Page 6 of Infatuated as They Come (Sinful Trilogy #2)

“Yes, please keep reminding me about that,” he muttered. “I’m allowed to think he’s not good enough for you. I’ll let you two be together, but that doesn’t mean I’ll like him or think he’s going to give you a good future, and I won’t say sorry for that, either.”

“You are so… There’s no getting through to you.” Pressing my hands to the table, I quickly pushed myself up and out of my seat. “Goodbye, Mom. Thank you for breakfast.”

“Holly, sit down,” he said, hand gesturing to my chair. “It was a joke. Come on.”

I picked up my plate, gripping it tight as I moved away from the table. “No one but you found it funny.”

“Holly, sit down.” A sudden authoritative tone had replaced that amused one. “Sit down and finish your breakfast.”

“I’m not hungry anymore.”

“You’re ruining our third last ever breakfast together. You’re gonna upset your mother.”

“That was all you,” Mom said.

I made my way over to the trash can, ridding my plate of the remaining half eaten pancake.

I wasn’t lying when I said I wasn’t hungry anymore.

Those cruel words were enough to ruin my appetite completely.

Not even glancing at the table, I placed the plate in the sink and quickly moved towards the door.

“Where are you going?” he asked. “Holly, get back here.”

“Goodbye!” I called out over my shoulder, my heeled sandals clicking against the floor. Following instructions was something I had always done, especially when they came from my parents, but it was easy enough to ignore my dad’s words with how upset I was. Maybe Sawyer had corrupted me a little.

There was the sound of harsh whispers behind me as I kept walking. My parents were in the middle of a heated discussion, but I was moving so fast that I couldn’t pick up on their conversation.

I let my eyes fall on the clock in the hallway as I moved towards the front of the house, seeing that there was still an hour left until Sawyer was picking me up. I took a seat on one of the steps, my chin resting on my hand, the space suddenly feeling cold and empty and too spacious for my liking.

Our home featured nine bedrooms, all decorated meticulously by Mom and her team of designers.

Nine was a lot for a three-person family.

Then there was the foyer that I was currently sitting in and the solarium and the home theater and the indoor pool.

I frowned. Why did we have so many rooms?

I liked Sawyer’s place. I liked how cozy it was, how it always managed to feel so warm and snug and comfortable.

The nail on my thumb made its way between my teeth as I gave it a gentle bite.

I had always known that I was lucky. Not just because of the size of my home, but because of how it made me feel.

Safe. Secure. Shielded from anything and everything that could ever cause me pain.

My father didn’t realize it, but that was how I felt with Sawyer.

And even in the past, when he was in my face and I was in his, and we were in the middle of our millionth stupid fight that day, I never felt like Sawyer would hurt me.

He never left gaping wounds that would never heal.

And while I was tucked away under warm blankets, my mind never once filled up with thoughts of how we were going to pay for food or the best way to shield myself from the fists of my own dad, Sawyer was dealing with exactly that.

That had been his life. But he got through it.

Being resilient was his thing. Strong and tough and oh so rough around the edges, but he had every right to act that way after everything he had been forced to deal with.

I kept my eyes ahead of me, ignoring the photos on the wall I had become accustomed to seeing every day.

The ones from our vacation to Venice. Honolulu.

Bora Bora. The Maldives. I suddenly wanted to tear them all down and take Sawyer on some fancy, exclusive vacation he had never been given the chance to experience.

There was noise to my side. Light, gentle footsteps that I knew belonged to Mom.

“Why does he have to say stuff like that?” I asked.

“You know how he is,” she said with a sigh. “Don’t take it to heart.”

Turning to face her, I was met with her sad smile. She ran her hands across the back of her sleek white dress as she sat down next to me.

“Does he even know how he sounds when he says things like that? He’s not just being rude and mean. He’s being worse than that. He’s being classist.”

Hand wrapping around me, Mom drew me into her, letting me lean my head on her shoulder as the smell of perfume surrounded me: jasmine and rose; a scent I would miss when I was gone. “He doesn’t do it to upset you. He wants what’s best for you, and we both know that he thinks Sawyer isn’t that.”

“ I know what’s best for me and it’s not the guy he wants me to be with. Maybe he should go marry some boring rich guy since he loves them so much.”

