Page 15 of Wild Bliss

She was not staying with possums. Though they would likelybe nicer hosts.

She needed one good thing to come out of this debacle of aday. Her car was wrecked, and she was stuck with this duo of temptationsreminding her of just how school-marm wallflower she’d become. “Are you or areyou not going to fix my electricity? I can have my future brother-in-law do it,but you are going to pay him because you are the landlord, and fixing things isyour responsibility because the cabin is your asset, not mine. You shouldunderstand if you do not live up to your end of the bargain, beyond bringing mynew dad into the scenario, I’ll bring in my friend Nell, who will help meprotest your many infractions of the Bliss County code.” She gasped,exaggerating it for the drama. “You know, I’m almost certain I saw a ReticulanGrey in the backyard, and he was obviously dumping toxic waste in the river.And all because of you.”

“You are really fucking mean. I did not expect you to be somean.” Sawyer seemed to think the problem through. “Well, put like that Isuppose I will pay for someone to tell you there’s nothing wrong with theelectricity, but you have to promise not to sic Mel on me. Or Nell. Those twoare a team up no one needs.”

So at least she’d won one thing. “Excellent. Now I’m goingto take a shower and then I will lock myself into whatever spare room you mighthave, and you won’t see me again until I walk out of this place. Call me whenthe snow melts, asshole.”

She turned and started to walk away and realized she did notknow where she was going. The cabin was cozy, but it wasn’t as small as herown.

“The bathroom is the second door on the left, and you canstay in the guest room,” Sawyer said. He was staring at her again, likelytrying to figure out a new tactic to get her out of his house. “It was my roomwhen I was a kid. The bed is small, but the mattress is new. The sheets are inthe dresser. You should know Bella usually sleeps in there.”

“Bella is welcome.” At least she would have a companion.

“I, uhm, I suppose I will make you a tray and put it outsideyour door.” Wyatt’s smile had amped down. “Let me know if you need anythingelse. We’ll leave you alone, of course.”

He turned and walked toward what she suspected was thekitchen.

Sawyer’s brow had furrowed. “He was looking forward tohaving company. Now you made him sad. You know we don’t get many guests.”

“I can’t imagine why.”

“You’re going to starve because you don’t like me?” Sawyerasked, every word a challenge.

“I have a protein bar,” she announced. “And I think half aSnickers. And also, I could probably use a cleanse. I’ve been around some toxicpeople lately.”

He moved into her space, but Sabrina held her ground. “He’snot toxic. Wyatt’s been through more than you can imagine, and he wants to be agood host. Don’t be stubborn.”

Sawyer Hathaway had not one ounce of self-awareness. “Theproblem isn’t him. The problem is you.”

He loomed over her, his expression softening and making herbreath catch. When he wasn’t frowning he was stunning. Who was she kidding? Hewas always stunning.

“Yeah, I get that a lot. I’m sorry. I had a bad reaction toyou.”

Bad didn’t begin to cover it. “Clearly. Look, I don’t knowwhy you disliked me at first sight…”

“Didn’t. Pretty much the opposite.” He was staring down ather like he wanted to memorize her face. “Saw you, wanted you, knew I shouldn’thave you, so I escaped.”

“Escaped?” Now she did step back. She had no idea what hewas doing, but she wasn’t about to let it happen. “What exactly did you think Iwould do to you? Jump your bones? Try to force you to go to a hotel with me?”

He shrugged, and his eyes spent way too much time on herlips. “It happens. Usually I’m up for it, but you… I can’t explain it but Ifelt something and I didn’t like what I felt. So I took myself out of thesituation because you looked soft and sweet and I thought there was zero wayyou would be able to handle a man like me.”

“A man like you? Arrogant and rude? I know exactly how tohandle a man like you. You throw him out with the trash and then you don’t havea problem anymore.”

His lips curled up. “See, this was the part I didn’t catch.The mean part. I like it.”

He was so frustrating. “Let me get this straight. Yourealized I can’t leave and you can’t leave, and now you think because we’restuck here we should… What?”

“I think we should start over,” Sawyer admitted. “I thinkyou should take a shower and change into dry clothes, and then we’ll sit downand have dinner made by a former one percenter who got out and now for somereason wants to be the world’s best host. He’s serious about hospitality andmaking things nice. His family, well, think of them like a violent cult. Hewasn’t allowed much contact with the outside world, and when he finally gotout, I’m pretty sure the first thing he watched was Top Chef. It imprinted onhim. I’m also pretty sure he’s the one who didn’t tell me about the complaintssince I know for damn certain nothing gets past Wyatt. Which makes me think hewanted this to happen.”

She was confused. “Wanted me to get into a car accident andget stuck here?”

“No. Wanted you to come out and meet me in person, where hewould almost certainly be because he’s my shadow these days. Or maybe I’m his.I don’t have a lot of family anymore so Wyatt’s pretty much it.”

“Family doesn’t have to be blood,” she replied, not likinghow she was already warming up to him again.

“As you’re learning with Mel and probably Cassidy,” Sawyerallowed. “Now that I think about it the last time she came out here to do herbiannual check to see if the…I don’t remember the name of the damnthings…mating spaces were laid out, she mentioned her new baby. I thought shegot another dog or something.”

“It’s the Neluts.” How weird her life had become. She knewexactly what he was talking about. “According to Dad, they have a biannualmating schedule, and they come to Earth to do it, so to speak. They’reseafaring. Star faring. They live on spaceships. They like to mate inmountainous regions for religious purposes.”

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