He needed a distraction or he was going to drive himself crazy. He grabbed the remote and switched on the small TV sitting on the dresser. A football game was getting underway. The Lightning was playing again. It took him back to sitting beside her in The Lucky Coin and how her hair had grazed his arm. He watched as the opposing team scored a touchdown. He hit the off button. It was no use. He couldn't stay away. He needed to talk to her.
Chapter Fourteen
Aly
Her hands were shaking. She pulled the phone from her pocket and pressed Mitchell’s number. She held it while it rang. Her eyes narrowed when she got his voicemail.
“Mitchell, hey it’s me. Hope you’re having a good day. I haven’t heard from you.” She sighed and closed her eyes. It all sounded pathetic and ridiculous. “Ok, just call me.”
She threw the phone on the counter. She wanted to hear his voice. She wanted him to reassure her that he was thinking about her at that very moment. She pulled out the wedding magazine she had stashed under the desk and furiously began to flip through the pages. She folded the corner of the page on a dress she had debated. This was the one.
She picked up her phone and called the name of the boutique listed under the designer.
“Hi, this is Aly Phillips. I’d like to schedule an appointment.” She waited while the woman on the other end of the call listed the possible dates and times.
“Ok. Tomorrow would be perfect. Yes.” She scribbled down the time. “Thank you. I’ll see you then.”
She hung up the phone. Tomorrow afternoon she would be sipping champagne and trying on wedding dresses. She exhaled. It was exactly what she needed to be doing. Focusing on her wedding and her future husband, not sultry kisses by the hot springs with a practical stranger. She was going to be Mitchell’s bride. Mitchell’s wife. There would be no more flirting with other men. Even when the other man made her feels things in her gut that were hard to ignore. She shook her head. She had to stop.
She tugged on the magazine page and folded the picture of the dress into a square and tucked it into her pocket. She would make sure they pulled this one from the rack first.
The kiss had been wrong. She let things go too far. Wyatt was leaving and until then, she’d keep her distance.
Wyatt
He expected to see Aly behind the front desk when he walked downstairs, but the lobby was quiet. After their hike she hadn’t spoken a word. The entire drive home she had driven in silence.
He wondered if she had wandered to the Lucky Coin for dinner. It was dark, but the sign wasn’t on the desk for the evening. He walked behind the reservation table.
There was a light on in the office behind the desk. He tapped the door open with his foot. On the other side of the room was another door marked Private.
“Aly?” he called.
His hand gripped the knob.
“What are you doing?” He heard her voice behind him.
He pivoted. She was standing in the office doorway.
“Looking for you.” He released the doorknob.
“I was doing some inventory on the second floor.” She tossed a clipboard on the desk and crossed her arms to her chest. “Do you need something? Extra towels?”
“No. I wanted to check on you.”
“Why? I’m fine.”
“I know I’ve been away from women for awhile, but I know what ‘fine’ means. And a woman who doesn’t talk for thirty minutes in the car is not fine.” He watched as she shuffled papers. He looked around the office. The walls were a faded butter yellow with curling floral wallpaper that bordered the white crown molding. Her large oak desk was obviously an antique and had been kept in pristine condition. It’s light finish shone under the glow of a metal desk lamp that sat on top of a stack of manilla folders and loose papers. The white bookshelves beside the desk held accounting books, nature catalogs and various knicknacks. He moved to take a closer look at the gold picture frames that sat on top of one the shelves. There was a picture of a young girl standing in between a man and a woman. The three of them were smiling. They looked so happy, it made him smile. Her voice brought him back.
“I was tired from the hike.”
He walked toward her. “There’s not more to it?”
“No.” She wouldn’t look up. “I won’t be able to take you to the dam tomorrow.”
“Why not?”
“I have a wedding dress appointment.”
He felt the knife press against his lungs. “You can’t be serious.”
Her eyes shot to his. “I’m getting married. I need a dress.”
The thought of her in a white dress walking down the aisle towards another man was enough to make his blood boil.
He didn’t mean to startle her, but he felt his sudden desperation bubble over. Wyatt gripped her wrist. “Don’t do that.”
“Hey.” She tried to wriggle from his grasp.
“Are you going to act like what happened between us at the hot springs isn’t a part of you now?”
“It was a mistake.” She glared at him.
“No, it wasn’t.”
“Then what was it?”
“You and I both know exactly what it was.” He pulled his hand from her wrist, feeling the air slip between them. “It was magic.”
He turned and walked out of the office.
Chapter Fifteen
Aly
“Please pick up, Mitchell.” She held the phone in a tight grip. She huffed when she got his voicemail again.
She could feel it slipping away. The control she had. The resistance. The wall of her brain that kept her on the side of right.
“Damn it,” she muttered.
She plugged her phone into the charger next to her bed. It was close to midnight. She had spent the majority of the night making a spreadsheet for the wedding. She had three dates picked out for Mitchell to choose from. She knew if she narrowed down all the choices for him it would make things easier on him.
She walked to the bathroom and picked up her toothbrush. She brushed her teeth and turned off the light.
