The Baby Arrangement (A Winston Brother's Novel #1)

by J. L. Beck

  Max turns to Kat and visibly pales. Reaching out, he pulls her into his chest, wrapping his arms around her. She's stiff and not hugging him back, so he bends to murmur apologies in her ear. Slowly, she relaxes and slides her arms around his middle, hugging him back. Max pulls away and tilts her chin up so she's looking at him. Moving his hands to her cheeks, he starts brushing away the tears that have begun to fall, looking close to tears himself.

  "Shit Kat, don't cry. I know I'm a fucking asshole, but please, please stop crying. I can't handle it." Kat continues to sniffle, but she's letting Max comfort her now. Shooting him a glare that says "mess with my roommate any more and I'll stab you with a spork" I leave to give them some privacy after letting Kat know we're going upstairs. She nods, her head buried back in Max's chest.

  Once we're back in my dorm, Scarlett rushes over to hug me, squeezing me tight. "Ohmigosh Pey! The way you stuck up for Kat was awesome! I'm so proud of you!" Patting her awkwardly on the back, I tell her thanks. I'm really not much for hugging, and the hero worship look she's giving me is making me extremely embarrassed. Thankfully, Scarlett and Annabelle don't stick around for very long before heading back down to their room, leaving me to work on my math homework while waiting for Kat to come up.

  I'm sitting at my desk going over the Math assignment we were given today, and I don't understand any of it. I've been searching for YouTube videos on how to do these problems but haven't had any luck.. I'm ready to throw the book, my scrap paper and my laptop at the wall and give up. That's when Kat walks in followed by Max, Clay and of course, Wyatt. I'm still pretty pissed at Max over the way he treated Kat on Saturday night. She may have forgiven him right away, but the way he talked to her reminded me of my ex and my mom.

  Kat, oblivious to the glare I'm giving her crush, tilts her head to the side to study me. "You okay Peyton?"

  "Yeah," I tell her while pulling my hair into a messy ponytail. "I'm just ready to pull my hair out over these stupid math problems. I don't understand them."

  Clay starts laughing, "Did you hear the one about the blonde and -"

  I cut him off with a glare, "No blonde jokes asshat."

  "I'm sorry! Really. It's just, you're blonde and having trouble with math. That's just too tempting to leave alone." Clay says holding up both hands in surrender, even while he and Max are both laughing. Well, laughing until Wyatt smacks each of them in the back of the head.

  With a huff, I turn back around to search for more videos. It's driving me crazy. Math is the only subject I really struggle with, and it's one I need to know. While I'm obsessing over math videos, Kat is discussing plans with Clay and Max. She said this morning that they were hanging out tonight, but she didn't mention that Wyatt would be with them. I don't know what made me think he'd tell me about his plans after our day at the go-kart track almost two weeks ago, it's not like he owes me anything. We're just friends. Maybe if I repeat that to myself enough times, I'll start to believe it.

  It's not like we haven't spent any time together since the go-karts. I see him three times a week in class, plus our little group is always together. Struggling to concentrate on my most recent attempt at video tutoring, I'm chewing on the lid of my pen sub-consciously when it's suddenly pulled away from me. Startled, my head whips to the side where Wyatt is spinning my pen between his long fingers while he studies me.

  "What?" The way he's looking at me makes me nervous and self-conscious, unsure about what he's going to say.

  Wyatt leans forward, brushing the hair that's fallen into my eyes back behind my ear, "Still having trouble?" His voice is gentle, probably because the last time we talked about my math problems - no pun intended - I practically bit his head off. I like being able to do things myself, and I don't want to rely on him, or anyone else, for anything.

  With an exasperated laugh, I nod, "I just don't understand it! I've been searching out videos like you told me, but I still don't get it. Algebra is just too damn confusing. And, it's pointless! When am I ever going to have to solve for x in real life?"

  He laughs, "You're cute when you're frustrated. Did you know that?" I feel my face heat up at his words. He's not supposed to think I'm cute. I'm trying not to be attracted to him.

