She folded her arms across her stomach. “Last time we were together you were running. What made you stop?”
A nerve in his cheek twitched but he didn’t respond to her verbal slap. Instead, he drew a thick manila folder from behind his back and passed it from one hand to the other. “You wanted the proposal for the property.”
Hailey could make out a few lines of writing on the front but his long fingers covered most of it. But that wasn’t the biggest issue they had working against them. “Now you have it?”
“Yes.”
He had to be kidding. “This is not a good time.”
Sawyer did a quick look around the room. “It’s the perfect time.”
He didn’t want to discuss this big thing when they were alone. Now he pulled out the fact in front of an entire group. “Do you understand the concept of mixed signals?”
“I plan to fix that.” He lifted the envelope and tore it in two. The ripping sounds echoed through the room. Someone gasped and another person tripped over something because she heard a crash.
Molly picked that moment to come out of the back. “Hey, what’s going on?” She had a muffin in her hand but didn’t make a move to take a bite. Didn’t give Jason eye contact either.
Marcus gave her a small wave. “Hey, Molly.”
That made all of them. Their entire close circle stood in that room, and all eyes were on Sawyer. The whole room moved in slow motion as Hailey jumped at the shredding sound and reached out to put her hands over his.
She managed to get half of the envelope away from him. “What are you doing?”
“Bringing clarity to our relationship.” He tossed the other half on the nearest table.
She had no idea what was happening. Her gaze switched from one part of the file to the other. She had no idea if he really destroyed the proposal or something else. It didn’t much matter because her mind had slipped to the “relationship” phrase. “Which one?”
“That’s just it. We only have one.” Sawyer shifted his weight as his hands slipped into his back jeans pockets. “A personal one.”
Hailey’s head felt heavy, like she needed to lie down. But now wasn’t the time. Kat and Jessie hung on every word. Jason and Marcus wore matching grins and Molly just stood there and stared.
None of them spoke or offered any questions. She had so many. “But the gun range.”
“It’s off the table.” Sawyer made a slashing sign with his arms and Marcus nodded from behind him. “It’s not between us. It’s not an issue.”
“I don’t understand.” Her brain refused to reboot. She heard the words and saw the actions but nothing made sense. She’d started the day grumpy and frustrated and now she’d moved to confusion.
“Sell it to developers or donate it to a bird sanctuary. Live on it.” The tension buzzing around him eased. “Just know if you pick that last option we’re coming over and building you a better fence.”
“We?” Jason asked.
Sawyer talked right over him. “And I’ll be staying over all the time. Not just for some meals and a few nights. Like, a lot.”
“For protection.” Marcus added the comment without moving anything but his mouth.
Sawyer nodded. “Exactly...and other things.”
The back and forth, the way they seemed to have practiced this, and things they kept saying. It all backed up in Hailey’s head until she had to shake her head to keep it all straight.
Tried and failed. “What’s going on?”
She hoped for one simple answer. Nothing fancy, just an explanation. She’d spent most of the day getting ready to talk to him and in he walked...and now everyone watched.
Sawyer bridged the gap between them. Reached out before she could shrink back. Took the ripped envelope out of her hands and rested his fingers on her upper arms. Rubbed his palms up and down in a move so soothing she felt some of her anxiety fall away.
“I am telling you, in front of our friends and these nice people having coffee—hello—that we are a we.” Sawyer finished with a nod to the strangers in the room.
Jason closed one of his eyes and stared at the ceiling. “Not the most eloquent you’ve ever been.”
Jessie waved him off. “Let the man talk.”
In order to stay standing and keep coherent, Hailey blocked them all out. All but Sawyer. This close she could see the flecks in his eyes and the firm muscles under his slim-fitting T-shirt.
She could smell the outdoors on his skin and had to use every ounce of her strength to keep from climbing on him. She’d had that sensation with him from the very beginning. It thumped even stronger now.
But she needed to put all of that aside. This was about business and...at least she thought it was. “What about the gun range and your job and practical things like paying the rent?”
“I’ll find another location. Move further out. Throw in with someone else.” Sawyer shrugged. “I’m not someone who’s going to sit around on the couch all day, so I’ll be fine. I’ll make enough money to be fine.”
She thought about the people who depended on him and those he intended to employ. He had to have money for all those plans and she could only come up with one way for him to raise it. The way that had her stomach falling to the floor as fear gripped her. “You won’t go back into the military.”
“No, I’m done with active duty. And, so you’re clear, I am not going back on a contract basis like Rob did either. I’m here, in San Diego to stay. With you.” His tone suggested he meant it.
Her head grew cloudy. She couldn’t hold onto words or thoughts.
She put a hand on his chest, mostly to keep the bond between them unbroken. “But the gun range is your dream.”
“No, it’s a good fit for my skills and my life.” He put his hand over hers. Picked it up and kissed it before returning their joined fingers to his chest. “My dream is about working with Marcus and Jason, having Molly nearby. About family. About creating a life together.”
Hailey’s heart did a little flip as hope flooded through her. “I love that.”