“Shit,” she whispered. She hadn’t turned on the timer for the coffee pot for the continental breakfast.
She debated whether it was even worth it, but she had seen Wyatt drinking coffee this morning. He was the inn’s only guest, but she shouldn’t deprive him of coffee just because she was no longer speaking to him. She opened the office door and walked into the lobby.
She had left a lamp on next to the foyer door, but the rest of the lobby was dark. She remembered when she was a little girl how she would sneak out at night to run to the kitchen for extra cookies. Those were the days when sneaking was a necessity. The inn had been full of guests.
Aly pushed through the kitchen door and turned on the light. She grabbed the canister of coffee and filters. Five minutes later she turned off the light and walked out of the kitchen. As soon as she pushed through the door, she bumped into a solid mass of wall.
“Ow,” she yelped.
She looked up. Her body seized with adrenaline. It coursed through her in fiery bolts. Wyatt stood in front of her. His chest was bare.
“Wh-what are you doing down here?” She couldn’t stop staring. There were lines and ridges along his torso.
“I heard something. I thought someone had broken in.”
She noticed he was holding a knife in his hand.
“You heard something from the fourth floor?” She looked at him for an answer, but his eyes weren’t on hers, they had dipped between her breasts. She took a giant breath, feeling her skin heat under his gaze.
She hadn’t bothered to grab a robe. Mistake one. She swallowed hard, knowing his eyes were raking over her curves. His eyes were now on her bare left hand. She had taken her ring off when she showered, and had forgotten to put it back on. Mistake two.
“You’re ok?” he asked, his voice low and husky.
She nodded. She had to get back to her room. “Do you usually keep that knife on you?” The blade was long and thick.
“I didn’t want to take a chance. It was instinct to grab it. I wanted to make sure you were ok. It was all I could think about.”
She didn’t know what made him tick. Every time she thought she peeled back a layer, it was covered by another one. How could he be so protective, yet feel so dangerous?
“Thanks for taking on the burglar, but everything’s fine. I wanted to get the coffee ready for you in the morning.”
She took a step to move around him, but as soon as she inched closer, his hand slid to her waist.
Her eyes flashed upward. “What are you doing?”
But Wyatt didn’t answer. His mouth descended on hers and he wrapped his arms around her, dropping the blade to the floor with a thud. His lips tugged and sucked at the corners of her lips. She parted as his tongue slipped inside.
She groaned as his hands coasted over her hips. His tongue thrust deeper and she pulled against his neck, needing him, wanting him.
“Wyatt,” she whispered.
His hands moved to her legs and he swept her off the floor, bringing her body against his chest.
“Your room or mine?” he asked, his lips barely leaving hers.
“Mine,” she whispered.
He carried her along the corridor and through the lobby. She held onto his neck staring at the lines of his jaw. He nudged open the office door with his knee and then pushed through her bedroom door.
The TV was the only light. He kicked the door behind him, before laying her on the bed. He crawled toward her, pinning her under him.
His lips were urgent as he kissed her throat, moving to her shoulder. She felt the room spinning out of control. Every time he touched her it was as if she was pulled to him more. Each kiss seared into her skin.
Her eyes floated open and she saw the glimmer of her ring next to the bed.
“Wait, wait.” She breathed.
“What’s wrong?” he asked through kisses.
She pulled herself off the mattress. “I’m not a cheater. I’m not doing this.”
“I know you’re not.” He tipped her chin toward him. “You don’t belong to him, Aly.”
She looked in his eyes and knew it was true. “I said I would marry him. I said yes.”
She felt the sudden need to explain all the reasons she wanted to marry Mitchell, but she couldn’t think of anything other than the wedding. And a wedding wasn’t a reason to spend the rest of her life with a man who didn’t return her calls.
“Do you feel this when you kiss him?” Wyatt’s lips raked over hers. His tongue dipped in her mouth. The fire rushed through her veins.
She shook her head. “No.”
“Does it feel like this when he touches you?” His hand lifted the hem of her silk shirt, dragging the roughness of his palm over her flesh. He cupped her breast and she sighed. He pinched her nipple between his finger and thumb, rolling it back and forth.
“Ohh,” she moaned. Her head rocked back.
“Does it?” he urged.
“No,” she whispered. She could feel the tight spring in her core winding with each roll of her nipple in his grasp.
He bent toward her ear, his breath hot along her spine. “And when he fucks you, do you scream?” His hand slipped between her legs, shoving her damp panties to the side so his fingers could run between her wet folds.
“Ohh,” she moaned, her hips bucking as he danced his fingertips against her bud.
“Do you?” he growled.
Her eyes opened and she looked at Wyatt. “He’s never…we’ve never…”
He sat back on his heels “What?” He pulled his hand from between her legs and rested it on her thigh. She felt an ache where his fingers had stroked her.
“He didn’t take you to bed?”
Aly didn’t know how to interpret the look on his face. “We just haven’t.”
“I thought the man was a fucking idiot before, but now I know he is.”
