Sawyer

by Nicole Edwards

  “Have you been up all night?” she asked, glancing at him sideways as they walked.

  “Yeah. Walkers are known to be stubborn, and Travis’s little girl was proving just how stubborn we can be.”

  “Stubborn’s a good word,” Kennedy said, chuckling softly.

  “Yes it is,” he agreed.

  When they reached the nursery window, Sawyer saw Ethan hoisting Mason up on his shoulders while the rest of the group stared inside at the little forms sleeping in the little plastic beds.

  “She’s the only girl,” Beau stated.

  Sure enough, Kate was the only girl out of the five babies in the room.

  Kennedy waited her turn, unable to see over the others, but when Kaleb and Brendon backed out of the way, Sawyer urged her forward, purposely using the opportunity to touch her. Surprisingly, she didn’t try to pull away, nor did she flinch when his hand touched the small of her back.

  Another round of hope took flight in his chest and he swallowed it back, again doing his best not to read too much into it. That was damn hard to do, considering Kennedy was there. And she had come all on her own. Not to mention, when she looked at him, she didn’t look as though she wanted to box his ears.

  The conversation continued around them while Sawyer stared through the glass at the little girl, who would be the next to steal everyone’s heart, his included. Ever since Mason was born, things had changed for them all. Well, actually, that wasn’t exactly true. Things had begun changing before then, back when Kaleb and Zoey gave in to the love they had for one another. Zane wasn’t far behind him, convincing Vanessa to give him a chance, eventually even talking her into marrying him. Travis soon followed, giving in to his true self, and giving himself over to Gage and Kylie equally. Then it had been Ethan’s turn, and truth was, Sawyer was probably the most relieved that Ethan had found Beau. They were perfect for one another. Of course, there were Braydon and Jessie, who were continuing to go forward, one day at a time. They seemed happy, but Sawyer still wondered how Brendon was going to affect them. If anyone needed someone to keep an eye on him, it was Brendon.

  Not that Sawyer minded. He’d been keeping an eye on most of them his whole life. It was as though that was his path and he didn’t mind it one bit. The only problem he found was that he had somehow forsaken himself along the way. Not that he hadn’t had a great life. He had. However, he hadn’t experienced anything close to what his brothers were finding and the hell of it was, he wanted it more than anything.

  Which was where Kennedy came in.

  She was the woman he hadn’t been able to stop thinking about.

  Speaking of . . . Sawyer glanced down to see Kennedy looking up at him, her smile radiant, her eyes shining brightly.

  “She’s certainly beautiful,” Kennedy said.

  “That she is. The three of them did good.”

  “I need to head out,” Zane hollered. “I’ve gotta go check on the resort.”

  “I’ve gotta run, too,” Ethan said, turning to look at Beau. “You comin’?”

  Beau shot Ethan a mischievous smirk, and surprisingly enough, Ethan blushed, making Sawyer laugh. Now, that was some funny shit.

  “I need to get Mason home,” Zoey said, looking up at where the little boy still sat on Ethan’s shoulders. “I’ll come back after Kylie’s had some time to rest.”

  “I think I’m gonna hang out here. I wanna see my sister before I go,” Jessie said.

  “Me too,” Braydon added, taking Jessie’s hand.

  “We’re gonna stick around for a little while,” Curtis announced. “Jared’s on his way up here now.”

  Sawyer watched as everyone went their separate ways after saying a round of good-byes.

  “I need to get to back to work. I had to bump an appointment just to stop by here,” Kennedy said.

  “I’ll walk you to your car,” Sawyer told her. “Give me just a sec.”

  Kennedy nodded, and that was the moment Sawyer wondered whether or not he really was dreaming.

  THE IDEA OF coming to the hospital to check on the baby—or football, as the twins had referred to the newest member of the Walker family—had been a spur-of-the-moment thing. Kennedy had been walking out her front door after stopping by her house for lunch, making her way to her car as she did every single day, when she decided what the hell.

