by Jenna Jacob
Three hours later, his truck loaded with woman, dog, and a borrowed suitcase from Barbara’s closet, Sawyer pulled down the gravel drive of his childhood home. The campers and staff didn’t pay much attention to their arrival, but the family certainly did. His mom hurried to the truck wearing a warm, welcoming smile. Only Sawyer could see the depth of worry and concern shimmering in her green eyes.
“Brea, it’s so good to finally meet you.” Nola hugged the girl tightly. “I’m so sorry you had to go through such a horrific ordeal. Come…let’s get you in out of this hot sun and up to the house, where you can relax. I’ll get you both something cold to drink.”
Ozzie barked, startling some of the children. But when Nola bent and rubbed his ears, his tongue lolled out, and the young campers wary expressions softened.
“And you…you good boy for saving the day…I’ll get you a big bowl of water and some special treats,” she gushed over the dog.
Sawyer plucked Brea’s suitcase from the back of the truck and sent her a sheepish grin. “You’ll have to excuse my mom. She’s always like this with company.”
“Don’t go excusing me, young man,” Nola scolded with a fake scowl. “I only aim to make Brea feel at home, something you should be doing as well.”
The wind danced through Brea’s hair as she nervously glanced between him and Nola. It was as if Brea had never seen mother and child playfully banter before. Maybe she hadn’t. That curiosity only made him more determined to learn all he could about her.
“I’ll meet you two in the kitchen,” Nola announced before heading toward the house.
“Shall we?” Sawyer grinned.
Brea nodded shyly.
“You dog! You dirty, rotten, no-good, monkey-humpin’ mongrel!” Noble bellowed as he jogged toward them. “How the hell did you already beat me to her?”
Brea blinked in startled surprise.
“You snooze, you lose, bro.” Sawyer preened. He draped his arm around Brea’s shoulders and drew her in close to his side.
“I should have known by the way you were stalking her that first night.”
“Stalking?” Brea asked, brows arching up high.
“Yep. Old Sawyer here was scoping you out from across the street when you first came to town. Please, pardon my manners. I’m Noble…I’m the better brother.” He bent in a ridiculously deep bow.
“Better at what?” Brea chuckled.
“Don’t ask!” Sawyer warned before the conversation took a nosedive to the sexually awkward.
“Ditch this washed-up limp-noodled brother of mine, and I’ll show you.” Noble winked with a suggestive grin.
“Give it a rest, Noble.” Sawyer moved in close and lowered his voice. “You couldn’t get laid at a clusterfuck.”
“You son of a—”
“Ah, ah, ah,” Sawyer interrupted. “Little ears are in camp. You know the rules.”
“Do all you Grayson brothers look alike?” Brea chuckled.
“Which other brothers of mine have you met?” Sawyer asked.
Before she could reply, his father’s deep voice speared the air. “Noble! A little help over here?”
“Don’t get your heart set on this one until you get to know me.” Noble sent Brea a playful wink.
“Go back to work,” Sawyer grumbled.
Noble grumbled something under his breath as he turned and jogged away.
Relaxing at the kitchen table, sipping tea, Sawyer couldn’t miss the shrewd looks his mom darted his way. Like a bloodhound, Nola had picked up the scent that he was more than just interested in Brea. He couldn’t keep from grinning. Interrogation time would be starting real soon.
After settling Brea into the guest room, Sawyer took her on a tour of the ranch. He introduced her to the campers, especially Tina. The little sprite had done to Brea exactly what she had him…stolen his heart. Sawyer hoped that in moving his girl in with the family, the change of environment might lessen the emotional strain of Yuri and Weed. He hoped it would help ease his own fears as well.
It was well past midnight. Sawyer sat in the kitchen nursing a beer and warring with his increasing hunger for Brea when his mother came in and sat down beside him.
With a gentle smile, she patted the back of his hand. “How long are you going to wait, dear boy?”
“Wait for what?”
“To tell her you’re in love with her?”
“Mom, I’m—”
“Don’t try and lie to me, Neville. I see the way you look at her, and the way she looks at you.”
He gave his mom a crooked grin. “I was going to say…I’m waiting.”
