Page 1 of Christmas Wedding
CHAPTER ONE
Lorna sat in a corner booth at Scrumptious, trying to console Sunny as she practically threw herself into the banana split that Piper put on the table in front of her. At five months pregnant, Sunny was barely showing, but the girl sure could eat. Even before she was pregnant, she could hold her own with the guys when they all went out, sometimes eating a whole pizza by herself. Now that she was eating for two, Sunny was an unstoppable eating machine.
“He’s gone. Just left town without a word to anyone. Who the hell does that?” Sunny questioned. She looked at Lorna as if she knew the answers and shoved another spoonful of ice cream into her mouth. How she could eat and cry at the same time was magical to watch. Every time Sunny sobbed, she shoved another spoonful in as if trying to self-soothe. Lorna wanted to laugh, but knew that Sunny was in no way ready to find any of this comical. She rubbed Sunny’s back, trying to comfort her but failing miserably.
“I know, honey. Aaron is a complete jerk,” Lorna said.
“How can you be so cold, Lorna?” Sunny gasped, shoving in another spoonful of ice cream. “He’s the father of my child, even if he doesn’t know it yet.” Lorna rolled her eyes.
“Explain to me again why you didn’t tell him about the baby,” Lorna asked. Sunny stopped eating as if trying to figure out how to answer Lorna’s question.
“He wouldn’t talk to me, and it’s been months since he has said even two words to me. I don’t know what you think I should have done. Maybe a billboard or a text message—would that have been appropriate, Lorna?” Sunny spat. Her anger was almost easier to deal with compared to her sobbing into her ice cream. Still, Sunny’s mood swings were giving Lorna whiplash.
“I just think that if Aaron knew that you were carrying his baby, he might have stuck around. He didn’t just run off, Sunny. He took a job in California. Tag said that he’s training firefighters out there for the next few months.” Lorna took Sunny’s napkin and wiped the chocolate fudge from her chin. The poor girl was a mess.
Sunny nodded her head, “I know that he’s working, but it doesn’t make any of this easier, though. If he really cared about me, he would be the one wiping chocolate from my chin, not you,” Sunny complained. Lorna tossed the napkin onto the table, ready to throw in the figurative towel. Piper pulled up a chair from another table and joined them.
“Don’t you need to run next door and check on Sawyer? He probably needs some help with dinner. Poor guy really did a number on his shoulder,” Piper said to Lorna. She wanted to kiss Piper for tag-teaming in on her conversation with Sunny. Honestly, she was ready for a break.
“Well, if you think you girls will be able to carry on without me, I do need to run a few errands. And yeah, I’ll check on your bodyguard.” Lorna slid out from the booth and gathered her bags. She opened the ice cream shop today, just as she did everyday since Piper and Tag were married two months ago. While they were away on their extended honeymoon in Europe, Lorna ran the shop. Now that Piper was back, she cut back her hours to keep up with her volunteer work at the library. The library laid her off earlier that year because of budget constraints, but she couldn’t just leave them hanging. Budget cutbacks were a pain, but Lorna didn’t mind volunteering to help out. Besides Scrumptious, the library was her favorite place in town. She loved the smell of the old books and the quiet of people getting lost in whatever book they were reading. Her favorite part of her day was when the little ones ran in, pulling their parents by the pants leg, trying to get the best spot for story-time. Each morning, she read to a group of preschoolers, which didn’t help with her yearning for a little one. At her age, that ship probably already sailed.
Lorna lived next door to the ice cream shop. It was the same house that she and Piper lived in after Piper’s parents died. Now, she lived there with Jonathan Sawyer. He was Piper’s sinfully sexy, much too young for her, bodyguard. After Piper inherited millions from her grandmother, she needed to hire a bodyguard to help her with the nosy reporters in New York. When Piper moved back to Colorado to marry Tag, she brought her bodyguard with her. Lorna knew that her niece did it partly to piss her off. She knew that Lorna found Jon Sawyer sexy as hell, but much too young, so Piper stepped in and brought him back home. Her thoughtful niece even moved Sawyer into her old house to live with Lorna.
