The Story Of Us - Teri Wilson Page 0,22

Also, she might have been more inclined to overlook his participation in the Ridley project if he’d been upfront and honest about why he was back in Waterford when they’d first crossed paths. He hadn’t, though.

Not one little bit.

She greeted him with an exaggerated eye roll, the sum total of the politeness she felt he deserved. “Of course you’re here.”

Sawyer’s lips tugged into an annoyingly charming half-grin. His gaze slid to Anita. “This is a small town.”

Too small, actually—especially now.

Finally, something she and Sawyer could agree on.

Sawyer probably shouldn’t have felt so smug about the shocked look on Jamie’s face when she first spotted him at the bar, but he couldn’t quite help it. He’d been surprised at every turn since arriving in Waterford, and now the shoe was back on the other foot.

Anita had filled him in over a nice glass of Sangiovese, so he’d known Jamie would be in attendance. From their discussion, he’d also managed to discern that Lucy was, in addition to being the object of Rick’s affection, Jamie’s employee and best friend. Rick, being Rick, had left out this crucial bit of intel when he’d recruited Sawyer into being his wingman. He’d definitely taken Sawyer at his word when he’d told him he no longer wanted to hear about Jamie.

That wasn’t the case anymore, obviously. Now Sawyer wanted to know everything.

Purely for business purposes, of course. Still, his pulse kicked up a notch when Jamie slipped out of her red coat and he caught his first glimpse of her black chiffon dress with its sheer sleeves and flippy little skirt. He’d barely had a chance to get used to her librarian-chic polka-dotted pencil skirts, and now this. He was in no way prepared for the sight of grown-up Jamie Vaughn in a little black dress, the sudden hostility between them notwithstanding.

He somehow managed to look away, only to find that an amused Rick had been watching him watch Jamie. Sawyer sighed, and Rick’s grin spread wide.

Fine. Maybe Rick’s delight in Sawyer’s current predicament would help him relax long enough to tell Lucy that he’d orchestrated this entire evening just for her. Sawyer certainly hoped so.

“Okay, everybody.” Rick clapped his hands, and all eyes—including Lucy’s—swiveled in his direction. In his crisp chef’s whites, Rick looked like he’d just walked off the set of some show on the Food Network. With any luck, Lucy was into that sort of thing. “If you all would find a cooking station…”

Sawyer glanced at Jamie. This was, after all, a Valentine’s event, and Rick had set up the cooking stations in pairs. Maybe in between all the dicing, chopping and sautéing, they could bury the hatchet—preferably not in each other.

Before he could suggest a truce, though, someone from the other side of the room called Jamie’s name.

“Jamie?” Eric, the esteemed city councilman, grinned at her and pointed to a table near the front. “Would you like to…”

She lit up like a Christmas tree. “Yes, I would.”

Sawyer’s gut clenched as Jamie floated toward Eric, diaphanous black chiffon swirling around her legs. He told himself the only reason she seemed so excited about being Eric’s partner was because he was on the town council. He also told himself that was the only reason it bothered him—the idea that she might gain another ally against his project. But coming up with a justification for that sinking feeling in his stomach was little consolation. He wasn’t even sure he believed his excuses.

He turned toward Anita and offered her his elbow. “Well?”

“Okay. Thank you.” She slipped her arm through his.

“All right.” Sawyer nodded, and they made their way toward the cooking stations.

He absolutely did not choose the table next to Jamie and Eric’s on purpose. It was simply where they landed…

Just in time to hear Eric tell Jamie how great she looked.

Jamie smiled up at him. “Thank you. You do too.”

Sawyer had the sudden urge to stab a certain city councilman with the butter knife at his station. What. Was. Happening? There was a quiet storm brewing inside him, completely out of the blue. If he hadn’t known better, he would have thought it was jealousy.

Fortunately—or not so fortunately for Rick—another disaster in the making tore Sawyer’s attention away from Jamie’s impromptu date and his own inconvenient sense of unease. Lucy appeared as if she was on the verge of pairing off with a stranger as her cooking partner, and that definitely wasn’t part of the plan. An unattached guy in a chunky cardigan was smiling