Chain of Command (24 page)

“Right.” She scooped it up off the shelf under the counter. Took out the thin white envelope and handed it over. “This?”

Hailey took the paper and held it out to Sawyer. Actually pressed it against his chest. “What I want is for you to take this.”

“What is it?” He put his hand over hers and lifted it. Turned the envelope over and scanned the writing on it.

She didn’t make him wait. And since almost everyone else had leaned in, she broke their suspense as well. “It’s a letter of intent from my lawyer.”

Sawyer still didn’t break the seal. “I don’t understand.”

“The property is yours.” When Jason started to say something, Hailey held up a hand. “Well, a piece of it and yours to use but still technically mine since I’ll be one of your partners in the gun range. The business can purchase the property over time.”

Sawyer handed it back to her. “No.”

“Uh, man.” Marcus made a weird noise, kind of like a strangled sound. “Think this through.”

“There’s no need.” Sawyer looked at her as he crumpled the envelope in her hand. “I don’t want a business fight to come between us.”

That was so sweet but misguided. She’s already worked out the details in her head. Walked through the pros and cons and did a few calculations on the money she’d earn over time versus what she could have now if she took a developer up on a deal.

They battled as he tried to push her hand away and she shoved it right back at him. “You stand to make a huge amount of money with those other offers.”

He kept harping on that fact. She didn’t care when he mentioned it the first time. She cared even less now. “The money isn’t the point. Never was but it took me a while to drill down to that point. Having you walk out last night helped.”

Jason swore under his breath. “Dumbass.”

“Holding on to the property without any changes was really about keeping Rob’s memory alive, but we can do that by talking about him.” She loved the idea of sharing with Sawyer her early memories of the man behind the gun. “What he would want, what I need, is family. The one we can create by bringing our friends together. Being together.”

“Hailey, there are other ways.” His eyes filled with concern. “I don’t want you to give up anything for me.”

She grabbed onto his forearms. “I am gaining everything.”

“Man, you better kiss her after that.” Marcus exhaled as the room broke into chaos. People talked over each other and crowded in closer.

Sawyer held her as if they were alone in her bedroom. His head dipped lower and his forehead almost touched hers as he whispered, “Any chance you’re with me in this falling thing?”

She was not going to duck or play games. Not when he gave her nothing but honestly and love. She needed to return those sensations.

“Fallen, Sawyer.” Her hand cupped his cheek. “For your commanding presence and bossiness, the toughness and the unbelievable hotness.”

Sawyer didn’t seem to mind the comment. “I like that list.”

Now it was her turn to make an admission. “You’ve been in my head since that first day in the bar. Maybe before that when I was checking out the guy who kept trying to get me to meet him but wouldn’t say why.”

He hesitated. She could see he wanted to say something but he stood there, almost rocking her as he held her and his mouth skimmed her cheek.

“I don’t throw the word
love
around, Hailey.” He pulled back a little and stared down at her. “I don’t fall for every pretty face, and yours sure is. But if love is about wanting to be with you all the time and missing you when we’re apart for even for a few minutes. About respect and longing and loving what we do together. Then I’m there.”

The last of her worries fell away. A man who could make that admission, right there in front of everyone while ignoring the running commentary in the background and general sighing, he was a keeper. But she’d already known that.

“You can’t say something like that then walk away from me.” There it was. Her hidden fear set out there for everyone to see.

“Never.” The word sounded like a promise.

The exact promise she needed to hear. “Because it will break my heart and if I love you and you hurt me, I will be so pissed.”

“Then I’ll work really hard at keeping you happy.”

“Start by saying yes to the letter.” She took the envelope and held it out to him again.

He glanced behind him at Marcus and Jason then turned to her again. “Yes.”

Everything fell into place. Them, the business, the house. No more wondering and waiting. She’d found the man she’d never known she needed.

Thank you
,
Rob
.

“You know I’ll be your boss.” She added a bit of sass because it felt right.

Sawyer made a strangled sound. “That’s still not true.”

She shrugged. “We’ll negotiate the details later.”

“And now we kiss.”

Before she could say yes, his mouth was on hers. He swept her up in his arms and her feet left the floor. A wave of happiness hit her. She felt light and free and when their friends crowded around and gave their congratulations, she knew she’d made the right decision.

