Page 144 of Sinful as They Come
“I will give you my fucking word right here, right now,” I told him seriously. “I’m never, ever gonna hurt your daughter.”
Joe sighed, straightening his collar. “If I told her to stop seeing you, she’d just keep going behind my back. And I don’t want that. I’m only giving you my approval because I don’t want her to keep secrets. Just because you have my approval doesn’t mean that I like you. I’lltolerateyou, Sawyer, but that’s about it.”
I expected as much. There was no way we were gonna be buddies who went on golf trips or whatever rich guy shit he did in his spare time. That was fine with me.
I stuck my hand out to him, ready for him to ignore my gesture. But he took my hand, shaking it in a firm grip.
“No more secrets,” he told me sternly. “And no more sneaking around.”
I nodded. “Of course.” No more secrets… I was fine with that. Holly didn’t want to hide me anymore. I’d be the boyfriend that showed up at the front door and parked right there in the driveway. I was cool with that.
But the sneaking around with Holly? That was far too fun to give up. There was just something about climbing into her bedroom window and pounding her into the mattress while she hid her moans that I couldn’t quite resist.
Well, what he didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him…
Chapter 52
HOLLY
“Watch your step, doll. Almost there, almost there.”
“Don’t let me fall!” I laughed.
“I’d never let you fall, Holly. Ever.”
I was grinning ear to ear as Sawyer covered my eyes with one of his hands. The other was on my waist, guiding me forward. We were in the library, and Sawyer was going to show me his completed painting. He had been so busy with the project the last couple of weeks, and he had been keeping me away from it, not letting me even catch a glimpse of it until he was done. I couldn’t wait to see the finished product.
“Alright. Open your eyes.”
Sawyer moved his hand away from my face and I quickly snapped my eyes open. And then a gasp left my mouth at the pure beauty I was seeing.
The painting washuge. I spotted a gorgeous combination of pinks and purples that took over the top of the painting, creating the most perfect of all sunsets. Then came the dark purple mountains. The bottom of the painting made room for a sea of purple and yellow flowers, all dancing in what seemed like a calming wind. And off in the corner was a house. A small one. An old, classic looking one. My head tilted as I stared at the building. At the white picket fence that surrounded it.
It all looked so wonderfully peaceful.
“I wanna crawl into this painting.” I spun around to look at Sawyer, smiling at him. “It’s so beautiful. From top to bottom. I love it. I’m so gladthe library picked you to create their new art piece. No one else could have pulled this off.”
“You’re making me blush.” He rubbed at the back of his neck.
“You’re cute when you blush.” I stepped forward, throwing my arms around his shoulders.
“Nah, that’s you. But lemme show you something else.”
Sawyer spun me around with ease and gently pushed me forward, back over to his painting. I laughed softly, one of his hands on my waist while the other pointed at one of the many flowers on the canvas.
“That’s the one you painted,” he said with a whisper.
“Wait, what?”
“You don’t remember the flower you painted?”
“Idefinitelyremember that. I’m just… I’m surprised you didn’t paint over it or something,” I told him. My eyes stayed stuck on the flower Sawyer was pointing out. The one I had done. It was my only contribution to his work, but I felt my heart skip a beat knowing he had kept it in there. That day I painted it had been the first time we kissed. “You kept it. Sawyer, that’s so sweet. Thank you.”
“Pretty, little flower,” he mumbled into my neck. “Just like you.”
“It’s the messiest one.”
“It’s my favorite one.”
