Chain of Command (23 page)

Chapter Twenty-Four

Sawyer heard the television before he unlocked his front door. That meant company. He debated slipping back out and sleeping in the car but decided being found out there in the morning would be worse than pushing through the bullshit now.

He stepped into the foyer, expecting to see Jason. He got the double whammy of Jason and Marcus.

Wasn’t that just fucking fabulous.

They sat on the couch watching a movie with what looked like an alien and guys with guns fighting it. A typical movie night in this house. Volume too loud and lots of firepower as they counted off the kills. Only Will appeared to be missing but Sawyer let that pass.

When the keys hit the table Marcus looked over his shoulder and reached for the remote. “Why are you home?”

Jason beat him to it and hit the pause button. “Wrong question. The right one is, what did you do?”

“I fucked up.” The honest answer slipped out before Sawyer could come up with a dodge.

Now that it was out there and he definitely had their attention he moved to sit down. Let out a dramatic sigh while doing it but it did nothing to make him feel better. He dropped into the chair by the television and got a close-up of whatever sea creature as it attacked Hawaii on the screen.

Marcus eyed Sawyer up. “We weren’t expecting you, which can only mean one thing.”

“Did Hailey kick you out?” Jason asked.

“No.” Exactly the opposite. Sawyer still couldn’t believe how the night had played out. She invited him in. Wanted him to spill his guts. Almost sounded as if she had questions prepared to interrogate him about the business plan.

The openness should have been a good thing, but no. He’d turned a corner. Forget separating the business and the personal. He wanted the business out of the way completely. No more confusion or fights or wrongly timed questions. No more sliding in a comment about the gun range after he said something about taking her clothes off.

“You decided to come home? It was an actual choice you made not to have sex. And for some reason you did this without being sick. Like, on purpose.” Jason looked horrified. “Now you’re here without her.”

“Are you done?” The way Sawyer viewed it the word
choice
was misplaced. He did what he had to do even as he watched the words crush her. Every one of her flinches seared through him. He could feel her confidence drain and wanted to kick his own ass for being the cause.

But he had serious decisions to make and couldn’t make them while standing with her. Talking it through didn’t work because he couldn’t insist she be neutral about something that impacted her life so significantly.

Any way you looked at it they were on different sides of this thing. Had different end goals and that meant stepping away to make the decision before going back in.

Making her understand that tomorrow would be a challenge. As he weighed his earlier words during the drive home he could see why she flinched. He’d have to undo that damage and win back her trust. First he had to make his friends understand that he was backing away from a promise he’d made to them.

All the options sucked here.

“Damn.” Jason shook his head as he glanced over at Marcus. “I owe you twenty.”

Betting on his sex life. Another great piece of news that made Sawyer wonder why he’d given them both keys. “You both suck.”

“Don’t act like that’s news,” Jason said.

Marcus’s attention didn’t waver. “Talk.”

With his elbows balanced on his knees, Sawyer stared at the floor then his hands. Finally he looked at his friends again. “I left because she wanted to talk about the property.”

“I don’t get it,” Jason said.

But his brother’s reaction went a different way. Marcus smiled. “You’re done, right?”

“Yeah.” Relief flowed through Sawyer. Marcus got it. He understood this had nothing to do with leaving Hailey. Nothing at all.

“You’re actually leaving Hailey?” Jason swore as he stood up and walked around to the back side of the couch. “Jesus, Sawyer. Wake up.”

Sawyer made a promise to reassess his communication skills. After all those years of barking orders he seemed to be having trouble getting simple ideas across. First Hailey. Now Jason. “You’re not getting this.”

He grabbed a bottle of beer from the refrigerator and stood there holding it. “I get that you guys have issues and the property is in the way. But, damn it, she is the one for you. I know you need to figure that out and it’s your life, but come on.”

Sawyer almost hated to break in but he tried. “Uh, Jason—”

“Take it from the guy who married the wrong person and is now trying to clean up the mess. I’m stuck trying to...”

“Yes?” This felt like a breakthrough and Sawyer wanted to encourage it.

He worried about Jason’s stability right now. He’d never do anything truly dangerous but he seemed to be looking for thrills and Sawyer couldn’t help but wonder where his friend would turn when the women no longer filled the void.

It’s one of the reasons he pretended not to notice the attraction between Jason and Molly. One of the reasons he threatened Jason about touching her.

