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I shrugged, my eyes going from a fiery frightened death glare to nervously unsure in a beat. "I remember," I confirmed with more than a note of uncertainty. Fuck, what am I doing here? How can I possibly fit in with all of this?
Lacing his fingers in mine, Sawyer dipped his head toward me and pressed his lips to mine. "Mmm, I missed you," he whispered, his other hand glided up my back and cradled my head. "When we get in there, remember, you're all that matters to me. Hang on to that and you won't care who you meet or what they think."
I wasn't sure how he intended for me to take his comment, but it frightened the crap out of me. I had no idea what hostility I might encounter, so I wasn't sure whether his words were offered in reassurance or a warning.
Looking into his eyes, all I saw was adoration and I remembered his words from before: "We're all that matters." This centered me and although I felt somewhat unprepared for the meeting ahead, this was what Sawyer wanted, and I didn't want to let him down. He squeezed my hand after a few seconds and glanced toward the house. "Come on, it's freezing, let's get you inside.
* * *
"Mom, Dad, this is Billie," Sawyer said casually, as I drew in a deep breath and stared nervously with wide eyes at his pretty and petite mother. My heart was in my mouth. She was a beautiful lady in her mid-to-late sixties with perfectly coiffed silver hair and a slender hourglass figure.
Dressed in an electric blue satin floor length dress, she appeared chic and effortlessly elegant. I felt like I looked as if I was applying for a position as her assistant wearing my conservative black woolen pantsuit.
Narrowed hazel eyes, similar to Sawyer's, examined me for a moment before a genuine smile curved her perfect cherry lips and she stepped in for a hug. It was strong and meaningful, and a reaction I hadn't expected from someone who appeared so refined. As she did this, I was aware Sawyer hadn't let go of my hand.
"At last, we put a face to a name, right, Ronald?" she asked, sounding happy as she turned her attention to the man standing next to her. I assumed he was Sawyer's father.
With my heart beating wildly in my chest, I turned my attention to the gentleman beside her and saw he was dressed in expensive navy suit pants, a matching suit vest over a crisp white shirt, and silk, dark mustard-colored tie. When I glanced up to his face, my breath almost caught in my throat at how much Sawyer looked like him.
The only difference between the two men was that this older version looked distinguished with the smattering of silver-gray through his dark hair, and unlike Sawyer, he had the most piercing light blue eyes.
"We were beginning to think you were a figment of our son's imagination, Billie," he agreed leaning in and hugging me just as welcomingly as his wife. My immediate thought was if they'd had reservations about Sawyer being with me, they'd hidden it well.
"Ah, now that I've seen the latest woman to capture my baby brother's heart," said a man, who appeared through some open double doors to the left of the hallway. He made a show of raking his eyes over me.
This version of Sawyer was older than him but younger than his father, and I knew straight away it was his brother, James. He gave a low whistle. "Wow, hello, beautiful."
Sawyer's hand immediately tightened around mine, and I felt stunned for a moment when I considered the close similarities between Sawyer and his older brother. I couldn't help but note how close he was to my age. I'd heard about what he'd done and was prepared to hate him on sight, but I wasn't expecting him to look the way he did. How could I hate someone who looked just like the man I loved?
"James!" Both Ronald and Harriett admonished him immediately. Sawyer's hand clenched tighter around mine, and my heart cracked with the feeling of insecurity I felt through Sawyer's possessive grip. I couldn't imagine how he felt about seeing his brother together with the girl he'd lived with for six long years.
"Lovely to meet you," I smiled, directing my greeting at his parents in support of Sawyer, who'd done all the hard work by telling them about me before I arrived.
"It's a pleasure, my dear. Sawyer tells me you met over a year ago, and in his words, 'he's madly in love and has been since the first time he saw you.' I never knew my boy was such a romantic," his mom said, patting him affectionately on his shoulder.
"That's Sawyer, he falls hard," muttered James. I gave him a sideways glance, instantly disliking his casual attitude toward his brother about me. For some reason, I couldn't stop looking at him until I realized it was because of how strikingly similar they both were.
Once I got past the first impression, however, I didn't miss the ugly smirk he directed at Sawyer when he thought the rest of us weren't looking.
I chuckled as if I were amused by his comment because both Sawyer and I knew it wasn't quite as he'd relayed. "So he says," I replied in my sweetest tone, turning to look up at Sawyer with pure adoration in my eyes. James was my age, but Sawyer was everything I could have wished for and more. "I'm still in awe that he did, and it makes me a very lucky woman," I stated. I'd stopped caring about who was listening or what they might have thought of me since James's interruption.
"The money helps, right? My little brother is quite a catch." I fought to prevent the smile on my face from freezing in shock at his spiteful comment. I turned and raised an eyebrow.
Sawyer drew a breath and I shook his hand as if to say, 'I got this.' "Money or no money, your brother is everything to me." Patting his chest with my free hand, I briefly smiled up at him. "He's an incredible person and he makes me happy. James, you said?" I asked, looking to his parents as if I'd forgotten his name. Sawyer slipped a hand up my back and rested it between my shoulder blades and my gaze immediately returned to his.
"Back at you, Billie," he offered in return.
"All right, lovebirds, now that the formal introductions are done, shall we go into the great room and introduce Billie to everyone else? Or do you intend on letting all of our relatives find us in the hallway? She'll start to think she's under scrutiny if we keep her standing here much longer."
Both Harriett and Ronald laughed when Ronald took control, and he held out his hand to lead the way. As we walked toward the great room, I glanced around the grand white marble hallway and saw a central red-carpeted staircase leading to the upper floor of the house.
When we entered the large beautifully furnished area, the opulence of the room took my breath away as three large stunning lime green, golden brown and cream settees took up a large amount of the space.
The room was decorated to perfection, with large windows framed in luxury cream satin and silk drapes and deep plush area rugs that partially covered expensive dark, wooden floors. Above was an incredible ornate gold-leafed vaulted ceiling, and after I'd quickly checked out the décor, I realized all eyes in the room were on us.
Scanning the sea of smiling faces staring at us, my stomach became filled with nerves as I wondered what they were thinking. Seconds ticked by before anyone spoke and my confidence fell through the floor.
Apart from feeling like a prized show pony, the second I stepped in the room, I felt mesmerised by the other guests. Each person I looked at appeared more beautiful and refined than the last, all well-groomed, immaculately dressed and affluent, until Strings' face broke the spell.
