by Debbie Mason
He smiled and stroked her cheek. “We pretty much helped raise little Jack, so we’re ahead of the game. We know what to expect. We can figure out the rest as we go along.”
She tentatively touched the side of his mouth. “I’m sorry this has come between you and Jack. He had no right to hit you.”
He turned his face and kissed her fingers. “Right now all I care about is you and the baby and making sure you’re both healthy and happy.”
“I guess we’re lucky to have you then, even if I have no doubt you’re going to become stupidly overprotective.” She looked at him, absently rubbing her stomach. “You’ll be an amazing father, Sawyer. Little Jack adores you and so does Trent and the kids on your team. You’re great with them.”
“I’m sensing a but in there.”
“No but. I’m just a little concerned about how Steve perceives your relationship with Trent. And Brandi. I’m assuming she told you about my conversation with him tonight.”
“Yeah, she did. But she didn’t mention anything about me.”
“Because I didn’t tell her. She has enough to worry about. And Steve was smart enough not to make an outright threat against you, but I need you to be careful. No more confronting him. Leave that to us.”
“Come on, he’s just shooting off his mouth. He doesn’t have the balls to—”
“You don’t know that. In Steve’s eyes, you are the reason Brandi won’t take him back. And the reason his son doesn’t want to see him. It sounded like Brandi may have implied that your relationship is more than it…” She glanced at him from under her lashes. “I guess I shouldn’t assume—”
“Brandi and I are just friends. I explained that kiss to you, Jill. I thought you believed me.”
“I do. But you didn’t owe me an explanation then, and you don’t owe me one now. I’m just telling you why I’m concerned about Steve. More so now that he’s lost his job.”
“I didn’t know he had one.”
She nodded. “In construction for a few weeks. That’s why Brandi hasn’t heard from him. He was hoping to prove to her that he’s changed, but the company lost out on a job they were counting on. Steve was the last man hired so he was the first to be let go.”
“I’m sure it’s not easy for an ex-con to find a job, but I’m having a hard time sympathizing with the guy. And we both know Brandi’s not taking him back.”
“You’re right, and I don’t blame her. But I wonder if maybe she shouldn’t let Trent see him. Steve believes that he wants to, but that Brandi, and you, won’t let him. Do you think it’s possible Trent used Brandi as an excuse so he didn’t have to tell his father he didn’t want to see him?”
“I didn’t know he’d even spoken to Trent. I thought he’d just been following him around this summer.”
“Steve says he did, and he was pretty convincing. Maybe you should talk to Trent. If he does want to see his father, it might go a ways in diffusing the situation.”
“Court date’s set for late October. Might be best to wait until then.”
“Your call, but I’m serious about you confronting him. You see him around, you call it in.”
“Yeah, like I’d rather see you confronting him. It was bad enough watching you run into the stands and put yourself between that guy and Brandi.”
“That’s my job. I’m trained to do it. You’re not.”
“I’m not the one carrying our baby.”
“I’m not even going to acknowledge that you said that.”
“Ignore me all you want, but you won’t be able to ignore the fact you’re pregnant for long.” He put his hand over hers on her stomach, and she scowled at him. “Don’t get testy. I’m just stating a fact. When will Gage put you on desk duty…next month?”
“No, not until I request it or it starts getting in the way of me doing my job.”
He slid his hand under hers. “Won’t be long. You’re already starting to show.”
She rolled her eyes and tugged up her sleep shirt. “Really, it looks like I’m pregnant? My stomach’s flat.”
“Nope, there’s a definite baby bump,” he said, stroking his fingers over her warm, soft skin. He only meant to tease her, but instead he was torturing himself. The memory of the night they made the baby still burned in his brain. The muscles in her stomach contracted under his hand, and he wondered if she was remembering, too. Wondered if, like him, she wanted another chance to explore that explosive chemistry they’d had. He lowered his head and kissed her stomach, felt the quiver beneath his lips, heard the sexy, low moan. He turned his head while trailing his lips over her dips and curves and met her heavy-lidded eyes.
