Chapter One #3
“Is it your shoulder?” Lorna’s hands skittered up his shoulder, and her touch felt as if lightning passed straight through his body.
He pulled her tighter against his chest, leaving her arms with no place to go but around his shoulders.
She felt like heaven up against him. Memories of Tag and Piper’s wedding came flooding back.
The way she let him hold her while he moved them both across the dance floor—honestly, it was the best night of his life right up until she bolted and ran back to their house.
He was confused and blamed himself for making her uncomfortable enough to leave her own niece’s wedding.
That lasted until she explained that she ran because she was a whole five years older than him.
He knew damn well how old Lorna was, and he didn’t give a fuck.
She was the sexiest woman that he had ever met, and when she touched him, he felt things that he had never felt for anyone else.
In the weeks since the wedding, he spent his time volunteering for the sheriff, fantasizing about the most stubborn woman that he had ever met, and taking a lot of cold showers.
Lorna still made no move to detangle herself from his hold.
Her eyes darkened as she leaned into his embrace.
He knew that she wanted him every bit as much as he wanted her.
It was now or never. He dipped his head to take her lips with every ounce of passion that was pent up inside of him since he met her.
As he licked his way into her mouth, her breathy sighs and moans told him that she was on board.
He walked her backward, trapping her against the refrigerator as he nipped and bit at her already swollen lips.
Lorna didn’t put up a fuss, even pulling his head down to get a better angle.
She devoured his mouth like a starving woman and then broke the kiss.
“Sawyer, we can’t.” He could tell that she was going to withdraw, and that was not an option. This was the furthest she ever let him in—he wasn’t about to back down so easily.
“Jon.” He sighed, pulling her in for another consuming kiss.
Again, she didn’t put up a fuss. She seemed turned on by the whole scene.
He pulled her long auburn ponytail from its holder, letting her hair fall around her face.
“God, you are so fucking beautiful, Lorna.” She tried to take a step back from him, but being wedged between his body and the fridge, she had no place to go.
She placed both hands flat on his chest, and he didn’t miss the way her fingers flexed as she ran them down his body, resting on his waist.
“Sawyer,” Lorna whispered. He covered her mouth with his good hand, stopping her from saying her next thoughts out loud.
“I need you to call me Jon, Lorna. I’m Sawyer to the people that I work for and to my friends.
To you, I want to be someone more personal.
” Lorna’s eyes flared again, and he could tell that she liked the idea of getting more personal with him.
Hell, he let her get as up close and personal as she wanted.
Lorna pulled his hand from her mouth and looked up at him.
“This is a bad idea—” she hesitated, “Jon.” Sawyer couldn’t help himself—he groaned at the sound of Lorna calling him by his first name.
No one ever did that. When he was passed from foster parent to foster parent, they liked to keep things as impersonal as possible.
That made it easier when something went wrong and he needed to move on.
So, he got used to everyone calling him by his last name, and it just stuck.
In the military, it was normal. No one ever called him Jon, but he really liked the way Lorna said his name.
He closed his eyes for a split second to get himself together.
His mind was racing with all the dirty things that he wanted to do to her, right there in their kitchen.
He was pretty sure that Lorna wasn’t ready for any of that yet. He swallowed hard.
“Say it again, Lorna,” he ordered. She looked confused for a moment and then seemed to catch up.
“Jon.” He groaned against her lips as he crushed his mouth against hers. He felt a fierce need to mark her as his. Sawyer nipped and sucked his way from her lips down to her neck. She let him get to her shoulder before she said his name again. This time, it sounded more like a warning.
“Jon.” She sighed and gently shoved him back, effectively freeing herself from his hold.
She escaped to the other side of the kitchen using the distance that she put between them as her safety net.
He knew that pushing her was a bad idea.
He pushed at Piper’s wedding, and Lorna ended up leaving.
He knew that he was in no condition to chase her if she decided to bolt.
So, he gave her the space that she craved and waited for her to make the next move.
“We just can’t do this. I won’t let this go any further when it can’t work between us.
I’m so sorry, Sawyer.” He nodded curtly.
Hearing her use his last name again told him exactly where they stood.
They were back to formalities, and that felt like a punch in the gut.
He knew what a brush-off felt like—he had enough of them growing up.
But watching Lorna put her walls back up and retreat from him hurt like hell.
“Please don’t tell me this has to do with the crazy idea that you are too old for me,” Sawyer said. He took a step towards Lorna, and she held up her hands as if trying to stop him.
“Sawyer, please don’t dismiss my feelings.
I don’t know what you want from me. I’m forty years old and I’m not sure what my next chapter even looks like.
I’ve already raised my sister’s child, and I’m not sure that I have it in me to start all over.
” Sawyer shook his head, watching her as she bent to pick up her books.
“I get no say in any of this, do I, Lorna? You have ignored my feelings and decided that we won’t work out. You don’t know that we’ll crash and burn because you won’t even give us a chance to get off the ground.” Lorna gathered the last book into her bag and stood in front of him.
“You don’t know that we’ll work out either, Sawyer. The difference between you and me is that I’m not willing to let you break my heart.” He couldn’t help himself; he pulled her back into his body, snaking his good arm around her slim waist.
“Lorna, I’d never break your heart, just give me a chance.” Sawyer could see her thinking through his words, and he saw the moment she decided that giving him a chance was a bad idea. She shook her head.
“I’m so sorry, Jon. I just can’t.” She kissed his cheek and pulled away from him, making her way upstairs to her room.
He felt his body flinch when he heard her door close.
He was afraid that she was so determined to shut him out that he might never find a way to reach her.
He was committed now, more than ever, to show her what they could have together.
Just one taste of Lorna proved to him that they were right together, age difference be damned.
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