“I know you’re mad at him, but I’d miss him a lot if he did that. One day, he’s going to see why you love Sawyer,” she said. “It won’t be tomorrow or next week or next month. With how stubborn your father is, it’s probably going to be a few years until he gets it.”

“I want him to get it now. You don’t seem to have any problem with Sawyer. Why can’t he be the same?”

“He wasn’t expecting you to fall in love with someone like Sawyer. I guess he’s still not quite used to you growing up either. You know he’s never been good with change.”

“I just want him to see what I see,” I said. “I don’t want Nate. I don’t want some other rich guy. I want my boyfriend.”

“Your father can be too old fashioned sometimes. You’ll always be his little girl, and he’s really not ready for that little girl to become a woman who makes all her own decisions.

The one who wants to make a life with a guy he’s…

not so fond of. It’s hard for him. I’m not excusing what he said, I just want you to know what he’s feeling. ”

“I know it’s hard for you guys with me moving away and everything, but…

Mom, it’s more than that. It’s more than just him having a hard time with change.

I just wish…” I chewed at my nail some more.

“I just wish things could be easier. Sawyer barely got to come to our place over the summer. It would have been nice for us to have dinner together a few nights.”

“Those dinners at his place were lovely.”

My heart warmed at the memory. Sawyer had invited me and my parents over for dinner a few times, only for just me and Mom to show up.

There we had sat at his dining table—Sawyer, Brodie, Mom and me—sharing a meal Sawyer had cooked from scratch, with a bouquet of fresh flowers sitting in the center of the table and an empty seat by my side that should have been filled by my father.

Sawyer had tried to appease him with dinner again another night, and then another night, and then one more, only for us to get the same result.

“I really loved those nights,” I said softly. “They could have been a lot nicer, though…”

“I know. If only your father wasn’t so stubborn.”

“You mean judgmental?”

She sighed. “Yes, that too.”

“I wish he was more like you sometimes.”

“One day, he’ll get it. He’ll understand why you love him so much.

It’ll take a while, but he’s going to wake up one day and understand exactly why you can’t live without Sawyer.

I see the way you look at Sawyer, but I also see the way he looks at you,” she said, and all of a sudden, there was fondness there in her voice.

“That boy’s so in love. I don’t know if you notice, but sometimes it seems like he can’t get his eyes off you. ”

I blushed a little, a smile stretching across my lips at her words. “He always makes me feel really beautiful.”

“I’m sure he’s painted you a million times by now.

I suppose that’s why he’s always staring at you.

But I can see how much he loves you just from how he looks at you.

If I can see it, your father will be able to see it one day too.

God, he probably already sees what I see and is just in severe denial about it all. ”

My eyes closed, letting a long breath out. “I’m really going to miss you when I’m gone. I might call you every day. Be prepared.”

“I have no problem with that.”

“Can you yell at him while I’m gone?”

“I will. I mean, I already did, and I also threw all the pancakes in the trash, so he’s not getting any.”

“A deserved punishment.”

Mom squeezed at my knee. “He just needs time, darling. Unfortunately, he needs a lot of it.”

It didn’t make all that much sense to me.

Time for what? To see how in love I was?

To see how I wanted to spend the rest of my life with Sawyer?

My hand reached up, grasping the pendant of the necklace he had given me yesterday.

It must have taken him so long to save up for it, and I had never really had anyone do that for me before.

So much work, so much effort, so much thought. So much love .

How much more time would it take?

* * *

The August sun was hot on my skin, but I was going to soak in as much as I could before me and Sawyer moved to the East Coast. My head rested on his thighs, my legs outstretched and my toes curling against the soft red and white gingham picnic blanket below us.

I could feel his gentle fingers on my arm as he traced little invisible patterns.

Sawyer had surprised me with the best possible spot for a picnic.

The air in Granbury was almost completely silent, with just a few birds softly cawing and the sound of the wind brushing the leaves on the nearby trees in my ears.

It was blissfully secluded, just the two of us out there, a good hour away from Dallas.

We had already eaten the lunch Sawyer packed, and with my stomach full, it felt like a good time to have a little rest under the sun.

“This is so nice,” I said with a happy sigh. “So quiet and peaceful. Exactly what I needed.”