Page 41 of Sparks Fly

Sawyer gave a small shrug. “It’s just true.”

When the check arrived, Sawyer reached for it without hesitation and simply said, “You’ve had a hell of a day. Let me buy you dinner.”

As we stood to leave, warm and full and buzzing from the easy conversation, I realized something quietly solid had shifted and I felt unexpectedly grateful that this was how the night had turned out.

* * *

13

Sawyer

I never expected my night to end like this.

With Addison pressed tight to my back on the ride home. I was pleasantly surprised when she told me she’d gotten a car instead of driving herself to the restaurant, so I could offer her a ride home.

Now her arms were snug around my waist, her cheek pressing between my shoulder blades. The city blurred into amber and blue around us as the engine hummed low beneath the bike, but most of what I noticed was her.

The ride ended outside her condo sooner than I wanted it to, and when I cut the engine the quiet rushed in immediately. Addison didn’t move right away. Her arms stayed looped around my waist for an extra few seconds as though neither of us was quite ready to step back into regular life.

Eventually she slid off the bike and pulled the helmet free, shaking her hair loose as she stepped back onto the sidewalk. Her cheeks were flushed from the wind and the ride, and when she looked at me she bit her bottom lip before smiling softly.

“Thanks for the ride,” she said as she tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

“Anytime,” I replied while swinging one leg off the bike and standing beside her.

We lingered outside for a moment.

“You want to come up?” Her voice sounded casual, but her eyes held a hopeful edge that made it impossible to say no.

“Yeah, I do,” I said and followed her inside.

Her place looked exactly the way I imagined it would. Warm and thoughtfully arranged. Everything looked intentional without trying too hard.

She kicked her heels off the second she walked through the door. Bridal shower invitations were spread neatly across the console table, and a candle she clearly burned regularly left the room smelling like vanilla layered over something expensive and subtle.

“I’m gonna change,” she said, tugging lightly at the fabric of her dress. “I need real clothes.”

The smirk she gave me after that did something unfair to my nervous system.

“Make yourself comfortable,” she added before heading down the hallway.

I toed my boots off by the door and lined them up beside her heels, mostly because her apartment looked like the kind of place where people didn’t accidentally scuff hardwood floors.

I sat down on the couch and glanced around while I waited. There were little pieces of her everywhere once I actually looked for them. A stack of design magazines fanned across the coffee table with sticky notes poking out of a few pages. Framed photos crowded the shelf by the window.

Addison came back, the dress was gone, replaced by tiny sleep shorts and a thin cami that looked soft enough to ruin my concentration completely. Her hair was piled into a messy knot now, pieces falling loose around her face like she hadn’t bothered checking a mirror on the way out.

She looked different like this. A little messy and softer around the edges. Which somehow made her even hotter.

“You okay?” she asked, catching me staring.

“Yeah,” I said too fast, straightening a little. “Totally.”

Her mouth twitched like she knew exactly what I’d been looking at.

“You want a drink?” she asked as she wandered toward the kitchen. “I’ve got wine. Whiskey. Whatever.”

She opened one of the cabinets and pulled out a bottle that caught my attention immediately because it was the exact whiskey I always drank.