Layer by Layer (Riggins Brothers Book 1)

by Kaylee Ryan

  Shaking out of my thoughts, I dive back into the report for Owen. He rarely asks for help, and I want to get this done for him, so maybe, just maybe he doesn’t have to work so hard this weekend.

  Two hours later, I’m hitting Send on an email to Owen. It’s a few minutes before four, and I’m relieved to have that off my plate, and Owen’s as well. I’m answering some emails when Conrad stops at my desk.

  “Have a good weekend, Sawyer,” he says with a wave.

  “Thanks, Conrad, you as well.”

  “Oh, keep my big brother out of trouble, will you?” He smirks.

  I open my mouth, but quickly shut it, only to open it again and shut it just as quickly. “He called all three of us when he couldn’t reach you. Marshall gave us a report on the outcome.” He winks.

  I shake my head. “You Riggins boys are something else.”

  “I tried to warn you,” Gail says, coming around the corner. I didn’t even hear the elevator ding.

  “You did,” I agree.

  “I just wanted to check on you. I haven’t been up here much this week. I’ve been dealing with the crisis in Idaho from an HR standpoint.”

  “Things are going well. It’s been quiet with Royce and Grant both gone.”

  She nods. “The office will be back to crazy next week,” she assures me.

  “Ladies, I’m heading out.” Conrad waves at us, giving Gail’s shoulder a soft squeeze before disappearing around the corner.

  “So, any questions? Anything I can help with?” Gail asks me.

  “Nope. I think I’m good.”

  “She’s doing a great job,” Owen says, joining us. He has his bag over his shoulder. “Thank you for the report, Sawyer. You saved me a lot of work this weekend.”

  “You’re welcome. It’s my job, and I’m happy to help.”

  “I’m heading home. I told Jase I’d stop by and look at some financials for him. You ladies have a good weekend.” His eyes scan back to me. “You call me tonight if you need a ride.”

  I nod. “Thank you, I don’t plan on needing a ride.”

  “Offer stands.” He waves.

  “Bye,” Gail and I say at the same time.

  “Well, you should head on out too. It’s been one of those weeks,” Gail says with a sigh.

  “I have a few more emails I want to take care of, and then I’m headed out as well.”

  “Perfect. You’re doing great, Sawyer. I’m so glad you’re here.” With a wave, she turns and walks back around the corner.

  When I hear the elevator doors open, then close, I sit back in my chair and sigh. I love this job. I feel at home, and even when Royce is his bossy self, I still love it. I worry that whatever this is between us will cause me to have to look for a new job. However, on the flip side of that, I could have Royce as a permanent part of my life.

  “Ouch,” Marshall says.

  I look up to find him standing beside my desk, twirling his keys around his fingers. “Whatever it is you’re thinking, stop. It looks like it’s physically causing you pain. It’s all going to work out.”

  “The youngest brother yet so wise,” I muse.

  He chuckles. “I had to watch the four of them growing up. You learn a few things when you have five men because we can’t leave out Dad, to look up to.”

  “I like it here.”

  “Good. We like you, and we all know Royce likes you.” He wags his eyebrows.

  “Go.” I point toward the elevators. “Have a good weekend, and stay out of trouble.”

  “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” he sings as he walks backward toward the elevator. “Or do.” He shrugs, turns on his heel, and disappears around the corner.

  Shaking my head, I dive back into my emails and decide to go ahead and print each of their schedules for next week and place them on their desks for Monday morning. I’m sure to write the date and time the schedule was printed with my initials and drop them off on each of their desks. It’s possible it could change. In fact, I’m sure of it, but I like for them to have a hard copy of what their week looks like. With Royce and Grant both gone, they didn’t need theirs, so I grab the one from this week from their desks to toss into the shred bin and replace it with the one for next week.

  Back at my desk, I shut down my computer, grab my phone and purse and head out for the weekend. It’s been a long week of missing Royce, and I’m excited to see him tonight. However, first, I’m having dinner with the girls. Sam’s doctor cleared her for light outings as long as she’s not on her feet. It took some creative convincing for Jase—her words not mine—but he finally agreed if he was the one to drive her to the restaurant and drive her home. Originally, we were going to do it at their place, but Sam needed out of the house.

