Crazy For You (Last Frontier Lodge Novels Book 8) Page 18

  As Violet’s pulse slowed gradually, she idly sifted a hand through Sawyer’s hair. He lifted his head. The moment his eyes met hers, she felt raw and exposed—bare in more ways than one.

  “I missed you,” he said simply, his gravelly voice sending a shiver over her skin and reaching right inside and grabbing ahold of her heart.

  She pushed back against the fear crowding her mind. “I missed you too. I, uh, tried to catch you after the game the other night, but…”

  He smiled ruefully. “I took off a little too fast. Delia mentioned it to me. I guess I took the whole ‘giving you some time’ a little too far. Between the two of us, I’m guessing you’ve had more experience with relationships than me. I’m used to knowing what to do. With this…” he laughed softly, reaching up to brush a damp lock of hair off of forehead.

  There was another loud clatter from the kitchen and a muffled curse. Violet glanced toward the wall adjoining the kitchen, as if she could somehow see what had happened. When she looked back to Sawyer, his smile nearly undid her when he’d already left her boneless. “My experience wasn’t so helpful.” She paused to adjust her hips because she was sliding down, only to slide further down the wall.

  Sawyer, being nothing other than strong and solid, easily lifted her up in his arms. With a grin, he slowly stepped back, slipping out of her and setting her on the floor. “Let’s get you in the shower. We can keep talking.”

  He reached into the tiny shower and turned the water on. In seconds, steam was filling the bathroom. He kicked off his jeans and tossed his t-shirt on the sink. She stepped under the hot water and sighed as the heat seeped through her. The interlude with Sawyer had thawed her, but she’d been drenched to the bone with cold rain. He climbed in beside her, and to say it was crowded might be an understatement. She turned in his arms and glanced up to find him waiting.

  “You were saying?” he asked.

  She dipped her head under the water and rinsed the soap off. “Um, we’re talking here?”

  He nodded. “Good a place as any.”

  “Okay, so my experience…right. Well, aside from getting engaged and then finding out I was infertile and getting dumped over it, my experience with relationships before that was a bit foolish,” she said bluntly, figuring she’d just lay it out there.

  “Foolish?” He arched a brow as he stepped back, creating a minuscule pocket of space between them as he grabbed the soap and quickly slid it over his arms and chest. Oh God. He was too much with every delectable, mouth-watering inch of his rock hard body slick with soap and water running over him. She glanced down to see the small scars from his surgery healed up. That leg had other scars, including a jagged one running along his outer thigh. Her heart clenched, but she didn’t want to dwell on that now. He was strong and healthy and right here with her.

  “Foolish because I was kind of silly and romantic. When you’re sick like I was and people hover around you and worry and then you get better, well it does weird things sometimes. It made me hope for the best. For a while, I was afraid I might not get that chance. So I was ready to settle down the first chance I got. I’m still not sure I really loved Ted, but I sure thought I did. Anyway, that’s what I mean by foolish.”

  Sawyer looked at her, his eyes flashing silver through the smoky gray and the water falling around them. “That wasn’t foolish,” he said gruffly.

  She bit her lip and shrugged, feeling self-conscious. “Well, anyway being prone to diving into things like that made it hard when I got a nice, hard slap from reality. No fairy tales for me. No engagement, no chance for kids. I thought I got past it. Then I met you and, well, I got a little freaked out about things again.”

  She looked up at him, wondering if she could say what was in her heart next. As she was pondering, he gave her a reprieve. “I’m not going anywhere. And stop saying you can’t have kids. You can’t get pregnant, but you can have kids. There’s more than one way to make that happen.”

  His words were fierce, his eyes locked to hers. Tears pressed against her eyes, and her breath caught in her throat. “Oh.” That’s all she managed before she burst into tears.

  He wrapped her in his arms, and she just cried and cried. By the time she came up for air, she felt washed clean inside, the bundle of sadness she’d tucked deep inside finally dissolved.

