Chapter 12 Not This Time
NOT THIS TIME
Two days after Christmas, Rowan and Saylor were driving into Denver.
They had five more days left before Saylor had to return to Iowa. She didn’t have to work until the day after New Year’s and he talked her into flying home on the holiday.
He thought for sure she’d say no, but he wanted to spend New Year’s Eve with her and get as much out of their time together as he could.
“We don’t need too much food,” she said.
“I won’t go overboard,” he said. “But we’ll freeze or throw out what we don’t use. I’m sick of fishing around for frozen stuff though. And we are out of eggs. The creamer is getting low.”
“I definitely want a bottle of that.”
“We’ll get everything we want for the next five days. The weather looks good so we shouldn’t have an issue with flights.”
She’d booked her flight last night. That sealed it for him that he had the time left with her.
He hoped she ended up in his bed before then, but he wasn’t pushing. He felt he’d pushed enough to get her to come to California.
Shit, he’d never lived with a woman before. Not full time like this.
There was a first for everything, and he was looking forward to this adventure.
He didn’t think they’d get on each other’s nerves for the next five days, but they might. Anytime you spend so much time around a person without a break, it happened.
“Can we run to the mall so I can get some clothes first? I promise not to be long. I would like a few pairs of pants or leggings, some undergarments. It’s not like we are going out, but two more days’ worth of clothing would work.”
“We can come to town for dinner once,” he said. “Or more. There is no reason to stay stranded in the mountains. I’m not complaining if you want to be.”
She smiled, then sent him a wink. “I wouldn’t complain about being there, but dinner would be nice. I want to treat you to it. I don’t want you to think I’m taking advantage of anything.”
“I don’t,” he said. She’d argued with him last night that she was going to pay rent in California.
Yep, not happening.
Then she wanted to pay utilities. He told her it was all automatically taken out of his accounts.
She growled at him, then said she was paying for all their food and any activities they did.
He threw in the towel. There was no reason to damage her pride. He’d deal with it more when the time came.
He’d witnessed his brothers messing up with their women enough that he’d learn from their mistakes.
And he couldn’t believe in three days he was thinking of Saylor as his woman.
“Can I take you to lunch before we pick up food?” she asked. “I won’t be long in the mall. I’ve never been much of a shopper. I don’t even have a lot of casual clothes since I spend so much time in scrubs.”
“We can do lunch,” he said. It’d be good practice suppressing the urge to pay for it.
“There isn’t nearly as much snow here as we had,” she said.
“It always happens that way. It’s almost melted and being cleared. They got about half what we did on the mountain.”
There was over three feet at West’s, but barely two feet in the city.
He parked at the mall. It was busy. People were still on Christmas break, then probably wanting to get out of the house after the mess. Most were moving around yesterday, but the extra day assured the mountain road was much clearer to come down.
Not that he couldn’t handle it, but he was used to the sun and fun, even riding a bike half the time around, not moving snow out of the driveway like he’d done on the four wheeler a few times to make it easier for the plows that West hired to keep the property clear.
“Going to be crowded,” she said. “I know what stores I want to go to. Just two. I can get everything I need there.”
“Even bras and underwear?”
“Yes. I’m going to American Eagle. They will have leggings, jeans, shirts, and undergarments. If I can’t get everything there, I’ll get the rest at Gap. They are close to each other. I’m not too fancy with my clothing brands.”
It was a shot against him. The T-shirt she’d been sleeping in was a brand she’d never heard of. Cost him a hundred dollars and looked no different from a regular Hanes that he’d had as a kid.
But those days were behind him and there was nothing wrong with wanting some of the finer things in life, even if his family said he was low maintenance.
He didn’t wear suits and ties unless he was required to at a family gathering, but he loved his thousand count thread sheets and fancy espresso machine.
Just like the one West had that he’d shown Saylor how to use.
She was sidestepping people and turned into American Eagle, then went right to the leggings and grabbed a pair of black and navy ones, then to the shirts.
Damn, she was a fast shopper. He could appreciate that.
“Can I pick out your underwear?” he whispered in her ear. “It’d get us out of here faster.”
She turned and squinted her eyes. “You don’t even know what size I wear.”
“Small,” he said. He didn’t need to see the size leggings in her hands. She wasn’t that big of a girl. She wore his mother’s parka to shovel. It was a medium and too big for her.
“You can pick out two pairs,” she said. “I’m still going to get some though.”
He was staring at her chest. It was hard to see under her fleece. “Thirty-two C?”
She crossed her eyes. “I don’t want to know how you guessed that.”
“Just luck,” he said, leaning to give her a peck on the lips.
She was being a good sport about this, so he slipped to the other side where the bras were hanging and tackled them first.
As much as he wanted to go the sexy route, it wasn’t her. She was simple and low key like him.