“What…what are you doing?” she said, then gasped and arched her back, her fingers tangling in his hair. “Never mind. Just keep doing it.”
Chapter Twenty
Jill sat curled up in a chair in the corner of Bill’s room at Mountainview. She was there to catch a thief, but the man who’d stolen her heart was going to blow it if he didn’t quit calling her. “What now?”
“It’s a good thing I have healthy sense of self-esteem or that greeting would have done a number on my confidence, babe,” Sawyer said.
“You called me three times in the last hour and a half.”
“What can I say? It’s a quiet night at the bar, and I like to hear your voice.”
She liked to hear his voice, too, except when he was being annoyingly overprotective. “Like I told you when you called twenty minutes ago, I’m not leaving until I solve this case.”
“It’s two in the morning. You need your rest.”
“Were you planning on coming over to check up on me when I get home?”
“Good possibility of that happening. You have a problem with that?”
“No, other than to point out for someone who is so concerned about me getting my rest, you have no qualms about keeping me up half the night.”
He laughed. “Yeah, but I don’t have to worry about you getting hurt when you’re in my arms.”
She didn’t know about that. Even though they’d been spending a lot of time together these past three weeks, she still had no idea where their relationship was headed. For all she knew, he was just hanging out with her to look out for his baby mama and enjoying the fringe benefit of some pretty amazing sex. “Gotta go. I hear someone in the hall. I’ll text you when I’m on my way home.” She disconnected before he had a chance to respond.
“If you’d just marry the boy, he wouldn’t be calling you at all hours of the night,” said a gravelly voice from the bed.
Bill had been pushing for them to get married ever since he’d heard the news. He wasn’t the only one. Half the residents in town and at Mountainview had given their opinion on the matter. To the point where Jill had been worried Sawyer would cave to the pressure, then she’d worried when he hadn’t. Which was silly because she wouldn’t marry him even if he asked. Maybe it was selfish, but when she got married, she wanted it to be because the man loved her, not just her baby. “I thought you were asleep.”
“Hard to do when he calls you every blasted minute. And when he’s not calling you, you’re nodding off. You snore, by the way.”
“I don’t know how you’d hear me. You sound like a freight…Shh, I hear something in the hall.” This time she wasn’t making it up. The familiar tap tap tap of a cane drew closer. Mrs. Sharp appeared in the doorway in her white nightgown and housecoat, backlit by the light in the hall. Jill pulled her feet tight to her chest as the older woman moved her cane from right to left and walked alongside the bed. Mrs. Sharp sat on the edge of the mattress, giving no reaction to Bill’s muttered, “She’s sitting on my hand.”
The older woman bent over and picked up Bill’s gold watch from the nightstand, staring at it for a moment before getting up and walking out of the room.
“Go after her. That’s my retirement watch.”
It was just as she’d suspected. Mrs. Sharp was her thief. At today’s life book session, the older woman had reve
aled that she’d walked in her sleep as a young girl. Her mother had done the same. Only her mother had eaten when sleepwalking while Mrs. Sharp collected bright, shiny objects. The older woman said she’d outgrown the condition, but Jill remembered hearing about Mr. Applebee’s nocturnal visitor and put two and two together.
“Don’t worry. I’ll be back as soon as I find her stash and get it sorted out with the staff.”
Which took a lot longer than Jill anticipated. Mrs. Sharp had several more rooms to visit before heading back to her own. Jill found her stash at the back of her closet. And from the looks of it, she’d been collecting bright and shiny objects for a very long time. The only thing Jill had wondered about was why money had gone missing. Her answer was in the box—money clips. Because of the amount of cash and number of items, the staff called Sandy in. No charges would be brought against Mrs. Sharp, but they came up with a plan to keep the older woman safe. Jill would sit in on the meeting with her later that day.
Bill was having breakfast by the time Jill returned his watch. She barely had enough time to shower and change into her uniform before heading back out for the business owners’ meeting at the town hall. She was the liaison for the sheriff’s department.
