When We Met

by C J Marie

  He rested his hand on the edge of her window. “Good to see you, Dot. It’s been a while.”

  “Yeah.” She stared straight ahead. “Well, I best be going. Goodbye, Sawyer.”

  It might have been her imagination, but it seemed like his shoulders drooped a little bit. “Sure thing. Although, I think we’ll be seeing more of each other soon enough, Dottie.”

  Dottie—oh, no he did not. She ripped her car into gear and sped away. In no universe was Sawyer allowed to use the name he’d once whispered close to her ear with those…perfect lips. Oh, thinking of how those lips worked had her sweating like a pig that knows what’s for dinner.

  See her around, why? Her father had told her Lanford-Hewitt Enterprises was using a local representative to man their new building. Her daddy apologized for even encouraging the company, but explained there was a great deal riding on a solid partnership with Lanford-Hewitt and their new non-profit pharmacy. Like a good daughter, Dot promised to play nice, but that was when she’d really believed Sawyer would be a good CEO and stay away.

  Oh, Mylanta.

  What was he doing here? And how could she get her heart to stop racing?

  Keep Reading with Dot and Sawyer

  Sneak Peek

  Enjoy Chapter 1of Always the One. Fall in love with Dot and Sawyer

  Chapter 1

  I don’t need a drink.

  Dorothy-Ann lifted her chin high. Her heels clicked and clacked pleasantly along the hardwood flooring of the upper offices. By all accounts she looked polished, poised—please—she looked like she could start a fire in water. She’d dressed to the T for a purpose. Today was the big meeting—the BIG one—and Dorothy-Ann secretly wanted to skedaddle back to her office, lock the door, and drink for days.

  But, she was a grown woman. She could do this. As long as he didn’t call her Dottie. Maybe she shouldn’t even allow him to call her Dot like everyone on the planet was allowed to call her. She would be Ms. Gardener to him.

  As if the cheery woman could read Dot’s thoughts she chirped across the fine, stylish office once Dot slipped through the glass doors, “Ms. Gardener, pleasure to see you. They’re all in there about to get started. Well, don’t you look as pretty as a peach.” She nudged her crystal candy dish speckled in waxy chocolates that seemed to be left over from last Halloween toward Dot.

  “Thank you,” she said, taking a chocolate that would probably melt in her pocket because her skin was a blazing inferno. “My Daddy is already here then?”

  Cheery candy woman nodded with a grin and marched toward the closed wooden door. “Sure is.” She cracked the door and Dot heard a few rumbles of masculine voices. With a gulping swallow, she tossed her cinnamon locks over her shoulders and stepped into the room.

  It smelled like him. Why in the blazes did the office have to smell like his spicy aftershave, so delicious that she could eat it? Dot avoided glancing at the large desk next to the two enormous windowpanes, and faced the two leather sofas instead.

  “Ah, there she is.” Her father stood and reached for Dot. Leslie Gardener was a tall man, with a plump belly because Dot’s mother knew how to make a pie. Her parents had given her everything she could have wanted as a child, sometimes they offered subtle reaches to find compliments on their money, but they were good people.

  “Hi, Daddy,” Dot said with a quick kiss to his cheek.

  “You’ve got this, sugar plum,” he whispered in her ear.

  Dot forced as real a grin as she good and winked before she took a seat on the edge of a sofa.

  “So this is the clinic liaison?” A man who spoke through his nose asked. He was a spindly sort, with a thin mustache that made him look even thinner.

  “This is Dorothy-Ann, and she handles all the clinic ins and outs and finances. She’ll be the woman you’ll want to run things by on the business side. Any healthcare questions will run through Josephine Dawson, our medical partner in the clinic.”

  Mustache nodded, but his narrow mouth only puckered as if he were drinking through a straw, and took a few notes. There were two other men and one woman in pearls seated around the office. Movement on the far side, sent Dot’s heart pumping. An office chair slid out—she knew the sound well—and shoes crossed the space.

  Don’t look.

