“I’ll tell her you said that,” Dylan warned, narrowing his eyes evilly just before exiting the room.

* * *

Both Sawyer and Dylan left work early to prepare for the evening of carousing. He was still having a difficult time wrapping his head around the idea of using a bullwhip for anything other than to inflict pain, but he reminded himself to keep an open mind.  He had called Sarah on his way home and was happy to hear that she had the night off and could go, so before going home, he took a detour to pick her up.

Arriving at her small home on the outskirts of Denver in the suburb of Aurora, he scanned the area vigilantly. The home was nice but the neighborhood was iffy at best and he detested that she was not only putting herself in danger with her job, but in the area she lived. Perhaps he could remedy that.

He drove around her block several times before parking in her driveway. When he finally did, Sarah was waiting on her front porch with a bag slung over her shoulder. With such short notice, she hadn’t had time to change before Sawyer’s arrival and planned to get ready at his place. He met her, took the bag and opened the car door for her.

Climbing in, she smiled at him. “What were you doing?”

“Checking out your neighborhood.”

“I know it’s not the best, but the rent is unbeatable. After Master Doug died, I had to sell our home in Englewood. He didn’t have a will and even though I got all his belongings, I couldn’t afford the house payment on my own. Both of us being fairly young, we never considered that he might need one,” Sarah commented.

“There seems to be a lot of that going around lately, but age has nothing to do with it. I just think people are never prepared for death and don’t want to face the possibility of their own mortality and eventual demise. Hell, Isabel’s father didn’t have a will and he was much older than you.”

“I remember reading about that whole mess. She and Dylan have been through a lot.”

“Yes, they have,” he agreed.

“You, too. Seeing as you’re so close to them, I’m sure the events affected you greatly as well.”

He didn’t want to start his relationship off with Sarah with lies, so instead of responding, he sat quietly without commenting any further. Sonya was still on his mind, and that, too, made him quieter than usual.

“Is everything okay? You seem reserved tonight.” Sarah remarked, squeezing Sawyer’s thigh.

He sighed, irritated with himself. “My apologies, I recently ended things with someone I cared for a great deal. She’s still on my mind, but I assure you I’ll be fully attentive to you tonight.”

“I didn’t realize you had a girlfriend,” Sarah stated barely audible, running her hand over the leather seat beneath her and scanning the floorboard.

“I don’t. I didn’t. We were on a hiatus.”

Sarah turned her face away from Sawyer, looking out the window. “I feel terrible.”

“Why? It had nothing to do with you,” Sawyer replied without inflection.

“That’s not what I feel bad about. It’s…”

“Go on,” he gently urged, fingering her chin and forcing her to look at him.

Sarah’s squeaky, soft voice was crystal clear. “I feel awful for being glad you’re not committed to anyone. We hardly know each other and it’s a selfish thing for me to feel. I’m sorry.”

Touched with Sarah’s budding feelings toward him, one side of Sawyer’s mouth lifted, the corners of his soft brown eyes wrinkling when he did so. So Sarah was interested in him for more than business, too. “There’s no need to be sorry. In all honesty, I knew things were over between Sonya and me a long time ago, I just couldn’t bring myself to face it.”

“Can I ask what happened?”

“We want different things in life, that’s all.”

Sarah nodded and said nothing more for the majority of the drive and he was grateful for the time she allowed him to think things over. He also appreciated that she never pushed him out of his comfort zone when discussing things, but he suspected that may not always be the case.

Coming to rest at a stoplight, Sawyer revved the engine loudly making Sarah’s eyes widen and flash her pearl-white teeth.

“I love that sound.” Sawyer lifted his eyebrows at her and punched the gas pedal quickly, the mufflers of his 1970 Shelby Mustang rattling the windows. “And the smell of exhaust, too. Hot tamales, this is a gorgeous car,” she gushed.

“Thank you. Restoring her took my mind off my wife’s death. It was a lot of work but it was well worth the effort. I guess I’m a sucker for a nice chassis,” he commented suggestively, his eyes moving over her body seductively.

“So, it’s a her?”

Tipping his head back, he peered at Sarah’s face. “All cars are females, don’t you know that?”

“Why? If I ever get an old classic like this, it’s going to be of the male persuasion with a manly name like Torin which means Chief of Thunder.”

