6. Wyatt
WYATT
When you’re bare-ass naked and you hear a shriek that sounds like it came from the depths of hell, I dare you to not piss yourself. I scanned the area and almost immediately saw the source of the scream.
From behind a rocky outcropping, Lark thrashed around, splashing water in every direction. “It touched me! Something touched me!”
My hands flew to my junk before I realized I was hidden below the water. Lark moved toward the center of the lake, her bare shoulders peeking just above the surface.
My heart rate slowed as I realized there was nothing dangerous, only Lark Butler, the woman my aunt had paid to cry at Bowlegs’s funeral.
After seeing her at the bakery, had I pried every ounce of information from Lee?
You’re damn right I did. He was reluctant to tell me, but once he started talking, he spilled everything.
Tootie felt bad that the feud between the Sullivans and the Kings meant the attendance at the services was likely to be scarce, so she and Bug had conspired to hire someone to mourn him.
My mind still couldn’t wrap itself around the type of person who would choose lying at funerals as a profession.
Clearly, someone who isn’t one with nature, if Lark was any indication.
When I’d decided to take a dip in old Wabash Lake after my run, I hadn’t planned on an audience. A cocky part of me wondered how much she had seen and whether or not she liked the view.
I trudged bare-assed toward Lark.
“Calm the hell down. What happened?”
She turned toward me, pink flaming her cheeks. “Something in the water. It... touched me.”
I stifled a laugh. “Probably a fish or a turtle. This time of year they nest near the rocks. What are you doing here anyway?”
The pink in her cheeks deepened to crimson.
Oh yeah. She definitely got an eyeful.
“Well, um... I was going for a walk and I heard something and kind of freaked out.” Lark brushed a wet strand of hair behind her ear and lifted her chin.
I gestured toward the shoreline. “Well, by all means. Since you’re out of danger.”
She rolled her eyes and expelled her breath in a huff. “Just get out.”
“I’m not getting out.” I was just starting to enjoy this. I knew she was trying to get under my skin at the bakery, so I could do the same to her. Her small nostrils flared once.
Lark crossed her arms, pushing the tops of her breasts to the surface of the water.
Oh shit. Is she naked?
She clearly recognized a challenge as I stared her down. “You get out.”
I crossed my arms. “Oh, I’m not getting out.”
“Well, I... I can’t. I’m... nude.”
My jaw shifted. I knew it.
The water droplets rolled lazily down the slope of her shoulder, and I could only imagine the tight little body that was just below the surface. I reined in the flash of desire after my dick started perking up.
“So you got scared and your immediate reaction was to get naked and get into the water?”
Her mouth popped open, and she quickly snapped it shut. “I was already naked, all right?” She grunted in frustration. “It’s hot outside. I didn’t think you would be here. Plus, you had the same idea!” When she gestured toward me, a small wall of water splashed my way, but I sidestepped to dodge it.
I lifted my chin, but Lark only held my stare in defiance. “Fine. I won’t look. But don’t forget, you creeped on me. I think it’s only fair.” I moved my head toward the shoreline. “Ladies first.”
Her jaw flexed, but then a wicked grin spread slowly across her face. I didn’t actually think she’d take the dare, and I wasn’t so much of a prick that I would force her to get out of the water when she was naked. I was just messing around.
Mostly.
When she tipped up one eyebrow, I knew I was done for.
Oh man. I think I fucked up.
Moving through the water, Lark shouldered her way past me despite having the entire lake to move around.
Rivulets of water sluiced down her smooth back as she made her way toward the edge.
My eyes followed as the flowing water lines nipped in at her waist and flared out as her bare bottom came into view. It was muscular and round.
Fucking perfect.
If my dick wasn’t paying attention before, it was at full salute and hailing the world’s most perfect ass.
Lark shot me a look over her shoulder, and my eyes whipped up to meet hers, then darted to the side. Too late. She’d caught me checking her out, just as she’d intended.
