Noticing my reaction, Sawyer smiled warmly as want danced in his eyes. "Is he still there?" he whispered conspiratorially, his small ragged breath dispersing over my lips.
Smiling awkwardly, as the spell he'd caught me in was momentarily broken, I nodded. "Keep looking at me," he ordered in a murmur. His demand hadn't been necessary, as I had no desire to look anywhere else.
"Staring right at us," I whispered back, my mouth barely moved but my voice had sounded thick with anticipation. Up until then, I'd thought Logan would leave and Sawyer would pull away and sit back in his seat.
A sense of pending disappointment shot through me at the thought of this happening. Do you want to kiss a stranger? This stranger? You're not going to let this nonsense continue, are you? One look at Sawyer and my heart leaped again. Fuck if I won't. Logan was only a few feet away from me and for the first time since he'd left me, I didn't care what he thought.
"Trust me, Billie. This is your chance to show him what he's lost. Tell me you dare me because if I kiss you, I guarantee you'll sucker punch that asshole right in the dick." Cradling my face in his hands he held my full attention again. "Say it," he said, his mouth hovering so close to mine his breath became my air.
"Say what?" I whispered back, my brow creased tight because my brain was in meltdown, and I had almost convinced myself I had lost the plot.
"Dare you."
"Dare you?" I asked as I tried to absorb what he'd said what I'd heard myself say even. Sawyer and I were strangers, yet he had shown more consideration for my feelings in the previous few minutes than the man I had married ever had. In doing so, he had also made my heart race in a way I'd forgotten it could.
I knew it had probably never crossed Logan's mind I'd start dating another man, but what held me back was I hadn't kissed another man since I'd first kissed Logan.
Time appeared to stand still as I gathered my scattered emotions, and I knew I had this one chance to show Logan—once and for all—I had moved past him.
"I'm not in the habit of kissing strangers," I muttered back, my mouth defying the guts I wished I had to say the words he wanted from me because I'd never wanted any kiss so badly in my whole damn life.
"Everyone's a stranger until you kiss them. It's only afterward you decide whether you want to know more of them," Sawyer replied, with a serious challenge in his voice.
Another heartbeat later I heard myself say, "Dare you," in a tiny whisper, changing my mind a second before I saw Logan step up beside us, my want to feel Sawyer's lips—if only the one time—and my need to get even with Logan had overridden all of my reservations.
When I made the slightest inclination toward his head, Sawyer immediately closed the gap, his lips brushing mine, as he threaded his fingers back into my hair and stared into my eyes as he began to kiss me.
His lips felt tentative and tender against mine at first, but my heart thundered in my chest as blood rushed through my ears drowning out every other sound in the wine bar.
Pressing his probing tongue to my reluctant lips, it demanded entry and swept forcefully inside in exploration when they parted.
A grunt of pleasure fell from his throat joining the echoing "Oh," from mine, the smallest sound of desire I hadn't been able to stem as our kiss grew greedier between us. Flames of passion soared through my veins in my need for the intimacy of any kind, as I lost some inhibition and kissed him back with equal passion.
Grabbing his tie, I pulled him closer. The simple taste of him wasn't enough. In return, he groaned, his hand pressing firmer on the back of my head, taking the kiss deeper and deeper until I lost all sense of where I was and what we were doing.
Breaking the kiss, Sawyer exhaled raggedly, a little breathless from almost getting carried away. I felt confused when I looked back at him because he appeared almost as affected by our kiss as I was.
"Mmm," he muttered and brushed his nose against mine, his eyes full of lust and a look of regret on his face. Dropping his hands from me, he pushed back in his seat and the same disappointment that had been registering in my chest was there in his eyes as well. Oh, he's good … very good. I stared back at him, not fully believing what we had done.
"If that was to catch my attention, you have it," Logan ground out. Sawyer looked up at him then back toward me. Jerking his thumb in Logan's direction, he smirked. "Is this him?" he asked as if he knew all of our marital issues. Without waiting for me to respond he turned his head and looked Logan square in the eye. "Billie informs me you want an hour with her, but it's not gonna happen," he stated, turning his head to look at Poppy waiting by the door. "How do you think she feels with you over here hounding your ex like this?"
