A naughty grin played on her lips as she looked up at him. “Only if the final stop is your bedroom.”
Chapter 10
Balancing a cardboardcupholder tray in one hand while holding a bag of pastries underneath his chin, Sawyer opened the conference room door and stepped inside.
“Shayla was out of those cranberry-oatmeal bars you like, so I got you—” He stopped mid-sentence at the intense look clouding Paxton’s face.
He set the coffee and pastries on the table and walked over to her desk. She held up her index finger, the universal I’ll-get-to-you-in-a-minute gesture.
He perched on the edge of the table and folded his arms across his chest, not even bothering to go back to the CAD drawing he’d been working on before he went to The Jazzy Bean to get them both an afternoon snack.
With only her “ums” and “okays” to go on, it was difficult to glean exactly what was being discussed. But Sawyer didn’t have to hear both sides to know that whatever it was, it was significant. If it had anything to do with her mother or her dog, Paxton would have left the office without a second thought; he could only conclude that the call was related to the job.
He fought the urge to go directly to the worst-case scenario, but Sawyer had worked on enough state-funded projects to know how swiftly they could move from all systems go to worst-case scenario. The funding could get pulled in a minute. All it would take was someone at the executive level deeming another project more important. Gauthier’s flood protection would be put on hold, funds would be diverted, and he would be reassigned to another project before the week was out.
And Paxton would be on her way back to Little Rock.
It wasn’t a question as to which made him more nauseated. As important as it was to this entire region that a capable flood-protection system be in place, the thought of Paxton leaving made him physically ache.
It didn’t matter that she would be only six hours away and that he could go up there every single weekend if he chose to—which Sawyer had already decided he would do once she returned. He was supposed to have at least another week with her. He was counting on that week before they had to figure out the “what’s next” part of their relationship.
An acute sense of desperation swept through him.
He still was uncertain whether she even considered them to be in an actual relationship. Maybe she reallywasjust living out her fantasy of having a bit of fun with her high school crush, and once this project was done, they would be done, too.
But Sawyer refused to accept that. She’d run away from him once before, and instead of going after her, he’d married someone he didn’t love and wasted three years that could have been spent building a life with Paxton.
Dammit, he wasreadyto build a life with her.
He studied her profile as she listened to whoever was speaking on the other end of the line. Those delicate cheekbones were pronounced as her lips tightened with increased tension. Even with the smooth skin of her brow furrowing, she was still so damn beautiful that she took his breath away.
When she finally ended the call a couple of minutes later, Sawyer braced himself for the news. It would determine how much time he had with her before she packed up her things and headed back to Arkansas.
“That was John, my supervisor at Bolt-Myer,” Paxton said.
“I assumed as much. Are they pulling this project?”
She shook her head. “No, no, nothing like that. There’s a second team from Bolt-Myer touring a flood-protection system that’s closer to one of the possible alternatives being considered for Gauthier. Instead of our driving out to Mobile to tour that barrier system, he wants us to join them.”
“Is that it?” Sawyer’s relief was so swift that his shoulders physically dropped.
“We have to leave tomorrow, so I’ll need to change our travel arrangements.” She swiveled her chair around to face him. “But there’s still a problem,” she said.
That feeling of lead filled his stomach again as he took in the seriousness of her expression.
“Bolt-Myer is concerned about the timetable. Of course, John wouldn’t come right out and say it because he approved the survey team, but he’s very skilled at giving not-so-subtle hints when he has an issue.”
“The surveyors are done,” Sawyer said. “We have a special team at the army corps working around the clock to get the new maps drawn up. Does he realize how tough it is to get any state agency to work overtime on something that isn’t critical?”
“Yes, he knows,” she said. “John is just being John. That’s the way he is.”
“Well, you can tell John that he’s an idiot.”
“He’s my boss,” Paxton pointed out. “He holds my career in his hands. I generally try to refrain from calling him an idiot, as hard as that can be sometimes.” She blew out a sigh before continuing. “Anyway, I told him the maps will be done within the next couple of days, which mollified him a bit, but the timetable is just one of the issues he has with this project. He was much more concerned with what he’s calling ‘dwindling community confidence.’”
“What makes him think the community doesn’t have confidence in what we’re doing?”
“Apparently, there’s video on both YouTube and Instagram of the town hall meeting from the other night. He’s concerned with how heated things became.”