Without shame, she walked slowly toward the edge of the lake, gently rising out of the water like some sea goddess, and I stared like the lowly peasant I was. My chest squeezed at the sight of her. I wondered if she felt as soft as she looked.
Fuck. I hadn’t slept with someone in nearly a year, and the way my body was reacting to the mere sight of Lark told me I was well out of practice.
Once on the shoreline, I respectfully looked away as she moved behind a low rock and bent. Apparently she’d stashed her clothes, and it explained why I hadn’t seen them before I’d decided on my post-run cooldown.
From my peripheral, I tracked every movement as she turned away from me to dress herself. I scanned the tree line. A protective surge built in my chest as I looked out for anyone who might see her naked.
Anyone but me, I guess.
This woman was a nuisance—disrupting my plans and causing rumors to fly around my hometown, but damn.
She was intriguing.
Once she pulled on her shorts, sports bra, and shoes, she tied the arms of a hoodie around her hips.
I turned to face her again. Before leaving me alone in the woods, Lark turned, her defiant little chin still high in the air.
With her arms spread wide, she lowered herself into a curtsy before taking off up the path and out of view.
I fought the playful laughter that threatened to rumble in my chest.
* * *
“We can’t stay here.” I pressed my fingertips into my eye sockets and reached as deeply as I could for an ounce of fucking patience.
“Why?” Penny had her arms crossed and wore a familiar look of mild annoyance.
“Because I have to get back to campus.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m the head coach. I have a season to prepare for—game tape to review, plays to develop. The players and other coaches need me.”
“Why?”
“Even in the off-season there’s work to do.”
“Why?”
Damn it. I’d walked right into the why game again.
“Enough. We aren’t staying.” My clipped tone caused Penny’s lower lip to jut out even further.
I felt like a jerk, but the truth of the matter was we did need to get back.
I was already fielding calls about next season, summer break, and what I was going to do about the players who were on academic probation.
When I transitioned from successful quarterback to coaching, I thought it’d be as simple as mentoring college players, passing down my tips for mental strength and agility on the field.
Yeah fucking right.
The majority of it was politics, strategy meetings, and keeping the star players from getting themselves booted from the team.
My phone buzzed and the name of Gary Whitman, the university athletic director, flashed across the screen.
Case in point.
I raised a finger to Penny, who only rolled her eyes and flopped herself onto Tootie’s well-worn couch.
When I answered, the athletic director wasted no time on greetings but barreled ahead. “Sullivan. I have your list of ineligibles.”
“Ineligibles?” I glanced at my watch to check the date. “Already?”
“One for sure, but another on the brink.”
I let go of a deep sigh and felt a headache start to form. “All right. Let’s hear it.”
“Kevin Williams is on academic probation. Didn’t pass his finals.”
“Yeah.” My heart went out to Kevin. He was a good, smart kid. Hell of a ball player, but he lacked the discipline for college. Namely, showing up for goddamn class.
“Also, Michael Thompson.”
That one surprised me. Michael was a straightlaced hard worker. He could run like the wind, and I’d never heard of any issues with him so far.
“He’s got nowhere to go. We’re still waiting on campus housing to come through, but he says he doesn’t have a place back in Oklahoma.”
My gut turned. I didn’t know my players well enough yet to have much insight into their home situations, but I couldn’t just send a kid packing without knowing he had a home to go back to. “I’ll take care of it.”
“You better.” Whitman laughed, but it lacked any semblance of actual humor. “We were all excited to have you sign on, but when it comes down to it, you need a winning season just as bad as we do. Get these boys under control, and hopefully we can talk long term.”
I didn’t need to be reminded of the stipulations of my contract.
For a Division I football coach, satisfying the university’s media and sponsorship contracts was only a small part of the gig.
If at the end of it all I didn’t produce a winning season, my contract wouldn’t be extended.
With the team I had agreed to coach, I was on shaky ground at best. My eyes flicked to Penny, who was still pouting on the couch and likely ruminating over the Worst Dad Ever .