He tossed his head back and laughed. “It doesn’t work like that. Them’s the rules, you silly little girl,” he joked.

Sarah’s smile widened and she gestured toward her body, “Little? I’m 5’8” and there’s nothing little about me.”

“You’re a great deal smaller than me so I can call you that. And your five feet, eight inches of perfection as far as I’m concerned,” he smiled playfully.

Her eyes lit up. “I bet you say that to all the girls.”

Sawyer huffed, “I’m not a man who doles out compliments just for the sake of it. If I say you have a perfect chassis, it’s because in my eyes, it’s fucking perfect.”

Turning her body to face Sawyer, the lust on Sarah’s face was easily readable. “Thank you, Sir. I can honestly say no one has ever said that to me, and I’ll never doubt your sincerity again.” She gently shook her head as if clearing her thoughts. “So what’s your car’s name?”

“This hot little vixen doesn’t have a name. She simply is.”

“She who has no name? Boring,” she tittered, drawing out her last word.

That sounded like a challenge and Sawyer grinned. “I’ll show you boring.”

He punched the gas again making his tires squeal loudly. The back end of his black muscle car slid around as they sped away from the light, leaving a trail of thick, black rubber and smoke in their wake.

Sarah yelped and screamed with delight, and he smiled naughtily, envisioning her screaming the same way as he was thrusting into her.

* * *

Once at Sawyer’s condo, Sarah laid out several outfits on Sawyer’s bed.

Sitting on the edge of the mattress, she pointed to the clothing. “What would you like me to wear?”

“Leaving a decision like that up to me is a dangerous thing, Snowflake,” his eyes darkened.

Her eyes froze on his lips. “Why?”

“Because if left up to me, I’d prefer you wear nothing at all and we stay in all night.” Sarah’s mouth parted but she said nothing. Sawyer raised his eyebrows hopefully, “Is your birthday suit an option?”

“No, Sir, it’s not. Not yet anyway,” she laughed nervously but smiled.

Mildly disappointed but not surprised, he shrugged his shoulders. “Oh, well, you can’t blame a man for trying.”

He picked out a sexy knee-length, dainty pink chiffon dress with lace-top, thigh-high stockings and corset undergarment for Sarah before climbing into the shower. To his surprise, she followed shortly after. Peeking into the stall, her bright azure eyes scanned his wet body.

“May I join you, Sir?”

“If ever there was a harebrained question that was it. Get in here.”

Sawyer threw the shower door open and pulled Sarah in brusquely before she had a chance to change her mind. Steam bellowed all around them and Sarah’s high-pitched laughter filled the bathroom. Sawyer promptly began studying her body. She was absolutely gorgeous soaking wet. Her skin was the most striking shade of ivory and her long cocoa hair clung to all the right places. The way her large breasts hung and swayed, Sawyer had to concentrate on not becoming erect.

“You’re beautiful, Snowflake, and even more perfect than I imagined,” he told her, his voice low and smooth.

Sarah’s lips parted in surprise. “You imagined me nude?”

“I’m a heterosexual man, Sarah, not a robot. Of course I imagined you nude.” Her rose-colored tongue poked out to slick her lips, making the task of not becoming hard even more difficult. “You’re making this difficult for me. Was that your intention by joining me in the shower? Some kind of test to see if I can resist you?” he asked, lifting a mischievous eyebrow at her as he gripped his semi-rigid shaft.

Her eyes moved downward and fixed on his dick. “No, Sir, it wasn’t. I just believe in conserving water,” she grinned up at him guiltily.

Sawyer stared at her a moment before breaking out into full blown laughter. Sarah grabbed a large sponge from the shower shelf and lathered it with soap.

“May I wash you?”

“Another ridiculous question,” he laughed. Was Sarah really going to ask permission to do everything?

Sarah began on his front, rubbing large circles on his firm stomach and moving up to the defined muscles of his pecs. She stopped and touched the scar over his heart tenderly, skimming her fingertip over the long mark that extended to his ribcage. The hand that held the sponge dropped to her side as her eyes roamed over his torso and biceps, noting the abundance of scars, pockmarks and burns that varied in size from large-to-small.

“You’re very well formed, Mr. Morrison, but…” she touched each of the blemishes and her brows knitted together. “You’ve been through so much. Who hurt you like this?” she whispered sorrowfully.