I pulled my brows together. Not that I even remember really inviting him here. How did that happen?
I shook my head and went back to my panic attack. Sawyer’s home was a real home. Something out of a sitcom. I’d never been to where Sawyer lived. In fact, it was a spot that was circled in red on my internal map of Wild Ridge so I’d remember to avoid the place like the plague.
But everyone knew everyone in this town, so where Sawyer lived was pretty common knowledge. The locals referred to it as the Lodge. From the sounds of it, though, it was more like a family compound. Several generations of Sawyer’s family lived on the property out in the woods, including his parents, his brothers, and his sister.
Oh my God. Sawyer wanted me to meet his family.
“Breathe, Trinity.” Sawyer walked over and folded me into his arms. Despite my confusion about what was going on between us, I accepted his comfort. I planted my face in his chest and slid my arms around his waist. Then I did my best to take his advice. I pulled a deep breath in through my nose.
He shook me gently. “What’s going on in that head?”
“You want to take me home.”
“Yes.” His voice rumbled beneath my ear where it rested on his chest.
“And meet your family.”
“Yes.”
“That seems like...” I wracked my brain for the best way to describe it,
“...like a pretty big step.”
I could feel the vibration of his quiet laugh under my cheek. I wanted to be outraged at his laughter, but at this point, I was beyond outrage. If he felt like laughing, let him laugh. The longer that went on, the longer it would take for him to take me home with him. The longer he chuckled, the longer I had a reprieve.
And I wanted a reprieve. I wanted a timeout. I wanted to suspend time indefinitely.
I liked the part where I got to stand here in the circle of his arms. And I didn't want to examine too closely just how much I liked it. Or whether or not liking it so much meant I was like my mother.
More than that, I wanted to avoid going home with Sawyer. Because something inside me was screaming that whatever was happening between us was big. That going home with Sawyer would upend my life in ways I couldn’t imagine.
I’d already broken one of my cardinal rules—no dating a local.
Wait. Could you call what we did a date? I thought back and held in a groan. I hadn’t even made him buy me dinner first. I was just like my mother.
My head was screaming at me to run. To pack my stuff, take my savings and head to Syn City.
That was my plan since the moment I’d realized college was my ticket off this mountain, away from the reputation my mother stained our last name with. Away from my mother who cared more about picking up her next boyfriend than she cared about picking me up from school. My whole life had revolved around escaping from this place for as long as I could remember. But I didn't want it to be. Deep down, I loved my mountain town. A truth I didn’t acknowledge to myself nearly enough.
And something told me that if I went home with Sawyer, all my best-laid plans would come crashing down around me.
Sawyer shook me gently and I realized his quiet laughter had stopped.
“Let’s get you fed,” he said. “And then we’ll head out to the Lodge.”
Well, crap. Reprieve over.
Chapter 10
Sawyer
I had to bite the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing at the look on Trinity’s face as we drove closer and closer to my house. I knew she was flipping out. And I knew I should probably be more supportive.
But I also knew the only way to reassure her was for her to get there and meet everyone and see she had nothing to fear. And I’d make sure she had nothing to fear.
A wave of possession and protectiveness slammed me like a fist, knocking the amusement right out of me.
My woman. I glanced over to where she sat in the passenger seat of my truck, gnawing on her bottom lip and looking totally fucking adorable. I turned my attention back to the road and a sense of peace I’d never known—not as a kid living with my family and certainly not as a soldier landing in one godforsaken place after another—settled over me. It felt like there was never a time I wasn’t waiting for her. And while I’d wait forever if that were what it took, the happiness I felt knowing I didn’t have to wait anymore made every day of the last few years, even those spent in hellholes nursing injuries and dealing with unimaginable shit—worth it.
Another glance showed me I’d earned her attention. She stared at me with a crinkle between her brows and her lips pursed like she was concentrating on a puzzle.
“What?” I asked before sliding my gaze back to the road.
“Nothing. Just wondering how I got here.”
“Well, sweetheart, first we had breakfast. And then we loaded up in the truck. Though how you managed to get up in the cab after the plate of pancakes you ate is beyond me.”
A quick look at her had my lips twitching. Her narrowed eyes told me I’d earned her anger. Guess it wasn’t too smart to accuse a woman of overeating and being too heavy to get up in the truck, but if she had any doubt about how I felt about her curves after yesterday and last night, she definitely hadn’t been paying close enough attention.
She slapped my shoulder, a small grin on her lips. “Funny man,” she grumbled under her breath and I stopped holding back my grin. She’d definitely been paying attention.
My phone rang and I grabbed my phone from the console, hitting the talk button. “Becker.”
“Dude, did she take the job?” Mac’s voice blared in my ear.
“I don’t know. Want me to pass her a note?”
“Don’t be a dick. I’m happy for you that you finally got laid. God knows you needed it. But we do have a business we need to get up and running. I drove down to the Cherry Falls police department and found out they had someone calling in looking for an investigator in the area. Let’s get rolling on things so we aren’t missing out on clients.”