  But she’d have to look. This was his business meeting after all. Swallowing the runaway train in the back of her throat and lifted her eyes. Oh, good heavenly days. He was grinning. Grinning! Like he knew exactly what he was doing to every speck of Dot’s insides.

  “Dottie,” Sawyer Lanford said as he buttoned the middle button on his dark suit coat and stepped into the bunch. The man was a tyrant. Don’t let that kindly smile, or those bright stormy eyes, fool you. He was a heart crusher, a woman ditcher, a scoundrel, a…well, Dot lost her train of thought when on instinct she shook his hand. His touch warmed her palm and all the memories of his gentle hands burst like a wildfire through her brain.

  “Dot,” she muttered. Okay, so forget Ms. Gardener, but still she couldn’t hear him using Dottie like nothing was wrong.

  Everything was wrong. Sawyer Lanford was never supposed to come back in her life after he’d ended what she thought was a forever love almost two years earlier. Now, she was forced to do business with his growing empire.

  Sawyer’s smile fell slightly, but he nodded and took a seat next to Mustache. “Now that everyone is here, should we get started?”

  Her father cleared his throat and put on his best wheel and deal expression and leaned forward over his knees. “Your position of being an exclusive pharmaceutical supplier with the clinic sounds appealing, Mr. Lanford.” Dot grinned. Her father rarely sounded so brisk, but against the man who’d smashed his baby girl’s heart, Sawyer seemed like he was going to get it. “However, these guaranteed annual pay outs you claim can’t be guaranteed, and don’t forget it’s taking away the option for our patients to choose their pharmacy.”

  “No, sir,” Sawyer said. “We don’t want to take away anyone’s right to choose. Call this our inspiration brought on by the good work you’re doing with the clinic.” Oh, he was good. Her father would always crumble with lifts to his ego. Sawyer drummed his fingers on the arms of his leather chair and grinned. “This is our first pharmacy that provides low-cost prescriptions to those at the clinic, some will even be free with insurance or the right paperwork. If they’d rather use their regular pharmacy then by all means, they are welcome to do that. If, however, they are encouraged to use our facility, and do so, that is when the non-profit kickbacks come in to keep us funded.”

  “How do you expect to stay in business when you promise not to go over fifty dollars for prescriptions?”

  Dot let the business talk filter into oblivion. She’d done the research, done the math, spoke with the charitable foundations working with Lanford-Hewitt Enterprises. She knew how it all worked, but it just meant that she would be in more meetings with Sawyer regarding grants, taxes, and partnership dues for the rest of time. Her father was trying to squeeze him for higher payments to the clinic. Mustache wasn’t having it.

  Sawyer took a back seat as Mustache took handled the financial battle of wits. It seemed as if nothing but muffled, underwater voices surrounded her when she dared glance up. Her heart throbbed in the back of her throat and her palms were a clammy mess when their eyes locked.

  Sawyer tilted his head slightly. His business pleasantness was gone, and he was simply looking at her as if words danced on his tongue. Words he wouldn’t say. She knew he wouldn’t say them because Sawyer and Dot had never discussed the past. Even now that he’d returned to Honeyville, they’d only sent correspondence about the clinic and his company. It was formal and almost unfeeling. No one would be the wiser that they’d once kissed passionately and planned their future lives together judging by the letterhead emails, probably not even sent by Sawyer. He likely had an assistant to do such things.

  Sawyer blinked rapidly and turned his attention back toward the hagglin
g. Dot crossed her ankles and pretended to type something on her tablet as if she were paying attention.

  What hurt the most was the timing of the crash and burn of their relationship. Dot tried to believe Sawyer when he’d told her it was out of his control, that he’d be with her if he could, but it’s just funny that he ended things right before he became a business tycoon. Sawyer had always had funds, but now his funds had funds. All she was saying is the time was suspect.

