Page 54

“Do you want to scold me or do you want to come in?”

“You just told me where the damn key is, baby,” he says, looking up and meeting my eyes through the window as he fights back a grin that makes a shiver run down my spine. Good Lord, I always thought Wyatt was the cutest boy I’d ever met but now… he is all man and he can reduce me to a puddle with just a simple look. “Do you really think you could stop me?”

I roll my eyes. “Just get up here.”

“Yes, ma’am.” His grin makes my heart melt and I blink, fighting back tears again. God, I missed that man so much these past ten years and it’s a wonder how I ever survived. Now that he’s back in my life, or sort of back, I don’t know how I ever went one day without him. But the bigger problem is, I don’t know how to keep resisting him. I watch him as he walks up to the front door and peels the key from under the mailbox before I turn back to the bed and hang up, tossing my phone on the bedside table. As I climb on the mattress and pull the blankets around me, I hear the front door open and my heart kicks in my chest.

I’m so stupid.

I’ve known him for twenty damn years and I still get butterflies in my belly at the thought of seeing him. Just the sound of his name is enough to have me fighting back a grin and when he steps in close to me, my heart beats a little bit faster. Shaking my head, I close my eyes. I seriously need to get ahold of myself if I’m going to face him. I still don’t know which way I’m going to go when he asks the inevitable question - keep my secrets or tell him everything - but either way, I’ll need all the strength I can muster. When I open them again, he’s standing in the doorway, his brow arched as he grins down at me.

“Nice shirt.”

I glance down and nod as I meet his gaze again. “Yeah. It is.”

“I like the little trail you left for me,” he says and I scowl.

“Huh?”

He motions over his shoulder. “The clothes leading up to your bedroom.”

“Oh. That.”

“You okay?” he asks again, tilting his head slightly as he studies me. The genuine concern filling his eyes kills me. If I tell him the truth… he may never look at me like that again. I nod as my lip trembles.

Shit.

“I’m fine.”

“No,” he whispers, taking another step into the room. “You’re not.”

Biting the inside of my cheek, I rip my eyes from him. “Stop acting like you still know me, Wyatt. It’s been ten years.”

“And whose fault is that?” he growls and I shake my head as my heart sinks. I look up at him and hope he can see how truly sorry I am for the state of our relationship. Not that it really matters at this point, I suppose. We are where we are and we can’t go back.

“I wasn’t trying to pass off any blame. We’re not together now because of me, I know that.”

“Yeah, about that…” He steps further into the room and shoves his hands in his pockets. “You ready to talk?”

“No.”

He shrugs. “Do it anyway.”

“Stop telling me what to do,” I snap, ripping the covers up my body as I cross my arms over my chest and scowl at him. He shakes his head.

“No.”

“You’re so fucking stubborn.”

He barks out a laugh. “Me? Are you serious?”

“Yes, you.” I narrow my eyes and he laughs again. The sound sends heat radiating through my chest and I fight back a smile. Wyatt’s laugh was always one of my favorite sounds and I used to do the silliest things just to hear it or see him smile at me.

“Did you just tell me to come up here so you could fight with me?”

I’m about to tell him that is exactly why I let him come in but I stop myself as I let out a sigh, Eden’s words from dinner run through my mind and I bite my lip as I go over my options. As much as I hate it, it is time to decide for good. Am I going to continue pushing him away and spend the rest of my life with my secrets or can I really let him in again? Finally, I shake my head. “No. That’s not why.”

“Then why?”