Jason waved off the attempt to dig deeper into his comments. “We’re not talking about my life.”

“Should we be?” Marcus asked.

Jason kept right on talking. “None of that matters. My point is don’t fuck this up.”

Silence screeched through the room. Jason got himself wound up and came out swinging. Sawyer appreciated the fight. He knew Jason’s yelling came from a good place.

Marcus clapped. “Eloquent.”

“You could help here.” Jason turned on his brother. “You think he and Hailey are good together. We’ve talked about this. Their relationship is the most important thing. There are other properties.”

Marcus nodded. “No arguments here.”

The ready agreement and smile didn’t seem to get through to Jason. He was the only one in the room arguing. Sawyer agreed with every line but letting his friend do battle felt right. The guy needed a cause since he didn’t seem willing to stand up for himself.

“There.” Jason threw out an arm as he stared at Sawyer. “See? Marcus is with me on this.”

Sawyer tried to simply agree. “So am I.”

“Then stop being a stubborn ass.” Jason started pacing in the small space behind the couch. “Go over there, apologize even if you think you didn’t do anything wrong, and do not leave until she forgives you.”

That struck Sawyer as a bit much. “For what?”

“I have no idea. Does it even matter?”

Marcus frowned. “Kind of.”

“Not if being right means losing her.” Jason came back around to the couch and sat down. He was a bundle of energy and kept zipping around, up and down, back and forth, hands always moving, as he explained. “She is the right woman for you. Trust me. I’ve seen you date the wrong women. Women you knew would never last more than a night or two. This is the first time you picked a woman who made sense for you.”

There hadn’t been that many and Sawyer refused to believe he’d become that predictable. “You sound sure.”

“I am.” Jason yelled the answer.

Marcus glared at him while he pointed in Sawyer’s direction. “So is he.”

That finally stopped Jason’s rampage. “What?”

Even with the question on the table Marcus kept on pointing. “Look at his face. Sawyer’s come to a decision. About her. About the property.”

Jason turned to stare at Sawyer. “You have?”

Looked like he finally had their attention. Sawyer had to take a breath after that scene. Also wanted to say the words in his head before he said them out loud. Yeah, they worked. “That’s what I was trying to tell you. She’s the one.”

“Spill it.” Jason took a long pull on his beer.

With the tension back under control and the pulsing gone from the room, Sawyer tried to explain. “She wanted to talk about the property but I needed to discuss this issue with you two first.” When that didn’t get a reaction, he kept going. “I want to back out of Greenway being located on her property. Take it completely off the table and not put her in the middle or in a position of having to turn us down. It’s that—”

“Fine,” Marcus said.

Jason nodded. “Good.”

“I didn’t finish my speech.” Sawyer almost felt disappointment by the easy acceptance. Kind of blew all that time he spent preparing.

“We’ve already talked about this and Hailey and how much we like her.” Jason spun his beer bottle between his palms. “We support you, man.”

“And, for the record, you’re telling all of this to the wrong person.”

Sawyer had no idea what Marcus was trying to say. “What?”

“Her, you dumbass. You should discuss these things with your girlfriend, not with us.” Marcus swore under his breath. “You guys are pathetic. Makes me happy I don’t have women trouble.”

“Speaking of boyfriends, I know about Will, by the way.” Jason pointed at Marcus with the bottle. “Marcus fessed up before you got home.”

Marcus shoved the bottle away from him. “Let’s stay on topic.”

Sawyer had expected getting through to them to be tough. Now that he thought about it, he shouldn’t have. Jason and Marcus didn’t cause trouble. They listened, assessed and adjusted. Their friendship had survived because they trusted each other and this time he hadn’t given them enough credit. He wouldn’t do that again.

With that hurdle cleared, he could take on Hailey. He had a lot of work to do on that front. “I can head back over—”

Marcus shook his head. “God, no.”

“Wrong.” Jason whistled.

Sawyer stayed quiet because he had a feeling they were going to hammer this point. Whatever it was.

Marcus leaned forward. “You need a big gesture.”

Said the gay guy. “Isn’t that what I’m doing by backing out of the property race?”

Marcus shook his head. “It won’t be enough.”

Sawyer didn’t understand what was happening here. “I thought you didn’t know anything about women.”

