Page 20 of Saving Sarah (Blissful Bets)

Sarah opened the oven and rolled her eyes. Picking up the cookbook, she thrummed through the pages. The instructions did say bake a little over an hour, right? Surely, she hadn’t taken more than two hours to get dressed. Well, she did take her time in the shower, and then fixing her hair. Oh, and the clothes. Quickly, she scanned the words.

“Bake at three hundred fifty degrees for one and a half hours, basting every thirty minutes.” Sarah paused. “Basting every thirty minutes? Dammit! How did I miss that part?” She looked back toward the dry, burnt rosemary chicken she’d worked so hard on preparing. “Well, shit. What in the hell do I do now?”

A knock made her look up. She quickly laid the book down and wiped her hands on the new white apron she’d bought. Sarah had spent so much time at the grocery store, she completely missed lunch with her girls. Melissa didn’t mind calling and teasing her terribly for trying to make dinner.

Taking a quick peek at herself in the mirror, she took in her reflection—black slacks, red silk blouse with her blonde hair in waves. Damn, she looked like Christmas. Well, it was too late to change now.

As Sarah reached for the knob she hesitated. Fear like nothing she felt before exploded inside of her, leaving her body shaking as she began to back away. Her mind was screaming to run, but already entering the kitchen, there was nowhere to go.

The sound of wood cracking as someone’s fist pounded into the door made her cover her mouth to hold in a scream. Who in the hell would be banging like that? For some reason, she knew it wasn’t Devon or Gavin.

A ring echoed through the living room. “Shit,” she whispered, running to her purse. The moment she hit the ignore button the door crashed to the floor. Air rushed against Sarah’s face, blowing her hair back at the force of the fall. She couldn’t move as she stood there staring at Tom. Their gazes locked, and time seemed to slow in her fear.

“Sarah!”

Devon’s voice in the background only registered briefly. All she could see were Tom’s eyes glaring at her before he disappeared. The adrenaline hit so hard and so fast Sarah collapsed to the ground breathing heavily. Seconds hadn’t gone by when she noticed Gavin kneeling next to her.

“Are you all right? Was that the guy who’s been calling?”

Shakily, Sarah nodded. “Where’s Devon?” She immediately stood. Her legs shaking almost made it impossible.

“He ran after the guy.”

“Why didn’t you go with him?” she said frantically.

“He told me to stay with you. Do you know how strong he is? He wouldn’t have needed me for one guy. Sarah, he’s an alpha. The guy wouldn’t stand a chance against Devon.”

Walking to the door, she peeked out, not seeing anything. “Gavin, if something happens to him…”

He quickly embraced her in his arms. “He’ll be all right. Shh... It’s okay.”

Sarah couldn’t think. “I just got him back. If I lost him again, I’m not sure what would happen to me.”

Gavin stroked his fingers through her hair while he made soothing sounds and pulled her deeper into the living room. Nausea threatened at the thoughts of any harm befalling the one man she tried endlessly to forget. Suddenly, she didn’t want to have him missing from her anymore. Even if she hadn’t completely forgiven him, she didn’t want him gone either.

The sound of footsteps had Sarah spinning around. Devon walked through the door slowly, and she ran, throwing herself into his arms. “He had a car waiting by. I couldn’t keep up with him, but I did get the license plate number.”

“Why did you do that? You could have gotten hurt.” The sobs wracked her chest as she fought to breathe against the panic flaring inside of her.

“Whoa, honey, calm down. I’m fine. Don’t cry. Here, let me see.” Devon lifted her face up, wiping the tears away with his thumb. “Are you okay?”

Was she okay? Fuck no, she wasn’t okay. One minute she was confused, and the next, she was ready to pledge her undying love to the one man she thought she’d never forgive. That shit wasn’t normal.

“Yes, I’m fine. He didn’t do anything besides bang my door down, but you shouldn’t have gone after him. It could have been dangerous.”

“You let me worry about danger. I’m just glad you’re all right. If I wouldn’t have heard the loud knocking…” Devon tensed against her. He held her tighter, resting his head down on hers.

Recalling the banging, Sarah looked at her door. “Now how in the hell am I supposed to explain that to the manager? She’s going to flip. I think he broke the frame.”

Devon looked at her, shocked. “Someone tried to break into your house, and you’re worried about the damn door? Sarah, you could have been hurt. You have no idea who that guy was. He could have been a murderer, a rapist. Do you know how lucky you are?”

Turning to Gavin, she wasn’t sure what to say. Devon didn’t give her time to do anything. “Gavin, do you know something you’re not telling me? You both are looking at each other like you’re hiding something.”

“We’re not hiding anything. Sarah told me she knows who it is.”

“Well, who the hell is it then?”

Confused on how to start, she quickly pulled away and sat down on the couch. “If you fix my door, I’ll tell you everything, the whole story. You’re both going to find out anyway.”

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