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“True. Very true. Here.”
He reached out a hand, mostly paint-free, and gently ran two fingers over the tip of her nose in an effort to at least remove this little bit of paint. His hands were rough and warm, big enough that she felt swamped with them so close to her. Her breath hitched as his fingers touched her skin, and Sawyer noticed her reaction at the same time she did, freezing in midair. Why did time keep seeming to stop when she was around him, especially now when she could feel her face turning red for a whole other reason than being covered in paint? Desperate to break the tension, to pretend that what was happening wasn’t happening, Josie smeared some paint across Sawyer’s chin.
“Gotcha,” she said, kind of lamely, but at least the spell was broken.
“You did,” he said, laughing awkwardly and taking several steps back, hands behind him like he was a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar. “I clearly lost this battle.”
“Don’t sweat it,” Josie said, unable to look him in the eye. Suddenly she could feel every morsel of paint on her, down her back and in her hair, and it made her want to peel her skin off.
“Better go spray myself off with the hose,” she said, flexing her fingers and shuffling her feet, suddenly full of fidgets. “Looks like a murder scene out here.”
“I’ll clean up this mess,” Sawyer said, looking just as awkward as she felt as he looked over the scaffolding and the trail of red footprints scattered over the ground. “Scrub all this off so the old man doesn’t charge damages, you know?”
“Sounds good,” said Josie and promptly left, making her way to the side of the house where a high-pressure garden hose was calling her name.
Josie’s breath came in short bursts that had nothing to do with sprinting around the barn chasing after Sawyer. What was she doing? She had never been good at sticking to resolutions, New Year’s or otherwise, but she couldn’t last a few hours without completely abandoning her decision to keep things between her and Sawyer as distant and professional as possible?
Turning on the hose and starting with spraying off her hands and feet, she suddenly felt very stupid. Very stupid and kind of guilty too. There was a reason she’d promised herself to step back from whatever charm Sawyer had. Luke had had such a hard time admitting that he needed Sawyer’s help to fix the place up for sale. She’d seen him agonize over calling him fordaysbefore Sandy had pretty much forced him to pick up the phoneand get it over with. Even now, any conversation between the brothers was clipped and forced as they did their best to get along in such awkward circumstances.
Adding unnecessary feelings into the mix would make the whole situation ten times worse than it needed to be. She would have to do better. She would clean up and start fresh and stay away from Sawyer Butler as best as she could.
CHAPTER 7
SAWYER
Sawyer woke up in his old bed, which was far too small for him these days, in his old home and while staring at the ceiling, he decided he was going to make a New Year’s resolution. It didn’t have to be January for that sort of thing, right? It wasn’t even the first of the month, but it didn’t have to be the start of a calendar year to start fresh, make a promise, set a goal?
Whether it counted as a New Year’s resolution didn’t really matter because the resolution itself was very simple.
Do not get involved with Josie.
See? Simple. He would chant it like a mantra in his head all day long. It would be his new mission in life because there was no way he was staying in Willow Ridge, not when he’d worked so hard to get out and stay out. He didn’t fit here anymore, and it was getting more obvious by the day that whatever Sawyer-shaped hole he’d left behind had been filled in long ago. There was nowhere for him, no space.
So hecouldn’tget involved with Josie Moore. It wasn’t practical because he wasn’t staying here, and there was no way she would move to the city for him. Would she? No, she loved her horses and her friends, and she loved this whole place. She was made for it, unlike Sawyer. And seeing her in the city day after day would be like seeing a tiger in a cage that is too small. Not that asking her to move with him would ever be on his mind. He’d known her less than a week. And there was no way that he thought they could be anything serious. Impossible. It would just be another fling like always, another one-night stand like he was known for.
Sawyer flung the too-small blankets off of him, his feet stretched out and touching the end of the bed, and let out a deep breath, watching the morning light crawl across the faded paint on the ceiling.
What was the point of lying to yourself in your own head? Josie was… great. There was no denying that. Anyone within a half-mile radius of her could see that. She had the biggest smile he’d ever seen on a person and Sawyer had no doubt that you could tell her to fix the Golden Gate Bridge with nothing but some duct tape and pipe cleaners, and she would just shrug and get to work without complaint. Well, maybe a few complaints, but she’d still get the job done. Not to mention, she was fearless. Yesterday she had tackled him, orattemptedto anyways, without hesitation. She hadn’t been afraid to have fun with him, and God, when was the last time Sawyer had had fun that wasn’t some sort of party, swimming in alcohol and surrounded by guests whose bank accounts were their main personality feature.
Sawyer got out of bed because if he stayed lying there, all he was going to do was keep on thinking about Josie, which went against his new resolution. He wasn’t going to get involved withher. He would enjoy the pleasure of her company while he was here. He’d get the place spruced up so Luke could sell it off, and then he would go home.
Because this wasn’t home anymore.
After breakfast, with the sun an appropriate height in the sky, Sawyer was in the passenger seat of Josie’s truck as they drove into the fields to fix more fences. How such a small woman could drive such a big truck was beyond him, but he kept his mouth shut because she was doing a good job of it. Maybe she had superpowers or something. That would explain a lot.
He wasn’t going to admit it out loud, but he had been kind of looking forward to the workday. When they had fixed the fences at the front of the farm, it had been a breeze. Working in tandem with Josie, they had gotten the job done easy as pie. The back of the property was a different story, though. If the fences up front had been neglected, then these looked vandalized. Some planks had rotted, still hanging on for dear life by a single rusty nail, while others had just fallen clean off and were laying on the ground. And Sawyer was certain that one panel was scorched black because it had been hit by lightning.
Josie seemed cheerful, though she was always cheerful, as they got to it. But Sawyer felt a heavy cloud settle over him, ruining any sort of good mood he’d had. He could see now how far the ranch had fallen, how impossible the upkeep must have been, and there were hardly even any cattle to look after anymore. Collecting tools and obediently following Josie around, he saw himself letting loose at parties, being applauded by stadiums full of people, living on top of the world… meanwhile, this had beenthe state his family home had come to. No wonder Luke hated him.
His mood didn’t help the work go smoothly; quite the opposite. Sawyer nearly trapped his thumb between two planks of wood and, already annoyed at that, dropped a hammer an inch away from his foot. The last thing he needed right now was to break a hand or a foot and be in recovery for months. His manager and coach would have his head for being reckless, not to mention if he got injured over something so stupid, he’d let the whole team down for the upcoming season. All over a stupid fence. A stupid fence that never should have gotten into this state in the first place.
Instead of swearing up a storm, he took a deep breath with his eyes closed, counting down from five. He didn’t like being angry, and he especially didn’t like being angry in front of people. Sawyer didn’t want anyone to be scared of him, to flinch when he raised his hand or his voice. So he counted backwards and breathed and tried to let it go as quietly as possible.
When he opened his eyes, Josie was watching him from the other side of the fence.
“You okay?” she asked, her voice soft like she was talking to one of her horses.
Sawyer nodded his head but kept quiet, willing the last of his frustration to leave, to evaporate harmlessly into the air. He didn’t want to be angry in front ofanybody, but the last person in the world he wanted to see his anger was Josie. She deserved nothing but the brightest things in the world.
