Fall in Love Book Bundle: Small Town Romance Box Set

by Grover Swank, Denise

At some invisible marker, more yells for Sawyer sounded, this time from Emberly as well, and the guys all slowed. Sawyer jogged our way, tossing the football behind him as excited energy buzzed from him in a way I’d never seen before.

  Emberly made an amused, knowing sound. “That’s my cue to disappear for a minute.”

  “What?” I drew the word out as I struggled to take my stare from the man coming toward me.

  “Want a drink?” she asked as she hopped to the ground.

  At that, I did look at her. “No. Wait, why are you leaving?”

  She rolled her heavily-shadowed eyes so dramatically that her head even moved a little with the action. “And stay to watch? No thanks.”

  No sooner had she passed me and the bed of the truck than Sawyer was there. Gripping my legs to uncross them and pull me forward so I was nearly hanging off the tailgate. His tall, hard body teasing me with memories of how our night had started as he situated himself between my thighs.

  “You stayed,” he said through heaving breaths and leaned forward to capture my mouth with his.

  I moaned against the lingering kiss, not caring how entirely inappropriate it was considering the people around us. Lifting my hand, I trailed my fingers across his jaw and neck before securing them in his hair.

  “You’re sweaty,” I murmured against the kiss, my lips twitching into a grin. “And gross.”

  A laugh rumbled in his chest as he attacked my mouth with renewed fierceness, gripping my hips and pulling me closer still.

  “Gross?” he growled as his fingers dug into my sides, eliciting a sharp laugh from me as I tried to both jerk from his hold and find a way to get even closer to him.

  I gripped his hands in mine to prevent another round of tickling and whispered, “So, so gross,” then pressed another lingering kiss to his mouth and leaned away enough to search his excited eyes. When I spoke again, the weight of my words had shifted along with the subject. “I’m sorry.”

  “Nothing,” he said quickly and pressed his forehead to mine. “You have nothing to be sorry for. I—” His eyelids shut when the guys he’d been playing with called his name. With a frustrated sigh, they opened again to reveal eyes churning with all the emotion he’d revealed earlier. “I let what Beau said get to me and mix with all my bullshit until I took it out on you.”

  “But everything about me and the way I am is why you let it get to you in the first place.”

  He started to deny it or explain when the guys called for him again.

  “Go,” I said softly, already trying to pull away from him.

  But Sawyer just tightened his grip on me, head shaking. “They can play without me.”

  “We can talk about this later when we aren’t surrounded by so many people.” When he looked like he was about to stand firm in his decision, I whispered, “You need this.”

  I’d never seen him so free of the weights pressing on him as he had when he’d been jogging up to me. He needed this night. He needed this time.

  His eyes searched mine, but I just gestured behind him with a lift of my chin.

  “Go.”

  Sawyer glanced over his shoulder, then confirmed, “We’ll talk later?” The way he asked showed he was still afraid I would leave when he walked away from me.

  A wicked smirk tugged on my lips. “Oh, I’m sure we’ll do plenty of things later.”

  A groan scraped up his throat and then he was covering my mouth with his in a quick but passionate kiss. “Drive me crazy,” he murmured as he released me and backed away.

  The secretive smile he sent my way as he started toward the group of guys had my heart doing all sorts of things it shouldn’t.

  Racing and skipping beats and aching because I wanted to be the reason for that smile past tonight. For days and weeks and years to come . . .

  Nothing had ever terrified me more.

  I jumped when Emberly’s voice sounded beside me, pure sarcasm and feigned annoyance. “And that’s why I left,” she said as she rounded the back of the truck and placed a couple drinks on the tailgate before lifting herself onto it.

  “Oh no. No, I’m fine, I don’t drink,” I said when she offered me one.

  “Really?” she said with genuine surprise. “I was wondering why you hadn’t tried any of our beers at the shop.”

  “Uh, yeah. Dad was an alcoholic,” I explained, searching for her reaction as I did, but she just nodded in understanding. “Coffee is enough of an addiction for me.”

