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“Kitty, this is Sawyer. Sawyer, my neighbor, Kitty.” I gesture between the two as I introduce them. “Sawyer is a friend of my brother’s. He’s staying with me for a few weeks.”
“It’s good to meet you, Kitty,” Sawyer says, holding his hand out for her to shake.
Grinning, she takes it. “Good to meet you too. Are you a Marine as well?” she asks as she drops his hand.
“Umm…” He looks over at me with wide eyes. Despite agreeing earlier to tell people he was a friend of my brother’s, we hadn’t actually discussed the details.
“Yeah, Sawyer’s a Marine,” I reply quickly. “He’s stationed with Max in Jacksonville.” The lie rolls easily off my tongue, and before I can stop myself, I’m elaborating. “He’s recovering from an injury and taking some time off.” Out of the corner of my eye, I see Sawyer trying not to smile, and I concentrate on not looking at him.
“Well, I’m a nurse, Sawyer, so if you need any help with your… injury…” She trails off suggestively.
Sawyer coughs uncomfortably and looks at me.
“How’s Nick, Kitty?” I bite out, a little annoyed at her flirting. Even though I’ve introduced Sawyer as my brother’s friend, she doesn’t know he didn’t just get out of my bed.
“Oh, he’s great,” she gushes. “We’re going out tonight.” She suddenly claps her hands together and bounces up and down. “I have the best idea. Why don’t you two come with us?”
“Oh, no,” I reply quickly. “You and Nick have only just started dating. We wouldn’t want to intrude.”
“Not at all,” she insists. “I want you to meet Nick properly, anyway. It’ll be like a double date.” I look across to Sawyer for some help, but he just shrugs.
We can’t go on a date. He’s my close protection officer. Not that I can use that as an excuse now, not when I’ve lied to Kitty about who he is.
“Oh, we’re not dating, Kitty. He’s my brother’s friend.”
She raises her eyebrows in question and then leans in closer to me, whispering in my ear, “Girl, are you blind? That man is hot! You need to get on that.”
My cheeks flush with heat, and I realize, despite Kitty whispering, there is no way Sawyer didn’t hear her. She smiles at me and wiggles her eyebrows. “Anyway, gotta run, or I’m going to be late for my shift.” She takes a step away from me. “Sawyer, it was great to meet you. Hallie, I’ll message you later with the details for tonight. Have a good day.” Before I can respond and tell her we won’t be there, she’s gone.
“Well, she was… interesting,” Sawyer says, a smile pulling on his lips.
“I’m sorry. We definitely don’t have to go out with them. I’ll message her.”
“No. I think we should go.”
I look at him in surprise. “You want to go?”
“Sure. Don’t get me wrong, your friend is a little scary, but we’re allowed to go out. It beats watching your crazy reality TV show.”
I laugh. “So, that’s the reason you want to get out of the apartment? Don’t worry, you won’t miss it. I’ve got it set to record.”
“Oh great,” he mumbles, and I bump his shoulder.
“If you’re sure you don’t mind going out with my friends.”
“It’ll be entertaining if nothing else.”
“I hope you can lie a lot about the Marines…”
“I’m sure I’ll manage. Come on.” He opens the car door for me, and I climb in, watching as he jogs around the front and climbs into the driver’s seat. I give him directions to the library, and we drive the short distance in comfortable silence.
ChapterEleven
Hallie
Looking down at my phone, I’m messaging my mom as we pull up at the library.
“We’re here, Hallie,” Sawyer says as he turns off the engine.
