Chain of Command (18 page)

“I’m a pretty big guy.” But she wasn’t wrong. Rob had sacrificed his life and wouldn’t have hesitated to save one more person, especially him.

“You know I’m right.” Kat tapped the pen end over end. “He talked about you, you know?”

Not a surprise since they’d spent so much time together there at the end. “I can only imagine what he said.”

“Talked you up to Hailey.”

Now that was news. Sawyer leaned forward. “You’re saying she knew who I was to Rob right from the beginning?”

“You were just one in a long line of matchmaking attempts by Rob.”

“He never said anything to me about...” All those times he mentioned her name. “I mean, he talked about Hailey but I thought...well, damn.” No question Rob had talked Hailey up. Sawyer just hadn’t gotten it at the time. Now he did.

“With you he was more subtle. I think that’s because he really wanted you two to be together. He liked you and respected you.”

That wasn’t the real question, so Sawyer asked it. “How did he feel about the other guys?”

“They could protect her.” With a careful slow touch Kat put the pen down. “He knew you could love her.”

Sawyer waited for the word to screech in his head. He’d had a lifetime of putting his personal list second to military life. Dating meant sex and talk of more had him heading for the door. But this time nothing happened. The lack of a denial had him swallowing back an unexpected lump of panic in his throat, and he did not panic. Ever.

He pushed all that confusion aside and tried to be practical. “Not to doubt the romance of it all, but we sat and talked in between raids and gun battles. Not exactly candy and flowers moments.”

“You showed him who you are and what you believed.” Kat smiled. “And he knew you’d be perfect for Hailey.”

Sawyer didn’t touch the truth of that one and ignored the smile. “He clearly never bothered to tell her that.”

Kat threw up her hands. “Hey, he made the introductions happen. It’s up to you to close the deal.”

“I’m not sure what to say to that.” He really wanted to ask how to do that deal thing...once he figured out if that’s what he even wanted.

But Kat seemed to know. “Decide fast because the sooner you do, the sooner you can figure out the personal and business parts of your relationship with her.”

Everything came down to that. The personal mess versus the business mess. “We’re keeping those separate.”

Kat rolled her eyes. “I have faith you’ll soon figure out that’s not going to work.”

That was not the answer he expected. “Because?”

“Oh, no. You’ve got to work this out yourself.” Kat picked up the pen again and pointed it at him. “The good news is my money’s on you.”

Chapter Eighteen

Moving day. Hailey stood in the middle of the front lawn, drinking in the warm sunshine as she took it all in. Her property could only be described as a madhouse. Barkley jumped and barked and raced after the men every time one of them carried something from the house to the truck parked in the driveway. Jessie played traffic cop, guiding everyone around, and Kat stood on the porch watching it all while she talked business with Molly.

Hailey loved every minute of the chaos. People talking and laughing and working together. It felt right and comfortable. She had to credit Sawyer for delivering it to her doorstep. He’d brought many of these people into her life. People who made her laugh and roll her eyes while she listened to them smack-talk all afternoon.

She’d always been a big believer in family being about the people you collected and would do anything to protect. Sawyer lived the theory.

He also provided quite the show. The way his jeans rode low on his hips and the very top of the band of his underwear would peek out now and then. He was just so...guyish. Kind of rough and tumble but sweet on the inside and an expert with his hands in the bedroom. She loved every minute of all of that.

Unfortunately, she was starting to love a lot about him. Too much. Maybe getting too close too fast. But having a front row seat while he crouched down and lifted boxes helped ease her mind about the scary road she’d started traveling down when it came to her feelings for him.

At first she couldn’t believe how much stuff Jessie had stored here. Stuff she’d worried about leaving in an empty house. She’d talked about the possibility of a break-in but Hailey suspected her friend worried Pete would find his way in. Hailey hated that the fear existed but she secretly wished Jessie had brought over some furniture because then she could watch Jason, Marcus and Sawyer haul things around for hours and never look away.

Jessie whipped Barkley’s slobbery ball into the woods and came to stand next to Hailey. “You’re staring.”

Hailey knew that and felt no shame over watching Sawyer bend down to tie the lace on his sneaker. “Blame him.”

“For being hot?”

Over-the-top hot. Hailey even found the way he stood there, hands on hips as he debated the finer points of lifting with Marcus, hot. “Sure. Why not?”

“Happy to see you’re standing firm and not falling for him. The whole no-more-military-men-for-me stance kind of took a nosedive, didn’t it?” The last of her sentence almost got buried under Barkley’s frantic barking as he stared at the ball he’d dropped at Jessie’s feet. She reached down and threw it a second time.

Hailey didn’t really have a comeback, so she went with the obvious. “Shut up.”

Jessie did nothing to hide her laugh. “That’s what I thought.”

