Part 18 (1/2)

”See you in a minute, sweet girl.” Sawyer pressed a quick kiss to her lips, and before she had a chance to ask what was going on, he, Roach, and Brock were heading up to the stage.

”It's so fun to watch them.” Jana came around to Sawyer's seat beside Sky. ”You're gonna love this.”

Harper and Jana clapped and whistled. Sky watched with interest as Sawyer, Roach, and Brock stood shoulder to shoulder, dwarfing everything around them. Powerful arms arched out from their sides, their thick legs rooting them in place like tree trunks, and Sawyer's warm gaze found Sky, making her stomach flutter.

”He's looking right at you,” Jana whispered. ”I've never seen him look at anyone like that.”

Sky could barely register anything but that look. The crowd silenced as Roach brought the microphone closer to his mouth. He closed his eyes and began singing ”Love Story” by Taylor Swift. He sang about being young and seeing a lover for the first time. His voice was perfectly pitched, his face a mask of longing. His eyes flew open as he sang of begging someone not to leave and sank to one knee in front of Brock, serenading him while Sawyer swayed to the nonexistent music.

”They're so serious,” Sky whispered to Jana.

Jana giggled. ”Their group started as a joke, but they had fun with it. They try really hard to be serious and do a good job, but by the end they have a hard time holding it together.”

As Roach's voice faded to a whisper, Brock's rolled out, deep and melodic. He sang about wanting to be taken away and of a prince and a princess. There was so much emotion in his voice as Roach rose to his feet between Sawyer and Brock and their enormous bodies moved to the music of their voices. Everyone in the bar was mesmerized, including her.

Their voices silenced, and Sawyer stepped forward, his eyes still locked on Sky, as he sang about being tired of waiting around for a lover to appear. His eyes narrowed and his voice lowered as he sang about wanting to be saved-then dropped to his knees with a dramatic sweep of his hand and pretended to pull out a ring and hold it up to Roach. How they kept from laughing, Sky had no idea, because she, Harper, and Jana couldn't stifle theirs. She couldn't tear her eyes from Sawyer as he sang with the others. The pa.s.sion he put into the song rivaled the pa.s.sion she'd witnessed when he was training. The emotions in his voice spoke directly to her heart, and when their voices went soft again, eventually silencing altogether as the song came to an end, she finally exhaled. She hadn't even realized she was holding her breath.

Their broad shoulders rounded forward and they took a bow.

Sky and the crowd clapped as the burly boxers swatted one another on the back and Brock and Roach headed back to the table laughing.

”That was the greatest thing I've ever seen,” Sky said, anxiously waiting for Sawyer, who was still up on the stage. He pointed right to her, and she pressed her hand to her chest and mouthed, Me? He nodded and motioned for her to come up to the stage.

”Go. Go.” Jana gave her a gentle nudge.

Sawyer was moving toward her, one hand outstretched. She'd been onstage many times with theater groups, but somehow this felt different. She wasn't the one entertaining, and she had no idea what to expect as Sawyer took her hand, led her to the center of the stage, and began singing about how something had to change and how much he needed her. She felt the eyes of the crowd boring through her, but it wasn't the weight of their stares that had her rooted to the floor. It was Sawyer's husky voice and his penetrating gaze, as the words fell from his lips directly to her ears.

He circled her like a lion stalking its prey as he brushed his chest against her back, crooning about being unable to pinpoint exactly what he needed but knowing she was it. His voice vibrated through her until the song she recognized as One Direction's, ”One Thing,” fell away, too, and all she felt was the simmering heat of him as he moved around her to the silent beat, his breath whispering along her neck. Her pulse quickened, and she wanted to sing right back, to answer his needs, but she stood stock-still, held prisoner by the emotion in his gaze as he poured his heart into the song.

She startled and blushed a red streak when Roach and Brock ran up behind her and sang about getting out of his head. Then Sawyer reached for her hand and everything else fell away. There was only her and Sawyer and the intensely pa.s.sionate look in his eyes while he unabashedly professed that she was the one thing he needed. Sawyer's voice faded to silence and the crowd went crazy again, giving him a standing ovation.

Sawyer didn't seem to notice or care. He was totally focused on Sky as he drew her into his arms and spoke in a gravelly voice that slithered inside her and warmed her from the inside out. ”I want to be your one thing, sweet girl.”

She drew back to meet his gaze and said, ”You're already so much more than my one thing.”

Chapter Fifteen.

