Sawyer (Alluring Indulgence #7)(26)
Author: Nicole Edwards

“Remember what I told you last night?” Sawyer asked as he took a step back when she opened the driver’s door.

“What’s that?” she asked. She actually remembered everything he told her last night. Almost verbatim. It had been one of the reasons she hadn’t been able to get any sleep last night.

“Go out with me,” he said, his eyes serious as he stared back at her.

Kennedy broke the eye contact and looked at the ground. No matter how much she liked him, there was no way she was giving in to him. There was no doubt in her mind that the chemistry between them would be off the charts, but unfortunately, for her, that wasn’t all she wanted. And she knew for Sawyer, that was all he ever offered.

“I’m busy,” she told him, lowering herself into her car.

“I didn’t say when,” he told her, amusement ringing in his voice.

“I know.”

“Well, then I guess I’ll just have to stop by in a bit.”

“Stop by where?” Kennedy asked, her eyes darting up to meet his.

And once again she remembered his statement from the night before: If you say no, I’m just gonna ask you again. A lot. I mean, seriously. A lot. I’m gonna come to your work every day and ask you to go out with me until I finally manage to break down those walls.

Crap.

“I’ll be busy,” she told him, locking her gaze with his. “I won’t have time to see you.”

Sawyer put his hand on the door and smiled. That intriguing, flirty smirk that made all her girl parts sing loud and proud.

Crap.

“Trust me, you’ll have time.”

And when Sawyer closed the door, she couldn’t look away.

Strangely enough, for the first time, the promise she saw in Sawyer’s smoky blue gaze didn’t make her want to run away.

Not that she was at all happy about that.

chapter SIX

Sawyer made an appearance at the resort after he left the hospital, but he didn’t stay long. Other than a quick phone call to one of the vendors, who had a question about an event he was working on for the animal shelter, he managed to clear his schedule for the rest of the day. He was too damn tired from pulling an all-nighter at the hospital to keep his eyes open, so, after checking in, making sure there weren’t any fires that needed to be put out, and then handling the call he had to make, he decided to head home for a nap.

That, he learned when he got home, was easier said than done. Buster was a rambunctious bundle of fur and no matter how much Sawyer tried to console him, he wouldn’t settle. Which resulted in an hour-long session in the yard, tossing the ball while Buster brought it back, time after time, seemingly never to tire.

Granted, it was Sawyer’s own fault for leaving him alone for the night and most of the day. Luckily, Jared had stopped by at Sawyer’s request and let Buster out early that morning or there probably would’ve been one hell of a mess to clean up. Buster wasn’t used to being left alone for long periods of time, so Sawyer couldn’t blame him for wanting some attention. As it was, the only casualty was a roll of paper towels that Sawyer had left on the kitchen table.

Finally, after they played ball and walked up to his parents’ house and back, Sawyer finally managed to drop onto the couch while Buster napped on the floor close by. Three hours later, Sawyer was awakened by a dog tongue across his face.

Wiping off the slobber, Sawyer forced himself up and into the shower. No matter how tired he was, there were still things that needed to be done, and he was running out of time, since it was already almost four. He was really looking forward to one of those things—going to visit Kennedy.

As he shaved and showered, Sawyer thought about her and the fact that she had shown up at the hospital to check on the football. Or at least that was what she’d told him. Part of him wanted to believe that she’d come there for other reasons—namely him.

But he wasn’t going to jump to too many conclusions just yet. As far as he was concerned, he had a long road ahead of him, but he was now committed. And just like he’d told her, Sawyer had every intention of hounding her until either she told him to go away—which she had yet to do—or she gave in. One way or the other, Sawyer wasn’t going to give up.

It wasn’t in his nature.

After he got dressed and towel-dried his hair, Sawyer grabbed an energy drink from the refrigerator and corralled Buster toward his car. He was backing out of his driveway when his cell phone rang. Glancing down, he realized it was coming from the Walker Demo office, so, rather than answering, he figured he’d pay his cousin Jared a visit.

Two minutes later, with Buster yapping as he bounced up and down around Sawyer’s feet, they were stepping into the building that Sawyer had once called his home away from home. The place he and Kaleb and Travis had put their blood, sweat and tears into building, long before the resort was even a blip on the radar.