Taking a chance on Sawyer was the best thing she’d ever done. And they were only getting started.

* * * * *

Looking forward to Molly and Jason’s story as much as we are? Don’t miss it, coming from HelenKay Dimon and Carina Press in June 2015. Molly Cain is done with heartache and waiting and anything to do with Jason McAdams...well, maybe not totally done.

For more information on this and other titles, visit HelenKay’s website
here
or at
www.HelenKayDimon.com
.

Now Available from Carina Press and HelenKay Dimon

There’s a war brewing and Rowan will fight it to the death. It’s what she was born to do.

Read on for an excerpt of
LEAN ON ME
, from HelenKay Dimon’s
HOLLOWAY
series

Chapter One

The steady buzz of conversation and bustle of people walking up and down the wide aisles of Thomas Nurseries ceased when Cassidy Clarke walked through the door.

She stopped after a few steps, waiting for her hair to frizz to ten times its normal size thanks to the shift from the dry, cool October air outside to the humid air inside the greenhouse. To keep from running her hands through it a thousand or so times, she slipped in front of the display of heirloom roses and pretended she couldn’t feel the strands swelling to fill a helmet.

She also did the I-can’t-see-you-or-hear-you thing with the crowd. The same coping mechanism she’d perfected over the last year. She assumed that’s what the folks from her hometown wanted since half the customers spoke in pseudowhispers that sounded more like yelling as they talked about her. The other half openly stared. She’d heard people mumble her name with the phrase The Fall right after about ten times now. She could only guess that referred to the end of her career...though it also applied to the complete implosion of her self-esteem.

Ah
,
it’s good to be back.

She didn’t really blame them. It was her fault. Well, partly the reporter’s fault, but mostly hers. It had been almost three years since the stupid article came out, since she offended every single one of the 941 residents of Holloway, West Virginia. That would teach her to give an interview from Base Camp at Mount Everest. She’d been sitting there, half delirious from exhaustion and still partially frozen from the punishing descent, when she got on the satellite phone and made the not-so-flattering comments about growing up in Holloway. After all this time she still got scolding e-mails from people who’d known her when she was a “nice girl” which she’d been informed, sometimes in very descriptive language, she no longer was.

She drummed her fingers against the wooden table and wondered for the hundredth time why she thought returning home was such a great idea. True, she didn’t have a place to stay or money or a climbing career anymore. If she gave herself a second, she could probably work up a pretty good pity party, maybe even crawl under the table and hide. That would give the residents the kind of show they craved. But the whole how-dare-she-show-her-face thing was going to wear thin fast.

“Cassidy?”

She turned, ready to bat away any tomatoes that might come flying her way, and stared into a dark gray T-shirt straining against a firm, broad chest. Her gaze wandered up and over an open plaid shirt and a set of impressive shoulders underneath. Then she got to the face and the smile with the sexy cheek dimple.

Sweet Lord
.

This guy could throw anything at her and she’d be fine so long as she got to stare at him for a few more seconds. Maybe run her fingers over the dark stubble on his chin and cheeks. He had a five-o’clock shadow at two in the afternoon, and, boy, wasn’t that the sexiest thing ever.

Nice to know her girl parts still worked fine even on an unwanted limited-calorie diet. “Yes, may I help you with something?”

“When did you get back into town?”

Figured he’d have one of those deep, husky voices that vibrated right down to her...yeah, she wasn’t letting her mind wander there. “Yesterday.”

He put his hands on his lean hips. “Are you staying at the house?”

Something thunked in her brain.

His eyebrow lifted. “Cassidy?”

“I’m sorry.” Boy, was she sorry. “But do we know each other?”

“We dated in high school.”

This time her brain clicked off. When it flickered back to life an error message flashed. “What are you talking about?”

“Well, we would have if you had shown up as promised.”

She could see every person in the room lean in closer. Even the soft music pumping through the speakers faded into the background. “Uh...”

His smile grew wider. “You don’t remember?”

Because it never happened
. “No.”

“I’m heartbroken.”

“But, I...wait. When...?” She closed her mouth to stop the string of silliness.

His eyebrow lifted as he put a finger behind his ear. “I didn’t catch all of that.”

No way would she have left this guy stranded at a movie or anywhere else. Brown hair, sky-blue eyes and a flirty charm that started her knees shaking. Yeah, he fell into the unforgettable category. Even a woman facing the wrong side of luck could see that.