  “Makes sense. I can grab you a water?”

  “I’m fine,” I said. “I feel like I’m drinking the air.”

  A laugh poured free as she got more comfortable, settling in with her own cup. “It is pretty humid, we might get some rain,” she murmured, glancing at the sky for a moment before looking off toward the guys on the field.

  When she opened her mouth, I hurried to speak over her, worried she was going to dive into my past. “I was wondering something, and it’s kind of personal . . .”

  Amusement danced across her face. “Okay?”

  “Sawyer told me something he probably shouldn’t have. But I think he only did it because, at the time, I really thought something might be going on between the two of you.”

  A full-body shudder worked through her, her expression twisting into revulsion again. “He is seriously like a brother I never wanted,” she began, but I hurried to stop her, waving off her words.

  “I get that now.” I swallowed, the action seeming difficult as I wondered how to say this now that it seemed too personal. “Uh, well, he told me about Kip. About how he wanted to be serious and you didn’t.”

  Her brows lifted and she glanced at where the game had resumed. “Bastard,” she mumbled before a laugh fell from her lips. “I guess I deserve that, he does tell me everything, so, I know all about you.”

  “Well, I’ve been thinking about this, and it’s confusing and fascinating to me.”

  “My sex life is fascinating to you?” she asked playfully.

  I gave her a dry look before explaining, “I write romance, so when I hear stories like this, I kind of obsess over them. I can’t figure out why you’re wasting your time with a guy who only comes around every so often. If you loved him, that would make sense to me. But from what I gathered, you don’t. And you’re gorgeous, you could have anyone, I’m sure . . .” I shook my head, my hands moving awkwardly in front of me because I never knew what to do with them when I was trying to describe anything. “Then again, you might be with other people, and I wouldn’t know because that’s also super personal, and I didn’t think about that until right now. So, that might just change everything if you’re not exclusive to him, and now I’m rambling and need to stop.”

  Good job, Rae.

  Went from personal question to some sort of psychopath stalker in two seconds.

  A stunned laugh burst from Emberly and ended on a dejected sigh. “I’m not,” she said after a while, then clarified, “Sleeping with other people. I mean, I don’t feel exclusive to Kip. I just . . . I don’t know.”

  “You don’t . . .” I shook my head and somehow managed not to die of embarrassment. “I’m sorry. When I think about something long enough, I start making up my own theories and stories and then it just explodes like word vomit because I get all excited about the prospect of understanding more or unloading my thoughts.” I lifted a hand before letting it fall heavily to my lap. “Clearly.”

  “It was funny,” she said, a little huff tumbling from her lips a few seconds later. “You know, Sawyer came over one night not long after you’d arrived in Amber. He’d found out that day that you were an author and wanted to show me your Instagram because it was so unlike the girl who was in our town.”

  “Oh God.”

  She playfully nudged me when I covered my face, and when I risked a glance at her again, she was watching me thoughtfully. “I feel like I just witnessed the girl on your Instagram. All excited and bubbly and passionate about things in the world that fuel the wo
rk she loves.”

  “What am I like normally? A hateful monster?” The words were all lighthearted banter and forced a laugh from Emberly.

  “Not at all. You’re very . . .” She scrunched up her shoulders as she thought of how to explain, then exhaled on a rush. “I don’t even know. You’re calm. You have a way of finding situations amusing, but it’s all so calm and carefree.” One of her eyebrows lifted knowingly. “No one would’ve listened to Sawyer berating them over food and then teased him about it the way you did.”

  My head moved in something like a nod for a while as I thought. “Sawyer mentioned it to me—that difference in how he saw me and what was on my social media. I told him I only show my readers what I want them to see. Which, is still partially true. They don’t get to see a lot of my personal life. But after you explained it that way, I think I understand what he was saying.