“Not a thing, but I know you and you need to get closure so we can figure out the business part and you can get started practicing the personal part.”

“He means sex,” Jason said.

Marcus nodded. “I do. Yes.”

That was the one part Sawyer had covered, but the other sounded interesting. Maybe a bit scary. “A gesture.”

“He’s warming to the idea.” Jason drank more of the beer.

Sawyer needed him sober. Needed them both at top efficiency and thinking power. “I need you two with me.”

“As if we’d miss you getting down on your knees and groveling over a woman.” Jason laughed. “Not happening.”

Again with the overstatement. Sawyer shut it down. “I’m not groveling.”

Marcus turned to Jason. “Double or nothing.”

Chapter Twenty-Five

Hailey wanted to slam things. She walked out of the kitchen and into the middle of The Bakery the following afternoon and looked for something to throw. She’d clanked dirty dishes together but that wasn’t enough. She needed a sound to match the screaming in her head.

The noise centered on one man. Sawyer Cain. All hot and tough and full of confidence. He walked out of her house and she hadn’t heard from him since.

“If you slam one more thing I’ll have to hand out complimentary headphones.” Kat looked around. “Lucky for you we only have a few people here.”

Jessie stood behind the counter cleaning out the coffeepot. “It is so tempting to call him in here and let you go at him.”

“I would prefer we not have blood on my floor,” Kat said as she took a counter barstool across from Hailey.

“I can control myself.” She’d had an entire night of practice. She’d picked up the phone to call him and stopped. Walked to the family room and grabbed her keys then put them back again.

Jessie shook her head. “There’s no evidence of that.”

Hailey had to agree that applied to her lately. Sawyer, with those shoulders and that face, had her spinning in circles and desperate to see him. Hailey’s live action fantasy waffled between sitting him down and making him talk, and tying him to a chair so she could yell at him without any touching. In both scenarios she needed to see him, craved contact and an opportunity to settle the one thing that kept driving them apart—the damn property.

For the first time since the estate lawyer handed her the keys, she regretted Rob leaving it all to her. If the land cost her Sawyer, she didn’t want it. That’s what hours without sleep taught her. She’d been debating proposals and afraid to let Rob go when the property wasn’t about either of those things. Rob had handed her a home, now it was up to her to nurture and build it, and that didn’t mean seeing how many condos she could squeeze in a small space.

“Huh.” Jessie stopped with the coffeepot and dropped the napkin holder in midrefill. “Please tell me whatever he did to tick you off is unrelated to your trip to the lawyer’s office this morning.”

That would teach her to mention her errands. Hailey had waited all day for the attorney’s call, so when it came she didn’t hide her relief, which meant her friends knew about the errand.

Thinking about Sawyer filled her with another feeling. “He left last night.”

Kat shot Hailey a small smile. “You told us.”

“Four times.” Jessie held up four fingers. Wiggled them.

“We were in the middle...well, the beginning. I just wanted the proposal so we could concentrate on other things.” The room had gone silent. Even the tables with diners stared at her. Hailey took that as a sign she’d veered into TMI territory. “Forget it.”

“So, we hate him now?” Jessie asked.

Not even close. Hailey knew her life would be so much easier if she could hate the guy. “No.”

Kat twisted the kitchen towel in her hands until she had it wound in a tight knot. “Is it over?”

Hailey refused to let that be the case. The thought of it made her stomach heave. “No.”

“That’s why she’s upset,” Jessie said. “She is in love and he’s ticking her off.”

“Stop saying that.” Hailey glanced around Jessie and through the small window in the door to the kitchen. Molly sat back there somewhere. She’d officially signed on to work with Kat and planned to stop in after hours while she worked out her notice term with her current employer.

That meant Hailey had to be careful. She didn’t know how much Sawyer had talked about their blowout. She tended to over share with friends. Since she couldn’t get Sawyer to tell her anything, she doubted he suffered from the same affliction. But that didn’t mean she wanted to invite more questions.

“Am I wrong about the love thing?” Jessie asked.

Hailey couldn’t let that phrase pass. “Love thing?”

“Speak of the devil.”

At the sound of Kat’s voice, Hailey turned and looked at the door. In sauntered Sawyer. He didn’t simply walk. No, his stride could only be described as cocky and sure. Having Marcus and Jason stream in behind him probably helped with the overall effect. The three of them together provided a formidable front. An oversized wall of testosterone.

