Chapter 13
WYATT
The bell above the door at Chapters and Crumbs chimes as I step inside, closing the door behind me.
At the counter, Autumn, with one hand on her growing baby bump, has a smile on her face as she animatedly chats with Maddie.
If at all possible, her smile widens when she spots me.
It’s been a little over a week since I’ve had some one-on-one time with Autumn and with her having a baby on the way, I should be making the most of that time.
“If it isn’t my favorite cousin,” she teases, rounding the counter and holding her arms out to me.
“Hey, Autumn,” I greet, meeting her in the middle of the room.
Leaning in for a hug, I keep my eyes fixed on Maddie, watching how her body seems to tense with every second that passes. I wonder if she’s still thinking about last night. Or Monday for that matter. Hell, it was all I could think about as I lay in bed alone.
I had every intention of taking someone home last night, but the second I saw Maddie in her cowboy-cut jeans and the crop top that revealed her flat stomach and belly button ring, I felt myself harden behind the zipper of my jeans.
Then I caught her alone in the back corridor and I couldn’t help teasing her.
I knew I was screwed the second my hands landed on her waist and it felt hard to breathe.
All I could do was walk away; if I stayed, I might have leaned in a little closer and really tested how far this rivalry runs between us.
Touching her exposed skin and being close enough that I could have kissed her was enough to set me off, but nothing is ever going to happen between us. Even if my body doesn’t seem to have got the memo. And yet here she is again, taunting me with her presence.
Fuck, I need to get laid.
And stop thinking about Maddie Hart. It’s only bound to end one way and that will not be in my favor.
“Be nice,” Autumn warns before stepping back.
She knows me so damn well. Even if she didn’t, when you live in a town as small as Coldwater, everyone knows everyone’s goings-on.
“You want the usual?” Autumn asks me, returning to her side of the counter.
I follow her, pushing past the arousal swirling in my body as I come to a stop beside Maddie, making sure to keep as much distance between us as I can without raising Autumn’s suspicion. “Yeah, and I’ll take one of the savory croissants too.”
Autumn nods, turning away and getting to work on making my drink.
I inhale and immediately wish I hadn’t. I’m hit with the scent of Maddie, a soft floral mixed with a hint of sweetness.
I rack my brain for something to say to fill the tense quiet, but all I can think about is last night and Monday.
It’s all I’ve been able to think about. She’s consuming my thoughts and I don’t know how to stop her.
With her own coffee in hand, Maddie gives Autumn some cash before saying, “Keep the change.”
She picks up her takeout cup and a paper bag before striding toward the door, without bothering to acknowledge my existence.
Clearly she doesn’t feel any kind of way about our more recent interactions.
Or maybe she’s just better at hiding it than I am.
And yet, like a fool, I watch after her, my focus on the gentle sway of her hips until I can no longer see her through the window.
“What was that about?” Autumn asks, one brow cocked as I turn to face her.
“What was what about?” I reply, fiddling with a napkin and hoping she drops it. Autumn swats at my hand, and I chuckle as I snatch it back. “Hey, what was that for?”
“Many reasons, but the main one is you’re being an ass. Answer the question.”
“Damn. I was just looking out of the window,” I lie, before adding, “Is that a crime?”
She doesn’t believe me; I can tell by the way she’s scowling at me, and it’s confirmed when she replies, “I didn’t take you as a liar, Wyatt Wilde.”
Damn, Autumn reminds me so much of my aunt—her mom—and the way she’d always call me out on my bullshit as a kid.
Autumn and her sister, Olivia, lost their parents in a car wreck twenty-two years ago.
At this point, they haven’t had their parents around for more than half their lives, but I still see what I remember of them in the girls’ mannerisms.
Defensively, I fold my arms across my chest as I stand taller and push away the wave of sadness that has just crashed into me. “There is nothing going on between me and Maddie. I promise. You’ll be the first person to know if we flip into another dimension and something does.”