"We're still married," he corrected, attempting to take possession of me, despite the fact he was the one who had cheated. "Who is this guy?" he asked, addressing me while ignoring what Sawyer had said.
"None of your business," I replied, feeling oddly smug that he was riled.
"I'm the upgrade," Sawyer countered, interjecting on the conversation with a challenging look in his eye. I panicked. Who is this guy? I knew nothing about him. How could I have been so reckless? Oh, God, what if they start to fight?
Logan scoffed, "Seriously? You're dating my wife?" I glanced nervously at the tables around us and saw we'd become the afternoon entertainment.
My worried glance turned to Sawyer, and I felt infuriated that Logan would belittle me in front of someone I was supposed to be dating. "Soon to be ex-wife," I corrected. "Sign the papers, Logan."
"Yeah, sign the papers, dude. Billie just wants this over with so that we can move forward." Sawyer agreed, sounding every bit as tired of Logan dragging this out as I was.
"You expect me to believe you're with him? I saw him come in. He looked like someone who wanted to get out of the rain. He didn't look like he was with anyone." My heart sank when I thought he knew I was lying, and what we'd done hadn't been enough to convince him.
"Are you for real?" Sawyer asked, as he leaned over and took my hand. "This is as real as it comes. I adore Billie. How does it feel, knowing you'll never be with her again? How does it feel to know I've taken your place?"
Logan's face reddened, furious at how Sawyer knew exactly what words to use to hit my husband straight in the nuts. Before Logan could respond Sawyer jumped in again, a habit Logan used on me.
"Listen, dude, I'm not normally one to get in the middle of domestic situations but it's been a year. Don't you think it's time to piss or get off the pot with your new woman? Either way, all in or not, you chose your path. Now let Billie get on with her life."
Logan looked shocked and furious that Sawyer appeared to know so much about him. I saw that it had made him reassess and in the moments that followed, I watched a range of expressions flit over his face until it settled on livid.
"How long has this been going on?" Logan challenged like a husband scorned, turning again to address me because he knew how bad of a liar I was. Fortunately, I never had to lie, because Sawyer took responsibility for fabricating our relationship much better than anything I could have come up with.
"I think the first time I met you was almost two years ago," he suggested, prompting me. I was a terrible liar, and as such, anxiety crept up from my chest to my throat and almost choked me. I had no idea where he was going with his story.
"The first time?" Logan repeated, his voice rising a whole octave as his fiery temper grew.
"The spa?" I asked, suddenly thinking of something to say when I saw how Logan was responding. Sawyer chuckled, nodding at me when I gave him something to go on.
"That's right, and it was lust at first sight." I felt my cheeks redden because it was all a huge, fat fib.
A low growl tore from Logan's throat and he turned his narrowed angry eyes toward me like I was the one who had let him down. Sawyer cleared his throat, drawing my attention back to him and his reassuring smile settled my nerves.
"I've never had to beg a woman to keep me company until I met Billi
e," Sawyer, my fabulous stranger, said before he squeezed my hand and stared adoringly into my eyes. I almost applauded his performance, because even if Logan didn't believe him, the genuine affectionate smile he gave me almost had me convinced.
"I was crushed when you turned me down, telling me that you were flattered, but you were married," he went on, and I noticed Logan fleetingly wince with embarrassment because of how he'd treated me. "I told you at the time fate had thrown us together, but you weren't convinced until we randomly bumped into each other again about two months after your marriage broke up."
Two months? I almost giggled.
"Thankfully, you felt you had nothing to lose and I grabbed on to my second chance to know you with both hands."
"Two months?" Logan bellowed the same point that had almost made me howl with laughter. "That's all it took you to get back out there?" he spat, totally forgetting his new girl stood observing his every move. Never mind that it had been him who had cheated.