“For what?”
“For her to trust herself and me.”
“Oh, I see. Trust can be a booger. But don’t wait too long. Life is short. Maybe she needs to believe she’s found someone worthy of giving her trust to.”
He chuckled. “She just might at that.”
Three days later, Sawyer stood near the shelter house that served as the craft center. Brea was helping the campers pack their pumpkin plants into small paper bags. A trail of potting soil was smeared over her forehead. She was amazing. Not only had she taught the kids limited horticulture but she’d revealed yet another side of herself to him. Brea was patient and nurturing with the kids. It warmed his heart and other places—namely his dick. Both were growing increasingly restless and frustrated. Sawyer wanted more. Fuck, he wanted it all with Brea.
After dinner was through and the kitchen cleaned up, he left Brea at his folk’s, playing a bawdy fill-in-the-blank card game. As promised, he drove back to his house, watered Barbara’s gardens, then went inside his own house. Climbing the stairs to his room, Sawyer’s mind was already fixating on spending another restless night at the ranch with his tempting woman across the hall. The only thing stopping him from sneaking into her room to live out all his deviant dreams with the girl was fear of being caught in the act by his mom.
Stripping off his clothes, he lost himself and his load fantasizing about Brea in the shower. Self-pleasure was nothing but a hollow, temporary relief that did nothing to lessen the lurid spell Brea had cast upon him.
Gazing at her as she helped the children, his cock stirred.
“What if my pumpkin dies?” Charlie, a little boy struggling with leukemia, arched a quizzical stare at Brea.
Cocking her head, she studied the young man. “Then we’ll bury it near the creek and put flowers on top of its grave. Everyone will remember how valiantly it struggled to live strong and grow old.”
The boy sent her a solemn nod. “Just like me.”
Brea clenched her jaw. Unshed tears glistened in her eye as she gave Charlie a resolute nod. Sawyer swallowed the lump of emotion lodged in his throat.
The family and staff grasped the children’s struggles. Everyone dealt with the powerful emotions the kids evoked in their own ways. But for a novice—an outsider, like Brea—to grasp the gravity of their life-and-death battles, rocked him to the core. She didn’t disregard or candy-coat their fears but met them head on with compassion and kindness. She gave each child the gift of dignity and promise—the embodiment of Camp Melody.
She glanced his way and he sent her a warm smile.
Fuck, how could he not love the woman?
In Brea’s heart, the past few days had been nothing short of magical. Sawyer’s brothers were a rowdy bunch, ceaselessly busting each other’s balls, but the whole clan thrived on happiness and shared a palpable love that Brea envied.
She’d barely given thought to her ordeal that had brought her to the ranch. But that was mostly thanks to Sawyer. He’d been a constant, supportive friend, and her feelings for him were growing in leaps and bounds. Of course, her sexual attraction to the man had increased as well. Every time their eyes met, he either undressed her with a carnal stare or fixed her with a look of trust and understanding. He was forever giving her a silent promise she couldn’t ignore. And just when she thought he’d haul her to the barn and wreck her beneath a m
yriad of screaming O’s, he’d simply wink and flash her that dazzling smile—the one that made her pulse race and her stomach cartwheel.
Her pent-up cravings for the man were driving her insane. She ached for him to touch her. Not like he’d been doing…not the gentle stroke of her cheeks or a rugged arm around her waist. Brea wanted him to get down and dirty in her lady garden and lay some damn seed.
As the guests began boarding busses to leave, she noticed Sawyer off to the side, sitting on the ground beside Tina. Tears spilled down the little girl’s cheeks, and a look of sadness was etched on his face. Brea’s heart squeezed as she watched him gently wipe the girl’s tears away and place a tender kiss on her forehead. The poignant sight filled Brea with such emotion that she could barely breathe.
For a man who’d been nothing but a royal pain in her ass, conjuring embarrassment, anger, and a level of lust that singed her flesh, he was a steadfast protector. Sawyer had proved over and over again that he was a man she could count on. A man she’d grown to trust.
Trust? Have you gone completely insane? Every man you’ve ever trusted has ripped your damn heart out and stomped it in dirt!
