Page 48 of My Not So Wicked Stepbrother (My Not So Wicked 1)

By the time I got situated on the stone-cold, moss-covered ledge, I didn’t have to wait long for the sun to start creeping up behind the mountain range in front of me. In the golden and orange hues, I saw my mother. She was a light in the dark. Everything she touched was all the better for it. She helped people feel warmth and to grow. Tears started to stream down my cheeks and bandages just thinking about all the good she had done not only for me, but my friends and family, even strangers.

“Why did you have to go?” I whispered. I swore I heard her say, I’m still here. I held my heart, where she would live as long as it still beat.

I pulled up my knees and wrapped myself up. I needed the hug. That’s when I noticed some movement down below. Sawyer emerged from his tent looking like a sexy lumberjack in a flannel shirt and tight jeans. Even from this distance I was swooning. Oddly, his sights landed on me as soon as he had zipped his tent and stretched. He waved up at me.

I waved back, even though I was annoyed with him and ready to lay into him about the torture I had endured earlier this morning. I was surprised no one had been awoken by the goddess and her titillating pee session.

He wasted no time making his way up to me.

I ran my fingers through my rat’s nest hair and wished I had a breath mint. Oh well, it wasn’t like he hadn’t seen me first thing in the morning before. We’d fallen asleep together a couple of times on my couch watching movies, but I was never wearing hiking boots and thermal underwear with pandas on them. It was quite the fashion statement. Not that it mattered, right? He’d probably be sneaking off with Shelby soon to have a private rendezvous in the forest. Jenna and Brad already had yesterday. Something about nature was such a turn-on to guys. She’d come back with pine needles and twigs in her hair. I plucked them out like the good friend I was while Brad strutted around like a peacock.

It didn’t take long before I heard the telltale signs of someone approaching, the snaps of fallen twigs and the crunch of gravel.

I took a deep breath and tried to steel my heart. I hoped one of these times it would work. No luck, my heart still pitter, pitter, pitter, pattered when Sawyer came around the bend. His dark curls looked even more sexy mussed, and his layer of scruff was the perfect addition to his tight jawline. But I remembered the blonde in my tent stealing my covers and my clothes.

I scowled at him. “I don’t like you right now.”

He laughed and plopped down right next to me smelling sexy like campfire, musk, and perspiration. “How’s your face this morning? Let me check under the bandage.” He reached up to do just that.

I batted his hand away. “I’m fine. I’m annoyed with you.”

He smirked. “I heard the show this morning.”

“You owe me.”

“Name it and it’s yours.”

Sawyer King. If only if it was that simple, I would shout his name and claim him all mine. Instead, I rubbed my hands together and blew on them because it was freaking cold out. “I’ll think about it and get back to you.”

Sawyer took my hands and rubbed them between his own. Oh crap, did that feel good. Don’t hyperventilate, Emma.

“Did you forget your gloves?”

All I could do was stare at him. I knew I should be responding but all my mind could focus on was the buzz he was giving me. I was beginning to feel plenty warm all over. “Um . . . surprisingly,” I could hardly breathe, “I didn’t. Your girlfriend needed them, so I let her borrow them.”

His brow crinkled. “Shelby’s not my girlfriend.”

I rolled my eyes. “Fine, the girl you’re dating. Semantics.”

“Em.” He stopped rubbing my hands but kept ahold of them. “I’m not dating Shelby, nor do I have any plans to.”

“Whatever you say, but just so you know, she’s a Hobbs.”

Sawyer’s eyes popped. “As in—”

“Yes, as in the corporate giant you work for, and she’s on the rebound, by the way.” Hardcore, as far as I could tell.

He shrugged. “That’s too bad, but like I said, I’m not interested. She’s not really my type.”

If that was the case, I had no hope. Who the heck was he looking for? Miss Universe? “You know, as your friend, I should tell you that you really need to lower your standards.”

He chuckled. “I have no intention of lowering them.”

I took my hands back and shoved them in my jacket pockets, depressed. I stared out into the still landscape, soaking in nature.

“How are you feeling? It’s been a year today.”

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