Page 48 of Sawyer
Lele's face got that adorable brow scrunch she got when she was confused. “You keep using that word. The musket who?” she asked.
He cleared his throat to keep himself from laughing. That was going to happen if she kept being so fucking cute. “The Musketiaras. It's a group the girls have. I'll tell you about that later if you decide you want to stay.”
Now for the part he really needed her to understand. Because if she didn't believe this, he had no chance of convincing her to stay with him.
“If you hadn’t met Gabi, I would have told you tonight anyway. I called this morning’s meeting. That’s the other reason we came to Darling today. I told everyone I was going to tell you the truth. I told them they could either choose to trust me or not, but that I was in love with you, and I wasn't going to lie to you anymore.
Lele gasped softly but didn’t look away. “You love me? After two weeks?”
“I do. That’s something we Sabre brothers seem to have in common. When we finally fall in love, we fall fast, and we fall hard. And I fell for you, Half-Pint.”
CHAPTER 16
Lele stared at Saul— no, Sawyer— trying to process what he’d said. There were paradoxes and oxymorons in the world. People used them all the time. She’d used them herself. There was a deafening silence, and people ate jumbo shrimp. There were phrases like “cruel to be kind” or “the more you know, the more you don’t know.”
Happiness and sadness had both filled her at the same time. She'd been excited and scared. But could a person love someone and lie to them the entire time they were together?
All two whole weeks of being together? Not much of a test.
She shook her head. “Nope. No. You, you can’t.”
With a sad, lopsided grin, Sawyer disagreed. “And yet I did, babygirl. Fast, hard, and irreversibly.”
Fudge nuggets! She’d answered her own question, but she hadn’t meant to do it out loud.
If someone had asked her yesterday if she was falling in love with Saul. Sawyer. Whoever he was. She’d have said yes. But that was yesterday. Before she’d found out, she didn’t even know her Daddy’s real name.
It was too much. Her brain was fried.
She scowled at him. “Well, I don't. And even if I did, I wouldn't stay that way to someone who had been lying to me the entire time I've known him."
She was, evidently, staying at his house for as long as he wanted. He’d promised her they’d eat at That's Italian for lunch. She’d been looking forward to it.
He would have sat beside her, tall and handsome. She’d have been the envy of every Little in town. He’d have made jokes about the way that she zuped her spaghetti.
No one would have dared be mean to her because he wouldn’t have let them. Because Daddies were protective, and he was supposed to be her Daddy. She wouldn’t have worried about anyone trying to take her away from him. Because Daddies were possessive, and she was his. He’d tuck her napkin into the collar of her shirt. Daddies are caregivers and watch out for their Littles that way.
What Daddies didn’t do, not ever, was lie. Not to their Little girl. Not about how they feel, or who they are. Daddies didn’t spy on their Little girls with cameras they didn’t even know were there. He’d both those things. Maybe more. So, he wasn’t her Daddy.
In her world, lying and loving could not both occur at the same time. Never.
He reached for her across the couch, but when she froze him with an icy gaze, his hand dropped. "I'm not asking you to tell me you love me, too. I'm not asking you to feel that way at all. I just wanted you to know that's where I'm at."
What was she supposed to do with that?
She didn't know what to think. She didn't know what to feel. She didn't know how to be. It had taken all her trust to believe that someone as gorgeous as Saul… because darn it, that's who he was… could be interested in someone like her. He could've had any woman in town, and he chose her. She’d believe him, even though it made no sense.
He hadn't loved her then, and he didn't love her now. And all she wanted was a quiet room where she could be alone and cry her heart out. Again.
She probably would, but not right now. Right now, she’d thought of what she wanted to say. “I want to go home. I want to go back to Elk Jaw.”
The pain that filled his eyes with her words proved just how good an actor he really was. She wasn't surprised when he shook his head. “You can't go back to Elk Jaw right now, Half-Pint.” Before she could argue, he continued. “I'll take you later, if you really want to go. You're not a prisoner. But I won’t take you right now.”
“Why not?”
He closed his eyes, as if he didn’t want to answer her, but then he said, “Because your house is bugged. I told the guys at the meeting I wanted someone to go remove all the cameras and listening devices. You’re not going to want to go back to your house until they're done."
Well, he was right about that. "I’ve put on enough peep shows to last a lifetime, thank you very much. But I don't want to stay here alone with you. Anything might happen."