  “When I’m coming up with a story or writing, I get in this headspace that is just . . . well, it’s fiction,” I said wryly. “It’s fun being in that different world and knowing anything can happen in it. When I was rambling to you, I could see all these different stories and outcomes happening as I was talking, so I was getting more excited. Basically, my version of geeking out over something.” I offered her a thankful smile when she laughed. “I think I always shift to that headspace when I’m on social media or interacting with my readers. I always go to that geek-out mode without trying or realizing, and it’s so entirely different than who I really am.”

  “I don’t think that’s true,” she said after a moment. “I think both versions are who you really are.” When I gave her a skeptical look, she inclined her head in challenge. “I’ve now interacted with both, and they both genuinely seemed like you. It’s like you can’t help but be both.”

  “Well . . .” I lifted a shoulder, knowing there was no point in arguing, everyone would see it differently.

  “I don’t love Kip,” she said abruptly before taking a long drink from her cup. Once she’d set it beside her again, she continued in a neutral tone. “I’m not even sure how much I like him other than what I thought we had to offer each other. I didn’t realize he actually thought we were something.”

  I waited to see if she would continue, when she didn’t, I asked, “So, he isn’t here often, right? Why is that?”

  “He works on the railroad.” She gestured somewhere away from us, her eyes glazing over as she did. “The hours are pretty intense anyway, but he used to be based out of a city about an hour away from here, so he was still living here. Then he got forced out to Oklahoma five or six years ago and ended up loving it there. He’s been there since.”

  I folded my hands and then crossed my arms under my chest before finally placing my hands beneath my legs so I wouldn’t be tempted to move them around again as I started thinking of all the ways this story could end in my mind—the way it could have begun.

  “Did you ever like him, or did things change when he moved away?”

  “Kip?” she asked, his name punching from her lungs like a scoff. “No. I really thought we were a hook-up-only type of thing. That was all I wanted. It actually made it easier for me when he moved because I’d thought I had less to worry about with him thinking something would happen between us.” Her eyes widened for a moment, her teeth clenching. “Clearly, I was wrong.”

  The way her words so closely echoed my own thoughts and life was disconcerting. But there was something in the way she spoke that nagged at me and had me certain that—despite our other similarities—Emberly’s aversion to relationships was wildly different from mine.

  As I watched her, a handful of other possibilities bounced through my mind. One of which kept coming back louder and louder when she continued speaking.

  “I don’t know,” she said with a shake of her head, pulling herself back to the present. “Maybe I’m just delaying the inevitable with him or someone else. I have to stop pushing away the idea of actually dating someone, I’m not sure why I have been all these years.”

  I followed her line of sight when she trailed off . . . to Sawyer.

  No.

  No, no, no.

  Why did it feel like my heart was being torn from my chest at the same time a sickening mixture of fear and anger was rushing through my veins?

  I would end up hurting and leaving Sawyer one day. I couldn’t claim him. I knew that . . .

  But my heart was screaming that he was mine, that she had already taken enough from me.

  I gripped at my stomach and tried to focus on taking deep breaths as that one glaring possibility gathered on my tongue, begging to be voiced though I was terrified of its outcome.

  “Who is he?” When Emberly glanced at me with a questioning look, I said, “The guy you love.”

  She jerked back, eyelids blinking rapidly. “What? No one.”

  “So, you’ve been avoiding dating anyone . . . just because?”

  Her lips parted but only a rough exhale left them. Her shoulders sagged and her stare darted back to the game before focusing on me. “It doesn’t matter.”

  “It might,” I argued gently.

  “It doesn’t,” she maintained and ran her hands over her hair, groaning in frustration as she did. When she continued, everything was said softly and on a rush. “He moved away a long time ago. I kept thinking he would come back—hoping he would. But I don’t know why . . . he never saw me. I mean, he did, this is Amber, you can’t not see someone. But he didn’t see me, you know?”

  I snuck a glance to Sawyer and the game happening before looking at the girl beside me, trying to understand that the guy she was talking about wasn’t one of them—wasn’t the only one who mattered.

  Guilt and shame replaced the anger and fear I’d been so easily consumed by.