She glanced at Jessie. “Did you actually call him?”

“How could I? I made that threat five seconds ago.”

Not sure what else to say or why he picked here and now for some sort of showdown she jumped on her advantage and launched an offensive strike. “I see you brought reinforcements.”

Sawyer stopped right in front of her, less than five feet away, with his legs apart and his hands on his hips. “I’m not stupid.”

“That’s good to know.” She got off the stool. For some reason standing made her feel more confident. “It’s hard to tell from the way you act sometimes.”

“Wow, this should be good.” Jason shook his head. “So happy I came today.”

“Shut up.” Sawyer delivered the order without moving or even looking in Jason’s direction.

She folded her arms across her stomach. “Last time we were together you were running. What made you stop?”

A nerve in his cheek twitched but he didn’t respond to her verbal slap. Instead, he drew a thick manila folder from behind his back and passed it from one hand to the other. “You wanted the proposal for the property.”

Hailey could make out a few lines of writing on the front but his long fingers covered most of it. But that wasn’t the biggest issue they had working against them. “Now you have it?”

“Yes.”

He had to be kidding. “This is not a good time.”

Sawyer did a quick look around the room. “It’s the perfect time.”

He didn’t want to discuss this
big thing
when they were alone. Now he pulled out the fact in front of an entire group. “Do you understand the concept of mixed signals?”

“I plan to fix that.” He lifted the envelope and tore it in two. The ripping sounds echoed through the room. Someone gasped and another person tripped over something because she heard a crash.

Molly picked that moment to come out of the back. “Hey, what’s going on?” She had a muffin in her hand but didn’t make a move to take a bite. Didn’t give Jason eye contact either.

Marcus gave her a small wave. “Hey, Molly.”

That made all of them. Their entire close circle stood in that room, and all eyes were on Sawyer. The whole room moved in slow motion as Hailey jumped at the shredding sound and reached out to put her hands over his.

She managed to get half of the envelope away from him. “What are you doing?”

“Bringing clarity to our relationship.” He tossed the other half on the nearest table.

She had no idea what was happening. Her gaze switched from one part of the file to the other. She had no idea if he really destroyed the proposal or something else. It didn’t much matter because her mind had slipped to the “relationship” phrase. “Which one?”

“That’s just it. We only have one.” Sawyer shifted his weight as his hands slipped into his back jeans pockets. “A personal one.”

Hailey’s head felt heavy, like she needed to lie down. But now wasn’t the time. Kat and Jessie hung on every word. Jason and Marcus wore matching grins and Molly just stood there and stared.

None of them spoke or offered any questions. She had so many. “But the gun range.”

“It’s off the table.” Sawyer made a slashing sign with his arms and Marcus nodded from behind him. “It’s not between us. It’s not an issue.”

“I don’t understand.” Her brain refused to reboot. She heard the words and saw the actions but nothing made sense. She’d started the day grumpy and frustrated and now she’d moved to confusion.

“Sell it to developers or donate it to a bird sanctuary. Live on it.” The tension buzzing around him eased. “Just know if you pick that last option we’re coming over and building you a better fence.”

“We?” Jason asked.

Sawyer talked right over him. “And I’ll be staying over all the time. Not just for some meals and a few nights. Like, a lot.”

“For protection.” Marcus added the comment without moving anything but his mouth.

Sawyer nodded. “Exactly...and other things.”

The back and forth, the way they seemed to have practiced this, and things they kept saying. It all backed up in Hailey’s head until she had to shake her head to keep it all straight.

Tried and failed. “What’s going on?”

She hoped for one simple answer. Nothing fancy, just an explanation. She’d spent most of the day getting ready to talk to him and in he walked...and now everyone watched.

Sawyer bridged the gap between them. Reached out before she could shrink back. Took the ripped envelope out of her hands and rested his fingers on her upper arms. Rubbed his palms up and down in a move so soothing she felt some of her anxiety fall away.

“I am telling you, in front of our friends and these nice people having coffee—hello—that we are a we.” Sawyer finished with a nod to the strangers in the room.

Jason closed one of his eyes and stared at the ceiling. “Not the most eloquent you’ve ever been.”

Jessie waved him off. “Let the man talk.”

