A low, unamused laugh scraped up his throat and shock covered his face. His gaze trailed over my body, slow and torturous, and I fought the instinct to check to make sure the towel was covering everything.
I wasn’t ashamed of my body, and it was his fault we were meeting like this in the first place.
“Where the hell were you gonna go in a towel?” he asked when his stare met mine again.
“Wherever it took to get away from you.”
The corners of his mouth curled as he fought a smile.
He had dimples.
Damn him.
“Did you want me to check on the fan, or not?”
I pushed from the wall and shook my head, partly in response, partly trying to rid the gorgeous illusion my subconscious had created. “Not. I’ve been awake for over a day. I’m fairly certain I’m dreaming you. And if I’m going to have dreams of a random guy breaking into my room, I’d rather have them from a bed.”
His only response was a huff as I passed him to enter my room.
I shut the door softly, even though I wanted to slam it on his beautiful face. And before I moved away from it, I locked it. Twice.
His muffled laugh was low and sexy and infuriating, and followed me into sleep.
Chapter 4
Sawyer
Emberly’s head fell back that evening, a laugh pouring free from her.
“Let me get this right.” She set her hands on the bar and tried to keep a straight face when she looked at me again. “You were in a room with a girl in a towel . . . and instead of ending up between her legs, she kneed you between yours?”
I leveled her with a glare.
“I don’t believe it,” she said matter-of-factly.
“She isn’t exactly my type,” I said before taking another sip of my beer.
Her chest heaved with a muted laugh. “Since when isn’t ‘mostly naked’ your type?”
A flash of that girl tore through my mind, assaulting me before I could force it away. “Since she looked like that.”
Emberly’s expression went blank, and then, after a few seconds, screwed up in a mixture of hesitation and confusion. “Uh . . . we are talking about the same girl, right? New to town. Just went to Blossom to get a room.”
I nodded absentmindedly. Emberly had already told me she’d been the one to send Towel Girl to the B&B.
“What was wrong with the way she looked?”
I focused on the girl who’d been my best friend since childhood. “Em, you know my type and you saw her. She’s . . .” Everything I swore I would never go near again. Everything I’ve looked the other way from—avoided—for years. Until now . . . I tilted my head and said, “Well, she’s not exactly thin.”
Emberly reached over the bar and punched my shoulder. “That’s what women look like, you jackass.”
I tipped my beer at Emberly. “Are you saying you’re not a woman?”
She glanced at herself for a half-second before her shocked gaze was back on me. “I have a different body type than her. Women have those. Men have those.”
“Never said they didn’t. I just said her thighs touch.” I should’ve seen that next punch coming. “Jesus, Em, I didn’t say yours did. I could just tell that, beneath the towel, she had a lot of curves.”
Emberly stared at me for a few seconds, eyes and mouth wide before she struck my shoulder again.
Fuck, why had I ever taught her how to throw a punch?
“You know who had a body like hers? Marilyn Monroe. I would kill for a body like that.”
I barely caught her fist in my hand when she went for another hit.
Her lips curled in a sneer. “Just because you only screw women who are rail thin without a curve in sight doesn’t mean women who do have curves are overweight.”
Something in my soul wrenched.
My teeth gnashed in a vain attempt to force the echoing memories and pain away.
“Never said that. Never said she was,” I bit out.
“You strongly implied it.” Sadness lingered behind the frustration in her eyes. “You say a lot of stupid shit. You do even more. But until today, you’ve never said something hateful toward another person. You’ve never said something that actually made me ashamed to be your best friend. And after what happened with—”
“Don’t,” I said in warning.
We sat there for long moments before she tugged her hand from my grasp and straightened. “I love you, Sawyer Dixon, but you’ve spiraled these last years. In a way, I understood. I swear I did. But after those comments . . . I feel like I don’t know you. Your never-ending line of bimbos has changed you, and it’s disgusting.”
If only she knew they hadn’t.
If only she knew the thought of anyone other than those bimbos, as she called them, fucking terrified me.
This was the only way I knew how to protect myself.
Because that guilt ate at me still . . . almost a decade later.
Emberly’s stare slid past me. “Was that all you saw? That she wasn’t stick thin, and that was it? Did you even look at her face?”
I started to respond but forced back the words gathering in my throat.
It’d been impossible not to see her.
Impossible not to take in and memorize every part of that girl while telling myself to look away. Bright hazel eyes and the way pieces of her damp hair had clung to her lips. Lips so damn full I’d wanted to reach out and watch them part beneath my thumb.
But those curves . . .
Curves that begged to be worshipped and promised my ruin . . .
They’d been a bucket of ice-cold water. They’d been a stark reminder of a harrowing past I refused to repeat.
“Of course you didn’t,” Emberly said with a huff. She rested her hands on the bar again and jerked her head at something behind me. “You’re the only one. The whole town is looking at that girl who isn’t your type. For more reasons than her being new.”
