And yes, his brothers would have a field day torturing him if they knew his frame of mind right now. He was the happy-go-lucky guy, the one everyone expected a good time from, and right now, he was having to put forth a little effort just to muster a smile.
Maybe another beer would help.
“Hey, Mack. Get another?” Sawyer called down to the bartender currently flirting it up with one of the regulars. “And while you’re at it, can I get one for Kennedy? Another of whatever she’s havin’. I’ll deliver it.”
“Right on it, boy,” Mack said with a smile.
Boy. Right. Then again, Mack was in his early fifties, had been in Coyote Ridge his entire life, and probably remembered Sawyer and his brothers when they were in diapers. So, technically, the man had earned the right to call him boy.
He was one of the few.
“Thanks,” Sawyer told the bartender before turning back around. As if by radar, his gaze immediately landed on Kennedy once again. He took a second to admire her from afar. The woman was tall and curvy, just the way he liked his women. At six foot five inches, Sawyer couldn’t see himself with a petite woman, although his brothers didn’t seem to mind women like that. More power to them, but Sawyer preferred his women taller, and Kennedy was just perfect.
And the curves . . . damn, the woman could rock a pair of jeans and boots like no other. A picture of her ass should be classified as a modern marvel. Although he was pretty sure she wouldn’t be thrilled hearing that. Didn’t mean Sawyer wasn’t going to stare.
But what he liked most about the woman, aside from the fact that she was hot enough to keep his dick on red alert, was how she liked to play hard to get. After she left high school, she’d done a complete three-sixty, turning into one of those bombshells that drew male attention everywhere she went, but she pretended not to notice. Or maybe she wasn’t pretending, Sawyer didn’t really know.
Regardless, Sawyer saw the answering attraction in her eyes whenever she looked at him. She could deny it all she wanted, but it was there. According to her, she wasn’t interested, but Sawyer didn’t buy it. The heat in her gray eyes couldn’t be disguised, no matter how hard she tried.
Her gaze skimmed the room and he waited to see if she was going to stop on him again, and sure enough, he wasn’t disappointed. The immediate frown that tipped her pretty pink lips made him smile. With a wink and a nod, he turned to grab the beer Mack set down for him. When Kennedy’s drink was planted there a minute later, Sawyer decided to go pay her a visit.
What the hell, it wasn’t like his night could get much worse.
CRAP.
Crap-crap-crap.
Kennedy had hoped he’d keep his ass at the bar, but apparently, Sawyer hadn’t changed that much since the last time she saw him, a week or two ago. He was still just as persistent as always, and she could already predict just how this conversation was going to go.
“Hey,” he would say.
“Hey,” she would say.
Silence.
Yep, that’s the way their conversations generally went because Kennedy had no idea what to say to the man. Although they’d spent a few minutes together here and there over the last, oh, probably a full year, Kennedy still had no idea how to communicate with him. She’d humored him a couple of times, dancing with him and chatting. She was just trying to be polite, that was all.
Or so she told herself.
What she really wanted to do was to ignore him, but Sawyer Walker wasn’t an easy man to ignore. Even though she had every right to hate him, as well as all of the others who’d made her life a living hell in high school, she still found it difficult to do so.
Regardless of her reasons for indulging Sawyer, this conversation wasn’t going to be fun.
Then again, talking to Sawyer—or more accurately, evading his wayward advances—might not be her favorite thing to do, but looking at him was definitely a treat for the eyes. Kind of a no-win situation for her though.
There was no disputing the fact that Sawyer was a very attractive man. And by very, Kennedy meant incredibly hot. And by attractive, Kennedy meant incredibly sexy.
But that wasn’t anything new. Even in high school he’d been a good-looking guy, one that all the girls had flocked to. Not her. Then again, she’d been too busy focusing on school work and avoiding the jerks who treated her like she was second rate. And yes, Sawyer was part of that crowd.
Still, she had to admit that even then she’d thought he was cute.
Tall, leanly muscled, with seductive smoky blue eyes that were outlined by thick, dark lashes, there was no wonder the man was one of the most sought after bachelors in town. But even more impressive than his attractive features were the subtle laugh lines that reflected the carefree guy that he was. Today he was sporting a little extra stubble around his jaw and his short, dark hair was disheveled, like he’d been running his hands through it multiple times. Which she could only tell because he was missing his infamous cowboy hat—the one that made women fall at his feet and beg for . . . whatever.