“It feels amazing to be back.”
He smiles. “Where are you staying?”
“Oh.” I release his hand and pull my phone out of my pocket before turning it on. It comes to life and as soon as it’s ready, I pull up the internet where I was searching for a hotel at a gas station along the way. It looks… not the nicest but I only have a limited amount of money if I want to keep where I am a secret for now so it’ll have to do. Grabbing his phone off the stand, I enter the address into the GPS and set it back down. He studies the map for a second before turning as instructed by the automated voice.
“I don’t want to be too forward,” he says as we drive down quiet streets. “But given our last conversation, I’m just going to go for it. I’d really like to see you again… like, as soon as possible.”
I smile, feeling giddy as I nod. “Yeah, I’d really like that, too.”
“Get over here,” he commands, grabbing my hand again and yanking me across the bench seat until I’m tucked into his side. My heart pounds and my belly flips as he throws his arm over my shoulder and I cuddle into his side. God, this feels so damn right. We cuddle together in a comfortable silence as we drive to the hotel and the closer we get to the ETA on the GPS, the more my chest aches. It sounds crazy but I don’t want to leave him.
“Um…” he mutters as the GPS declares that we’ve reached our destination. The motel stretches out in front of us and I do my best not to recoil. The photos online didn’t look great but I thought I could make it work. Now, I’m not so sure. Small groups of people hang around outside, smoking, drinking, and talking as music pumps through an open door. A breeze blows trash across the parking lot and up on the second floor, two people are going at it pressed up against the window while a group of guys whoop and holler from below. “No.”
“No, what?” I ask, peeking up at him and he flashes me a stern look.
“There’s no way in hell I’m leaving you here.”
I glance back up at the hotel and suck in a breath, dread weighing me down. Staying here isn’t exactly an idea that I’m fond of but with only nine hundred dollars left, the forty-five dollar a night price tag is enticing.
“I’ll be okay,” I assure him, sounding a whole lot more confident than I feel. He shakes his head and pulls me tighter into his side.
“Over my dead fucking body.”
“Sawyer,” I prompt, laying my hand on his leg. “I can take care of myself.”
He shakes his head, glancing down at me like I’m crazy. “There’s no damn scenario where I leave you here alone. Absolutely not. You can come stay at my house.”
“I can’t do that.”
“Why not?” he growls as he surveys the parking lot. I swear, the more I look at it, the worse it gets and my stomach rolls. Why can’t I go stay with him? Well, there’s the fact that I just met him… and I haven’t been completely honest with him… “I’m not going to take no for an answer.”
“Sawyer,” I breathe.
“Come stay with me,” he urges, his voice softer this time. “I need to know you’re safe and we already decided we want to spend more time together.”
I sigh and squeeze my eyes shut.
God… am I really going to do this?
“I’m not sleeping in the same bed as you.”
“I have a spare bedroom,” he replies, relief in his voice as he flips the truck around and starts driving away from the hotel.
“I didn’t say yes, yet!”
He scoffs, his gaze meeting mine for a second before he turns back to the road. “I told you I wasn’t taking no for an answer. I wasn’t playin’ around.”
“Oh, no, sir! I am a grown ass woman, you don’t make decisions for me,” I snap and he blinks in surprise before nodding.
“Okay. I’m sorry.” He pulls the truck over to the side of the road and turns to me as he cups my cheek in his hand. “Will you please come stay with me?”
My teeth sink into my bottom lip as I search his eyes for a second before nodding. “Yes.”
“See? Wasn’t that so much easier?” With a grin on his face, he turns back to the wheel and tucks me into his side before pulling back onto the road.
“Wait, before we get to your place, is it a bachelor pad? Am I going to find something disgusting when I walk in?”
He laughs. “No. My house is perfectly clean.”
“Hmm,” I hum. “I think I’ll be the judge of that.”
“I always keep it clean in case I need to take one of the girls we help there to lay low. It’s also why I have a spare bedroom with a nice bed in it.”
I smile up at him. “You went out of your way to set up a room for the girls you help?”
“Yeah. I just figure they’ve already been through so much that they should, at least, have a nice, safe place to sleep.”
I lay my head on his chest as I stare out of the windshield, unable to wipe the smile off of my face. His heart… it’s just so pure and warm and as crazy as it sounds, I’m already feeling something for him. I hesitate to call it love since we haven’t known each other for that long but it’s…something. Something powerful, all consuming almost. Something that fills me up and makes me feel happier than I can ever remember being and something that I’m terrified to lose. How is that possible? How can I be so attached to whatever these feelings are after only a day? It defies all logic and reason which is maybe why Mercedes told me to just follow my heart. But how could she have known that he and I would have such a connection?
“Here we are,” Sawyer says, cutting into my thoughts and I blink, turning to a cute little Tudor-style brick house as Sawyer pulls his truck into the driveway. There are stones leading up to an enclosed front porch and bright flowers line the base of the house on both sides as well as adorable bay windows that I just want to spend all day reading in.
“This is your house?”
He nods, a slight blush staining his cheeks. “Yeah. Do you like it?”
“I love it,” I answer, turning back to the house. It feels stately despite its small size and still manages to evoke a feeling of home in me that puts me completely at ease. Sawyer turns off the truck.
“Come on. I’ll show you around.”
He takes my hand and threads his fingers through mine as he opens his door and steps out, pulling me along behind him. Once I’m out of the truck, he shuts the door and leads me up the front walk as his thumb brushes the back of my hand and electricity zips up my arm. I feel lightheaded and weightless, like I’m floating along next to him and every time he glances down at me to flash me a shy smile, my heart thumps a little bit harder.
We walk up onto the porch and a piece of paper taped to the front door catches my eye at the same time that Sawyer sees it. He scowls and rips it off the wood before unfolding it. As he reads whatever it is, his face grows more irritated and I study him, my heart sinking at the look on his face.
“Everything okay?”
He glances over at me and nods as he hands me the paper. “Yeah, just an issue with… well, I guess you could call her my ex.”
“You want me to read this?” I ask, staring up at him with wide eyes and he nods. My thoughts are sluggish as I try to wrap my head around why he would give a girl he just met yesterday a note from his ex-girlfriend to read. “Why?”