  “Why do you keep checking your watch?” Hadley asks me. She’s sitting next to me in a booth, while Sam and her future sister-in-law, Logan, sit across from us.

  “No reason,” I say.

  “Nope, not buying what you’re selling, girlfriend. Spill it,” she says, taking a drink of sweet tea.

  “Fine.” I roll my eyes dramatically. “I’m meeting up with Royce after this.”

  “Oh.” Sam leans in, placing her elbows on the table. “This is a new development. Tell me more.”

  I can feel the flush creeping up my neck. “We’re… getting to know each other. He called and said he missed me this week. I missed him too.”

  “And?”

  “And he wanted me to cancel tonight and I told him no. When he realized I wasn’t willing to change my plans, he asked me to come to his place after.”

  “I knew it!” Sam smacks her hands against the table. “I knew it when I saw the way he looked at you. That man has it bad.”

  “It’s complicated with me working for him.” I don’t tell them that I confessed to Royce that I was willing to find another job.

  “Careful, Sawyer,” Sam says, her eyes sparkling with humor. “I think it might be in the water.” She rubs at her round baby bump.

  “She’s right,” Logan chimes in. “Although, I don’t think it’s the water. When you have men that look like ours, it’s not a hardship to have their babies.”

  “There are always kids at your place,” Sam comments.

  “Yeah, between Kacen and the rest of the band, we have our own little posse.” Logan chuckles.

  Our food arrives and we all dig in. I enjoy getting to know Sam better, and Logan. Hadley fits in with them, and by the time our waiter is bringing our checks, it feels as though the four of us have been best friends for years.

  Chapter 16

  Royce

  My phone is clutched in my hand like a lifeline. And although I know she can’t reach me while we’re in the air, I’ve checked the damn thing no less than twenty times, hell, maybe more. I’ve lost count.

  “You know you’re not going to miss any calls while we’re in the air, right?” Grant smirks.

  “Fuck off,” I grumble. There is no heat behind my words.

  “Didn’t you just talk to her?” he asks.

  I give him a look that tells him to back off, but he just laughs. “You’re different with her.”

  “I’m not anything with her,” I say, shoving my phone into my pocket. It’s a bald-faced lie, and we both know it. The problem is that I want to be everything with her. I don’t give a fuck that she’s my employee, or that I barely know her. I want her—more than I’ve ever wanted anyone. I’ve never felt this intense connection I seem to have with her. Not even with my ex, and that fucks with my head. I thought I knew Jennifer. I thought I loved her, and I was wrong. What if I’m wrong about Sawyer too?

  “Let me ask you this. How often do you think about her? Why were you so insistent that you talk to her before we took off? Why have you checked your phone a hundred times in the last hour knowing damn well nothing is going to come through while we’re in the air?”

  I don’t even have to think about my answers, but I don’t give them to him. Not that I need to. I’m s
ure he can see it written all over my face. “I’m not the best judge when it comes to women,” I say, surprising him if the look on his face is any indication.

  “Jennifer deceived you, Royce. She had us all fooled.”

  “I should have known better. She hated everything I loved. Hell, she never once went out on the boat with us, or even just with me. Sawyer, she’s all in, and it’s fucking with my head.”

  “I don’t think it’s your head that’s the problem.”

  I glare at him. “Leave my cock out of this.”

  “I meant your heart, but now that you mentioned it, I’m sure Royce junior is just as affected as the old ticker. Sawyer’s beautiful.”

  “Grant,” I growl, and he chuckles. It’s a low and deep sound, much like my own, but in this moment, it’s grating on my nerves.

  “See what I mean? You know I’ve got your back, I’d never do that to you, but you can’t even stand to hear me tell you that your girl is beautiful.”

  “She’s not mine.” She’s not, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want her to be.

  “Why the hell not?”

