Waiting for Wyatt (Red Dirt #1) (34 page)

He climbed out of the car and extended a hand down to where I was lying on the floor. After a couple of pulls, he had me dislodged from the disgraceful pile of twisted limbs.

He wrapped his arms around me, staring in my eyes as his tried to hold back the laughter. “You okay?”

“Yeah.” I nodded.

He grinned, rubbing his nose down mine until the ends touched.

“I like this before stuff,” he whispered.

“Me too.”

The longer we stared at each other, the more his lips turned serious. “You’re going to be late to your study group.”

“I know,” I whispered.

But we didn’t let go. We held on for another five minutes until I was the first to break contact. I didn’t whisper goodbye. And neither did Wyatt. Sometimes saying goodbye was harder than saying nothing at all.

M
Y EYES GLAZED OVER AS
I stared at the empty bookstore. The last customer had left thirty-seven minutes ago. I knew because I’d watched every tick of the clock on the slow Tuesday afternoon. My thoughts slipped away to Wyatt and my visit yesterday. So many emotions rushed through all at once like a tidal wave from the memories of his confessions and his kisses. I think he was my addiction in more ways than one.

And I loved him. Every day, I loved him a little more than the last—a little more completely and wildly and deeply. And I wanted to do something for him, something for Wyatt, but I wasn’t sure exactly what I could offer that he wouldn’t reject.

My mind toiled over my thoughts. I shifted on the stool by the register, looking around the room. On the shelf in the back, projectors were lined up for student groups to check out for presentations. I smiled as the idea formed in my head.

I crawled off my perch and went in search of my manager. He was a nice guy who wouldn’t mind me borrowing a few things.

I pulled into my apartment complex with my backseat full of everything I needed for my surprise. I just had to run upstairs and change clothes before going out to the kennel. Tonight wasn’t going to be a T-shirt or sweatshirt visit.

After taking a shower, I curled my hair into precise ringlets and coated them with a layer of hairspray. I ran my fingers over the soft waves to make sure they were not sticky. After applying an intricate layer of eye makeup, I covered my lips with a faint coating of clear cinnamon gloss. Looking out the window, I noticed the afternoon sun was going down slowly.

I wanted to get out of here before Blaire came home. We had barely spoken to each other over the last couple of weeks. I hated that our relationship was in such turmoil. We used to have such a deep-rooted connection to each other—one that lacked human explanation. But now even that rarely sparked. The closer I got to Wyatt, the less I felt my twin.

I needed to come up with some sort of plan to fix this with Blaire. I just didn’t know how to communicate with her anymore. We had ridden in silence to our weekly dinners with our parents. Lucky for us, my mom and dad liked to talk. And lucky for me, Blaire had decided not to reveal my relationship with Wyatt.

I wasn’t sure how to explain our situation to them. He wasn’t dangerous. I wasn’t doing something unsafe by being with him. He just was . . . tied up for the moment and lacked the ability to do most of the things my parents would expect from a guy—like, come to their house for dinner and shake my dad’s hand.

I had no idea what kept Blaire silent. Maybe she didn’t hate me as much as I imagined. Or maybe she was waiting for the right moment to drop the brick on my head.

I didn’t even know where she went every day since my sister no longer required me to drive her places. Over the last few weeks, she had skipped her scheduled days to use the car. I had no idea how she got around town.

I let out a deep breath—another problem for another day.

I slipped on a pair of spandex leggings and a deep-purple dress, which fell mid-thigh. I added my short black boots and smiled in the mirror. Sexy yet warm. Digging through my top dresser drawer, I looked at scarves until I found the one with gold embedded sparkles that matched my gloves. Draping it around my neck, I left the ends hanging down next to the scooped neckline of my dress.

Grabbing my keys, I went bouncing down the stairs as I thought about my surprise for Wyatt. I hoped it all came together once I got out there. The excitement sent chills down my back.

“Weeell, look at you, Emma. You’re like some pocket-sized Barbie.”

My feet stilled on the cement by my car, hearing his voice get a little lower with a chuckle. “I sure as hell wouldn’t mind having you down there in my pocket.”

He didn’t really just say that to me. Did he? The words seemed to hang in the air around us. I continued the last few steps to my car. I had my hand on the door handle before I looked up.

“Hey, Kurt, gotta run.”

“Of course you do.” His eyes traveled over my clothes, touching each piece. I couldn’t move. I knew I should get in the car. But the leering glint was so unnerving that I froze as he mentally peeled the dress from my skin. “Guess that guy of yours is waiting for you.”

