DARE You, Dare Duet, Part One: Billie and Sawyer: Unchained Attraction Series

by Shandwick, K. L.

  "You know nothing about me," she retorted.

  "See, that's where you're wrong. I'm a mature woman, you said so yourself. With maturity comes experience and insight. Experience in how to conduct myself in a social setting, experience in how not to compare me based on looks alone, and most importantly how not to behave when in a committed relationship. When Sawyer was with you, you weren't much more than a girl. Now that he's spent time with me, he's fallen in love with me and we're happy with what we have. It's a pity you didn't value him the way I do. He did nothing to deserve what you did to him, what both you and his brother did to him. I didn't expect to do this, but take this as your official warning. If you think there might be a way back in with Sawyer, forget it."

  "I've seen the way he looks at me when you're not around. He still wants me." The passion in her voice left me in no doubt that she still had deep feelings for him. "You don't fuck someone for six years and walk away unscathed."

  "That's true, I'll grant you that one thing. But you had your time with him and he's moved on. I'm the one he's in love with now. You asked me to look at the difference between us, but the difference has nothing to do with how we look, it's about how special I know he is. Perhaps it was my maturity you lacked that made you pass up the awesome chance you had. I won't make the same mistake, Charlotte.

  "That's what you think?"

  "No, it's what I know. I've been married and know now what I felt for my ex-husband is nothing like how I feel about Sawyer. He tells me the same thing—that what he had with you wasn't the real deal either." Charlotte's eyes flared and her mouth opened and closed but before she could speak again I continued. "According to my boyfriend, your ex-boyfriend, I'm 'the one.'" For the first time, I had no hint of reservation about claiming Sawyer as mine and protecting what we had.

  "Keep telling yourself that, because should I decide to do something about my feelings for him, you'd better watch your back."

  I scoffed. "No matter what I've said, you still don't get it. He doesn't want you, Charlotte; he wants me. Besides, aren't you still dating his brother? I wonder what James would say about you cornering me in here, attempting to warn me off and stake your claim on his little brother again." She looked stunned and I knew I couldn't have had more of an effect on Charlotte's snotty face if I had given her a sharp, hard slap. "Now, if you'll excuse me, my boyfriend is waiting for me."

  Moving her gently to the side of the door, I pulled it open and saw Sawyer leaning on the wall right beside it. Judging by the stormy look in his eyes and the grim expression on his face, he'd heard every word of our heated exchange.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  At least Charlotte had the decency to hide in the bathroom until Sawyer took me by the hand and led me upstairs. "Come on, I'll take you on a tour," he remarked like he hadn't been listening to what had gone down between me and his ex. My heart stuttered irregularly because I figured once we got where we were going, he'd tell me what he thought.

  "What the fuck was that about?" he asked, leading me into a bedroom that Colby would have felt in awe of. Sports trophies sat side by side. Above these were various pictures in frames—some in full color, others in black and white—and one gigantic framed photo of Sawyer and his high school baseball team.

  Music certificates and awards, music concert flyers, and autographed band pictures filled another wall. Signed leather baseballs, two baseball bats, rare baseball cards, special programs and other memorabilia sat on display in a small glass cabinet near the window.

  "Aren't you going to answer me?"

  "I am. This room is perfect," I stated, still scanning the place where Sawyer spent years growing up.

  "Today?" he asked, a note of frustration in his tone. "What did she say?"

  "You heard," I replied, my heart racing because I hated confrontation and being challenged. Was he desperate to know how it affected her seeing him with me? Was he worried about me? Either way, it left me feeling uncertain where his loyalties lay.

  "Some of it—the last couple of minutes …"

  "Then you heard most of the details. The rest was hot air," I replied, indigent he had put me on the spot. I wasn't a schoolgirl and this wasn't high school. I was about done taking shit from people.

  "Tell me," he demanded, and my stomach knotted. I began to think he was more concerned about Charlotte's feelings than mine.

