Sawyer (Alluring Indulgence #7)(25)
Author: Nicole Edwards

“Like I need a bottle of aspirin and thirty-six hours of sleep.”

“You look like it, too,” she teased.

“I just wanted to say thanks for . . . uh . . . bringin’ us here last night.”

“I didn’t mind at all,” Kennedy lied. Truth was, it had been an inconvenience at the time, but as far as she was concerned, it beat the alternative. Had one of the twins gotten behind the wheel of a car in their state, she never would’ve forgiven herself. And yes, she’d heard about Brendon’s little stunt a couple of months back—it was hard not to hear things in their small town.

About that time, Sawyer came walking up, his hand coming to rest possessively on the small of her back, and while she enjoyed the warmth of his touch, she really wasn’t sure how she felt about that. The possessive part, that is. She absolutely had no intention of getting attached to Sawyer Walker. No woman in their right mind would ever consider him the long-term solution to anything, which meant she had to continue to remind herself of that, because she could already see that it wasn’t that difficult to get wrapped up in the fantasy of him.

“You ready?” Sawyer asked, glancing down at her.

“Yeah.”

“Thanks again, Kennedy. And I’ll catch up with you later,” Brendon told Sawyer.

“You know where to find me,” Sawyer replied, urging Kennedy forward.

“And where will that be?” Kennedy asked when Brendon was out of earshot.

“Where will what be?” he asked, confusion marring his forehead.

“Where will he be able to find you?”

“Are you asking because you’re interested in seeking me out?” Sawyer questioned, a mischievous smirk forming on his perfect lips.

He really did have perfect lips.

And perfect eyes.

And a perfect nose.

And perfect . . .

Lord have mercy, the man was too freaking perfect.

And sexy.

Sawyer’s gruff—and, yes, sexy—chuckle pulled her from her rambling thoughts.

He held the door open and Kennedy stepped out into the early morning sunshine. The wind had picked up a bit, proof that the weatherman was right, there was a cold front blowing in. Which meant she needed to check on the temperatures at night. Although the news often told people to pay attention to people, pets, plants, and pipes, she knew from experience that the pets weren’t always high on people’s priority list, and during the colder months, they usually had an influx of new guests at the shelter.

The thought of the shelter brought another question to Kennedy’s lips. “How’s Buster?” she asked as they crossed the parking lot toward her car.

“Good.”

“I heard you were spoiling him,” Kennedy said, trying to pull something more than one-word responses from him.

“I’m tryin’,” Sawyer confirmed. “At least he’s stopped chewin’ my damn boots.”

Kennedy laughed, thinking about that little blond-haired dog chewing up Sawyer’s boots, among other things.

“He’s garnered a fan base at the resort,” Sawyer informed her.

“Yeah? You take him to work?” she asked.

“Every day. He didn’t sign on to protect the furniture,” Sawyer told her.

She liked that about him. Back around Christmastime last year, Sawyer had decided to do a good deed and Kennedy had had a hand in getting back at him by forcing him to spend a Saturday bathing the animals at the shelter. She’d known from the beginning that his sudden desire to volunteer was to get closer to her. But, as it turned out, Sawyer had kept at it, until eventually, she realized he was no longer doing it for her. It hadn’t helped knowing that he had a sensitive side. After all, she’d been on a mission to stay as far from him as possible, and admitting he wasn’t a bad person was a difficult pill to swallow.

“Well, here we are,” Sawyer said when they approached her car.

Why was she wishing the parking lot was suddenly bigger? Or possibly that she’d forgotten where she parked?

Not liking where her errant thoughts were going, Kennedy smiled up at Sawyer. “Thanks for walking me. And congrats on the new addition to the family. She’s beautiful.”

“Thanks,” he said, a wry grin on his face. “She was hard work, but worth it.”

Kennedy laughed at that. It was one of the things she’d always liked—and hated—about Sawyer. He was always smiling, always making one joke or another. And the reason she didn’t like it was because Sawyer never seemed to take anything seriously.

“Well, I gotta get to work,” she said finally, snapping out of it. She really did have to go back—there would be patients waiting for her, and that meant grumbling owners if she was late. Not to mention, a very unhappy technician, who was now filling in as a receptionist since their regular one hadn’t bothered to show up that morning.