  Pulling away from him, I go back to my computer. Wyatt's irritated groan grabs my attention, and I drag my lower lip between my teeth, not sure what I should say, or if I should even say anything. Deciding to pretend his words didn't affect me, I reach for my ear buds, intent on putting them in and pretending I'm still alone. Wyatt grabs them from me, turns to the other three, and says, "Do you think you guys could hang out in Max's dorm or something? I'm going to help Peyton with her homework."

  Grinning, Kat nods before winking at me and grabbing Max by the arm. "Sure! C'mon Max, let's go to your room."

  Max and Clay both groan and Max says, "I don't want to hang out in my room. My roommate sucks and he probably has a girl in there."

  "Damn little bro, you're the only guy I know who'd complain about getting to watch live porn!" Clay looks at us and winks, but Max either doesn't notice or just plain ignores it and shoves him out the door while shouting expletives at him. Kat grins at me once more before closing the door behind them, leaving me alone in my room with Wyatt.

  After Wyatt spends 45 minutes explaining this week's lesson, I finally understand how to do the problems. Once I finish them all, he checks my work and shows me where I'm still making sign errors before we call it a night.

  "Thanks for helping me Wyatt. You didn't have to do that, and I really appreciate it." I want to be the snarky girl, but being rude to him would make me no better than my mom.

  Wyatt shrugs off my thanks, saying, "You don't have to thank me, I like spending time with you Pey." I can't think of anything to say in response to that, so I stay silent. Dragging his hand through his messy hair, Wyatt looks deep in thought before he says, "You know, if you need a tutor, I'd be glad to help you. It's easy for me, and we could maybe hang out afterwards sometimes."

  "Um," I start, trying to think of a way to say no without hurting his feelings. Him being my tutor would not end well, especially since I'm trying to keep my distance from him.

  Seeing that I'm about to turn him down, Wyatt holds out a hand to silence me. "Before you say no, I'm not offering to tutor you in exchange for dates. If it makes you feel better, you can even pay me to tutor you. Math is something I'm good at, and it's something you struggle with. We're friends right?" The way he's staring at me makes it impossible for me to disagree with him. He knows things that no one else knows about my family, and I guess that does make us kinda friends.

  "I offered to tutor you before and you turned me down, saying you'd eventually get it on your own, but you still don't get it, do you?" He doesn't wait for me to answer before continuing, "Just try it. Let me tutor you for a month or so, and give me the chance to prove that I can help you and that I'm not just trying to get in your pants. If you still don't want me to, I'll stop and we won't mention it again."

  Wyatt makes a lot of sense, but I'm still not sure I can handle being alone with him for long periods of time without jumping him. We've been in here alone for just over an hour now, and I'm having trouble thinking about anything other than the way his lips felt that night at Drench when he kissed me.

  Being alone seems to turn up the magnetic field between us; we get closer and closer the longer we're together. Every time his leg brushes mine or our hands accidentally touch an electric current passes through my body. I don't realize I'm chewing on my bottom lip until Wyatt uses his thumb to pull it out from between my teeth. My gaze flies up to meet his and he's looking at me tenderly. "You're going to hurt yourself. Stop thinking so hard, Peyton." He lowers his voice, leaning closer so that I can feel his breath against my ear, "I'm not going to hurt you, I just want to spend time with you. I want to get to know you, and let you get to know me."

  The combination of his words and the feel of his breath against my neck causes my own to quicken. Wy
att pulls back to look into my eyes and whatever he sees in mine causes his to darken and his own breath to speed up. We continue to sit, each studying the other until the tension in the room is so thick it almost hurts to breathe.

  Finally, he brings his hand up to stroke my cheek before sliding his hand down and around to the back of my neck. Wyatt pulls me forward until our mouths are almost touching before he stops, holding me there. I'm close enough that I can smell the Altoids he constantly has in his mouth. The minty scent mixes with his cologne to create a mixture that's uniquely him.

  He still doesn't kiss me, just keeps his hand firmly on the back of my neck to keep me in place while he searches my eyes. I don't know what he's looking for but I feel like he's seeing everything I try to keep hidden, including how attracted to him I am. After a beat, he leans forward, kissing the corner of my mouth before releasing me. My breath is still coming fast, and so is his, when he drops his hand from my neck.