  "Why are you so desperate to know? I thought you said it didn't matter what anyone else thought? Did you mean anyone else, apart from Charlotte?"

  "Are you fucking serious?" Sawyer's eyes were clouded with anger.

  I was stunned when he swore at me in anger, and I swallowed back a lump that formed in my throat that he had. I had no wish to rehash the conversation, but I knew I'd get insight from his body language as to how Charlotte's confrontation of me made him feel.

  "According to your ex, your family is simply tolerating me because they have a full house and how they are behaving toward me is out of politeness." He opened his mouth to protest and I held up my hand to stop him. "Let me see … I'm a fool because you're supposed to be with her, and she sees the way you look at her when I'm not around." Sawyer shook his head in denial. "Then she compared us in the mirror, and she didn't have to point out what she was, and I wasn't. Oh, and then she told me I'd better watch out because if she decided she wanted you back—"

  "Bullshit," he roared, not letting me finish. "I mean, I don't look at her the way I look at you. I don't see her the way I see you."

  I was surprised he'd chosen this to focus on. "I wouldn't know. I'm not there, am I? You said you still love her."

  "I'm not in love with her, Billie. I wouldn't be with you if I was. Our families go way back and we used to be close. I loved her as a friend, and if I'm being straight with you, that part of our relationship was the part I missed the most about her—until I met you. Now, I couldn't care if her ass was on fire. After that little manipulation, she pulled downstairs, I don't want to know her. The way I see it, she wants what she can't have—what she will never have again. You're what I want, Billie. All I want." The desperation in his voice left me in no doubt about this. "Charlotte is a child in comparison to you. No, there is no comparison. You are the first real love of my life, and I hope my last. I meant every word I said earlier about you to my sisters. I'd marry you in a heartbeat. Someday I hope I will, but I know you need time."

  "If you feel the way you do, why do you tolerate being around her? Why does your family tolerate what she and James did to you?"

  "I know this is hard for you to understand, but it's down to business. My father and hers are longstanding business partners, joint CEOs of a Fortune 500 company, and silent investors among an exclusive group of wealthy people who are board members of about twenty other blue-chip companies.

  "Gregory, her father, and mine have very convoluted partnerships in a lot of ventures and between them they mentor and invest in many smaller companies by using their annual dividends and bonuses to help those businesses grow. A lot of small businessmen and women would go bust if they were to simply drop their alliance with the boards they serve."

  "It's about money? They tolerate what they did to you because of money?"

  "No, jeez, it's not that simple, Billie. My parents were as mad as hell at James when they found out what he had done. Dad cut him off financially and kicked him out of the house. James admitted what he'd done was wrong, but then Charlotte spun their affair like she was a victim.

  "My mother became sick with the strain of it all. James, my father, and I were at each other's throats, and Charlotte's mother was bitching to anyone who would listen about how James had taken advantage of poor, lonely Charlotte. I was to blame as she'd been left for months on end while I behaved like a musical nomad—"

  "I already heard that part from Charlotte downstairs," I interrupted, deadpan.

  "When it didn't die down, my mom was hospitalized with stress. It wasn't pretty. The girls then got involved and were gunning for Charlo
tte's blood. I think if they'd met up with her at that point, they'd have strung her up from the nearest tree for sleeping with our brother, and that wasn't the half of what they wanted to do to James. Anyway, their affair almost tore this family apart. But my mom persuaded my dad to let James come to family events, as none of us could avoid them on other occasions to do with their business associates. Charlotte is an only child and invitations to corporate events were always extended to her."

  "I can't imagine how you feel."

  "Now, I feel nothing about what they did, not the affair part anyway, but the betrayal is different. I'll admit I was devastated when I found out, and I blamed myself too for working with the band. Previously, Charlotte had always appeared so supportive of my work and that made me wonder how long the affair between her and James had been going on. Guess I'll never get to the truth of that part."

  "You lived together," I reminded him, and thought how messy it had been when Logan and I parted.