She glanced behind him at the semicircle of onlookers standing a few feet away. A quick look to her right and left showed the same pattern. Women gathered around, scowling, and some going as far as to point. A few faces seemed familiar. One woman actually frowned and made a tsk-tsking sound as she shook her head like some sort of disappointed elementary school teacher. Cassidy thought that was overkill, but she’d take it because, well, she didn’t have much choice.

She inhaled the fragrant mix of greenery and flowers and turned back to the guy who had her stomach bouncing to her knees. “Is this some kind of joke?”

“No.” That dimple of his got sexier as he held out his hand.

She stared down. Long and lean, even his fingers were attractive. She’d never noticed a guy’s hands before, but that didn’t mean she was going to walk right into a joke and become its big ole butt. “I don’t think—”

“I’m Mitch Anders.”

She knew the name. Heck, everyone knew the name. He’d been the star high school quarterback who took the team to the State Championship all those years ago. He’d left town on a scholarship the year after she did, with talk of a professional football career waiting in his future. She lost track of him after that.

Admittedly, she didn’t pay much attention to anything in school, boys and classes included. She remembered him being cute, but she knew he certainly didn’t look like he did now.
Wowsa.

And they never dated. Nope. Never.

“I’m Cassidy.”

He leaned in and gave her a little wink. “Yeah, I know. I already said your name, remember?”

“What happened to your neck?” She closed her eyes the minute the babble left her mouth. Her breath also caught in her throat. She blamed the fumble of words rather than the feel of his hand folded over hers. “I mean, you, ah, look slimmer. Not that you were ever fat.”

One of the bystanders laughed.

Cassidy rushed to cover her most recent verbal disaster, though she feared there would be more. “You were more muscular then. Like, thicker in the shoulder to jaw area. You had a neck, of course. It was just...big.”

She swore she heard a gurgling sound. Probably had something to do with her drowning in stupidity.

He held up his free hand as his eyes sparkled with mischief. “That compliment, if that’s what it was supposed to be, was kind of painful.”

“It didn’t sound too great in my head either.” The same head that was now pounding.

“But I think I know what you’re saying.”

“That makes one of us,” she mumbled right before one of the women breached the personal space limit and stepped closer, fixing Cassidy with a glare. She sent a bug-eyed look right back at the lady. Whispering was one thing. Open rudeness called for boundaries.

“I spent most of my teens and early twenties in the gym. When my football career ended, so did my unreasonable need to be as big as possible. Eventually my neck returned to human size. I’m hoping my brain will one day get there, too,” he said as if he hadn’t noticed the female-to-female silent battle waging around him.

Cassidy gave her hand a gentle tug but he didn’t let go. Fine, she’d bumble through this on words alone. “I didn’t mean all of that the way it sounded.”

“I wasn’t offended.” He glanced to his left and nodded a hello to part of their unwanted audience. That fast the crowd of women disbursed. Even the ones on the other side who hadn’t gotten the welcome stepped back. A low mumble that signaled the return to civilized conversation started a second later.

“Impressive. Teach me how to do that.”

“It comes with the dimple.” He pointed to it as if she hadn’t seen it.

Since she had eyes, she had. She also guessed his cool superpower over gossipmongers had more to do with the combination of the face, the shoulders, the chest...and every other sinfully adorable part of him.

“We didn’t go out.” She blurted out the words because, really, the conversation couldn’t go worse if she weighed them first.

“I tried.”

“You...” Somewhere near her an overhead sprinkler went off. She heard the spray and felt the mist. It took all the control she had not to flatten her hair with her palms. Then his words fully registered. “Wait, what?”

“We were supposed to meet at Schmidt’s Diner for breakfast the day before classes ended your senior year. You never showed.”

A memory tickled at the back of her mind. When he squeezed her hand then dropped it, the facts came rushing back. “But that was a joke.”

He tucked those mesmerizing fingers into the front pockets of his faded jeans and rocked back on his heels. “Um, no.”

He’d been a year behind her and traveling in a pack of rowdy athletes who barely noticed her through the cloud of testosterone swirling around them. They sure didn’t talk to her throughout school. She wasn’t a brain and wasn’t a jock. Not that kind of jock. She’d always preferred the outdoors and quiet, solitary climbs to group sports.