  Truth was, she had been hoping Sawyer would still be at the hospital.

  Last night, finally succumbing to sleep after tossing and turning, still feeling the softness of Sawyer’s lips on her own, Kennedy had dreamed about him. And her subconscious had taken her back to high school, playing things out in an entirely different way.

  Needless to say, when Kennedy woke up, she’d been flustered. Both pissed at her teenage self for giving in to the boy that Sawyer had once been and relieved that it had only been a dream. But even she noticed in the dream that she hadn’t worked too hard to stay away from him. So, maybe there was something there, some sort of underlying attraction that she’d had for him even back then.

  Surely not. Not after the hell she’d been put through in high school.

  So, being the glutton for punishment that she was, Kennedy had opted to make a quick detour rather than heading right back to the office after lunch—one that was about forty-five minutes out of her way—to come to the hospital and check on the new Walker baby. And yes, she was happy to see that Sawyer had still been there, even though she knew she shouldn’t have been.

  However, she had not anticipated being alone with him, yet here she was, waiting for him to say good-bye to his family so he could walk her to her car.

  A tap on her shoulder had Kennedy glancing behind her to see Brendon standing there.

  “Hey,” she greeted him, noticing that he looked as though he hadn’t slept in a week. “How’re you feelin’?”

  “Like I need a bottle of aspirin and thirty-six hours of sleep.”

  “You look like it, too,” she teased.

  “I just wanted to say thanks for . . . uh . . . bringin’ us here last night.”

  “I didn’t mind at all,” Kennedy lied. Truth was, it had been an inconvenience at the time, but as far as she was concerned, it beat the alternative. Had one of the twins gotten behind the wheel of a car in their state, she never would’ve forgiven herself. And yes, she’d heard about Brendon’s little stunt a couple of months back—it was hard not to hear things in their small town.

  About that time, Sawyer came walking up, his hand coming to rest possessively on the small of her back, and while she enjoyed the warmth of his touch, she really wasn’t sure how she felt about that. The possessive part, that is. She absolutely had no intention of getting attached to Sawyer Walker. No woman in their right mind would ever consider him the long-term solution to anything, which meant she had to continue to remind herself of that, because she could already see that it wasn’t that difficult to get wrapped up in the fantasy of him.

  “You ready?” Sawyer asked, glancing down at her.

  “Yeah.”

  “Thanks again, Kennedy. And I’ll catch up with you later,” Brendon told Sawyer.

  “You know where to find me,” Sawyer replied, urging Kennedy forward.

  “And where will that be?” Kennedy asked when Brendon was out of earshot.

  “Where will what be?” he asked, confusion marring his forehead.

  “Where will he be able to find you?”

  “Are you asking because you’re interested in seeking me out?” Sawyer questioned, a mischievous smirk forming on his perfect lips.

  He really did have perfect lips.

  And perfect eyes.

  And a perfect nose.

  And perfect . . .

  Lord have mercy, the man was too freaking perfect.

  And sexy.

  Sawyer’s gruff—and, yes, sexy—chuckle pulled her from her rambling thoughts.

  He held the door open and Kennedy stepped out into the early morning sunshine. The wind had picked up a bit, proof that
the weatherman was right, there was a cold front blowing in. Which meant she needed to check on the temperatures at night. Although the news often told people to pay attention to people, pets, plants, and pipes, she knew from experience that the pets weren’t always high on people’s priority list, and during the colder months, they usually had an influx of new guests at the shelter.

  The thought of the shelter brought another question to Kennedy’s lips. “How’s Buster?” she asked as they crossed the parking lot toward her car.

  “Good.”

  “I heard you were spoiling him,” Kennedy said, trying to pull something more than one-word responses from him.

  “I’m tryin’,” Sawyer confirmed. “At least he’s stopped chewin’ my damn boots.”

  Kennedy laughed, thinking about that little blond-haired dog chewing up Sawyer’s boots, among other things.