IT WAS AFTER midnight when they arrived back at Seaside. The community was dark, and as they walked around to the back door of Sky's cottage, the leaves above them swooshed in the breeze. After spending the evening sharing stories with Sky about the first time he sang and the first time he fought, the first time she was in a play and the feelings she went through when she went away to college, he felt closer to her than ever. Every time they were together he felt the earth s.h.i.+ft beneath them, but seeing Sky laughing and joking with his friends made everything about their relations.h.i.+p feel bigger, more real.

They climbed the stairs to the landing and before reaching for her keys, Sky slipped her fingers into his back pockets and gazed up at him. All night he'd felt her eyes searching for answers-in his eyes, around the bar, from his friends. He wondered if she'd found the answers and if she felt as close to him as he felt to her.

He slid his hand beneath her hair, brus.h.i.+ng over the baby-fine hairs on the back of her neck.

”You okay?” he asked.

”More than okay. I don't want the night to end,” she said as she stepped closer.

He lowered his mouth to hers, hovering a breath away, reveling in the closeness, the electricity sizzling between them. Her breath slid over his lips, and when she pressed her hands against his a.s.s, pulling their bodies in tight, their lips grazed and her fingers tightened against him. Their mouths finally came together in a blistering-hot kiss that sucked him under. Every slick of their tongues, every press of her hips, sent shocks of l.u.s.t coursing through him. Sounds of pleasure slipped from her lips, driving him farther away from the edge of reason. His hands tangled in her hair, his mouth slid over her jaw and down her neck, and then he took her earlobe in his mouth. She moaned loud and l.u.s.tful into the night. Her hands traveled up his back, down his sides, clawing for purchase as she arched into him.

”You taste so good,” he said against her neck before sealing his teeth over her silky skin and laving it with his tongue, earning another heady moan. ”Sky...”

”Yes-” A heated whisper full of desire.

He knew he needed to respond, needed to let her know how he felt more whole than he ever had, how when he'd been singing to her, he'd meant every word he'd said, but he wasn't able to force another word from his lungs. Their mouths crashed together in another savage kiss. He couldn't resist pulling her roughly to him.

”Feel what you do to me.”

”More,” she challenged.

A groan rumbled through his chest as he lifted her to the railing, hiking her skirt up her thighs as he took her in another rough kiss. He felt himself losing control, handling her too roughly, kissing her too deeply.

”Oh G.o.d...Yes.” She dug her nails into his skin, sending shocks of pain and pleasure rippling through him.

”Inside.” He reached for her purse, and she fished for her keys with one hand, holding on to his s.h.i.+rt with the other so she didn't tumble off the railing. She withdrew the keys, and he lifted her down to the landing, unable to resist kissing her again, alighting more sparks between them. He forced himself to pull away long enough to unlock the door and push it open, then swept her in beside him. The sharpness of her breathing raked over him like a heady invitation. The silence of the cottage magnified the intensity of the heat pulsing between them. His hands found hers, lacing their fingers together as he lifted them beside her head, pressing his body to hers against the door. Thigh to thigh, chest to chest, he licked the sh.e.l.l of her ear and whispered, ”I will never get enough of you.”

He sucked her earlobe into his mouth, feeling her chest fill as she held her breath.

”I want to taste every inch of you,” he whispered. ”To feel your naked body against mine.”

He moved her hands above the center of her head and gripped both wrists in one of his powerful hands. She blinked up at him, so open, so trusting, her eyes darkening with desire as she rocked her hips, pressing into him again. He sealed his lips over hers, taking her in another kiss, heat thrumming through him. He drew back with a tormented groan, needing to regain control, to slow himself down.

His head bowed between his shoulders, breathing fast and hard. Sky clamped her teeth over his nipple-hard-sending an excruciating mix of pain and pleasure searing through him. His head tipped back with a hiss, and he released her hands.

She gasped, eyes wide. ”Did I hurt you?”

”Only in the very best way.” He searched her eyes, needing answers to questions he didn't want to ask. But every ounce of his being was racing, burning, aching for her. Only for her. ”Sky...”

She blinked up at him, looking innocent and seductive, making it even harder for him to figure her out.

”Sky, what you did to me...Do you like it rough?”

Her brows drew together and her lips pressed into a firm line. He feared he'd crossed a line, embarra.s.sed her, hurt her feelings. He gathered her in his arms and held her close.

”I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked.”

”I do,” she whispered.

His eyes came open. ”Do?”

”Like it like that.”

He drew back and searched her eyes again. They were full of emotions, bigger than want, more powerful than rampant desire.

”I think,” she said as his lips curved up.

”Oh, sweet girl. Don't say it because you think I like it. I only want to pleasure you-in every way possible.”