Everyone leaned in and no one pretended to do anything else. They all listened in. Even the couple at the nearby table.
Sawyer didn’t seem to care. He drew Hailey closer and wrapped one arm around her waist. “My dream now includes being with you.”
Her doubts crumbled. She’d been so sure of her feelings for him. She assumed his would develop over time, but he was saying something very different. Offering her everything.
“Me?” She felt her eyes fill and choked back the waterworks.
“I am backing out of the business because I need you to understand one thing.” He lifted the back of her hand and rubbed it over his cheek. “You and what we’ve started building together matter more than the gun range or a piece of land.”
He made the vow, the beautiful vow, then stopped talking. His focus never shifted and his fingers squeezed hers.
He was handing her everything—things she wanted and some she never thought to hope for. “Sawyer.”
“We haven’t been together long and I know it’s crazy, and we certainly need to work on our communication skills, but you’ve become the most important part of my day.”
The perfect words. For a man who claimed not to know much about people, he found just the right way to tell her how much she mattered. Looking in those eyes, she saw something else. Something deeper.
Jason cleared his throat. “There’s nothing sexier than talking communication skills.”
“You’re not helping,” Molly shot back.
Hailey could not step into the middle of that match right now. She didn’t want her attention to stray from Sawyer for even one second. “Go back to the ‘important’ thing.”
Sawyer smiled at her. Not a tiny one or the start of one. A big, warm caring smile. “I am falling for you. Have been since the first day. Not the one at your house. At the bar. Back that far.”
Hailey was sure something clunked in her brain. She heard i
t. Even stumbled a little until he caught her.
“You’re falling?” She knew the rest of the sentence because she felt it too. The start of something special. Love in its infancy. Feelings so fresh and new that she wanted to coddle and protect them.
If possible that smile of his grew even bigger. “Fallen but I didn’t want to scare you by admitting that too soon.”
“You’re not.” Exactly the opposite. He was taking what she expected to be a rough morning filled with arguing and handing her the world.
“Tell me you’ll give me another chance.” He brought her hand up to his shoulder and wrapped both of his around her waist to land on her lower back. “We can start over. I’ll do whatever you want.”
“That sounds like groveling to me,” Jason said.
“Right.” Jessie gave one loud clap. “Make him get on his knees.”
Molly snorted. “That’s ridiculous.”
“Maybe but I want to see it,” Marcus said.
“Everyone stop.” With a loud sigh Sawyer looked down and started to drop. “I’ll do it.”
His knees bent as he lowered his body toward the floor. Hailey grabbed him under the arm and pulled him right back up again.
“Damn, man. That was impressive.” Marcus’s voice was filled with awe.
Hailey was having none of it. It took the two of them to make the mess and they would both take responsibility and fix it. “You didn’t...we both created the business versus personal mess.” She turned around and held out a hand to Jessie. “My purse?”
“Right.” She scooped it up off the shelf under the counter. Took out the thin white envelope and handed it over. “This?”
Hailey took the paper and held it out to Sawyer. Actually pressed it against his chest. “What I want is for you to take this.”
“What is it?” He put his hand over hers and lifted it. Turned the envelope over and scanned the writing on it.
She didn’t make him wait. And since almost everyone else had leaned in, she broke their suspense as well. “It’s a letter of intent from my lawyer.”
Sawyer still didn’t break the seal. “I don’t understand.”
“The property is yours.” When Jason started to say something, Hailey held up a hand. “Well, a piece of it and yours to use but still technically mine since I’ll be one of your partners in the gun range. The business can purchase the property over time.”
Sawyer handed it back to her. “No.”
“Uh, man.” Marcus made a weird noise, kind of like a strangled sound. “Think this through.”
“There’s no need.” Sawyer looked at her as he crumpled the envelope in her hand. “I don’t want a business fight to come between us.”
That was so sweet but misguided. She’s already worked out the details in her head. Walked through the pros and cons and did a few calculations on the money she’d earn over time versus what she could have now if she took a developer up on a deal.
They battled as he tried to push her hand away and she shoved it right back at him. “You stand to make a huge amount of money with those other offers.”
He kept harping on that fact. She didn’t care when he mentioned it the first time. She cared even less now. “The money isn’t the point. Never was but it took me a while to drill down to that point. Having you walk out last night helped.”
Jason swore under his breath. “Dumbass.”
“Holding on to the property without any changes was really about keeping Rob’s memory alive, but we can do that by talking about him.” She loved the idea of sharing with Sawyer her early memories of the man behind the gun. “What he would want, what I need, is family. The one we can create by bringing our friends together. Being together.”
“Hailey, there are other ways.” His eyes filled with concern. “I don’t want you to give up anything for me.”
She grabbed onto his forearms. “I am gaining everything.”
“Man, you better kiss her after that.” Marcus exhaled as the room broke into chaos. People talked over each other and crowded in closer.
Sawyer held her as if they were alone in her bedroom. His head dipped lower and his forehead almost touched hers as he whispered, “Any chance you’re with me in this falling thing?”
She was not going to duck or play games. Not when he gave her nothing but honestly and love. She needed to return those sensations.
