No One But You (Silver Springs #2)(35)

Having Dawson stay probably wasn’t the best way. She had to admit that. Knowing he was in the other room made her want to go back out there, but... God, it felt good to feel attractive again.

Closing her eyes, she allowed herself to imagine what it might be like if he were to kiss her with those full, soft-looking lips, imagined his large hands sliding up under her shirt to touch her breasts—and jumped out of bed again.

Stop, stop, stop! She couldn’t let her mind go there. Allowing herself to fantasize about Dawson Reed wouldn’t improve her situation. What if she acted on those fantasies? If she did, and Sly found out they’d been together—well, she didn’t even want to contemplate what would happen if Sly found out. And that wasn’t the only thing. Dawson was her boss! She needed the job he was providing.

Kneeling by the mattress, she forced herself to focus on the small body curled up under the covers. Jayden. Her son. She had to be smart, for his sake. Working for Dawson gave her an opportunity, made it possible for her to one day get out from under Sly’s thumb so she could build a better life for them both.

She couldn’t do anything to blow that.

*

Dawson woke to find a small face staring intently into his. Startled and unsure of where he was, he sat up rather abruptly, and the boy jumped back.

“Mo-om!” the kid cried. “There’s a man in our house!”

Dawson’s ears rang with the unexpected noise as he glanced around, trying to regain his bearings. He’d fallen asleep at Sadie’s—so deeply he hadn’t gotten up and gone home as he’d intended. And now it was...morning? Tough to tell with the blinds down...

“Shh. It’s okay,” he said to Jayden. “Don’t wake your mom. I’m leaving.” Shoving the quilt he’d been using out of the way, he got to his feet but staggered there for a moment. Still groggy, he hadn’t given his sore muscles any warning that they would suddenly be bearing his weight.

“Mom! Hurry!”

Dawson shoved a hand through his hair, trying to get it to stay down. If he had his guess, he looked pretty scary, especially to a small person. But he wasn’t sure there was anything he could do to change that. They were in such a tiny house he couldn’t even back away. “It’s okay. I’m not going to hurt anyone,” he said and started searching for his keys. They weren’t in his pocket. He remembered taking them out because they were cutting into his leg while he was sleeping, but...

“Dawson?”

At the surprise in Sadie’s voice, he whirled around to see her standing in the doorway of her bedroom, looking as rumpled as he was. “I’m sorry to still be here,” he said. “I didn’t wake up as planned. I guess I was more exhausted than I thought. But I’m going now—if only I can find my keys.”

“Who is it, Mommy?” the boy whispered loudly.

“Jayden, it’s okay. This is Dawson Reed, Mommy’s boss.”

Her son gave him a skeptical once-over. “Why’s he sleeping at our house?”

Dawson racked his brain, searching for a safe answer that would also appease the boy. He’d stayed to be nice, to offer Sadie some reassurance so she could sleep, but he knew it wouldn’t look like a favor if Jayden mentioned his “overnighter” to Sly, the landlady or someone else.

Fortunately, Sadie spoke up. “He came over to see Mommy last night and was too tired to drive home. We can share our couch with him, can’t we?”

Jayden didn’t seem too sure about that, but he was calming down now that he could tell his mother wasn’t alarmed. “I guess,” he said with a measure of reluctance.

“What time is it?” Dawson asked.

Sadie rubbed her face. “Almost seven.”

“When do you have to be at the restaurant?”

“Not until eight today. My alarm will be going off in five minutes.”

“So you’ll be out to the farm at one.”

She covered a yawn. “Unless I get done early.”

“One is fine. I’ll see you then.” Spotting his keys on the floor, he stooped to grab them, but Sadie hurried after him, still wearing that darn T-shirt he’d dreamed of pulling off her for half the night, and intercepted him at the door.

“Actually, I was thinking maybe you could stay for breakfast and then...you know—” she lowered her voice “—leave after we do.”

He froze with his hand on the knob. Now that he was on his way, he didn’t want to be held up. He had the feeling he should never have come here. He hadn’t been ogling Sadie at the farm. He’d been able to keep his mind where it should be, for the sake of his sister. “Because...”

“My landlady gets up early, and she...she looks for me in the mornings, for a bit of chitchat before I head to work. After that, no one will be paying any attention to my place, and I wouldn’t want her to, you know, think the worst.”

By seeing a strange man come out of her house... That was the part she didn’t add. “Right. Okay.” He had a lot to do and was suddenly damn uncomfortable hanging out here. But he figured he could tolerate another few minutes.

Letting his breath go in a long sigh, he returned to the couch.

Jayden was still staring at him. “You live on a farm?”

He’d said that as if Dawson lived on a spaceship or the moon or something really exciting. “I do.”