The Vincent Boys Collection

by Abbi Glines

  Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out my phone and dialed Beau’s number. I needed advice.

  “What?” was his greeting.

  “Hey. I need help fixing this with Lana. She’s still upset.”

  Beau sighed. “Why do you care Sawyer?”

  Why did I care? Because! That’s why. I liked her. She made me feel things no one else ever had. She made the emptiness inside me disappear. The pain from losing Ashton was completely gone when Lana was in my arms.

  “I just do.” I wasn’t going to admit all that to Beau. I’d just admitted it to myself.

  “When you get a better answer than ‘I just do,’ you might just be able to fix this. Night, Sawyer.” He ended the call.

  A lot of help he was. Dropping my phone on the bed, I decided I could at least order Lana some dinner. Maybe being thoughtful would score me some points. Anything to make her pretty green eyes light up again.

  A knock at the door stopped me.

  Ashton was standing on the other side when I opened it. My heart didn’t speed up. My chest didn’t ache at the sight of her.

  “Hey, is Lana in there?” Ashton asked, peeking around me.

  “She’s in the shower.”

  Ashton nibbled her bottom lip and for once I wasn’t tempted to kiss her. Shifting, she stuck her hands in the pockets of her jeans and glared up at me. “Good. Because I need to say something to you and I don’t want her to hear me.”

  Great. Ashton was here to tell me off. I deserved it.

  “Lana deserves someone who will put her first. Who wants her for more than a summer fling. Let her go, Sawyer. We both know Ethan would be perfect for her. He’d worship the ground she walks on. He’d treat her like no one in her life has ever treated her. She can’t handle you. She cares too much about you.” Ashton took a step toward me. “She needs you to let her go. Her heart can’t handle this. Do the right thing. Be the Sawyer that I know is in there somewhere.” She jabbed my chest with her finger, hard. Then spun around and walked off.

  She was right. Lana deserved better. But damned if I was going to just let her go. I needed her too much. I did care about her. I could make her just as happy as Ethan. I was going to fix this mess. Ashton was no longer in my head screwing with my emotions. Last night had been the end of that. Seeing Lana curled up in the corner of the tent as far away from me as she could get was enough to wake me up. I wanted her in my arms. I wanted to heal her pain. She’d saved me. It was time I saved her.

  The shower stopped and I walked back over to the bed and waited. When she came out of that bathroom I was going to tell her exactly how I felt. The door opened and Lana stepped out with a towel wrapped around all her wild red hair. She was wearing those short boxers and tank top again. The memory of our one amazing night in the tent had me desperate to get us back to that moment. I wasn’t ready to let that go.

  “I ordered some food. I didn’t know what you’d like so I ordered one of everything they had on the menu.”

  Lana nodded and pulled the towel from her head and began to dry her hair silently. I wanted us to talk and I really wanted to hear her laugh.

  “Can we talk about last night?” I asked.

  Lana dropped her hands from her head and stared down at the floor instead of at me. “Not right now. I just want to eat and sleep. No talking.”

  I was willing to beg, but the exhausted look in her eyes as she lifted her gaze to meet mine stopped me. We’d talk tomorrow.

  Chapter 17

  LANA

  Sunlight poured in through the window, and an arm held me tightly while a leg had me pinned to the bed. Sawyer had snuggled up against my back at some point the night before. I’d eaten the cheeseburger he’d ordered me, as well as few bites of chocolate cake before curling up as far away from his side of the bed as possible and falling asleep instantly. I was still on my side, but Sawyer was pressed up against me. He was holding on to me like I was some sort of lifeline.

  I reached up to move his arm so I could get up and go use the restroom and put a little space between us. Even though my emotions were more in check this morning, I wasn’t ready to cuddle with him. Not yet. Even if he did smell wonderful. The feeling of safety in his arms was deceiving. It was only a way to cause even more heartbreak.

  “Don’t. Please, just let me hold you a little bit longer,” he mumbled into my hair.

  “You’re awake,” I replied.

  “Mmhmm, and I’m enjoying myself. Please, just a little bit longer.”

  I smiled for the first time since the Ashton incident.