  Chapter 21

  Sawyer concluded he deserved a medal right about now. He was successfully keeping his hands to himself (mostly) with Violet sitting right beside him. After racing down to Delia’s office when she’d called upstairs looking for Marley, Violet had basically incinerated him. Every time he tried to convince himself the chemistry between them wasn’t as off the charts as he recalled, he’d get skin to skin with her and realize it was hotter than anything he’d ever experienced. After their impromptu shower and talk, Violet had explained she was there for dinner with her parents and invited him to join them. Deep down, he knew what Violet meant to him, so he figured he might as well get the whole meeting her parents thing done.

  Rachel and Isaac Carter were quite nice and easy-going. Violet shared her mother’s coloring, and her father’s bold, funny personality. Dinner had been excellent as always, and Gage and Marley had joined them for after dinner drinks. Violet crossed and uncrossed her legs beside him, and a bolt of lust hit him. It had never, not ever, occurred to him he’d be so damn distracted by a woman sitting beside him that he’d have trouble focusing on the conversation around him. Yet, he had manners. They’d been drilled into him by his parents, so he was not about to go all caveman and grope Violet with her parents sitting across the table. When she shifted her legs again, her thigh brushing against his, he gave in and curled his palm over her thigh. Mistake. The second he touched her, his cock twitched. He quickly pulled his hand away and started rocking a knife back and forth between his fingers to keep his hands busy.

  “It’s so nice to meet some of Violet’s friends,” Rachel said, her words filtering through the haze in Sawyer’s mind.

  Marley said something, and Gage cracked a joke. Violet rolled her eyes and glanced around. “In case you haven’t noticed, my parents are kind of worry warts. Ever since I moved here, they worry I don’t have enough friends,” she said with a soft laugh.

  “Oh hon. Moving is hard even when it’s good. We just like knowing you’re settled now,” Rachel added, while Isaac chuckled.

  Rachel’s eyes flicked from Sawyer to Violet. “And I can’t believe you didn’t mention you were seeing someone,” she said with a shake of her head.

  Violet’s cheeks flushed. “Really, Mom? Could we talk about the weather or something?”

  Isaac threw his head back with a laugh and then looked around the table. “How about you locals give us some pointers before our fishing trip? If the weather holds, we’ll be headed out on the bay tomorrow.”

  Conversation carried on with Gage and Marley ably picking up the slack. Gage threw Sawyer a knowing look. Only Sawyer knew that Gage would notice he was half out of it. When Violet had introduced him to her parents, she’d hesitated when it came to saying what he was to her. Not giving a damn, he’d simply announced he was her boyfriend. She’d flushed cherry red, but she’d given his hand a squeeze.

  A bit later after Violet’s parents returned to their suite for the night and Marley and Gage were heading upstairs, Marley glanced to Sawyer. “Are you staying at our place tonight or…?” Her question trailed off as she looked between him and Violet.

  Violet glanced up, a puzzled expression in her eyes.

  “Oh, you didn’t tell her?” Marley asked.

  “Tell me what?” Violet countered.

  “I’m staying at their place while your parents are here,” he explained with a shrug.

  Violet’s eyes widened. “You mean…?”

  Marley grinned and nodded. “His suite was the only room available. If you’re wondering, he never asked me. He just volunteered to give it up and asked if he could crash on our couch. He’s pretending like we have a s
pare bedroom and technically we do, but he can’t sleep there right now, so he’s on the couch. Gage is redoing the closet in Holly’s room, so she’s in the spare room now.”

  When he looked back at Violet, her eyes had filled with tears. Marley grabbed Gage’s hand and yanked him away. “My mom’s gotta get home, so we need to get upstairs for Holly. Bye,” she called with a wave over her shoulder. Gage threw a wink Sawyer’s way and ambled along behind Marley.

  “Why didn’t you tell me you gave up your room? You didn’t have to do that,” Violet said, her voice cracking at the end. She wiped at her eyes and almost glared at him.

  “It wasn’t a big deal. I knew as well as you did, your parents’ chances of finding a place on short notice were slim. I also know there’s pretty much no space for them at your place, so it seemed like the only option. I’ve got three places to stay here, but with my stuff at the lodge, it’s easier to crash at Gage and Marley’s. Don’t make it into a big deal because it isn’t.”

