6
In good company
Lila didn’t comeout of the exam rooms until almost two. Sawyer had expected to see her at a reasonable hour for lunch, and his stomach now growled so loudly he swore it echoed. He’d read every magazine on the end tables scattered across the waiting room and leveled up twenty times on his word search game app. He had also had the time to scrutinize the room and figure out if there was anything strange.
From experience, he knew a lot of killers harmed their targets in hospital settings. Fortunately, his scrutiny hadn’t turned up any notable weaknesses in the clinic.
When Lila finally came out, hair matted into a loose bun, the grumpiness Sawyer felt from hunger melted away. He stood.
“Couldn’t get away,” Lila said apologetically. “Hope you weren’t out here the whole time.”
“Well, I caught a movie,” Sawyer shrugged. “Got my teeth cleaned.”
“Good,” Lila shot back, without missing a beat. “You needed it.”
Damn! Was she always like that; blunt and quick to dish out comebacks? He knew he needed to be careful coming up with an answer, one which would allow their playful banter to continue. After all, he still needed her to trust him, to make his job work.
“Hey,” Sawyer said. “We just met. You can’t insult my dental hygiene until at least the seventh hour of our acquaintance.”
Lila chuckled. She didn’t know why she felt comfortable enough with Sawyer to tease him.
Tease?
Okay, fine – it was flirting. She couldn’t deny it, not even to herself. She was amazed at how easily she flowed with him despite the reservations she had against him at first. Each time, she waited for him to do something she could tease him with. At least this way, she wouldn’t be seen as cheap or craving for attention.
She’d been thinking about Sawyer’s surprise language skills all day, even as she saw patients. It was sexy, the way he swooped in to help the woman and interpret for her off the cuff. Most people could barely speak their own language coherently, let alone three. Did he learn Farsi in the army? And what exactly did he do in the army? Kaylin didn’t know him too well, as he was semi-new to the Redmond team. But she did say Rusty spoke highly of him. Lila wanted to know more about this guy, who kept surprising her.
Not that Lila wasn’t used to impressive guys. Most of the men she dated were impressive, at least on paper. Ivy League schools. 401k’s. Parents or grandparents with summer estates on Nantucket or Block Island. Sometimes both. They could be nice enough. But impressive didn’t always equal interesting, she’d realized quickly. Her parents made it obvious they wish she had gotten engaged to one of these men already; found someone to help her as she made her way toward completing the requirements to be a doctor. Someone to keep the light on at home. But what they really wanted was someone to be around to watch over her at night. A man in the house.
Lila rolled her eyes, just thinking about it. The last thing she needed now was someone to bug her and encroach in her private space. Although, she wanted to have a relationship, she also wanted to be free. She saw most relationships as some subtle form of bondage, and she wasn’t ready to step into one.
“I’m finished for the day,” Lila nodded at Sawyer. “Did you need to see my apartment?” She tried to sound as polite as possible, but her tone and her demeanor betrayed her. She was not cut out for pretense. She always loved to express herself. There was no time or need to mince words. She got that trait from her father, who never traded the truth for anything.
“I need to see some food,” Sawyer said. “Then, yes. Most home security systems aren’t good at keeping out anyone with hacking capabilities. Not even the canine systems, though they are my favorite service provider. Best value for the money.” He winked at her.
Lila still wasn’t used to bodyguards making jokes, and didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of laughing. She normally wasn’t rude to people – at least, she didn’t think – but something about this man made her urgently want to keep him at arm’s length. She wanted nothing more than for him to do his job, and leave. No strings attached. Was this to protect herself from disappointment, because guys like him never actually liked girls like her? Or was it something else?
“You won’t have any concerns after you meet my dog,” she corrected. She started to walk out of the waiting room. “…Coming?”
Sawyer tore a page out of a magazine he’d been reading and tucked it into his pocket before standing. “Yeah. But let me go first.”
“Wait - you can’t tear out pages!” Lila said, stopping mid-stride. What kind of person exuded such uncouth behavior?
Sawyer took the page and held it up for her to see. It showed a collector’s plate painted with kittens. “No one else wants this,” he said, flipping it to show her the ad on the other side.
“Why do you?”
He blushed, just barely enough to see. “My mom collects these. She loves cats but she’s allergic. She doesn’t have this one.” He stuck it back in his pocket.
“People actually buy those things?”
“We can’t all shop at Barney’s,” Sawyer replied mildly.
He stepped out of the building first and scanned the sidewalk, facing windows, and rooftops, before ushering Lila out in front of him.
Lila’s face burned at the obvious rib at her wealth, but she didn’t say anything. She actually did have a dress she needed to return at Barney’s anytime she had a free moment. She’d bought it for a fundraiser for her father, but her mother had informed her, the neckline didn’t flatter her. Lila hated that Sawyer’s assessments of her didn’t seem to be wrong, whereas hers of him so far, had been. She thought she’d been good at reading people, but there was misinterpreting each page she read. She huffed past him.
“Food?” he asked.