“Got it.” I hung up the phone and tossed it aside. I sighed and felt the tension creep into my neck and shoulders. “How about we go visit Uncle Lee at the fire station, Pickle?”
Penny immediately perked up. “Really? Right now?”
I smiled, knowing making her happy was the easiest win of them all, and I needed a win today. “Right now. Let’s load up.”
* * *
After a full tour of the fire station, if Penny hadn’t already been over the moon for her uncle, she sure as hell was now. They were two peas in a pod, and she smiled up at him as her head wobbled under the weight of a firefighter’s helmet.
She ran a hand across the red fire engine.
“Hop up there.” Lee gave her a boost, and Penny enthusiastically disappeared into the darkness of the truck.
“Just don’t touch anything,” I warned.
Her head popped back into the doorway and she frowned.
Lee laughed and lifted a hand. “Hit all the buttons you want. Just don’t mess with the tools. Especially the ax. I don’t want you getting blood on my clean truck.”
Penny giggled and disappeared again as Lee handed me a can of Coke.
“It’s good to have you back, man.”
I shook my head and lifted my brows. “I’m not back.”
A smirk tugged at Lee’s lips, but he let it go. “At least you’re in the same state. It’s a start. But you know as well as I do that an hour commute is nothing, really.”
“Says the guy who sleeps at work and then has two days off.” Busting Lee’s balls about his life at the fire station was easier than letting the doubts of my recent decisions creep in. I needed to focus on my job. I couldn’t lose sight of that if I wanted any kind of stability for Penny.
“You can’t do it all. Look at Dad. After Mom died, he tried to be everything to everyone, and you know where that got him.” Lee’s usually upbeat attitude waned. We both knew Dad’s illness was shitty luck, but knowing that didn’t sting any less. “Maybe you need some help.”
“I don’t need help.” I also didn’t need my little brother riding my ass and telling me things I already knew. He didn’t need to worry about me either. I downed my drink and stood.
I had no desire to talk about work anymore.
For some reason I wanted to tell him about my interaction with Lark.
Maybe tell him to back off a little if he also had a thing for her.
Fighting over women had never been an issue before, but after he’d eagerly offered to show her around the fire station, I felt a strange need to stake my claim.
“So, uh. That Lark woman is still in town.”
Lee’s eyebrows crept up as he sipped his own drink. “That so?”
“Yeah, I, uh, ran into her on my run yesterday. Down at Wabash Lake.”
“You get her to flash you before jumping off the rocks like Mindy McAllister in high school?”
I laughed and shoved his shoulder. I listened for Penny, but she was still occupied in the truck.
“No, but I did see something else.” A sly grin spread across my face. “She was skinny-dipping and I got an eyeful.”
“You saw her ass?” Penny’s head popped between us, and Coke nearly flew out of Lee’s nose as he choked out a laugh.
I turned to her, schooling my features and willing the laugh to stay buried in my chest. “Don’t say ass . It’s impolite.”
“But you say it.” She crossed her little arms over her chest. “And you saw, like, the whole thing.”
“It was an accident.” Sort of. “We don’t need to talk about it. And why can’t you call it, like, a heinie or something cute?”
Penny shrugged. “Butts are funny.” She looked at Lee, and they both erupted into a fresh fit of laughter.
I shook my head and turned to face her, setting my can on the edge of the truck. I pulled Penny forward at the waist and hiked her over my shoulder to move her away from the doorway. She squealed with delight and kicked her legs out behind me.
“Say bye to Uncle Lee. We’ve got to get on the road.” I’d have to find another way to figure out if Lee had a thing for Lark and decide whether or not I should do something about that.
Penny went limp on my shoulder. “Bye, Uncle Lee.” Her little voice was morose and dramatic.
“See ya later, Rat.” Lee tickled her sides, and she wiggled and laughed.
“It’s PICKLE!” she giggle-shouted.
I smiled and mouthed, Thank you, to my little brother. He was a good kid and an even better uncle. That gnawing ache came back with a vengeance. That same one that said maybe I was making a mistake by taking Penny away from Outtatowner and my family so soon.