  Violet was quiet for a few beats, her gorgeous blue gaze searching his. She startled him when she threw her arms around him. He was relieved he was almost back to new with his knee because he stumbled a bit with the force of her landing against him, but he managed to catch her.

  “That was the nicest thing,” she exclaimed into his neck.

  He leaned back and brushed her hair out of her eyes when she lifted her head. “Well, if this is what I get for it, I’ll keep sleeping on the couch,” he said with a chuckle.

  “Nope. You’re staying with me,” she replied with a grin.

  “I’d suggest you two get a room, but we’re booked,” Harry said as he walked past them with a tray of full wineglasses. “In the meantime, how about taking this out front?” He winked as he swept ahead and paused at a table to serve the wine.

  Violet shimmied down, the feel of her luscious curves brushing against him requiring him to adjust his jeans so as not to make his rock hard cock obvious to everyone around them. She dragged him along behind her with a firm grip on his hand. They pushed through the doors outside, and Violet came to an abrupt stop. His momentum sent him colliding against her.

  “Oh. Look,” Violet breathed, gesturing ahead.

  The rain had stopped at some point during their dinner. The light was in that in-between place of dusk, smudgy and silvery. The moon was rising behind the mountains, its light breaking through the lingering clouds and glittering on the inky water below.

  His heart clenched, something about the soft warmth of Violet against him and the light made it feel as if they were suspended in time. He slipped his arms around her waist and rested his chin on her shoulder.

  She angled her head just enough to catch his eyes. “I didn’t really ask if you minded staying with me,” she said with a sly smile.

  Without a word, he closed the distance between them and caught her lips in a kiss. “No need,” he replied as he drew back.

  Epilogue

  Violet stared at herself in the mirror. Her dark hair was tied up in a slap-dash knot with loose locks tumbling all over the place. She had a tiny handprint in blue on her cheek. With a laugh, she splashed water on her face and scrubbed at the paint. As she dried off, she heard her name and stepped out of the bathroom.

  “Over here,” she called when she saw Sawyer closing the front door behind him.

  “Where…?”

  “Marley’s out on the deck with Holly and Alec,” Violet explained quickly, knowing Sawyer was wondering where Alec was.

  Sawyer’s expression cleared, and he turned to toss his keys on the table by the door and kick off his shoes. Walking to her, he angled his head to the side, tracing the area where Alec had patted her cheek with his small hand covered in blue paint. “You missed a few spots,” Sawyer said.

  His gruff voice still had the ability to send hot shivers through her. It had been over two years since she’d admitted to herself she was head over heels in love with Sawyer. In the intervening time, he’d settled into life in Diamond Creek. Sawyer had surprised her with a proposal one afternoon at work. In the midst of her blubbering yes, he’d explained her office was where they met, so that was the only place he could propose to her. The silly romance of the gesture had sent her into a fresh round of joyous tears. That same afternoon, he’d taken her to the home he’d been building with Gage and Garrett on a piece of property adjacent to the lodge. They’d moved in a few months later when the home was complete. It was a charming Cape style home. Her fondness for the style of home came from being raised in the Northeast where Cape homes dotted every nook and cranny of the countryside. Their home was situated on the hillside above Diamond Creek, nestled into a cluster of birch with a lovely view of Kachemak Bay to one side.

  Only a year ago, they’d adopted a little boy. Sawyer Alec, who they called Alec, was a bundle of energy at just past one year old. Marley had come by this afternoon to drop off a new paint set for Alec to play with. Holly, the kindest three year old cousin a boy could have, had promptly settled in to show Alec how to paint. Hence, the paint on Violet’s cheek. She glanced up at Sawyer, and her heart clenched. “Did I?” she asked.

  “Uh huh,” he murmured with one of his slow, devastating grins that sent her belly into somersaults.

