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“Be thirty-five in December.”
“Oh. Okay.”
We lapsed back into silence for a few minutes before, “What’s your last name?”
His chest shook against my back with silent laughter. “Montgomery.”
“Trent Montgomery.” I tested his full name out on my tongue and discovered I really liked it. “That’s a really good name.” The kind of name that belonged to the hero in Georgia’s romance novels. Trent Montgomery could easily be a marauding pirate or rakish duke. “It fits you.”
I heard the smile in his voice as he rumbled, “Thanks, baby.”
Did Sawyer Darcy fit me? I hoped so. When I’d gone into hiding, I’d picked it for a very important reason. Sawyer had been my mother’s maiden name, and Darcy came from her love of Pride and Prejudice. The memory of her always reading that book, of the several copies she kept lined on a shelf of prominence in the living room, was still strong. While he could be prickly, for sure, she loved Mr. Darcy. I wanted to be as close to her as possible; that was how Sawyer Darcy had been born.
It was on that thought that his arm around my middle clenched and his lips brushed the back of my head.
“Sleep, baby. It’s late and you’re beat.”
How he sensed that my mind was racing was beyond me, but having him there, his strong, reassuring presence, calmed me, and in no time at all, I drifted off.
* * *
“Sawyer, baby. Wake up.”
I let out a groan, swatting at that the offending finger booping the end of my nose as I squeezed my eyes closed tighter. “More sleep,” I grunted, rolling away and yanking the covers over my head. “Too early.”
A velvety chuckle flooded my belly with warmth, but it still wasn’t enough to get me out of the nice, warm cocoon that was my bed. “Honey, time to get up. I need to go before Little Bit wakes up.”
As much as I didn’t want to—and Ireallyfreaking didn’t want to—I threw the covers back and slowly peeled one eyelid up, blinking to bring the bleary Trent hovering above me into better focus. “What time is it?” I asked, sounding like I’d gargled rocks the night before.
“A little after five. I didn’t know what time she usually gets up, so I didn’t want to take any chances.”
I let out a pathetic little sob and jutted my bottom lip out. “So early,” I whined.
His dimples still affected me just as strongly as they always did, even though the sun had barely started to rise yet.Damn him. “I know, baby. But you need to lock up after me.” His grin turned a bit wicked as he added, “And I want to make out at the door for a while before I have to go.”
I suddenly felt wide awake. “I can get on board with that plan,” I mumbled as I pushed up to sitting and swiped the hair back from my face.
“Thought that might get you,” he said with a laugh, taking my hand to help me out of the bed. I wasn’t so awake that I moved easily. I let out a groan and let myself go limp so he had to drag me to my feet. Was I proud of it? Not really. But Sleepy Sawyer was a bit of a mess.
I padded down the hall on heavy feet, hand in hand with Trent until we reached the front door. Turning to face me, he released my hand and placed his on my hip, pulling me flush against him. “Yesterday was really great,” he rumbled.
“Yeah, it was,” I replied dreamily.
One side of his mouth hooked up higher than the other. “Last night was even better.”
I giggled uncontrollably. “Yeah, itreallywas.” I gave my eyebrows a lewd waggle.
Reaching up, he cupped the side of my neck in his palm and traced my jawline with the pad of his thumb. “Can I see you again today?”
It was still the weekend, so I wasn’t on at the general store until Monday. Georgia and Dezzy were really good at giving me the weekends off when the daycare was closed so I didn’t have to scramble to find someone to babysit Renee. On the off chance there was an emergency and they needed me, either one of them would watch her for me, or they’d let me bring her in, something Renee loved because she got to play cashier.
I didn’t have anything planned other than spending time with Renee and maybe spending a little time in my workshop if she was in the mood to paint.
“You can see me any day,” I said teasingly. “It’s a really small town, and you’re staying just down the road.”
He smirked, lowering one of his hands so he could give my ass cheek a pinch. “Smartass. You know what I mean.”
“Yeah. I just like messing with you,” I said on a shrug. “But to answer your question, yes. You can see me again. It’s just me and Renee today, but I’m sure she wouldn’t mind you joining us. Maybe we can head back to the Harvest Fest, this time without a ridiculous show of manliness between you and Sam. I can show you around some of the best booths.”
