When Jared came in the door, his son, Derrick, headed right for Mason, watching him carefully. The kid seemed to be adjusting well to his new surroundings, and the more they were around him, the more comfortable he got.
For as long as Sawyer could remember, they’d been having family dinners at his parents’ house, even before they had all moved out. However, when each of them had headed out on their own, it became even more important for them to meet once a week to share a meal together, enforced mostly by Lorrie. Not that any of them ever argued. They were a close family, always had been, and dinner once a week was nothing in the grand scheme of things.
And having Kennedy by his side only made it that much more complete. He’d wanted to invite her for some time now, but he’d been hesitant, wanting to take things slow with her. But that ship had sailed a week ago when the brutal reality had hit him.
Although Kennedy hadn’t been hurt by Tim, the fact that she could have been changed his entire outlook on things. He was tired of taking things slow. He loved her and it was high time he made that known.
Considering he’d never been much for relationships, this was still relatively new to him, but he had to believe he was doing something right. Kennedy hadn’t kicked his ass to the curb just yet. They were getting closer by the day and it meant everything to him that his family welcomed her with open arms.
“You gonna share that little one or what?”
Sawyer looked up to see Jessie standing over him, her eyes darting back and forth from Sawyer’s face to Kate’s. Holding her up so Jessie could take her, he chuckled. “Fine,” he huffed, smiling as he did.
Jessie took Kate from his arms, cooing to the little girl before carrying her back into the kitchen with the others. Sawyer glanced over his shoulder to see all the women gathering around Jessie, admiring Kate and talking. His eyes strayed to Kennedy, who was watching everything intently, her eyes bright.
Yep, having her there was the icing on the cake.
“I heard y’all had an issue at the resort this week,” Braydon said, coming to stand in the living room, looking down at Sawyer as he spoke. “Hey, Kennedy, how’s it goin’?”
“Good. You?” she asked, looking up at Sawyer’s brother.
“Never better.” Braydon turned his attention back to Sawyer and added, “Did it get taken care of?”
“Yeah,” Sawyer stated, glancing over at Curtis.
Deciding he was better off talking about it without his father listening to the details, Sawyer got up and led Braydon across the room. “Some asshole thought it was okay to take a scene a little too far.”
“By ‘scene,’ you mean BDSM?” Braydon questioned.
“Yeah. The woman used her safe word, but he didn’t stop.”
“Who intervened?”
“Gage,” Sawyer told him. “Security keeps a close eye on those private BDSM rooms,” Sawyer explained to Kennedy. “They’re actually microphoned for safety. Gage called a halt to the scene and the guy was escorted out.”
“So he didn’t get to stay at the hotel?” Braydon asked, his eyebrows downturned.
“Nope. We have a zero-tolerance rule on that shit. We sent him on his way.”
“Did the girl go with him?”
“Yeah,” Sawyer said, shaking his head. “We told her we’d get her transportation back to the airport, but she opted to go with him.”
“Damn.”
Sawyer wasn’t into BDSM, but he had had some in-depth conversations with Xander and Mercedes, a couple who had a wealth of knowledge between them when it came to that stuff. Although they lived in Dallas and were members of Devotion—Luke McCoy’s branch-off of Club Destiny—they still offered their expertise at the resort on occasion.
Xander, as well as Luke, happened to be an investor in the resort, so they tended to look to them for help in those areas since clearly Sawyer and his brothers weren’t up to speed on all things BDSM-related.
“Hopefully she’s okay,” Braydon offered.
Yeah, Sawyer hoped so too, but it wasn’t his place to interfere in that shit. As far as he was concerned, they’d intervened as much as they could. From that point on, it was the woman’s choice.
“Dinner’s ready!” Zoey called from the kitchen. “Can y’all come help put it on the table?”
Sawyer immediately fell into step with everyone else, making their way to the kitchen so they could get the food on the table, Kennedy right beside him. He was suddenly starving and looking forward to bringing Kennedy into the fold.
WHEN BRENDON ARRIVED at his parents’, he’d been surprised to see Kennedy there with Sawyer. It was like a nail in the coffin of his dark mood. Not because he didn’t like Kennedy. He did. She was good for Sawyer, but it cemented the fact that he was still alone while his brothers . . . weren’t.