"Two months longer than however long it took you to throw our marriage away," I countered, inviting a tense staring match between us as the air thickened in the room with every second that passed.
"Oh, let me think. When was that? January? February of last year, darlin'?" Sawyer prompted, feeding into the lie with the correct timeline. I was surprised he'd paid such close attention to what I had told him. "It took a bit longer to convince you. But I'm a patient man and my persistence was well worth the effort." Looking at Logan, he shrugged. "Anyway, I wish I could say it was nice to meet you, but I'd be lying. What you did to Billie was a shit move. However, as she said, it's all in the past and she's happier now than she's ever been." Sawyer stopped and cupped my cheek with his hand before staring up at Logan again. "Sign off on those papers, dude. There's nothing left for you here."
Shaking his head, Logan glared at me as I'd disappointed him. "This isn't over. I'll call you tomorrow. Answer the phone when I do," he ordered and made for the door.
Remembering Poppy had been watching the whole exchange I kind of felt sorry for her, even though she had wrecked our marriage. She looked younger than her years and didn't look as self-assured, as I had imagined her to be.
Grabbing angrily at the door handle, Logan opened it, stepped out into the street, paying no attention to his woman, who had stood quietly waiting for him. A moment later she realized he'd left her standing there alone and went out after him.
Chapter Three
"Sorry," Sawyer told me as he held up his hands as if I were going to beat him. "That was more than a little a bit forward," he admitted, letting go of my cheek.
"You think?" I retorted, not knowing whether to kiss him again or to slap him.
Lifting his wine glass to his mouth, he downed the whole contents in one large gulp. "Thirsty work," he choked, and grimaced at the empty glass as he placed it gently back on the table and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "This house Chardonnay tastes like chemical cleaner," he remarked dryly.
"What we did was my fault too. I let it happen," I admitted, dying a little inside at the shame of it all. Kissing in public was something teenagers did, or maybe sweethearts in the early days of romance. Not forty-year-old women with men they just met in a bar. "And I'm concerned how you would know this about the wine."
He chuckled before his smile slipped slowly from his face. "I'm sorry for what you just went through, and I'm sorry if I took it too far." He rolled the stem of his glass between his fingertips, looking intently at it before he glanced back up at me. His piercing gaze held mine for more than a beat before he continued. "However," he drew out and gave me his now familiar sexy grin. "When you kissed me back, you surprised me. That was a smoking hot kiss." He sat back in his seat and ran his hand roughly through his damp hair. “I took a massive gamble doing that, but it was reassuring when you went with it, because it told me you saw the value in what we were doing. You had no business being with a guy like him in the first place. He's no match for you."
My cheeks reddened when I remembered our incredibly sensual kiss and a wave of heat made my core pulse. Logan had never kissed me like that, ever.
"I … I don't know what came over me. No, I take that back. I do. I knew I had this one chance to give that bastard some payback for the way he totally discarded what we had. The kiss … I guess my feelings overwhelmed me a little." I turned and looked out of the window, toward the sky, and felt vindicated for the first time since Logan had walked out the door.
"I'm happy I was here to facilitate that overwhelming need of yours to get even," he remarked, playfully and chuckled. I became uncomfortable at his continued scrutiny.
"It's stopped raining," I offered, diverting the conversation to safer ground. I took a deep breath when it dawned on me I'd faced my worst fear about seeing Logan with Poppy, and I hadn't turned to dust. Then the full impact of what we'd done hit me. "God, I'm embarrassed," I blurted, hiding my face with my hands.
"Why? That was a sensational kiss. I'm telling you, that guy is certifiable for walking away from you." I stared, confused by the amazing hot stranger who'd kissed me and read genuine concern in his eyes, despite what we'd done.
"Thank you, for …"
"My pleasure. Honestly, anytime," he reiterated, with a wicked grin and a twinkle of amusement in his bright smiling eyes. When my reason hung in the air, he looked perplexed and quickly placed one of his huge warm hands over mine. "Listen, I think my stalker has gone." There was a note of inevitability in his tone. Rising slowly from his chair he again glanced down the street in both directions.
