Page 63 of His for the Holiday

29

HAWK

Although I wanted to, I didn’t spend the night with Sutton. David would be bringing Winnie home soon, I was sure, and I didn’t want to intrude on the conversation they were definitely going to have to have when she got here.

I kissed Sutton soundly after doing up my pants, and I smiled against her lips and let my mouth linger against hers. “I’ve got to go. I’ve got something to take care of tonight, but take it easy, alright?”

“Alright,” she agreed softly, her fingertips light on my jaw. “Are you sure you don’t want to stay?”

“I want to, but I can’t,” I said. “Winnie will be home soon, yes?”

She let out a long exhale through her nostrils, nodded, and stepped away from me. “That doesn’t mean you have to leave.”

“But it does,” I said softly. She fastened her belt. I reached out and curled my fingers around the leather, using my grip on it to tug her back into me. “We’ll talk later, okay?”

She giggled, her eyes on mine. She groaned and dropped her head to my chest. “We’ll talk later. I wish you were staying.”

“Same here.”

After dropping a final kiss on top of her head, I released her, swigged the last of my whiskey, and pulled on my jacket. I walked to the door. Sutton waved and I waved back, then quickly left before I decided to stay.

Things were complicated enough for her today. I didn’t want to make it worse by sticking around until David and Winnie got back. Sutton and I would have time to talk about all the things we needed to talk about, but if I’d stayed, we’d have wound up having all those conversations tonight.

With each other. With Winnie. With David.

I hurried away from their house and headed to a bar downtown. I grinned when I found Luke sitting at the counter. It was perfect because I really needed someone other than my sister to talk to right now.

As I dropped into the chair next to my friend’s, he didn’t even look at me before he laughed. “It’s funny. Aggie and I have been around my parents for a few years now, but hers fly in, and all of a sudden, I can’t get out of the house fast enough.”

I chuckled and nodded at the bartender when he glanced at me. As he reached for a glass to pour my drink, I turned to Luke. “Want to talk about it?”

“No, but Thanksgiving needs to get here. Right now.”

“Soon,” I said. “It’s on Thursday, so it’ll be here before you know it.”

“Yeah, but it’s only Monday.”

I laughed. “Is it really that bad?”

“Yes,” he said, taking another large sip of his beer. “I don’t think they’ve ever forgiven me for moving Aggie out here and having their grandchildren grow up so far away from the city. Anyway, how are things with you?”

“Let’s just say you’re not the only one under pressure at the moment,” I admitted and practically grabbed my drink when the bartender set it down on the pocked wooden counter. “I’m under some serious pressure myself, but the cause of mine isn’t flying home on Sunday.”

“Aren’t you flying home on Sunday?” he asked, peering at me over the rim of his glass. “I thought you said you were only in town for Thanksgiving, though I heard some interesting stuff through the local rumor mill.”

“Such as?”

“Such as you’re buying your dad’s company and moving back home,” he said. “There might also have been something about finally pulling your head out of your ass when it comes to Sutton Ashbury.”

I thought it over for a moment before I shrugged. “For once, the local rumor mill seems to have gotten it right.”

His eyes nearly bulged out of his head. “Are you serious? You’re moving home to be with Sutton and to take over the port?”

“Something like that, except I’m not taking over the port,” I said. “I’m also not moving back to be with Sutton. Our situation is a little more complicated than that.”

“Does she know you want to be with her?”

“Yep, but Scotland has recently arrived in Portsmouth, so we’ve got to deal with that now, too.”