  He caught her lips in a kiss and slid his palm down her back to cup her bottom and pull her flush against him. When he drew back, the look in his eyes was decidedly wicked. Flushed inside and out, she shook her head and tried to corral the need running rampant inside. “Marley and the kids are right outside. You need to stop it,” she said, attempting to look stern.

  “Just giving you a taste of what’s to come. Later,” he said with a wink as he stepped back.

  Sawyer leaned back in his chair and looked over at Violet. She was laughing at something Marley had said, her cheeks flushed from the breeze gusting across the deck. With her hair mussed and her eyes as bright as the blue sky, his heart gave his ribs a kick, something he’d gotten accustomed to since he’d met Violet. His gaze slid sideways to where Alec was napping in his stroller. They’d discovered he slept best during the day in a stroller, so they had several scattered about the house. It was easier than lugging one all over the place. Sawyer reached for Violet’s hand, lacing his fingers with hers, and listened while she and Marley chatted about something to do with…hell, he didn’t know. He was tired from a busy day at the lodge and wasn’t paying attention to much of anything ever since he’d eaten.

  Gage’s plan to schedule hiking and other guided outdoor trips from the lodge had been a smashing success, so smashing they were now looking to hire guides on because they couldn’t keep up with the demand. Marley sister, Lacey, helped out a lot, but she was pregnant at the moment, so Sawyer had been taking on a few extra trips and today he’d taken a small group on a challenging hike up a nearby mountain peak. The group had been comprised of hardcore hikers, as such he’d had to push himself. Since leaving his career as a Navy SEAL in the rearview mirror, he found his training came in handy. He could hold his own with the best of them, but it didn’t change the fact he was still tired at the end of a hard day.

  “We’re putting Sawyer to sleep,” Marley said, her words filtering through his half-sleep.

  “Huh?” he muttered, not realizing his eyes had fallen closed until he had to open them.

  Marley laughed. “Time for me to go. Let me help clean up first.”

  Sawyer shook his head. “Nah. I’m fine, just dozed off.”

  Violet squeezed his hand, her gorgeous blue eyes landing on his, mirth flashing in her gaze. “You’re exhausted. We’ll clean up and you go shower.”

  “Do I need to shower?”

  Marley rolled her eyes. “Not unless you don’t care about the dirt streaked here and there. You’re as bad as Gage,” she said as she gathered plates from the table and headed inside.

  Violet stood and leaned over to check on Alec, adjusting the thin fleece blanket tucked over him. Sawyer stretched and stood. “I’ll put him to bed and sho
wer,” he said, unable to resist the urge to slide his hand over the lush curve of Violet’s bottom. Seeing as she was bent over in front of him, it was the obvious thing to do.

  She stood and turned to face him, one hand on her hip and her eyes twinkling. “You’re exhausted. I’ll…”

  “You will not take care of everything. I might be tired, but I can handle putting him to bed.” He dipped his head for a quick kiss and rolled the stroller inside, wondering why all parents didn’t simply leave strollers everywhere. It made for much easier carting around the house.

  Not much later, he walked out of the bathroom adjacent to their bedroom to find Violet propped up against the pillows reading a book. She was a hard-core reader, a detail he’d discovered when they moved in together. She usually had three or four books on the nightstand, not to mention an e-reader filled with hundreds of books. The soft light of late summer night filtered through the shades. He’d learned to fall asleep when it wasn’t dark, a quirk necessary for living in Alaska in the summer.

  He lifted the thin down comforter and let it drift down over them as he slipped under the sheets. Violet glanced over. “You just can’t help it. You have to do that every time,” she said with a soft laugh.

  “Yup. Can’t help it. It makes the air fresh under the covers.”

  She set her book down and reached over to flick off the light, immediately curling up against him. He lay there in the smudgy light of an Alaskan summer night with Violet’s warm, lush body tucked against him. He idly stroked her back and listened to her breathing settle into a quiet, steady rhythm. Knowing that Alec was sound asleep in the bedroom next to them, Sawyer felt a sense of peace and completeness wash over him. He heard a hitch in Violet’s breath and rolled his head to the side to find her eyes open.