My heart sank because although we'd had the weirdest encounter, I felt connected to him for what he'd helped me to do. I followed his lead and looked for the woman who had led him to me, even though I had no clue why.
When he lifted his hand to check the time on his wristwatch, I felt the loss from his touch immediately and watched as his facial expression turned serious. "Shoot, I have to get going. I've got to check in with some people in less than an hour. It's been …" he cleared his throat and flashed me another sexy smile. "I'm very glad I chose this bar to hide out in," he told me, pushing his chair in opposite me and feeding his arms into his expensive damp grey suit jacket.
Another stupid wave of disappointment washed over me, and although he was supposed to mean nothing,
I felt Sawyer's loss before he'd even left the building. In my dull world, he had shared one of my most vulnerable moments and Sawyer Michael Wild had protected my fragile feelings better than the man I had married had ever done.
Nevertheless, I knew our parting was inevitable from the moment our kiss had ended, and I fully expected when he walked away, the likelihood of us ever meeting again was nil. I knew my feelings of attachment were absurd because Sawyer was far too young and good looking for it to have meant anything.
However, it made me consider how vulnerable I was. I could hardly believe I'd done something like that—and in a matter of minutes— instead of the keeping usual guarded position I innately had for strangers. I mentally chastised myself for allowing my guard to fall so low as to cling in desperation to the first man on the street to show me any kindness.
Patting his top jacket pocket, he took out a money clip, slipped out four twenties from it and threw them on the table to pay for the wine we'd both had.
Reaching into another, he found a small pile of business cards, dropped one on the table beside me, and shrugged like he had no idea what else to say. For a few heartbeats, our silence thickened the air between us until he broke it when he let out a sigh.
"If you ever need anything in the future, don't hesitate to give me a call," he offered with a sexy wink and a small rueful smile. My chest suddenly tightened when he turned and walked away. My wistful gaze followed him toward the door, and my heart stuttered when I saw and felt his reluctance as he hesitated before he slowly opened it.
When he unexpectedly glanced back at me again, it was with a serious, unsmiling expression. Looking away, he bow
ed his head, stepped out onto the street, and walked away.
I sat with a heavy heart and watched the wine bar door close softly on its own and when it finally clicked on the catch, I took a deep breath and held it for a moment before I checked out the luxurious print on the matte business card he'd left.
Like the man, the stationery looked classy with its slick black background and the crisp ruby red and silver dual font foil lettering. Then my heart almost stopped when I read what it said.
Sawyer Wild, Gentleman Escort. Male and Female clients welcome, discretion guaranteed.
A pang of shock stabbed me right in my heart, making it race at double the speed, and I felt horrified with myself. No wonder he was so smooth and adept at dealing with Logan. Or how easy he found it to kiss a stranger.
Somehow, I managed to find the will to push my insane, instant distraction of the stranger I'd kissed to one side and gathered up all of my purchases.
After shrugging into my coat, I headed back out of the bar, feeling more than a little weirded out by my ridiculous experience. Add to this, I was tipsy from the wine as well.
There was no way I could have gone home at that point, because I'd have only felt miserable so I wandered around dazed until I'd completed my Christmas gift shopping. Two hours later, Sawyer had still been on my mind and with my gift purchases complete, I headed back to New Jersey by Uber.
Arriving home, I headed straight upstairs to store the items I'd bought in my closet. Taking off my coat, I emptied my pockets of the receipts to put them in their respective bags with each gift, in the event something had to be returned. As I stared down at the white crumpled up register receipts, a smile pulled at my lips when I came across Sawyer's business card among them.
The smile widened and my core pulsed from my memory of the patient, hot stranger who had protected my feelings by taking a kiss in a mortifying situation. For a second or two I stared in disbelief at his card, turning it over and over in my fingers as I toyed with the idea of calling to thank him again. This is stupid, Billie. Get a hold of yourself.
DARE You, Dare Duet, Part One: Billie and Sawyer: Unchained Attraction Series Page 4