  "Not from that day onward. When I saw what they did, I took off. Disappeared off the face of the Earth for a while. Scared the shit out of my family because they were worried I'd … harm myself. I'd never have done that, by the way," he added quickly. "I'd never suffered from depression, but if I'm honest, I was devastated with how James had treated me. The fact he was at the center of it, really got me down."

  "Then you were heartbroken."

  "Yep, I was, but more about what I'd lost in terms of family, no matter how fractious our relationship had been. To have your trust abused that way is heartbreaking. Much like you when Logan cheated." I accepted his point, but unlike Logan, I knew from the way Charlotte came at me and her connection to his family, she wasn't someone who was going to disappear from his life either.

  Until my visit to his home, I hadn't realized Sawyer and I weren't so different after all. Like me, he came with baggage. It wasn't divorce and a child, and I didn't fully understand the situation between the family connections, but it appeared Sawyer's circumstances with his ex were every bit as complicated as mine. At least I didn't have to face Logan and Poppy hanging all over one another at family events.

  "Does James know she still wants you?"

  "Of course he does. I think she loves us both, and I don't know why he stays with her. You'd have to ask him that yourself."

  "And that's so screwed up I can't even begin to comprehend it."

  "Who knows what goes on in his head. I don't think he knows, either. I don't think he has a choice. They have to work for now, since Charlotte wants to save face." I stared at Sawyer with a multitude of thoughts running through my head. I had more questions than answers about his ex and his brother.

  Eventually, I blew out a breath and my heart sank when I thought of how determined Charlotte had sounded. She wasn't going away, and I wondered if I had the mental fortitude to deal with someone like her. Of course, you do, Billie. You've never been a quitter.

  "Then we are going to have to be wary of any tension your brother and his girl may try to create between us. I trusted you when I agreed to come here, but there has always been a little corner of my heart that told me not to accept something that felt too good to be true. Meeting Charlotte told me I have a challenge to deal with, but she also helped confirm to me exactly how I feel about you."

  "And?" he asked, hesitant.

  "When I strip everything away and look at us in isolation, it's simple. I love you and I don't want to lose you. In the short time, we've known each other, you have filled my head with thoughts and feelings, some I never figured I'd think or feel again for any man, and some I'd never felt in all the years I spent with Logan. Hearing how Charlotte felt almost made me feel sorry for her that she'd screwed things up between you both, but it taught me just how much you mean to me."

  "Again, you heard what I said. I want to marry you, Billie. Forget the past. Forget how long we've been together and what Charlotte and Logan did. I don't know, in some sick way, maybe they were supposed to do what they did because fate had another plan for us."

  "Trust you to think of something hippy like that," I offered a small smile.

  "Hell, it's my job to help you make sense of this. My mind's been working overtime with all the ways to melt your heart and get into your pants."

  "Your secret weapon, huh? Your mind."

  "Nah, I've been saving that. We haven't danced properly yet, and I haven't sung in your ear with the stars above us and a bottle of white wine in your belly to loosen you up," he replied with a wink and a sexy lopsided grin. "Come on. The night is still young, the stars in the sky are priming themselves, and by the time I bring you back to my bed you'll believe me when I say, no one matters but us."

  Chapter Thirty

  "You look beautiful," Ronald told me from the table as we wandered into the kitchen and I came into view behind Sawyer. I felt a little awkward for the compliment and smiled shyly.

  Pulling out the seat next to his father, Sawyer seated me then sat down beside me. A young, pretty maid in uniform came into the dining room. It reminded me how they all lived, and I felt a little intimidated again by their wealth.

  "Morning, Catriona," Sawyer offered. He was rewarded with a sweet smile. "Scrambled eggs, bacon, toast and coffee for us both, please." He ordered without asking me. "That is okay for you, right? She'll also bring some pancakes and jelly, as usual," he informed me. Seconds later, she set some warm delicious-looking pancakes in front of us and placed two fresh coffee pots at the center of the table.