  “He’s garnered a fan base at the resort,” Sawyer informed her.

  “Yeah? You take him to work?” she asked.

  “Every day. He didn’t sign on to protect the furniture,” Sawyer told her.

  She liked that about him. Back around Christmastime last year, Sawyer had decided to do a good deed and Kennedy had had a hand in getting back at him by forcing him to spend a Saturday bathing the animals at the shelter. She’d known from the beginning that his sudden desire to volunteer was to get closer to her. But, as it turned out, Sawyer had kept at it, until eventually, she realized he was no longer doing it for her. It hadn’t helped knowing that he had a sensitive side. After all, she’d been on a mission to stay as far from him as possible, and admitting he wasn’t a bad person was a difficult pill to swallow.

  “Well, here we are,” Sawyer said when they approached her car.

  Why was she wishing the parking lot was suddenly bigger? Or possibly that she’d forgotten where she parked?

  Not liking where her errant thoughts were going, Kennedy smiled up at Sawyer. “Thanks for walking me. And congrats on the new addition to the family. She’s beautiful.”

  “Thanks,” he said, a wry grin on his face. “She was hard work, but worth it.”

  Kennedy laughed at that. It was one of the things she’d always liked—and hated—about Sawyer. He was always smiling, always making one joke or another. And the reason she didn’t like it was because Sawyer never seemed to take anything seriously.

  “Well, I gotta get to work,” she said finally, snapping out of it. She really did have to go back—there would be patients waiting for her, and that meant grumbling owners if she was late. Not to mention, a very unhappy technician, who was now filling in as a receptionist since their regular one hadn’t bothered to show up that morning.

  “Remember what I told you last night?” Sawyer asked as he took a step back when she opened the driver’s door.

  “What’s that?” she asked. She actually remembered everything he told her last night. Almost verbatim. It had been one of the reasons she hadn’t been able to get any sleep last night.

  “Go out with me,” he said, his eyes serious as he stared back at her.

  Kennedy broke the eye contact and looked at the ground. No matter how much she liked him, there was no way she was giving in to him. There was no doubt in her mind that the chemistry between them would be off the charts, but unfortunately, for her, that wasn’t all she wanted. And she knew for Sawyer, that was all he ever offered.

  “I’m busy,” she told him, lowering herself into her car.

  “I didn’t say when,” he told her, amusement ringing in his voice.

  “I know.”

  “Well, then I guess I’ll just have to stop by in a bit.”

  “Stop by where?” Kennedy asked, her eyes darting up to meet his.

  And once again she remembered his statement from the night before: If you say no, I’m just gonna ask you again. A lot. I mean, seriously. A lot. I’m gonna come to your work every day and ask you to go out with me until I finally manage to break down those walls.

  Crap.

  “I’ll be busy,” she told him, locking her gaze with his. “I won’t have time to see you.”

  Sawyer put his hand on the door and smiled. That intriguing, flirty smirk that made all her girl parts sing loud and proud.

  Crap.

  “Trust me, you’ll have time.”

  And when Sawyer closed the door, she couldn’t look away.

  Strangely enough, for the first time, the promise she saw in Sawyer’s smoky blue gaze didn’t make her want to run away.

  Not that she was at all happy about that.

  chapter SIX

  Sawyer made an appearance at the resort after he left the hospital, but he didn’t stay long. Other than a quick phone call to one of the vendors, who had a question about an event he was working on for the animal shelter, he managed to clear his schedule for the rest of the day. He was too damn tired from pulling an all-nighter at the hospital to keep his eyes open, so, after checking in, making sure there weren’t any fires that needed to be put out, and then handling the call he had to make, he decided to head home for a nap.

  That, he learned when he got home, was easier said than done. Buster was a rambunctious bundle of fur and no matter how much Sawyer tried to console him, he wouldn’t settle. Which resulted in an hour-long session in the yard, tossing the ball while Buster brought it back, time after time, seemingly never to tire.

