Andthere it was—the poison that killed the magic of his mouth. I rolled my eyes,finding it much easier to be annoyed with him again. “Let’s not get crazy.Maybe he picked the right guy, but the right person for the job was me.” Iadded a winning smile to soften the blow.
Heonly laughed, which irritated me even more. “You’re so full of yourself, Kaya.I’ve never met anyone like you before.”
Irolled my eyes again and turned to walk out of the cooler. “Yeah, well, you’rewelcome.”
Hisarm darted out and made a barricade across my middle. His warm skin in the coolair of the refrigerator rocketed through me, kindling the already dangerousfire burning through me. “Is it a date?”
Rotatingmy head so I could glare at him, I tried to process his question. “Is what adate?”
Hedidn’t look at me though. Even though his arm was wrapped around my waist, herefused to meet my eyes. “Sunday night. Is that why you want the night off?”
Mybreath caught in my throat and I lost the ability to form words. Why did hewant to know? And what was I supposed to say? I couldn’t exactly tell him thetruth. Vera had asked me to keep our rendezvous on the down low. Beyond that, Ididn’t want him to know I was moonlighting at Sarita. If missing Sunday nightwas a big deal, I couldn’t imagine telling him I wanted to leave permanently.Especially in his current sleepless state.
Butlying wasn’t exactly an out either. First, he would eventually figureeverything out. Like when I handed in my two weeks’ notice and confessed mymove across town.
“Nota date,” I admitted. “But it’s a commitment I can’t reschedule.”
Helooked at me. His head lifted, and he shocked me with his rich, fathomlessbrown eyes. The intensity swimming in them knocked me back a step. It felt likeI’d overdosed on chocolate, my stomach churning from the sugary sweetness thatI shouldn’t have greedily inhaled.
Ironically,he caught me with the arm that had trapped me. Otherwise, I would’ve fallendirectly on my butt.
Hedidn’t acknowledge my moment of klutziness and I was grateful for his smallkindness.
Whenhe was satisfied I wasn’t going to topple over again, he dropped his arm andmoved out of the way to let me pass. “Okay.”
Iwaited a beat longer, but he turned back to the shelves again. Conversationover. He had work to do and no more time for me.
Okay,fine. I didn’t need more time with him. He’d given me his blessing to haveSunday night off. That was the whole reason I’d gone in there to begin with.That was a win.
Sowhy did it feel like I’d somehow lost?
Ipushed through the rubber curtains hanging in front of the cooler entrance andrubbed my forearms in an effort to cool down. Or heat up. Or stop the hairs onmy arms from standing straight up. Or maybe I was doing all three.
God, Wyatt. What the hell?
Theshocking part of the whole exchange was that I had been expecting to hear Wyattstep back from his question. I expected him to assure me my dating life wasnone of his business. Or that I could date whoever I wanted.
Buthe hadn’t said any of that.
NowI was overanalyzing every single word and looking for hidden meaning, and Ihated him even more for making me obsessed with thinking about him.
Butat the same time I also hated him less. And that was even more confusing.
Irubbed my temples feeling a headache start to take hold. Sunday night couldn’tcome fast enough. I needed time away from this kitchen. I needed to clear myhead.
Andmy libido.
Chapter Six
Myhands trembled as I reached for the door. This was it, the moment of truth. Orat least one of them.
Anearly one. Probably a baby one.
Thiswas like a prologue to the moment of truth.
But,goddamn, it felt scary as hell.
Oneof my mentors from school had always said, if you’re not scared as shit, it’snot hard enough.
