Chapter Five
Vera
Ihad wanted to ask Wyatt more about his thoughts on the nightstand design, but every time I was near the front counter, he and Benji were in deep conversation.
Benji’s dad, Scott, and I had led different lives than what Benji was pursuing.
We had both gone into the trades. We struggled to help our son with his last year of high school and preparing for college.
Benji and Wyatt seemed to bond over their interest in design and engineering, and I didn’t want to interrupt them.
The rest of my shift flew by. I wasn’t even sure when Benji and Wyatt took off. When I got home, I had a text from Wyatt.
Wyatt: I have a few ideas I wanted to run by you. Let me know when you’re free.
Vera: I’m not working tomorrow
I didn’t want to seem too eager, but I had to get this design done. I was also curious to talk to him about Benji. Wyatt seemed like a good guy, smart and sexy…
Wait, I didn’t need to be thinking about him as sexy.
I had a hard time accepting help, and somehow I had accepted his help with my business idea and my son. I couldn’t go another step, and bring sex into the mix.
Besides, why would a good-looking guy like him want to date a struggling single mom?
Wyatt: Can we meet at my place? I’ve got things set up in my garage so we can figure the design out.
I sent him a thumbs-up, and he texted back an address.
The next morning was Sunday, and Benji was still sleeping when I got up. After coffee, breakfast, and not agonizing over what to wear, I got in my SUV and drove to the address Wyatt sent me.
Wildrose Bend was a small town as it was, but his place was even more rural than the town itself.
His property was extensive, with a wire fence around it, and a meandering dirt driveway. It was thick with trees in places and bare in others. If I had never met Wyatt, I would say it had serial killer vibes, but given what I knew of him, it was a symptom of a busy mind.
There were a few vehicles on blocks and stacks of lumber off to one side. The house came into view, and it was clear a home builder owned the place.
It was stunning.
A log home like the kind he built, all peaked roof and smooth logs. An enormous wrap-around deck extended across the front, and elaborate rock work covered the beams.
There was a detached garage with three bay doors. It wasn’t as fancy as the house, a basic tin structure, but one of the bay doors was open. I drove towards it and parked.
As I was getting out of the driver’s seat, I turned to see Wyatt coming out of the garage.
Shirtless.
My heel caught on the lip of the footwell, and I grabbed the door to keep from falling.
Holy shit.
The man was a work of art.
It was only May, but the day was warm, and he had clearly been working hard. There was a sheen of sweat over the muscles of his chest. His lean pecs and abs were on full display, and I found myself wanting to trace every peak and valley with my tongue.
“Hey DIY Diva, you found me,” he said with a smile.
I blinked out of my daze. “I did. Nice place.”
He nodded his thanks. “Want to see what I’ve been working on?”
I nodded eagerly and followed him.
The radio played softly in the background as we stepped into the shop.
The ground was hard-packed dirt, but still dust puffed under our feet as we walked inside.
Benches and shelves lined the walls, with tools everywhere.
I’m sure he understood the system, but to me it looked like someone had picked up the entire garage and shaken it.
A dresser with all its drawers pulled out sat in the middle of the floor.
“I pulled the dresser from my room and dragged it out here. I needed to see where we could add something that would work.”
I smirked. “Wow, you are really dedicated to my project.”
He shrugged, and it made the muscles of his shoulder dance under his skin. “I’m invested now; it will drive me crazy if we don’t come up with a solution.”
He scratched his head and sawdust fell onto his shoulder. I had to stop myself from reaching out to brush it from his skin.
I pushed the thought away. “My original thought was to either have a false bottom on a drawer or a false top on the stand itself that lifts up. But since the user would need to access the compartment often, neither of those is a great option.”
He twisted his lips in thought. “Right, you’d have to either keep the top and drawer empty or move everything when you need something from the compartment.”
“Exactly.”
“What about something that slides out from the side?”
We passed ideas back and forth, looking for a solution. Examining the way the slides worked, flipping the drawers over to spark ideas. We actually worked well together. He was knowledgeable and creative, and I had done my research on what a potential client might want.
The clock was ticking until the trade show, and I had a list of things to do that was a mile long. I had to figure this out, build the prototype, refine the design, print order forms and business cards.
I had to stay focused.
The problem was our compatibility was hard to ignore, and so was my growing attraction.