Yes, indeed they had. Because she’d been foolish enough to arbitrarily hand them something they’d never deserved…never earned. Sawyer had gone above and beyond for her, and still, Brea lacked faith in her own judgment. Going from the frying pan into the fire terrified her.
“Brea!” Sawyer called. She turned as he and Tina walked toward her. “Someone wants to say good-bye.”
The little girl’s eyes were rimmed red, but she put on a brave smile and opened her arms. Brea dropped to her knees and hugged Tina with all her might. “You do as the doctors say so I can see you again next year.”
“You mean…you’ll be here next time I come?”
Will you? Or will you continue to run from one relationship to the next, becoming so jaded and cynical no man will ever want to waste his time with you?
Jade’s words rolled through her head: You should stay here in Haven. Find a job and settle down, close to Colton and me. It’s not a bad thing to have friends around in case you need them, and we’ll always be here for you.
Brea darted a glance up at Sawyer. He wore a cocky quizzical expression, one that dared her to make a commitment. He’d donned that infuriating, royal-pain-in-her-ass attitude of his again. Brea wanted to growl. How any man could go from compassionate to infuriating in the blink of an eye, like Sawyer, boggled her mind.
She lifted her chin and sent him a smirk of her own. “I’m certainly going to try, Tina. If Sawyer wants to keep me…on at the ranch, that is.”
Surprise gave way to a look of relief. “I plan on keeping you a whole lot more than you can imagine.”
His unexpected declaration sent a ribbon of hope to unfurl inside her. A rush of something almost dreamlike blossomed in its wake. Anticipation hummed through her system. She felt as if something spectacular waited on the horizon.
She tried to bank the sensations. Expectation and trust were dangerous bedfellows, yet Brea couldn’t shove away the sparkling sensations bubbling up inside her. A little voice in the back of her head told her that—this time—she didn’t need to.
As the last bus pulled away, Sawyer sent her a proud smile. “You’re amazing.”
The heat of pride warmed her cheeks.
Newton called everyone to the deck for the weekly post-evaluation. Brea tried to focus on the man’s words, but the enticing heat rolling off Sawyer beside her was more than a mammoth distraction. His sweaty masculine musk, laced with the sweetness of leather and hay, was more than a diversion. She couldn’t think of anything other than sliding her tongue over his salty skin, and lower…to the much saltier treasure inside his jeans. Images of riding him harder than Thunderbolt at Churchill Downs careened through her head. Fuck booze. Being within five feet of the man turned her into a raving nymphomaniac. Sawyer was her own private tequila.
When the meeting was over, all but immediate family departed. “Y’all wash up. Dinner will be ready in twenty minutes.”
“What are we having?” Nate asked.
“Roast.”
“Hell yeah,” Noble cheered.
When the family raced inside, Sawyer wrapped his arm around Brea’s waist and pulled her to his chest. As he pressed his lips to her ear, his moist breath made her tingle. “What’s got you so turned on? I can smell your spice and it’s driving me crazy.”
Heat flooded her cheeks. “You.”
“Let’s go.”
“Where?”
“Home.”
Brea pivoted and blinked up at him. “What about Ozzie?”
“He’ll be fine. My family will spoil him proper.”
“But your mom. She’s expecting—”
“She won’t mind. Dad and my brothers will be happy. It means more food for them.”
He took her hand and pulled her behind him as they raced to his truck. The thrill cresting through her washed away the doubts as they tried to burrow their way inside her head.
Not a word was spoken until Sawyer stopped at the end of the long gravel drive. Turning, he stared into her eyes with a fire so bright it nearly sent Brea up in flames as well. “Your man ban is over, darlin’. We’re going to put this fire out between us, even if it means we won’t walk straight for a week. Understood?”
Her mouth went dry. Her heart hammered loud and strong. This was it. No more waltzing around the inevitable. Anticipation and anxiety merged in a kaleidoscope that short-circuited her brain. She was ready to put this fire out between them, too.
She didn’t care if she was making a colossal mistake. Like she had with the others before, she’d learn to live with the consequences…if and when it came to that.
“Yes,” she whispered softly.
