“No, they were just in Dry Creek.”
“Charlie told me they left this morning. She told me about Angela too. Oh, Sawyer, you found her.”
“Not quite. But we know she’s alive. It’s a long story. I’ll tell you everything when I get there. Is that why you came? Because of Angie?”
“No, I only found out about her after I got here. But it’s incredible, Sawyer. You must be so relieved.”
“I am. More on that later. But I need to talk to you. Really talk. So why’d you make the trip?” As far as he knew, she’d taken everything she owned with her when she’d left, including his goddamn heart.
“Same reason—I need to talk to you too. In person. But don’t come home tonight. It’s too much driving. I’ll worry that you’ll fall asleep at the wheel. Wanna stay at my place? I can give you the door code to get in.”
“Sure.” He didn’t bother to write anything down when she rattled off the numbers.
“Sawyer?”
“Hmm?”
“Uh…I’ll tell you when you get here.”
He grabbed something to eat at an all-night diner, tanked up on coffee, and was home just before dawn the next day.
Gina’s Louis Vuitton luggage was scattered across his entryway. This time, he managed not to trip over anything and a smile bloomed in his chest. His little pain in the ass was back. What he wouldn’t do to make it permanent?
She was still fast asleep, her hair fanned across his pillow while the early-morning light made a soft halo around her face. It took all his willpower not to brush a kiss across her lips. But he didn’t want to wake her.
He quietly went to the kitchen, where he made a pot of coffee. While he poured himself a mug, she came out of the bedroom.
“You’re here.” She blinked up at him, trying to clear the sleep from her eyes. “I thought you were going to stay overnight in LA…come back today.”
“Change of plan.”
They both stood there awkwardly when he decided to take the bull by the horns.
“This isn’t going to work for me.”
She looked down at herself. “Me staying here and sleeping in your bed?”
“No, you not sleeping in my bed.”
He ate up the distance between them with two long strides, took her arm, led her to the living room sofa, and without any fanfare laid it out for her. “I’m in love with you.” He waited a beat for that to sink in and continued, “If you’re not in love me, then we don’t have much to talk about. But if you feel even half of what I feel we need to figure out how to make this work. LA’s where your company is…where you make your television show. I get that. So I’ll split my time between here and there.”
She stared at him with her mouth agape, saying nothing.
“Gina?”
“I thought you were trying to fight this thing you and I have for each other.” She waved her hand between them. “I think your exact words were, ‘I’m falling for you and I don’t like it.’”
He scrubbed his hand over his unshaven face. God, had he actually said that? For a professional wordsmith he had no game. “At the time I said it I was scared shitless. Now, I’m scared shitless of losing you.” He took in a deep breath. “These last two weeks have been hell, Gina. I’m so crazy in love with you that I can’t sleep. Can’t eat. Can’t work. Can’t think of anything but you.”
She leaned into him and stared into his eyes. “I came to tell you the same thing.”
“Yeah?” His heart did a two-step. He got up, lifted her, and sat down with her in his lap. “So you and I…we’re a thing now, right?”
“I think we’ve been a thing for a while and we didn’t want to admit it to ourselves. We’re kind of stupid that way.”
He chuckled. “You know us cowpokes. We’re dumber than dirt.”
“Nope. Smartest man I ever met.” She laid her head on his chest and burrowed in.
