Chapter 23 Wyatt
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Wyatt
Multitasking behind the bar is usually a piece of cake for me. Tonight, I’ve struggled far more than usual. It’s probably because of the gorgeous brunette who has stolen my attention all night long.
There hasn’t been much brain power left for carrying small talk with customers or making drinks when all I want to do is stand here and stare at her.
That might sound creepy, but I swear it’s not. She’s mesmerizing. Nothing else in this bar or anywhere really is as entrancing as her.
Wow… I need to get a grip.
I glance to my right. Kane is drying the same glass he has been working on for several minutes now. Any remaining drops of water vanished long ago.
There’s no logical reason for him to be manning the bar alongside Linc and me right now. The two of us can handle this size crowd pretty easily, and we do it all the time.
His gaze is continuously drawn to the same corner of the room where my eyes have been trained all night. She’s the reason he’s been coming up with pointless tasks so he has a plausible reason to stay out here and not have to venture back to his office in the back.
Linc isn’t any better. His broody stares have been focused on her in any free second he’s had.
I know my brother like the back of my own hand. That intense, verging-on-angry look he’s been giving her means he can’t get her out of his head, and it’s slowly driving him crazy.
I shake my head. All three of us are fucked.
I’m so lost in my thoughts, Abby surprises me for the first time tonight. “Hey,” she says, leaning against the bar with a tired smile on her face.
She isn’t hammered, but she’s definitely feeling a little tipsy.
“Hey, beautiful,” I say, leaning in a little closer. What can I say? I’m like a moth to a flame. And the beautiful woman before me is a mighty hot one if I do say so myself.
“Can I close out my tab?” She gestures to her friends, who are starting to put on their coats. “Actually, all of ours.”
They all took turns paying for rounds through the night, so they all have open tabs at this point.
I tap around on the computer, printing out all their tickets and grabbing their cards from the drawer. The ladies all group around Abby and close out their own tabs.
Abby looks around, confused, when she finds just her credit card sitting in front of her. “Where’s my ticket?”
I shrug, like I have no idea. I guess I didn’t hide my guilt very well because her eyes narrow. She straight-up glares at me.
In this moment, there’s no denying Abby is a mom. No one can deliver a look like that quite like a mom. You’d think the alcohol would hinder the sharpness of the look, but it has done no such thing.
“Wyatt,” she growls. “Where is it?”
“I didn’t run your card,” I tell her honestly.
Her eyes fog with confusion for the briefest moment before they’re drilling back into me. “Wyatt.”
Okay… Maybe I like riling her up because having her say my name like that is doing things to me.
“I can’t charge you for your drinks.” I shake my head.
“Because we kissed?” she asks, scrunching her face in confusion.
I don’t turn to see, but I can feel Linc and Kane’s eyes trained on me. They both know I kissed her. I’m not one to keep secrets, so I told them the next day.
Kane wasn’t happy about it. He said it was entirely because of Oliver, but I’m pretty sure jealousy played a big part in it.
Linc didn’t seem shocked at all. He just said it was bound to happen sometime.
“Not entirely,” I say, leaning against the bar with my forearms.
She drags in a breath through her nose but doesn’t say anything.
“I’ll make you a deal,” I say.
“I have a feeling I’m not going to like this,” she says, but she leans her body a little closer to me. I don’t even think she notices the movement, but I sure as hell do.
“I’ll let you pay for your own drinks if…”
“Here it comes,” Abby says, propping her head up on her open palm. Her friends are all darting looks between Abby and me with gleeful excitement in their eyes.
“If you let me give you a ride home.”
The glass Kane was “washing” clatters into the sink.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” she says.
She’s probably right, but I want a little more time with her tonight. I also would really like to see with my own two eyes that she makes it home safely.
“One friend can give another friend a ride home.”
She doesn’t say anything, but her eyes tell me she isn’t budging on her this is a bad idea stance.
“I’m guessing Riley drove you all here,” I say.
She nods.
“She looks like she’s ready to get home and go to bed. If I take you and Leah home, that’s one less stop she has to make.”
Abby turns to look at Riley. I wasn’t lying. She really does look like she’s ready to put her feet up and crash.
Abby’s face softens. She turns her attention to Leah. “Are you okay with that?” she asks her.
I grouped Leah into this plan because she lives right next door, so it just makes sense.
And I want to make sure Leah gets home safe and sound, with it being so late. She has a new security system, but an extra set of eyes isn’t going to hurt.
Leah gives me a friendly smile. “Sure. That’s fine by me.”
“Fine… deal,” Abby says, holding out her hand. “Give me the ticket.”
I slide it out from my pocket and into her hand. She quickly signs her name before I have a chance to change my mind.
I would have gladly picked up her tab, but a man has to choose his battles. This wasn’t one I was going to win against an opponent like Abby.
Her head jerks up. “You aren’t expecting both of us to get on a motorcycle with you. Are you?”
The worry in her tone threatens to make me burst out laughing.
Linc snorts. “Wyatt might be an idiot at times.” I scowl at him. He just shrugs. “But… he isn’t that big of an idiot.”
“I have a car,” I say, exasperated.
Abby nods, turning to her friends behind her. The girls hug and say their goodbyes.
Kane grabs my arm when I start to walk by him. I can tell there are a lot of things he wants to say, but he settles on, “Make sure she gets home safe.”
“Of course.”
I’m pretty sure I would make it my life’s purpose to protect her for the rest of her life if she gave me the opportunity.
Abby is no damsel in distress. She doesn’t need a man to stand guard in front of her, but maybe she would want one at her side.
Or maybe three?
“Thanks for the ride,” Leah says.
