“You drop something?” He squats down to peek under the table, the scent of pine and cedar following him like a drug I’m not supposed to be enjoying.
“Yes!” My eyes brighten as I reach back for the scarf that was left under the table. “I thought it was gone for good.”
He narrows his gaze. “You big into Frozen these days?”
Frozen?My face preemptively heats before I glance down to confirm that the scarf I’m pretending to have lost is indeed an Olaf scarf with snowflakes and ice princesses printed all over it.
God help me!
“Ugh,” I stutter, unsure of what to say, “I got stuck down here.”
“You try unzipping your jacket?”
I stare toward him like a deer in headlights. Like a cartoon cat with giant eyes. Like a shocked clown with a painted smile.
My zipper.Why did I not think to unzip my zipper?
He leans in and pulls the zipper down for me, his big hands warm without a single touch to my skin.
My clit throbs and my heart kicks into overdrive.
No… not now. Why now?
I will every sensation to go away. I can’t get like this. I can’t get all horny and desperate. I can’t let hormones make decisions for me. I’m supposed to be a grown woman, someone’s mother. I can’t run around with a throbbing clit and the scent of desperation dripping off me.
It’s unbecoming.
Finally free from my cozy red jacket, Wyatt takes my hand in his and helps me out from under the booth. “What are you doing here, peach? Town this small, I thought I’d have heard you were back.”
Peach.My heart squeezes. I’ve missed him calling me peach. He gave me the name not long after we met. At first, he told me the name was a symbol of how sweet I am, but he later confessed that it also had to do with how round and perfect my ass is.
I don’t agree with him, but I always feel special when he says it. Even now, when he shouldn’t be saying it.
That’s one thing I always loved about Wyatt. He makes me feel like the only woman in the world. Like, there’s not a chance in hell he’d ever been or ever would be attracted to another woman.
If only he hadn’t gambled thousands of dollars away without telling me, we might still be together.
I swallow hard and stare at him, hanging onto his hand far too long. “I came to visit a friend. Umm… what about you?”
He tilts his head to the side, and I realize suddenly that my stomach is uncovered. I don’t have a huge bump yet. In fact, most people probably wouldn’t notice I was pregnant, but thefear of him noticing overwhelms the urge to continue on with the weird hand-hold thing we have going on.
“I live here.” He laughs under his breath and leans forward, brushing a sticky French fry off my jeans.
Awesome. This is going great.
Lord, I’m begging for help here. A minor earthquake, a tiny tsunami, even a small little kitchen fire would do. Anything to get me out of this situation right now.
“You want to sit and eat with me?” Wyatt offers me the half-smile thing he does when he’s nervous. “I’d like to catch up with you. I hear you’ve got a lot going on.”
Lord… it’s not working! This is not helping!
My heart hammers against my chest as I stare up at the giant in front of me. The one I’d never have left had he not been so stupid. “Yeah, let’s eat something. Why not?”
Why did I say yes?I wanted to say no. Clearly, my body is doing whatever it wants.
“Or we can eat separately… if you’d like. I don’t want to intrude.”
“Intrude?” My voice raises three octaves as I say, “No way! I’ve got the best booth in the place. We should take advantage of it.”
