The Naughty List Bundle - Kylie Adams [19]
Worse and worse. “Sawyer, I don’t want you doing my laundry.”
“There’s no one else, Honey. Morgan has to go into the office today, and Jordan is making a few housecalls. Casey has never quite learned the knack of doing laundry, though I’m working on him, and if I know Gabe, he’ll be off running around somewhere.”
She stared at him, dumbfounded, then shook her head. “Let me clarify. I don’t want any of you doing my laundry.”
“The clothes you came in are wet and muddy. By now, they probably do smell like the lake. Unless you want to continue living in Casey’s shirt, someone needs to do it, and you’re certainly not up to it.” She started to speak, and he held up a hand. “Give over, will you? I doubt doing a little laundry will kill me. If it did, I’d have been dead a long time ago.”
She seemed to have no options at all. With a sigh, she said, “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
His continued good humor made her feel like a nag. Trying to get back to a more neutral subject, she asked, “Do you see patients every day?”
He straightened from the bed. “Don’t most doctors?”
“I really don’t know.”
“Well, they do. You can take my word on it. Illness has no respect for weekends or vacations. And since I’m the only doctor around for miles, I’ve gotten used to it.”
Nervously pleating the edge of the blanket, she wondered if this might be her best chance to slip away. It was for certain if he didn’t want her up to shower, he wouldn’t want her up to leave on her own. “Do you have an office close by?”
He crossed his arms over his chest. “Very close.”
“Oh?” She tried to sound only mildly interested.
“You’re not going anywhere, Honey.”
Her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth.
“Don’t look so shocked. I could see you plotting and planning.”
“But…how?” She’d kept her expression carefully hidden. At least, she thought she had.
“I can read you.”
“You don’t even know me!”
He looked disgruntled by that fact. “Yeah, well, for whatever reason, I know you well enough already to see how your mind works. What’d you think to do? Hitchhike into town when we were all away from the house?”
She hadn’t, simply because she hadn’t thought that far ahead yet. But it might not have been a bad idea. She’d be able to tell by the license plates if the driver was local or not, ridding the risk of being picked up by the people who were after her.
When she remained quiet, he shook his head and muttered, “Women.” He went out the door without another word, and Honey let him. She had a lot to think about. This might be her only chance to save Sawyer and his family from getting involved. She’d left in the first place to protect her sister. The last thing she wanted to do was get someone else in trouble.
Especially such an incredible man as Sawyer.
4
SAWYER TAPPED on the door and then walked in. Honey was in the bed, her head turned to the window. She seemed very pensive, but she glanced at him as he entered. He saw her face perk up at the sight of the tray he carried.
Grinning, he asked, “So you’re hungry?”
She slid higher in the bed. “Actually…yes. What have you got there?”
He set the tray holding the coffee and other dishes on the dresser and carried another to her, opening the small legs on the tray so it fit over her lap. “Gabe had just pulled some cinnamon rolls from the oven, so they’re still hot. I thought you might like some.”
“Gabe cooks?”
Sawyer handed her the coffee, then watched to make sure it was to her liking. Judging by the look of rapture on her face as she sipped, it was just right. “We all cook. As my mom is fond of saying, she didn’t raise no dummies. If a man can’t cook, especially in a household devoid of women, he goes hungry.”
She’d finished half the cup of coffee right