Page 4 of Christmas Wedding
“Yep, I’m just seeing the country and happened upon your little town. It’s quaint, nothing like the Big Apple. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many stars.” Sawyer knew what Joe was talking about—Harvest Ridge was nothing like New York, but he still wasn’t buying it.
“Do you usually go home with women you just met, Joe? I mean, Lorna here could be a serial killer.” Joe looked Lorna up and down, and Sawyer didn’t like the way his eyes lingered as he took her in. Sawyer couldn’t help his growl as he got up to stand between Lorna and Joe’s wandering eyes. He wanted to punch the smirk right off Joe’s cocky face.
“That’s enough,” Lorna shouted. She stepped around Sawyer to face Joe. “Listen, I think that this was a bad idea. I didn’t know that my roommate would be home early this evening.” Sawyer growled from behind Lorna, but she didn’t seem to be fazed by his outburst.
“Yeah, sure. I would like to see you again, Lorna. How about dinner?” Sawyer stepped back in front of her, putting himself between them.
“No, she will not be going to dinner with you, Joe,” Sawyer spat. He spun around to face Lorna. He wasn’t above begging, but he wished he didn’t need to. Lorna looked mad enough tospit nails. She wasn’t going to listen to reason, so he was going to need to resort to begging. That worked for him. “Please tell me that you aren’t considering going out by yourself with a total stranger. God, Lorna, that’s crazy. You don’t know him!” He knew he was yelling, but he didn’t care. There was no way that he was going to let the woman he cared about go out with a stranger. If she wanted to go out to dinner, he would take her. Hell, he wanted to go out with Lorna on a real date more than anything. That she was considering an offer of a night out with some guy she knew for all of fifteen minutes pissed him off.
“I don’t need you to tell me what I can and cannot do. I am a grown woman and can make up my own mind.” She looked around Sawyer. “Yes, Joe. Thank you for the invitation. I would love to go to dinner with you. How about tomorrow night, say seven?” Joe stood, looking pleased with himself.
“I’ll pick you up here then. How about you give me your number, and we can make plans?” Joe asked.
Lorna agreed, “Here, give me your phone,” she said. Lorna quickly typed in her contact information and handed him his phone back. “Just hit send, and it will call my phone. I’ll have your contact information that way.” He did as she asked and smiled when her phone began to ring.
“Got it. I’ll talk to you tomorrow. Good night, Lorna.” He grabbed his coat and showed himself out the front door. Lorna followed him and locked up. Sawyer could feel his heart racing—he felt like he had just run a marathon. What the fuck just happened? One minute, he was making Lorna a nice meal, preparing to apologize for being a complete ass these past few months, and now she was going out on a date with some strange guy from New York. He could feel her anger from across the room as she entered the family room to gather her things.
“Good night, Sawyer.” She turned to go up the stairs, and he wanted to stop her and demand that she talk to him—listen tohim. But he knew that demanding Lorna do anything was futile. She was as stubborn as they came. He needed to calm the hell down and regroup, but first, he needed answers. Like, who the fuck this Joe guy was and why he was sniffing around Lorna. Sawyer trusted his gut, and right now, it was screaming at him that something wasn’t right with their new friend Joe.
CHAPTER THREE
Lorna was furious that Sawyer embarrassed her in front of Joe. Sure, bringing home a stranger wasn’t her finest idea. And yes, a part of her was going out with Joe to prove to Sawyer that they were not good for each other. The sooner Sawyer accepted that she wasn’t available, the sooner he would be able to move on with his own life. He deserved happiness, but a part of her ached that he would find that with someone beside her. She wished he were a few years older because that would make this so much easier. She was attracted to him—that was obvious. Every time he walked into the same room, her body tingled and her clothes felt too tight. He made her hot and bothered in a way that no other man ever had. But Sawyer deserved so much more than her. She needed to prove to him that she wasn’t interested anymore. Going out with another man would help bring her point home, she hoped.
She decided that a nice hot shower would help ease some of the tension that she was feeling. Sawyer had a way of really making her angry. Maybe it was because they had lived together for almost half a year now, or maybe it was that tonight was the first time he spoke to her in months, since that steamy kissin their kitchen. He made her dinner—what the heck was that all about? The man barely spoke two words to her in the past couple of months, and tonight he decided to make her one of her favorite meals and have a romantic candlelit dinner for two? She stripped out of her clothes and stepped into the shower, enjoying the hot spray of the water all over her body. She loved helping Piper and taking on more responsibility at Scrumptious, but she was looking forward to tomorrow being her day off. She could sleep in and relax, leaving her plenty of time to get ready for her date with Joe.
Honestly, she didn’t know how she got herself into this mess. The last thing she wanted to do was go out on a date with a man that she didn’t know. Sure, Joe seemed nice enough, but what if Sawyer had a point? What if Joe were a reporter here to harass Piper, or even worse, a stalker? She shook off the idea. Piper had gone through enough, and she wouldn’t tolerate anyone trying to hurt her niece. She couldn’t cancel her date—that might send Sawyer the wrong message and give him some sort of hope. Using Joe to show Sawyer that they weren’t right for each other felt wrong, too. She just needed a good night’s sleep to figure this whole mess out.
She finished her shower and dried herself off, slipping on her favorite t-shirt and shorts that she usually slept in. She took the time to dry her hair, not wanting to catch a chill. When she finally lay her head on her pillow, her body was ready for sleep, but her mind started racing. She replayed her meeting with Joe and worried that he wasn’t just a tourist passing through. It was too early for ski season and too late for the summer’s tour groups. He just happened to stumble upon their little town and wander into Piper’s shop? Sawyer hinted that Joe might not be who he said he was, and Lorna trusted him. He was Piper’s bodyguard, after all. Tag and Piper relied on him to keep them safe. Why would she not believe Sawyer? She sighed heavily,knowing that she wasn’t going to be able to sleep before talking to him. She needed to apologize for bringing a stranger into their home without considering his feelings.
