“Monday?”
“Yes. Next week. Plenty of time for me to get more of my stuff moved into the condo and do a little shopping.”
“Shopping?” He wasn’t a fan of shopping, and he was less a fan of taking his mate out in public more than necessary.
“Are you a parrot?” she teased as she pointedly avoided him and rounded to the other side of the truck.
He climbed back into the driver’s side at the same time she entered on her side. “I hate shopping,” he mumbled.
“No one said you had to go.” She shrugged and then pulled her seatbelt down. “I’ll hit that strip of stores on Main Street and get a few outfits over the weekend.”
Sawyer shook his head as he started the engine. “Not going to happen.”
She rolled her eyes when he glanced her direction. “You have to let go of this obsession with my safety. I made it all the way into the building and back out without incident. I think I can handle myself. What could possibly happen to me in the middle of town on a weekend?”
“You want a list?” His skin crawled thinking of the possibilities.
“I want you to stop coddling me and relax.” She turned to stare out her window, not meeting his gaze.
They rode in silence for several minutes.
Finally, Sawyer found the nerve to speak again. Why this tiny woman had him so bent out of shape, he had no idea. “Amanda, listen to me. Logan and I are in love with you. You mean the world to us. We just want you to be safe.”
She yanked her head to face him. “Did you say you’re in love with me?”
“Of course we are.” What now?
“We’ve only known each other a few days.” Her face lost its color.
“Hon, you know how we feel. This can’t be a shock to you.” Right?
She didn’t move, not even to blink.
He twisted to face her when he came to a traffic light. “Amanda…”
“You can’t just throw that out at a girl in the car while driving, Sawyer. It’s not fair.” Her voice squeaked as she threw her hands up in dismay.
What was she talking about? “Um. I’m confused. What are you pissed about now?”
“Love.” She leaned toward him and poked him in the chest with one finger. “You don’t tell a woman you love her for the first time casually in the car in the middle of a sentence while driving.”
“Oh. That. I’m sorry. I thought it was a given.” He clearly had a lot to learn about women, or at least this one in particular.
She shook her head rapidly. “Love is never a given. Are you serious?”
A car honked behind them, and Sawyer jerked his attention back to the road and pressed the gas pedal. He chewed on her words in silence until they reached the condo. And when they did, she jumped down from the cab and raced toward the front door so fast he couldn’t keep up.
By the time Sawyer stepped inside and shut the door, Amanda was gone from the front room, and Logan was smirking from behind the kitchen island. “What did you say to her?”
Sawyer’s shoulders fell as he sauntered closer. “Apparently you can’t tell a woman you love her for the first time without making a production out of it.”
“You told her you loved her? You mean like in the car?”
“Yeah. Who cares?”
“Dude. That’s uncool. It’s like in the handbook or something.”
Sawyer shot Logan a glare. “Handbook. Funny. And I told her we loved her, by the way.”
“Oh good. Not only did you break every rule of dating in the book, but you dragged me down with you.”
Sawyer threw up his hands. “Dating? Who the fuck is dating? I’m in a solid committed relationship with the woman I’m going to spend the rest of my life with. No one is dating in this condo.”
Logan pursed his lips, seemingly in an attempt to keep from laughing. When he released them, he smirked. “She’s human first, Sawyer. She needs a little romance. Maybe you could get away with that if she were a shifter—though I doubt it—but she isn’t.”
“Guess I owe her a groveling apology.”
“Yeah. And some words of love. Eye-to-eye. Preferably naked.”
Sawyer liked this plan.
∙•∙
Amanda kicked off her pumps and paced the master bedroom while running her fingers through her hair. She’d dodged the inquisition on a technicality she couldn’t have predicted. She knew perfectly well she had looked like a ghost when she left McField Hall. There had been no way to avoid it.
But just when she thought she’d have to fess up and spill the details, Sawyer had given her an out.
Love.
She grinned remembering his stammering words and the look on his face when she’d feigned shock and disappointment. It wasn’t a stretch. Any woman would have found his bad timing offensive. But she understood the stakes here. She knew perfectly well they were all in love with each other. It didn’t matter how long they’d known each other. It was the real deal. She could have teased him and returned the words, but instead she’d taken the opportunity to bury her shaky demeanor in his faux pas and won the battle.