Last week, Sawyer was picking up Tag and Piper from the airport and had a little run-in with a crazy woman and two of her exceptionally large suitcases. Apparently, said crazy woman took one look at him and tripped over her own feet, landing on poor Sawyer. As he caught the woman, her suitcase slammed into his shoulder, dislocating it. Tag insisted on taking him tothe hospital for X-rays, and with Piper fussing over him, Sawyer couldn’t refuse. He had his shoulder reset and needed to keep it immobilized for a week or two while wearing a sling. He was practically useless and was driving Lorna crazy. He walked around the house shirtless because, according to him, it was easier than trying to get a shirt on. She imagined that pulling on a shirt would be painful, but seeing him walking around the house with his chiseled abs and a chest that was screaming for her to run her hands all over it was agony for her.
She stopped at the grocery store to pick up a few things, and then she ran to the library to check out two books that she had reserved. She decided that if she couldn’t have what she wanted—namely, Sawyer- she would read romance novels with happy endings. At least she had her books and her fantasies of Sawyer stripping her bare and taking her on the kitchen table to keep her company. Maybe romance novels weren’t the best choice to read with her overactive libido. She let herself in the front door, arms loaded with bags from the grocery store, not wanting to wake Sawyer if he was able to get some sleep. She heard him up late at night roaming the house, and knew he must have been in a good deal of pain. She wanted to go to him and ask him if she could do anything for him, but she was afraid of what his answer might be. She noticed the way that he watched her, not missing his heated gaze or the way he used every excuse he could to touch her. She felt like a boxer, dodging and bobbing to miss his grasp. When he moved to Colorado three months prior, he asked her out a few times. She always had an excuse ready, not wanting to tell him the real reason she didn’t want to date him. She ran out of excuses when he asked her to go as his date to Piper’s wedding. He knew that she was going to be there and that she didn’t have a date, so she broke down and reluctantly accepted.
Her wedding duties as Piper’s surrogate mother kept her busy most of the day, but during the reception, when he asked her to dance, she couldn’t refuse. He pulled her into his hard body and practically engulfed her. He stood at about six feet four inches, and she could feel every one of the muscles that pressed up against her, holding her tight against his body. And his eyes—they were the most soulful brown eyes she had ever seen. Every time he looked at her, she felt as though he could see right through to her soul. She played a dangerous game by agreeing to attend Piper’s wedding with Sawyer. As soon as the bride and groom disappeared into their cabin, Lorna snuck off and ran back into town. Her plan seemed like a good one until Sawyer showed up thirty minutes later, mad as hell that she ditched him. She didn’t think through the whole part of them living under the same roof when she ran to her car and hightailed it back down the mountain. Sawyer demanded a come-to-Jesus conversation that involved her telling him the embarrassing truth that she couldn’t date him because he was just too young for her.
At forty, Lorna didn’t think that she should be dating a man who was just thirty-five. She raised Piper after her parents died. At that time, she wasn’t sure that she wanted kids of her own. The idea of having more kids wasn’t one that she felt was safe to entertain. She didn’t date a whole lot over the years. What man would want to take on a woman who was responsible for raising her traumatized niece? She wouldn’t have traded her time with Piper for anything. Piper was like her own daughter, not just her niece. She understood what she was possibly giving up when she agreed to raise Piper, and she would do it all again. But Sawyer made her want things, and that felt dangerous. She wasn’t sure she had the right to want a man or a family at her age. Sawyer assured her that their age difference didn’t matter to him, but he might not feel the same way in a few years when she would betoo old to have kids. If Sawyer ended up regretting his decision in choosing her, she wouldn’t be able to face that. She would never want to become one of his regrets. It was easier to nip the whole idea in the bud than to try to figure out the what-ifs.
