Kennedy stared up at her father. “Yeah. If you still want me to.”
“I do,” he said softly, his eyes meeting hers and holding for a second.
Holy crap. Was he . . . ?
“Is someone else gonna be there, Dad?”
A real smile turned up the very corners of Jeff’s mouth and Kennedy knew instantly that the answer to her question was yes. And she didn’t even need to ask him who because she already knew.
“Well, then. Of course I’ll be there. Right after work.” She definitely wouldn’t miss a chance to be introduced to someone her father was interested in. In all of her thirty-three years, her father had never introduced her to any man that he’d dated. She’d gotten used to him being single. Now that she thought about it, she really liked knowing her father might’ve actually found someone.
“Good. I’ll see you then.”
Kennedy didn’t move from her seat as she watched her father walk out of the bar. A second later, while she was still examining the door where he had disappeared, she saw Sawyer leave. Her thoughts instantly drifted back to the conversation she’d overheard a short while ago. Sawyer was going to the resort to meet Greyson and some chick whose name was either Melanie or Sonia—not that those names sounded at all similar, so how Greyson hadn’t known was a little on the pathetic side—and whose claim to fame was stamina.
And Sawyer would be joining Ms. Stamina and his best friend for the evening.
She tried to ignore the fact that the last part disappointed her. It shouldn’t, she told herself. Truthfully, she should’ve been happy because it meant she could push all thoughts of Sawyer Walker to the farthest recesses of her brain, where he belonged. As much as she’d wished otherwise, she knew that Sawyer would never change.
No matter how much she secretly wished he would.
chapter THREE
Sawyer knew he should’ve gone home and spent the rest of the evening entertaining Buster, but his dumb ass had gotten in his truck and headed straight for AI, where Greyson and the chick were probably sitting at the restaurant bar having drinks and waiting for him.
He’d long passed the point of hating himself for giving in, but the more he thought about it, the more he figured it didn’t much matter what he did or who he did it with. For the last year he’d done his damnedest to get Kennedy’s attention, but she continued to brush him off, and if he analyzed their conversations enough, he heard every single rejection loud and clear. As much as he wanted to believe otherwise, she was still rebuffing every attempt he made to convince her to take a chance on him.
So why should he waste his time with her?
Parking his car near the doors that would lead to the administrative part of the building adjacent to the resort, Sawyer headed inside. He was tempted to stop in his office, try to come up with some excuse to stall for time, but he really just didn’t give a shit and no amount of staring at a computer was going to change his mind anyway.
After ambling into the hotel proper, Sawyer greeted a couple of bellhops and the two ladies who were currently stationed at the check-in desk, then continued to the restaurant. He found Greyson sitting at the bar, exactly as he thought, with a pretty blonde who was smiling at him as though Greyson had just informed her that he’d discovered gold. Hell, knowing Greyson, it was quite possible that he had told her that. There was no limit to the amount of bullshit Greyson had been known to spout just to get into a woman’s panties. Granted, that was more because Greyson had self-confidence issues than because he actually needed to talk himself up to get a woman’s attention.
The guy was good-looking and smart, the ladies loved him, but he still, for whatever reason, came up with some crazy shit from time to time.
Sawyer made his way over and stood beside his buddy, giving the blonde a good once-over and his signature grin.
“Hey, man. This is Sawyer, the guy I told you about,” Greyson said. “He owns this place.”
“It ain’t all mine, I assure you. Nice to meet you . . . ?” Sawyer purposely left the statement hanging, hoping she’d fill in the blank, because he was pretty damn sure Greyson still didn’t know her name.
“Angela,” the blonde said.
Angela? Seriously? Where the hell had Greyson come up with Melanie? Or Sonia?
Sawyer shook his head at the same time he gently squeezed her hand. “Nice to meet you, Angela,” he repeated.
“You too,” Angela replied with a giggle.
Great. She was a giggler.
Just what he needed.
“What d’ya say we take this party upstairs?” Greyson asked, getting right to the point of the evening.