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No, kissing Kat hadn’t been the right thing to do. But it had certainly felt right. Right enough that he wanted to do it again the moment he got her alone.
For once in his responsible life, Sawyer wanted to do the wrong thing.
Six
“Come on, you stupid Jeep!”
The valet had returned a few minutes ago, after attempting to bring her car around, and given her the bad news—her Jeep wouldn’t start. With a groan of resignation, she’d taken the keys from him and trekked across the yard to where the vehicle was parked. Now she was sitting in it, hoping she had some sort of magic mojo the valet didn’t, and the car would start.
So far, no luck.
This was an eventuality she’d been avoiding. The Jeep had been a present from her parents for her high school graduation. Even as she got older, there wasn’t really any reason to replace the car. It was old and didn’t have all the fancy features of newer ones, but it got her from A to B.
Since she found out she was pregnant, she’d been thinking more seriously about getting a new ride. One with doors, perhaps. It seemed as though her old Jeep was making the decision for her.
“Please. Just get me home tonight and I’ll promise to sell you to an outdoorsy guy that will fix you up and drive you through all the mud puddles.” Kat tried to turn the engine over again and found her attempts to negotiate had fallen on deaf ears. Because her Jeep didn’t have ears.
With a whimper, she dropped her head onto the steering wheel in defeat. Why did it have to happen today? And here? Now the family she was trying to impress would have to see her junky old car get towed away from their multi-million-dollar estate. As though she wasn’t already having enough trouble fitting in. She and Grandma Ingrid had hit it off, but most of the other people at the party had just regarded her from a distance.
When she went to fix a plate, all the ladies near the buffet had hushed until she was gone. It was quite juvenile for grown-ups, really. Kat wasn’t used to being the subject of hot new gossip. And now they could be confident in believing her a gold digger. She didn’t even have a functioning car—of course she was after Finn’s money.
“Need some help?”
Kat shot to attention and turned to find Sawyer had silently crept up beside her car. “Did you go to ninja school or something?” she asked, pressing her hand to her rapidly beating heart.
“Morgan says I’d make a terrible spy. She insists I couldn’t sneak up on her with a marching band going by. I didn’t even try to slip out of the house when we were teenagers because I knew I’d get caught. So I’d say you were distracted.”
“That’s a word for it,” she said. Turning away from him, she reached for her purse and rummaged around for her cell phone. She needed to call a wrecker. Most of the other guests were gone by now, so hopefully only the family would still be around when it showed up.
“It’s awfully late,” Sawyer said. “They’re going to charge you extra to drive all the way out here on a weekend after eight. Why don’t I give you a ride home? Then you can call someone to get the car in the morning, or on Monday.”
Kat turned to him with a sigh. She certainly didn’t want to sit out here in the humid summer air and get eaten by mosquitos while she waited. Then again, accepting a ride home from Sawyer seemed equally perilous. “I can call an Uber.”
“Don’t be silly. I can give you a ride. No one is going to want to come way out here to get you. Besides, I pass near your neighborhood on my way home, anyway.”
She regarded him suspiciously for a moment, but when he offered his hand and stood there with an expectant look on his face, she finally gave in. “Okay.”
He helped her out and only released her hand when he pointed to his car a couple yards away. “Don’t act so put out. Most people would love to be chauffeured around in a brand-new car like mine. It still has the new-car smell.”
Kat looked in that direction and spied a silver Audi SUV parked beside a bright yellow Porsche Boxster. She held her breath for a moment to see which one lit up when he pulled out his key fob. The lights on the Audi blinked on and off. She should’ve known better than to think that Sawyer would drive the flashier car. If she had learned more about him before that night at the aquarium, she would’ve realized she was with Finn, not Sawyer, when they left for a hotel and got into his bright red Ferrari.
Sawyer opened the passenger door and held it for her until she was inside. She sat patiently waiting as he came around to his side and started the car. It did have the new-car smell. It also looked as though it was fresh from the dealership. No travel mug in the cup holder, no crumbled-up receipts on the floor. It was immaculate.
“How long have you had this car?” she asked as they drove off the property.
“Two months, I think?”
“Oh,” Kat said with surprise. “I was thinking more like a few days. This thing looks like it’s hardly been driven.”
“It’s been driven. I just keep it pretty tidy.”
“Is your place really tidy, too?”
She watched Sawyer frown at the windshield for a moment before he responded. “Maybe. But I have a cleaning service that comes in twice a week.”
That sounded nice. She’d love to have one come in twice a month. Kat shook her head. “I bet they hardly do anything. I bet your underwear drawer is organized like a museum exhibit.”
“My underwear is hardly museum quality,” Sawyer said with a chuckle. “But I do have them rolled and stood on end as Marie Kondo suggests.”