A blur of movement caught Hailey’s attention. She watched as Jason followed Molly into the house, closing the door just in time before Barkley made a run for the kitchen. That could only mean one thing—an argument loomed.

Molly had described what had happened with Jason. The near misses and seeing the other women come out of his bedroom. She acted like whatever attraction she’d once possessed had long disappeared. Hailey knew better. Those two were headed for an explosion. She just hoped it didn’t happen in her house. Not here and not today. They needed privacy and time without everyone hanging around.

Of course, Molly wasn’t the only one racing into danger. If the churning in her gut was any indication, Hailey had a bullet-train seat for the same sort of heartache. “You should be warning me away from him.”

“I’m your friend.”

“Exactly.”

“I want you to be happy.” Jessie pointed at Sawyer. “That man can make it happen.”

Sawyer was busy resting on his knees and petting Barkley but Hailey grabbed her friend’s hand and lowered it anyway. She could pick Sawyer out of a crowd without any help.

“He’s not easy.” Easy on the eyes and easy to be with, but their relationship came with baggage.

“The ones worth keeping never are.”

That answer struck Hailey as too simple. She’d heard that line from a lot of female friends over the years. Never from a guy. “Are you sure that’s not something we tell ourselves to justify getting into difficult relationships?”

“As someone who just escaped a difficult relationship, I’m telling you Sawyer is a keeper.”

Guilt smacked into Hailey. Here she stood, whining over things that seemed insignificant compared to not feeling safe. “Jessie, I’m sorry I—”

“No worries.” Jessie waved off the apology. “But promise me you’ll give him a chance.”

Hailey watched Sawyer throw Barkley’s ball. He even did that with a certain level of expertise. “I already am.”

“Yeah, I know.” Jessie smiled. “I just wanted to see if you realized it.”

“I do now.”

Sawyer loaded the last of the boxes into the back of the truck. Laughter carried across the yard and he followed it back to its source. Hailey. She stood with her hand over her mouth as Jessie said something that had them both doubling over.

Their happiness proved infectious. Sawyer saw Hailey’s huge smile and the way she threw her head back while Barkley jumped up on her legs, and immediately a strange sense of calm moved through him. All the worries and concerns dropped away.

The money didn’t matter. The bills and the gun range ceased to be his focus. This moment was about her.

“So you know,” Marcus started as he dumped a duffel bag in the truck. “You stopped working and are two seconds away from drooling.”

There was no use denying it. Marcus noticed everything and Sawyer made no moves to hide his staring anyway. “Oh, I know.”

Marcus leaned against the truck as he folded his arms in front of him. “You still keeping your distance from Hailey?”

“I was never doing that.” No way he could pretend on that score either. The attraction beat between them until Sawyer heard it like a drumbeat.

“I meant emotional distance.”

“You know about stuff like that?” Definitely not his area of expertise. He usually slammed the brakes on long before that became a possibility. Or he did with every woman up until Hailey. Something about her wormed its way past her defenses and he’d been scrambling ever since.

“Fuck no. Sounded like something Molly might say, so I tried it.”

Sawyer stood with Marcus, watching Kat bring out a tray of drinks and maneuver her way toward the porch steps. Sawyer dropped his hands out of his jeans pockets and took a step toward the women to help when Marcus grabbed his arm.

“Hey, I need to tell you something.” He shifted in front of Sawyer, blocking the view of the women and the house. “Before I came over an email came in from the sheriff’s office.”

Sawyer thought that might be the worst sentence ever. “That sounds ominous.”

“It is.”

“Shit.” The temptation to ignore this news and continue enjoying the perfect spring weather and the view of Hailey hit hard. But that wasn’t his style...unfortunately. “What now?”

“Same thing only now it’s in writing. He attached an official letter. We’ll have to go back through the paperwork and the approval process if we don’t get the property issue settled soon.” Marcus caught Barkley’s front paws as he made a running leap for the groin area. “The sheriff didn’t exactly say it but it’s clear there’s no guarantee he’ll approve it a second time. Not with the pressure that’s coming down from developers who want the land for other uses.”

That amounted to big-time pressure. Sawyer hadn’t seen anyone lurking around the property, except him, but that could explain the broken fence. He had mentally blamed Pete because that made the most sense, but anyone who wanted to scare her away or come on to her property to look around or take some measurements might also have a reason to rip up the fence.

He didn’t like the idea of her being in the middle of any of that, especially now that she’d be living alone. “Have they approached Hailey?”

“I got the sense from something Kat said that Hailey deals with new offers almost weekly.”

“Damn.” Maybe Kat was right. Maybe separating out the issues could only backfire.

This news was the kind of thing he’d know about if they were a normal couple who talked about normal things that happened during the day. Instead, except for a few isolated times, they danced around the property issue and talked in circles to avoid the topic.

