Sawyer (Alluring Indulgence #7)(43)
Author: Nicole Edwards

He managed to force himself out of bed, sending Buster out the back door so he could take care of his business while Sawyer made a pot of coffee. This was one of those mornings that probably required two pots, but for now, Sawyer would settle for one. While the coffee brewed, he snagged his laptop from the living room and set it up on the kitchen table.

Ten minutes later, Buster was munching away on breakfast in the kitchen while Sawyer was glancing through his emails. He shot off a quick response to a question about the event for the animal shelter. Several months ago, Kennedy and Adrianne had entrusted him to manage every little detail that would ultimately lead up to the annual dog walk that Coyote Ridge looked forward to every year. Although his schedule was packed full with the resort, offering to assist had seemed like a good idea.

And it had been. Since the first time he’d volunteered at the shelter—a blatant attempt to get closer to Kennedy that had backfired—Sawyer had found something else he enjoyed.

Glancing through the rest of the emails, he made sure there weren’t any others waiting for an immediate response. He laughed when he found one from Travis. The guy wasn’t much on sending emails, but it seemed as though showing off his daughter was a new trend for the guy. Not a day had passed since Kate was born that Sawyer hadn’t received pictures of her. Scrolling through the images of the precious little girl, Sawyer couldn’t help but smile. They were definitely a beautiful family.

Oddly enough, that made his thoughts drift to Kennedy. The pictures became a blur as Sawyer began thinking about their chat last night—specifically her in her bathtub. When she had revealed that little news flash to him over the phone, he’d damn near swallowed his tongue. Not only had they had a civil conversation on the phone—something they’d never done before—but she’d been downright friendly at that. Honestly, after not talking to her for so long, he’d expected her to ignore his call, or at the very least, for her to hang up on him instantly.

Maybe he had been wearing her down. Maybe she was still thinking about him the same way he’d been thinking about her for weeks on end.

At least he hoped she was.

That didn’t mean he wasn’t going to pull out all the stops from here on out. After all, seeing Kennedy was the only thing he’d been looking forward to. Now that the holidays were over and he could commit all his time to courting her, that was what he intended to do. It also helped that he, with Gage’s help, had narrowed down their search for the leak they obviously had within the resort. It hadn’t been easy, although they’d looked at it from every angle.

Sawyer was bound and determined to find out just who the fuck was sharing information that was meant to be kept within the walls of the resort. He didn’t give a shit that Jeff was pissed. He actually didn’t blame the man. What he did care about was that someone was attempting to sabotage all of their hard work. If people thought their private lives would be exploited, they’d think twice before staying at the resort. And that was something he couldn’t live with.

Glancing at the clock, Sawyer decided it was time to take a shower. He needed to stop by AI to check on things before he headed over to see Kennedy. Maybe he’d take her lunch. Despite her frequent denial, he had gotten the sense that she actually enjoyed spending time with him. Although quite a bit of time had passed since then, based on their conversation last night, Sawyer was left feeling some of the same optimism that he had before.

But, in the same sense, he knew he had to start completely over. Kennedy had a renewed reason not to trust him, although he was hell-bent on proving that he wasn’t the one who had shared that information. Which he would definitely do. And soon.

“All right, buddy,” Sawyer said to Buster. “You’re gonna hang out in here for a few minutes. Be good.”

With that, Sawyer left Buster in the kitchen and headed to his bedroom. Shutting the door behind him, he stripped as he went. The instant he stepped into the bathroom, he looked at the bathtub and his dick immediately stiffened.

“Holy hell,” he said on a huff, twisting the knob on the oversized shower. The bathroom was about the only overindulgence he’d done to the entire house. Considering how little time he spent there, he hadn’t gone over-the-top with the overall design; however, he had put in a little effort on the bathroom.

The shower rivaled Ethan’s in that it didn’t have doors, but rather was separated by floor-to-ceiling slate-tiled walls. The Jacuzzi tub had been something he’d splurged on as well and while his mind drifted to Kennedy in her own bathtub—which truthfully, he had no idea what her bathroom looked like—it was pretty damn easy to imagine her naked in his tub.