  "Sleep well?" Ronald asked. I don't know why, but I immediately felt my cheeks burn. Sawyer and I had made love for most of the night and had only had around three hours of sleep. For a few seconds I panicked, wondering how noisy we'd been.

  Sawyer chuckled when I hadn't answered and when I looked up at his father, he'd realized his question was loaded and was smirking over his coffee cup. Before my mortification could take hold, Ronald cut into the thickening air of the silence that threatened to grow between us. "Any plans for today?"

  "Is James still here?" Sawyer asked, his voice flat as he regarded his dad with narrowed eyes. I immediately thought he was asking if Charlotte was and my heart squeezed, uncomfortably.

  "No, your mom sent them home to Gregory and Violet's around 2:00 a.m. She felt …that under the circumstances it may have been difficult for you."

  "Remind me to thank her for that," he said, nonchalantly. He reached over and grabbed the butter from the center of the table.

  "Don't get too ahead of yourself. They'll be back for New Year's Eve," he warned.

  "I figured that would be the case. At least it gives the rest of us some time to relax and for the girls, you and Mom time to get to know Billie without having to deal with the shit they create around them."

  "You're a good boy to tolerate them. I don't doubt for a minute how hard this must be for both of you. Violet and Greg need to wise up to their princess; she's a slippery one."

  "It'll only be hard if Billie and I allow it to be, and we're not interested in playing their games. All we want to do is relax and have a little fun … or a lot," Sawyer said, elbowing me suggestively. I almost died. Ronald laughed, and I saw more than a hint of Sawyer in his wicked grin. I wanted the floor to open up and swallow me whole.

  "Billie hates when I'm honest about how she makes me feel." When I heard him talking straight about me to his father I almost choked on my coffee.

  "Sawyer," I warned, pleading with my eyes for him to stop embarrassing me and he immediately pulled me toward him and kissed me gently on my temple.

  "So, Dad, what do you think?" he asked, nodding toward me. I swiped him upside the head in a heartbeat and his father chuckled.

  "Would you mind not talking about me as if I wasn't here?" I asked feeling shy at being thrust into the spotlight between them.

  "Seeing how you look at her, I'd say she's the one, Saw." The way he said this stunned me, but it gave me a warm feeling at the same time. "I saw the same attributes Billie has in your mom: h
ighly independent and said what she thought. That's not to say her great body and killer smile had nothing to do with me falling for her," he added wickedly, his eyes closing for a moment as if was remembering how his wife looked when he first met her.

  The sound of three small children running on the hardwood flooring drew the men's attention away from me to focus on Tammy's children as they entered the dining room.

  "Papa," the middle one cried, as she sprinted toward him.

  "Belle," he mimicked back at her in a voice that was supposed to mirror hers. I sat watching her clamber upon his knee and wrap her small arms around his neck.

  "Mommy said we're doing ponies with Rachel and Denise this morning," the four-year-old said.

  "That's right, the stable girls are picking you up in an hour so you better get something inside that tummy of yours before you run out of time," Ronald replied, stood her back on her feet and patted her head. Instead of taking the seat next to her mom, she came around the table and stood shyly by Sawyer's side.

  "And this is girlfriend number two," he stated, twisting from the waist in his seat and lifting her onto his lap. "This is Belle," he told me before turning his attention back to her. "Hello, beautiful. Do you have a kiss for me?" Belle immediately caught his face in her tiny hands and kissed his nose. Sawyer chuckled and cradled her head to his chest. "This one is a little sweetheart," he said affectionately. My heart opened a little more seeing how much his tiny niece loved him. "She hasn't learned the pouty mouth thing from Milly yet," he added, winking.

  The rest of the breakfast was hectic with the children around. I found myself missing Colby and wondering how he'd fit into this world where the kids were all boisterous and chatty, when my son's nature was more like mine. Then I noted how kind and considerate they were toward one another and I guessed being around them would likely be good for him.