“But this place is perfect.” Marcus pushed off from the truck and turned around in a slow circle. “Those back acres away from the house have a natural shield thanks to the slope.”

“Yeah, I know.” Sawyer hadn’t rushed into his decision about the property. He’d come back from Afghanistan and studied it. Looked over other plots, went out with real estate agents and walked over many acres. Every time he tried another place, his mind went back to this one.

Marcus cleared his throat. “A little advice?”

Seemed strange taking advice from the guy who couldn’t even admit the name of his current boyfriend out loud, but okay. “Sure.”

“If it comes down to the gun range being here or getting her, pick her.” Marcus looked over his shoulder and nodded in Hailey’s direction.

Sawyer never thought he’d care about anything more than this restart and bringing the people he cared about together. Giving them all a purpose and a place, not to mention a salary. Until Hailey. “Are you matchmaking?”

“I’ve known you a long time. You’ve been unsettled and wandering, a bit fucked up at times thanks to all that guilt you carry around.” Sawyer started to talk but Marcus cut him off again. “But with her you’re different. Less restless.”

All true. Marcus found the words for everything Sawyer felt. “She doesn’t take my shit.”

“Which is exactly what you need in a woman.”

Sawyer agreed but since this seemed like a good time to steer the conversation in another direction, he tried. “Speaking of dating.”

“Hold that thought while I track Jason down. We should get the stuff over to Jessie’s place so we can unload.” Marcus looked at the house. “Last I saw him he was following Molly.”

And Sawyer remembered seeing his sister go inside. “That sounds bad.”

“With those two it usually is these days.”

* * *

Molly stood at the kitchen sink and washed the few plates stacked in there. She needed to keep her hands busy. The cleaning also kept her mind off the man standing three feet away, glaring at her back.

Other than the trickle of the running water and clanking of plates, there hadn’t been a sound in the kitchen since he’d walked in behind her. She refused to turn around or launch the first volley. If he had something to say, he should be a man and say it.

Footsteps echoed in the small space. Then he was beside her. Watching her. “Is the plan to avoid me forever?”

“I was outside talking with Kat.” And ignoring him. Yes, that happened. A bit juvenile but looking at him touched off a longing and talking with him right now made her want to hit him. The back and forth inside her drove her nuts.

He turned to lean with his butt against the counter, facing her. “Are you going to work for Kat? She’s an excellent cook.”

This Molly could do. Mundane and civilized allowed her to hold it together, at least for a short time. “It’s more about the job. With her I’d be able to take over the management. She wants to concentrate on the food.”

“Sounds like a good match.”

“Yep.” Molly reached up to turn on the water and rinse the soap off her hands.

He pushed in front of her, blocking her access and putting his body between her and the counter. “Please stop.”

“What?” But she knew. She could hear the exhaustion in his voice and it mirrored the sensation running through her.

He put his hands on her elbows and pulled her into him until her damp hands rested against his chest. It was tight and intimate and her heartbeat took off on a merry chase.

Damn him.

“I’m sorry for being a dick.” The tone sounded both sad and genuine.

But she’d been dragged under by him so many times. She fought the pull. “Do you even know why I’m angry?”

“Yes.” His gaze searched her face then he made a wincing expression. “Okay, not really. The point is I hate the distance thing.”

She flattened her palms, thinking to push away but she ended up pinned to his chest. The exact opposite of what her splintered attention needed. “Call it self-preservation.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

Her shoulders fell as the fight drained out of her. “You’re so clueless.”

“You can also stop with the name-calling. Talk to me.”

No, that wouldn’t work. She couldn’t find the right words to make him understand. So, she went with the one thing that might.

Before he could balk or pull away she shifted her hands to his cheeks then slipped her fingers up and through his hair. She leaned in until her mouth touched his. Not a quick tap. No, this was a kiss made to prove a point. She savored the feel of his mouth under hers, knowing this could be the last time.

The heat built and he kissed her back. Brushing his mouth over hers, deepening the touch of their lips while his hands went to her waist. The intoxicating taste of him went to her head and she pulled back to keep from leading him down the hall to the nearest bedroom.

When she opened her eyes again he was staring down at her. Not happy. Not pissed off. More like fighting off a hefty case of shock and awe.

His eyes narrowed. “I don’t—”

“Wait.” The footsteps registered first. The same heavy thudding she’d been hearing for years. She jumped back, putting a few needed feet between her body and Jason’s.

A second later Sawyer’s formidable frame filled the doorway. He looked back and forth between them. “Is there a problem in here?”

“Just talking.” She was amazed her voice stayed steady since her hands shook.

He took another step, putting him right in the middle of everything. “Are you sure?”

Some days the big brother protective thing shifted to hyperdrive and her patience buckled. With her body still trembling from the force of the kiss, this happened to be one of those times when the questions annoyed her. “Maybe I should start asking you about Hailey.”