Forever and Always (The Lawson Lightning Bolt #1)

4. Prologue - Katy

Prologue - Katy

S ix months ago…

“Katy?”

The voice had haunted my dreams for so long I thought I’d imagined it. But when I looked up from my laptop there he was: Andrew Lawson. Small town lawyer. All around good guy. And the one who got away. Well technically, the one I left. My mouth opened in shock.

“Andrew. Uh, hi. What are you doing in Denver?”

Andrew lived about an hour away from here, in a small town in the mountains called Lawson. The town had been founded by his ancestors, or so his mother had told me when I was up there several months ago to help my friend and colleague Steph lead the town through disaster planning exercises.

While she was there, my super independent anti-relationship best friend had fallen for the mayor and Andrew’s brother, Christopher – Mayor McGrumpy to his friends. They figured it would never work, what with them living so far away from each other. Then, to everyone’s shock including probably his own, Christopher’s mother led a recall campaign to strip Christopher of his mayor job, freeing him up to move to Denver and live happily ever after with my bestie.

I was thrilled for Steph, truly I was. But the fact that I wasn’t going to get my own happily ever after with the only man who’d ever truly caught my interest still smarted, even a year later.

“I’m in town for a legal conference,” Andrew answered my question. “May I join you?”

“Sure.”

As he sat down I drank him in like I’d been wandering in the middle of the desert and just found water. Despite the fact that he was technically middle aged, Andrew had an All American ‘boy next door’ look. His dark brown hair was perfectly styled, and I noticed he was getting some strands of grey in the sides now. He had a square jaw, a perfectly sloped nose, and beautiful brown eyes framed by thick brown lashes. It was unfair really that he looked this good, especially when I knew he was going to be fifty in two years.

Not that you could tell by his figure. He was trim and muscled, something that was obvious even though he was wearing a suit today. He and his brothers were quintessential outdoorsmen, more comfortable out doing things in the mountains than sitting inside a building. Which made seeing Andrew at a Starbucks in downtown Denver even weirder.

We stared at each other for a long, heated moment before Andrew asked, “How have you been?”

We were doing small talk? Okay. I could do small talk.

“Fine, and you?”

“Good.”

“And your mom?” I asked.

“She’s enjoying being the mayor. Now she gets to boss around the whole town, not just her sons.”

I smiled. The entire time I’d been in Lawson Marianne had tried her hardest to fix me up with one of her sons. Christopher had already fallen for Steph by then, so she’d zeroed in on Andrew, arranging for me to stay at his house since there weren’t any hotels in Lawson. She had her other son Patrick in reserve if it didn’t work out with me and Andrew. Marianne was the most blatantly obvious matchmaker I’d ever met.

Her instincts were good though. The first time I saw Andrew I’d felt… something. I couldn’t describe it, but it was like my entire body had gone on high alert. And when he shook my hand, my skin had felt electrified. I’d made up my mind to seduce him, but he’d rebuffed me, saying that he liked me too much to sleep with me and not have it mean anything.

What was that about? We were both adults in our forties. If I hadn’t seen the hungry way he stared at me, I might have thought he didn’t find me attractive, but I knew he found me attractive. He just didn’t want anything casual.

Unfortunately for both of us, I only did casual. We went our separate ways two days later and I hadn’t seen him since.

Our conversation grew more animated as we drank coffee and chatted. It was fun hearing stories about the crazy things happening in Lawson, especially involving his mother and brothers. Before I knew it, two hours had passed. I glanced down at my phone and jolted.

“I’d better get going. I’m signed up for a pilates class at seven.”

Andrew’s eyes dropped to my mostly flat stomach and then back up to my face. I felt his gaze like a caress.

“Let me walk you to your car.”

“I’m fine,” I said.

“It’s already dark out, I insist.”

I could have told him that I walked alone in the dark every day. After all, it was February. The sun set before I even got off work at five. But I was hesitant to say goodbye to Andrew just yet.

“Are you staying at Steph and Christopher’s house?” I asked as we exited the coffee shop. The temperature had dropped at least ten degrees while we were in there. I shivered and zipped up my puffy jacket.

“No, I’m heading back to Lawson now.”

“Hopefully the roads will be okay.”

The trip to Lawson could be treacherous during the winter.

“I’ve got my snow tires on, and chains in the car,” he replied. “I grew up driving in the mountains, I’ll be fine.”

We walked around the corner to the parking lot where I’d left my car. The lot was mostly empty now, full of dark shadows.

“This is me,” I said, clicking the key on my SUV before turning to face Andrew. “It was nice to see you again.”

“You too.” Andrew’s voice sounded sad.

“I guess I’ll see you when all the wedding stuff starts.”

His brother had proposed to Steph and she’d accepted. Andrew and I were both standing up in the wedding this fall.

“Yeah.”

For some reason I felt like I wanted to cry. Even though we were nothing alike and had almost nothing in common, something drew me to this man. It made me dream about him a full year after I’d last seen him. I had the strongest urge to throw myself into his arms and beg him to take me back to Lawson with him.

But I wasn’t that woman, so I straightened my spine and force a smile.

“Have a safe drive back to Lawson.”

Suddenly Andrew surged forward, his hands coming to frame my face as his lips crashed against mine.

Yes, something deep inside me called out. Finally.

My arms slid around his waist, holding him close, and Andrew slipped his tongue into my mouth, tangling with mine. We kissed like we were the only two people on the planet. We kissed like we had all the time in the world. And when he finally pulled back, I’d forgotten how to breathe on my own. That’s how life changing this kiss felt. It was like nothing I’d ever experienced before.

“I, uh, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that.”

His words were like a bucket of ice water over the head.

“You didn’t see me complaining,” I said, striving for a light tone despite the stab of hurt his words brought. “That was a good kiss.”

“I don’t do casual,” he reminded me, as if I’d just proposed that he do me on the hood of my car.

“You made that abundantly clear last time I saw you,” I replied, remembering how I’d come onto him, and he’d rebuffed me. “Bye Andrew, see you around.”

Without another glance I got into my car and drove away, hoping that I’d recover from the pain of seeing him before we had to spend time together at Steph and Christopher’s wedding.