  I open my mouth to reply and stop. I can only think of one reason. Fear. I’m not afraid of her, but of my judgment. I thought Jennifer was the one, and I was only living a lie. I never felt like this for my ex-wife—cagey needing to hear her voice. If I’m wrong about Sawyer, I know I’ll never recover. I’m a shell of the man I used to be, and losing her would be the equivalent of losing all of me.

  “Sawyer is a catch, Royce. Are you willing to step back and let another man stake a claim? How are you going to feel when you’ve missed your chance? How are you going to handle someone keeping her bed warm at night?”

  “Enough,” I growl.

  “There it is.” He grins.

  “What the fuck are you talking about?”

  “That determination I see written all over your face.”

  “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Tell me that the thought of her with someone else doesn’t piss you off. Tell me it doesn’t have you seeing red.”

  I run my fingers through my hair. “You know it does.”

  “Then do something about it.” Grant gives me a pointed look. “You are the only one who can take that step. She’s not going to. You need to tell her what you want.”

  “I want her, damn it. Are you happy? I want her more than my next breath,” I say, sucking in a lungful of air and slowly exhaling.

  “Then make it happen. You’re ruthless when it comes to your job. Why should you not be any other way when it comes to all aspects of your life? You take charge, that’s who you are. You let the lies and deceit of one woman steal your happiness. You realize that, don’t you? She didn’t just destroy your marriage. She’s still controlling your life. She’s not your wife, but you hang on to her betrayal, and you’re not living. What happened to the man who wanted to be a husband and father? Hell, we’ve all said we hope to be half the man our father is. Yet, here you are, letting her take that from you.”

  “If you could buckle in.” The flight attendant appears before us. “We’re preparing to land.”

  With a nod, Grant and I secure our belts. I hate to admit it, but he’s right. I’ve let Jennifer’s betrayal shape my future. I’m letting her keep me from going after what I want. I’m letting her keep me from Sawyer. Now it’s up to me to decide what I’m going to do about it.

  I’m pacing. I called Sawyer as soon as the plane landed. She didn’t answer so I texted her. I’ve read her reply to that text a hundred times in the last two hours.

  Sawyer: Dinner with the girls. I’ll stop by when we’re done.

  That’s it. She didn’t give me a time, or tell me where she was. No, all I have is that she’s coming here when she’s finished hanging out with her friends. Hence the pacing. I’ve showered and caught up on a few emails, but I can’t really focus. I’m too amped up to see her. It’s been too long since I’ve laid eyes on her. I’ve never missed someone like this. I went away for college, just to Ohio. I missed my family, but not like this.

  It didn’t feel like there was a knot in my stomach, and with each minute that passes, it gets tighter and tighter. Being away from my family didn’t feel like that.

  Nothing ever has.

  My phone that’s gripped tightly in my hand rings, and I fumble to answer it. “Hello.”

  “Hey. We’re heading to Mom and Dad’s for a bonfire, you in?” Conrad asks.

  “No.”

  “Whoa, who pissed in your cornflakes this morning?”

  “Sorry,” I say, running my fingers through my hair. “I’m waiting on Sawyer.”

  “Bring her with you.”

  “I haven’t seen her in a week.”

  “And?” I can tell by the tone of his voice he’s enjoying this way too much.

  “And, no. I’ll catch you guys for Sunday dinner.” Maybe. Depends on if I can convince my girl to go with me. After going without her for a week, I know without a doubt it’s going to be hard to leave her side for the foreseeable future.

  “Maybe I’ll call Sawyer and invite her, and then you’ll have to come if your girl says she wants to go.”

  “She’s not my girl,” I say as there’s a knock at the door. “I gotta go.” Ending the call, I toss my phone on the couch and take a deep breath. I can’t attack her as soon as I see her. She’s going to go running for the hills. I make my way to the door and pull it open, but she has her phone to her ear. Her green eyes sparkle from the porch light, and she waves at me.

  “I don’t know. I just got here. Let me see what he wants to do. Are you sure I won’t be imposing?” she asks.

