The Naughty List Bundle - Kylie Adams [34]
When she refused to meet his gaze, he propped both hands on his hips and loomed over her. “Gabe can fix your car, but you’re not going anywhere until I’m satisfied that it’s safe, which means you’re going to have to quit stalling and explain some things.”
Honey sighed again and tilted her head back to see him. Sawyer was so tall, even when standing she was barely even with his collarbone. Since she was sitting, he seemed as tall as a mountain. She really was tired of getting the third degree by overpowering men. “Sawyer, how can I explain what I don’t understand myself?”
“Maybe if you’d just tell us what you do understand, we could come up with something that makes sense.”
Leave it to a man to think he could understand what a woman couldn’t. Her father had always been the same, so condescending, ready to discount her input on everything. And Alden. She shuddered at her own stupidity in ever agreeing to marry the pompous ass. Now that she’d met Sawyer and seen how caring a man could be…
With a groan she leaned forward, elbows on the table, and covered her face with her hands.
She was getting in too deep, making comparisons she shouldn’t make. Morgan was right, he could start tracking her down. And since she didn’t know what the threat was, only that it was serious, it was entirely possible he’d accidentally lead the threat to her—and to this family. She couldn’t have that.
Car keys hung accessible on the wall by the back door. Sawyer wouldn’t be sleeping in the same room with her tonight; there was no need. She’d have to take advantage of the opportunity. She’d borrow one of their vehicles, go into town and then get a bus ticket. She could leave a note telling Sawyer where to find his car.
Just the thought of leaving distressed her on so many levels, she knew she had to go as soon as possible, whether she felt up to it physically or not.
Sawyer evidently wanted her for a fling; he’d made his interest very obvious with that last kiss. He’d also indicated he found her to be a royal pain in the backside, and no wonder, considering she’d wrecked his fence and left a rusted car in his lake, along with taking his bed and keeping him up at night. When he wasn’t watching her with sexual heat in his dark eyes, he was frowning at her with unadulterated frustration.
She felt the same incredible chemistry between them, but she also felt so much more. He had the family life she’d always wondered about, the closeness and camaraderie, the sharing and support that she’d always believed to be a mere fairy tale. So often she’d longed for the life-style he possessed. And he was that special kind of man who not only accepted that life-style, but also contributed to it, a driving force in making it work for everyone.
She found Sawyer very sexually appealing, but he also felt safe and comforting. Security was a natural part of him, something built into his genetic makeup. And after the way her engagement had ended, she would never settle for half measures again, not when there was so much more out there.
She heard the shifting of masculine feet, a few rumbling questions, then Sawyer leaned down, his hand gently cradling the back of her head. “Honey?”
With new resolution she pushed her chair back, forcing Sawyer to move. “You’re not going to let up on this, are you?”
Morgan snorted. Sawyer shook his head.
“All right.” With an exaggerated sigh, she looked down, trying to feign weary defeat when inside she teemed with determination. “I’ll tell you anything I can. But it’s a long, complicated story. Couldn’t it wait until the morning?”
She peeked up and caught Sawyer’s suspicious frown. With a forced cough that quickly turned real, she