  “You can still enjoy yourself without me,” I teased.

  He froze for a second before snuggling even closer to me and moving his hand so that his palm covered my bare stomach where my tank top had inched up in my sleep.

  “I can’t enjoy it without you. You’re what I’m enjoying,” he whispered in a deep, sleepy voice as he took a small nip at my earlobe.

  “Ah!” I squealed, and he chuckled, sending chill bumps over my arms from the warmth of his breath, tickling my ear and neck.

  “I missed you so much,” he replied in a more serious tone.

  I didn’t need to point out that I’d been with him for three days. I knew what he meant. Mentally and emotionally, I’d been checked out yesterday. My chest didn’t ache this morning, and I could breathe deeply again. Maybe it was the fact Sawyer’s big arms were wrapped around me, giving me a false sense of safety.

  “Can I go to the restroom, please?” I asked, tickling his arm with my nails.

  “Will you promise to come back?”

  I had planned on jumping in the shower again and getting ready. However, as much as I hated to admit it, I’d missed him, too.

  “Yes, if that’s what you want.”

  “I want,” he murmured in my ear, and pressed a soft kiss to my temple.

  SAWYER

  “Bring the small bottle of mouthwash with you,” I called out when I heard the bathroom door open.

  Lana walked around the bed and handed me the bottle. “Here ya go.”

  I opened it and took a swig then swished it around some before swallowing it.

  “You did not just swallow that!”

  Grinning, I reached up and grabbed her tiny waist, pulling her down on top of me.

  “I believe I did. I probably need mouth-to-mouth to save me from the poisoning,” I teased, leaning up and taking a nip at her bottom lip.

  “Mouth-to-mouth won’t save you from poisoning. You need your stomach pumped,” she informed me as she pressed a kiss to the side of my mouth.

  “Hmmmm . . . well, that sounds like a lot of work. I’ll think about it later.” I slipped my hands into her messy curls and brought her mouth down to mine. Just as Lana opened her mouth to let me inside, her phone started singing.

  She pulled back from the kiss. I needed this kiss. I needed reassurance I hadn’t lost this . . . whatever it was we had between us. “Don’t answer it,” I begged, reaching up to kiss her chin. Laughing softly, she curled back into my arms and let me get a taste of her minty, toothpaste-flavored mouth. But the minute the ringing stopped, it started up again. Lana lifted her head, frowned, and glanced over at her phone. I fought the urge to grab the phone and throw it against the wall to shut it up.

  “It might be an emergency,” she said, and I loosened my hold on her and let her crawl off me to check her phone. The tense expression that came over her face had me sitting up and checking to see who was bothering her—because it obviously wasn’t a welcome call.

  MOM flashed across the screen.

  Lana slipped out of bed. “I need to take this. She’ll just keep calling until I do.”

  “Hello, Mom.” Her voice sounded tired instead of worried by her mother’s determination to get her on the phone. Lana walked around the bed and headed for the bathroom. Once the door clicked into place, I threw the pillow across the room and muttered a curse. She wouldn’t be shutting me out if I’d been there for her. I was willing to bet she
’d been going to tell me what crap her parents were putting her though the other night. I wouldn’t have to worry now about how to fix it; I’d know what needed to be done.

  “No, Mom!” I heard her raised voice, and I jumped out of bed to go listen at the door. I was invading her privacy, but she was upset. I had my reasons. It was a damn-good reason.

  “I don’t want you to call him. I don’t want you to ask him. He’s moved on, Mom. He’s getting himself a brand-new family now, and we are his past. Just let this go. I’ll figure this all out. Just leave it alone. Please.”

  Was she talking about her dad?

  “Mom, I’m an adult. You can’t continue to try to make all my decisions for me. I get to make those now. So please, back off.”

  I walked away from the door and walked over to the window overlooking the mountains we’d left last night. Why did I care so much about finding out her problems? It wasn’t like we were an actual couple. I tensed up as that realization came over me. I had no claim on Lana. If Ethan or anyone else asked her out again, I couldn’t stop her from saying yes. Someone else could touch the soft, smooth skin on her arms, her thighs, her stomach, her . . . oh, hell no. I needed to fix this and fast. This was more than a fling now. Sure, we were going our separate ways in August, but right then, I didn’t want to share. I wouldn’t be able to share. I was pretty damn sure I’d rip another guy’s arms off his body if I saw him touch her.