I turned on the barstool to see a woman walking down the sidewalk.
Standing tall, even though she’d barely reached my shoulders, curves that begged for my hands, dark hair falling in waves to her waist, walking like she knew the town was watching her and she didn’t give one, single fuck.
Just as Emberly had said, everyone in the bar section of Brewed had stopped talking to put their attention on her. The few people she passed on the street turned to continue watching her.
Not that I was surprised.
She was new. New didn’t happen in Amber. Accidental drop-ins who left as soon as they arrived happened in Amber.
And she radiated confidence that was almost as sexy as the girl herself.
It wasn’t until I leaned over to see her enter the doors to the café side of Brewed that I realized I was watching her too, and Emberly was watching me.
I turned around to face my friend and forced a shrug. “Stand by my earlier assessment.”
She studied me for a moment. “I really never thought I would be so disappointed in you.”
I drained my beer and set the bottle on the bar. “Sorry to disappoint.”
Just as I was about to stand, Emberly’s eyes widened and a smile lit her face. “Well, hey there, new girl.”
I gripped my empty bottle like it might save me from whatever Emberly was about to do to me and narrowed my eyes at her.
“Hey.” That word was at once hesitant and somehow familiar.
“Did you get the sleep you needed?” Emberly asked as she placed a napkin on the bar, beckoning the girl to take the seat beside me.
“Not exactly,” the girl said as she stepped forward and placed her purse on the stool. “I kept thinking an intruder was going to come into my room.”
I caught myself when I started looking her way at the obvious accusation and kept my focus directly on Emberly.
Emberly, who was currently sliding me a challenging look and making an exaggerated humming sound. “Can’t imagine who would break into the new girl’s room,” she
said dryly.
Fuck you, I mouthed.
The girl beside me sighed, and God damn if I didn’t have the perfect mental image of those lips falling into even more of a pout. “I’m positive parts of this morning didn’t actually happen. Did I hallucinate you telling me there was food on this side?”
“No ma’am you did not. We also have some great beer selections.”
“Oh no. No, I’m fine with coffee or water,” the girl said, stopping Emberly from explaining about their brew.
“Well, we have plenty of that too, as you know.” Emberly snatched a menu out from beneath my elbow and slid it to the side. “Here’s a menu for you.”
“Thank God, I’m starving,” she mumbled. “I can’t remember the last time I ate.”
At that, my head did snap to the side. To her. Looking at her and taking her in when I swore after this morning I wouldn’t. When I’d done everything to scrub our hallway encounter from my mind after leaving Blossom.
“Why?” The word came out sharp and low. More a demand than a simple question any stranger might be able to ask, but I hadn’t been able to keep it back.
Her movements were slow as she reached out to grab the menu. After a hesitant look my way, she glanced at the list of offered foods, one brow raised. “Fail to see how that is your business.”
There were so many damn reasons it wasn’t, just as there was one that would always make it my business.
“Knowing when you last ate shouldn’t be a question,” I said, my tone still a little too sharp for normal conversation.
Emberly grabbed my arm and hissed, “Stop.”
I leaned closer to where the girl was standing despite Emberly trying to pull me toward her, over the bar. “Considering the price of the room you’re paying for indefinitely, I’m gonna take a wild guess that you not knowing isn’t because you can’t afford food.”
“Jesus, Sawyer,” Emberly snapped, and then softer, “Please forgive him. He was tackled one too many times back in the day and it took away his common decency filter.”
The girl’s eyes widened a fraction in response, and then she placed the menu back on the bar and ordered one of the burgers and water.
“Of course, we’ll get right on that,” Emberly said tightly, still gripping me. “If you need anything, just holler for me. Again, my name’s Emberly.”
“Oh, so that actually happened . . .” the girl murmured to herself.
I managed to block Emberly’s next swing and said, “Add it to my tab.”
Emberly shot me a look that promised so much pain if I said anything else to the girl next to me and then turned to put the order in.
“Right, I don’t need you to buy me dinner.”
When I looked at the girl again, she was digging through her purse, pulling things out at random.
Glasses case.
Notepad.
Laptop.
“Think of it as an apology for this morning.” I stood, but before I turned to leave, I let myself take her in one last time. “Knowing when you last ate shouldn’t be a question,” I repeated, this time softer even though everything in me wanted to yell the words.
“Jesus,” she muttered, the corners of her mouth tipping up in a frustrated smile. She finally looked at me and lifted a hand before letting it fall. “It’s been a day.”
I forced my hands to relax when they curled into fists in response. “A day since you’ve eaten?”
“No, a day, as in, a hell of a day. As was yesterday, since I spent the entire thing traveling here and literally only stopping for gas and caffeine. As was part of the day before.” Her stare darted over me before a huff fell from her lips. “Sometimes, food isn’t important, it isn’t even a factor. However, right now isn’t one of those times. Right now, I want to stuff my face with that burger and then maybe grab a coffee or two to get me through a few hours of work. Any other invasive questions?”