Madison was calling the meeting to order when Jill arrived. “Sorry,” she murmured and went to take a seat. One that was pulled out for her by a disgruntled-looking Sawyer. She was surprised to see him. It was unusual for him to attend the meetings. Typically, Brandi attended on his behalf. She was there, too, looking about as unhappy with Jill as Sawyer was.
“Sorry I forgot to text. Busy night, morning, I guess.”
His eyes roamed her face. “You look like hell.”
“Thanks. You don’t look so hot yourself,” she lied. Between the inch or more of scruff on his handsome face, his messy hair, and the worn, brown leather jacket that emphasized his broad shoulders, he looked sexy and disreputable.
Brandi sat on his other side, doodling on her notepad with a smirk on her face. Naturally the other woman didn’t look like hell. She had on her signature tight jeans, a form-fitting blue sweater, and her blond hair looked like she’d recently been at Ty’s salon.
Grace rushed into the room. “Sorry I’m late,” she said, taking the seat beside Jill. Grace glanced at her and grimaced. “Do you have morning sickness now, too?”
“No, she doesn’t. She’s making herself sick working overtime,” Sawyer said, of course loud enough for everyone to hear.
Madison gave her a concerned look. “Jill, if Gage is overworking you, you have to tell him.”
“Happy now?” Jill whispered out of the side of her mouth to Sawyer, lightly kicking him under the table. “I’m fine, Madison. Gage had nothing to do with me working late. Just wanted to wrap something up at Mountainview.”
“Give me the scoop. Did you catch the thief?” Nell asked. The older woman had forgiven Jill for bringing up Calder and was now back running the life story group.
“I’ll tell you about it later. I’m sure Madison wants—” Jill broke off as the man himself walked into the room. Calder Dane was a handsome man with a thick head of lustrous white hair and a beard. Tall and barrel-chested, his cheeks were rosy, and his blue eyes twinkled with good humor. He looked like how you imagined Santa would. Which was probably the reason he played the jolly old elf in the town’s annual Christmas parade and at Santa’s Village.
“Apologies for being late, folks. Truck wouldn’t cooperate this morning.” His gaze moved from the empty chair beside Nell to Sawyer.
“You can have my seat, Calder,” Jill said, finally cluing into why Sawyer was here. He and Calder required the town’s permission to reopen the old plant. She stood and walked around the table to pull out the chair beside Nell. Sawyer crossed his arms, raising an eyebrow at her.
She pretended she didn’t notice and turned her attention to Madison.
“Thanks, girlie,” Nell murmured.
Jill slouched down in her chair and whispered, “Just sayin’, but that is one handsome man. Maybe you should, you know, let him know you’re interested.”
Nell whispered back, “Maybe you should take care of your own love life instead of worrying about mine. Brandi’s been looking for a man like Sawyer since she cut Steve loose.”
Jill glanced across the table. Brandi was leaning into Sawyer, whispering something in his ear. He nodded, then, as though he sensed Jill watching, looked up and held her gaze. He tilted his head, a slow smile curving his lips. The ass knew she was jealous. She rubbed her middle finger along her cheek. She heard his low laugh, and a second later, he teasingly rubbed his foot against her leg. She caught Grace looking at them with a smile on her face. Brandi wasn’t smiling, which made Jill smile. Yes, she was petty like that.
Jill’s smile morphed into a yawn. She smothered it, relaxing in her chair to listen to Madison read the minutes from the last meeting. Her voice faded into a low drone. Jill woke up with her head on Nell’s shoulder. Oh, crap, she thought, straightening to glance across the table. Sawyer wasn’t in his chair. And that was because he was beside hers. Gone was the sexy, flirty man of earlier. He was in overprotective baby daddy mode. “Thanks, Madison. I’ll send you the prospectus tomorrow. Calder can fill you in on the rest,” he said, then scooped Jill into his arms to everyone’s delight but hers, and obviously Brandi’s.
“Sawyer, if you don’t put me down, I swear I’ll—”
“Quiet, or I’ll kiss you in front of everyone to shut you up.”
“You wouldn’t da—”
* * *
Sawyer glanced at Jill as he turned onto her street. The kiss had shut her up, and now she wasn’t talking to him. She was talking to the passenger’s side window in his truck. She was too exhausted to drive, but obviously not too exhausted to curse him out.