  The bathroom door opened, and Lana stepped out. A forced smile touched her lips as her eyes met mine.

  “Everything okay?” I asked, hoping to God that she’d tell me what was going on in her life.

  Instead she only shrugged. Damn it.

  “Lana, listen, we need to talk about something . . . ,” I began, walking across the room so I could touch her and in case I needed to beg.

  She shook her head. “If this is bad news, I really don’t think I can handle that right now. Give me a few hours first, please.”

  Well, hell, if the pain in her voice didn’t rip me in two. I pulled her against my chest and held her there. She was stiff as a board at first, but I continued to rub her back and kiss the top of her head until she relaxed and wrapped her arms around my waist.

  “It isn’t bad. But it is time sensitive,” I explained.

  She tilted her head to look at me. “Time sensitive?”

  “Very. As in someone could lose a limb if they stepped out of line.”

  Lana pulled back, and the frown puckering her brow was adorable. “What in the world are you talking about, Sawyer?”

  “The fact I want—no, I need—for us to be exclusive until we part ways when we head off to college.”

  Lana made a small O with her mouth, and then she nodded slowly. “Okay. That sounds like a good plan. But why would someone lose a limb?”

  I traced her bottom lip with my finger. “Because if they touched you, I’d have to rip off the offending limb.”

  A small bubble of laughter escaped her and she bit down on my finger. Her eyes smiled up at me like a playful kitten.

  “So you want to play rough, do you?” I picked her up and threw her down on the bed before covering her body with mine.

  Lana parted her legs, letting my hips settle between them. God, yes, this was where I wanted to be. Nothing else mattered when we were this close. Placing a hand on each side of the bed beside her head, I stared down at her. The long red lashes weren’t covered in mascara this morning and they were fascinating.

  “Close your eyes,” I whispered. She did so without question and I lowered my head to press a kiss on each eyelid. Lingering over her eyelashes as they fluttered from the contact. “You’re beautiful,” I said, in between kissing her eyelashes and moving down her face to kiss the tip of her nose, then each corner of her mouth.

  Lana lifted her hips, pressing against my erection, and made a sweet little moan.

  “You like that?” I asked as I pressed against her harder.

  “Mmmhmm,” she replied, nodding as her eyes fluttered closed and her head tilted back.

  The thin fabric of her boxers and mine didn’t put a lot of barrier between us. I could feel the heat from her arousal against mine. “We can’t do this long, Lana.” The tense sound in my voice caused her to freeze. I hadn’t meant to sound so hard. Reaching up, I pushed her hair back off her forehead. “We are in a hotel room, on a bed, alone, in hardly any clothing. I want you naked. I want to be buried inside you.” Just saying it made my breath stutter. Fuck yes, I wanted to be inside her. So very bad. “Unless you want that to happen too, we need to slow down.”

  Lana stared up at me through her eyelashes. I could see her thinking it through. She wanted it too. I could tell. But after this weekend I didn’t deserve it. She knew that, too.

  “Maybe we aren’t ready yet,” she finally replied.

  I moved over and laid beside her, then pulled her up against my chest. “Okay. I can live with that. Yet is good.”

  Lana laughed and reached up and touched my lips. “Can we still kiss?” she asked.

  I bent down until my mouth was hovering over hers. “Yes, please,” I replied.

  LANA

  The ride back to Grove went fast, but then I’d slept most of the way. Jake had not been happy when Sawyer informed him that I was sitting up front. I felt bad about it, but I liked knowing Sawyer wanted me close to him.

  Everyone had loaded their gear into their cars and left. Ashton had even gone inside to go to bed. She was still pretty weak. Sawyer took my bags and put them inside the door of the house, then looked back at me.

  “Come with me for a while,” he said, pulling me back outside onto the porch and closing the door behind me.

