Page 136 of Infatuated as They Come
My eyes were stuck ahead of me. The bath was filled to the brim, the water stacked with soft, fluffy bubbles. He had dimmed the lights low and placed a few candles around one of the sides of the tub, giving the room a gentle, calming glow.
I stripped, getting settled into the bath and feeling instant relief as the hot water coated my body. Stretching my legs out, my worn-out muscles finally got the relief they needed after such a long day. My head rested against the edge of the tub, eyes shutting as I let the gentle scent of rose and lavender fill my nose.
I must have spent a good fifteen minutes in the tub before I finally got out, dried myself off, and slipped into something comfortable—and Sawyer’sflannel shirts were always somehow so soft and warm. When I made my way back to the dining room, I was met with the sight of Sawyer with his lighter in his hand. There were four white tapered candles on the table, three already alight while Sawyer held his hand close to the last one. Slowly, his green eyes flickered up to meet mine before they lowered to his shirt I had on.
He jolted suddenly, sticking his thumb in his mouth for a quick second. “Fuck.” Then he looked back up at me. “You gotta warn a man if you’re gonna come out dressed like that.”
“Did you burn yourself?” I asked. “Are you okay?”
“I’m good. You hungry?” he asked, coming around to my side of the table. He dragged the chair out and gestured a hand to it.
“You didn’t have to do all of this for me.” I pushed myself up against him, my hands on his broad chest. The apron was gone, revealing a simple T-shirt that felt all soft against my fingers. “You finally have some time off and this is what you spend your day doing?”
He ran a thumb across my cheek. “I owe you a dinner, remember?”
“My birthday dinner? That’s what this is about?”
“I never got to take you to that restaurant.” His eyes moved over to the table. “It would have been really nice to take you out that night, but… Well, you know what happened. So, since I can’t take you there, maybe this will make up for it.”
I buried my face in his chest. “Why are you so sweet?”
“I wanna make up for all those things I missed out on. And I wanted to say thank you for everything you’ve been doing for me. The truck and the parking spot and the trip and the gifts and all the dinners you made me. I know I’m on my feet all day, but you’re busy too. You’ve got so much going on with cheer and classes and the paper. I don’t know how you do all that. You’ve been working so hard this year. But you’re my smart girl and you handle it all so well.”
“I’m gonna cry,” I said, voice trembling for a second.
“Don’t cry.” He rested his hand on the back of my head, fingers massaging at my scalp. “You know I hate seeing you cry.”
“It might happen. I can’t help it.”
He chuckled. “Come eat. You gotta be hungry. Come sit with me.”
His hands gripped the back of the chair, gesturing to it once more, and with a happy but overwhelmed sigh I sat down. I eyed the food, taking in the smell of garlic and rosemary and thyme, the scent taking me back to all those nights Sawyer took me out to dinner in Dallas. Just us two, where for a couple hours, we were allowed to not worry about who either of us were and just focused on what we felt when we were together.
“We’re both a little underdressed,” he said, pushing a hand through his hair.
“I like you better when you’re underdressed.”
He tugged at his collar and grinned. “I shoulda put a tie on. You look real good, though.” His head tilted slightly as he eyed me. “You need to wear my clothes more often.”
“Your clothes are a lot more comfortable than mine, so expect that to happen,” I said, twirling some of the pasta on my fork. “This looks really good.”
“Tell me if it sucks.”
Taking a bite, I shook my head. “Nuh-uh. It tastes perfect.”
He took his own bite of the pasta before nodding. “Not too shabby.”
We finished up the rest of our dinner, and for someone who didn’t have a lot of experience with Italian cuisine, Sawyer had done a pretty good job with the meal. We eventually found our way to the couch and Sawyer stretched my legs out across his lap, his hands massaging my calves.
I groaned at how good his hands felt. “You’re being too nice to me. Cheer practice was really hard today. It gave me a headache.”
He tsked, shaking his head at me. “It’s all those backflips you’re doing. You know, the human body isn’t supposed to flip around like that. Your brain’s getting all scrambled.”
I giggled softly. “I’ll warn the girls.”
“Oh, there’s something else I gotta give you, by the way.”
“You’re spoiling me. I don’t need anything else.”