“…Looked like an unprofessional idiot. Big jerk. I’ve never been so embarrassed in my life. It’ll be all over Christmas—”
“Babe, you got something to get off your chest. Probably better to say it to me than my window.”
“I’m not speaking to you.”
He pulled into the parking lot of her apartment complex and turned off the engine. “You fell asleep in the middle of a meeting because you were up for twenty-four hours so don’t get mad at me when I worry about you.”
“You can worry about me, but you cannot go all caveman on me and carry me out of a meeting. It was embarrassing. And then you kissed me in front of everyone!”
“I gave you fair warning.”
She made a frustrated sound in her throat and unsnapped her seat belt, holding up her hand when he undid his. “I’m mad at you. And I don’t want to talk to you right now. I’m going to bed.”
“I’m sorry. Maybe I overreacted—”
“Ya think?” she asked as she opened her door.
“Okay, I was an idiot. But just let me walk you to your—”
She slammed the door.
He dug out his cell as he watched her walk to the stairs of her apartment. His fingers tightened on his phone when she stumbled. She was the most stubborn, hard-headed woman he’d ever met, and she was making him act like an idiot. He began punching in a number when he realized it was Jack’s. He disconnected. He hadn’t spoken to his best friend since that day at the bar. Sawyer’s texts and calls had gone unanswered. Both Grace and Jill had tried, he knew, to intervene on his behalf. But the man was as stubborn and hard-headed as his sister.
He called the one person he knew would never let him down. “Hey, Ma,” he said when she answered.
“Honey, what’s wrong? You sound down.”
“I’m good. How about you and Charlie?”
“We’re both doing well, honey. Now are you going to tell me what’s wrong or do I have to call Nell?”
He’d been holding off telling her until Jill was at the three-month mark. He figured it was close enough to share the news. Plus he had to tell her if he wanted her perspective on the situation. “I’ve got some news that
I think will make you happy, Grandma.”
“Did you…did you just call me grandma? Oh my God. Charlie. Charlie, we’re going to be grandparents! Sawyer’s having a baby,” she yelled, then got back on the line. “Who’s the baby’s mama; do I know her? When’s the baby due? I’ll have to call Nell, and she can help me coordinate the shower from there. I could—”
He laughed, which he considered somewhat of a miracle given how he was feeling. “Ma, slow down. One question at a time.”
“Sorry, I’m just so excited. I’d about given up on you. So who’s the girl? Is she wonderful? Are you engaged?”
He sighed. “It’s Jill, Ma.”
“Jill, our Jill?” she said, sounding confused.
He leaned back against the headrest. “Yeah, Jill Flaherty.” There was a long pause. “You still there?”
“Yes, I’m just a little surprised, honey. Don’t get me wrong, you know I’ve always loved Jill. She’ll make a wonderful mother. But I never thought she was your type. I didn’t realize you were even dating. She’s a lot younger than you, isn’t she?”
He was beginning to think there was another reason he’d put off telling his mother. This wasn’t exactly the supportive conversation he’d been hoping for. “No, only seven years. And you know we’ve always been close. One thing led to another.”
“Oh, I see.” And it sounded like she did. He’d never been able to put one over on her. He didn’t know why he’d expected to now. “You know, honey, friendship is a great foundation for a marriage. You are planning on marrying Jill, aren’t you? Giving my grandchild a name and taking responsibility for both Jill and the baby?” Her soft voice held a hint of steel.
He hadn’t given much thought to marriage. Probably because he’d always assumed he’d be in love with the woman he proposed to. But his mother was right. It was the next obvious step. And as he’d realized over the last few weeks, he enjoyed spending time with Jill. And not just in bed, though there was definitely not a problem in that end of their relationship. He’d begun to resent their schedules, especially hers, and how much time they spent apart. At least if they were living under the same roof, they’d have more time together. It’d make it easier when the baby came along. “Come on, Ma. You know me better than that. It’s all pretty new. We’ve only known about the baby for a few weeks.”