She padded down the stairs as quietly as she could to find all the lights out. Sawyer must have gone to bed after cleaning up the kitchen. She felt a pang of guilt for ruining his surprise dinner. She turned to go back up the steps and ran into a wall of hot, chiseled abs and chest muscles—Sawyer. She placed her palms on his pecs, trying to steady herself, but the feel of his bare skin only knocked her off balance again. He wrapped his arms around her body, pulling her into his.
“You okay, Lorna?” Sawyer’s voice sounded gruff and sexy, like he just woke up. She tried to pull herself free from his hold, but he only tightened his arms around her waist.
“Yes, I’m fine.” She didn’t mean to sound so put off, but she did. She gave up struggling in his arms and decided just to enjoy it. She wasn’t this close to Sawyer in months, and her body was feeling tingly and overheated by his proximity. How did this man make her feel like a walking volcano every time he touched her? “I couldn’t sleep. I needed to talk to you.” Her voice sounded breathy and needy even to her ears.
“I couldn’t sleep either. I’m going to do something that you might not like, but—" Sawyer pulled her in and sealed his lips over hers. At first, her body went rigid, not knowing if she should fight him off or just enjoy the pleasure he was giving her. Having Jonathan Sawyer wrapped around her body, kissing her, wasn’t a hardship. She decided to give in to what her body was screaming for, melting into his embrace and parting her lips to allow him access. His greedy tongue took over, and the kiss went from hot to scorching in thirty seconds flat. The man took her willingness as an invitation to push her up against the wall, framing her small body with his hot, mostly naked, muscled one. She couldn’t help but run her hands down his chest andabdomen to his waist. Her fingers teased the tops of his boxer briefs, wanting so badly to dip down into them. He moaned against her mouth, taking her hands in his to halt their progress.
“As much as I like the way you’re thinking, I’ve got a few things to say first.” Lorna was panting as he let her fall back against the wall. She should have felt embarrassed about the whole situation, but she didn’t. She was hot and bothered in a good way and completely turned on. She didn’t want him to stop touching her and kissing her to talk. Talking could wait. Besides, they would probably end up fighting, and he would never finish what he started. He took her hand and pulled her into the kitchen.
“Sit,” he commanded, pulling out a chair for her. Lorna didn’t care to put up a struggle. He completely stripped her of any fight that she had left. He pulled the pan of lasagna from the refrigerator and filled two plates. He lit the candles that were on the table and poured them both a glass of wine.
“So, we are going to sit here and have dinner in our underwear?” Lorna looked him up and down, her eyes resting on the rather impressive bulge that told her she affected him more than he was letting on.
“Well, we could eat naked, but I don’t think that would be a good idea. You must be starving after your long day. So, food first, then we can discuss you getting naked.” Lorna could feel her blush. Sawyer’s sexy laugh didn’t help. He knew exactly what he was doing to her. He placed the plate of food in front of her, and she inhaled the delicious aroma. She had to admit she was hungry. Sawyer sat across the table, and she felt his eyes watching as if asking if this was all okay with her. She nodded, trying to reassure him that she wasn’t going anywhere.
“Lorna, I did all this tonight to tell you how sorry I am for acting like a complete fuckup these past few months. I wasn’t considering your feelings, only thinking about how I felt aboutyou. I’m sorry that I shut you out. I handled your rejection like a child and, in the process, pushed you even further away. That’s not what I wanted to do. Can you forgive me?” Lorna just blinked at Sawyer, not sure she could believe what she had just heard. She had been lonely these past months. It was almost like she was living in that big old house alone. He was never around, and the silent treatment was wearing her down. She was ready to pack up and move.
“I’m just as much to blame in all of this, Sawyer,” Lorna whispered. He sighed, reaching across the table to take her hand in his. She almost lost her train of thought as he ran his thumb over her palm.
“I wasn’t sure how to move forward, so I just shut you out. I even thought about moving out, but that’s not what I want, Lorna.” Sawyer said, scooting his chair around the small, round kitchen table to be closer to her. “I want you. I just wish you could admit that you want me too.” Lorna couldn’t help herself. She climbed onto his lap, loving the way his arms encircled her as he pulled her into his body.
“I want you, Sawyer. That has never been a problem for me. But you’re five years younger than me. You will want things that I might not be able to give to you.” He stopped her from speaking with a searing hot kiss that took her words and her breath away.
“I don’t give a fuck about our ages, Lorna. I want you, not what you can or can’t give to me. I think about my future and only see your face; you are in every picture that plays through my mind. I don’t care about the rest of the details—I just want you.” Lorna wrapped her arms around his shoulders, pulling him in for another kiss. She was done with fighting him, done with trying to reason with him. If he could live with her not making him any promises, then they could figure the rest out as they went.
“Just tell me that you will give me a chance; that you will stop thinking so damn much about numbers and what I may or may not want from you. I just want you—whatever else happens is fine with me. Say yes to me, Lorna.” She knew that he was right—she was fighting a losing battle. She wanted him with every fiber of her being. She wasted the last seven months worrying about what other people would think about her with a younger man. She thought that she couldn’t be enough for Sawyer. Well, she was done with all her overthinking. She was going to go after what she wanted and find a version of happiness that worked for them both.
“Yes,” she breathed. That seemed to be all the approval that Sawyer was waiting for. He stood, his chair falling back and hitting the floor, causing them both to laugh. He carried her up the stairs to her room as if she weighed nothing and pushed the door open.