Days.
She had willingly gone days without eating.
My jaw clenched as memories rushed to the surface. I forced my head in a slow shake when I knew I couldn’t respond rationally.
“Here.”
I glanced down at the cash she was holding out and stepped away from it. “I don’t want it.”
“Well, I don’t want you to pay for my dinner.”
“If it means you’ll eat it, I’ll pay for every goddamn meal.”
Her brows lifted in surprise and confusion. After a moment, a soft, stunned laugh burst from her. “Trust me, I plan on eating it regardless of who pays.”
“Then as I said earlier, think of it as an apology.”
“Look, considering what I did in return, we can call this morning even. I really don’t—”
“Then consider it a welcome to Amber.” Grabbing her outstretched hand, I curled her fingers around the cash and pushed her fist toward her. “I want to do this.”
Need.
Needed to do this.
“Strangest welcome ever,” she whispered as she pulled her hand from mine and grabbed for her wallet.
She had no fucking clue. If she knew half the war that was waging in my mind at that exact moment, she would avoid me the way I needed to avoid her.
“Well, thank you for dinner, but please know this is a one-time-only thing,” she said with an arch of her brow as if to drive home her point.
She looked too damn adorable to do that.
I shrugged and responded honestly, “Don’t skip meals and we won’t revisit this.”
Another stunned laugh. Her hazel eyes danced across my face before she turned away with a shake of her head, already reaching for her glasses case.
Once her thick-framed glasses were on and she was on the barstool, she moved her hair over one shoulder and looked back at me, the question in her eyes clear. “You nearly gave me a heart attack this morning and then you practically Hulked-out on me because of my abnormal eating schedule. Now you’ve gotten your way and are paying for the food . . . I’m afraid to ask what else you could want.”
I want to know your name.
I want to know why you’re in my damn town.
I want to know why you started fucking with my head with one interaction, and why I can’t seem to walk away from you when I know I need to.
“Why are you in Amber?” I finally asked.
“Needed to get a feel for small-town life for work,” she replied immediately as if she’d been expecting my question.
I glanced at the laptop her fingers were resting on, and asked, “And how long will that have you here?”
“However long it takes.”
Her being here was already too long.
Her attention snapped to where Emberly was walking toward us with her water. She offered Em a smile and a soft thanks, but everything about it seemed weighed down. After a moment, she said, “Sawyer, I need you to do me a favor.”
I didn’t want to do a damn thing for her when I was already struggling to remember every reason why I couldn’t want her. Why I’d avoided girls like her. Why I’d been saying those things about her to Emberly and why I’d tried to make myself believe them . . .
When she realized I wasn’t going to respond, she gave me a fleeting glance and said, “Don’t fall in love with me.”
It was my turn to laugh—the sound filled with my confusion and surprise at her boldness.
Not only was she not the kind of girl I fell in and out of bed with, but I also didn’t believe in love. I laughed at people who did.
And this girl who I had just met and still didn’t have a name for, was telling me not to fall in love with her as though she was so sure I would and was worried about it.
I grabbed my phone off the bar and tried to bite back the next laugh. “Yeah, there isn’t a chance in hell of that happening, sweetheart.”
Without another look at her, I walked out of the bar and headed home. Images of a hazel-eyed, curved goddess dancing through my mind and torturing me well into sleep.
Chapter 5
Sawyer
Senior Year – Fall
I let my bag holding my gear and uniform fall to the ground and ran up to where my girl was standing with our friends, head tilted back and a laugh pouring into the night air.
Without slowing, I scooped her into my arms and barked out a laugh of my own at the shocked cry that ripped from her.
“Sawyer Dixon!” she yelled, swatting at my chest even when her protests got lost in our kiss.
When I pulled away, she gave me a look that was half reprimand, half excitement. “Put me down, I’m gonna break you.”
“Only thing you could ever break is my heart.”
She scoffed and wiggled a little in my hands. “Put me down.”
“I think I like you right where you are.” The corner of my mouth pulled into a grin when her vivid green eyes narrowed. “Besides, I wanna know what you thought.”
I asked after every game.
I always had.
Leighton’s expression shifted . . . softened. “The game?” When I just stared at her, she said, “Sawyer, you already know you were incredible. The entire stadium was screaming your name throughout it.”
“They aren’t who I care about.”
She sighed, but an adoring smile threatened at the corner of her lips. “Every game, I wonder if I’ll stop being so amazed by you, if I’ll get used to that feeling when the crowd goes wild and screams your name,” she said softly, her words laced with pride. “Then the next game comes and the next, and you take my heart out on that field and prove to me all over again that I won’t.” Her fingers played along the back of my neck for a moment before she continued. “I’ve known for years that you had something special out there. I’ve known it was gonna lead to a career on the field. This game mattered . . . and you made it count. I’m so proud of you.”
Fall in Love Book Bundle: Small Town Romance Box Set Page 138
