“I really do need to get home. I’ve gotta be at work early.” She didn’t wait for him to respond before she started walking.
He followed her, unable to convince his feet that they needed to be moving in the opposite direction. Without saying a word, he continued after her until she approached her car. Just as she was about to open the door, he put his hand on the glass, halting her.
“Sawyer,” Kennedy said in warning.
Yeah, well, he should’ve alerted her that he was long past listening to any warnings she had for him. His frustration level had hit an all-time high and he knew that his night wasn’t going to end anytime in the near future. Once she got in her car and pulled out of the parking lot, he’d be left to watch his brothers try to entertain themselves, and as much as he was looking forward to that—which he absolutely wasn’t—he was looking forward to this more.
Placing his hand on her shoulder, Sawyer gently urged her to turn and face him. Surprisingly, she didn’t try to fight him.
They were less than a foot apart and Sawyer closed that gap without thinking. “For the record, I was at home. That’s the honest-to-God truth, Kennedy.”
“So you didn’t go to the resort?” she asked, her voice low, her eyes locked with his.
“I went to the resort, but I didn’t stay,” he explained honestly. It wouldn’t make sense to lie to her.
“Why would you?” she snapped. “It’s not like you’re the overnight kinda guy, are you?”
Rather than defend himself, Sawyer did something he’d dreamed about doing since the day he saw that she was back in Coyote Ridge.
He kissed her.
With his palm cupping her face, Sawyer leaned in slowly, brushing his lips against hers briefly. His brain screamed for him to stop, and he knew he should probably move his hand to protect his junk because any minute now, Kennedy’s knee was going to get quite intimate with it, but Sawyer just couldn’t help himself.
When she didn’t push him away, or knee him in the balls, Sawyer pressed his lips against hers more firmly. And when she sighed against his mouth, he inhaled her breath before delving his tongue between her lips. His other hand joined the first, holding her head, tilting it ever so slightly so he could deepen the kiss. She tasted so fucking sweet. Sweeter than he’d even imagined, and holy fuck had he imagined. So many times.
At first, her lips were firm and she just stood there, allowing him to do all the work, but then her hands slid up beneath his jacket, her fingernails raking up his back as her tongue met his. His brain splintered, the overwhelming intensity of her kiss nearly knocked him off his feet. It took everything in him to remain upright while he devoured her, tasting, searching, teasing.
Holy fuck she tasted good.
Sliding his hands beneath her hair, Sawyer palmed her head, holding Kennedy to him. All the wicked things he wanted to do to this woman came to the forefront of his brain, making him hard as fucking steel and as eager as a teenage boy. She was kissing him back, no longer hanging on to that barrier of control she was known to keep wrapped around her like a shield of armor.
When air became a necessary resource, Sawyer pulled back, staring down into her wide gray eyes. He couldn’t find his voice, unsure what he was supposed to say to her now. It wouldn’t be in his best interest to remind her that she should’ve been pulling away and running as fast as she could.
After all, that was exactly what she’d done for the last year, once he’d ramped up his attempt to pursue her.
“What was that?” Kennedy asked, her voice a breathless whisper.
“Hopefully, it was the first of many kisses to come,” he mumbled softly. He didn’t want to scare her. She was like a timid animal, just waiting for him to lunge so she could cower away from him. But with his hands still fisted in her hair, she wasn’t going anywhere.
“Why?” she asked dubiously.
“Why what?”
“Why’d you kiss me?”
“Because I’ve wanted to for years.” Since that first day he saw her in the grocery store after she’d returned home from college.
“Kennedy?” Approaching the woman from the side, Sawyer was trying to figure out whether or not his brain was playing tricks on him.
“Yes?” she asked primly, turning to face him.
Sawyer noticed the anger that flashed in her pretty eyes, but she quickly masked it. “I . . . uh . . .” Shit, Sawyer had no idea what he wanted to say to this woman. As it was, he couldn’t stop staring, mentally noting every single difference from the last time he’d seen her at their high school graduation.
This woman, who he was still trying to tie back to that girl from high school, wasn’t wearing her hair in a tight ponytail or a bun on the top of her head, nor was she wearing thick black glasses or carrying an armful of books. No, this woman, with her long, wavy auburn hair, was nothing like that girl. She was . . . Holy fuck, she was hot.