I hug her? Kiss her? None of the above?

But Ava, being Ava, doesn’t miss a beat. She holds out her arms and goes up on her toes, pulling me into a tight, flirty embrace, kissing my cheek.

“Thank you,” she murmurs in my ear. “I can’t tell you how much I needed that.”

I press a scruffy kiss to her cheek. “Anytime, pretty girl. Answer when I reach out, yeah?”

She nods, nosing my neck. “I think I can do that.”

“Hope Junie has as much of a great first day as you’re having.”

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