  “You aren’t tired from all that driving?”

  He shook his head and pulled me up against him. My aunt and uncle weren’t home, but they could drive up at any minute. I wasn’t sure what they’d think of this.

  “Okay. Let me go check on Ash, and I’ll be right back down.”

  “I’ll wait here,” he replied, letting go of my hand so I could run back inside.

  I knocked softly on Ashton’s door, then peeked my head inside. She was already curled up under the covers. Closing her door softly, I headed back to Sawyer.

  “She okay?” he asked as I stepped outside.

  “Yep.”

  “Good. Let’s go.”

  He rested his hand on my lower back and led me toward the Suburban. “First things first, I’ve got to go get my truck from the house. I want you to be able to sit close enough to me so that I can touch you if I want to.”

  Smiling to myself, I climbed inside.

  * * *

  I’d been to Sawyer’s house with Ashton before. We were younger, and I never went inside. We mostly just swam in the lake back behind his property. Walking in the front door with my hand clasped firmly in his was a little nerve-racking. His parents weren’t home, and he’d convinced me to come inside.

  “This way.” He motioned for me to go ahead of him down a staircase leading to what looked like the basement.

  “Why are we going down here?” I asked, peering back at him over my shoulder.

  “This is my cave. Go on,” he encouraged me.

  His cave . . . hmm. I walked the rest of the way down the stairs and stopped at the bottom, unsure which door to open. There were two: one on my right and one on my left. Sawyer reached over me and twisted the knob on the right door, then reached in and flipped a switch. The lights came on, and I stood there in wonder as I took in the room.

  It was huge. Two large, black leather sectional sofas sat in the middle of the room in front of a massive flat-screen television that hung on the wall. A crimson refrigerator with the University of Alabama’s logo on the outside sat against the left side of the room, and a black marble countertop, complete with a sink, sat off to the left of the fridge. On the other wall, shelves and shelves full of trophies stretched from floor to ceiling. Framed football jerseys stood among the trophies. Under the
television sat a long, black narrow table, complete with an Xbox and a Wii. Photos, all of them carefully framed, also cluttered the surface. Sawyer’s mother had to have done that. I couldn’t imagine him actually framing photos to sit out.

  “You thirsty?” he asked, walking over to the fridge and opening it. “Looks like Loretta came this week. It’s stocked. Coke, Mountain Dew, blue Gatorade, or bottled water?”

  “Loretta?” I asked, confused.

  “The housekeeper. She does all the grocery-shopping, too.”

  “Oh.” People actually had housekeepers that did their grocery shopping? How odd.

  “Um, water is fine.” I walked over to the shelves and began reading the plaques on the trophies. MVP seemed to be the most popular award he had received.

  “Here ya go.” He handed me a water and turned his attention to the shelves. “Mom did all this. She wanted somewhere for all these to be displayed. She actually tried to turn one of the guest bedrooms into a ‘Sawyer Shrine,’ or so my father called it. He refused to let her and suggested she stick them down here. I agreed with him just so they would be somewhat hidden.”

  “There’s a lot of them,” I replied, taking a sip of the water.

  “Yeah, there is.” He nodded his head toward the couch. “Come, sit down with me. We can find us a movie to rent off iTunes.”

  I followed him to the end of one of the leather sectionals. He set his Gatorade down, reached up, took my water, and put it down beside his. “Come here.” His voice dropped to that husky whisper that made my heart speed up. I let him pull me down onto his lap.

  “I’ve been thinking about this mouth all day,” he confided before covering my lips with his. I licked at his bottom lip, and he opened for me, letting me leisurely taste him. The gentle pressure of his mouth was perfect and made me a little dizzy.

  His fingers slid up my thighs until both hands were cupping my butt. One of his fingers traced the edge of my panties. “I really like this skirt,” he murmured against my lips. I really liked it too at the moment. My breath was coming in short gasps as he slid one hand inside the edge of my panties. He caressed my bare butt with one hand while he slid his other slowly back down my thigh and shifted closer to my inner thigh. I knew what his next move would be. What I didn’t know was if I was going to let it go that far.