A Hot Holiday Collection

Chapter 5

5

KATIE

I t was a good thing I had lots of help with the after-dance cleanup. No matter how hard I tried to focus on getting everything done, my mind wandered to Sawyer. I wasn’t very sore, but I was still acutely aware of where he’d moved inside me several times throughout the night. And I was looking forward to when I’d be able to feel him again.

As I walked back to the sorority house after taking out the garbage, I was obsessing over what to pack for my weekend away with Sawyer. He hadn’t told me where we were going, no matter how many times I had asked. The only thing he’d been willing to say was that I should pack light because I wasn’t going to need a lot of clothes for what he had planned. With those parting words, it was no surprise that I’d been distracted all morning.

Not paying attention to my surroundings made it easy for Olivia and Delia to corner me before the back door was even closed.

“Anything you want to share with us, Katie?” Delia asked as she led me over to one of the couches.

I flashed her a coy smile. “I’m not sure what you mean.”

“How about I give you a little clue?” Olivia drawled, wagging her brows. “Bow chicka wow wow.”

Delia elbowed her in the side. “What she meant to say was…word around the house is that you and a certain hot guy disappeared together into your room last night and didn’t leave until this morning.”

My nose scrunched. “I’m pretty sure Danny would not be happy to hear you called my guy hot.”

I laughed when her head swiveled left and then right, her eyes wide as though she thought her boyfriend would pop out from behind a piece of furniture at any second. Which I could totally see happening since he’d basically stalked her for two years before they got together.

When she didn’t spot him anywhere, she turned back toward me and hissed, “Not cool. I thought he was really here.”

“But you have to admit it was pretty darn funny.” Olivia nodded, making me giggle but earning her a glare from Delia. “And also totally true about Leland.”

Delia stuck her tongue out at Olivia before teasing, “Haha, she’s got you there.”

“We’ve totally lost control of this conversation.” Olivia pointed her finger at me. “And it’s all your fault.”

I widened my eyes and tried to look as innocent as possible. “How is it my fault? I’m not even sure why you guys were lying in wait for me.”

“Don’t even try to pull the innocent act with us. We can see right through it,” Delia warned.

“Especially since you’re not so innocent anymore,” Olivia snarked.

My brows arched high on my forehead. “Is that what you two wanted to talk about? My newly discovered sex life?”

“No, you’re newly discovered love life,” Delia corrected.

Olivia nodded. “Yeah, we thought we’d check in to see how you’re feeling with everything that happened yesterday. We didn’t even know about your secret admirer until Danny and Leland told us about the roses you got from him for Valentine’s Day.”

“And then suddenly Sawyer was here, and you seemed to know him really well for a guy who was hiding his identity while sending you presents,” Delia added.

“So you can see why we were confused.” A wrinkle popped up in the middle of Olivia’s brow. “And a little worried.”

Since we had pledged the sorority together a few years ago, I was used to their back and forth. It wasn’t unusual for the two best friends to finish each other’s thoughts. I’d always thought they were cute when they were like this, but not so much now when my relationship with Sawyer was the center of their attention. I wasn’t used to being tongue-tied, but when he was the topic of conversation, my mouth and brain seemed to be disconnected. At least I wasn’t babbling like I’d done with him at first.

“Sawyer isn’t just any secret admirer…he’s my brother’s best friend.” While they both gasped at that little tidbit, I added, “And his business partner.”

Olivia whistled. “Dang.”

“No wonder you guys seemed to know each other so well last night,” Delia murmured.

“We didn’t meet until this past Christmas.” Their eyes widened again. “Jesse and Sawyer met back in college, but he was always busy with his family when my brother came home. So this was the first time he visited.”

Delia clapped her hands together. “And it was love at first sight?”

“For me?” My lips curved into a big smile. “Yeah, I fell hard and fast, literally and figuratively.”

“Literally?” Olivia echoed.

My cheeks heated as I explained about Sawyer catching me on the stairs.

Delia bounced on her seat. “Aw, that’s so sweet.”

“Tell us everything,” Olivia pleaded.

I filled them in on how our relationship had progressed, from the kiss under the mistletoe to him showing up at the party last night, and ended with, “And now he’s taking me away for the weekend.”

“That is so romantic,” Delia sighed.

Tilting my head to the side, I asked, “You don’t think we’re moving too quickly?”

“I don’t think you’re going fast at all,” Olivia disagreed with a shake of her head. “He’s been wooing you with presents and texting you often since Christmas. You’ve basically been long-distance dating for two and a half months as far as I’m concerned.”

“But I didn’t know he was my secret admirer until last night.”

Delia shrugged. “Just because you were the last one to know you were dating Sawyer doesn’t make it any less true.”

Olivia jerked her chin in Delia’s direction. “And she definitely knows what she’s talking about when it comes to that, only for much longer and without the whole secret admirer thing.”

“Hey, we’re here to talk about Katie’s relationship, not mine,” Delia protested. “Which is doing quite well, thank you very much.”

“This has been fun”—I was pleased to realize how much I meant that—“but I only have five minutes to pack before Sawyer will be here to pick me up.”

“Bring a bikini,” Olivia suggested as I headed for the stairs.

“And a scented candle if you have one,” Delia added.

“Great suggestions!” I called, racing toward my room.

Aware of how quickly the minutes were ticking away, I yanked my closet door open to grab my carry-on suitcase. After tossing it onto my bed, I walked over to my dresser to dig through my top drawer. With how Sawyer had ripped my lace panties from my body last night, I was tempted to go with my least expensive bras and underwear. But none of them were very pretty, and I wanted to drive him wild this weekend. If that meant losing all of my favorite lingerie, the sacrifice would be more than worth it.

I threw a few matching sets into my bag and then added another just in case he destroyed those. I followed them up with a pair of yoga pants and my favorite sweatshirt for the trip home. The scented candle on my bedside table went next to my toiletry bag, along with a bottle of bubble bath. The carry-on was still more than half empty, so I grabbed even more bras and panties and dumped them inside.

I was zipping the bag shut when there was a knock on my door. Glancing over my shoulder, I found Sawyer leaning against the jamb. “You ready to go, baby?”

“That depends.” I flashed him a playful grin. “Did you really mean it when you told me to pack light?”

His gaze raked down my body, a hungry gleam in his dark-blue eyes. “Abso-fucking-lutely.”

A delicious shiver raced down my spine. “Then I’m definitely ready to go.”