Sawyer heard Lorna come through the front door, and his heart started pounding in his chest. Every damn time she entered the room, his body reacted as if he had just run a marathon. Lorna Sanders was driving him crazy, and he couldn’t figure out what the hell to do about her. He knew that Piper and Tag were good with him, wanting to date Lorna. He talked to Tag before he asked her to be his date for their wedding. He wanted to make sure that, as his employers, they were both okay with him dating Lorna. He didn’t want to cause any waves in his working relationship, especially since he liked his job. Being Piper’s security detail proved to be far from boring. Since moving to Colorado, Piper had quite a few reporters sniffing around from New York. For the most part, the locals just accepted Piper’s inheritance and left her alone. The reporters from out of state were harmless—they just wanted a story. But that was the last thing that Piper or Tag needed. Sawyer made sure that the reporters got the message to leave and not come back before they could disturb the newlyweds. Tag insisted that they go on their honeymoon alone, and Sawyer couldn’t blame him. The last thing he would want on his honeymoon was another guy hanging around. He knew that Tag could single-handedly manage Piper’s security, but they kept him around anyway. He also knew that part of his job description was to amuse Piper while chasing Lorna. But damn it, he didn’t want to have to chase her.
Lorna put her defenses up as soon as he moved to town, and he wanted to tear every damn one of them down. She told him that he was too young for her, but his response to that argument was, “Fuck that”. Lorna had some bizarre notion that she was old. All he saw when he looked at her was a fucking amazing woman. She was the hottest, sweetest, sexiest woman that he had ever seen. Her long dark hair was usually pulled back, but at night, when she wandered around the house in her short shorts and see-through tank, she let her hair fall over her shoulders. It drove him damn near insane, and he spent most of his time around her as hard as a rock. Lately, she was making him most of his meals while he was out of commission from his stupid shoulder injury. He caught her singing and dancing in their little kitchen while making him breakfast, and he had to go back to his room to take a cold shower. He didn’t know how much more of Lorna’s resistance he could take before he would need to move out of Piper’s house. He could only be pushed so far before he snapped, and he was right on the verge of losing his tightly reined-in control. Sawyer met Lorna on her way into the kitchen, her arms loaded down with groceries and books. God, but she loved her books. Her bedroom was full of stacks of them that she had already read, but she insisted on keeping them because she might need to read them again. Yet, every time she came through the front door, she had her arms full of new books. He couldn’t help but smile at her as he took one of the bags. It was about all he could handle being one-handed.
“Hey, you picked up groceries after working all day?” Sawyer put the bag on the counter and grabbed the second one from Lorna’s arms. He didn’t miss the way her eyes flared when he brushed her bare skin with his fingers. He knew that Lorna wanted him, but she kept up those damn walls that were nearly impossible to break down.
“Yep, and I ran to the library. They had some books on hold for me.” He searched her bag and noted that they were all those romance books that she seemed to love. Half-naked men and swooning women adorned every cover. If only she would let him in, he could show her that real life was so much better than a made-up book. He looked Lorna up and down, noticing how tired she seemed. She was running herself ragged between the ice-cream shop, volunteering at the library, and now having to practically take care of him. He couldn’t wait to get out of his sling next week and return to work. He liked pulling his weight around the house, too. He was usually the one who ran to the grocery store between his shift, watching Piper, fending off the occasional nosy reporter, and volunteering for the local sheriff. He found that while his job more than paid the bills, he needed something more to fill his lonely days and especially nights. He hated that he couldn’t find a way through Lorna’s defenses, and he was about to give up trying.
He met Joel, the small town’s sheriff, and was offered a job on the spot. Tag got to Joel first and talked Sawyer up. He barely even shook the sheriff’s hand before he was offered the job—well, if working for free could be called a job. He took the position, hoping that it would lead to a full-time paid offer. If he was being completely honest, he took the job because it would give him some much-needed time away from Lorna.
The woman drove him crazy. The more he pushed, the more she shoved back. Her lame excuse about not wanting to date a younger man was the craziest he had ever heard. He knew that she was attracted to him—he felt it every time they touched. He knew she felt it too, the way her breath caught each time they passed too closely in the hall. It was like an undeniable electric charge between them. Lorna found a way to refuse them both, and it was wearing him down more and more with each passing day.