There’s no way in hell I’m spilling what has or hasn’t happened with Maddie to Autumn. She’ll have wedding brochures out and my entire future mapped before I’ve had the first sip of my drink. Besides, there’s nothing to tell.
“Good. And not just because I want the gossip but because all I ever want is for you to be happy, Wyatt.”
“I am happy. Besides, if I wasn’t, I don’t think Maddie is going to be the one to change that.” I grin at her as if that proves what I’m saying is true.
Autumn gives me a look; one I know all too well, and that tells me she isn’t buying it. She must decide it’s not worth the fight because she sighs heavily, runs a hand over her small bump and asks, “You having this to take out or have in?”
“Based on your mood, I better have it to go.” I smirk.
She rolls her eyes and gets to work making my coffee—black, no sugar. The sound of the machine working away fills the quiet that settles over us.
I lean against the countertop as I wait, looking out at Main Street, watching as people go about their day. Telling myself I’m not looking for her doesn’t make it any less true.
It’s a little after one in the afternoon, so there’s a decent number of people around. Some are familiar faces, but most are tourists in town for whatever events Maddie is running over at Hartlands.
I can’t wait for summer to be over and the town to grow quiet again. It’s much more peaceful in fall, winter and spring. I guess nobody wants a wedding or a retreat in rural Montana when the weather is so harsh.
Smothering a yawn, I stretch out my tired body.
I’ve been up and working since five this morning, and now that I’m finished for the day, I’m grabbing this coffee and heading home to my bed.
A nap is both long overdue and well needed, given how much I’ve been tossing and turning because of Maddie Hart.
I’m going to go out again tonight, anything to rid myself of the thought of her.
“Here you go,” Autumn calls.
When I turn around, she slides a mug toward me, and I lift a brow at her in question.
“I promise not to ask about Maddie and what may or may not be happening between you two, because I know something is. There’s no way you were in close proximity and didn’t say a thing, and then you were watching after her. It all adds up to something; I just don’t know what.”
I open my mouth to protest, but she holds up a hand, and I snap it shut.
“Will you have your coffee here today? I would like to spend some time with my favorite cousin.”
My body relaxes, and I nod before picking up the mug and heading for the big couch by the window. “How are you doing?”
Following behind me, Autumn sighs, holding her lower back as she juts out her stomach. She falls onto the soft cushions and replies, “I swear, this baby is sapping all my energy. I can get a good nine hours of sleep and still feel like I’ve been out partying all night.”
I chuckle because, as much as Autumn might feel this way today, I know she’s excited about the baby.
We all are. Hell, she was the only one worried about raising this baby “by herself.” As soon as she told us she was pregnant, she gained a village.
I might not know shit about raising a baby, but I know she’s not in this alone.
Even if she won’t tell us who the father is.
“It’s the size of a peach now, and in a few weeks, I’ll get to find out if I’m having a boy or a girl.”
I sip on my coffee, grateful for the distraction from Maddie, before asking, “You want to know?”
She fiddles with the hem of her apron, resting her elbow on the back of the couch as she turns toward me and leans her head against her fist. “I don’t know. Part of me wants to know so I know what to buy, but I like the idea of being surprised. Whatever this baby is, I know they’ll be loved.”
“Ain’t that the truth.” I pull her into my side and rest my head on hers as she snuggles into me.
We sit like this until the bell above the door chimes and a group walks in, cutting through the quiet with their loud chatter.
Autumn stands, turning toward me as she says, “Take the mug home, just bring it back when you come by next.”
She knows how much I dislike the tourists, but I’m not about to up and leave her here alone with them. Not after what happened twenty years ago. Instead, I sit and watch as they place their order, and Autumn gets to work on making it.
As it has a habit of doing lately, my mind wanders back to Maddie and how I’m starting to find it harder to see her the way I always have. Especially when she’s stirring things inside of me that I have no right to feel about her.