Naomi let Sawyer carry her to his bedroom and tuck her into his bed. He crawled in next to her, laying his head on the pillow so they were facing each other. Her body still hummed from the orgasm he had given her, the most powerful she had ever had.

She had no regrets about what had happened between them. It was what they both wanted, needed even. And she felt closer to him now than ever. This was no fling, and the way she felt about him was unlike anything she had ever experienced before.

That should have been a scary thought. Her, with her commitment issues, feeling this way about someone she barely knew? She should have been downright terrified. Yet, all she could think about was how relieved she was that she hadn’t gotten stuck in her head and talked herself out of the night of her life.

“So… thanks for dinner,” she grinned, as the sun was slowly setting outside.

Sawyer chuckled, the sheets rustling as he moved his legs under the cool covers. The stubble on his face was getting darker, more pronounced, and his lips were red from all their kissing. All in all, she could safely say she thought him more handsome than ever.

And I have him all to myself.

“Any time,” he replied, propping his head up on his elbow. “Can I get you something? A glass of water?”

“No, I’m good. Trust me,” she said, giving him a lazy smile. “You can tell me something, though.”

“What?” he asked.

“Anything you feel like,” she shrugged. “Pull back the curtain on the mystery of Sawyer Blake, if you will,” she added with exaggerated flourish.

“All right,” he said, thinking about it for a moment. “I was born in Wyoming. That’s where we lived for most of my childhood. We moved around a bit when I was already in school, my mom getting restless with small town life. But Pinedale always drew my dad back in. And she wanted him to be happy.”

“Pinedale was where his pack was,” Naomi nodded.

“Right,” Sawyer confirmed. “But once I graduated high school, they relocated. Dad wanted to do things mom’s way, for once. So they moved to her hometown of Chicago, and I went to the police academy in New York. I craved the excitement, as hard as it was to say goodbye to everything and everyone I knew.”

“Small town wolf, ready to become a big city cop,” Naomi commented.

“Exactly,” Sawyer laughed. “Like I already told you – I loved it.”

He fell quiet at that, and for the hundredth time, Naomi couldn’t help but wonder – how had his story gone from there, that made him end up here in Tempe, no longer on the force?

“Your turn,” Sawyer said, derailing that train of thought.

“Not much to tell really,” she shrugged, earning a chiding look from him.

“That’s what you’re going with?” he arched a brow at her. “Orphan who has spent her life studying demons? That sounds like the plot of a movie.”

“A bad one,” she interjected.

“You don’t have to talk about your parents if you don’t want to. Tell me about that cat you wanted as a kid, or what your favorite subjects in school were. I don’t care,” he shrugged.

“You know, I think I do want to talk about them,” Naomi found herself saying. “I so rarely do. The memories are getting dusty up here,” she added, tapping a finger against her temple.

“I’m all ears. Tell me how they managed to raise a wonderful woman like you,” Sawyer said, nearly making her blush.

“They were both in academia,” she started, letting things come to her, piece by piece. “They met at a university lecture, getting into a heated debate afterward about some thing or the other. Mom was majoring in math, and dad in social studies, so how they ended up together in a philosophy class, I have no idea,” she chuckled, recalling the many times she had heard them tell the story of how they met.

“Ah, so being a nerd is in your blood,” Sawyer interjected.

“I guess you could say that,” she laughed. “They always pushed me to be my best, that was for sure. I can appreciate it now, but back then…”

“You were a stupid teenager, just like the rest of us,” he remarked.

Unexpectedly, Naomi found herself getting choked up. It had been years since she had gotten that affected by the memory of her parents. Maybe it was saying it all out loud that got to her. Yet, she didn’t feel awkward brushing a tear from the corner of her eye.

Sawyer wasn’t giving her pitying looks. He just lay there, waiting for her to go on. His hand found its way to hers under the sheets, and she gave it a quick squeeze.

“We had a fight that night,” she said. “Stupid stuff. My grades had been slipping a little. I wanted to hang out with my friends more. I slammed the door, sulked in my room… the whole nine yards. But I couldn’t sleep after that. Even then, I knew they just wanted the best for me. That’s when I heard a noise downstairs.”

Naomi could feel herself tensing up, but there was nothing she could do to relax. That rarely-shared memory pushed its way to the surface, wanting to be let out.

“I found my mom first,” she went on. “That’s when I saw the demon. My father woke up next. He came downstairs, tried to protect me… Neither of us could have known what we were really up against.”

Falling quiet, she let Verin’s words rush over her. Where is the snake? he had demanded to know. How many sleepless nights had she spent, trying to figure out what that could have meant? Her dad was a professor. The only time he had anything to do with snakes was when they went to the zoo.

Naomi shook her head. No, she had promised herself to not obsess over that again. Nothing good came of it.

“Anyway, I went to live with my aunt after that,” she carried on. “But that last fight still hung over me. So I did what I thought they would have wanted – I focused on my studies. I buried myself in books. And I chose the path I thought would make them proud.”

“I’m sure they would be,” Sawyer said. “Even if you’d gone down a different road, all parents really want is for their child to be happy.”

“I just wanted to honor them, in the only way I knew how,” she shrugged.

Sawyer was right, of course. Aside from instilling her with the notion that a good education was important, her parents had always encouraged her to pursue her passions. From that phase when she was sure she wanted to be in a band, to reading all of her bad poetry, they had always been there to cheer her on.

She knew she had fixated on being what she thought they wanted her to be. All these years, had she shaped her life to be an apology for that last fight, where she never got the chance to say, I’m sorry?

“I’m probably a bad influence then,” Sawyer quietly joked. “They hardly sound like the kind of people to condone stealing from a university.”

Naomi had to laugh at that. And it felt okay to laugh. Telling Sawyer all she had, it was a relief. She didn’t want to hold things back from him. Yet, she was also painfully aware she was hiding a big part of that night from him – that the demon she saw back then was the same one hunting the statue in his safe.

She knew, sooner or later, she would have to tell the truth. The longer she waited, the more Sawyer would feel like she had deceived him. But this didn’t feel like the right time.

“Maybe you are a bad influence,” she agreed. “But hey. I’m not complaining.”

“Neither am I,” he replied, scooting closer to her to plant a kiss on her cheek.

With Naomi decidedly not sleepy, and Sawyer looking alert as ever, they continued on trading stories, hers mostly from her childhood and college, his from his time with the pack and on the job in New York.

Some stories were happy, some not, and before she knew it, the sun was starting to come back up. And she still hadn’t gotten up the nerve to ask the big question that had been weighing on her mind.

In a moment of quiet, she took a breath, and forced herself to not look away from Sawyer’s dark, glittering eyes.

“Sawyer,” she started, clearly stalling. “Why aren’t you a cop anymore?”

He just let out a sigh, looking tired all of the sudden.

“I knew you’d get to that eventually,” he said. “I’m not sure it’s a story you actually want to hear.”

“I want to hear anything you’re willing to tell me,” she replied.

He mulled that over, while Naomi fidgeted with the edge of her blanket. Leaving the force had obviously been a huge change in his life. He could have been a completely different person back then, for all she knew.

Sawyer opened his mouth, and she would have been on the edge of her seat, if they weren’t both lying down.

“All right,” he finally said, leaving her hanging off every word that followed.