Sweet Heart (The Hearts of Sawyers Bend #2) - Ivy Layne Page 0,51

this stage of the plan and you know it. Get the job done and I'll get you the cash you need. And if you don't, you'll have a bigger problem than empty pockets.”

“Hey, just tell your partner I've got it under control.”

“See that you do.” The woman got back in the car and pulled out. I watched my father duck out of the parking area behind the bakery and head down the alley to the street. Silently crossing my apartment, I moved to the windows overlooking Main Street, tracking him as he walked back toward the road to Grams' house.

Crap. Now what was I supposed to do?

He was up to something, but I'd known he'd been up to something when he came back to Sawyers Bend. Now I knew he had a partner, but I had no idea who she was. It'd been too dark to see her features clearly, but what I'd seen I didn't recognize, and I don't think I'd ever heard her voice before.

Whatever was between them, I couldn't imagine he was cheating on my mom. I didn't get that vibe. She'd seemed dismissive and pissed, and he hadn't struck me as a guy trying to seduce a woman. More a man putting off his boss over a late assignment.

I didn't even know if what he was up to was illegal. She'd told him to get the job done and her partner would be mad if he didn't, but that didn't necessarily mean they were breaking the law.

West couldn't arrest my dad for secretly meeting a strange woman behind the bakery. People were allowed to have conversations in public. And Grams' heart would break if her son was arrested in Sawyers Bend.

I sipped my tea in the dark and tried to convince myself to forget I'd seen a thing.

I'd keep an eye on my dad, but I was going to do that anyway. For just a second, I thought about telling him to forget the money, to just go and leave us all in peace.

Even if I were willing to forget the money, telling him to go would be a waste of time. Whatever my dad was involved in, it sounded like exactly his kind of trouble.

Darren Hutchins had never walked away from trouble that I could remember. I couldn't imagine him starting now.

Chapter Twenty-One

royal

I didn't think I'd be nervous. This wasn't my first rodeo. I'd picked up plenty of women for dates and usually, my concerns centered around whether I'd be bored and if I'd get laid at the end. I wasn't surprised to discover that, like all things with Daisy, this was different.

Daisy worried about being too complicated, but I wasn't sure she knew what she was getting into with me. My life had never been simple. Since my father died it had only grown more complex.

I thought having Daisy to a family dinner would be like ripping off a bandage. We'd get all the crazy out of the way at once and hopefully, she'd still want me when it was over. At the time, it had seemed like the perfect plan.

Now that I was standing in front of her door, a bouquet of daisies clutched in my sweaty fist, I was absolutely questioning my sanity.

Sawyers Bend had no shortage of romantic restaurants. Why wasn't I taking her to one of them? Or I could have driven her into Asheville and taken her someplace really nice, could have arranged to stay in a hotel overnight… Fuck. What the hell had I been thinking?

Her door opened and my gut dove straight to my toes. A man stood there, about the same height as me, with dark hair, broad shoulders, and a lean, rangy build that could have used a few pounds of muscle.

It wasn't his body that was striking, it was his face.

I couldn't quite pin down the mix of ethnicities there. Almond eyes, smooth brown skin a few shades lighter than Daisy's, and dark hair that had a wave to it. His eyes were a startling green framed by thick, black lashes, and his cheekbones could have cut stone. He would have fit right in on a runway.

He could be none other than the famous J.T.

I hadn't been nervous when I ran into Daisy's grandmother, but meeting J.T. had me shaking in my shoes. I bit the bullet and stuck out my hand.

“I'm Royal Sawyer. You must be J.T. It's great to meet you.”

J.T.'s fingers closed around mine, his grip strong, but he didn't