  “Yeah,” I said softly. “Yeah, I understand what you mean.”

  “I didn’t realize until just before he left that I loved him—that I probably always had. And then he was gone. Again, not that it would have mattered.” One of her shoulders lifted in a jerk of a shrug.

  “You don’t know that.”

  A sad laugh fell from her lips. “Oh, yes I do. You don’t know him.” Dejection passed across her face before she was able to push it away. “The way he was? I can imagine him laughing as he walked away from me if he ever found out.”

  “Well, then he’s a dick, and he wouldn’t ever deserve you anyway,” I said firmly. “And you deserve someone you actually want to be with—someone who isn’t Kip.”

  The corners of her mouth lifted in a smile but fell before she admitted, “I think I’m still waiting for him to come back.”

  I watched her, studied her embarrassment and sorrow over this man—her obvious love for him. “How long has he been gone?”

  A deprecating scoff burst from her, her eyes rolling as it did. “Too long for me to still be waiting for him or even care about him.”

  “But if you do still care that much after however long it’s been, maybe . . . I mean, have you thought about reaching out to contact him?”

  “Who, the guy who doesn’t have social media because he wanted to disappear?” She laughed, but it was filled with longing and sadness. “He just . . .”—Emberly’s gaze darted to the game again before flashing to me—“He isn’t a good idea. He never would’ve been, even if he hadn’t left town.”

  It wasn’t until I looked at the game again, at Sawyer—where Emberly had continued to look—that it all clicked.

  Cayson.

  I just barely managed to swallow the gasp climbing up my throat as thoughts rushed to my mind, swirling around and around until I was struggling not to unload a dozen thoughts and assumptions and questions on the girl beside me.

  “Ah, well, shit,” Emberly mumbled, pulling my attention from Sawyer to her, and then in the direction she was looking . . .

  To a few girls walking up to us and giving me serious déjà vu of high school with their haughty expressions and judgmental stares.

  The type
of girls who walked through the halls in their little pack, seeming to move in slow motion with imaginary wind blowing their hair. That was happening now. Over a decade after I’d thought I’d gotten away from high school forever.

  But I didn’t have time for that or them right now. I was currently freaking out because Emberly was in love with Cayson, and Cayson was gone, and I doubted Sawyer knew.

  The girls all stopped moving at once as if they shared the same brain or were bots being controlled by someone else, and I nearly snorted when their heads tilted identically.

  “Creepy,” I murmured beneath my breath, earning a soft laugh from Emberly and a questioning, humming sound from the girl closest to me. “I said howdy.”

  She smiled at me, the action tight-lipped and so damn forced I wondered if it hurt.

  “We’ve heard about you,” she began, “but I must say . . . I’m surprised.” Her stare moved over my body, insulting me as she scrutinized. “I mean, just hours after you’d shown up, the entire town was talking about the new girl. Wasn’t more than a few days later, they were talking about how you’d caught Sawyer Dixon’s eye.”

  The two girls flanking her made identical, nasally, scoffing sounds. The girl in front let the corner of her mouth tip up in a conniving smirk.

  I glanced at Emberly and whispered, “Did I go back to high school?”

  “With them?” She did another one of her dramatic eye-rolls. “Oh yeah.”

  “You know . . .” the main girl said with an attitude that had me sucking in a steeling breath as I faced her again, “Sawyer has a specific type. And, honey, you aren’t it.”

  A breathless laugh fell from my lips. “Thank God for that.”

  “That wasn’t a compliment.”

  “I took it as one.” I gave her a pointed look, letting her know her jealousy had come through loud and clear—that I knew what this conversation was truly about. “Who would want to be known as someone who eagerly waits around, hoping to spread their legs for a night?”

  Emberly began choking on her drink beside me, her coughs interrupted by wheezing laughter.

  The satisfied smirk slipped from the girl’s face and twisted into an outraged sneer. “I meant the fact that Sawyer wants someone who has the body shape of a model, not a cow.”