He went for the light pink one with thicker lace straps, but cut low in the front. It was cotton but still sexy and almost innocent looking.
“I’ve got that in blue,” she said from behind him.
“You’re joking.”
“Nope. It’s really comfortable. You’ve got good taste. Grab it.”
He found her size and picked it up. “Are you going to get another?”
“I’m going to let you do it.”
He was rubbing his hands together, looking at his choices and settled on another cotton one that looked more like a short shirt. It had a thick lace band under the boob, the cups were almost silky, the straps matching it. It came in gray and had a mixture of sex and fun.
Just like Saylor.
“How about this? Or do you have it?”
“I don’t, but it’s cute. Time for underwear.”
“Even better,” he said, his chest puffing some.
“I wish you could see your face right now,” she said. “It’s like this is the best gift you could be given.”
“It really is. Do you know how sexy it is to buy a woman underwear?”
“Since I do it all the time, that would be no. I’ve never found it sexy.”
“How about buying men’s underwear? How often do you do that?”
“That would be never,” she said.
“Might have to change that.”
She laughed. “You don’t know how to buy your own underwear? Don’t tell me your mother still does it.”
He tugged on a lock of her hair. His mother was going to love Saylor when they met in person.
“No.” They moved to the back where the underwear was all folded neatly on tables. There were drawers underneath with more. “What do you think of these?”
They were a pair of gray boy shorts. Her ass cheeks would hang out some, but it’d look good with the gray bra he’d handed to her.
“Those are good sleeping underwear. Not so great to wear under clothing.”
He frowned. “Why?”
“Because I move too much and would end up picking them out of my butt crack. I don’t mind it sleeping so much as I don’t toss and turn.”
“We are getting them,” he said, his fist closing on them. And with any luck he’d get to see them on her soon.
She picked up two pairs of cute cotton panties. No complaints there, so he grabbed another pair close to what she had.
“You’ve got so much restraint not going for the thong,” she said.
“It’s not you.” If she was complaining about the boy shorts, then a piece of string in her crack on purpose wouldn’t cut it.
He didn’t need the woman he was with to be sexy like that. He much preferred the girl next door vibe.
Which didn’t explain why he always ended up with the opposite.
Not this time.
“It’s not. And I’m ready to check out, then we can get some food.”
They got in line, she paid for her purchases, him trying really hard not to offer to do it.
He’d been around too many women that expected that of him.
Saylor was way more independent and it was best to not cause another disagreement.
They had lunch, him biting his tongue when the bill came, then drove to the grocery store.
He was paying this time, he didn’t give a shit.
They grabbed some fruit and vegetables, both liking the same things. Got some more meat and what wasn’t used could replace what he’d taken out of the freezer.
When they were going down the candy aisle, he stopped and picked up two containers. “Bears or worms?”
She turned from the crackers she was browsing.
“What?”
“Gummy bears or worms? Treatments,” he said. “Never mind, let’s get both. We could be active for the rest of the week.”
She laughed, then her bottom lip came out some. Her eyes got glossy and he had a panic moment that he’d just fucked up and wasn’t sure why.
“That’s so sweet.”
“It is?”
“No one ever thinks of those things. Least of all someone I just met.”
“I haven’t seen you eating much candy, so I’m assuming you’ve been good. Do you need your fruit snacks too?”
“I could use another box. I had some yesterday.”
“I didn’t see you eating them,” he said.
“When I went to the bathroom I grabbed them.”
As if she was trying to hide the fact that she might have needed to treat for a low blood sugar.
He didn’t want her to feel as if she had to do that.
“Don’t sneak it. Let me know if you’re getting low. Maybe I’ll eat some too.”
She grinned. “I wasn’t purposely doing it. I think it’s just a habit. When I’m working, I grab them and eat them fast.”
“Pour them into your mouth?”
“Yes. I don’t have time to sit around and enjoy them. It’s not something to savor for me.”
He tossed the two containers into the cart with the rest of their food, then moved to the cereal aisle. “Oh, these have juice in them. We are getting them.”
He grabbed two boxes of the treats he’d had as a kid. Funny how what he thought of as a snack could be a lifesaver for Saylor.
They made their way through the rest of the store, got to the checkout where she was unloading everything.
He nudged her out of the way and stood right in front of the cashier, and had her laughing.
She guessed what he’d done and why.
She moved to the end and packed their food as it went down the ramp and he pulled his credit card out to pay.
“You didn’t have to give me a bruise if you wanted to pay.”
“I didn’t,” he said.
“You might have,” she said, laughing. “Did you think I’d argue with you?”
“I didn’t want to take the risk.”
“I know when to pick my battles,” she said. “Do you?”
“I guess we’re going to find those things out about each other. Ready for it?”
“If I wasn’t, I better be soon.”