  The Gardeners were old-southern money types, so Dot knew she’d had a silver spoon in her mouth since birth. Over the years and after some growing up, she’d climbed off her once high horse. Her best gal, Olive, told her Sawyer had helped in that. But the timing caused Dot to wonder if Sawyer had dumped her rear to the curb because he didn’t think she was woman enough for his wild, future plans. She wasn’t one to shy away from a challenge, but maybe she hadn’t made it clear to Sawyer.

  “I’m interested to know what Dot thinks?”

  Her name. Someone—Sawyer—said her name. Dot glanced up from her screen and scanned the eyes locked and loaded on her like a hot pistol. “What I think…about…”

  Sawyer nodded. “Yeah, what you think about the price point and if it has the potential to bring the return we’re hoping for.”

  She cleared her throat and gave a quick glance at her father. He returned a look that told her not to allow them to wheedle out of any lucrative offerings. “What I think about the price point…” She crossed her leg. Then crossed it the opposite way. She could practically feel Sawyer’s chuckle down the back of her neck. “I think…” Dot sighed and glanced at her father. “Daddy, I’ve done the math left and right. I think based on our growing patient caseload Lanford and Hewitt has it spot on.”

  Her father pinched his lips and Sawyer settled back in his chair, with a satisfied grin on his handsome face. Ugh, Dot wished she could have wiped it clean and made him regret what he’d lost. Nope, he seemed a pleased as a peach and that made everything worse.

  There were supposed to be handshakes all around, but Dot took her leave of the center of the room once the meeting was over, and scurried toward the door.

  “Dot, wait.”

  Her fingers were wrapped around the doorknob when she stiffened and closed her eyes. “What can I do for you, Mr. Lanford.”

  Sawyer raked his finger through his sandy, gelled hair and scoffed. “Come on, Dot. Sawyer.”

  “Whatever you say, Mr. Lanford.”

  He chuckled and it pulled his lips into that perfect smile she missed more than she’d ever admit. “Okay. I want to…well, I wanted to say…”

  “I’m in a bit of a rush,” she said with a glance at her petite silver watch. Had Sawyer given it to her—yes. Was wearing it intentional—absolutely.

  And game, set, match, because Sawyer was looking at the watch with a distant expression. Finally, after enough pressure had built that Dot felt as if she were being buried alive, he shook his head and met her eye with all the professionalism in the world. “I just wanted to thank you for your hard work.”

  “Well, it’s what I do, Mr. Lanford. And I’m good at it, so don’t think you can sneak any undercuts in this deal. I’ll find out.”

  One half of his mouth curled up. “I wouldn’t dream of crossing you, Dorothy-Ann.”

  Oh, how she wished she could have kept her big mouth shut. Like a fool she scoffed and slung her purse tighter over her shoulder. “Funny, I think you did once.” Sawyer looked defeated, and Dot couldn’t say she was disappointed. “Have a good day, Mr. Lanford.”

  “Yeah, you as well Miss. Gardener.”

  So, formal. So, professional. So, wrong.

  ***

  The lights in the office building were turned down low, but Sawyer couldn’t find the gumption to leave for home. Not, home exactly. He’d been renting a place on the border of Honeyville and Charleston. It was staged with furniture that wasn’t his, and didn’t feel like home. The plan was that he would turn over the Honeyville operations to stern, epic mustache Abe Wilkes, but that deadline had come and gone by three months now. Sawyer kept finding reasons to stay and oversee the merger and partnership with the Gardener clinic.

  He knew why, he just was too stubborn to admit it out loud.

  He was a young CEO, he’d only just turned twenty-nine, but Sawyer had a good head on his shoulders. When the opportunity to buy-out his old employer came, Sawyer and his business partner, Liam, had taken it without looking back.

  One of the most exciting times of his life had also been one of the worst. Walking away from Dorothy-Ann Gardener had been one of the hardest things he’d ever done. Sawyer scooted away from his desk and practically ripped the door off the minifridge tucked behind his desk. Popping the top on the sweet tea, he held the cold glass in his hand, but didn’t take a drink. He simply stared out the window at the lights beaming across the street on the clinic. A blue car was still in the lot. He smiled thinking of many times he’d been party to causing those windows to coat in a layer of fog like a couple of hormonal teenagers.

