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Chapter Eighteen
During the journey to the Hilton, Cherri filled me in about herself. She'd had limited life chances and revealed she had never owned a cell phone because according to her, her mom and she were "poor as dirt."
Saving Cherri was the last thing I'd envisioned when I'd climbed up onto the tour bus, but I hadn't expected to find a girl in trouble there, either.
Fortunately for her, my mothering instinct kicked in and the guy she was with behaved like an ass at the precise moment I was present. With each mile of distance I put between Cherri and Wiggy, I knew I'd done the right thing.
* * *
Luckily for Cherri, her uncle, Stan, was full of concern. Not only had he wanted to go after the guy who'd taken Cherri away from home, but he was also worried she had been harmed.
Cherri reassured him she was well, using the shoes Wiggy bought to demonstrate how well he'd considered her needs. I almost scoffed at her comment, but kept my mouth closed because I knew deep down the girl was saving face, and I could understand that.
Clearing out every bill in my purse and the emergency stash from my wallet, I passed all six hundred and eighty- four dollars to her. At first, she was reluctant, and a flash of shame flitted across her face until I reminded her she needed her fare to get back to her mother. When I asked if she wanted her uncle to pay, she shook her head and hugged me.
Sawyer hung back while we talked, then I saw him walk over to the front desk. When he struck up a conversation with the young, pretty front desk attendant, it was clear to see how attracted she was to him.
As they spoke, her body language communicated her interest as she smoothed her hair, touched her lips with her fingertips, and mirrored his movement when he cocked his head.
An uneasy feeling settled in my stomach again, not because I saw her as competition, but because I felt that from Sawyer's perspective she should be.
My confidence had been shaken by the junkie on the bus, and if I was honest, by the tour bus itself. It had made me imagine wild nights with groupies and copious amounts of alcohol. It was a life I'd never been exposed to and one I knew I didn't want Colby around.
When Cherri and her uncle left, I knew that was the easy part of my extra trip that day, and I took a deep breath, dug deep for some courage, and wandered across to Sawyer.
"Hey." There was no hint of malice or frustration as he leaned in and pressed a kiss to my lips.
"I've checked us in here for tonight. We're not going back to the bus." Hearing what he'd done filled my body with relief because I'd been preparing to tell him I wasn't going back. I smiled, grateful for his perception and how willing he was to make me feel valued after everything that had happened earlier in the day. At least he had the maturity to know the scene I'd walked into had left me feeling inadequate and unable to relate to.
Glancing back toward the front desk clerk, I didn't miss the narrowed, suspicious way she regarded me and instead of playing down my involvement with Sawyer, I slipped a hand under his jacket and snaked it around his waist.
"Thank you," I replied gratefully. I pressed another kiss to his lips.
"Remind me to make you grateful more often," he teased, as he wrapped his arms around me. My weekend bag crashed to the floor and he held me with his hands clasped at my lower back. "I think it's time we got this visit back on track. What do you say?" he asked, his eyebrow raised in amusement. I had plenty to say, mostly that I didn't feel I deserved him and what the fuck was I doing? I kept those thoughts to myself and nodded.
Leading me into the elevator, he pressed the keycard against the pad and selected the twentieth floor. When we entered the hotel room, Sawyer placed the card in the socket by the bathroom door and turned on all the lights. The room we'd been given was quite the opposite of the one on the bus that had made me feel dirty and degraded.
"It's perfect," I mumbled. I dropped my bag and wandered across the mini-suite. Looking out from the high floor gave me a feeling of calm. "Thank you for understanding," I said, turning to face him with an apologetic smile on my face. Shrugging off his jacket, he threw it on the California king-sized bed.
"I didn't at first …" His brow creased as he thought about it. "Understand," he clarified. "Perhaps because touring this way has been my life for so long. Living with my bandmates is just part of the deal, I mean, but I get it. I should never have suggested you come with us. It's probably the worst idea I've had in a while." He snickered as his arms wrapped around my body again. He turned me to stand my back to his front and I looked out of the window again. "Guess I didn't want to wait until the tour was over to see you again."
The words had barely left his mouth before he pulled my sweater aside and peppered kisses between my shoulder and my neck. Turning back to face him, I kissed him properly this time, with all the passion I had in me. Moments later we tore eagerly at each other's clothing, peeling recklessly at each layer in our effort to reach the warm smooth flesh we both longed to touch.
"So fucking beautiful," Sawyer whispered, his voice almost breaking, the desire evident in his tone. "Let me love you," he muttered in a husky voice, and his choice of words temporarily stunned me. I felt the weight of his penetrative stare, which conveyed how much he meant his words. Too soon.
My mind shunned his comment, thinking it had been a throwaway comment in the heat of the moment, but my heart immediately yearned for it to be true. Despite everything that had happened between us with his absence and my horrible experience with his bandmates, I knew I felt the same.
Once undressed, Sawyer gently stroked over every inch of me in a deliberate attempt to smooth the tensions from my day. It felt soothing at first but this quickly turned amorous. The way he made me forget my past, feel desired, and filled me with hope and desire was unlike anything I'd known before.
Even though I'd only been in Sawyer's attentive company for a short amount of time, I felt adored and he'd showered me with affection. It taught me Logan hadn't loved me in the way I was meant to be loved. For these reasons alone, I'd already decided if this attraction between us wasn't forever, at least I would know how it felt to be desired thanks to Sawyer's apparent unbridled lust.
The way he took me in bed this time was slow and tender. It felt almost too intimate when his studious lust-filled eyes stared intensely to mine. They'd held the same heavy look of desire as the first time we'd been together, but they were soul searching at the same time.
Afterward, we lay silently and continued to look at one another in the afterglow, while the connection between us felt strong. Sawyer continued to touch me like he couldn't help himself and gently drew his fingertips up and down my back.
About ten minutes later, I watched him swallow hard and take in a deep breath before he shifted up on one elbow and looked down at me with a serious expression on his face. "I know you think I'm crazy, but if I told you I was in love with you, would it freak you out? If I'm being truthful, I'm freaking myself out a little."
My heart stuttered and then leaped wildly, but his words explained so clearly why Sawyer had slowed everything down and I'd felt worshipped when we'd had sex this time. I knew if he was willing to put himself on the line, then I should at least be honest about my feelings as well.
