Page 48 of Sweet Temptation (Men of Honor 2)
Her hazel eyes are full of love as she approaches Sawyer. “There’s my boy.” Rising up, she cups Sawyer’s face, making him lean down, and then begins planting kisses all over his face. “I” smooch “have” smooch “missed” smooch “you” smooch “so” smooch “much” smooch.
Rolling her eyes, Jesse whispers to me, “He is such a momma’s boy.”
“Hey, Mom,” Sawyer mumbles, embarrassed.
After she finishes showering Sawyer with her kisses she turns her kind smile on me, “And you must be Grace.”
Giving her a shaky smile I nod and put out my hand, but instead of taking it she wraps me in a warm gentle hug. “I’m Catherine. I am so happy you are joining us this weekend.”
“Well I want to thank you. It’s awful nice of y’all to have me,” I reply, hugging her back.
She steps back, but keeps her hands on my shoulders and continues to smile warmly at me. “Oh you are just so pretty.”
“Oh, um, thanks,” I feel myself blush furiously. I look over at Sawyer to see him smirkin’ at me. When we make eye contact he winks, giving me an, ‘I told you so’ look.
Guilt and shame strikes me as I realize just how judgmental I was of these nice people a few minutes ago, all because of their money. I expected them to be stuck up and decked out in fancy clothin’. And although Catherine Evans has the body and the money to flaunt, she doesn’t. Instead she’s wearing a pair of designer jeans and a soft pink, longer, thin cashmere sweater, she looks simple yet beautiful.
“Isn’t she pretty, John?” she says, cutting off my thoughts.
Looking behind her, I see a tall, very attractive man make his way down the steps towards us. He’s almost as tall as Sawyer and has the same lean, muscular build. With a headful of dirty blonde hair and dark green eyes, there is no doubt that Sawyer is the spittin’ image of his father.
Holy moses, I’ve never seen a better lookin’ family in all my life. Sawyer’s father wears a familiar smirk as he approaches.
Yup, like father like son.
“She sure is; nice to meet you, Grace. I’m glad you could join us this weekend,” he says kindly, sticking his hand out for me to take, which I do. Then he leans in and kisses me on the cheek.
“Thanks for havin’ me, Mr. Evans.”
His smirk turns into a full smile, “You can call me John, honey.”
I smile back and nod, “All right. Thank you, John.”
When John turns towards Sawyer the warm loving nostalgia that has surrounded us, since arriving here, is replaced with tension.
They both stare at each other awkwardly. “Sawyer,” his father acknowledges him with a nod.
Sawyer returns the gesture, “Dad.”
Sadness fills Catherine’s eyes and the girls shift uncomfortably. I forgot Sawyer told me about him and his father not getting along anymore. My heart breaks, because even though Sawyer’s eyes have gone flat, I can still see pain in them.
Catherine clears her throat now and tries to give an easy smile, “Why don’t we go inside. We can have a drink and visit before I start supper.” She points over to the SUV Sawyer rented, “Did you want to bring in your bags?”
“Oh I’m giving up the guesthouse for them and staying at the main house,” Jesse says, breaking in before Sawyer can say anythin’.
Guilt rears inside of me. “Oh you don’t need to give up your place. I’m fine to sleep anywhere. Really I…”
“No! Jesse is fine with sleeping at the main house,” Sawyer replies, interrupting me.
I look at him incredulously. “You shouldn’t be kickin’ your sister out of her place. That’s just plain rude. Like I said, I’m fine to sleep anywhere.”
“We’re taking the guesthouse!” he fires back in a tone that brooks no further argument.
I narrow my eyes, but before I can respond, snickerin’ draws my attention away from Sawyer. I see his mom and sisters watching us in amusement. I turn red with embarrassment when I realize we were just bickerin’ in front of them.
Jesse slings her arm around me and starts us towards the main house. “Oh, Grace, I have a feeling you and I are going to get along just fine.”
I had a great visit with Sawyer’s family and loved getting to know them. They are probably the kindest people I have ever met. I still feel guilty for how worried I was about meetin’ them. I should have known they would be great, because look at Sawyer.
You can tell how happy they are to have him back, even if it’s just for a few days. It warms my heart to see how close this family is, and how much they all love one another. Sawyer and his sisters constantly tease and banter with one another, but those two girls look at him as if he is superman. There were times I felt a little heavy at heart, watchin’ them all, it had made me miss Mama. Our family may have been small, but our love and happiness could match the largest family in history.
The tension between Sawyer and his father lingered; you could tell it upset the rest of the family. The more I had gotten to know John, there was no doubt that looks are not the only similarities Sawyer and his father share. They have very much the same mannerisms and personalities.
After our visit Sawyer took our luggage to the guesthouse. He had tried pulling me with him, but his mom had asked if I wanted to stay behind with her and continue our visit while she started supper. Of course I agreed, which had turned Sawyer into a grump. His mom then patted him on the cheek and told him to stop pouting because it was very unattractive.
I couldn’t help but snicker at that, which turned his poutin’ on me.
Catherine hands me a glass of wine, “Here, honey, take this and have a seat.”
“Is there somethin’ I can help with?”
She shakes her head, “No, no. I just want your company, nothing else. Go on, have a seat.”
