Whisky on My Mind

Whisky on my Mind

Copyright © Karlene Blakemore-Mowle, 201
3

First published 201
3

Published by Karlene Blakemore-Mowle

2 McLennan’s Lane

Macksville, NSW, 2447

Email: [email protected]

URL: http://karlenebm.blogspot.com.au

All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a database and retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the owner of copyright and the above publishers.

Dedication

To the castle gals ~ Leigh,
Bree and Tamara, thank you for always being in my corner. Love you guys.

Prologue

Empire State Building

Christmas Eve
…

This was so clichéd it bordered on ridiculous, but she didn’t care. Her heart thumped so hard against her chest she thought it may explode. She searched the surprisingly crowded viewing deck frantically. Surely this wasn’t someone’s idea of a cruel joke? The thought gave her pause, but she forced it away. It couldn’t be. No one else knew the silly
Sleepless in Seattle
fantasy she had—not even Bella, her closest friend.

No one but him.

She moved through the tourists and the romantics, all heading down from the top of the building on this cold winter’s evening having fulfilled some kind of bucket list wish.

What if he wasn’t here?
She tried to push away the thought. She wasn’t sure she could go through that again.

The viewing deck was practically empty as she pushed through the doors and held her breath. She hated heights but if anything
was worth walking outside a multistory building it was this. She passed by a young couple who held hands and looked out over the view of the city below them and an elderly man pointing out landmarks to two small children and fought to keep her tears in check.

She hadn’t wanted to think about what would happen if he wasn’t there—couldn’t bring
herself to think about it, it was far too painful. The wind lifted her hair and she shivered, wrapping her arms about her tightly, unsure if it was to fight off the cold or the disappointment that threatened to swallow her whole.

After a glance at her watch and noting that it was already half an hour past the time she was supposed to meet, she realized t
here was no point dragging it out any longer. Maybe she’d just dreamed the letter; had wanted it so badly that somehow she’d conjured it up out of her desperate imagination.

As she rounded the corner
, the doors of the elevator opened with a loud ding…

Chapter 1

The alarm clock gave a loud bleep and Whisky groaned, pulling the pillow over her head to shut out the intrusion for a moment before tossing it aside and slapping her hand down to end the irritating noise.
God, how she hated that damn thing.
After the first wave of violent thoughts passed, she threw back the covers and sat on the edge of the bed and then she remembered what today was. A smile spread across her face at the thought.

Sawyer was coming home.

Showered and ready in record time, she grabbed a piece of toast on her way out of the apartment and headed out the door of the apartment. Later that afternoon as she sat at her desk, Whisky heard the roar of motorcycles entering the car park as she sat at her desk. Through the window she watched as the afternoon sun hit the shiny chrome and polished leather as the three bikers carefully walked their bikes backward to park before dismounting the big machines.

The tallest of the men removed his helmet and gloves, hanging them on the handlebars before turning toward the bar and Whisky smiled at the sight. Sawyer Riley, six feet of swaggering attitude and tattoos with a
stubbled jaw that made her itch to feel it against her skin…and he was all hers.

Sometimes it was still hard to believe how much had changed from the mediocre plateau her life had been not quite
twelve months or so ago…before Sawyer had barged his way into it. A lot had happened since then, and it was far from smooth sailing, but she couldn’t imagine her life without him in it now. She threw the pen down on her desk and stood up to head out into the bar to meet him. He’d been away the last two nights and she couldn’t believe how much she’d missed him.

He was already inside, greeting the staff when she opened the door
that led to the office out the back of the building. Her breath caught in her chest as he looked up and saw her.

God
, she loved him.

A slow smile spread across his face and she knew she wore an exact replica.
He waved a hand at someone across the room and immediately the juke box ceased playing the song it had been pounding out a moment before to be replaced with Toby Keith’s “Whiskey Girl.”

It had become his dedicated song to her. He sang it to her on open
mic nights—who would have thought the boy could sing and she loved his version so much better than the recorded one. She loved that he picked the song just for her.

She weaved her way through the tables in the restaurant area that divided the bar and the dining area, jumping into his arms as he met her halfway, on the dance floor. She ignored the cat calls and friendly jeering from the rest of the patrons and staff around them and wrapped her legs around his waist tightly, losing herself in the heady sensation of Sawyer’s bone
-melting kiss. Her heart clenched then overflowed with emotion. They’d always shared a bond—even as kids—but this new, grown up one was so fiercely consuming that it sometimes scared her with its intensity.

When Sawyer finally pulled his head back to look at her, she stared into his loving gaze and smiled.

“So, does this mean you missed me?” he asked.

“Just a little bit,” she grinned back, sliding down his body as he lowered her to her feet.

“Good, ‘cause you have no idea how much I missed you.”

“Hey, Sawyer, you got a phone call, man,” Jackson, the bartender yelled across the room, intruding on their brief cocoon of privacy—despite being in the middle of the dance floor.