AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Maybe that’s why it sounds so intimate to hear it fall from Sawyer’s lips. His stupid, full, coffee- and rum-flavored lips. The lips I kissed yesterday and definitely have not thought about since then.
“Gwen?”
Crap—all this not thinking about his lips has drawn my eyes right to them. I meet his gaze and read concern in his eyes, amusement on his mouth.
“You okay over there?”
“Yeah. Fine.”
“Nice spot to watch the sunrise, isn’t it?”
I give the window another look, the brightest colors fading to orange and yellow as the sun climbs into view.
“Yeah, it is.” And then, because he feels too close and I have to remind him I don’t like him, I add, “It’s also a nice spot to read. In the quiet.”
“Point taken,” he says.
I shift in my seat and raise my book again, the steady hum of the ship’s engine drowning out the voices in my head that tell me I should talk to Sawyer. Almost. After a few pages, I dare to glance at him again.
He’s sunken into his seat, left ankle over right knee, the book open in his lap. His eyes are on the page on his left, but his index finger is already poised to turn to the next page, like he’s hungry for it, starved for more of the story, needing to devour every page.
“It’s hard to focus when you’re staring like that,” he smirks.
“I’m not staring. I’m just amazed that you actually know how to read. Or that you’re really good at faking it.”
“I don’t believe in faking things, Gwen.”
My jaw drops and I try to close my mouth before I drool. It’s a real possibility when I think about him and not faking things. It shouldn’t be a problem. I shouldn’t think about him like that, but it’s been so long since I’ve had a kiss like the one I had yesterday, and now I wonder what not faking with him would be like.
He snorts out a sigh and examines the book. “Someone told me this book was half decent, so here I am.”
“Oh.” I take the deepest breath I can, which is not very deep, because my chest won’t allow much oxygen in while it’s simultaneously tightening around my thumping heart.
“Well, I will leave you to your mediocre book then.” I close my paperback and take off, but not before I hear him say my name again, and not before I see that the book in his lap is mine.
Sawyer
I don’t believe in faking things. What the hell was that?
Flirty. Gross. Unlike me. Bad enough to scare her away.
The list could go on, but does it need to? She’s gone, and I seem like a creep. Even when I called after her, she took off. No opportunity to explain.
When it comes to explanations, I’m waiting for one, too. Her kiss came out of nowhere yesterday. It would be easy to imagine it was just part of the ruse for Denny’s benefit, which was what I thought at first, but she took off as soon as the boat docked, then disappeared for the night. That reeks of something more than a fake kiss meant to repel someone else.
I try to read more, but if Gwen’s presence this morning was distracting, her absence is brain-numbing. I can’t focus. Can’t think about anything other than what she might have been thinking when she kissed me. Can’t think about anything other than that kiss. If I’m being honest, I can’t think about anything other than her.
A change of scenery doesn’t even help. Alone in my room, all I can do is think about her. On the pool deck, in The Retreat, at the bar… all I do is scan the crowd and try to find her.
Nan recommends a few rounds of trivia, and we do well as a team. We always have, and we’ve always been close, which is why it wasn’t too unusual for her to invite me along on this trip. She likes her independence but has a hard time traveling alone anymore. Having help with bags and transportation makes things easier for her, and she knew I needed to get away.
“Are you enjoying yourself, Sawyer?” She drops her new highlighter—our prize for winning TV Theme Songs trivia—into her purse.
“Yes, of course,” I answer. “You?”
She looks at me, her lips quirking into a smile. “It’s simply terrible, vacationing with my favorite grandson.”
I roll my eyes in response. “I bet you say that to all your grandsons.”
