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“My whole job is to play on a team,” Sawyer said, as if it were obvious.
“But you’re, like, the star, aren’t you?’
Sawyer shrugged. “I guess. But a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. There isn’t one weak link in my team, not one.”
He nodded firmly, saying it with absolute conviction. Josie felt a flash of what it might be like to be on the Falcons, playing with Sawyer, how he’d lead them. It must be kind of like how he’d been working with her… Working hard but letting her do what she was best at. Not interfering, only helping where help was needed. She honestly couldn’t care less about football — she never had — but the way people went on about thegreat Sawyer Butler, she figured he’d been the only one on the field actually doing anything.
“I don’t really know that much about football,” she admitted, refraining from saying she outright hated it.
“You strike me as more of a rodeo kind of girl.”
Josie missed the nail she was working on in surprise. “How’d you know that?”
“Your belt buckle,” Sawyer said with a cheeky grin. Sure enough, Josie was wearing her favorite buckle that had “State Rodeo 2016”engraved on it. She rolled her eyes.
“So I like bronc riding better than chasing after a ball, sue me.”
“Getting thrown off crazy horses for fun? No, thank you.”
“Like you can talk, you tackle men the size of trees for a living. Call that safe?”
“I wear a helmet, shoulder pads and a mouth guard while I do it, so safer than y’all aggravating bulls and broncs like it’s nothing.”
He shook his head at her, pulling out another length of timber from the truck as they shuffled to the next bit of fence that needed repairs.
Josie smiled as she noticed how Sawyer’s accent seemed to be getting thicker the more they talked, like the city boy polish was wearing off just a little. She didn’t mention it, though. She wanted to hear more of it, not have him go back to speaking all nice and proper like his media coach taught him.
The rest of the afternoon drifted on in much the same way, the methodical work leaving them both sweaty and tired but feeling accomplished as they could look back and see the line of the fence now looking ten million times better than it had just a few hours ago. They talked and laughed. Sawyer didn’t seem to think she was annoying, and he was easy on the eyes, which was a bonus as well. He tried to explain the rules of football, and she tried to convince him that rodeowasa proper sport, thank you very much. Overall, it was one of the best afternoons Josie had spent working in a long time. If Sawyer made the repairs this easy, then she was looking forward to the next couple of weeks.
But that begged the question, why had Luke been acting like Sawyer coming back to help might start World War Three or something?
CHAPTER 4
JOSIE
Josie wasn’t exactly sure what she was feeling. It was a whole bunch of things really, mixing around in her head in a confusing storm. She pulled her boots off at the front door to the house so she didn’t traipse mud all through the place and made her way to the downstairs bathroom to wash up.
Looking in the mirror, she saw dust and dried mud all over her, horse hair on every surface and a piece of straw in her ponytail that she hadn’t noticed until just now. She set about cleaning herself up as much as possible, which wasn’t a whole lot, but she did her best. Mostly it was just giving herself some space to think, with the sound of water from the faucet giving the small room a meditative quality.
Sawyer wasnice. He’d been nothing but polite to her all day, and once they’d gotten used to each other she’d seen a sense of humor that was fun and lighthearted. Not to mention that he’d been noticing little things about her all afternoon, like her belt buckle. He hadn’t talked to her like a little girl, hadn’t talked down to her at all really and didn’t get all offended and snippywhen she’d asked him to do something differently or shown him a better way. It was refreshing. It was great.
The truth of it was that shelikedhim. The deeper truth, the one she was really struggling with, was that she really liked him. A lot. Like an embarrassing amount for only knowing him one afternoon. Under different circumstances, she might ask someone she liked that much out on a date. That’s where the guilt kicked in, strong enough that she felt like she’d been kicked by one of the horses and not just by a feeling.
She and Luke had been friends since they were little kids. When his mom died they’d gotten even closer, hanging out when Josie had ridden over on her bicycle to deliver her parents well-intentioned but inedible food. Since then they’d been inseparable. There had been no chance of anything romantic between them; it was as platonic and pure a friendship as you could get, with Sandy the only love in Luke’s life. But here Josie was, feeling the flutterings of a crush on his brother, who had left the whole family behind as soon as he could. That was the story she’d always heard from Luke, that Sawyer had basically abandoned them for a better life.
When Luke had said Sawyer was coming back to help with the sale, Josie had looked him up online. Ofcourseshe had; the only memories she had of the older Butler brother were faint images of a giant of a teenage boy always disappearing to football practice whenever she came over to hang out with Luke. She was curious. The tabloids and gossip sites hadn’t disappointed; there were hundreds of photos of Sawyer Butler to sift through. Images of him running on the field, a football in the crook of his arm, eyes blazing out of his helmet with fierce concentration. Images of him at the head of his team, one of the tallest and broadest even in that group of giant men. Pictures of Sawyerholding up a whole host of trophies with a show-stopping grin on his face.
Then there was a whole different category of photos — paparazzi and publicity shots of Sawyer from every angle in fancy suits and crisp linen shirts, his arm around a million different women, holding whiskey or champagne depending on the party, surrounded by other top league athletes, musicians and more than one Oscar winner that Josie could pick out.
She didn’t bother to read the articles, which were mostly just copied and pasted from each other, like a snake eating its own tail, but skimmed through the headlines despite herself.
Sawyer Butler at party of the year: exclusive photos.
Butler’s new babe — who’s the stunning blonde on the superstar athlete’s arm?
Sawyer Butler’s estimated earnings: Is he out-earning his teammates?
Sawyer’s sweetheart: Football superstar hooks up with catwalk royalty.