Aly thought about all the nights she had wanted Mitchell to make a move. She had worn silk nightgowns like this one. She had lit candles. She had played his favorite music and bought his favorite beer. But it always ended the same way. He was too tired. He said once they got married they could focus on a healthy sex life, but right now he needed the right amount of rest. His constant rejection of her body had eaten away at her self-confidence.
“It wasn’t like that,” she explained. But how could she explain it.
Wyatt’s hands cupped her face. “God, do you know how much I want you? How much I’ve wanted you since I laid eyes on you?” She thought she heard his heart beating loudly from inside his chest. “You deserve more, Aly. You should be kissed and loved.” His thumb ran over her lip. “And you should be fucked and worshipped.”
She felt the quivers run over her spine. Oh God. The tightening wound harder in her core.
He kissed behind her ear. “I want you.” He kissed along her throat, his hands moving over her body. He slid the strap off her nightgown, pushing the fabric until her nipple was exposed. “I want to taste and suck every inch of you.” He lowered his head, pulling her in his mouth.
She groaned as his tongue swirled over her nipple. He bit against the flesh and she pressed the back of his head tighter to her chest.
He pulled back, planting a kiss on her lips.
“Because you were meant to be mine.” His hand moved between her legs.
She nodded, her legs opening for him. He was speaking the truth again. She could feel it in her blood, in her soul. Something under her skin was pulling her toward him.
“God, I want you,” he growled. His fingers plunged inside her and she reached for his shoulders, feeling the firm muscles flex under her hands. “But I don’t want anything between us. Or anyone.”
He pulled her panties back in place and slid the strap back on her shoulder. The heat was coursing through her. The tightening in her core was about to spill open, but he had taken his hands off of her.
“What?” She knew she was panting. Everything was hot and wet between her legs. Her nipples were straining against the silk. Her lips were burning from his rough kisses. She wanted to feel the rippled planes of his torso. She wanted to memorize the way his muscles met on his back. She wanted to explore every part of him with her mouth. God, she’d never wanted any of those things like she did right now.
He stood from the bed.
“When I take you, you’ll be mine, Aly. No other ring. No dress waiting for you to wear for another man. No date on the calendar that says you’ll be some other man’s wife. You’ll be mine.”
His giant chest heaved as if he was struggling to get the words out.
She nodded in understanding, despite the blazing flames racing through her body. He was right. And she was the only one who could make it happen.
She watched as he closed the door behind him, and she collapsed on the bed.
Chapter Sixteen
Wyatt
He barely made it to the reception desk. He had to force his legs to keep moving. His head was spinning out of control. Wyatt staggered to the elevator. He had done the right thing. The only thing he could do. He couldn’t make Aly his while she was still engaged.
It didn’t matter what an asshole the guy was. It didn’t matter he hadn’t bothered to call or, or that he seemed too busy to give her five seconds of his time. The sooner she booted that dick to the curb, the sooner Wyatt could give her everything she deserved.
The elevator doors closed behind him.
He opened his room and threw himself on the bed. His body was still warm from her touch. He could smell her on him. It was enough to make him want to run down four flights of stairs again, but he had to resist one more night.
He knew she felt what he did. He pulled the sheet to his chest, waiting for sleep to finally hit him.
There was smoke and darkness. Wyatt coughed, trying to clear his lungs. He called out for his team, but his ears were still ringing from the explosion. He pushed around in the dark, his hands la
nding on concrete. A wire burned his shoulder. He whipped around to pull it off his skin, hearing it crackle in the air.
He called out again, but the smoke invaded his throat. He clutched at his throat, but it pulled him under, the flames rising around him. He tried to stay calm. All the training he had endured should have prepared him for anything. He forced himself to keep looking, keep searching for his team. But he couldn't see them. They were nowhere to be found.
“Hey, hey. It’s me.”
He felt the cool touch of smooth skin. He opened his eyes. Aly was sitting next to him on the bed. He jumped forward, feeling the sweat trickle over his chest.
“What are you doing in here?” he asked.
“You were screaming. I-I couldn’t sleep and was checking the rooms up here...” She trailed off. Her eyes were filled with worry. “Are you ok?”
He pushed the sheet off his legs and planted his feet next to the bed. Her hand swept over his shoulder. “Wyatt, are you ok?” She asked again.
He shook his head and stood from the bed. It had felt real. The smoke still burned his nose and his skin seared from the wild wire. He reached to feel where it had scorched him.
“Wyatt?”
He had forgotten Aly was in the room. He looked at her. That sheer gown clinging to her curves. The look of anguish in her eyes.
“I’m fine.”
“You didn’t sound fine,” she whispered.
He walked to the mini bar and poured a straight glass of bourbon. “You shouldn’t have come up here.”
“Would you rather I stand outside your door and listen to you scream?”
He turned on his heels. “I was that loud?” He forced down the panic that was rising in his throat. No one knew about his nightmares. He had never shared this part of himself before. But she was here now. She was someone he trusted with his life.
She nodded. “What happened to you over there?”
“I don’t talk about it.” He slung the drink back, feeling the liquor burn his insides.
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