He thought about moving back to New York and taking another assignment, but nothing was waiting for him there. He finally had friends in Colorado, and he respected both Piper and Tag. In the few short months that he was working for Piper, she became more like the little sister he never had. He could relate to both her and Tag’s stories of growing up without parents since he never knew either of his parents. He was raised in the foster system from the age of three, with no memories of his mother or father. When he tried to find them after turning eighteen and being released into the world by the state, he was told that his mother had died when he was ten. There was no father listed on his original birth certificate. So, he gave up his search, joined the Army, and devoted his life to whatever cause Uncle Sam told him was important. He planned on staying in the military and making a career of it until his unit was hit by an IED. He was on his second tour when his unit was targeted. Everyone in his unit was killed except him and one other guy. He escaped with a few minor scrapes and a broken leg while his buddy lost his eyesight and his left arm. After he was discharged, he wallowed in pity and self-loathing for surviving while his friends—men who became like brothers to him, who had come home in caskets. He allowed himself a year to sulk, and then he pulled himself out of the pit that he had dug. He found a private detective agency that was recruiting ex-military to protect high-end clients. He loved his job but hated New York. When Piper asked him to follow her back to Colorado, he jumped at the chance. Knowing that Piper’s sexy-as-sin aunt would be hanging around seemed like a bonus. Well, until Lorna started giving him the cold shoulder. He never worked so hard to get a woman’s attention in his entire life, but she was worth it. He just needed her to accept that, eventually, she was going to end up in his bed. He and Lorna moved around the cramped kitchen putting away groceries. He couldn’t help himself when she bent down to put the produce into the fridge;he groaned out loud. Lorna turned to face him, her expression a cross between amused and turned on. He spent the last few months hiding the way he felt about her. Once she told him that she wasn’t interested in him, he decided that he wasn’t going to hide his feelings anymore.
“Are you in pain, Sawyer?” Lorna crossed the kitchen to grab her bag of books. He knew that it was a risk, but he was tired of sitting on the sidelines waiting for Lorna to come to her senses. Sawyer pulled her against his body, causing her to drop her bag, her books spilling all over the kitchen floor with a thud.
“Damn it, Lorna, I’m not in pain. Well, I am, but not the way you’re thinking.” Lorna didn’t make a move to escape his hold, and he took that as a good sign.
“Is it your shoulder?” Lorna’s hands skittered up his shoulder, and her touch felt as if lightning passed straight through his body. He pulled her tighter against his chest, leaving her arms with no place to go but around his shoulders. She felt like heaven up against him. Memories of Tag and Piper’s wedding came flooding back. The way she let him hold her while he moved them both across the dance floor—honestly, it was the best night of his life right up until she bolted and ran back to their house. He was confused and blamed himself for making her uncomfortable enough to leave her own niece’s wedding. That lasted until she explained that she ran because she was a whole five years older than him. He knew damn well how old Lorna was, and he didn’t give a fuck. She was the sexiest woman that he had ever met, and when she touched him, he felt things that he had never felt for anyone else.
In the weeks since the wedding, he spent his time volunteering for the sheriff, fantasizing about the most stubborn woman that he had ever met, and taking a lot of cold showers. Lorna still made no move to detangle herself from his hold. Her eyes darkened as she leaned into his embrace. He knew that shewanted him every bit as much as he wanted her. It was now or never. He dipped his head to take her lips with every ounce of passion that was pent up inside of him since he met her. As he licked his way into her mouth, her breathy sighs and moans told him that she was on board. He walked her backward, trapping her against the refrigerator as he nipped and bit at her already swollen lips. Lorna didn’t put up a fuss, even pulling his head down to get a better angle. She devoured his mouth like a starving woman and then broke the kiss.
“Sawyer, we can’t.” He could tell that she was going to withdraw, and that was not an option. This was the furthest she ever let him in—he wasn’t about to back down so easily.
“Jon.” He sighed, pulling her in for another consuming kiss. Again, she didn’t put up a fuss. She seemed turned on by the whole scene. He pulled her long auburn ponytail from its holder, letting her hair fall around her face. “God, you are so fucking beautiful, Lorna.” She tried to take a step back from him, but being wedged between his body and the fridge, she had no place to go. She placed both hands flat on his chest, and he didn’t miss the way her fingers flexed as she ran them down his body, resting on his waist.
“Sawyer,” Lorna whispered. He covered her mouth with his good hand, stopping her from saying her next thoughts out loud.
