25. Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Five
ANGIE
It felt good to be only a few hours away from Starlight Bay. I was beyond excited to get there and see Wyatt. Talking to him on the phone earlier wasn’t long enough. My cheeks felt warm as I thought about all the things he said he’d do to me when I got home.
Home. I liked the sound of that.
My phone chimed with a text where it was mounted to my dash. I clicked on the notification and read the messages from Izzy.
Izzy: What the fuck?
Izzy: I’ll help you bury the body.
Izzy: Turn around and come home. Screw that place and that playboy asshole.
What the hell was she talking about? I hit the dial button and turned on the speaker.
“Please tell me you’re on your way back,” she said, skipping any type of greeting.
“Izzy, what are you rambling about now?”
“The picture of Wyatt and a chick in a red dress leaving a restaurant together last night.”
My stomach sank. He said he had a dinner for the donors of the new wing of the hospital. “What picture?”
She sighed. “Let me guess. You haven’t checked Instagram yet today.”
Why was it so hard for people to understand that I didn’t live on social media? Sure, I wasn’t the norm, but I couldn’t believe I was the only one.
“No. Of course I haven’t. And my phone is at 10 percent, so get to the point.”
“Hold on, I’ll screenshot it for you. But you might want to pull over. It’s bad. They look very, um, comfortable with each other.”
Did I even want to see it?
I shook my head. Izzy was probably making it into something more than it was, I was sure of it. I held my breath, but the minute the picture came through, it all came rushing out on a whimper.
Wyatt
“God dammit.” I threw my phone down on my desk and pushed back my chair until it slammed into the wall behind me. “She’s not answering. Why isn’t she answering?” I stood and headed toward the door to my office, but I stopped when Paul stepped into my path.
He was fucking right. Being a nice guy last night blew up in my face. I couldn’t lose Angie. I was so fucking in love with her it killed me to think I might have messed it all up.
“Calm down.” Paul gripped my shoulder. “Relax. You said she doesn’t check Instagram regularly, so she probably hasn’t seen it. When she gets here, you can explain what happened. I can back you up if needed.”
“Then why isn’t she answering?” I brushed his hand away and moved past him. “I have to talk to her.”
“What are you going to do?” A scoff followed his words. “Drive south until you happen upon her?”
“Maybe.” Or better yet… I spun back to him. “Is there a way we can track her phone?”
He rolled his eyes. “You need to take a breath, not go off half-cocked.”
“What if she saw it and decided not to come back?”
His face softened. “I get it. You’re scared of losing her. But I’m just saying you don’t have any information yet. So give it a little bit of time.” He glanced at his watch on his wrist. “What time did she say her eta was last time you spoke?”
I took a calming breath before speaking. “Five o’clock.”
“Good. So, you have less than an hour to wait. Then we’ll know better what’s going on.”
“I can’t lose her. I can’t.” The thought had my stomach in knots. And now I was kicking myself for not telling her I loved her. Because now I wasn’t sure I’d get the chance.
He stepped closer and put his hand back on my shoulder. “You won’t. You’ll explain. Then you’ll grovel. You won’t give up until you make it right.”
I let my shoulders relax and gave him a clipped nod.
The next forty-five minutes moved at the slowest pace ever. Maybe part of it was that any chance I had I was either checking my phone or staring at the front door of the hotel waiting for her to appear.
I was crossing the lobby on my way to my office when the bell above the door chimed. I froze.
Angie.
A heartbeat later I was moving quickly toward her before stopping only inches away, searching her face for any indication she was pissed.
“I need to tell you something,” I blurted. It might be too late, but I needed her to know nothing happened between us. That she was it for me. I had no interest in any other woman.
“Does it have to do with Natalie?”
My body suddenly felt weighted down. She knew. I swallowed and nodded, hoping she’d hear me. Believe me. I would do whatever I needed to in order to fix this. “It’s not what it looks like.”
“Okay.”
I blinked. “Okay?”Nothing in her tone said she wasn’t being genuine. But… “You’re not upset or worried something happened?”
She tilted her head. “Should I be? Because if you tell me nothing happened, I’ll believe you.”
“Nothing happened.” I stepped forward and lifted my hands to cup her face. “I am so in love with you and there’s no one else I will ever want. I have spent the last hour scared to death of losing you.”
She wrapped her arms around my back. “I trust you, Wyatt. All I thought about after I saw that picture was that you weren’t looking at her the way you look at me.” She sent me a shy smile. “You love me?”
“Yes.” I regretted not telling her before she left, and I wasn’t going to make that mistake twice. “I should have told you days ago, but I was worried it was too soon.”
“I love you too.” Nervousness etched her features. “But next time tell me when things like this happen so I can be prepared. Because while I’m not on social media, my sister spends all her time on it and will see that stuff immediately.”
“Noted.” I leaned down and pressed my lips to hers, savoring the moment. Relieved that she trusted me. That she wasn’t holding my past against me.
A throat cleared, breaking apart, and I turned to see Paul standing nearby with an eyebrow raised.
“All good?”
“Yes,” I said on a relieved sigh as I bent to pick up the duffle she’d dropped at her feet. “Come on, baby. Let’s get you upstairs.”
She giggled as I pulled her quickly toward the elevators. Once inside, I asked her, “Why weren’t you picking up your phone if you weren’t mad at me?”
“Sorry. My phone died and my charger was in my bag in the back.”
I wrapped my free arm around her shoulder and pulled her flush into my side, pressing my lips to her temple, finally feeling relaxed for the first time in the last two hours.
Now I needed to convince her to live here with me. I smiled as I thought about exactly how I would do that.