Page 40 of Taming His Honeydoll
Was that part of what was bothering her? Was she perhaps taking her anger at herself for being so naïve and trusting out on him? It wasn’t a mistake she intended to ever make again.
At last, she took her pajamas from under the pillow where she’d stashed them so she could dress quietly without waking up Levi, and got ready for bed. Whether or not Sawyer was trustworthy remained to be seen in her book. She wasn’t a foolish young girl anymore. She would be twenty-three on December first and she knew what she wanted. Her body knew what it wanted too, even if her mind was unwilling. She fell asleep to dreams of Sawyer over her in the moonlight from the window, much like that night in his apartment. He was warm, sexy, and telling her how much he loved her.
Chapter 10
Sawyer slept lightly, his training from the military kicking in gear to keep watch on the two most important people in the world to him. When he heard Levi cry out, he immediately went to their bedroom door and peeked inside. Emma was lying in bed sound asleep, but Levi was sitting up, his little eyes wide in the light from the nightlight and full of tears.
“Daddy?” he whispered frantically.
“I’m here, Levi. Are you okay?”
Throwing the covers aside, Levi climbed out of the cot and came running to him. Sawyer kneeled down on one knee and met him face to face, wiping a tear off his little cheek with his thumb. “What’s wrong, son? I heard you cry out.” He pulled him into his arms and stood up as the boy nestled his small head into the crook of his shoulder and his little arms went around his neck.
“I’m scared.”
He took him back to his bedroom and sat on the side of the bed with him, his heart so full his throat threatened to close. “What scared you?” He asked thickly, rubbing the small back.
“I heard a noise outside the window,” he mumbled. “I don’t like windows—monsters can come in windows. Mama always keeps my bed away from them.”
“I think I know what your monster is,” Sawyer replied gently. “Would you like to see? I think you might like this monster.”
He looked up, his eyes wide. “Monsters are scary.”
“Do you trust me?”
He nodded but didn’t say anything. Sawyer turned him gently toward his window on the backside of the house and pointed. “See there?”
Levi slowly slipped off his lap and went to the window. “It’s a cat, a big orange cat,” he said in awe. “Can we pet it? Will it bite?”
“That’s my cat, Marmalade. Cats aren’t allowed in the house, but sometimes I open the window and let Marmalade inside to sleep with me. When I was younger, I’d let her out the next morning so Mom wouldn’t know,” he whispered conspiratorially.
“Wow, she must be old.”
Sawyer chuckled. “She is pretty old, at least fifteen. I was around eleven when she first started climbing that tree and meowing at me to let her in.”
Can we let her in?” Levi asked, his eyes shining with excitement.