  “Is that Conrad?” I ask her. She nods. I reach out and take the phone from her. I hit End Call and slide it into my back pocket.

  “Hey.” She smacks at my chest, and I place my hand over hers, keeping it held over my heart. “I was talking.”

  “I already told him no, right before you knocked on my door,” I tell her as I take a step back. I don’t let go of her hand, so she has no choice but to follow me. I push the door shut and then step forward, causing her back to press against it. Bracing one hand on the door, I remove the other from hers that’s still pressing against my chest and cradle her cheek in my palm. “I fucking missed you,” I say, bending and lightly pressing my lips to hers.

  “Hi,” I say softly, pressing my forehead to hers.

  “That was a nice hello,” she replies. “But that wasn’t nice to hang up on your brother.”

  “I needed to kiss you.”

  “Well, now that you have, do you want to go?”

  I start to say no because what I really want is to have her all to myself, but it hits me that my ex never wanted to spend time with my family. A bonfire to her would have been the equivalent of a root canal. “What do you want to do?” I pull away so I can get a good look at her.

  She shrugs. “It sounds like fun.”

  “Fun, huh?” I drop my hand from the door and settle my hands on her hips. “How about this? We can go on one condition.”

  “What’s that?” she asks suspiciously.

  “You stay here tonight. I’ve gone an entire week without you, and I can’t go another night.”

  “You’ve lived thirty-two years without me, Riggins.”

  “I know, baby. Trust me, I know. So, do we have a deal?”

  “I don’t know,” she muses. “I might need more convincing.”

  Bending, I place my hands on the back of her legs and lift her. Instinctively, she wraps her legs around my waist and her arms around my neck, and we’re moving. I carry her further into the house until we reach the living room. I drop to the couch, with her still wrapped around me. She wiggles, grinding against my cock that’s already begging for her.

  “You keep moving around like that, and the deal is off,” I growl against her lips before kissing her hard. It’s sloppy and uncontrolled, exactly how she makes me feel. Nothing in my life has been rout
ine since that day on the plane, and I’m finding I don’t care. Not as long as I get her like this.

  Bracing her hands on my shoulders, she pulls out of the kiss. “I-I can’t think when you kiss me like that.”

  “Good.” I lean toward her, and she laughs, placing her hand over my mouth.

  “Behave,” she playfully scolds me before dropping her hand.

  “I don’t ever want to go that long without seeing you ever again,” I confess.

  “Good thing I work for you.” She winks.

  “This is more than that. You know that, right?” This conversation is long overdue.

  She shakes her head. “I don’t know what this is, or who we are to one another. What I do know is that your kisses set my body on fire, and I know that I missed you too,” she says softly. Her hand rises to rest against my cheek. “More than I thought possible.”

  “We’re staying in,” I say just as my phone rings.

  “You better get that. They’re just going to keep calling.” She chuckles.

  “Cockblocker,” I answer.

  Marshall’s laughter carries through the line. “You bringing your girl or what?” he asks.

  I raise my eyebrows at Sawyer, and she nods. “Yeah, we’re on our way.” I didn’t really want to go, but she seems excited, and as long as I get to spend time with her, I’m all in. I end the call without correcting him—telling him she’s not my girl. I want her to be, and seeing her tonight, after being away from her for so long, solidified that decision for me. I don’t know how this is going to end, but I know that I don’t want it to. I want her. I don’t care that it could get all kinds of complicated if this doesn’t work, but if I’m being honest, I can’t see a situation that we can’t work out. I can’t see me ever letting her go.

  “You ready to go now?” I ask her.

  “Yes.” She drops a kiss to my lips and climbs off my lap.

  My cock is throbbing, and I don’t hide the fact. A blush coats her cheek when her eyes land on my lap. “Umm.” Green eyes meet mine.

  “All you,” I say, adjusting myself before standing. “Let me grab a couple of things, and we’ll be ready to go.” I dart off to my room and grab her a sweatshirt. It’s summer but sometimes the night air can get chilly by the water. I also grab a blanket from the hall closet, just in case.