“You bet,” I say as she walks to her front door. Abby and I stand side by side next to my car until Leah is back in her house.
She gives us a thumbs-up from the window once her door is locked and her security system is engaged once again. With a smile, she turns and walks away.
Abby is already looking up at me when I gaze down at her. “I guess it’s my turn to go,” she says. She takes a step backward and nearly falls off the curb.
I grab her, pulling her back up onto the sidewalk. “I think I should escort you inside. You clearly can’t be trusted to walk on your own right now.”
She rolls her eyes but grabs my hand as she turns toward her own house. Surprisingly, she keeps her hand in mine until we’re standing in her entryway.
I grab her coat when she shucks it off, and I hang it on one of the hooks on the wall. She kicks off her boots, marching down the hallway and into what I’m guessing is her bedroom.
I’m frozen in place. I don’t want to leave without saying anything, but I’m not going to waltz into her bedroom unannounced. We might have kissed, but that doesn’t give me that right.
“Wyatt,” she shouts.
“What?” I call back. I walk over until I’m stopped just outside the doorway she disappeared through.
“I need your help,” she grumbles.
I turn the corner, not knowing what I’m going to see. At first, I don’t see anything, at least not her. I turn back to the door, thinking I walked into the wrong room.
Her voice makes me spin back around. “In the closet.”
She’s in the back corner of her walk-in closet, straining on her tiptoes to reach something on the top shelf. Her head snaps in my direction when she hears me walk in.
She looks me up and down. “You’re tall.”
I chuckle quietly. “You’re just realizing that now?”
“No,” she says, shaking her head. “I noticed it right away.” She blinks a few times. “You’ll do for the job.”
“And what job is that?”
She points at a large plastic tub that’s on the top shelf. “Can you get that down for me?”
“Sure,” I say, stepping in close. The closet isn’t that big, so she can’t really maneuver around me. I know I should let her by, but I like having her this close.
I briefly let my eyes move up to the box to make sure I’m not going to drop it on her head, but then my eyes lock back on hers.
“Thanks,” she whispers when I slide the tub between us and settle it on the ground.
“And why did you need to get this tub down in the middle of the night?”
She crouches down, popping the lid off. “There’s a sweatshirt in here I want to wear.”
I smirk, eyeing the entire row of sweatshirts and hoodies all hanging directly behind her on hangers. “And none of those would do?”
She gives them a quick glance over her shoulder. “No.”
She says it so dryly. It makes me smile even more. There’s nothing fake about this woman. There’s no smoke and mirrors. She is unequivocally herself.
She is entirely too endearing, and she has no idea.
“Bingo,” she says, pulling a faded black sweatshirt from the tub.
“What makes that one so special?”
“It’s the comfiest,” she says, shimmying past me.
I follow her back into her room, where she is pulling a pair of pajama shorts from her dresser.
“Then why was it in a box?”
She tosses her clothes onto her bed, flailing her hands out at her sides. “I was trying to force myself to wear some of my newer clothes, but I’ve had too many drinks to give a shit about that tonight.”
Her fingers grip the bottom of her shirt, and I realize she’s about to pull it off even though I’m standing right here. I spin around, so my back is to her.
I badly want to see what she has hiding under the shirt she’s been wearing all night, but this isn’t the time. She has been drinking, and that just isn’t a line I’m willing to cross.
“You’re such a gentleman.”
“I try to be.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I see her clothes fly across the room and land in her hamper. “All clear… you can turn around.”
Slowly, I spin to face her. She’s wearing the too-big sweatshirt over a pair of pink pajama shorts. The sweatshirt is so big on her, I can barely see the shorts peeking out below the hem.
She ducks into her bathroom and quickly washes her face and brushes her teeth. I’m just standing here like an idiot because this is the best I think she’s ever looked.
This domestic side of her is tickling something in my brain I didn’t know existed.
Her body leans against the bathroom doorframe when she catches me staring. She looks like she’s going to say something sassy, but she yawns before any words can come out.
I chuckle, reaching out a hand. “Let’s get you to bed, sleepyhead.”
I kind of expect her to fight me on it, but she slides her hand into mine with no resistance at all. I guide her to the side of the bed where the nightstand sits. She snuggles into the pillow while I drape her comforter over her.
I want to kiss her on the lips, but I settle for her temple instead. “Good night, beautiful. Sleep well.”
As I start to pull away, her hand grips mine. “Don’t,” she breathes out. “Don’t go.”
I shouldn’t stay, but I’m finding it really hard to deny anything she asks of me right now with the way she’s staring at me.
She swallows. “I just don’t want to be alone tonight.”
I run my knuckles down the side of her face. “Okay.” Relief seems to wash through her.
I move to the opposite side of the bed and toe off my boots and socks. My jacket comes off next.
I look down at my jeans and long-sleeved Henley. I stand there, debating whether I should stay in all my clothes or how many layers I should take off.
“Just strip down to your underwear and get in bed. I’m not going to jump your bones,” she mumbles into the pillow, still facing away from me.
Fuck it.
I peel everything off until I’m just in my boxer briefs. Her sheets feel like heaven as I slide beneath them. She feels even better when I snuggle in behind her.
She lets out a sigh of contentment when I wrap my arm around her, pulling her back flush against my chest.
“Better?” I ask.
Her voice is almost dreamy when she whispers, “Better.”
I press a kiss to her neck. “Go to sleep, Abby. I’m not going anywhere.”
She laces her fingers through mine. “Good night, Wyatt.”
It takes hardly any time at all for her breathing to even out as she falls into slumber. I don’t know if I am going to be able to sleep myself.
I have this damn-near perfect woman in my arms who I can’t keep as my own, so I’m going to savor this feeling for as long as I can.