  Our eyes are still locked when the door to my dorm opens and Kat, Max and Clay walk back in. Kat's laughing at something one of them said, but they all stop short to stare at us. The tension in the room must be obvious to them too because Kat suddenly looks uncomfortable, while Clay's grin widens as he looks between us. Wyatt clears his throat, shakes his head and stands up.

  He holds out a hand, "Can I see your phone?"

  Dumbly, I pull it out of my pocket and hand it to him. My brain is still mush so I don't notice him dialing until the phone in his pocket starts to ring. Confused, I frown up at him but he just grins and continues to press buttons on my phone before he hands it back.

  "There," he says. "Now you've got my number and I have yours so we can set up tutoring times." Placing a quick kiss on the top of my head, he walks over to his friends, tells Kat goodnight and all the guys leave. The click of the door shutting finally brings me out of my trance, and I look down at my phone to see the name he saved his number under - Prince Charming. I can't help but laugh, especially when I realize that the shirt I'm wearing says "Prince Charming is hard to find".

  So what do you want to do tonight?" Scarlett asks as everyone files out of Music Theory.

  I shrug, "Nothing really. I'm supposed to meet up with Wyatt for tutoring this evening, but I'm free until then. Why?"

  "I was hoping we could go check out a club someone told me about the other day." She's pouting, but I really do need to study.

  "Sorry Scar, I have a big Algebra test tomorrow and if I fail, Wyatt's promised he'll come up with something really horrible for me to do as punishment. Since I don't like punishment, and I'm terrified of what he might come up with, I'm going to make sure I pass... even if I have to offer sexual favors to the teacher."

  Scarlett brightens at that thought, "Ooh, you know what? I read a book about that the other day --" I quickly cut her off. Those kinds of thoughts are the last ones I need before going to meet Wyatt tonight.

  "Uh-uh, just stop right there!" I order. "You need new reading material!"

  Realizing what's going through my mind, Scarlett doubles over in laughter, "Oh. My. God! You should totally see your face right now! I didn't know you were such a dirty girl!"

  "Shut it," I snap. "We so don't need to have this conversation."

  Scarlett continues to snicker while we head back to the dorms to meet up with Annabelle and Kat for dinner.

  Dinner is basically just a "pick on Peyton about Wyatt" event, leaving me extremely agitated by the time Scarlett drops me off at the gym to meet Wyatt. His practice should have been over twenty minutes ago, but I don't see him or any of the other players hanging around outside either. Right now, I've only got two choices, either sit out here alone while it gets dark, or go inside and wait for Wyatt to be finished. Honestly, I'm not sure which is the more dangerous option. If I stay outside, I'm in the dark and by myself which means anything could happen. If I go inside to watch the rest of practice, I'm going to see Wyatt in a basketball uniform, or at least shorts and a t-shirt, sweaty. It also means I'll be seeing his muscles work which will just make him even harder to resist.

  It doesn't take long for me to realize that staying outside isn't a good option. It's still winter, and at 7pm, it's completely dark outside. The longer I sit on this bench, the colder and more freaked out I get. Soon, I am jumping at every little sound and telling myself that someone is watching me. Hurrying inside I realize I was only really outside for about five minutes. Yeah, I'm Peyton the badass alright. Taking a seat on a bleacher as far away from the guys practicing as I can, I decide to enjoy this little bit of sweaty-guy watching. I mean, they're basketball players, so they are all tall, toned, and sexy, even with the sweat rolling down their bodies and their hair matted to their heads.

  The guys are all standing single file, taking turns throwing the ball at the hoop, well "shooting" the ball... I think that's what it's called. I'm not up on my "basketball lingo", I've never needed to know anything about it. Each guy throws the ball ten times before moving to the back of the line. The majority of the guys get six or seven shots in out of ten, but when it's Wyatt's turn, he only misses once! Like an idiot, I stand up and yell, "Go Wyatt!" His head snaps up to look for me, and when he finds me on the far side of the gym he smiles, happy that I'm watching him. They continue to cycle through, and on Wyatt's next turn up, he only gets four out of ten. He's obviously angry about it because he throws the ball to the next person in line hard, knocking the breath out of him for a second. The coach says something to him as he walks past him, but Wyatt just shakes his head as he runs a hand through his hair.

