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I peek back at him as we walk to the front door. “Where are we going?”

“It’s a surprise.”

I purse my lips as I watch him lock the door before he’s back at my side, guiding me with a gentle hand on my back to the truck. He opens my door and holds his hand out to help me climb inside before shutting it and walking around to his side.

“If I ever meet your mama, make sure I don’t forget to compliment her on your excellent manners,” I say as he climbs behind the wheel and he laughs.

“Oh, don’t worry. I won’t let you forget.”

My heart flutters in my chest as Sawyer glances across the cab of the truck and smiles, holding his hand out to me. I take it and he pulls me closer before lacing his fingers with mine and I can’t wipe the damn smile off my face. He backs the truck out of the driveway and I settle into his side, content in a way that I can’t remember ever feeling before and as I peek up at him, I desperately want to tell him the truth about my past.

What will he think?

What will he do?

Fear swarms through me and I push it back down as I take a deep breath. I’m not going to tell him tonight. I can’t. But soon I will spill all my secrets to him and hope to God that he can accept them.

“We’re here,” he says as he pulls into a parking spot a couple blocks down from the house and I scowl at him before turning to the scene in front of us and gasping.

“Sawyer.”

We’re at the little park where he apologized to me yesterday but all the benches have been taken out and a round table sits right in front of the fountain. Twinkle lights are strung through the trees and across the garden, bathing everything in a golden light.

“I can’t believe you did this,” I whisper, glancing over at him. “It’s incredible.”

He blushes. “I’m glad you like it. At first, I planned to take you to the nicest restaurant in town but then I remembered our impromptu picnic on the road. I thought we’d recreate it and make it an official date.”

“I love it. Honestly, it’s perfect.”

Grinning, he opens his door and gets out before turning back to me and holding his hand out. I take it and let him pull me to the edge of the seat. He wraps his hands around my hips and effortlessly lifts me out of the truck before setting me down at his feet and slipping my hand through the crook of his arm. As he leads me up to the table, I notice more details and realize just how much time he spent putting this together. There are little orb lights stuck into the ground amongst the flowers and candles lined up along the outer ring of the fountain as soft music plays from a speaker set up behind the fountain. A man steps forward out of the trees and sets a cooler down at his feet. Sawyer nods in approval and without a word, he walks out to the street and jumps on a bike.

“Who was that?”

Sawyer rolls his eyes as he peels away. “Rooster. He’s a prospect for the club.”

“A what now?”

“A prospect. Basically, it means he’s doing his trial period with us now and then we’ll decide if we want to welcome him into the club.”

I nod as I glance over at the street where he was a moment ago. “Is he going to make it?”

“Honestly, I hope not. He’s kind of an asshole… but enough about him. Let’s get back to our date.”

“Okay,” I reply, looking down at the cooler. “What did you bring for us?”

He grins. “Have a seat and I’ll show you.”

Following his instructions, I sink into my chair and fight back a grin as he opens the cooler with a flourish and start pulling out sandwiches, chips, soda, and candy bars. It’s everything we had at our picnic along the side of the road and I can’t help but laugh.

“Sawyer, did you get me all dressed just to eat sandwiches?”

He shakes his head. “Hell no. I got you all dressed up so I could look at you while we eat sandwiches.”

“Mmhmm. I suppose I’ll let it slide since I get to look at you like this all evening,” I say, motioning to his outfit and he grins as he sits across from me, his face lit up by candlelight. I turn to look out at the garden and shake my head as I sigh. “I can’t believe you did all this for me.”

“I can’t believe you are so easily impressed.”

“I’m not,” I answer as I shrug and grab one of the sandwiches off the table before unwrapping it. When I glance up, he’s staring at me with an expression that is hard to read. “What?”