She lowered her lashes, and the massive bulge of Sawyer’s jeans had her pussy melting. Sawyer turned onto the paved road and Brea threw decorum out the window. Bending down, she began to work his belt buckle free.
“What are you doing?” Sawyer moaned.
“Getting this party started.”
“Not yet.” He gripped a fist in her hair and lifted her head. Glancing down at her face, he clenched his jaw. “We’re going to start it in the shower with me soaping up every inch of your creamy, smooth skin. Then we’ll move our way to the sink if we can’t make it to the bedroom. I’m going to set you on the marble top and nibble on your hot little pussy, just like an appetizer. Then once I get you spread out on my bed, I’m going to devour you like Thanksgiving dinner…eat my fill of you until you’re mindless.”
A harder, more intense tremor shook her to the core…her dripping-wet and ready core. But Sawyer was out of his mind if he thought she was just going to lie back and take all that clit-throbbing pleasure. She was going to give as good as she got.
“Only if I can return the favor, cowboy.”
Sawyer chuckled. “If you’re able.”
“Oh, I’m more than able. I’m going to rock your world.”
“I don’t doubt that for a second. But just remember, I’m going to rock yours, too.”
“You already do,” she confessed.
Sawyer pushed down on the gas pedal as Brea giggled. Like a bullet, they reached Haven in a few short minutes and were pulling into his driveway seconds later.
He hopped out of the truck and sent her a look of warning. “Don’t touch that door handle. I’m a gentleman.”
Brea blinked, then grinned. No man had ever opened a car door for her. But she was dealing with a whole new breed. It made her feel special…pampered. Definitely out of the norm.
They’d barely made it through the front door before Sawyer had her pressed up against the wall, lips latched on to hers, and his busy hands tearing at their clothes.
Suddenly, he reared back. “Dammit, I’m sorry.”
“Sorry?” she gasped, then scowled. “Oh, no, you don’t! You can’t stop now.”
“I wasn’t going to. But I n
eed to slow down. I didn’t want to go at you, pawing you bare and driving inside you like some crazed animal.”
“Maybe I like a little monkey sex,” she teased.
“True, but I want to seduce you.”
“You do that just by breathing!”
“Oh, really?” His voice dropped and a crooked smile tugged the corner of his mouth.
“Yes. I want to paw you naked every time you look at me the way you are now.”
He cupped her face and slowly, methodically, he brushed her lips with his. Teased them with the tip of his tongue before nibbling on her mouth. His hands skimmed over her, leaving an arousing trail of fire. The heat rising inside her was almost unbearable, but she’d gladly suffer as long as he wanted to hold her to the flame.
Their kiss grew more urgent…more intense…more igniting. She couldn’t protect her heart as Sawyer was stealing it from the inside out. A week ago she’d have been terrified and turned tail to run. But not now. Now she was determined to find a way to be strong and secure. Come heaven or hell, even if the cost was her heart or soul…or both, she was going to fuck this man’s brains out.
He inched his hands down the front of her jeans and pulled from her lips. “Damn, you’re wet.”
Brea couldn’t help but softly laugh. “And that surprises you why?”
“Not surprised, and not quite sure how it’s possible, but it turns me on even more. Fuck, Brea…you drive me crazy.”
“Good crazy or Emmett crazy?” she taunted.
She loved that he didn’t try to hide the urgency inside him. She felt the very same.
After gliding his lips down her neck and up to her ear, Sawyer nipped the lobe as his ragged breath sent goose bumps peppering her skin. “If I don’t get you naked soon, I’m going to make Emmett look sane, darlin’.”
Brea lolled her head to the side, granting him more access. “We don’t want that, now do we?”
“No, baby…I only want you.”
Every syllable of his silky voice touched her soul like a soft caress. Her own breath turned shallow as hunger and need thrummed through her. As he teased her with his lips, teeth, and tongue, she made quick work of the buttons on her shirt. When she tossed it to the floor, Sawyer scooped her breasts from her bra. As he sucked one aching, hard nipple into his mouth, Brea arched, offering herself up to his every pleasure…and hers. He laved his tongue in slow, precise circles while his strong, calloused hands caressed her fiery flesh.
