Page 82 of Won't Back Down
“It was a very intense five minutes, as I recall.”
“Well, he did have really great dimples,” Gabi admitted.
“Better than these?” Daniel smiled and pointed to the indentions in his own cheeks.
She pretended to consider. “Mmm. I think his were deeper.”
“Well, cher, it’s not the size of the dimples, it’s how you use them.”
Gabi’s grin turned wicked. “And you use yours so well.”
As everyone else burst into laughter, I lifted a hand. “On behalf of all of your honorary brothers, I have to say—keep that to yourself. I don’t need those mental images.”
But the moment of humor lightened the general mood of the group in a way we’d desperately needed.
“Right. We’ll save Sawyer’s sensibilities and get back to the matter at hand.” Gabi winked at me. “Pictures from back then might help, too.”
“I’ve got some of those,” Bree added. “They’re at Pop’s. I haven’t looked at them in forever, but the man never throws anything away.”
That was probably a blessing. A couple of years after that summer was when she’d had her falling out with Ford. With her temper, I wouldn’t have been shocked if she’d ritually burned anything that referenced him. Ed would’ve realized and done what he could to keep her from that kind of regret.
“You might also make a playlist of the music that was popular at the time,” Daniel suggested. “Never know what might jog your memory.”
We continued to toss around ideas, but we were pretty limited in what we could manage on our own. What we really needed was a psychological professional with a specialty in handling traumatic memory. But I didn’t think Willa would go for that, even now. Not after her prior experience. So I kept my mouth shut on that subject.
“I appreciate all the suggestions. At this point, anything else has to wait. Founders’ Day is this weekend, and I’m tied up with that. Bree, you will be too, with all the extra people in town for the celebration.”
“True enough. There’s gonna be a lot of people on-island. The Brewhouse will be slammed.”
Founders’ Day was a big deal on Hatterwick. It often served as a sort of homecoming celebration, where former locals who’d moved off-island came back to visit. Given our supposition that Willa might have been left alone because whoever had killed Joe Anderson simply wasn’t here, I worried that the festival might bring him back. Was the killer a local? There was no way to know, but I was uncomfortable with Willa being out and about among a bunch of strangers.
“Are you sure you have to do this? Is it going to be too much for you being around all those people?” Maybe it was a dick move to bring up her normal social anxiety when that wasn’t my real concern. But if her mind hadn’t gone down the same paranoid path as mine, I didn’t want to add to her worries.
Willa shrugged. “I’m the last Sutter. This is part of my role here. For the most part, I’m okay with it. Committee meetings suck, but it’s been fine. And once this is over, I’ll be done for several months, until it’s time to do it all over again. I don’t want to tarnish my family legacy by bailing just because I hate peopling. I’ll do what I need to do. It’ll be fine.”
“Those are more people than Roy will be able to handle,” I pointed out. “And Miles has already made it clear that it’s just you, so I won’t be with you for everything.” I didn’t like that, either.
Gabi straightened. “I know you don’t want to take anything regularly, but you could try another beta blocker or something like a Xanax simply for the situational anxiety around having to interact with all those people. It might help keep you leveled out during those stretches when none of us or Roy can be with you.”
When Willa didn’t immediately reject the idea, I considered it progress. “I’ll think about it.”
Everyone took that as their cue to leave. There were handshakes and hugs and the scruffing of dog ears all around. Then, at last, my wife and I were alone.
I pulled her into me. “How’re you feeling?”
Her hands skimmed across my chest. “I was going to ask you the same question. Tonight was hard on you. I’m sorry for it.”
“I’m a big boy. I can handle it.”
Her eyes sparked with heat. “I was thinking you could handle me.”
The urge to claim her, to sink into the warm, willing heat of that body I loved, came roaring back. “Are you up for that?”
She rose to her toes, pressing close so her breasts were flattened against my chest. “I’m up for anything you want to do to me, Sawyer. Take me however you need.”
I wouldn’t turn her down. I needed this woman like I needed to breathe. Scooping her up, I carried her upstairs to our bed. But as I stripped her down and worshipped her in all the ways I’d imagined, I couldn’t quite shake the sense that there was a storm on the horizon other than the literal one outside that was already passing.
CHAPTER 37