“Fallen, Sawyer.” Her hand cupped his cheek. “For your commanding presence and bossiness, the toughness and the unbelievable hotness.”
Sawyer didn’t seem to mind the comment. “I like that list.”
Now it was her turn to make an admission. “You’ve been in my head since that first day in the bar. Maybe before that when I was checking out the guy who kept trying to get me to meet him but wouldn’t say why.”
He hesitated. She could see he wanted to say something but he stood there, almost rocking her as he held her and his mouth skimmed her cheek.
“I don’t throw the word love around, Hailey.” He pulled back a little and stared down at her. “I don’t fall for every pretty face, and yours sure is. But if love is about wanting to be with you all the time and missing you when we’re apart for even for a few minutes. About respect and longing and loving what we do together. Then I’m there.”
The last of her worries fell away. A man who could make that admission, right there in front of everyone while ignoring the running commentary in the background and general sighing, he was a keeper. But she’d already known that.
“You can’t say something like that then walk away from me.” There it was. Her hidden fear set out there for everyone to see.
“Never.” The word sounded like a promise.
The exact promise she needed to hear. “Because it will break my heart and if I love you and you hurt me, I will be so pissed.”
“Then I’ll work really hard at keeping you happy.”
“Start by saying yes to the letter.” She took the envelope and held it out to him again.
He glanced behind him at Marcus and Jason then turned to her again. “Yes.”
Everything fell into place. Them, the business, the house. No more wondering and waiting. She’d found the man she’d never known she needed.
Thank you, Rob.
“You know I’ll be your boss.” She added a bit of sass because it felt right.
Sawyer made a strangled sound. “That’s still not true.”
She shrugged. “We’ll negotiate the details later.”
“And now we kiss.”
Before she could say yes, his mouth was on hers. He swept her up in his arms and her feet left the floor. A wave of happiness hit her. She felt light and free and when their friends crowded around and gave their congratulations, she knew she’d made the right decision.
Taking a chance on Sawyer was the best thing she’d ever done. And they were only getting started.
* * * * *
Looking forward to Molly and Jason’s story as much as we are? Don’t miss it, coming from HelenKay Dimon and Carina Press in June 2015. Molly Cain is done with heartache and waiting and anything to do with Jason McAdams...well, maybe not totally done.
For more information on this and other titles, visit HelenKay’s website here or at www.HelenKayDimon.com.
Now Available from Carina Press and HelenKay Dimon
There’s a war brewing and Rowan will fight it to the death. It’s what she was born to do.
Read on for an excerpt of LEAN ON ME, from HelenKay Dimon’s HOLLOWAY series
Chapter One
The steady buzz of conversation and bustle of people walking up and down the wide aisles of Thomas Nurseries ceased when Cassidy Clarke walked through the door.
She stopped after a few steps, waiting for her hair to frizz to ten times its normal size thanks to the shift from the dry, cool October air outside to the humid air inside the greenhouse. To keep from running her hands through it a thousand or so times, she slipped in front of the display of heirloom ro
ses and pretended she couldn’t feel the strands swelling to fill a helmet.
She also did the I-can’t-see-you-or-hear-you thing with the crowd. The same coping mechanism she’d perfected over the last year. She assumed that’s what the folks from her hometown wanted since half the customers spoke in pseudowhispers that sounded more like yelling as they talked about her. The other half openly stared. She’d heard people mumble her name with the phrase The Fall right after about ten times now. She could only guess that referred to the end of her career...though it also applied to the complete implosion of her self-esteem.
Ah, it’s good to be back.
She didn’t really blame them. It was her fault. Well, partly the reporter’s fault, but mostly hers. It had been almost three years since the stupid article came out, since she offended every single one of the 941 residents of Holloway, West Virginia. That would teach her to give an interview from Base Camp at Mount Everest. She’d been sitting there, half delirious from exhaustion and still partially frozen from the punishing descent, when she got on the satellite phone and made the not-so-flattering comments about growing up in Holloway. After all this time she still got scolding e-mails from people who’d known her when she was a “nice girl” which she’d been informed, sometimes in very descriptive language, she no longer was.
She drummed her fingers against the wooden table and wondered for the hundredth time why she thought returning home was such a great idea. True, she didn’t have a place to stay or money or a climbing career anymore. If she gave herself a second, she could probably work up a pretty good pity party, maybe even crawl under the table and hide. That would give the residents the kind of show they craved. But the whole how-dare-she-show-her-face thing was going to wear thin fast.
“Cassidy?”
She turned, ready to bat away any tomatoes that might come flying her way, and stared into a dark gray T-shirt straining against a firm, broad chest. Her gaze wandered up and over an open plaid shirt and a set of impressive shoulders underneath. Then she got to the face and the smile with the sexy cheek dimple.
Sweet Lord.
This guy could throw anything at her and she’d be fine so long as she got to stare at him for a few more seconds. Maybe run her fingers over the dark stubble on his chin and cheeks. He had a five-o’clock shadow at two in the afternoon, and, boy, wasn’t that the sexiest thing ever.
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