I nodded quickly and ducked inside the cab. My fingers hit the lock button before I ever put the key in the ignition. I threw the car in reverse. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Kurt walking back to the manager’s office. He picked up a dog crate and carried it inside.

Oh no.
He got another one.

My hands shook on the steering wheel as I drove out of the parking lot. I couldn’t tell Wyatt anything about Kurt. It might just push him over the edge into some meltdown. He would want to drive over there and do something about it. But yet, he couldn’t go any farther than a precise radius from the trailer.

And I couldn’t tell Blaire. Even if we were still talking, my sister would freak out. I couldn’t tell anyone. And what was there really to tell?

So this Kurt guy said he wanted to stick you down in his pocket. Did he touch you? No. Did he actually try to stick any part of your body down in his pocket? No. So he really didn’t do anything to you? No.

I let out a heavy breath, trying to shake the rattled thoughts. Kurt didn’t really do anything to me. Not really. It was just Kurt being Kurt—airing his colorful thoughts. But I knew something he would actually touch, and it was in that crate. I had no idea what I was going to do about his new dog.

My excitement had dimmed some after my run-in with Kurt, but the long drive helped settle my nerves. Wyatt came out of the trailer as my headlights touched the windows. And I forgot about everything in the outside world as his smile melted my heart.

“I didn’t think you were coming tonight.”

I got out of the front seat and walked slowly to him. “Well, the bookstore was boring so my boss let me off early for date night.”

“Date night?”

“Yep.”

“Hmm. I like date night if that means you look like that.” Wyatt gave me a sweet kiss, lifting me up from the ground. I wrapped my legs around his waist. Letting go of my lips, he whispered, “You are so beautiful.”

My arms held on tight around his neck as I got sucked into the heated gaze from Wyatt’s eyes. He kissed me again and then smiled. “So what is date night exactly?”

“I brought you something. And before you say anything, it’s not a present that stays. And you have to help me set it up.”

“A riddle.” He chuckled, setting me back down on the ground.

“Come on. It’s all in the backseat.” Lacing his fingers between mine, I pulled Wyatt over to the car.

“The backseat?” He grinned. “You do like that backseat. Or maybe it was the floorboard.”

“Stop it.” I swatted his arm. I opened the door and pulled out the projector. “Carry this and don’t drop it. I don’t want to know how much that costs to replace.”

“What is this?” He held the bulky box in his arms.

I grabbed my laptop bag, slinging it over my shoulder. Picking up the extension cord, I stacked the orange wad on top of the projector and lifted the giant speaker to carry myself. “Let’s go. I’ll come back for the extra-special part. I know it wasn’t your
favorite
part, but it’s mine. And I couldn’t stop thinking about it after yesterday.”

Wyatt’s face glazed over for a minute. I guess my surprise had finally made sense. I waited for him to process the thoughts.

“You okay?”

He nodded, holding my gaze. “So . . . um . . . I guess you brought the movies to me.”

“Yeah. And this is a subwoofer. Not sure it will make you shake, but it should be loud. We need to get this set up before it gets pitch black out here.” I started walking toward the back side of the kennel and he followed slowly behind me.

We ran the large cord from inside the building. Wyatt took the coffee table from the trailer for the projector, and I hooked up my laptop with the speaker. He pulled out some old blankets and pillows to put on the ground while I got the popcorn out of my car. Not just any popcorn, but actual buckets from the movie theater in town. They had even given me a few containers of butter to warm in the microwave.

I went inside the kennel and pulled Charlie out of his pen. He got in a few good licks to my face as I carried him outside to the blanket.

Wyatt was sitting there, staring at the bucket of popcorn that was dripping in butter. “Are you not going to eat any of it?”

“Oh,” he muttered, looking up at me. “I was just um . . . waiting for you, Emma.”

“Okay, well, you don’t have to wait on me.” I put Charlie down on the blanket and he cuddled up next to Wyatt’s leg. He absently ran his fingers over the little dog’s fur. “You get to pick. I’ve got several movies loaded on the laptop.”

“What are my choices?”

“
The Godfather.
” I let out a faint laugh, seeing his eyes roll. “And I saw that you had some Michael Crichton books on your shelf. So I have the classic
Jurassic Park
movie. Have you seen it?”

“No.”

“And I have a couple of Stephen King
thrill-ers
.” I let my voice get a little crazed on the end, which made him smile. “Let’s see. I have
The Mist
,
Carrie
, and
The Shining
.”

“Holy shit. You want to watch
The Shining
?”

“Have you seen it?” I crawled down on the blanket next to him, making sure my dress was smoothed down.