No One But You (Silver Springs #2)(33)

He decided to stay. Why not? He’d been up this long. “Sure. What do you have to drink?”

She held the door so he could come in. “I have a bottle of Pinot Grigio, which should be much better than the wine I brought to your place,” she added with a self-deprecating smile.

He tried not to let his gaze fall to her bare legs—or her shirt, since it was obvious she wasn’t wearing a bra—but that was exactly where his eyes tended to go. He hadn’t been with a woman in so long. Although he’d initially thought Sadie wasn’t his type, that he wasn’t attracted to her, the more he got to know her, the prettier she became. She had the most gorgeous legs, and her breasts, though small, looked like the perfect size to fit the palm of his hand.

In an effort to keep his mind—and his attention—where it should be, he circled the room, inspecting his surroundings. Her place was clean and neat but sparsely furnished with what looked like thrift-store purchases or hand-me-downs. “That’s what you typically drink?”

“I don’t typically drink anything. I can’t afford alcohol,” she said with a wry laugh. “I’ve been saving this.”

Stopping in front of a side table, he picked up a photograph of her and her son. They were on a beach, the same towel wrapped around them both as Sadie kissed Jayden’s cheek. “For what?”

“A celebration.”

He put the photograph down and looked over his shoulder. “Of...”

She shrugged. “My neighbor gave it to me for my birthday last month.”

“Why didn’t you open it?”

“I decided to wait for something better to come along.”

“What’s better than a birthday?” he asked, but he hadn’t celebrated his birthday this year, either. He’d spent it in jail, wondering if he’d be convicted of murder.

“My divorce. The day I receive my final papers. The day it will all be over.”

“What’s holding that up?”

She rolled her eyes. “Sly, of course. He’s doing everything he can to sabotage the process.”

“Don’t tell me opening this wine signifies that you’re giving up.”

“No. I’d just really like to have a glass, especially now that I have someone to drink it with. You interested?”

For however long he stayed, she wouldn’t be alone. “Sure.”

She went into the kitchen and returned with a regular water glass filled almost to the halfway mark.

“That’s a lot of wine,” he said as he accepted it.

“Sorry. I don’t have any wineglasses.”

He took a sip, found it to be as good as she had promised—much better than what she’d bought the other day. “What happened to your belongings? I mean, I can’t imagine you’ve always lived in such a...spartan fashion.”

“I had to leave most of my stuff behind,” she explained. “It was hard enough just to get myself and Jayden out of that house.”

“Where’d you live?”

“In one of the new homes on the other side of town. We had some nice furniture, too. Nothing like this. Sly can be stingy with his money, but he likes quality—things that make him look good to his friends.”

“So...he lives there alone now, with the good furniture?”

She nodded. “I didn’t take anything, knew that would only make it harder for me to leave. I did try to get my clothes. But even that didn’t work. He threw away what I couldn’t carry in that first load.”

“And he thinks I’m bad,” Dawson grumbled.

She studied the liquid in her own glass. “He has a way of justifying—or excusing—the most terrible things.” She gestured toward her threadbare couch. “Would you like to sit down?”

To avoid hovering over her, he took her up on that offer and made himself comfortable. The room was so small it was the only way to put a little distance between them. “What made you marry a guy like that?”

“I wish I knew,” she replied. “In the beginning he seemed...different than he turned out to be. But I was barely eighteen when we married. What did I know?”

Dawson took another sip of his wine. “When did things start to go bad?”

She leaned against the wall opposite him. “I can’t really pinpoint a date. He grew more demanding and irritable as the years passed, especially after he had to share my attention with Jayden. He’d withdraw or sulk if he didn’t get his way—or rail at me until I gave in just to appease him. He became so controlling there were times, lots of them, when I felt I couldn’t breathe. If not for my son, I would’ve left him long ago—and I wouldn’t still be living here in Silver Springs, where he can continue to harass me. That’s for darn sure.”

“Why can’t you move away?”

“And take Jayden from him? The court would never allow it.”

He found his gaze drifting back to her legs. For all he knew, she was wearing a pair of shorts under that old, soft-looking T-shirt. But he wasn’t picturing shorts. He kept picturing a pair of lacy white panties—and imagining what her thighs would feel like if he ran his fingers up under the hem of that shirt...

An awkward silence fell. He realized that she’d spoken last and he should’ve said something to keep the conversation going. Once he dragged his eyes up to meet hers, the flush to her cheeks indicated she’d noticed his preoccupation with her bare legs.