  Granted, it was Sawyer’s own fault for leaving him alone for the night and most of the day. Luckily, Jared had stopped by at Sawyer’s request and let Buster out early that morning or there probably would’ve been one hell of a mess to clean up. Buster wasn’t used to being left alone for long periods of time, so Sawyer couldn’t blame him for wanting some attention. As it was, the only casualty was a roll of paper towels that Sawyer had left on the kitchen table.

  Finally, after they played ball and walked up to his parents’ house and back, Sawyer finally managed to drop onto the couch while Buster napped on the floor close by. Three hours later, Sawyer was awakened by a dog tongue across his face.

  Wiping off the slobber, Sawyer forced himself up and into the shower. No matter how tired he was, there were still things that needed to be done, and he was running out of time, since it was already almost four. He was really looking forward to one of those things—going to visit Kennedy.

  As he shaved and showered, Sawyer thought about her and the fact that she had shown up at the hospital to check on the football. Or at least that was what she’d told him. Part of him wanted to believe that she’d come there for other reasons—namely him.

  But he wasn’t going to jump to too many conclusions just yet. As far as he was concerned, he had a long road ahead of him, but he was now committed. And just like he’d told her, Sawyer had every intention of hounding her until either she told him to go away—which she had yet to do—or she gave in. One way or the other, Sawyer wasn’t going to give up.

  It wasn’t in his nature.

  After he got dressed and towel-dried his hair, Sawyer grabbed an energy drink from the refrigerator and corralled Buster toward his car. He was backing out of his driveway when his cell phone rang. Glancing down, he realized it was coming from the Walker Demo office, so, rather than answering, he figured he’d pay his cousin Jared a visit.

  Two minutes later, with Buster yapping as he bounced up and down around Sawyer’s feet, they were stepping into the building that Sawyer had once called his home away from home. The place he and Kaleb and Travis had put their blood, sweat and tears into building, long before the resort was even a blip on the radar.

  Sometimes he missed the place.

  “What’s up, man?” Sawyer asked Jared when he stepped into the single room that still held three desks, although Jared only used one of them.

  “Hey, I just tried to call you.”

  “Which is why I’m here,” Sawyer told him. “You didn’t think I’d stop by to see your ugly mug just because, now, did you?”

  “Well, I was hopin’,” Jared joked.
“No, seriously, I need a favor.”

  “Of course you do. Can’t just call me up to shoot the shit or ask if I wanna get a beer. Always gotta want somethin’.” Sawyer could give Jared a hard time because honestly, he usually only did call because he wanted to hang out, grab a beer at Moonshiners, sometimes get a bite at the diner. They were the same age, and aside from being family, they had quite a bit in common. Although they were close, Jared rarely asked for a favor.

  “You know me. Always lookin’ for the easy way.”

  Sawyer watched his cousin, the way his eyes hardened as he stared back at him. Shit. This wasn’t good.

  Since the day Jared showed up in Coyote Ridge nearly a year ago, he’d been working through a ton of shit. Some serious shit at that. He’d actually hightailed it there in order to escape a load of problems, including his ex-wife, who had managed to get him fired from his job with her crazy bullshit. On top of that, she dropped a whopper on Jared when she informed him that the little boy he’d raised as his own since birth wasn’t actually his.

  So, Jared had done the only thing he knew to do. He had come to Coyote Ridge for a new start, leaving behind an eighteen-month-old little boy who had been the light of his life, the only ray of sunshine in Jared’s dark and gloomy world, according to Jared. Finding out that the boy wasn’t his had cut Jared off at the knees and through numerous discussions, Sawyer had seen the devastation firsthand. Based on the conversations Sawyer’d had with him, it had been a death blow as far as Jared was concerned.

  “What’s up?” Sawyer asked, curious as to what Jared needed from him.

  “Sable called.”

  Sable.

  The ex-wife.

  Jared said the words as though that explained everything. In a way, it did, but Sawyer still needed a little more to go on. “And?”