In order to stay standing and keep coherent, Hailey blocked them all out. All but Sawyer. This close she could see the flecks in his eyes and the firm muscles under his slim-fitting T-shirt.

She could smell the outdoors on his skin and had to use every ounce of her strength to keep from climbing on him. She’d had that sensation with him from the very beginning. It thumped even stronger now.

But she needed to put all of that aside. This was about business and...at least she thought it was. “What about the gun range and your job and practical things like paying the rent?”

“I’ll find another location. Move further out. Throw in with someone else.” Sawyer shrugged. “I’m not someone who’s going to sit around on the couch all day, so I’ll be fine. I’ll make enough money to be fine.”

She thought about the people who depended on him and those he intended to employ. He had to have money for all those plans and she could only come up with one way for him to raise it. The way that had her stomach falling to the floor as fear gripped her. “You won’t go back into the military.”

“No, I’m done with active duty. And, so you’re clear, I am not going back on a contract basis like Rob did either. I’m here, in San Diego to stay. With you.” His tone suggested he meant it.

Her head grew cloudy. She couldn’t hold onto words or thoughts.

She put a hand on his chest, mostly to keep the bond between them unbroken. “But the gun range is your dream.”

“No, it’s a good fit for my skills and my life.” He put his hand over hers. Picked it up and kissed it before returning their joined fingers to his chest. “My dream is about working with Marcus and Jason, having Molly nearby. About family. About creating a life together.”

Hailey’s heart did a little flip as hope flooded through her. “I love that.”

Everyone leaned in and no one pretended to do anything else. They all listened in. Even the couple at the nearby table.

Sawyer didn’t seem to care. He drew Hailey closer and wrapped one arm around her waist. “My dream now includes being with you.”

Her doubts crumbled. She’d been so sure of her feelings for him. She assumed his would develop over time, but he was saying something very different. Offering her everything.

“Me?” She felt her eyes fill and choked back the waterworks.

“I am backing out of the business because I need you to understand one thing.” He lifted the back of her hand and rubbed it over his cheek. “You and what we’ve started building together matter more than the gun range or a piece of land.”

He made the vow, the beautiful vow, then stopped talking. His focus never shifted and his fingers squeezed hers.

He was handing her everything—things she wanted and some she never thought to hope for. “Sawyer.”

“We haven’t been together long and I know it’s crazy, and we certainly need to work on our communication skills, but you’ve become the most important part of my day.”

The perfect words. For a man who claimed not to know much about people, he found just the right way to tell her how much she mattered. Looking in those eyes, she saw something else. Something deeper.

Jason cleared his throat. “There’s nothing sexier than talking communication skills.”

“You’re not helping,” Molly shot back.

Hailey could not step into the middle of that match right now. She didn’t want her attention to stray from Sawyer for even one second. “Go back to the ‘important’ thing.”

Sawyer smiled at her. Not a tiny one or the start of one. A big, warm caring smile. “I am falling for you. Have been since the first day. Not the one at your house. At the bar. Back that far.”

Hailey was sure something clunked in her brain. She heard it. Even stumbled a little until he caught her.

“You’re falling?” She knew the rest of the sentence because she felt it too. The start of something special. Love in its infancy. Feelings so fresh and new that she wanted to coddle and protect them.

If possible that smile of his grew even bigger. “Fallen but I didn’t want to scare you by admitting that too soon.”

“You’re not.” Exactly the opposite. He was taking what she expected to be a rough morning filled with arguing and handing her the world.

“Tell me you’ll give me another chance.” He brought her hand up to his shoulder and wrapped both of his around her waist to land on her lower back. “We can start over. I’ll do whatever you want.”

“That sounds like groveling to me,” Jason said.

“Right.” Jessie gave one loud clap. “Make him get on his knees.”

Molly snorted. “That’s ridiculous.”

“Maybe but I want to see it,” Marcus said.

“Everyone stop.” With a loud sigh Sawyer looked down and started to drop. “I’ll do it.”

His knees bent as he lowered his body toward the floor. Hailey grabbed him under the arm and pulled him right back up again.

“Damn, man. That was impressive.” Marcus’s voice was filled with awe.

Hailey was having none of it. It took the two of them to make the mess and they would both take responsibility and fix it. “You didn’t...we both created the business versus personal mess.” She turned around and held out a hand to Jessie. “My purse?”