Afterwaiting for what I considered a lengthy amount of time, I knocked again. Harderthis time. Still no answer from the other side.
Sincethe office was located at the back of the kitchen, I was confident Wyatt hadn’tleft. I’d watched him walk inside after he’d checked out the expo station andshut the door behind him. Unless I was so focused on my work that I hadn’tnoticed him tiptoe past me, he was still in there, probably maniacally plottingmy demise, or at the very least, world domination.
Ipushed open the door and found him sleeping.
Theadrenaline came back in full force and I wasn’t sure why. This was the mostnonthreatening I had ever seen him. Even when he wasn’t my boss, he’d alwayscarried around this razor-sharp bite that scared away most people.
Theonly person I’d ever seen Wyatt behave nicely toward was Vera. But since shedidn’t work in our kitchen but owned a food truck across the street at thetime, she wasn’t considered competition. Killian, his idol, had also fallen forVera and that was all the seal of approval Wyatt had needed. I’d even seen themlaugh and joke around together. It was like watching an alien invasion.
Wyattdidn’t joke around. And he didn’t smile. He preferred to snarl, snap, and weara scowl that was giving him massive forehead wrinkles. Vera was the only personI’d seen him chill out around.
Seeinghim asleep at his desk, his head resting on his folded arms, his body totallyrelaxed and loose, did something to my dislike of this man. My heart, for aninsignificant millisecond, turned squishy and soft. How could someone sodomineering all the other moments of the day, look so incredibly inviting inthis one? How could someone that preferred to growl and bark and never sayanything nice become so boyish and gentle-looking?
Iwas tired. That had to explain my momentary lapse of reason. And maybe,possibly hallucinating. That was why I felt a weird ache bloom inside my chest.That was why I let my gaze linger along the lines of his face, tracing thecurve of his jaw and planes of his cheekbones, the fan of his eyelashes againsthis cheek, the tousled hair that had fallen over his forehead.
Therewas something about him like this that made me forget what a douche he alwayswas. His eyebrows furrowed, creating little creases over his nose and I had thestrongest urge to rub my finger over the spot and whisper something kind tohim.
Myeyebrows bunched together in utter confusion. I couldn’t imagine what that sweetnothing would be. I wasn’t exactly the poster-child for soft and feminine.
Heawoke with a jerk as if my thought had scared him awake. I jumped in tandem, myheart hammering with the same fear. Thankfully he didn’t notice my reaction. Hedidn’t even seem to notice me at first.
Sittingup with a giant inhale, he rubbed his face with both hands. His sleepy eyesslowly moved to me, and I was thankful my hand had been frozen in the shape ofa fist against his door. I hoped he thought he caught me in the middle ofknocking. And not standing there ogling him like a total creeper.
“H-hi,”I said shakily and immediately regretted it. I never said hi to him. Never.
Hiseyebrows drew down even more and his grimace said everything. “Are you finished?”he asked in a sleep-roughened voice.
Afraidof what I would say next, I opted to nod instead. Watching him sleep had donesomething to my brain. Like made it stupid. Plus, I was tired, I reasoned.Plus, Mercury was in retrograde. Plus, they found zombie-like leeches in a lakesomewhere down South. See? I had all kinds of rational reasons why I suddenlyfelt overly warm and flustered.
Wyattbraced his hands on his cluttered desk, readying to stand. “Are you ready forme to come look at you?” Our gazes crashed together, running into each otherwith the force of a high-speed car crash. “I mean your station,” he clarified, clearinghis throat. “Are you ready for me to come check out your station?”
Inodded again. My tongue had apparently lost the ability to form words. I blamedthe bleach I’d been up close and personal with for the last few hours.
Hecontinued to stare at me. “What’s the matter, Kaya? Cat got your tongue?”
Ishrugged, cleared my throat, and faked a yawn. “I’m just tired,” I managed tosay.
Herubbed his eyes with his fists and I considered getting my head examined. Whywas that sexy? It shouldn’t be sexy. And yet there was something about asleepy, disheveled man that made my heart go pitter patter.
Buthonestly it could have been any man. It could have been Endo. And he was almostfifty, balding and missing at least two teeth.
“Me too.” He sighed. “Come on, let’s see how youdid.”
Istepped back against the doorframe, letting him lead the way. I hadn’t openedthe door all the way to begin with and as he walked by me, his shoulder brushedagainst mine. Wyatt and I never touched. We kept our distance on purpose.
Probablybecause when his warm, muscled shoulder touched mine, energy zinged between us.A sharp, hot current of tension. I jolted from the shock of it.
Andsomeone gasped. But it couldn’t have been me.
God, I was starved for sex ifcontact so insignificant produced that much of a reaction from me. But itwasn’t only my lonely self-exile from the male population that forced aresponse from me. It was Wyatt. He seemed made of electricity. Hot and buzzingand intensely magnetic. It was like all that friction between us had beensuperheated and turned on high.
Wyattseemed to notice, pausing halfway through the door. His gaze moved toward meslowly, as if he had to mentally brace himself for what he would see.
“Idare you to find something,” I blurted, hoping to cover my stupid reaction. Myvoice held strong despite my quivering courage.
Hiseyes heated from my challenge, darkening in color and an inexplicable somethingelse. He leaned down so that he could better capture my gaze. “And what do Iget if I win?”
Theair between us surged with an electrical pulse. My eyebrows raised at the deeprumble in his voice, the way his cheeks warmed in the same way his eyes did.What was this? Some misplaced, late night impulse? Sleepy sexual confusion?