  Wyatt doesn't get another chance to throw because the coach blows his whistle and tells the team to line up for what he calls "suicides". This consists of the guys running up and down the court, stopping first a quarter of the way down the court, then halfway, then three quarters, then to the other side of the court. They go through this weird sequence three more times with Wyatt easily pulling in front of the rest of the team. I didn't realize he was so fast, but then, I've never watched him practice or run so why would I?

  At the end, the coach blows his whistle again, saying, "Bring it in boys!" The guys form a circle around him and he talks for a few minutes before everyone puts a hand in and they shout something before breaking apart to head to the locker room. Instead of following everyone else, Wyatt jogs over to me.

  "Hey Pey," he pants. "I need to go take a shower, but I'll be ready to go after that okay?" Then, he pulls up the bottom of his t-shirt, and uses it to wipe the sweat off his face before deciding to remove it completely. Wyatt's definitely man candy and I'm immediately jealous of anyone who's ever gotten to touch him. He's got one of those bodies that's toned, but doesn't look like he's been doing steroids for years. He has broad shoulders, pecs that beg to have a girls hands run over them, and a six pack that features a happy trail that disappears into the shorts that hang low on his hips.

  And now I have the image of Wyatt, naked, in the shower. He's standing in front of me dripping with sweat which doesn't help that mental image. I start to tell him I'll wait, but my voice sounds rusty, like I haven't used it for a while and I have to clear it before I can continue.

  Wyatt grins, loving my discomfort. "Ten minutes, okay?"

  To avoid more embarrassment, I just nod and he jogs back towards the locker room. He doesn't get far before the coach yells his name and he slows to a walk to allow him to catch up to him. The coach puts a hand on Wyatt's shoulder and says something to him, causing Wyatt to grimace before answering him. Patting him on the shoulder once, the coach says something else before letting him go into the locker room.

  When Wyatt finally comes back out, he's wearing a pair of dark jeans, a gray hoodie and a pair of black Converse sneakers with his backpack slung over one shoulder. "Ready to go?" he asks as he reaches down to grab my bag before holding out a hand to help me down from the bleachers.

  "Yeah, I guess so. Where are we going?" After seeing him practice, the last thing I want is to be alone with him somewhere
, and I definitely don't want him in my dorm room. There won't be any way to keep my distance if we go there.

  "I figured we'd just go to the library since it's only a few buildings down from here. Then you won't have to move your car. We can just walk down."

  I sigh in relief, causing Wyatt to shoot me a quick, confused look before shaking his head. He slows his walk so that he can stay beside me while he asks me questions about my day. He always does this, wants to know everything that happened since he last saw me, and it warms me just as much as it disturbs me. I've been trying so hard to keep him at arms length, but he just won't give up, no matter how hateful I am towards him. Now that he's tutoring me, I really can't be mean to him either, because he could tell me the wrong thing and make things even harder on me. Not that I think he would really do that, but the option is there.

  It takes only a few minutes to reach the library, and I've never been so grateful to walk inside as I am right now. Once we enter all his focus will be on Math instead of on me, which is definitely a good thing. He reaches the door first, and opening it he places his hand on my lower back to lead me in. My jacket isn't very thick and the warmth from his hand warms my entire body. God, I'm turning into such a girl!

  He continues to make small talk as we walk up the stairs to the main library floor. Downstairs is mostly meeting rooms and small study cubicles, which are meant for one person only. He always chooses a table that's far away from everyone else, like he's afraid my attention is going to be anywhere but on him. Like that's even possible, especially when he pulls off his hoodie. He pulls it off by doing theta very guy thing of grasping the back and pulling it up and over his head causing his royal blue t-shirt to ride up exposing his abs. Holy six-pack! He's perfectly toned thanks to basketball and I'm pretty sure I'm drooling at seeing the sight again so soon after the gym.