“You were standing with your friends and laughing and told me it would break your heart if we didn’t share pancakes.” The long-forgotten memory came back spiraling back at her in vivid detail.

This time he shot
her
the irresistible, dimpled nod he’d just bragged about. “And you said you’d come.”

“I certainly didn’t.”

“True.” He nodded. “Technically you said ‘I’ll get right on that,’ but it’s the same thing.”

“In what universe?”

“Uh, this one?”

“Not really.”

He waved his hand as if dismissing her argument. “Good news is I’ve gotten over it.”

“Well, it has been ten years.” And she’d bet he forgot he’d asked her out the second after he did it.

He leaned against the table with one ankle crossed over the other, oblivious to the water spray putting a soft glisten in his hair. “Are you here for a visit?”

She wondered what it must feel like not to worry about frizzy hair, to be so unconditionally accepted and so comfortable in his surroundings. The constant attention made her insides jump around. Between the staring and eavesdropping, she was ten seconds away from climbing out of her skin.

“You mean the nursery?” She switched her weight from foot to foot as she asked the question.

“I meant Holloway. You know, the same town in West Virginia where you were born.” His eyes narrowed. “You okay?”

“I’m not exactly the town’s favorite daughter.”

“I believe the town refers to that incident as The Snub.”

“What?”

He shrugged. “People around here like to make up names for thing.”

Something inside her deflated. She actually felt her shoulders slump. “That’s just fabulous.”

“You called Holloway a pit. Wait.” He held up a finger and stared at the ceiling for a second as if in deep thought. “I think the term was rotting pit.”

She winced liked she always did when someone reminded her of the interview. “You read the article.”

He chuckled. “Everyone read it.”

From the look of it, every resident of Holloway stood in the same room with her, more than ready to lecture her on her long ago behavior. “Apparently.”

“You could use a better PR team.”

Since she barely had money for a sandwich, his insight made her laugh. “Or a quicker brain.”

“Hungry?”

Maybe her brain was even slower than she thought. “I feel like I keep saying this, but what?”

“I assume superathletes eat.”

“What are we talking about now?” She lowered her voice to a whisper even though he kept talking as if they were the only ones standing in the room.

“That date. Way I figure it, you still owe me.”

Right.
They’d eat and his girlfriend or wife would come in and make a scene. That would give everyone in town a new reason to hate her. No. Thank. You.

“You can’t possibly be this hard up for a meal companion,” she said.

“You make dating sound so sexy.”

She bit her lip to keep from laughing. “Let’s just say I’ve known some interesting guys.” Then the words registered. “Wait, did you say date?”

“Tomorrow at seven at Schmidt’s.”

That bit of news sent her mind racing down another track. “It’s still open? Old Man Schmidt was ninety when we were in school.”

“And still makes a mean pancake.” Mitch took out his phone. “What’s your number?”

She beat back a sigh. “I don’t have one.”

He shot her one of those you’re-so-full-of-it looks men did so well. “Everyone has a phone.”

“I don’t.” It wasn’t even a line. She actually couldn’t afford one right now. She owned a tent and a backpack and the sneakers on her feet. Hard to believe she once employed an agent and sat in on fancy dinners with prospective sponsors talking about documentary deals.

Mitch’s gaze brushed over her face like a caress. “Seriously?’

She had to swallow to force the word out. “Yes.”

“Fair enough.” He slipped the phone back into his pocket.

“You believe me?”

He shrugged. “Are you lying?”

“No.”

He shrugged. “Then what do you say to the date?”

She said the first thing that popped into her head. “I’ll get right on that.”

The smile that spread over his mouth was bright enough to light the room. “Nice comeback.”

“Thought that might impress you.”

“Oh, it did. Now, it’s my turn.” He stood up straight again. “I’m going to walk away thinking we’re on for tomorrow.”

Her good mood faded. “I didn’t—”

“When I do go—” he pointed in the direction of the glassed-in office at the far end of the room, “—you’re going to be tempted to watch my ass.”

The comment was so out of context it hit her like a sharp smack. “Excuse me?”

“Just to be clear, I won’t be offended. As far as I’m concerned, you can go right ahead and look because I can guarantee you if the positions were reversed, I’d be watching yours.”