  When the deal with the clinic had popped up (even if he’d tried to avoid the painful reminder), Liam told Sawyer to stay away with a few colorful warnings. At first Sawyer had avoided the partnership like Liam. But the board of directors were persuasive, and before he knew it, Sawyer had used business savvy, charitable tax write-offs, every trick in the book to sign on and it was pathetic. What did he expect? That he’d come back and Dot would fall into his arms again?

  Did he even want someone who would betray him to fall into his arms?

  His phone in his pocket buzzed and Sawyer almost dropped the drink trying to weasel in out. “Liam, hey.”

  “How did it go?” Liam asked in his laid back way. Sawyer could practically see him reclining in his office chair, hair a mess, and top button on his collar flung open.

  Together, Liam and Sawyer had once been the top financial gurus for Wayside Pharmaceuticals and they’d seen the trouble with the cooperate a mile away before reaching in to buy the place. Liam’s background was sales, and Sawyer’s was accounting and business. They meshed like two peas in a pod and had the success to prove it.

  Sawyer sat on the edge of his desk, keeping his eyes trained on the street. “It went fine. They’re on board to go forward. Signed the papers and everything.”

  Liam clapped his hands and whooped on the other line. “I knew you could get it done. So, when are you passing the torch? There’s a new hospital up in Pittsburgh, if we can get a set up in the lobby, man it could be big.”

  “How do you find all these places?”

  “It’s my job. So, when are you coming back?”

  “Well, I think I should stay a little longer. Make sure everything is running smoothly and all that.”

  Silence. Liam was rarely silent. He cleared his throat after a palpable pause. “Sawyer, this is what we hire people to do. Oversee things. What are you doing down there? You’re not…don’t tell me you’re getting your head stuck again. Come on, man I thought that was all over.”

  “It is,” Sawyer insisted. “I know it is. She’s got nothing to do with it. I want to make sure we’ve got all the ducks in a row. We’ve never partnered with a non-profit, Liam. It’s tricky and there is a lot of red tape. One wrongly worded grant proposal could wind up with this deal dead before we can even blink. You know I’m a bit of a hardnose on this stuff.”

  Liam sighed loudly. “Fine, just make sure your head is on straight. Maybe I’m a little protective, but I don’t want to see her put you through the ringer again, man. This is what she wanted, remember that. It’s what she needed you for.”

  Sawyer pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes. “I know. Quit your worrying, mother. I’m fine and can handle myself like a professional.”

  “Sure.” Liam chuckled. “Look, I’ll send you the documents to sign for the hospital. Take a look at them and let me know what you think.”

  “Will do.”

  Sawyer ended the c
all and finally took a sip of his tea. It was warm now. Shutting down his laptop, he flipped off the office lights, and found the motivation to leave the office.

  Liam had been the one to bring the truth about Sawyer’s relationship with Dot to light. He’d seen the aftermath, and had reason to worry. Sawyer was skilled at putting a smile on his face. He’d wanted to rant and rave at the woman all those months ago, but when he’d called to give her a piece of his mind, she’d sounded just as broken as he’d felt. Sawyer ended up taking the responsibility, telling her he was sorry that they had to end things.

  Dot looked at him today as if he were the man who’d ripped out her heart and sent it through the shredder. She really hadn’t figured out that he’d found out the truth? The reality that she’d wanted and somehow he’d allowed it to come to pass, because he couldn’t seem to free himself from the woman.

  But he couldn’t be with her. Not when she didn’t feel the same. He wouldn’t be a pawn, not even if he’d fallen head-over-heels for the girl. Sawyer sighed and locked his office door.

  Not even if she’d looked at him today like she would’ve walked through fire for him too. She wasn’t supposed to be broken. Dot had what she wanted on her resume now. But Sawyer had seen the longing in those hazel eyes this morning. He recognized the agony, because frankly, he felt the same thing every day.

  Can true love return once it’s lost?