I held back my growl at Mac’s getting laid comment. Wasn’t the first time he’s given me a hard time about it. “Copy that. I’ll talk to her.”
“If you can stop kissing her long enough, man, don’t forget to push the tuition reimbursement...”
This time I let out my growl. Right before I hung up on Mac.
“Everything okay?” Trinity asked.
I smiled at her. “Everything’s great. Just Mac being his usual dickhead self.”
She laughed. “What exactly did that entail?”
Damned if I was going to tell her about Mac’s smack talk. She’d probably blush from now until next Tuesday. I shook my head. “Nothing. But he did want to know if you’d given any more thought about the job. Told me to remind you about the tuition reimbursement. You can get your degree online while you work.”
“Get my degree online?”
Something in her voice caught my attention. I twisted to look at her for a couple of seconds before focusing back on the road.
“Did I misunderstand what Mac offered?” I did my best to keep things neutral.
“He just said I could get some college credits that way. I figured I’d transfer them over to my college when I start there in the spring.”
My heart stopped. “Syn City College?”
“Yeah. They offered me a partial scholarship while I work to sell my jewelry. I deferred enrollment until spring so I could save a little more.”
“You’re still planning on going to school in the city?” I erased all expressions and fought to keep the anger out of my voice. Never knew the skills I’d learned in hostage negotiating would come in handy in conversations with my woman.
“I-I don’t know. It’s what I’ve been planning for as long as I can remember.” Her voice grew quiet and my heart ached.
She’d been planning on school for as long as I’d been planning on claiming her and making her mine. For the first time since I had her under me yesterday, I started to thin
k this might not be the done deal I thought it was. Plans for our future together had been foremost in my mind for a while now.
But apparently, Trinity’s plans didn’t match mine.
I stared out the windshield as steely determination set in. No more waiting. There’s no way Trinity was leaving this mountain and leaving me behind. She was mine.
Now I just had to make that clear to her.
◆◆◆
Trinity
I will not freak out. I will not freak out. No matter how many times I repeated those words over in my head, I couldn’t seem to take my own advice.
“Easy, sweetheart.” Sawyer dropped his arm over my shoulder as he led me from his truck to the front door of a log cabin tucked into a cluster of large trees.
I glanced around and was pleasantly surprised to note the other homes here were tucked in their own spots along a single-track road. My breath started coming a little easier.
“I don’t know what I expected.” I shook my head at my silliness and internally acknowledged my lie. I knew exactly what I expected—a clump of houses built right on top of each other with hordes of Sawyer’s relatives waiting to greet us. “This is really beautiful.”
And it was. The luxury cabin had a long front porch with several rocking chairs on one side of the front door and a small table and chairs taking up the other side. I raised an eyebrow at the pots of flowers hanging from the porch roof. I shot a look Sawyer’s way.
He followed my gaze and grinned. “My mom. They were a welcome home present.”
I nodded and went back to my inspection as Sawyer guided me through the front door. I stopped dead when we stepped into the great room. I didn’t know where to look first.
One of the main focal points was an enormous stone fireplace. A mix of worn leather chairs and plush brown sofas were placed around it, a ginormous big screen television over the mantle.
The TV made me smile. That would have been the only thing I’d been right about had someone asked me what I thought Sawyer’s place looked like.
One entire wall was composed of floor-to-ceiling windows. The view from anywhere in the room was breathtaking—tall spruce trees with mountains in the distance, green as far as the eye could see.
At the other side of the room, a long farmhouse table and enough chairs to seat an army divided the room in half. Beyond that, I could see a fully updated kitchen with stainless steel appliances, a center island with a cooktop and four stools tucked under the counter, long marble countertops, and warm pine cabinets.
Just the sight of that kitchen made me want to start cooking, something I loved to do. The fact I worked long hours and my little kitchenette didn’t allow me to do more than heat two pots on the stove kept me from doing it too often. Not to mention cooking for one could get depressing.
“What do you think?”
I twisted to find Sawyer leaning on the back of the couch, his arms crossed over his chest. His pose was casual, but something about his careful watchfulness made me feel like a mouse about to get pounced on by a cat.
Looking at him one would never know the man’s family was worth millions and if the rumors were true, so was he. But I didn’t care about that. I just saw the man. Scars, dark eyes, dirty desires and all.
I studied his face another moment and I realized something. The connection I’d felt when we made love yesterday, when he’d been buried so deeply inside me I didn’t know where he ended and I began, that connection was still there. The bonds didn’t break when we rolled out of bed.
The knowledge gave me the courage to take a step toward him. And then another. Until I stood directly in front of him, looking up into his ruggedly handsome face.
“I love your home. It’s beautiful.” I stood on my tiptoes, bracing my hands on his folded arms, and pressed a fast kiss to his lips—the first I’d given him instead of the other way around. “It feels like a home.”
He relaxed his arms and dropped his hands to my waist, pulling me in closer so I stood between his feet. A satisfied smile touched his lips, but I had only a few seconds to enjoy being responsible for putting that look on his face before he pulled me in even closer.
Sawyer dipped his head and, without saying a word, claimed my mouth with his own.
