Kat. This baby girl. It was supposed to be his. Kat had come to that party looking for him, not Finn. If he hadn’t been feeling poorly that night he would’ve been the one to meet her. Maybe he wouldn’t have whisked her off to a hotel the way Finn did, but he couldn’t help but think he would’ve asked her to dinner. And then more. And in time, maybe they would’ve been sharing this moment together over their child.
Finn hadn’t just taken his Jet Ski and played pretend that night. It was as though his twin had stolen his whole future when he put on that name tag.
Eight
“Can I take you to lunch?”
Kat seemed surprised by his offer as they walked out of her doctor’s building. “Don’t you need to work or something?”
Sawyer frowned. “You sound like my dad. Come on, I’ll take you wherever you want to go. Have you started having any weird food cravings yet?”
“I don’t know, Sawyer.” She seemed uncharacteristically uncomfortable with him. It felt odd to him after the moment they’d just shared. “I probably shouldn’t.”
Sawyer stopped and shoved his hands into his pockets. “Is something wrong?”
Kat squirmed beneath his gaze, adjusting her purse on her shoulder. His feisty hellcat seemed very out of her element at the moment. “I guess I’m just... I’m just thinking that maybe we shouldn’t spend so much time together.”
He wasn’t sure why, but the words seemed to strike him in a tender spot. Maybe he was reading things wrong, but he thought they were having a good time together. Some could say too good of a time if they took Saturday night into consideration. And he’d bought her an expensive car that would raise eyebrows with his family if they knew about it. But he didn’t care about any of that.
He’d done it because it felt like the right thing to do. Finn certainly wasn’t going to show up and take care of her the way she deserved to be cared for. He wasn’t going to go to doctor’s checkups and worry about whether she had a safe vehicle to get around town. Being thousands of miles away was a convenient excuse, but if Finn were in Charleston this very moment, he still wouldn’t be standing on this sidewalk beside Kat.
He’d asked Sawyer to handle things while he was gone, and Sawyer had gone over and above the call of duty. But Kat deserved someone who would do that for her. Being the go-between put Sawyer in a position he didn’t expect to be in: one where he was starting to have feelings for the last woman and child on Earth that he should. They weren’t serious feelings. But it was the closest thing to affection he’d felt for anyone since his breakup with Mira, and Kat’s rebuff stung a little more than he expected it to.
“It’s just lunch,” he said. “I recommend keeping your clothes on for that, if you’re concerned about us crossing the line again.”
Kat bit at her lip and tucked a stray strand of auburn hair behind her ear. She had it in a messy bun today, but the breeze had liberated just enough to curve along the edge of her face. It softened the look, in his opinion, but it seemed to be irritating Kat. As did Sawyer’s mere presence at the moment.
“Lunch. Just lunch,” she finally agreed. “I guess we need to talk, anyway.”
Sawyer ignored her ominous addition and instead pointed out a restaurant across the street touting modern Southern fare. The Charleston foodie scene was booming with little spots like this in the last few years. “How do you feel about that place?” he asked.
“That’s fine.”
They crossed the road together and went inside the restaurant, which was pretty busy considering it was on the late side for lunch. The hostess took them to a booth near the window and they settled in. The waiter brought them glasses of water and a basket of fried corn fritters with a spicy honey dipping sauce, before stepping away to let them look over the menu.
Sawyer decided on a burger with bacon, pimento cheese and a fried green tomato on it. Kat chose a salad with diced fried chicken, candied pecans and dried cranberries.
“Sawyer, before I say anything else, I want to thank you for being there today. It was unexpected, but at the same time, it was nice to have someone to share that moment.”
&nbs
p; “You’re welcome.” He got the feeling this was going to be the nicest part of this conversation. She had that worry line between her brows and that was never good.
“That said, I feel like we need to talk about the other night,” she said, once the waiter disappeared.
Here it comes, Sawyer thought. He’d insisted on this lunch and now he was about to be dumped by a woman he wasn’t even dating. “What about it?” he said, playing coy. He reached for a fritter and shoved it nonchalantly into his mouth. If she wanted to backpedal on everything they’d shared, he certainly wasn’t going to act like it was one of the greatest nights of his life and be at a disadvantage with her.
When he stripped the encounter down to the core, it was just sex. Great sex, but only sex. No promises, no emotional entanglements. They shouldn’t need to talk about it unless one of them saw it as more than that. It piqued Sawyer’s attention that Kat seemed to think it meant something.
“Well, it’s just you left so early and then the stuff happened with the car and we just never... I don’t know. Never acknowledged what we did and that it was probably a mistake that shouldn’t ever happen again.”
“I didn’t really think it was a mistake.” He shrugged. “It was fun. I had a good time, didn’t you?”
“Yes, of course I did,” she said, with a flush coming to her cheeks as she looked away from his gaze and focused on her place setting instead. “I meant that it probably shouldn’t have happened, considering what’s going on with your brother and me. Or what I hope to happen once he gets back.”
Sawyer wanted to tell Kat not to hold her breath where Finn was concerned, but he wasn’t sure if that was being helpful or being bitter. If she wanted to try things with Finn, she’d find out soon enough without him telling her.
“It might not have been the smartest thing I ever did, but I don’t regret it, Kat. It was what it was. And if it never happens again, that’s fine.” Even as he said the words he knew they weren’t really true, but it was what she needed to hear to feel better, so he’d say them.