“Who was that?”
Sawyer rolls his eyes as he peels away. “Rooster. He’s a prospect for the club.”
“A what now?”
“A prospect. Basically, it means he’s doing his trial period with us now and then we’ll decide if we want to welcome him into the club.”
I nod as I glance over at the street where he was a moment ago. “Is he going to make it?”
“Honestly, I hope not. He’s kind of an asshole… but enough about him. Let’s get back to our date.”
“Okay,” I reply, looking down at the cooler. “What did you bring for us?”
He grins. “Have a seat and I’ll show you.”
Following his instructions, I sink into my chair and fight back a grin as he opens the cooler with a flourish and starts pulling out sandwiches, chips, soda, and candy bars. It’s everything we had at our picnic along the side of the road and I can’t help but laugh.
“Sawyer, did you get me all dressed just to eat sandwiches?”
He shakes his head. “Hell no. I got you all dressed up so I could look at you while we eat sandwiches.”
“Mmhmm. I suppose I’ll let it slide since I get to look at you like this all evening,” I say, motioning to his outfit and he grins as he sits across from me, his face lit up by candlelight. I turn to look out at the garden and shake my head as I sigh. “I can’t believe you did all this for me.”
“I can’t believe you are so easily impressed.”
“I’m not,” I answer as I shrug and grab one of the sandwiches off the table before unwrapping it. When I glance up, he’s staring at me with an expression that is hard to read. “What?”
He drops his gaze to the table and shakes his head before meeting my eyes again. “Nothing.”
“You finally going to tell me what happened on the day you came home drunk?”
“Yeah, about that…” he sighs. “A couple of months ago, we helped this girl named Sammy out of a bad situation and right before I left for Miami, we had gotten her set up in a new apartment and were helping her look for a job, basically rebuilding her life for her.”
I nod, studying him as I take a bite of my sandwich. “What happened?”
“We got a call from this detective we work with and he said we needed to get down to this scene he was at. When we got there, he told us someone had beat her to death in the middle of the street and our business card was sitting on top of her body.”
“Oh my God, Sawyer,” I whisper, my eyes wide in horror and he sighs.
“We should talk about something else. This isn’t great first date conversation.”
I reach across the table and grab his hand. “I disagree. I want to know you, Sawyer, the real you, inside and out and this is something that really affected you.”
“I just hate failing these girls, you know?” he says, meeting my eyes and the pain staring back at me breaks my heart. “Plus, we’ve lost two other girls this year so it’s been extra rough.”
“Is that normal?”
He shakes his head, his lips flattening into a line. “No, it’s not. Fuzz was just showing me our stats the other day and since we started doing this eight years ago, we’ve lost five girls including the three this year.”
“Okay, before I forget, I have to ask what the hell is up with these names? Fuzz? Moose?”
He rolls his eyes and falls back into his chair. “For fuck’s sake. Who told you that story?”
“Mercedes but don’t worry. I don’t ever see myself calling you Moose.”
“Thank God,” he sighs and I can’t help but laugh. “What do you say we stop talking about death and sadness and get back to proper first date activities?”
“What did you have in mind?”
He stands up and walks around the table to me before holding his hand out. Heat creeps up my cheeks as I take it and let him pull me out of my chair and away from the table to the side of the fountain where we can hear the music better. With a shit eating grin on his face, he wraps one arm around my waist while he pulls his phone out of his pocket and after a second, “I Knew I Loved You” by Savage Garden starts playing.
Throwing my head back, I laugh.
“Classic nineties love ballad, right? That’s what you called this?” he asks as he slips his phone back into his pocket and wraps his other hand around my waist as I lay my arms across his shoulders. We begin swaying back and forth and I meet his eyes.
“Don’t make fun of my music.”
He shakes his head and takes one of my hands before pulling it up to his chest. “I’m not. In fact, this song is really growing on me lately.”
“You’re so full of it,” I quip and he laughs as he pulls me closer, dancing with me under the stars as the chorus begins playing and I can’t help but feel like it’s so perfect for the way I feel about him. He’s everything I could have asked for and more and I don’t ever want to let this feeling go. “In fact, I’m going to change your ringtone to this song and call you while you’re with the guys so everyone can see just how much this song is growing on you.”
“Go for it, baby. I’ll gladly make a fool of myself for you.”
Sucking in a breath, I lean back to look in his eyes. “My mom used to talk about these moments in life where everything lines up, everything makes sense, and you finally understand that everything you went through was to get you to where you are, you know?”
“Yeah,” he answers, his voice full of gravel as he smiles down at me. “I do.”
“I have been having that feeling a lot since meeting you.”
He nods. “Me, too, sweetheart.”
“It’s crazy, though, right?” We met five days ago but I really feel like I’ve known him forever, like he’s always been a part of my life and it’s so intense that I’m having such a hard time wrapping my head around it.
“If you shut out all the noise, does it feel crazy in your heart or does it feel crazy because of other people’s expectations? Because, I gotta be honest with you, I couldn’t give two shits what anyone else thinks.” He releases my hand to reach up and skate his thumb over my cheek. “I’ve never felt this way about anyone and it doesn’t matter if it’s been a week or ten years.”
“That’s a really good answer,” I whisper and he grins as he strokes my cheek again and leans down, pressing his lips to mine. Under the twinkling lights, with the sound of trickling water and a classic nineties love ballad drifting through the air and Sawyer’s lips against mine, I feel like I’m truly home for the first time in weeks. As much as I love Baton Rouge, I get the feeling that it wouldn’t feel as comfortable and meaningful without Sawyer by my side.
He pulls away and stares down at me with something that looks an awful lot like love and my heart kicks in my chest. “There’s something I should tell you.”
“Oh?” I whisper. “What’s that?”
“Tawny, that girl who left the note on my front door, swung by the clubhouse today and well, long story short, I ended up claiming you as my old lady in front of everyone.”
My mouth pops open as I squint up at him. “I’m sorry… what?”