I looped my arms around his neck and sank into his kiss. He’d kissed me more times than I could count yesterday, but this one felt different from all of those.
His lips were gentle but demanding at the same time. He feasted on my bottom lip as if he had all the time in the world, but the way his hands clenched on my hips spoke of urgency.
When his tongue stroked along the seam of my lips, I opened to him, moaning when he dipped inside, rubbing his tongue along mine. Little flames of need licked at my skin, the slow burn building.
Sawyer tugged me closer still. His arms shifted around my back so he held my body tightly to his. I wiggled until my soft curves fit perfectly into the hard planes of his body. In this position, I could feel every inch of him against me.
Sawyer deepened the kiss and I tilted my head to give him free rein. I couldn’t decide if I wanted to stay right here forever, his mouth sealed over mine, making me feel desired at the same time he made me feel safe and protected.
Or if I wanted him to strip my clothes off me and lay me out on the rug in front of that fireplace and continue teaching me all the ways we could find pleasure in each other’s bodies.
Turns out I didn’t have to decide. Sawyer had already made up his mind. And I knew this because he pulled his mouth from mine and stared down at me. His eyes all but glowed with desire, gold rimming the dark, dark brown.
“I want to fuck you and hear you scream my name.” He cupped my jaw and rubbed his thumb over my bottom lip. “I want to stay buried in you until you admit you’re mine. Until you promise to stay here with me in Wild Ridge.”
My heart stuttered to a stop and then commenced beating at double its usual speed. My lips parted, but I couldn’t utter a single sound.
I should be terrified by his words. But I wasn’t. I was so many things all at once, but afraid wasn’t one of them. The feeling that stood out strongest was the deep sense of longing for a family, a home.
Despite my plans, despite all the rules I’d made for myself, there was something deep down inside me that wanted this more than anything. I could sell my jewelry anywhere. Get my degree anywhere.
I wanted him. And us together. This home he’d created. The job I’d been offered. I wanted to know his friends and his family better. I wanted to belong to him. To spend my nights beside him. All of it. Everything. There was no room inside me for fear.
“Say yes, Trinity.” Sawyer’s voice came as a deep rumble that reached into me.
I stared up into his eyes and mimicked his position, lifting a hand to cup his cheek. “Yes.”
He sucked in a deep breath and something too big to name flared behind his eyes. His hands slid down and lifted me against him, my feet leaving the ground as his mouth came down on mine, hard and deep and claiming.
I lost myself in his kiss. In the feeling of his hands on my body, of his strength pressed against my softness. The word he demanded repeated itself over and over again in my mind. Yes. Yes. Yes.
“Yoo-hoo, hello! Anybody home?” A feminine voice called loudly from the entryway.
I jolted in Sawyer’s arms and he pulled his mouth from mine. I looked up at him, completely bewildered as a chuckle escaped him.
He rested his forehead against mine and smiled. “That’s my mother. Perfect timing as usual.”
My eyes grew wide. “Your mother?”
Even I could hear the panic in my voice.
He flashed me a big smile. “Relax, babe. My mother’s been dying to see you. Don’t worry. She won’t bite.”
And that’s when the emotion I’d been expecting hit me—fear. A ginormous ball of fear hit me squarely in the chest.
Crap.
Chapter 11
Trinity
�
��And Mac told me about the job offer. It sounds like a great opportunity. And of course, you’ve always been so bright and so hard working. You’ll be perfect for the position. Oh, look, there’s Sawyer’s uncle. Let me go grab him so you have a chance to chat with him.” Sawyer’s mother launched her petite frame from the worn leather chair and weaved her way through the people in the room.
I blinked and looked around myself. In the two hours since Sawyer’s mother had arrived, other family members had streamed in slowly but surely. Most of them I knew to some degree. Wild Ridge was a small town and I worked at two of the favorite hangouts for the locals.
But my interactions with all of them had always been superficial. I wore my customer service smile like it was part of my uniform. I’d made a lot of assumptions over the years about others' opinions of me. Assumptions I was starting to think were completely unfounded.
From the moment she’d arrived, Sawyer’s mother had been warm and welcoming. Not to mention chatty. I don’t think she’d come up for breath for longer than a few seconds unless she was running off to greet a newcomer.
And while not all of Sawyer’s relatives shared her chattiness, all of them had been nothing but kind and friendly. Of course, part of the reason for that may have been the fact Sawyer kept his arm thrown over my shoulders and my body plastered to his side for a good portion of the afternoon. I don’t think anyone had any intentions of being anything but nice to me, but should the thought have occurred to them, the fiercely protective looks Sawyer kept giving me would have made it clear it wouldn’t be tolerated.
I sank deeper into the cushions of the chair I’d been sitting in while Sawyer’s mom and I talked. Sipping the glass of cherry lemonade that had seemed to magically stay filled all afternoon, I took the opportunity to look around the room.
Sawyer’s brothers arrived shortly after their mother. A few cousins and aunts and uncles wandered in, most carrying food or beer or wine. Mac strolled by a little while ago. He’d given me a wave but didn’t stop on his path to the counters laden with food.
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