“He’s escalating,” she breathed.
“Yes,” Wyatt replied.
“And so are we.”
He looked at her. “I won’t let him corner you.”
Her eyes met his. “He won’t.”
But the calm of the day had been destroyed, and they all knew somewhere beyond the marsh road, someone was setting the next piece in motion.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
LETTY
Letty’s shoulders eased after Will left, though the tension in the air lingered longer than his SUV. She looked out over the water. Something had shifted, but she wasn’t sure. Her pulse had settled after his SUV hit the main road.
“He came to intimidate,” Cal mentioned behind her.
“I know.”
“And he didn’t flinch when you didn’t back down,” Cal added.
“You’re right.”
Cal’s gaze flicked to Wyatt, who stood with his hand on her back. “He’ll escalate, because men like him rarely back away once their pride is involved.”
Wyatt didn’t respond. He was watching the road with a tight jaw.
Cal left them alone after that. She thought about Cal. He had the kind of leadership she appreciated: steady, easygoing, and without the need to over-analyze everything. She snickered to herself as the silence settled.
“He thinks I’m wrong,” she said finally.
Wyatt didn’t look at her. “He thinks he’s smarter.”
“He always did.”
That drew Wyatt’s gaze. “Always?”
She exhaled through her nose. “In grad school, he’d volunteer to present group findings even if they weren’t his.”
“Confident.”
“Arrogant,” she corrected.
The muscles in his face tightened. “You trusted him.” It wasn’t a question, and she had no intention of dodging it.
“Yes.”
Wyatt’s shoulders went rigid. “Why?”
“He was good at what he did,” she said. “He was calm in chaos. His experience was different from mine. For example, he knew fire behavior inside and out.” She cringed. “Great instincts, that’s what one of the professors said. He predicted how a fire would respond when a warehouse blew after a hurricane.”
“And that impressed you.”
“Yes.” She raised her shoulders before they fell. “I didn’t realize someone could look one way and be someone totally different, but yes, I was impressed.”
He turned fully toward her now. “I don’t like that.”
