Page 118 of Waiting For Fate

“Yes, right there.” Her eyes fall closed. “Oh, I’m gonna come.”

“Eyes on me, Dove,” I demand, leaning over to kiss her neck the way she loves. “Let me see that pretty face when you come for me, baby,” I growl into her ear just as her eyes find mine in the mirror.

“Atta girl.”

“Oh! Sawyer, yes!” she cries out. Her pussy squeezes around me, milking me for everything I’m worth, and a moment later, I find my own release.

She stands up, pressing her back to mine, caressing my cheek with her hand as she watches us in the reflection.

“You are everything I’ve ever wanted, Sawyer Clark.”

“You’re everything I’ll ever need, Dove.”

I run a warm bubble bath for her in the suite’s jetted tub—that she demands I join her in—and spend what feels like an hour holding her, kissing her, touching every perfect curve of hers and forging them to memory. That way, when I’m old and gray I’ll still have the memory of what it feels like—falling in love with her right now.

CHAPTER 51

SAWYER

“Where are we going if we need snacks for the drive there?” Leah asks as we walk through the candy aisle of the gas station.

“I told you, it’s a surprise.” I kiss her temple and she rolls her eyes.

“Fine. But how man—” She stops when her phone starts ringing. “Oh, it’s my mom.” She smiles, swiping across the screen to answer. “Hey Mom.” I scan the shelves as I try to decide what I want to take for the trip when Leah psst’s me over to her. “We’re just grabbing snacks before we go to some secret place Sawyer wanted to show me. What’s up?” She sticks her tongue out at me and holds her bag of nerd clusters out for me to take from her, but before I can take them, they fall to the ground. I bend to scoop them up and when I look at her again, my blood runs cold.

“What do you mean? Is he okay?” Her eyes begin to water immediately, and her lip is quivering furiously as she hunches over with her hand covering her mouth. “No no no no no, please no!” The hand holding her phone falls to her side, and I grab it before her cell can hit the tiles.

“Leah, what’s wrong? What happened?” Her body is completely limp in my arms as she sobs. Nothing she says is comprehensible, so I look down and see the call is still connected. With a pit in my stomach and a lump in my throat I pull the phone to my ear.

“Mrs. Gates? It’s Sawyer.” I hear her sniffle and clear her throat.

“Hey, Honey. Do you think you could get Leah back home?”

“Of course. We’ll be on the next flight out. Is everything okay?”

“Allen had a stroke. He uh, he didn’t make it.” She is trying to be so strong right now, but her voice breaks at the last minute.

I wonder if there’s anyone there with her.

Leah lets out another soul crushing wail and I clear my throat, trying to force my composure back into place.

“I am so sorry, Loretta. We’ll be back as soon as possible.”

“Thank you.” I hang up the call and sit our snacks on the shelf closest to me, wrapping my arms around her as tight as I can without crushing her, trying to bring her some kind of comfort.

Does that even exist?

Comfort right after finding out one of the most important people in your life isn’t going to be there when you get back home? Not in the way you want them to be, at least.

Fuck!

“Come on baby, let’s go home.” I scoop her up, walking her out to the car and buckling her in before heading back to the hotel to pack and book the next flight out.

She doesn’t say a word the entire way back home. She goes between crying and staring blankly out the window. From the car, to the airport, to the plane, until we land back in Tennessee. I wrap my hand around hers when we get into the truck, but she doesn’t move an inch until we pull up to her parents’ house. Then, for the first time since her phone rang this morning, she looks at me.

“Your mom is here. I thought you’d want to be with her, but?—”

“I do.” Her voice is so raspy from crying and refusing to drink anything. It breaks my heart hearing the pain she’s in. I hop out, open her door and she takes my hand to get down, then pulls it away and wraps her arms around herself.

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